Category Archives: Coronavirus outbreak

‘I’m going round in circles’: parents in England still undecided about return to school

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As government guidance continues to change over mask-wearing in schools, many are anxious about the risk to families

Eva Harratt, 13, would love to go to the park to meet her friends but it is forbidden because she lives in Oldham, the town in Greater Manchester facing restrictions due to a rise in Covid-19 cases. And yet, in five days, she is expected to return to her 1,370-pupil school and sit in classes of 30.

She likes school, misses her friends and wants to go back, but her mother is in the most vulnerable category because of an autoimmune disease. “Returning to school, I feel, is just not an option for me. They don’t appear to have given much thought to families with shielding members, or how that may affect them. Personally, I would prefer for things to go back to normal as soon as possible, but in the current situation, it is just not plausible for me,” says Eva.

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New York’s not dead, but pandemic has laid bare deep-seated problems

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Jerry Seinfeld got into a spat about the Big Apple with a fellow millionaire but for others racial and class inequalities give debate about the city’s health a very different look

Shabazz Stuart was one year old when the TV sitcom Seinfeld first went on air, and seven when the much-loved show about nothing broadcast its final episode. He’s only ever known it as one of those late-night repeats that are fun to watch when you’re at a loose end.

But this week there was no avoiding Seinfeld, or at least its creator and lead actor Jerry Seinfeld who roared back into the public eye with an opinion piece headlined “So You Think New York Is ‘Dead’”. The comedian was responding to a provocative post on LinkedIn by James Altucher, a hedge-fund manager who owns an Upper West Side standup comedy club where Seinfeld occasionally appears.

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Sexual assault, forced labor, wage theft: garment workers in Jordan suffer for US brands

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Activist groups work towards improving labor conditions in textile factories but abolishing the industry’s ‘norms’ is an uphill battle

Mehedi Mehedi, a 36-year-old Bangladeshi garment worker who had spent 14 years working in Jordan, left the country forever last December. It was not an easy decision to make: Mehedi had met his wife in Jordan, he had no guarantees of finding a job back in Bangladesh, and he was desperate to work in order to support his chronically ill father.

In Jordan, Mehedi had been working for a subcontracting factory that supplies apparel to brands like Ralph Lauren, Under Armour, and American Eagle. But after spending his last six months without regular pay, he had reached a breaking point.

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Victoria’s new coronavirus cases fall to lowest rate in two months as 18 more die from Covid-19

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Premier Daniel Andrews says it is ‘too early’ to allow people who live alone to visit other households

The number of new Covid-19 cases in Victoria has dropped below 100 for the first time since 5 July but the state has recorded another 18 deaths, 16 of those linked to aged care outbreaks.

The premier, Daniel Andrews, said while announcing the 94 new cases that the downward trend was promising but cases would need to drop to “the lowest number we can get” before restrictions were eased.

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‘No social distancing’: US college towns close bars as Covid-19 cases surge

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Rise in campus infections from Missouri to Utah, and Alabama to Iowa forces local authorities to close bars and mandate masks

College towns across the United States have reimposed shutdowns after a spike in campus cases of coronavirus caused by students partying in large numbers on their return for the new academic year.

Despite waves of schools and businesses around the country being cleared to reopen, Columbia, Missouri joined cities in Alabama, Utah and Iowa in reimposing restrictions to deal with a surge of infections.

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White House chief of staff dismisses Covid concerns as four at RNC test positive – live

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Donald Trump is holding a rally for supporters in New Hampshire. He will speak any minute now. If you care to tune in you can here - if not, I will be blogging it here so stand by for updates.

The crowd at Trump’s NH rally just booed an announcement telling people to put on their masks

Germany chancellor Angela Merkel laughed off a question during a Friday press conference of whether she had been “charmed” by Donald Trump.

The question was in response to a statement made this week by Richard Grenell, the former US director of national intelligence and ambassador to Germany, who claimed Trump had smoothed over the historically strained relationship between German and the US by enchanting Merkel.

This is one of my new favourite Merkel moments. A journalist asks her about Richard Grenell's claim that Trump "charmed" Merkel. You don't need to speak German to enjoy her reaction:pic.twitter.com/RSjHSNXXtX

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Pacific’s fight against Covid-19 hamstrung by lack of clean water

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Access to clean, safe drinking water across the Pacific is the lowest of any region in the world, raising fears for the rapid spread of coronavirus

Papua New Guinea’s battle against a climbing rate of Covid-19 infections is being hampered by the most basic of shortages – access to clean water –public health experts have warned.

Case numbers have jumped from just 11 cases two months ago to 424 on Friday, with four deaths. And efforts to contain escalating case numbers throughout the archipelago, and to prevent outbreaks across the Pacific region, are being hamstrung because thousands cannot access clean water for hand-washing and cleaning, the region’s key development agency says.

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Plymouth divided over teenagers who tested positive for Covid after Greece trip

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Some locals believe the ‘Zante 30’ were selfish while others say they did nothing wrong

They’ve become known – somewhat infamously - as the Zante 30.

Just as the pubs, cafes and shops on the Barbican in Plymouth were gearing up for a bumper bank holiday weekend, with visitors and city residents expected to arrive on the Devon waterside to drink, eat and be merry, the news came.

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Reopening schools: how different countries are tackling Covid dilemma

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As schools in England prepare to reopen, we examine the situation around the world

As schools in England and Wales get set to reopen amid continued controversy over safe conditions, attention has focused on potential evidence of coronavirus transmission in the classroom and on the experiences of other countries.

Research on the ability of children of different ages to catch and transmit the virus is contradictory, and differences in education systems and social conventions make comparisons difficult.

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Coronavirus Australia live update: Victoria records 113 new Covid cases and 12 deaths as NSW reports 13 cases

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Queensland cancels schoolies events after three new coronavirus cases. Follow live

Coatsworth says he agrees with Scott Morrison’s comments that, even with a vaccine, there is not a “zero risk” of Covid-19.

“It is not simply me agreeing with the prime minister, every chief health officer agrees with that,” he says.

Coatsworth is asked about the Liberal MP Craig Kelly, who has been pushing the discredited drug hydroxychloroquine online as a treatment for Covid-19.

He is asked: “Are you concerned about him using his social media to promote those views against the scientific advice?”

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Coronavirus live news: India records its highest daily toll, WHO to review emergency alert rules

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Spanish children over six to wear masks at school; Tour de France in doubt; US Midwest states report record tallies. Follow latest updates

The UK on Thursday recorded the highest number of new coronavirus cases since 12 June, with government figures reporting 1,522 positive cases.

The number of new cases, which cover the 24 hours to 9am on 27 August, were up 474 on the previous day.

Related: UK sees highest number of new Covid-19 cases since mid-June

The risk of severe illness and death to children from Covid-19 is “vanishingly rare”, according to the biggest study yet of those admitted to hospital, which the researchers say should reassure parents as they return to school.

The study included two-thirds of all patients admitted to hospitals across England, Scotland and Wales with Covid-19. Of these, 651 – less than 1% – were children and young people under 19. Six of these patients – less than 1% – died. All had severe underlying health conditions.

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Coronavirus live news: France reports 7,379 daily cases in new post-lockdown record

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France records second highest daily tally since March; Italy considers evacuating tourists from Sardinia; Spain’s daily count falls; face masks mandatory in Paris

US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said a White House proposal to spend $1.3tn (£1tn) in coronavirus economic relief would not be enough to meet the needs of American workers and families.

Pelosi said in a statement she hoped the Republicans would come to the negotiating table and accept the Democratic offer of $2.2tn in spending.

Nationwide restrictions cannot be ruled out should England see a spike in coronavirus cases this winter, the health secretary has warned.

Matt Hancock said countries in others parts of the world were already experiencing a second wave, adding it was “a very serious threat”.

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Global report: India sets new national daily case record

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Parisian pedestrians must wear face coverings from Friday; Spain says school children over six must wear masks; China goes 12 days without local case

India has set a new national record of daily coronavirus infections, reporting more than 77,000 cases in 24 hours, just shy of the global one-day record tally held by America.

India’s health ministry reported 77, 266 new cases on Friday. The largest ever one day rise is 78,427, reported by the US on 25 July. India also recorded more than 1,000 new deaths taking total fatalities, to 61,529, the fourth highest total in the world, behind the US, Brazil and Mexico.

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Covid turns tide on India’s Ganesh festival traditions

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Thousands of ritual statues are dunked into the sea off Mumbai each year – but coronavirus and pollution concerns are forcing change

In the quiet housing estate of Angrewadi in the heart of Girgaon in south Mumbai, people are celebrating the 100th consecutive year of the Ganesh Chaturthi, the Hindu festival of the elephant-headed god of new beginnings. Statues of Lord Ganesh are brought into homes and put on display for offerings and prayers.

On the 11th and final day of the festival, the ritual of Ganesh Visarjan takes place – falling this year on 1 September. The statues, normally made of soluble plaster of paris, are traditionally carried in a public procession with music and chanting, and are then immersed in either a river or the sea. Here, they slowly dissolve in a ceremony that dramatises the Hindu view of the ephemeral nature of life – but also causes widespread pollution.

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Unborn twin baby dies after delay approving mother’s Queensland-NSW border exemption

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Case prompts Queensland’s chief health officer to call the sheer volume of medical applications ‘unsustainable’

Queensland’s top health official says the sheer number of people applying for medical exemptions to enter her state is “unsustainable” following the death of an unborn twin in NSW.

Dr Jeannette Young granted an exemption to a Ballina woman pregnant with twins who required emergency surgery on Thursday, but it came only after the expectant mother had waited 16 hours and then flown to Sydney.

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Venezuela using coronavirus as cover to crack down on dissent, report claims

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Human Rights Watch says it has found a ‘very, very disturbing’ pattern of intimidation and persecution of government critics

Venezuelan security forces are using the coronavirus pandemic as cover to wage a disturbing “full force” campaign against dissenters, according to a new report by Human Rights Watch.

The New York-based human rights group said that dozens of journalists, health professionals, human rights lawyers and government opponents had been arbitrarily detained and prosecuted since President Nicolás Maduro declared a Covid-19 state of emergency in mid-March.

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Falling care home demand since Covid poses threat to UK

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Financial effect of pandemic may seriously erode ability to look after the most vulnerable

There is a graph circulating in the care home industry that should send chills down the spine of the health and social care secretary, Matt Hancock. It predicts, under a worst-case scenario, a plunge in the demand for care homes by the end of 2021 that would leave 180,000 beds empty.

The forecast by consultants Knight Frank is not good news based on a healthier aged population, but rather is based on fresh waves of coronavirus killing thousands more people in the community and in care homes, creating a flight from the sector.

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Data on Covid care home deaths kept secret ‘to protect commercial interests’

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Exclusive: English and Scottish regulators refuse to reveal homes with most fatalities

Covid-19 death tolls at individual care homes are being kept secret by regulators in part to protect providers’ commercial interests before a possible second coronavirus surge, the Guardian can reveal.

England’s Care Quality Commission (CQC) and the Care Inspectorate in Scotland are refusing to make public which homes or providers recorded the most fatalities amid fears it could undermine the UK’s care system, which relies on private operators.

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Asylum applications to UK nearly halved between April and June

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Official figures show decline despite rise in number of migrants crossing Channel

The number of asylum applications received by the UK government between April and June nearly halved compared with the first three months of the year, fresh figures show, as the Covid-19 pandemic limited migration flows across the world.

There were 4,850 asylum applications made in the second quarter of the year, significantly down on the 8,455 received from January to March, Home Office statistics reveal.

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