Category Archives: Coronavirus

‘No vax, no play’: surfer Kelly Slater won’t be let into Australia if he’s not vaccinated against Covid

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World Surf League events are due in Victoria and WA but federal health minister says position on coronavirus vaccine is ‘pretty clear’ following Novak Djokovic visa saga

Surfing great Kelly Slater could be the next big name in sport to be refused the right to compete in Australia, with the federal health minister saying the 11-time champion will not be allowed into the country if he is not vaccinated against Covid.

Slater, who has not publicly disclosed his Covid vaccination status, has aired some controversial views on the Covid vaccine, including an Instagram comment in October that claimed he knew “more about being healthy than 99% of doctors”.

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As Omicron rages around the world, Ardern deploys an old tactic – delay

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Jacinda Ardern says Omicron is ‘knocking at our door’ as the prime minister faces criticism over gaps in preparations for a Covid wave

In her first press conference of the year, held outside in the central North Island sun, prime minister Jacinda Ardern was almost drowned out by a wave of cicada calls.

The clamour is synonymous with New Zealand summertime, a reminder that the country had managed to snatch a long, hot, largely unrestricted holiday season from the mouth of a late-2021 Delta outbreak.

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Joe Biden says his administration has ‘outperformed’ in bruising first year

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President touts coronavirus relief aid and infrastructure law but acknowledges pandemic is unfinished job

• ‘I don’t believe the polls’: Biden gives testy press conference

Joe Biden on Wednesday conceded that the unshakable threat of the Covid-19 pandemic had left many Americans demoralized, but insisted that his administration had “outperformed” expectations despite the myriad crises facing the nation during his first year in office.

Speaking to reporters in the East Room of the White House for his first news conference in months, the US president said he was confident Democrats could pass “big chunks” of his sprawling domestic policy bill currently stalled in the Senate before the 2022 midterm elections.

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UK Covid live: end to England’s plan B measures next week ‘a milestone, not a finish line’, says Sajid Javid

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Latest updates: health secretary leads coronavirus update after Boris Johnson says England’s Omicron measures to end next week

Boris Johnson is expected to instruct millions to return to workplaces across England as he tries to placate furious MPs with a review of Covid restrictions that could end all rules introduced to combat Omicron.

The cabinet will meet on this morning to examine Covid data and review plan B restrictions imposed in December amid the rapid spread of the variant, with Johnson set to update the Commons later in the day.

I think they are a crucial building block of our baseline, a bit like Test and Trace, Test and Protect for us in Scotland, the alcohol gels, the vaccinations, I think these are what we’re going to be left with post-Omicron.

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Florida health official put on leave after encouraging staff to get Covid vaccine

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State health agency conducting inquiry into Raul Pino to ‘determine if any laws were broken’

A health official who helped lead Florida’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic has been put on administrative leave as state officials investigate whether he tried to compel employees to get vaccinated.

The state health agency is conducting an inquiry into Raul Pino, director of the Florida department of health in Orange county, to “determine if any laws were broken in this case”, the state department of health press secretary, Jeremy Redfern, said in an email.

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Ireland announces annual bank holiday to honour Covid victims and workers

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Government will also give tax-free bonus of €1,000 to frontline staff in hospitals and nursing homes

Ireland is to get a bank holiday as a national commemoration of those who have lost their lives to Covid and to recognise those who worked on the frontline of the pandemic, the government has announced.

Frontline healthcare workers in hospitals and nursing homes are also to receive a €1,000 (£830) tax-free bonus for their contribution to the national pandemic effort as part of a package of measures agreed by the cabinet on Wednesday.

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Work from home and and mandatory mask rules to be dropped as England moves back to plan A – video

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Boris Johnson has announced updates to Covid regulations as plan B measures are due to expire. The work-from-home mandate will be dropped, as will mandatory face mask-wearing, including in classrooms. Rules over self-isolation after a positive Covid test remain in place 

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Covid denier fined for filming in Gloucester hospital

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Debbie Hicks said she was acting as ‘guerrilla journalist’ to prove lockdown measures disproportionate

A woman acting as a “guerrilla journalist” when she filmed inside a hospital in an attempt to prove her belief that lockdown measures were disproportionate has been convicted of a public order offence.

Debbie Hicks, 47, a former teacher and psychologist, filmed twice at the Gloucestershire Royal hospital in Gloucester in December 2020 and told staff who challenged her she could do what she wanted as she paid her taxes.

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Covid live: Czech Republic scraps mandatory jabs as daily cases hit record; UK reports 108,069 cases

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Czech government scraps decree to avoid ‘deepening fissures’ in country; UK records a further 359 deaths

China has reported its lowest daily count of local Covid infections in two weeks after cities clamped down on high-risk areas, quarantined infections and conducted mass testing on residents.

Mainland China reported a total of 55 domestically transmitted infections for Tuesday, according to data from the national health commission, lower than the 127 recorded a day earlier and marking the fewest since 1 January.

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New Zealand closes borders to new arrivals over ‘unprecedented’ Omicron risk

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Citizens blocked from returning home after minister Chris Hipkins halts release of space in quarantine rooms, saying facilities are under ‘extreme pressure’

New Zealand has temporarily cut off the only pathway home for overseas citizens and visa holders, citing the risk of the Omicron variant.

Officials announced on Tuesday evening that new spaces in the country’s managed isolation and quarantine system (MIQ) would not be released.

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Millionaires call on governments worldwide to ‘tax us now’

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Group of 102 wealthy people say tax would help tackle gulf between rich and poor

More than 100 members of the global super-rich called on Wednesday for governments around the world to “tax us now” to help pay for the pandemic response and tackle the gulf between rich and poor.

The group of 102 millionaires and billionaires, including Disney heiress Abigail Disney, said the current tax system is rigged in their favour and needs to be rewritten to make taxation fairer for hard-working people and restore trust in politics.

Pay for the Health and Social Care Levy twice over every year – eliminating the need to raise national insurance on working people.

Cover the salaries of an additional 50,000 new nurses.

Pay for the permanent increase of universal credit.

Build 35,000 affordable houses and retrofit the UK’s draughtiest homes to reduce the cost of energy bills and help fight the climate crisis.

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Tory MPs openly discuss Johnson challenge as mood ‘turns dramatically’

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MPs from across party confident of enough letters to trigger leadership contest after Sue Gray’s report

The mood of Conservative MPs was hardening against Boris Johnson on Tuesday night, with open talk of how to oust the prime minister and who should succeed him as he gave a disastrous interview claiming not to have lied over Downing Street parties.

A string of Tory MPs from various ranks and wings of the party said they believed there would be enough letters to trigger a leadership contest after the publication of the Sue Gray report into allegations of lockdown breaches, with some reports on Tuesday night that it could come sooner.

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‘I put my arms around her’: doctor’s story captures anger at No 10 parties

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Prit Buttar, who tweeted about comforting grieving woman, says he wanted to show difference in experience between ordinary people and Downing Street

When Dr Prit Buttar, a retired GP, decided to break social distancing rules and offer his embrace to a bereaved woman, it was a gesture of core humanity. “Everybody on the team would have done exactly the same, Covid or no Covid,” he said from his study near Kirkcudbright.

He did not envisage, a year on, that his recollection of that moment would inspire a cathartic outpouring of similar memories from people across the UK, or that he would become a reluctant – though passionate – advocate for the fury and dismay of ordinary people at the boozy rule-breaking in the seat of power.

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France reports nearly half a million new cases, a record increase; Italy records 228,179 daily infections – as it happened

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France registers 464,769 new Covid-19 infections over the last 24 hours; Italy’s cases jump from 83,403 a day earlier

China’s postal service has ordered workers to disinfect international deliveries and urged the public to reduce orders from overseas after authorities claimed mail could be the source of recent coronavirus outbreaks, Agence France-Press reports.

In recent days, Chinese officials have suggested that some people could have been infected by packages from abroad, including a woman in Beijing whom authorities said had no contact with other infected people but tested positive for a variant similar to those found in North America.

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Hong Kong to cull thousands of hamsters after Covid found on 11

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Authorities call for animals to be surrendered for ‘disposal’ after traces of virus detected at pet shop

Hong Kong has ordered thousands of hamsters be surrendered for “disposal” after traces of Covid-19 were found on 11 animals in a pet shop.

The order includes pets that were bought days before Christmas be handed over, with a warning not to “kiss or abandon them on the street” as Hong Kong and mainland China attempt to sustain a zero Covid strategy, attempting to suppress all outbreaks internally while maintaining tight border controls with the outside world.

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New York and other north-eastern US states see a rapid fall in Covid cases

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Despite decreasing positivity rates, hospitals continue to struggle amid a surging patient load and staff shortages

New York City and some north-eastern US states appear to be seeing rapid decreases in their numbers of Covid-19 cases in recent days, raising the possibility that the Omicron wave has now already peaked in some parts of America.

In New York City the rolling seven-day average of new cases was less than 28,000 a day on 16 January, down from an average of more than 40,000 on 9 January.

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On Australia’s deadliest day of Covid pandemic, experts say we don’t know enough about who is dying

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Doctors say Australia must coordinate Covid-19 data nationally and pick up the game on testing, tracing, isolating and quarantining

Today is the deadliest day in Australia’s Covid pandemic. So far this year, about 30 Australians a day are dying with Covid.

“[These are] someone’s parents, grandparents, community leaders, people who contribute to our society,” the Burnet Institute director and chief executive officer, Prof Brendan Crabb, says.

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‘It’s a total disaster’: Omicron lays waste to India’s huge wedding season

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Distraught couples face prospect of cutting guest lists from more than 600 people down to just 20 after coronavirus variant took hold

Until 28 December, Heena Vashisht was a happy bride-to-be. The 28-year-old was pleased her family had put in place early all the arrangements for her wedding on 10 February, right down to the last candle. But her plans have been shredded by India’s Omicron surge. The nuptials can go ahead in New Delhi as planned, but only if she cuts her guest list down from 650 to 20.

“My own immediate family is 80. How can I reduce the guests to 20? The tension in my family is unbearable right now. No one knows what to do and my mother’s blood pressure has shot up with all the tension,” says Vashisht.

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Covid live: unvaccinated over-60s face monthly fine in Greece; UK reports another 84,429 cases and 85 deaths

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Un-jabbed older people in Greece face penalties starting at a €50; UK cases continue downward trend

Germany is reporting a daily rise of 34,145 confirmed coronavirus cases and 30 deaths, according to recently released figures from the Robert Koch Institute.

The numbers bring the cumulative total of infections to 8,000,122 and 115,649 coronavirus-related deaths.

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Moderna aims to launch single Covid and flu booster jab within two years

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Combined vaccine should be ready in time for winter infectious season in 2023, says drug firm’s chief executive

Moderna is aiming to launch a single booster vaccination that will protect against both Covid-19 and flu within two years, its chief executive has said.

Stéphane Bancel said that the combined vaccine – which will protect against Covid-19, influenza and RSV, a common respiratory virus – could be available before the winter infectious season in 2023.

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