Category Archives: Coronavirus outbreak

Ursula von der Leyen says Poland’s ‘LGBT-free zones’ have no place in EU

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In her first ‘state of union’ speech, European commission president delivers criticism of Polish ruling party

The head of the European commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has said Poland’s “LGBT free zones” are “humanity-free zones” that have no place in the European Union in her strongest criticism yet of Poland’s ruling Law and Justice party.

In a wide-ranging 77-minute speech spanning from coronavirus to the climate emergency, Von der Leyen pledged to build “a union of equality” and criticised European member states that watered down EU foreign policy messages on human rights.

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‘Confounding’: Covid may have already peaked in many African countries

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One explanation for virus not behaving as expected could be previous exposure to other infections, experts tell MPs

The coronavirus pandemic has peaked earlier than expected in many African countries, confounding early predictions, experts have told MPs.

Scientists do not yet know why, but one hypothesis is the possibility of people having pre-existing immunity to Covid-19, caused by exposure to other infections.

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Malaysian prisoners may face ‘forced labour’ on palm oil plantations

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Shortage of foreign workers behind plan by producers to employ inmates as a stopgap measure

Prisoners are expected to be put to work on Malaysia’s giant palm oil plantations to make up for an acute labour shortage heightened by the coronavirus pandemic.

But workers’ rights experts have warned that the proposal by the country’s palm oil producers may constitute “institutionalised forced labour” in an industry already accused of widespread abuse and exploitation of workers.

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Covid Australia live update: Victoria records eight deaths and 42 new coronavirus cases, with 10 in NSW – latest news

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South Australia opens up to ACT and Brett Sutton gives evidence at Victoria’s hotel quarantine inquiry. Follow all today’s developments

The Australian National University has announced a restructure that will involve the loss of 465 positions.

Some 230 staff have already accepted voluntary separations, with a further 20 to come, but the ANU announced on Wednesday that there will need to be a further reduction of 215 positions.

All these cuts to Australia’s universities are going to have ongoing impacts for years

BREAKING: ANU has announced 230 staff have taken voluntary redundancies, another 20 are expected to follow in the coming weeks. ANU says Another 215 positions need to go as well. That is almost 500 jobs that will be lost at ANU due to #COVID19 #auspol @conorduffynews @abccanberra

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Victoria records eight deaths and 42 new coronavirus cases, with 10 in NSW – as it happened

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South Australia opens up to ACT and Brett Sutton gives evidence at Victoria’s hotel quarantine inquiry. Follow all today’s developments

That’s it for our live coverage of coronavirus news and other developments in Australia. Thanks to Amy Remeikis for the earlier coverage. She’ll be back in the morning.

You can follow our global coverage here and there is a lot to follow. Outside Australia, the second wave is well and truly surging.

Australia’s cricket coach Justin Langer says he could “see the blood draining out of their faces” when his players were told about the quarantine periods in store for them in the coming months.

AAP reports the team was given the rundown ahead of tonight’s ODI series decider against England in Manchester.

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Coronavirus live news: Trump says Covid-19 will ‘go away’ because of ‘herd mentality’

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‘It would go away without the vaccine,’ Trump says on ABC town hall. India’s total cases pass 5 million; Virus death toll linked to Maine wedding grows to 7; Follow the latest updates

Me, traveling abroad 10 minutes after getting the vaccine: pic.twitter.com/xe2odYxXBT

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said a vaccine against the deadly coronavirus could be three or four weeks away, underscoring predictions made by US public health officials and Pfizer Inc earlier this month, Reuters reports.

Trump, speaking at a town hall hosted by ABC News in Philadelphia, defended his handling of the coronavirus crisis, and said a vaccine could be ready for distribution soon.

“We’re very close to having a vaccine,” he said. “If you want to know the truth, the previous administration would have taken perhaps years to have a vaccine because of the FDA and all the approvals. And we’re within weeks of getting it you know could be three weeks, four weeks.”

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Coronavirus live news: Netherlands records second successive daily case high; targeted lockdowns in Madrid

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1,542 new cases in Netherlands; Madrid accounts for a third of Spain’s caseload; Trump says ‘herd mentality’ will beat Covid virus

The average age of people infected with Covid-19 is coming down, according to a World Health Organization (WHO) expert, Dr Maria Van Kerkhove. She has told a Q&A that incidences of hospitalisation among those aged 15 to 49 years are increasing.

She also said it was possible for the same person to be infected with influenza and Covid-19, adding that the WHO was looking into the prevalence of that.

Earlier, we posted that the Czech Republic had reported its highest daily count since the beginning of the pandemic. The country’s health minister, Adam Vojtěch, has told its parliament the government plans to ban stand-up indoor events as of Friday to help stabilise the situation.

Inevitably the numbers in the coming days will be very similar to the current increases.

We have to calculate with that, although we are hoping for a certain decline or at least stabilisation from the measures adopted.

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Covid sees classroom experience slashed for 1,000 New Zealand student teachers

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Teaching council says student teachers are not able to complete the requisite number of practical hours because of this year’s lockdowns

More than a thousand student teachers in New Zealand will graduate this year without having completed their classroom practice requirements amid the disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

The Teaching Council of Aotearoa New Zealand said Covid-19 had forced it to think creatively, because many student teachers had been unable to complete the required number of practical hours due to seven weeks of lockdown; and more in Auckland.

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Donald Trump falsely claims he didn’t downplay coronavirus pandemic

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The president admitted to downplaying the virus in interviews with investigative journalist Bob Woodward

Donald Trump falsely claimed he did not downplay the coronavirus pandemic at a town hall Tuesday night, saying, “Actually, in many ways, I up-played it, in terms of action.”

His remarks came in response to an uncommitted voter at the ABC News event, who asked Trump why he would “downplay a pandemic that is known to disproportionately harm low-income families and minority communities”. The president said he did not minimize the threat of the virus: “My action was very strong. I’m not looking to be dishonest. I don’t want people to panic.”

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New car sales in Australia slump but luxury brands buck trend during coronavirus pandemic

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Overall sales have fallen 20% between January and August but Audi sales have actually increased

New car sales in Australia have slumped since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, but one sector is bucking the trend – luxury brands.

Overall sales have fallen 20% as people have lost jobs and income, overseas factories have closed down and the recession has begun to bite.

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Stress, anxiety and depression levels soar under UK Covid-19 restrictions

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Researchers say mental health levels may worsen as infections rise and lockdowns are imposed

Restrictions to curb the spread of coronavirus in the UK has driven stress, anxiety and depression far above normal levels and may do again in coming months if widespread lockdowns are re-imposed, researchers say.

A major study into the mental health impact of the pandemic found that in the early stages of lockdown 57% of those who took part reported symptoms of anxiety, with 64% recording common signs of depression.

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Irish health minister tests negative after Covid-19 scare

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Stephen Donnelly was taken ill after unveiling country’s pandemic plan

Ireland’s government suffered a Covid-19 scare on Tuesday after the health minister reported feeling unwell after a cabinet meeting.

Cabinet ministers were told to restrict their movements and parliament was suspended pending a coronavirus test for Stephen Donnelly. Hours later it came back negative, averting the spectre of an outbreak at the heart of government.

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Paul Rudd urges ‘fellow millennials’ to mask up in coronavirus safety video

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The Hollywood actor’s much-viewed public service announcement in character urges young New Yorkers to heed Covid-19 dangers

While Paul Rudd could just about pass as millennial, at 51 the Hollywood actor is really a few years off.

Related: Living With Yourself review – are two Paul Rudds better than one?

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Sweden records its fewest daily Covid-19 cases since March

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Chief epidemiologist puts low number of cases down to light-touch ‘sustainable’ approach

While many European countries are seeing their infection rates surge to levels not seen since the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic, Sweden – whose light-touch approach has made it an international outlier – has recorded the fewest daily cases since the virus emerged.

The Scandinavian country’s rolling seven-day average of new cases stood at 108 on Tuesday, its lowest level since 13 March. Data from the Swedish national health agency showed only 1.2% of its 120,000 tests last week came back positive.

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UK coronavirus live: Covid testing shortage will take weeks to resolve, says Matt Hancock

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News updates: health secretary signals access to testing could be prioritised for those most in need; just 1% of deaths in England and Wales linked to Covid, ONS says

Almost nine in 10 pupils have attended schools in England since their full reopening this month, government figures show. Around 92% of state schools were fully open on Thursday September 10, and approximately 88% of students were back in class on the same day, the Department for Education analysis suggests.

There have been a further 110 cases of Covid-19 in Wales, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 19,681. Public Health Wales said no further deaths had been reported, with the total number of deaths since the beginning of the pandemic remaining at 1,597.

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Coronavirus live news: Netherlands hits record of new daily cases; Denmark’s R number at 1.5

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Dutch infections rise by 1,379 in 24 hours; rise in cases in Denmark; global deaths pass 925,000 as cases near 30m

As cases continue to rise in the Netherlands, the Dutch government has said it will maintain heavy public spending in an effort to counter the losses from the pandemic despite its finances worsening.

In his annual speech outlining the government’s new budget on Tuesday, King Willem-Alexander said:

In these insecure times, the government chooses not to cut spending, but to invest, in job security, social safety nets and a stronger economy.”

New coronavirus cases in the Netherlands have hit a daily record of 1,379 in the past 24 hours, according to Dutch daily newspaper de Volkskrant.

On Monday, health authorities in the country recorded 1,300 new infections, it said.

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Dolphin numbers up in Hong Kong after Covid crisis halts ferries

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Revival prompts calls to divert boats to help protect native Indo-Pacific humpbacks

Large numbers of dolphins returned to Hong Kong waters within weeks of the Covid-19 crisis shutting down high-speed ferries, and researchers are now calling for protections before the ferries resume.

Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins, also known as Chinese white dolphins and pink dolphins, are native to the Pearl River estuary, but typically avoided the waters between Hong Kong and Macau because of the high volume of high-speed boats.

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Global report: Covid cases near 30m as China expects vaccine as soon as November

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Coronavirus deaths pass 925,000; biosafety head at Chinese CDC says vaccine progress ‘very smooth’; South Korea to secure early vaccines for 30 million

As global coronavirus cases neared 30 million on Tuesday, a senior health official in China said she expected a vaccine to be publicly available as early as November this year.

According to the Johns Hopkins University Covid-19 tracker, which relies on official government data, there are 29,190,588 confirmed infections worldwide. Deaths stand at 927,245 and are expected to pass 1 million by October.

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‘Covid has magnified every existing inequality’ – Melinda Gates

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Pandemic could result in a ‘lost decade’ for developing countries says co-chair of Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in stark report


The world’s poorest countries risk a lost decade of development unless leaders move quickly to help them recover from the fallout of Covid-19, Melinda Gates told the Guardian.

The co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which has committed $350m (£270m) to support the global response to the pandemic, said it was in the hands of the global community to decide the long-term impact.

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