Category Archives: Coronavirus

Woman’s diary goes viral as lockdown in China forces her to stay with blind date

Posted on by

Wang went for dinner at date’s house in Zhengzhou when Covid forced thousands into quarantine

A Chinese woman has become an overnight sensation after she posted video diaries documenting her life after being stuck at a blind date’s house.

Wang went for dinner on Sunday at her blind date’s residence in the central Chinese city of Zhengzhou, where a recent outbreak of Covid cases sent thousands into quarantine in parts of the city. As she was finishing her meal, the area was put under lockdown.

Continue reading...

France poised to lift blanket ban on UK travellers ‘by end of the week’

Posted on by

Skiing holidays could soon be given the green light, following the ease of travel restrictions in the ‘next few days’

British skiers could soon be able to return to French slopes after an announcement that France is due to lift its blanket ban on non-essential travel from the UK.

The French government’s official spokesman, Gabriel Attal, said after a weekly cabinet meeting on Wednesday that Paris would ease travel restrictions from the UK to France in the next few days.

Continue reading...

‘The economy cannot stay open’: Omicron’s effects ricochet across US

Posted on by

Biden has vowed to keep businesses and schools open but some experts wonder if that’s possible given nature of Covid variant

Schools going virtual, airlines canceling flights, pharmacies and testing centers closing temporarily, shelves emptying in grocery stores because of transportation delays, blood donations dropping to crisis levels for the first time ever and the country’s hospitals are becoming stretched. This is the US in the grip of the Omicron variant.

Omicron may cause milder symptoms in some people, but its effects are ricocheting throughout America and creating some of the greatest challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Continue reading...

‘The party’s over’: Keir Starmer derides Boris Johnson’s apology at PMQs – video

Posted on by

The Labour leader has said the prime minister's apology for attending what he claimed he thought was a 'work event' in the garden at No 10 in May 2020, when the country was in full lockdown, was 'offensive to the British public'. Keir Starmer called for Boris Johnson to 'do the decent thing' and resign before either his party or the public drove him out of office

UK politics: latest updates

Continue reading...

Omicron dims optimism as South America enters pandemic’s third year

Posted on by

Signs of an incipient return to normality have been dashed as case numbers soar but high vaccination rates offer reason for hope

As the pandemic’s second, gruelling year drew to a close and Covid rates in Rio de Janeiro plunged to levels unseen since it began, the Brazilian city’s health secretary, Daniel Soranz, celebrated a desperately needed respite.

“We’ve been through such painful, difficult months … this is now a moment of hope,” the 42-year-old doctor said last November as carioca life regained some semblance of normality, hospitals emptied and the city’s effervescent cultural scene was reborn.

Continue reading...

Australia news live update: NSW and Victoria each record 21 Covid deaths; cases in hospital top 3,700; $1,000 fines in NSW for not reporting positive RATs

Posted on by

NSW records 34,759 Covid cases and 2,242 hospitalisations on state’s deadliest day; Victoria reports 40,127 cases with 946 in hospital as more than 6,600 health workers furloughed, Queensland 22,069 cases and 525 in hospital, Tasmania 1,583 cases and 22 in hospital; $1,000 fines for not reporting positive rapid antigen tests in NSW. Follow all the day’s news

In New South Wales, four people have been rescued after a ute was swept into a flooded creek in the Hunter Valley last night.

Emergency services were called to Wells Gully Road at McCulleys Gap late last night, after the ute was swept off the spillway into Sandy Creek. A 49-year-old man, a 16-year-old boy, and two girls aged 14 were forced to climb on to the roof of the car after it began to sink in strongly flowing flood waters.

He has his own philosophy if he thinks like that ... he’s the most healthiest guy, he takes care of his life ... he’s playing tennis and he wants to stay. And I know that he’s doing everything to stay healthy to take care of his body, so ... if he’s not, he doesn’t want to, that’s his choice.

So, what’s the problem? You know, the vaccination – the vaccination, it’s not that I’m against it of course I’m not ... it’s not the point. If he’s healthy, his PCR is negative, why he cannot play?

I cannot say the ... all issues I don’t know exactly I’m reading in the newspapers. I didn’t talk to Novak about that. So I really cannot say anything. What I can say, that Judge Kelly [has] decided that Novak is free. So for me, this is closed book.

He didn’t know. Probably he didn’t know it, because when he realised [about] isolation, then he go to isolate ... because he didn’t know anything about that, He ... I really cannot say but it’s maybe the best is to ask him.

Continue reading...

Covid live: UK reports nearly 400 virus-linked deaths for second day; Germany chancellor calls for mandatory jabs

Posted on by

UK reports 129,587 new positive Covid-19 cases and 398 more deaths; Germany should make vaccinations mandatory for adults, says Olaf Scholz

India is reporting almost 200,000 new Covid infections in a single day.

The Asian nation recorded 194,720 new Covid-19 cases on Wednesday, the most since late May, health ministry data shows.

We cannot directly rule out that the virus is imported directly, because the spread of virus is not only through humans, but it can be spread via objects or environmental [contamination].

We are still investigating other possibilities for the virus to be imported to Tianjin directly…There is another option – would it be possible that it is not imported but came from other areas [in China] and spread to Tianjin? We are tracing this simultaneously and we have found some clues already.”

Continue reading...

Furious Tories pile pressure on Boris Johnson over No 10 parties

Posted on by

Former ministers and MPs call on prime minister to fully address issue in Commons after latest revelation

Boris Johnson is facing intense pressure from senior Conservatives to publicly confess he attended a rule-breaking garden party in Downing Street, with the Scottish Tory leader suggesting the prime minister should resign if he broke Covid rules.

A string of Conservative MPs openly expressed anger and humiliation about the “bring your own booze” gathering for up to 40 people on 20 May 2020 after it emerged in a leaked email. Others called on him to come clean and apologise on Wednesday in the hope of stemming rising fury.

Continue reading...

Quebec plans to impose a ‘health contribution’ tax on the unvaccinated

Posted on by

The tax comes amid a new wave of coronavirus in the province and would be for those who refuse the jab for non-medical reasons

Quebec has announced plans to impose a “health tax” on residents who refuse to get the Covid-19 vaccination for non-medical reasons, as a new wave of the coronavirus pandemic overwhelms the province.

Premier François Legault announced the new “contribution” for the unvaccinated on Tuesday, as the province reported 62 new deaths, bringing the total number of people killed by Covid-19 in the province to 12,028 – the most in Canada.

Continue reading...

Fauci clashes with Rand Paul at Senate hearing as daily Covid cases soar

Posted on by

The daily infection rate hit a new record of 1.35m while 145,982 people were in hospital with coronavirus on Monday

The US recorded a record number of hospitalisations due to Covid-19, the Biden administration said, as daily infections soared to more than 1.35m. Nonetheless, politics dominated a Senate hearing on the pandemic on Tuesday, as Republicans attempted to use the disease for political gain.

Rand Paul of Kentucky clashed once again with Anthony Fauci, Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser.

Continue reading...

Covid loses 90% of ability to infect within minutes in air – study

Posted on by

Exclusive: findings highlight importance of short-range Covid transmission

Coronavirus loses 90% of its ability to infect us within 20 minutes of becoming airborne – with most of the loss occurring within the first five minutes, the world’s first simulations of how the virus survives in exhaled air suggest.

The findings re-emphasise the importance of short-range Covid transmission, with physical distancing and mask-wearing likely to be the most effective means of preventing infection. Ventilation, though still worthwhile, is likely to have a lesser impact.

This article was amended on 11 January 2022. In an earlier version, we said Covid loses 90% of ability to infect within five minutes. It is actually within the first 20 minutes – with most of the loss occurring within the first 5 minutes. This has been corrected for clarity.

Continue reading...

Covid live: China locks down city of 5 million; enough vaccines for Canadians to get fourth dose, says Trudeau

Posted on by

China locks down city of Anyang, bringing total under stay-at-home orders to 20m; Canada will give eligible people a fourth dose ‘if necessary’

Five million residents in the central Chinese city of Anyang have started home confinement today in a new lockdown to curb the spread of Omicron variant, according to state media and as reported by Agence France-Presse.

Two Omicron cases were detected in the city in Henan province, prompting authorities to announce a lockdown late Monday, issuing a notice ordering residents not to leave their homes or drive cars on the roads, state news agency Xinhua reported.

Continue reading...

UK Covid death toll has passed 175,000, says ONS

Posted on by

Figure of 176,035 differs significantly from government’s official count – which exceeded 150,000 at weekend

The UK’s main statistical body has reported more than 175,000 deaths involving Covid since the start of the pandemic.

The ONS has reported 176,035 deaths where Covid was mentioned on the death certificate since March 2020. The figure differs significantly from the government’s official count – which exceeded 150,000 deaths over the weekend – which requires patients to have had a positive test within 28 days before their death.

Continue reading...

UK Covid live: party revelations show PM has done ‘incalculable damage’ to trust in health measures, Labour says

Posted on by

Latest updates: health minister Edward Argar says he can understand why people are ‘upset and angry’ about reports

The Conservative mayor for the West Midlands, Andy Street, whose mother died of Covid last year, has said news of a party at Downing Street during the first lockdown is “pretty incredible” and that he is “very hungry” to find out what happened.

Speaking to BBC Radio West Midlands, Street said he was shocked when he read the news. He said:

When I saw this I thought, I can’t really believe this, if I’m honest. It was May 2020, a time when we were all restricted. My idea of going out was to walk along the canal with one friend, frankly, and I’m sure there’s lots of people in the West Midlands who have their own recollections of what they were doing in May 2020. So yes, it is very difficult to believe.

What we don’t know is whether the prime minister was there. I obviously can’t possibly comment on that, but that’s why the inquiry has got to come.

And I’m sure that when the inquiry finds out the facts, then the conclusions and the consequences will be acted upon.

Continue reading...

Health minister admits public will be ‘angry’ over No 10 lockdown party

Posted on by

Ed Argar says he understands public anger after email unearthed inviting staff to drinks in the garden

A health minister has admitted the public will be “upset and angry” at revelations that a senior official invited more than 100 Downing Street staff to a “bring your own booze” party during the first lockdown.

In a tacit acknowledgment of the strength of feeling at the latest revelations, Ed Argar said he had personally not attended any parties and had been aware of the regulations, “not least because I was a health minister who’d helped draw them up”.

Continue reading...

Heathrow demands end to Covid testing for vaccinated as 600,000 cancel flights

Posted on by

Airport says passengers abandoned plans because of Omicron variant and uncertainty on restrictions

Heathrow airport has said at least 600,000 passengers cancelled their travel plans from the airport in December because of Omicron, warning aviation would take years to recover from the pandemic.

Only 19.4 million passengers passed through the airport in 2021 – less than a quarter of 2019 levels and below even 2020, the year when the Covid-19 pandemic started in March.

Continue reading...

Will Covid-19 become less dangerous as it evolves?

Posted on by

Analysis: experts warn that viral evolution is not a one-way street and a continuing fall in virulence cannot be taken for granted

The pandemic has been awash with slogans, but in recent weeks, two have been repeated with increasing frequency: “Variants will evolve to be milder” and “Covid will become endemic”. Yet experts warn that neither of these things can be taken for granted.

Those stating that viruses become less deadly over time often cite influenza. Both of the flu viruses responsible for the 1918 Spanish flu and 2009 swine flu pandemics eventually evolved to become less dangerous. However, the 1918 virus is thought to have become more deadly before it became milder. And other viruses, such as Ebola, have become more dangerous over time.

Continue reading...

GPs warn over children’s vaccine rollout ‘failings’; 3,500 cases in hospital nationwide – as it happened

Posted on by

‘Serious failings’ in children’s vaccine rollout, GPs warn; 2,186 Covid cases in NSW hospitals, 816 in Victoria, 502 in Qld and 211 in SA; NSW reports 25,870 new Covid cases and 11 deaths, Victoria 37,944 cases and 13 deaths, Qld 20,566 cases after testing glitch fixed, SA 2,921 cases, ACT 1,508 cases and one death, Tasmania 1,379 cases, NT 594. This blog is now closed

The Health Services Union has warned the aged care sector is experiencing an “unprecedented crisis” with “chronic understaffing, excessive workloads and extended shifts” hitting the sector amid the Omicron wave of Covid-19.

According to a survey of more than 1,000 HSU members:

The Morrison government comprehensively failed to plan before allowing Omicron to rip through the community and modestly paid workers, and residents in aged care facilities who built this country, are paying the price. Only just over a third of members surveyed have received their booster shot, despite working overtime in high risk settings.

There are active outbreaks in almost 500 aged care facilities across the country. Yet workers can’t access RATs, they can’t access PPE. They are on the front line with very little protection. Not only are staff at risk but vulnerable residents are at a heightened risk of severe disease or death.

Continue reading...

Email shows Boris Johnson aide invited No 10 staff to lockdown ‘BYOB’ party

Posted on by

Police investigating reports that Martin Reynolds invited 100 employees and PM attended at time when social mixing was banned

Boris Johnson was accused on Monday night of an “utterly outrageous” breach of lockdown rules as a leaked email showed one of his top officials invited more than 100 Downing Street staff to a “bring your own booze” party during the first lockdown. The police are now investigating.

The prime minister is believed to have attended the No 10 garden party on 20 May 2020 along with Carrie Johnson, then his fiancee, after it was advertised by his principal private secretary, Martin Reynolds.

Continue reading...

US CDC warns against travel to Canada amid rising Covid numbers

Posted on by

Agency elevates recommendation to ‘level four: very high’ and says Americans should avoid travel to northern neighbour

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has warned against travel to Canada as Covid-19 cases surge across the country and rampant infections threaten to once again overwhelm fragile healthcare systems.

The CDC on Monday elevated its travel recommendation to “level four: very high” for Canada, telling Americans they should avoid travel to its northern neighbour. The CDC currently lists about 80 destinations worldwide at level four.

Continue reading...