Category Archives: Coronavirus

Donald Trump golf resorts claimed at least £3.3m in UK furlough support

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Former US president’s two Scottish resorts claimed emergency support during Covid pandemic

Donald Trump’s loss-making Scottish golf resorts claimed in excess of £3.3m in emergency support from the UK government, to help furlough staff during the Covid pandemic.

Company accounts for the former president’s resorts at Turnberry in Ayrshire and Balmedie, north of Aberdeen, show his businesses cut 273 jobs due to the Covid crisis last year, while also claiming £2.8m in furlough support.

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Guidance v rules: which Covid measures work better?

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Analysis: the Tories are arguing against further restrictions – but what do scientists think works best to prevent the spread of Covid?

They are questions that have cast a shadow over the festive season: will new Covid measures be needed, and if so, when and what form will they take?

The Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) has said peak admissions could be comparable with or even greater than previous highs without significant behaviour change or further interventions, but many Tory backbenchers have argued against legal restrictions, saying that the public should be trusted to make their own decisions on the risks they wish to take.

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Germany toughens Covid restrictions as Omicron variant takes hold

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Indoor and outdoor gatherings restricted in size with leisure facilities closing in several states

Germans across large parts of the country face a tightening of rules governing both private and public spaces in an effort to slow down a wave of coronavirus infections triggered by the Omicron variant.

Gatherings both indoors and outdoors are to be restricted in size from Monday, with leisure facilities – from gyms to swimming pools and nightclubs to cinemas – shutting in several states and restaurants facing earlier closing times.

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Pfizer/BioNTech tax windfall brings Mainz an early Christmas present

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German city where early Covid vaccine was developed uses its new-found wealth to slash debt and attract other biotech firms

The Pfizer/BioNTech jab is having an unexpected side-effect on the German municipality where scientists first developed it: for the first time in three decades the city of Mainz expects to become debt-free thanks to the tax revenues generated by the company’s global success.

Mainz’s decision to use its financial windfall to also slash corporate tax rates in the hope of attracting industry, especially biotech companies, however, is drawing criticism from neighbouring cities and economists.

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Engineering the future: meet the Africa prize shortlist innovators

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Turning invasive plants into a force for good and powering healthcare with solar – here are three of the 2022 nominees

From a solar-powered crib that treats jaundiced babies to fibre made from water hyacinth that absorbs oil spills, innovators from nine African countries have been shortlisted for the Royal Academy of Engineering’s 2022 Africa prize.

This year half of the shortlist of 16 are women, and for the first time it includes Togolese and Congolese inventors. The entrepreneurs will undergo eight months of business training and mentoring before a winner is chosen, who will receive £25,000, and three runners-up, who win £10,000 each. All the projects are sustainable solutions to issues such as access to healthcare, farming resilience, reducing waste, and energy efficiency. The Guardian spoke to three of the shortlisted candidates.

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US alarm at rise in child Covid infections sees school closures back on agenda

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Omicron threat stokes fears coast to coast but leading public health expert says ‘We know how to keep schools open and safe’

As US regional health authorities reacted with alarm to a jump in child Covid infections that caused some school districts to announce returns to remote learning, a leading public health official questioned the need for schools to close, saying: “We know how to keep schools open, we know how to keep them safe.”

Over the past three weeks, as Omicron-related cases soared in New York City and elsewhere, the number of children hospitalised in New York with Covid-19 quadrupled, the state health department said.

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Sydney New Year’s Eve fireworks: health experts call for caution as Omicron outbreak worsens

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NSW tourism minister expects lower turnout as leading epidemiologist says best place to watch festivities is from home

Experts are urging caution around Sydney’s planned New Year’s Eve celebrations amid surging Covid-19 cases in New South Wales.

On Friday, the NSW tourism minister, Stuart Ayres, said New Year’s Eve fireworks would proceed as planned under the current public health order, despite the growing Omicron outbreak.

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Covid cases rise in Xi’an as China battles biggest community outbreak since 2020

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A strict lockdown in the city of 13 million entered its fifth day as the country continues to pursue a ‘zero-Covid’ strategy

Lockdown restrictions have been tightened in the Chinese city of Xi’an, which is battling the largest community outbreak the country has seen since the initial months of the pandemic when China brought thousands of daily infections under control.

Authorities reported 162 new community infections on Monday, up from 158 on Sunday. All but 10 of Monday’s new cases were reported in Shaanxi province, where 13 million residents of the capital Xi’an have been forced to stay in their homes for five days.

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England hospital Covid admissions highest since February; France announces new curbs – as it happened

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No walk-in PCR tests available in England for a few hours due to ‘high demand’; French PM announces new measures

Queensland has detected 784 new Covid-19 cases but the health system is coping, state premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has said.

Quarantine and testing policies are being reviewed and rapid antigen tests may be introduced for some people within 48 hours to take pressure of testing facilities, AAP reports.

I don’t want people to be alarmed by that, the real issue here is what is the impact it is having on individuals in hospitals?

We are not seeing any massive impacts on our hospitals, which is really good news.

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No comfort at the bottom of the feed: how to prevent information overload in the time of Covid

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Experts explain techniques to navigate pandemic news so you can avoid being swamped while keeping up to date

There was a routine. Kate Sewell would watch the New South Wales premier’s daily Covid press conference at 11am. During the work day, she kept a browser tab running with a pandemic news live blog. She’d pick up her phone and scroll through posts about masks and lockdowns on social media. And then, on her drive home from her healthcare job in Sydney, maybe listen to a podcast or news radio.

She never felt exactly good when she turned off the TV or put down her phone, but maybe there was comfort in the noise. “It was the numbers game,” she says. “Are things going up? Are things going down? Chasing that hope that if the numbers are going down, OK, things are getting better.” The announcement in September that Gladys Berejiklian’s daily press conferences were coming to an end was “a hallelujah moment”, Sewell says.

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Boris Johnson to examine hospital data before decision on Covid rules

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Sources suggest No 10 leaning away from stricter curbs in England, as doctors’ union says lack of response is ‘ludicrous’

Boris Johnson is expected to examine crucial hospital data on Monday before making any new announcement on Covid measures, but has no plans to recall his cabinet, with ministers still deeply sceptical of further legal curbs.

Sources said the prime minister would “take stock” after being encouraged by improving data on Friday, a sign that No 10 is leaning away from stricter curbs in England, but Downing Street sources said he would act quickly if there were new causes for concern.

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Fauci says Omicron surge will continue and Americans must not be complacent

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Cases of Covid-19 will continue to surge worldwide due to the Omicron variant, the US chief medical adviser, Anthony Fauci, said on Sunday, warning Americans not to get complacent amid reports that the variant is less harmful than others.

“If you have many, many, many more people with a less level of severity,” Fauci told ABC’s This Week, “that might kind of neutralise the positive effect of having less severity.

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‘Landmines all the way down’: the guilt and frustration of breakthrough Covid

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The never-ending pandemic forces people to do their best to balance living a decent life and making responsible choices

When Sean Williams, 50, caught a breakthrough case of Covid-19 in November, he felt guilty and embarrassed. His 14-year-old tested positive, too; both were “double-vaxxed” and probably caught it from his 11-year-old daughter, who got it in school two days before her scheduled first vaccination.

“It’s impossible to talk about without going through this whole tortured thing about how careful you were before you got it,” says Williams, who lives with his family in New York City. “Also, this horrible feeling that you have to stutter your way through a clarification that you do believe in science, you did get vaccinated, you’re, like, not a fascist, even. It’s landmines all the way down.”

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Covid live news: new restrictions for Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland

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New coronavirus restrictions are being introduced in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland as the country’s leaders try to combat rising Covid cases

China has reported 206 new Covid cases on Christmas Day, a significant jump from 140 a day earlier, its health authority said on Sunday and Reuters reports.

Of the new infections, 158 were locally transmitted, according to a statement by the National Health Commission, compared with 87 cases the previous day.

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Tensions are rising about pandemic modelling, but we ‘gloomsters’ are saving lives

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Scientists are often blamed for leading to excessive curbs on society. But they are cautious for a very good reason

The past week has seen tensions rising about scientific modelling during the pandemic. Projections cited by UK and devolved governments as they tightened Covid restrictions have led to strained exchanges. But modelling is essential because it tell us:

• What are the range of possible outcomes based on what we know?
Society can’t just wait for things to happen. We can and do save lives by being prepared for a range of things, only some of which happen. As information increases, the model improves, and the range of outcomes narrows as scenarios are eliminated.

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Omicron: bleak New Year or beginning of the end for the pandemic?

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Scientists are cautiously optimistic that the variant may be a sign the virus is losing its power, despite the high infection figures

Once again, Britain is experiencing a festive season hit by waves of Covid-19 infections. Last year, Christmas and New Year were spoiled by the appearance of the Alpha variant. This time, it is Omicron that has sent case numbers soaring. Christmas cancellations have swept through Britain’s restaurants, pubs and clubs and left the country on the brink of another bleak New Year as the NHS warns once more that it is facing the threat of being overwhelmed by spiralling numbers of seriously ill patients.

The scenario has raised fears that this now represents the shape of Christmases to come. Social restrictions and lockdown threats could become our normal festive fare.

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‘We’re all going to get Omicron’: NSW health minister’s warning as Australia records 9,618 cases

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Covid case numbers continue to grow across Australia with 6394 cases in NSW, 1,608 in Victoria, 774 in South Australia, 714 in Queensland, 71 in the ACT, 44 in Tasmania, 12 in the Northern Territory and one in Western Australia

New South Wales reported 6,394 new infections on Boxing Day and 458 cases in hospital, with the health minister warning “we’re all going to get Omicron” and the Australia-wide tally reaching almost 10,000 cases.

The case numbers in NSW are a slight increase on the already record case numbers reported on Christmas Day.

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Tory MPs warn Boris Johnson’s rivals to oppose tougher Covid new year rules

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Leadership hopefuls told to block new limits in England as scientists model curbs on bars and cafes

Cabinet ministers vying to succeed Boris Johnson have been warned by Tory colleagues that they will damage their chances unless they stridently oppose further Covid measures in England, as MPs called for New Year’s Eve restrictions to be ruled out.

With ministers expected to meet as soon as Monday to discuss whether additional measures are needed to protect hospital capacity, several Conservatives said that they would be watching those emerging as leading contenders to replace Johnson should he step aside before the next election.

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Three members of K-pop band BTS test positive for Covid

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RM and Jin diagnosed on Saturday, managers say, while Suga was shown to be infected after returning from the US

Three members of the K-pop superstar group BTS have been infected with coronavirus after returning from abroad, their management agency said on Sunday.

RM and Jin were diagnosed with Covid-19 on Saturday evening, the Big Hit Music agency said in a statement. It earlier said another member, Suga, tested positive for the virus on Friday.

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Covid live news: air travel disruption worldwide; China records most cases in four months

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  • Passengers hit after airlines cancel more than 4,500 flights
  • Officials in China rush to contain outbreaks in several regions

New South Wales has recorded its highest ever Covid daily caseload, with 6,288 new infections announced today – by far the highest number of cases in any Australian state since the pandemic began.

Record Covid cases were reported across Australia on Christmas Day as overwhelmed testing clinics were forced to close and tens of thousands of people spent the holiday in isolation.

I would sincerely appeal that they do not again consider closing churches and places of worship.

I think this country has shown that people can make good judgements themselves.

We’re at that point of saying we understand the risk. We know what we should do. Most people are sensible and cautious. We don’t need stronger impositions to teach us what to do.

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