Global fashion brands urged to speak out after arrest of factory employee fuels fears that rights are eroded during pandemic
On the evening of 31 March, at the height of the Covid-19 epidemic, Soy Sros, a young Cambodian garment worker, took out her phone and posted a message on Facebook.
The Cambodian garment sector was in freefall with billions of dollars of clothing orders cancelled and factories closing.
Continue reading...As lockdowns linger and economies falter, girls who are out of school are at increased risk of being cut
Covid-19 has exposed just how much work remains to be done to wipe out female genital mutilation (FGM) around the world. Two million girls who would otherwise be safe from the practice are believed to be at risk over the next decade as a direct result of the virus.
As lockdowns linger and economies tumble, many families have been spurred into action over the fate of their daughters, using school closures to cut them and marry them off, campaigners say.
Continue reading...Letter cites growing evidence of link between dirty air and Covid-19 infections and deaths
Growing evidence of a link between air pollution and the impact of coronavirus means the government has a legal obligation to urgently review its air quality strategy, according to lawyers.
In a letter to ministers, the lawyers argue that refusing to order a review would breach UK law, the precautionary principle and the European convention on human rights.
Continue reading...Food and Drug Administration says drug is unlikely to work against coronavirus and notes heart risks
US regulators revoked the emergency authorization for malaria drugs championed by Donald Trump for treating Covid-19, amid growing evidence they don’t work and could cause serious side effects.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said on Monday the drugs hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine were unlikely to be effective in treating the coronavirus. Citing reports of heart complications, the agency said the drugs’ unproven benefits “do not outweigh the known and potential risks”.
Continue reading...Organs of some who die after over a month in hospital sustain ‘complete disruption’, peers told
Covid-19 can leave the lungs of people who died from the disease completely unrecognisable, a professor of cardiovascular science has told parliament.
It created such massive damage in those who spent more than a month in hospital that it resulted in “complete disruption of the lung architecture”, said Prof Mauro Giacca of King’s College London.
Continue reading...WHO warns UK not to lift lockdown; Iran deaths top 100 for first time in two months; cases worldwide near 7.9m. Follow the latest updates
The number of confirmed Covid-19 infections has passed 25,000 in Afghanistan while a key testing laboratory paused work due to lack of kits.
The health ministry has detected 761 new cases from 1,551 tests in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of confirmed infections to 25,527.
Norway will halt its Covid-19 track and trace app, and delete all data collected so far, after criticism from the Norwegian Data Protection Authority.
The app was introduced by some Norwegian authorities to limit the transmission of the coronavirus.
We don’t agree with the DPA’s evaulation, but feel it is necessary to delete all data and put work on hold as a result of this.
We will as a result weaken an important part of our preparedness against a spread in infection, as we now lose time for development and testing of the app.
Continue reading...Ship was considered low risk as updated status preventing passengers from disembarking was not reflected on assessment form
A New South Wales public health official thinks he would have assessed the Ruby Princess as being a medium Covid-19 risk ahead of the ill-fated cruise ship’s arrival in Sydney, had he considered a guideline change during his assessment.
The ship was instead given a low-risk rating, with passengers allowed to disembark and disperse before testing revealed there had been Covid-19 cases on board.
Continue reading...Spain to reopen borders on 21 June but other countries are adopting more targeted approach
France and Germany became the latest European countries to reopen their borders as the continent emerges from its three-month Covid-19 lockdown.
Speaking on Sunday evening, France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, said the country’s Schengen borders would be open from Monday and its non-EU borders from 1 July.
Continue reading...Andy Cowell runs the Fenn Bell Conservation Project in Medway, Kent. After 12 weeks of closure, as running costs mounted, zoos were suddenly told with less than a week’s notice that they could reopen on Monday to reduced visitors. But smaller zoos such as Fenn Bell have had to spend funds they barely had just to create space for visitors to visit safely, and Cowell is still a couple of weeks away from being ready. He tells Richard Sprenger why he is so angry at how the situation has been handled and fears the possibility of having to euthanise his animals
Continue reading...Survey reveals deep global dissatisfaction with US leadership under Donald Trump
China has beaten the US in the battle for world opinion over the handling of coronavirus, according to new polling, with only three countries out of 53 believing the US has dealt with the pandemic better than its superpower rival.
The survey comes ahead of a major conference on the future of democracy this week, due to be addressed by the US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, the former secretary of state John Kerry and the Hong Kong democracy activist Joshua Wong. The conference is likely to be a rallying point for pro-democracy activists as China and the US enter an ever more explicit ideological contest.
Continue reading...Exclusive: senior official says contact tracing should be more effective before measures eased
England’s coronavirus lockdown should not be further lifted until the government’s contact-tracing system has proven to be “robust and effective”, the World Health Organization has said after widespread criticism of the first results of the new tracking operation.
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Ex-regional chief prosecutor urges CPS to pursue case after PM’s aide breached lockdown
Nazir Afzal, a former regional chief prosecutor, has joined a legal campaign for a new investigation into Dominic Cummings over alleged breaches of the coronavirus lockdown rules.
Afzal has urged his former employers at the Crown Prosecution Service, and the police, to pursue a case against the prime minister’s chief aide over his trips to Durham and Barnard Castle during the peak of the outbreak.
Continue reading...Partial quarantine remains in Beijing; European countries continue to open borders to neighbours
China detected its highest number of daily coronavirus cases in months on Sunday, locking down parts of Beijing in a warning of the difficulties of avoiding a resurgence of the pandemic as Europe prepared to open more borders and loosen restrictions this week.
A wholesale food market in the Chinese capital, where traces of the virus were detected, was closed at the weekend. Nearby housing estates were also placed under quarantine after authorities detected 36 new coronavirus cases in the city and another 19 across the country.
Continue reading...Mistakes mean findings should not be used as evidence for relaxing rule, say professors
Senior scientists have reported flaws in an influential World Health Organization-commissioned study into the risks of coronavirus infection and say it should not be used as evidence for relaxing the UK’s 2-metre physical distancing rule.
Critics of the distancing advice, which states that people should keep at least 2 metres apart, believe it is too cautious. They seized on the research commissioned by the WHO, which suggested a reduction from 2 metres to 1 would raise infection risk only marginally, from 1.3% to 2.6%.
Continue reading...The chancellor has said a decision on whether to ease the 2-metre physical distancing rule in England will be for ministers rather than the government’s chief scientific advisers to take. Rishi Sunak said the public would take confidence from the fact ministers were being advised by Sir Patrick Vallance and Prof Chris Whitty
Continue reading...A century after the 1918 pandemic, South America’s largest country has passed Britain to claim the world’s second-highest death toll
As a child growing up in 1940s São Paulo, Drauzio Varella remembers his grandmother’s tales of how the Spanish flu ravaged the blue-collar immigrant community they called home.
“So many people died that families would leave people outside on the pavements, and early each morning the carts would come by to collect them and take them off to burial in mass graves,” remembered Varella, who would go on to become Brazil’s best-known doctor.
Continue reading...Country has one of the highest numbers of daily coronavirus cases relative to population size
A steep rise in coronavirus cases in Chile has plunged the government into crisis and prompted intense criticism of its management of the pandemic.
Divisions between the government and sectors of the medical community led to the resignation of the health minister, Jaime Mañalich, on Saturday, shortly after 234 deaths in 24 hours had been confirmed, the highest daily toll to date. Chile is among the countries with the highest number of daily cases relative to population size.
Continue reading...Deaths worldwide pass 430,000; New York State sees lowest deaths since pandemic started; evacuation flight for British nationals leaves Colombia. Follow the latest updates
The way Russia counts fatalities during the coronavirus pandemic could be one reason why its official death toll of 6,829 is far below many other countries, reports the Associated Press. Despite the comparatively low number of fatalities, Russia has reported 520,000 infections, behind only the United States and Brazil.
The paradox also has led to allegations by critics and Western media that Russian authorities might have falsified the numbers for political purposes to play down the scale of the outbreak. Even a top World Health Organization official said the low number of deaths in Russia certainly is unusual.
The Guardian’s Paris correspondent, Kim Wilsher, has this report from Paris, where streets have been pedestrianised and the mayor has turned parking spaces into cycle lanes.
Related: Cafe society spills on to Paris cobbles as drivers bid to reclaim post-lockdown streets
It is evening rush hour and the Rue de Rivoli, a major east-west road through central Paris, is heaving. Pre-coronavirus, it would have been one long traffic jam, paralysed by increasingly frustrated and angry motorists. Now, though, with private cars banned, it is busy with pedestrians, cyclists and a smattering of taxis and buses.
North of Rue de Rivoli, in the Marais, a maze of narrow cobbled streets, cafes, restaurants and bars have spread out across pavements and parking places.
Continue reading...All of mainland France now in ‘green zone’; Spain’s border to open to EU countries except Portugal on 21 June; deaths worldwide pass 430,000
UK care homes are receiving far more coronavirus testing kits than they order, raising concern that the extra supplies help the government inflate the number of people it claims have been tested.
The apparently widespread nature of the practice in England has prompted fresh suspicion that ministers are counting swab kits sent out as tests done to exaggerate official figures.
Related: Oversupply of kits to care homes raises concern over Covid-19 test figures
France has reported nine new coronavirus deaths taking the total to 29,407 and marking the fifth day with under 30 fatalities, Reuters reports.
The government also reported the number of people in hospital fell by 28 to 10,881 and those in intensive care units fell by two to 869, with both tallies continuing weeks-long down-trends.
Continue reading...With streets pedestrianised and the mayor turning parking spaces into cycle lanes, motorists fear being squeezed out of public spaces
It is evening rush hour and the Rue de Rivoli, a major east-west road through central Paris, is heaving. Pre-coronavirus, it would have been one long traffic jam, paralysed by increasingly frustrated and angry motorists. Now, though, with private cars banned, it is busy with pedestrians, cyclists and a smattering of taxis and buses.
North of Rue de Rivoli, in the Marais, a maze of narrow cobbled streets, cafes, restaurants and bars have spread out across pavements and parking places.
Continue reading...