Academics analyse whether hair and hearing loss may also be linked to coronavirus
From hearing loss and rashes, to being tall and bald, as the Covid-19 pandemic develops, a host of new symptoms and risk factors are being linked to the virus. We take a look at the evidence.
Continue reading...All you need to know about the updated coronavirus measures affecting more than 4m people
More than 4 million people across swathes of northern England were given less than three hours’ notice on Thursday night that they must endure tighter lockdown restrictions to stem a resurgence of Covid-19 cases.
But what what exactly do the new measures mean for those living in affected areas in the north and elsewhere in England?
Continue reading...Singer’s claim vaccine is being concealed is latest example of stars spreading falsehoods during pandemic
Dancer, singer, songwriter, actor, director – Madonna has had quite the career.
But the queen of pop’s latest reinvention came this week in the form of a video posted on Instagram that shared a coronavirus conspiracy theory with her 15 million followers.
Continue reading...Donald Trump says closing schools across the country is causing death. "Keeping them out of school and keeping work closed is causing death also," he said. "Economic harm, but it’s causing death for different reasons, but death. Probably more death." After 150,000 coronavirus deaths in the country, Trump added the country "understands what it is dealing with now", before pointing out leaders in countries like Australia and Japan were praised before a resurgence in Covid-19 cases
Scott Morrison and Daniel Andrews have discussed next steps as Covid-19 infections continue to rise. Follow all the latest news and updates, live
A person in Orange, in regional NSW, has tested positive to Covid-19.
The person is a close contact with a known cluster in Sydney, Western NSW Local Health District chief executive Scott McLachlan said today.
The case is currently in isolation in the Orange Local Government Area, but has a residential address outside of the health district. The case is linked to a known cluster in Sydney.
The public health unit has contacted all close contacts. They have been provided with public health information which includes to be tested for Covid-19 and remain in isolation for 14 days.
There are currently 12 people with Covid-19 in hospital in NSW and eight in intensive care, with four of those people on ventilators. About 90 people are being treated for Covid-19 in non-acute, out-of-hospital care.
Continue reading...New cases jump to 292,500, Irish Cup final played in front of fans; global death toll passes 674,000; France confirms ‘marked increase’ in cases
Sanofi SA and GlaxoSmithKline Plc said they are in advanced discussions with the European Commission to supply up to 300 million doses of the drugmakers’s experimental Covid-19 vaccine.
The doses would be manufactured in European countries including France, Belgium, Germany and Italy.
Florida reported another record increase in Covid-19 deaths on Friday.
The state health department said Florida registered 257 fatalities, a record for the fourth straight day despite predictions that the U.S. coronavirus epicenter could be shifting to the Midwest.
Continue reading...Bar on households meeting inside in Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire and East Lancashire
Additional lockdown restrictions are to be imposed over large swathes of northern England after a surge of coronavirus cases caused largely by people “not abiding to social distancing”, Matt Hancock has said.
The health secretary announced on Thursday evening that from midnight, people from different households in Greater Manchester, parts of East Lancashire, West Yorkshire and Leicester would not be able to meet each other indoors.
Continue reading...Drop in quarterly gross domestic product comes as 1.43m people file for unemployment benefits, a second week of increases, amid Covid-19 pandemic
The US economy shrank by an annual rate of 32.9% between April and June, its sharpest contraction since the second world war, government figures revealed on Thursday, as more signs emerged of the coronavirus pandemic’s heavy toll on the country’s economy.
The record-setting quarterly fall in economic growth compared to the same time last year came as another 1.43 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week, a second week of rises after a four-month decline.
Continue reading...Spain reports 1,229 new infections; France rules out full lockdown despite rise in cases; Japan sees record high for new cases for second day in a row. This blog is now closed. Stay up to date on our new blog below
We closing this blog now, but you can stay up to date on all of the latest global coronavirus news on our new blog below.
Related: Coronavirus live news: England tightens restrictions, WHO says 'young people' behind some spikes
And finally... just minutes before the new restrictions come into force, the Department of Health has finally posted some more details of the rules on its website.
Continue reading...French prime minister says full lockdown must be avoided; number of global cases passes 17m; Japan to lift ban on re-entry of some foreign residents starting next week
Governments have the right to restrict protests on public health grounds, within reason, the UN Human Rights Committee said, as demonstrations clash with coronavirus outbreaks around the world.
The committee stepped in to formulate its legal interpretation having seen a gap in the international norms being tested before the pandemic started, since when the matter has become more pressing.
The protection of ‘public health’ ground may exceptionally permit restrictions to be imposed, for example where there is an outbreak of an infectious disease and gatherings are dangerous.
It’s understandable and acceptable that for health reasons there may be limits on your rights.
The Philippine government’s Covid-19 task force confirmed 3,954 new infections on Thursday, the country’s largest single-day increase in new cases.
The information on the surge in infections, which was a sharp increase from the record 2,539 cases confirmed on 8 July, was mentioned in a regular circular issued by the inter-agency task force.
Continue reading...Labor again calls on the Morrison government to apologise ‘for failing to stop the one boat that mattered’
An Australian Border Force officer who inspected the Ruby Princess mistakenly believed passengers with flu-like symptoms had tested negative to Covid-19 when they had in fact tested negative to the flu.
That revelation, first reported by the ABC, is contained in documents to the New South Wales inquiry into the disastrous mid-March decision to allow 2,700 passengers to disembark the ship responsible for hundreds of Covid-19 cases and at least 22 deaths.
Continue reading...Prices of most goods have nearly tripled and the value of the national currency is plummeting
From her wedding dress shop in the impoverished northern Lebanese town of Akkar, Suzanne Hammoud has been selling bridal gowns for more than 15 years. She has revelled in her customers’ excitement as their weddings approached, and often stayed in touch as their lives progressed, sometimes making outfits for their children.
But this year, Hammoud has become more of a buyer than a seller of dresses. Sales racks are full of gowns she has bought back from families who have no other means of income left, except for selling their memories.
Continue reading...Move to control spread of coronavirus abandoned after widespread public anger
Hong Kong’s government has reversed a day-old ban on restaurants serving dine-in customers that was introduced to control the spread of coronavirus, following widespread public anger.
All restaurants in the city of 7.5 million were ordered to serve only takeaways from Wednesday as part of a raft of ramped-up social-distancing measures to combat a fresh wave of virus cases.
Continue reading...Trump is praised whenever he affects a modicum of sobriety but talk of demon semen and alien DNA was a reversion to type
That didn’t last long. It never does.
A week after Donald Trump was hailed by some media figures for a “change of tone” in his coronavirus briefings, the US president on Tuesday praised a doctor who believes in alien DNA and demon semen, grumbled about his low approval ratings and abruptly walked out when challenged by a female reporter.
Continue reading...Energy giant hit by massive change in fortunes as Covid-19 crisis forces writedown in asset values
Royal Dutch Shell has reported a deep financial loss after a record writedown on the value of its oil and gas assets due to the collapse in global market prices triggered by coronavirus.
The Anglo-Dutch oil giant revealed a net loss of $18.3bn (£14.1bn) for the second quarter 2020, down sharply from a net profit of $3bn over the same period last year and $2.7bn in the first three months of 2020.
Continue reading...Britain's health secretary, Matt Hancock, has confirmed the government is looking at measures to prevent a second wave of Covid-19 from reaching the UK, as cases rise across Europe. Jonathan Van-Tam, the deputy chief medical officer, is expected to announce an increase in the self-isolation period for those with symptoms.
'We can see a second wave of coronavirus that's starting to roll across Europe' Hancock said.'We want to do everything we possibly can to protect people from that wave reaching our shores'
Even within a hospital, the ICU can feel like another world. But critical care goes far beyond simply keeping people alive – it’s also about what happens next
In early March, Mike Brunner, an intensive care doctor at Northwick Park hospital in north London, saw his first few Covid-19 patients. They were arriving with mild coughs, but just hours later were relying on oxygen tanks to breathe, their lungs on the brink of collapse. Within days, three patients became seven, then 20, and from then on, said Brunner, “we were in it”.
For a while, Brunner felt as if he and his colleagues were the only ones who saw the huge change coming. “We could see this tsunami of people coming at us, and yet nobody else did,” said Brunner. Driving through London on his way to work, past people crowded together in shops and pubs and cafes, he felt as if no one understood that very soon life was not going to be the same. “It was an incredibly lonely feeling,” he said.
Continue reading...Attendance limited to 10,000 people already residing in Saudi Arabia, rather than the usual 2 million including from abroad, amid Covid-19 restrictions
Continue reading...Six months after first cases emerged in US, hospitals are under strain in multiple states
The US has crossed the threshold of 150,000 confirmed deaths from Covid-19, just six months after the first cases were diagnosed in China and with the outbreak far from under control.
The American death toll is the highest in the world by a significant margin and reached 150,034 on Wednesday, according to the Johns Hopkins University world coronavirus tracker.
Continue reading...Grant Shapps returned to the UK on Wednesday after curtailing his holiday in Spain to deal with the fallout from the government's decision to impose quarantine restrictions on travellers arriving from the country. The transport secretary said he felt sorry for people whose holidays had been affected, but defended the government's decision, saying Spain's rate of new infections was now as high as it had been at the peak of the crisis
Continue reading...