The vast incarcerated population is uniquely vulnerable to the pandemic as experts urge release of cash bail prisoners and others
To curb the spread of coronavirus, doctors and advocates are calling on the US to temporarily forgive bail and to clamp down on other programs that keep low-risk offenders imprisoned.
Jails and prisons remain uniquely vulnerable to coronavirus outbreaks, experts say, potentially leaving a major hole in America’s defenses against the outbreak.
Continue reading...Australia’s chief medical officer says supply problems are a ‘temporary issue’ but one that is hampering testing in Australia and across the globe
A global shortage of Covid-19 testing kits is hitting Australia as other nations limit exports and keep equipment for their own use, the country’s chief medical officer has said.
State health ministers have reported shortages of reagents and kits used to conduct coronavirus tests in laboratories, as unprecedented demand for testing combines with limits on exports from other nations struggling to contain Covid-19.
Continue reading...Earliest case detected on 17 November, weeks before authorities acknowledged new virus, says Chinese media
The first case of someone suffering from Covid-19 can be traced back to 17 November, according to media reports on unpublished Chinese government data.
The report, in the South China Morning Post, said Chinese authorities had identified at least 266 people who contracted the virus last year and who came under medical surveillance, and the earliest case was 17 November – weeks before authorities announced the emergence of the new virus.
Continue reading...Justin Trudeau’s wife and diplomat at the UN test positive as Australian Grand Prix is cancelled and Arsenal and Chelsea teams affected
The coronavirus has reached the highest levels of government and the sporting world, with Canada’s prime minister isolating himself when his wife tested positive, the Arsenal manager and a Chelsea player being diagnosed and the Australian Grand Prix cancelled just hours before the event was due to start.
On Thursday night, Sophie Grégoire Trudeau, Justin Trudeau’s wife, announced she had been diagnosed with Covid-19 after returning from the UK. Her symptoms were mild and she began two weeks of isolation. Her husband also began isolation and was “in good health with no symptoms”.
Continue reading...The action plan’s recommendations differed significantly from measures imposed in other countries
Coronavirus – all the developments
Boris Johnson delivered the government’s coronavirus action plan under the new “delay” phase, flanked by the UK’s chief medical officer, Chris Whitty, and chief scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance, on Thursday. Here are the next steps in different areas, and the justifications they gave for them.
Continue reading...IEA warns that Covid-19 could cause a slowdown in world’s clean energy transition
The coronavirus health crisis may lead to a slump in global carbon emissions this year but the outbreak poses a threat to long-term climate action by undermining investment in clean energy, according to the global energy watchdog.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) expects the economic fallout of Covid-19 to wipe out the world’s oil demand growth for the year ahead, which should cap the fossil fuel emissions that contribute to the climate crisis.
Continue reading...Donald Trump spoke to reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday, the morning after he delivered an address to the nation announcing restricted air travel from Europe. Sitting alongside the Irish caretaker taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, the US president sought to calm fears of both a market crash and the virus spreading, telling reporters: 'We're in great shape compared to other places'
The president responded to the pandemic with denial and blaming foreigners. His incompetence and selfishness will be lethal
Coronavirus is the first major crisis Donald Trump has faced that is not of his own making. People who know what it is like to be in charge when disaster strikes have warned us this moment would come eventually – and we can now see why they were so terrified.
Trump in a time of coronavirus is a lethal combination. Everything about the president – his reliance on his gut instincts in place of expertise, his overwhelming selfishness, and his unfailing tendency to lash out at others when things go wrong – make him the worst person imaginable to hold the world’s most powerful job in the face of pandemic.
Continue reading...President’s restrictions are as arbitrary as 2017 ‘Muslim ban’ – driven by politics, not science
Donald Trump’s contorted spin on the travel restrictions he announced on Wednesday night, including pinning the blame for “a foreign disease” on the European Union, revealed a mind largely driven by politics and not science.
The impression he sought to create was that the EU bureaucracy had let the world down by failing to take necessary steps to slow the spread of coronavirus, but the United Kingdom, legally outside the EU and physically an island, was exonerated.
Continue reading...Respiratory physician John Wilson explains the range of Covid-19 impacts, from no symptoms to severe illness featuring pneumonia
What became known as Covid-19, or the coronavirus, started in late 2019 and early 2020 in the Chinese city of Wuhan as a cluster of pneumonia cases with an unknown cause.
The cause of the pneumonia was found to be a new virus – severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, or Sars-CoV-2. The illness caused by the virus is Covid-19.
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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is trying to wrap up her press conference. She’s been talking up the new legislation the Democrats introduced in the House this morning but she’s also not especially impressed by Donald Trump’s suspending entry for most passengers arriving in the US from Europe.
Related: Trump to suspend travel from Europe, excluding UK, amid coronavirus outbreak
Related: ‘He’s gonna get us all killed’: sense of unease after Trump coronavirus speech
She’s not trying out the microphone, she’s talking about dealing with the coronavirus outbreak in the US.
The House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is holding her press conference right now.
Continue reading...Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments as they happen
These are from the Telegraph’s Gordon Rayner.
Sources in Scotland insist Sturgeon's announcement of ban on gatherings of 500+ from Monday is a "UK-wide" policy. This morning Westminster sources were steering away from crowd bans. Has Sturgeon jumped the gun on something Boris was going to announce next week?
(Sturgeon is not averse to stealing people's thunder to make it look as though she is the one doing all the leading)
The Scottish Green party has cancelled its spring conference, which was due to take place on Saturday 28 March, because of the coronavirus outbreak after the number of cases declared in Scotland jumped to 60 on Thursday.
Ross Greer MSP, a co-chair of the party’s executive, said:
Due to the ongoing coronavirus situation the Scottish Greens executive committee has today taken the decision to cancel our upcoming conference. The health and wellbeing of our members and the public is our primary concern and it is with that in mind that we have taken this decision.
Continue reading...Critics of UK coronavirus measures call for joint strategy on island of Ireland
Ireland is shutting schools, colleges and childcare facilities to delay the spread of coronavirus in contrast to the UK which is keeping education institutions open, exposing a stark divergence in response to the crisis.
Irish authorities said the shutdown would begin at 6pm on Thursday and last at least until 29 March as part of a series of restrictions, including a ban on mass gatherings, that will be kept under review.
Continue reading...Consumers told soap could tackle the deadly virus
The WHO has declared the Covid-19 outbreak to be a pandemic. But what does that mean?
Declaring a pandemic has nothing to do with changes to the characteristics of a disease, but is instead associated with concerns over its geographic spread. According to the World Health Organization, a pandemic is declared when a new disease for which people do not have immunity spreads around the world beyond expectations.
Continue reading...Anoosheh Ashoori appeals for UK to do more to help secure his temporary release
A British-Iranian political prisoner being held in Tehran on spying charges has sent a recorded message saying that the jail he is in was in chaos because of coronavirus and appealing for the UK government to do more to help secure his temporary release.
Anoosheh Ashoori was transferred three days ago within Evin prison to ward four, one of the wards he claims housed coronavirus victims previously. Ashoori was sentenced two years ago to 10 years in jail on charges of spying for Israel, a charge he vehemently denies.
Continue reading...Theory is gaining traction online in China that Covid-19 came from the US
One of the most popular topics on the Chinese microblog Weibo on Thursday was a one-minute clip of a US congressional hearing this week on how the country was dealing with the coronavirus.
In the video posted by the People’s Daily, Robert Redfield, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is asked whether there may have been deaths attributed to influenza that could actually have been the result of Covid-19. Redfield responds in the affirmative: “Some cases have been actually diagnosed that way in the United States today.”
Continue reading...The truth about how you can catch coronavirus, who is most vulnerable and what you can do to avoid infection
Wearing a face mask is certainly not an iron-clad guarantee that you won’t get sick – viruses can also transmit through the eyes and tiny viral particles, known as aerosols, can penetrate masks. However, masks are effective at capturing droplets, which is a main transmission route of coronavirus, and some studies have estimated a roughly fivefold protection versus no barrier alone (although others have found lower levels of effectiveness).
Continue reading...The Italian prime minister, Giuseppe Conte, ordered on Wednesday night the closure of all non-essential commercial activities to counteract the spread of the coronavirus, which has so far claimed 827 lives, after a 31% rise in 24 hours.
The World Health Organization has formally declared a pandemic. After banning all but essential travel on Monday, Italy is allowing stores selling ‘basic necessities’, such as pharmacies and supermarkets, to remain open. Conte added that the impact of the new measures would only become clear in a few weeks
Continue reading...Inmates making masks and hand sanitiser to ease shortages are among most vulnerable to Covid-19, prison reformers warn
Prison labour is being used to shore up supplies of face masks and hand gels in Hong Kong and the USA as campaigners warn that inmates are among the most vulnerable to Covid-19 infections.
Women inmates at the Lo Wu prison in Hong Kong have reportedly been asked to work night shifts to make 2.5m face masks a month after a huge rise in demand according to Reuters.
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