Category Archives: Coronavirus

The new normal: New Zealand braces for shift from Covid zero to Covid acceptance

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The nation accepts a big psychological change, one expert says, as people prepare for more cases than they have ever seen before

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In New Zealand’s biggest city, the streets were calm. At an Auckland supermarket, shelves of toilet paper, wine, chocolate and flour – metrics of a population hunkering down for a marathon of self-soothing and banana bread – had been quietly restocked from any panic-buying flurries.

In an uptown cafe, a barista said things had been a little quieter since the announcement. Then again, she shrugged: “It might just be a Tuesday.” At Unity Books, a bookstore at the heart of the city, people were quietly browsing. “There’s always an element of eerie calm before the storm,” said bookseller Briary Lawry.

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Spotify removes Neil Young music in feud over Joe Rogan’s false Covid claims

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Musician condemned spread of misinformation on platform’s top podcast: ‘They can have Rogan or Young’

The music streaming platform Spotify is in the process of removing Neil Young’s music after the company refused to take down Joe Rogan’s podcast amid the musician’s objections that it spread vaccine misinformation.

Rogan has been described by the New York Times as “one of the most consumed media products on the planet”. His podcast, the Joe Rogan Experience, is Spotify’s most popular. In 2020, Rogan signed a $100m deal that gave the streaming giant exclusive rights to his show.

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Starmer slams ‘spectacle of PM under police investigation’ as Boris Johnson awaits Sue Gray report – live

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No 10 has still not yet received report on Downing Street parties that could trigger a Tory leadership election

Here is a question from below the line worth answering up here.

The answer is no.

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Covid live: UK reports 346 daily deaths; Denmark aims to end all restrictions

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UK also records over 102,000 daily cases; Danish plan would mean most far-reaching easing among Nordic countries

The key lines from UK foreign secretary Liz Truss on Sky News are that she has reiterated her 100% support for the prime minister, she has said that she herself attended no parties during lockdown, and she also said – albeit with a slight pause – that she had not been invited to any parties during lockdown. She declined, when asked, to call for Labour leader Keir Starmer to also be investigated by police over having a beer in a constituency office.

Beyond that she said “I’m not going to prejudice the findings of the Sue Gray report, or indeed, the police investigation” or words to that effect quite a lot. She said:

I believe that he’s done a fantastic job as prime minister, whether it’s delivering Brexit, delivering the Covid vaccines, the booster programmes. We’ve now got a much faster growing economy than many of our competitors, thanks to his work, and I believe that’s what we should focus on … I don’t think it’s helpful to speculate on specific claims or specific accusations about what may or may not have happened.

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Coronavirus vaccines may reduce risk of long Covid, ONS study finds

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Observational study finds double-jabbed people 41% less likely to report Covid symptoms 12 weeks after a positive test

Vaccination could reduce the risk of long Covid, research by the Office for National Statistics suggests.

The study, of more than 6,000 adults, found those who were double-vaccinated had a 41% lower likelihood of self-reporting Covid symptoms 12 weeks after first testing positive.

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Netherlands lifts toughest Covid curbs with Denmark and France set to follow

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Many EU countries opt to reopen despite record infections as WHO suggests Omicron may signal more manageable phase of pandemic

The Netherlands has lifted its toughest Covid controls, Denmark is to remove all restrictions within days and France will begin easing curbs next week, as many – but not all – EU countries opt to reopen despite record infection numbers.

The moves come as data shows hospital and intensive care admissions are not surging in line with cases, and after the World Health Organization suggested the Omicron variant – which studies show is more contagious but usually less severe for vaccinated people – may signal a new, more manageable phase in the pandemic.

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Australia news live update: nation records at least 74 Covid deaths; Invasion Day rallies begin; lockdown call for NT remote communities

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Lockdown call for NT remote communities as nation records at least 74 deaths from Covid-19; Scott Morrison speaks at Australia Day ceremony in Canberra; Russian ambassador to Australia says country ‘doesn’t intend to invade’ Ukraine; Invasion Day protests begin. Follow all the day’s news

A leading health expert has warned of the potential spread of the virulent Omicron Covid-19 strain during events today as large crowds gather for protest or celebration, AAP reports.

Jane Halton, chair of the coalition for epidemic preparedness and former health department head, says the closer people pack together the more likely it is the virus will spread.

We know it’s highly infectious and the closer everyone gets together, the more the likelihood you’ll be close to someone whose got Covid and therefore the greater the likelihood you’ll contract it.

People should be careful. What we don’t want to see is a big increase in cases.

I don’t think we should be cancelling things. I just think people should be courteous, thoughtful, and a little bit careful.

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Boris Johnson braced for perilous 48 hours with release of Sue Gray’s report

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Premiership under threat as MPs see official report that has now triggered police investigation

Boris Johnson is braced for the most perilous 48 hours of his premiership, with exasperated Conservative MPs due to see an official report into Downing Street parties that has now triggered a criminal inquiry.

The Metropolitan police commissioner, Cressida Dick, announced on Tuesday that her officers are investigating allegations of law-breaking at the heart of government on the basis of evidence unearthed during an inquiry by the senior civil servant Sue Gray.

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Republicans angry as New York keeps school mask mandate despite ruling

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Governor Kathy Hochul has insisted students and teachers should continue to wear face covering despite a judge’s ruling

Republicans in New York reacted furiously on Tuesday after state officials told school administrators to continue enforcing a mask mandate for students and teachers despite a judge overturning it, causing confusion as some districts rushed to make masks optional.

Lee Zeldin, a US congressman from Long Island, addressed the governor he hopes to replace in November.

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Child Covid infections are rising in England – is low vaccine rate a factor?

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Analysis: school absences are soaring, but experts disagree about the importance of vaccinating young children

Covid cases in the UK have fallen sharply in the past few weeks, and hospital admissions appeared to have turned a corner. But now, it seems, the situation has stalled, with cases bobbing around 90,000 a day.

The reason for the change is that while case rates are falling among adults, they are rising among children – where vaccination rates remain sluggish.

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Patient removed from heart transplant list for refusing Covid-19 vaccine

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DJ Ferguson, 31, had previously been prioritized for a transplant by Brigham and Women’s hospital in Boston

A Boston-area hospital said it will not perform a heart transplant on a patient who refuses to get a Covid-19 vaccination.

DJ Ferguson, 31, was previously prioritized for a heart transplant at Brigham and Women’s hospital, but is no longer eligible as he refuses to get vaccinated, said Ferguson’s family, according to a report by CBS Boston.

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Robert F Kennedy Jr apologizes for Anne Frank comparison in anti-vax speech

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  • Kennedy’s remarks at Washington rally widely condemned
  • Wife Cheryl Hines says reference to Frank ‘reprehensible’

The anti-vaccine activist Robert F Kennedy Jr apologized on Tuesday for suggesting things are worse for people living under Covid restrictions and mandates than they were for Anne Frank, the teenager who died in a Nazi concentration camp after hiding with her family in a secret annex in an Amsterdam house for two years.

His wife, the actor Cheryl Hines, who appears in the HBO hit Curb Your Enthusiasm, distanced herself from her husband in her own tweet on the subject. She called the reference to Frank “reprehensible and insensitive”.

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‘Peace, freedom, no dictatorship!’: Germans protest against Covid restrictions

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The university city of Cottbus held one of 2,000 rallies across Germany on Monday, stoked by the far right

On Monday evening on the dot of 7pm people emerged from dimly lit side streets and gathered on the Oberkirchplatz square in Cottbus for what has become a weekly ritual in towns and cities across Germany: a protest against coronavirus protection measures.

The demonstrations have grown in strength as cases of the Omicron variant have surged, and in recent weeks a looming decision on bringing in a vaccine mandate has become the focus of protesters’ ire. More than 2,000 rallies were held nationwide on Monday, drawing tens of thousands of participants.

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Netflix’s Byron Baes cast appear to flout NSW Covid measures in Instagram videos

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Covid cases in the Byron Bay area have exploded since December

Cast members of the Netflix reality series Byron Baes have posted videos to social media of people dancing to live music at a crowded Byron Bay venue in apparent contravention of New South Wales Covid measures.

Two of the show’s other stars have posted videos in the days after receiving positive Covid tests that appear to show them out in public.

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Covid denialist and Bolsonaro ally Olavo de Carvalho died of virus, says daughter

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Rightwing radical was a towering figure in Brazil who was adored and abhorred in equal measure by millions of followers and foes

Olavo de Carvalho, the coronavirus-denying mentor of Jair Bolsonaro and Brazil’s radical right, has died in the United States, with one of his children citing Covid-19 as the cause.

“The family … asks for prayers for the professor’s soul,” relatives said on Twitter after announcing the death of the 74-year-old polemicist – a towering figure in contemporary Brazilian politics who was adored and abhorred in equal measure by millions of followers and foes.

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Long Covid: doctors find ‘antibody signature’ for patients most at risk

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Low levels of certain antibodies found to be more common in those who go on to develop long Covid

Doctors have discovered an “antibody signature” that can help identify patients most at risk of developing long Covid, a condition where debilitating symptoms of the disease can persist for many months.

Researchers at University hospital Zurich analysed blood from Covid patients and found that low levels of certain antibodies were more common in those who developed long Covid than in patients who swiftly recovered.

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UN data reveals ‘nearly insurmountable’ scale of lost schooling due to Covid

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Up to 70% of 10-year-olds in low- and middle-income countries lack basic reading skills, with learning losses seen from US to Ethiopia

The scale of the number of children who have lost out on their schooling during the pandemic is “nearly insurmountable”, according to UN data.

Up to 70% of 10-year-olds in low- and middle-income countries cannot read or understand a simple text, up from 53% pre-Covid, the research suggested.

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Australia news live update: nation records 76 Covid deaths; Anthony Albanese announces Labor election priorities

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Labor leader outlines election priorities; nation records 76 Covid deaths; Peter Dutton warns against Russia invasion of Ukraine; giant ram survives 4.7 magnitude earthquake in WA. Follow all the latest news

The benchmark ASX200 is set to fall 1.7% this morning, according to futures data, following further losses on overseas markets overnight.

In the US, the S&P500 fell 0.72% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq index dropped 0.43%, while London’s FTSE100 shed a whopping 2.63%.

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Boris Johnson faces fresh outrage over lockdown birthday party

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Furious response from MPs and bereaved after revelation of celebration held indoors in contravention of Covid restrictions

Boris Johnson was facing renewed anger from MPs and bereaved families on Monday after the disclosure that his fiancee threw him a surprise lockdown birthday party, as sources said an official inquiry had uncovered “appalling evidence of mismanagement” at the heart of Downing Street.

Sue Gray, the senior civil servant leading the inquiry into Downing Street parties, is expected to make deeply critical recommendations on overhauling No 10’s operation after hearing of repeated failures of leadership, according to a Whitehall source who spoke to the inquiry.

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