Category Archives: Coronavirus outbreak

Netanyahu faces Israelis’ anger as virus surges and unemployment rises

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Despite a prompt lockdown, the veteran leader is seen to have lost control of the crisis

For Benjamin Netanyahu it wasn’t a bad spring this year, considering the previous 12 months.

The prime minister managed, somehow, to continue his treasured run as Israel’s longest-serving leader, despite a scandalous corruption indictment, three national elections that almost ousted him, and a menacing party primary. Having been sworn back into power – his fifth term – in May, the 70-year-old politician won global praise for a swift lockdown, with Israel cited as a textbook example of how to handle a pandemic.

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Ireland offers a hundred thousand welcomes – unless you’re American

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Hotels and restaurants are turning away US guests, citing high Covid-19 rates and lax quarantine. Some fear this will backfire

Ireland has long greeted American tourists with open arms and the Irish salutation céad míle fáilte, literally, “a hundred thousand welcomes”.

An especially warm welcome awaits visitors who are big spenders and descendants of the diaspora.

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‘We were the luckiest people in the world’: our month on the last lockdown cruise

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On 1 March, photographer Jon Tonks left New Zealand on a Pacific cruise. Twenty eight days later, the boat docked in San Diego, amid a pandemic. What happened in between?

The cruise ship MS Maasdam left New Zealand on the evening of 1 March, steaming out of Auckland’s Waitemata harbour into the Hauraki Gulf, where it headed north. The route was to San Diego via Fiji, the Cook Islands, French Polynesia and Hawaii. On board the Holland America Line ship were around 1,200 passengers, including Americans, Britons, Canadians, Australians and French holidaymakers. The 542 crew included Dutch, Americans, Germans, Venezuelans and Filipinos. There were also a handful of entertainers and guest lecturers along for the ride, including Jon Tonks, a portrait photographer from Bath, who ended up with a portrait of a cruise that didn’t go to plan.

Covid-19 was certainly a thing at the beginning of March, but it was still considered mainly a China thing. The Maasdam wouldn’t be going anywhere near China. Questionnaires were handed to passengers, about symptoms and where they’d been before, but then they were good to go. Still, Tonks says that friends had joked before he left: “Good luck on your corona cruise.”

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White House says ‘schools are essential places of business’ in push to reopen – live

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Donald Trump signed four executive orders related to prescription drug pricing at a White House event with HHS secretary Alex Azar and Florida governor Rod DeSantis, among others. Most attendees at the event wore masks, but Trump did not.

The executive orders come as Trump appears to have all but given up on controlling the coronavirus pandemic that has killed more than 145,000 people in the US – by far the most of any country.

Hello everyone, this is Julia Carrie Wong in Oakland, California, picking up the live blog for the rest of your Friday afternoon.

Yesterday, a judge in King County, Washington ordered five Seattle news outlets to comply with a subpoena and turn over unpublished video and photos from a 30 May protest.

Michele Matassa Flores, the Seattle Times’ executive editor, said the paper strongly opposed the subpoena and “believes it puts our independence, and even our staff’s physical safety, at risk.

“The media exist in large part to hold governments, including law enforcement agencies, accountable to the public,” Matassa Flores said. “We don’t work in concert with government, and it’s important to our credibility and effectiveness to retain our independence from those we cover.”

This ruling enforcing the subpoena is beyond disappointing. The right to protect sources and material exists so the press isn't used as an arm of law enforcement.

Journalists' work is protected, which is why we supported the challenge to this subpoena.https://t.co/OQEVLENdXz

This turns journalists into an arm of the government. We are not here to do surveillance for police. https://t.co/wlu4XAEgo3

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‘Not safe’: Niagara Falls tour boats show US and Canada’s different responses to Covid-19 – video

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Footage of Niagara Falls tour boats highlights the stark differences in physical distancing between Canadian and US-managed companies. 

Canadian tour company Hornblower Niagara Cruises's ships can carry up to 700 people but Ontario’s strict rules to prevent the spread of coronavirus have permitted them to carry only six passengers at a time.

In contrast, the US-owned Maid of the Mist boats, which usually carry around 500 people, are operating at 50% capacity

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‘I didn’t know if she was alive’: the Australian couple split apart as Covid-19 tore through their cruise ship

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David Connell and his wife Margaret were separated for weeks in Italy after catching coronavirus on the Costa Luminosa. For days, David didn’t know if his wife had survived

‘I didn’t know if she was alive’: Australian couple separated overseas when Covid-19 hit cruise ship

‘I didn’t know if she was alive’: the Australian couple split apart as Covid-19 tore through their cruise ship

David Connell had to pack his wife Margaret’s luggage quickly. She was sick, lying on the cabin’s bed, conscious but barely.

Her knitting and a book were already in her bag, he threw in some essentials and put both their phones in his pocket for safekeeping. They were headed from their cruise ship to a hospital in Italy, which on 22 March was one of the countries most heavily infected by Covid-19.

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Boris Johnson says coronavirus could have been handled differently

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PM concedes government did not understand the virus in ‘first few weeks and months’

Boris Johnson has conceded there were “things we could have done differently” over Covid-19, and admitted the government did not understand the virus in the “first few weeks and months”.

In a sometimes combative interview with the BBC, the prime minister repeatedly refused to discuss any lessons that could be learned before a possible second wave of Covid-19 this winter, saying it was not the moment to “run a kind of inquiry into what happened in the past”.

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‘Journalism has been criminalised’: Zimbabwean reporter denied bail

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Hopewell Chin’ono is in jail awaiting trial on charges he rejects of inciting violence

A prominent investigative journalist in Zimbabwe has said the struggle against corruption in the country must continue as he was sent back to prison to await trial on charges of incitement of public violence.

Hopewell Chin’ono, an internationally respected reporter, recently published documents raising concerns that powerful individuals in Zimbabwe were profiting from multimillion-dollar deals for essential supplies to fight the coronavirus pandemic.

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‘Major’ breakthrough in Covid-19 drug makes UK professors millionaires

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Synairgen’s share price rises 540% on morning of news of successful drugs trial

Three professors at the University of Southampton school of medicine have this week made a “major breakthrough” in the treatment of coronavirus patients and become paper millionaires at the same time.

Almost two decades ago professors Ratko Djukanovic, Stephen Holgate and Donna Davies discovered that people with asthma and chronic lung disease lacked a protein called interferon beta, which helps fight off the common cold. They worked out that patients’ defences against viral infection could be boosted if the missing protein were replaced.

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Economic fallout from pandemic will hit women hardest

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IMF says 30 years of gains for women could be erased as recession deepens

Even before the coronavirus pandemic, there were vast inequalities between men and women in the world of work. Despite chipping away at the glass ceiling over recent decades, in 2020 the gender pay gap still remains stubbornly high, while more men called Steve and Dave run FTSE 100 companies than women.

Four months from the launch of lockdown, and as Britain slips into the deepest recession for three centuries, it is increasingly clear the economic fallout from the pandemic is having a disproportionate impact on women.

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The EU coronavirus fund will take Europe another step towards disintegration | Yanis Varoufakis

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The recovery package promises deeper integration between European countries. Here’s why I think it won’t work

During the early years of the eurozone crisis, I remember gauging its depths by the rapidly diminishing half-life of the celebrations that followed every European Union summit. Premature proclamations that the crisis was over inspired hope, which caused the money markets to rebound. But then, at some point, gloom would unfailingly return. As the years of austerity for the many and socialism for the few ground on, that point arrived sooner after each EU summit.

Could it be that, at long last, this sad pattern has been broken by last week’s summit, which resulted in a brand new, €750bn post-pandemic EU recovery fund?

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‘A wicked enemy’: how Australia’s coronavirus success story unravelled

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Weeks ago, Australia was the envy of the world. Now it has more than 3,000 active coronavirus cases and Melbourne is in lockdown. What went wrong?

Less than a month ago, Australia was the envy of much of the world. With daily new coronavirus cases in the single digits, it was feted as part of a group of “first mover” nations - countries like Taiwan, Singapore and New Zealand that acted decisively to quash coronavirus.

In mid-June, after three months of tight restrictions and differing levels of lockdown, life was not quite back to normal, but as politicians liked to stress, it was almost Covid-normal.

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Israeli police use water cannon at anti-Netanyahu protest

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Many arrested in Jerusalem at demonstration against government’s handling of coronavirus outbreak

Israeli police deployed water cannon and arrested 55 people overnight at a protest in Jerusalem against the country’s indicted prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and his government’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

A few thousand people had gathered in the city for what have become frequent rallies against Benjamin Netanyahu.

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UK coronavirus live: face masks become compulsory in England’s shops and takeaways

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Police will have power to enforce the rules, which come into effect today

Boris Johnson has said people opposed to vaccinations are “nuts” as he promotes an expanded programme of flu jabs that ministers hope will ease pressure on the NHS if there is a second wave of coronavirus this winter.

It comes after several polls have suggested some Britons are feeling apprehensive about having a Covid-19 vaccine. A coronavirus jab is seen by many experts as a key route out of the pandemic. Last year, the World Health Organisation identified “vaccine hesitancy” as one of the top 10 health threats to the world.

Related: Boris Johnson says 'anti-vaxxers are nuts'

In Liverpool One shopping complex on Friday, signs telling customers to wear masks were up in many of the stores and a vending machine selling face coverings had been installed, PA reports.

The machine had packs of five three-ply masks for £4.75, packets of two for £1.95 or fashion coverings for £5.95.

I think it is a little bit late to have introduced this and lots of people I’ve seen this morning are not even wearing one. It won’t put me off coming to the shops because I’ll be out anyway but it does seem a bit unnecessary.

I’m vulnerable and so is my husband. I think this should have started from day one. I was on the bus this morning and people were getting on with no masks. If you go in to a shop without a mask I don’t think anyone is going to say anything. I think people are more relaxed now.

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Why smokers and vapers – and those around them – may face higher Covid-19 danger

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New reports cast doubt on early claims smoking offered protection from disease

At the beginning of the pandemic, smokers may have thought they had little to worry about, as there was a sliver of good news for them: a study circulating on social media suggested smoking could be associated with a lower risk of contracting Covid-19. That’s not the full story.

Related: Biden predicts Trump will try to 'steal the election' by fighting mail-in voting – live

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Mexico’s neglect of Covid-19 testing mystifies experts as cases surge

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The country performs just three tests per 100,000 people, with explanations ranging from cost-cutting to a push for herd immunity

Before travelling to Washington to meet Donald Trump earlier this month, the Mexican president took a coronavirus test.

Until then, Andrés Manuel López Obrador had never been tested, arguing that there was no need for it – even though several cabinet members had become infected with Covid-19.

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Boris Johnson says ‘anti-vaxxers are nuts’

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Prime minister makes comments while promoting extension of free winter flu jabs

Boris Johnson has said people opposed to vaccinations are “nuts” as he promotes an expanded programme of flu jabs that ministers hope will ease pressure on the NHS if there is a second wave of coronavirus this winter.

Visiting a doctors’ surgery in London on Friday, the prime minister said to staff: “There’s all these anti-vaxxers now. They are nuts, they are nuts.”

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Australian retailers urge government to broaden employers’ power to cut workers’ hours

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The National Retail Association wants all businesses to have greater flexibility, not just those receiving jobkeeper

Australia’s retailers are calling on the Morrison government to broaden the power of employers to cut workers’ hours and change duties, as Labor signalled it will oppose the move to extend flexibility linked to the jobkeeper wage subsidy.

The National Retail Association chief executive, Dominique Lamb, told Guardian Australia the government should consider granting all businesses the flexibility to vary work hours – not just the firms in receipt of the jobkeeper wage subsidy.

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Niagara Falls tour boats highlight US and Canada’s stark Covid-19 divide

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New York state boats have ferried many more tourists than their Ontarian counterparts, where distancing has been far stricter

Every day, Mory DiMaurizio looks out his window at Niagara Falls and sighs in frustration.

Not at the sight of the falls – one of the most stunning natural wonders of the world – but rather at the prospect of US tour boats with blue-ponchoed Americans.

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Mel Gibson was hospitalised with coronavirus in April

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The actor spent a week in a Los Angeles hospital after contracting the illness and was treated with the drug Remdesivir

The actor Mel Gibson spent a week in hospital after contracting coronavirus earlier this year, his representatives have confirmed. Speaking to the Daily Telegraph Australia, the spokesperson said: “He tested positive in April and spent a week in the hospital. He was treated with the drug Remdesivir, while in the hospital, and has tested negative numerous times since then as well as positive for the antibodies.”

News of the hospitalisation of Gibson, 64, emerges a month after the actor fought back against allegations of anti-semitism and homophobia by Winona Ryder. A representative for Gibson denied the allegations and accused Ryder of lying “about it over a decade ago, when she talked to the press, and lying about it now”.

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