Category Archives: Coronavirus

As a scientist commenting on Covid I’ve attracted a lot of haters – I won’t let them silence me | Siouxsie Wiles

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The people who harass me are executives and electricians; ordinary people. They can’t imagine I’m simply motivated by wanting to save lives

On Christmas Eve I received an email to let me know I’d been added to the “accused” list on a website called Nuremberg NZ. “Kind regards”, ended the sender. Those behind Nuremberg NZ want people like me to have “thier (sic) day of reckoning” in a similar way to how Nazi war criminals were tried after the second world war. According to the website, my crimes are “misleading the public” and “supporting a government to perform medical experiment (sic) on it’s (sic) citizens”. Nuremberg NZ gives people the opportunity to leave a comment about each accused and to vote on whether they should be listed. User bennyman88 comments with one word, “Murderer”, and votes “agree”.

Great Barrier Island is about 90 kilometres off the coast of New Zealand’s largest city, Auckland. Completely off-grid, the island is home to about 1,000 people and boasts calm bays and surf beaches as well as a dark sky sanctuary, natural hot springs, and native forests. In 2015, island local Gendie Somerville-Ryan started the ‘No Barriers: Small Island Big Ideas’ event series based on the BBC programme Big Ideas. The first event’s theme was pandemics and brought together a virologist, a young adult fiction writer, a sociologist, and a representative from Civil Defence to discuss how the island’s residents should behave if a pandemic was sweeping the world, killing all in its wake.

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Biden addresses pandemic: ‘We’re going to be able to control this’ – live

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There’s been a lot of back-and-forth about the efficacy of the Covid-19 vaccine – which, reminder, while everybody here is highly educated in law, nobody is an epidemiologist – and Justice Elena Kagan went hard at Ohio solicitor general Ben Flowers.

“You said we understand that 18- to 29-year-olds, even though they’re not going to die or end up with very serious injuries, they can spread. You don’t doubt that, that they can spread to other people who are more vulnerable?” Kagan asked Flowers.

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The rise of lateral flow tests: are these ‘heroes’ of the pandemic here to stay?

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After missteps and controversy, the quick and easy tests are well on way to becoming part of daily life

Once obscure diagnostic devices, lateral flow tests have had a rocky path to mainstream use, but some experts now view their rise to ubiquity as a “heroic” step in the fight against Covid-19 and say they could be here to stay.

As the first wave of Covid crashed down in early 2020 and governments scrambled to secure PPE, ventilators and reagents for laboratory testing, behind the scenes some had already foreseen a role for the pregnancy test-style kits.

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England ‘global outlier’ in terms of Covid policy, says Welsh first minister – video

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Mark Drakeford said the Welsh government was capable and determined to act to protect its population from coronavirus.

He said that in England the government was 'politically paralysed' and that Boris Johnson was unable to secure an agreement among his MPs to take actions that would keep the population safe


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Dozens of Hong Kong officials in Covid quarantine after birthday party

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Chief executive expresses ‘deep disappointment’ that bureaucrats ignored government advice

Dozens of senior officials and legislators in Hong Kong have been sent into a 21-day quarantine after they attended a birthday party despite the government’s own pandemic warning.

The embarrassing incident came as the city’s new “patriots only” legislature is scheduled to hold its first meeting next week. Concerns had been raised in recent weeks after a number of Omicron cases were identified in Hong Kong. Health officials say they cannot rule out hidden clusters in the community.

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Japan attempts to stem surge in Covid cases linked to US military bases

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Limits on restaurant opening times imposed in Okinawa and parts of Hiroshima and Yamaguchi

Japan is to introduce limits on bar and restaurant opening times in three areas in an attempt to stem a surge in coronavirus cases that has been linked to US military bases.

The measures – officially described as a quasi-state of emergency – will go into effect from Sunday until the end of the month in Okinawa, home to more than half of the US service personnel based in Japan, and parts of the western prefectures of Hiroshima and Yamaguchi, which also host American troops.

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New Zealand’s successful Covid policies hid inequality – the government can’t ignore it this year | Morgan Godfery

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In 2022 Jacinda Ardern must act on runaway house prices while the central bank should grab inflation by the neck

March 2020 seems like an age ago. And also like it was yesterday. The month begun more or less like any other March in New Zealand. The weather was typically warm and dry, most people were back in the office or on site, and parliament was sitting after its generous summer recess. In most respects you could mistake March 2020 for March 2019. Except, on 4 March, the country recorded its second coronavirus case after a woman returning from northern Italy, where this strange virus had taken hold, presented with the infection at the border. The number of infections increased again and again as the month unfolded with 647 come 1 April.

In the early days of March, government advisers and prime minister Jacinda Ardern were aiming, like the rest of the world, for either “herd immunity” or “flattening the curve”. But when the government’s chief science adviser presented advice on precisely what this meant for the health system – a quick collapse, essentially – Ardern went for the approach her advisers at the universities of Otago and Auckland were advocating: elimination. On 25 March the prime minister made her way to parliament’s debating chamber and in a historic speech announced a national state of emergency and a move to an alert level 4 lockdown. The speech helped generate unprecedented national solidarity.

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Mass cancellation of children’s vaccinations in NSW blamed on ‘technical glitch’

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State health department apologises while commonwealth also in firing line over delayed delivery of doses to GP clinics

A “technical glitch” has forced the mass cancellation of children’s vaccinations at two vaccine hubs in New South Wales, prompting an apology from the state government, while commonwealth delays of Pfizer doses to general practitioners have caused chaos at a number of clinics.

The rollout of the vaccine to children aged five to 11 is due to start on Monday but is facing early problems including low dose allocations for vaccine providers, a reduced health workforce due to Covid cases, booking problems, and delivery issues.

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Covid live: Germany toughens restrictions for bars and restaurants; Austrian chancellor tests positive

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Germany also cuts isolation period for boosted people after a Covid contact; Karl Nehammer tests positive after contact with member of security team

Argentina reported a record number of Covid-19 cases on Thursday for a third day in a row at nearly 110,000, Reuters reports, as the highly infectious Omicron variant drives a third pandemic wave in the South American nation.

The record tally of 109,608 in the middle of the southern hemisphere summer holiday season with tourist centres full of travellers, has not translated into a similar exponential rise in Covid-related deaths, which totalled 40, the government said.

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Philippines’ Duterte orders arrest of unvaccinated people who violate stay-at-home orders

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President ‘appalled’ at the large numbers of Filipinos not vaccinated ‘galloping in our community’

The Philippine president, Rodrigo Duterte, has ordered the arrest of unvaccinated people who violate stay-at-home orders aimed at curbing “galloping” coronavirus infections driven by the Omicron variant.

The government tightened restrictions in Manila and several provinces and cities this week. Unvaccinated people among the capital’s 13 million people were ordered to stay home, after infection numbers tripled in the last two days.

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Military deployed at London hospitals due to Omicron staff shortages

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Support, which includes 40 army doctors, shows ministers can no longer ignore scale of understaffing, union leaders say

The armed forces are being deployed to help hospitals in London deal with a surge in Covid patients because the Omicron variant is leaving so many staff sick and unable to work.

Of the 200 military personnel involved, 40 are doctors who will help NHS staff look after patients. The other 160 personnel, who have no medical training, will check in patients, ensure stocks are maintained and would also be “conducting basic checks”, the Ministry of Defence said.

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We know the hell we’re in. It will get worse before it gets better | Melbourne ICU nurse

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I’ve seen people die without their family. It used to bring me to tears. Now I just feel weary

My therapist says it’s OK that sometimes I feel dead inside.

I’m a critical care nurse. I worked in intensive care for all of 2020 and 2021.

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In this strange summer it feels like the wheels are falling off faster in 2022 | Brigid Delaney

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Between Christmas and New Year’s, time seems to stretch and purposelessness pervades – and Omicron gives this baggy week a sinister edge

Arriving home to a heatwave, I open the front door to see the house has swollen in the heat. It’s an old miner’s cottage built on dirt, no proper foundations. It seems to breathe and change form depending on the weather. Remember that scene in Willy Wonka where Violet Beauregarde eats the forbidden gum and turns purple then expands like a blueberry? My house is Violet Beauregarde.

The skirting boards have popped off and detached from the wall, a deep crack has appeared in the ceiling, and the ceiling and the wall appears to have separated. Will the house cleave in two if the heatwave continues? And if so, what does that mean? What should I do?

Brigid Delaney is a columnist for Guardian Australia

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Tory peer Michelle Mone secretly involved in PPE firm she referred to government

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Exclusive: Leaked files suggest Mone and her husband were involved in business given £200m contracts

Leaked files appear to suggest the Conservative peer Michelle Mone and her husband, Douglas Barrowman, were secretly involved in a PPE business that was awarded more than £200m in government contracts after she referred it to the Cabinet Office.

Barrowman, an Isle of Man-based financier, may have played a central role in the business deal that enabled PPE Medpro to sell millions of masks and surgical gowns to the government at the start of the pandemic, documents suggest.

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UK faces legal action for approving firm accused of using forced labour as PPE supplier

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High court to review government’s decision to include subsidiary of Malaysia’s Supermax in £6bn ‘framework’ deal for buying gloves

The UK government is facing legal action over its decision to keep using a Malaysian company accused of using forced labour as a supplier of personal protective equipment (PPE) to the NHS.

Lawyers at the London-based law firm Wilson Solicitors have filed for a judicial review of the government’s decision to name the UK subsidiary of the Malaysian company Supermax as one of the approved suppliers in a new £6bn contract for disposable gloves for NHS workers.

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Covid live news: French parliament approves ‘vaccine pass’ law; Italy to mandate vaccines for over 50s

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Law passes after controversy over Macron’s words on putting pressure on unvaccinated; Italy tightens vaccination rules as it reports record rise in cases

Novak Djokovic flew into Melbourne airport on Wednesday night planning to defend his Australian Open title. Instead, the World No 1 is being held in a quarantine hotel and is set to be deported tonight after a remarkable series of events led to his visa being cancelled.

So how on earth did it get to this point?

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French MPs pass controversial Covid vaccine bill with large majority

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Bill to restrict restaurant, theatre and other access to vaccinated follows Macron’s pledge to ‘piss off’ those without jabs

French MPs have passed the government’s controversial vaccine pass bill after three days of an angry stop-start debate.

The legislation, which requires people to be fully vaccinated to enjoy social, sporting and cultural activities, was approved by a large majority in the assemblée nationale in the early hours of Thursday morning.

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From corruption to the ‘mark of the beast’ – why countries like Malawi are struggling against Covid | Madalitso Wills Kateta

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With 80% of pandemic funds misused and widespread vaccine myths, citizens have had to step up where government has failed

In January 2021, the Malawian rights activist Paul Msoma wrote that he was in Kamuzu central hospital, struggling to breathe. The hospital had oxygen cylinders but no flowmeters – the necessary instrument to connect him to them. I was left wondering where the funds that had been released for the country’s Covid-19 response were going. “My situation is getting bad and l desperately need oxygen,” Msoma wrote on Facebook. “Anyone who can urgently help out there please help by donating this very gadget.”

Kamuzu central hospital is one of the biggest referral hospitals in Malawi and it did not seem right for such a big hospital not to have oxygen flowmeters, which are very basic medical equipment costing around £18 a piece. This was at a time when the government had released more than £5.6m for the Covid-19 response effort.

Madalitso Wills Kateta is a freelance journalist based in Lilongwe, Malawi

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Crisis, what crisis? Florida Republicans deny Omicron is straining hospitals

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State becomes focal point of politicized debate over whether Omicron is dangerous enough to overwhelm hospital systems

While Florida has experienced a record number of Covid-19 cases and sharp increase in hospitalizations in recent weeks, there is disagreement between Republicans and Democrats over whether the Omicron surge has actually overwhelmed the state’s healthcare system.

For example, Florida Republican senator Marco Rubio posted on Twitter that there “is no Omicron hospital ‘surge’ in Florida. People admitted for non-Covid reasons get tested. If they test positive they get counted as a ‘Covid patient.’”

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US troops in Okinawa ordered to wear masks as Covid cases rise

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Military personnel must wear face coverings off base after virus surges among civilians in Japan

US troops in Okinawa prefecture have been ordered to wear masks off base amid criticism that military authorities failed to tackle a fresh Covid-19 outbreak among service personnel that has taken hold among the local civilian population in Japan.

Okinawa is at the centre of the country’s latest outbreak, with cases surging in recent days from 51 on Saturday to at least 980 on Thursday – a record daily caseload for the southern island.

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