Category Archives: Coronavirus

Australia politics live news updates: PM apologises to Brittany Higgins as parliament acknowledges history of bullying, harassment, sexual assault

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Apology for staff and politicians who have experienced sexual harassment, assault and bullying at Parliament House; Daniel Andrews welcomes border reopening, announces free RATs for kids in childcare; anti-vaccine mandate protests continue; Victoria records 9,785 Covid cases and 20 deaths, NSW records 9,690 cases and 18 deaths; Queensland records 5,178 cases and 12 deaths. Follow the latest updates live

The defence minister Peter Dutton has told the Today show he is reserving his right to take legal action against former NSW premier Bob Carr, who doubled down on his claims that Dutton was the “mystery minister” who called prime minister Scott Morrison a “psycho”. Dutton said:

It was not me. I mean, every family’s got this crazy uncle that wakes up from the rocking chair and sort of in a startled way shouts out something and I just don’t know what is going on with Bob Carr. Is he the full quid or not? He’s a bizarre guy. He hasn’t produced any evidence. He’s now saying if it’s not me, then the person needs to come forward to prove my innocence. I just find it bizarre. But anyway, I just find it bizarre. But anyway, I think he has discredited himself.

He hasn’t produced any evidence and you can’t just make a claim and then back away from it. But that’s what he’s done. I think it’s embarrassing for him and I think most journalists frankly have treated him as a bit of a joke and this sort of relevance deprivation syndrome cuts in for a lot of former politicians as we’ve discussed on the show before.

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New Zealand Omicron wave likely to peak in March with up to 30,000 cases a day, says Ardern

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Prime minister says number of people who get booster vaccines will dictate how high the peak will be

As New Zealand hits new records for daily case numbers, prime minister Jacinda Ardern has said she expects Omicron infections to start peaking in late March.

The country reported 202 cases of Covid-19 on Tuesday, following several days of numbers sitting around the 200 mark – including a record 243 cases on Saturday. The past seven days are among the highest weeks of case numbers since the pandemic began.

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Do you need a booster shot or do you have immunity after you’ve had Covid-19? – video explainer

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Guardian Australia's medical editor Melissa Davey looks at the difference between the immunity to Covid-19 that comes from vaccinations and boosters and that which comes naturally after recovering from infection.  Overall, viewing Omicron infection as a ‘natural booster’ which makes a third vaccine dose unnecessary is unwise

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Ottawa protesters defy growing calls to end occupation of capital

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Protesters against Covid vaccine mandates have defied government calls for them to end a 10-day occupation of Canada’s capital, a day after the city’s mayor declared a state of emergency and promised to “get the city back”.

Ottawa police have described the protest as a “siege” on the city, where hundreds of trucks and cars have blockaded the downtown areas. On Sunday, Mayor Jim Watson warned that officials were “losing this battle”, and a civil class-action lawsuit was filed against protesters over the incessant horn blasting and disruption to daily life.

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Ottawa protests: how did the rallies against vaccine mandates begin and what’s next?

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Protesters occupying Canada’s capital city say they will not leave until all vaccine requirements and mandates have been abolished

For more than a week, the centre of Canada’s capital city has been paralysed by protestors who have blockaded the downtown area with trucks and cars. City police have described the protest as a “siege” and on Sunday the mayor of Ottawa declared a state of emergency.

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Covid live news: Canadian capital declares state of emergency over protests; Vietnam reopens schools after year-long closure

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Residents furious as protesters opposed to Covid-19 restrictions paralyse Ottawa; more than 17 million Vietnamese students due to return to school

Sajid Javid, the UK health secretary, has said he believes the NHS waiting list is going to grow even more due to 8-9 million people who have stayed away during the pandemic.

Speaking on Sky News, he urged those who have stayed away to “please come forward”.

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Harm to AstraZeneca jab’s reputation ‘probably killed thousands’

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Scientist who worked on jab criticises ‘bad behaviour’ by scientists and politicians who damaged reputation of Covid vaccine

Scientists and politicians “probably killed hundreds of thousands of people” by damaging the reputation of the AstraZeneca vaccine, according to an Oxford scientist who worked on the jab.

Prof John Bell said: “They have damaged the reputation of the vaccine in a way that echoes around the rest of the world.”

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How the UK’s dutiful launderette is fading under Covid and energy prices

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A much-loved community space and an essential service, their days now seem numbered

The first thing Rajiv Shrikul does when he opens up his launderette in south Edinburgh each morning is pray. He says the 7am routine, which he started as a young boy in India, helps him cope with the kaleidoscope of personalities that pass through his shop. “Some people are angry, some are generous – you need to have a very stable mind. Meditation calms you down, especially in these hard times.”

Photograph: Murdo MacLeod

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Australia to reopen international border on 21 February

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Scott Morrison announces all fully vaccinated visa holders will be able to enter, two years after Covid border closure

Australia will open its border for fully vaccinated tourists and all visa holders, a decision branded “bittersweet” by those who have missed funerals in recent weeks due to ongoing restrictions.

Scott Morrison on Monday announced the nation would open to all fully vaccinated visa holders, including tourists, on 21 February, almost two years after borders were first closed.

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Ottawa declares state of emergency as Canada trucker protest paralyses city

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Police chief describes situation as a ‘siege’ as thousands of protesters join demonstrations against Covid restrictions

The mayor of Canada’s capital declared a state of emergency Sunday and a former US ambassador to Canada said groups in the US must stop interfering in the domestic affairs of America’s neighbour as protesters opposed to Covid-19 restrictions continued to paralyse Ottawa’s downtown.

The mayor, Jim Watson, said the declaration highlights the need for support from other jurisdictions and levels of government. It gives the city some additional powers around procurement and how it delivers services, which could help purchase equipment required by frontline workers and first responders.

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Australia politics news live updates: Peter Dutton hits out at Bob Carr over text message claims as row deepens

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Barnaby Joyce ‘has some explaining to do’, Michael McCormack says; defence minister denies claims he was behind messages that branded the prime minister a ‘complete psycho’. Follow all the day’s news live

Communications minister Paul Fletcher is telling ABC radio about the restoration of funding to the national broadcaster (see Amanda Meade’s story, linked in a previous post).

The ABC will have to detail their levels of Australian content and other key services.

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Covid live: Chinese city of Baise ‘sealed off’ after Omicron outbreak; Papua New Guinea PM tests positive

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City in Guangxi, with population of 3.7 million, reportedly under lockdown; James Marape tests positive on arrival at Winter Olympics

Fascinating dispatch from Costa Rica by CNN’s Latin American affairs editor, Rafael Romo, who reports of the fallout of the country’s decision last November to became the first country in the world to mandate Covid-19 vaccines for minors, with all children five and older required to get vaccinated, barring medical exemptions.

It started as a heated discussion between a father and his son’s doctor. But it quickly escalated to a multi-person fist-fight that shocked the nation.

Inside the St Vincent de Paul hospital in Costa Rica’s Heredia province, not far from the capital San Jose, the argument – over the country’s Covid-19 vaccine mandate – came to blows last week, leading to the arrests of seven people.But this fight proved more consequential than for just the people involved: The incident forced authorities to temporarily close the hospital’s doors, marking a dark moment in the country’s fight against the pandemic and highlighting the debate around its mandatory vaccination policy.

In 2019, 16.1 per cent of private school pupils had their A-levels graded A*. In 2021 — when teachers decided what marks to award their pupils — the proportion jumped to 39.5 per cent.

Research by The Sunday Times shows for the first time the extent of the grade inflation in individual schools. At North London Collegiate School, a girls’ school in Edgware whose senior fees are more than £21,000 a year, the proportion of A* grades soared from 33.8 per cent in 2019 to 90.2 per cent last summer. The 56.4 percentage point increase is the highest recorded in the investigation.

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‘No light at the end of the tunnel’: Americans join Hong Kong’s business exodus

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Worsening Sino-US ties, strict Covid rules and the crackdown on dissent have dented the territory’s fabled allure as a business hub, say expats

In July 2018, Tara Joseph, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong, wrote an article in the best-known local English-language newspaper, the South China Morning Post, stressing to Americans the territory’s unique position as an Asian business hub.

“The US is forgetting the differences between Hong Kong and China. Let’s remind them,” she wrote. “Hong Kong continues to have a robust and hearty infrastructure of values, practices and institutions that could not contrast more starkly with those of the mainland system.”

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Misinformation and distrust: behind Bolivia’s low Covid vaccination rates

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About half the country’s population is yet to receive a single dose of vaccine, despite availability

In a vaccination centre in El Alto, Bolivia, the staff bagged up in protective gear far outnumbered the few people sitting in plastic chairs waiting for their injection. A young doctor reeled off a list of all the vaccines available: Sinopharm, Sputnik, Pfizer, Moderna. What’s lacking is demand. They see 100 people on a good day.

South America, once the region most afflicted by the pandemic, is now the most vaccinated in the world. But this turnaround doesn’t extend to Bolivia, where roughly half the population is yet to receive a single dose – even though the state has had all the vaccines it needs since October.

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Bucket, spade and a pile of red tape: UK travellers warned about Covid rule traps

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Tourists who had their jabs more than 270 days ago need a booster to enter France, Spain and Denmark

Travellers have been warned to check their half-term holiday plans to make sure they meet Covid vaccination rules when travelling to EU destinations as a growing number of countries impose new restrictions.

France joined Spain and Denmark last week in requiring anyone who completed their vaccination jabs more than 270 days ago to have a booster to enter the country – or be considered unvaccinated. Austria requires boosters after 180 days.

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Vastly unequal US has world’s highest Covid death toll – it’s no coincidence

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As the US passes 900,000 Covid deaths, much of the blame has fallen on individuals despite vast income inequality and vaccine accessibility issues

The US has suffered 900,000 deaths from Covid-19, the highest figure of any nation. The death toll would be equivalent to the 15th most populous city in the country, more than San Francisco, Washington DC or Boston – a city of ghosts with its population swelling each day.

It’s not just the total numbers. America also has the highest death rate of any wealthy country, with half of the deaths occurring after vaccines became available.

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Australia news live update: at least 45 Covid deaths recorded nationally; Qld says using ADF to evacuate aged care facilities ‘a last resort’

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Nation records at least 45 Covid deaths with 28 in NSW, nine in Queensland, six in Victoria and one each in South Australia and Tasmania; Scott Morrison addresses relationship with Barnaby Joyce ahead of deputy PM facing colleagues in Canberra this week after leaked text message savaging the prime minister. Follow all the day’s news live

Speers starts listing the leaders who have accused Scott Morrison of being a liar: Barnaby Joyce, the former prime minister, French president Emmanuel Macron. He asks whether this, plus problems in managing the pandemic, will make it harder to campaign with Scott Morrison at this year’s federal election?

Andrews:

We always knew that we would have our work cut out for us. This is a particularly difficult time in Australia and globally. We always knew that would be the case. Can we do without distractions? Absolutely. It is predictable that the opposition leader and Labor are going to go for a personal attack on the prime minister, of course it is...

Circumstances are very different now. He is a great campaigner. He was a great campaigner in 2019 and he connected very well with Australians.

“... out in Victoria, Queensland, New South Wales, all of the states across Australia. We all need to be doing that. It has been an incredibly difficult time for everyone and we all have to make sure that we are properly connecting.

You can understand the interest legitimately though. Trust matters, integrity matters. You are asking the Australian voters to re-elect a prime minister who has been called a liar, not just once and not just by his now deputy prime minister who even offered to resign over this. It is a pretty big deal.

Look, integrity is absolutely important and I’m not going to dismiss or attempt to dismiss any of that. But I would also say, too, that we are coming up to a federal election in the next couple of months and what Australians will be asked to decide on is who is going to lead that country, and that includes not just the issues that we are discussing today potentially tomorrow...

But it is a big part, minister, as to whether we can trust him?

Look, I would say to the people of Australia that my experience of Scott Morrison is that he has always been respectful and willing to listen to my point of view, but he has also got a very strong record, and that is as immigration minister, as treasurer and as the prime minister. Let’s put this into some context as well, that Scott Morrison has been the prime minister during a particularly difficult time in Australia...

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‘Partygate’: Johnson’s removal is now inevitable, warns loyalist

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More MPs set to submit resignation demands as No 10 rejigs team

Boris Johnson’s desperate efforts to save his premiership were undermined on Saturday as one of his most loyal backbench supporters said it was now “inevitable” that Tory MPs would remove him from office over the “partygate” scandal.

In an interview with the Observer, Sir Charles Walker, a former vice-chairman of the 1922 Committee of backbench Conservative MPs, implored the prime minister to go of his own accord in the national interest, and likened events in the Tory party to a Greek tragedy.

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Booster campaign stalls as ‘partygate’ undermines trust in official advice

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Hundreds still dying from Covid each day in the UK as fear of the virus wanes

The Covid booster campaign has stalled, and declining trust in the prime minister is part of the problem, say scientists.

Only 26,875 people in England had a third dose or booster on 1 February, the latest complete figures available, and 6 million people are at least six weeks overdue for their shot.

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Covid news: UK reports 259 deaths; Turkish president tests positive – as it happened

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Total of 60,578 cases reported which includes reinfections in England and Northern Ireland; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and wife have mild symptoms

Hong Kong reported 351 cases of coronavirus on Saturday, a record daily high since the outbreak of the pandemic, reports Reuters.

This adds further pressure on the government’s “dynamic zero-Covid” strategy as other major cities opt to live with the virus.

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