Mekiya Hodges, who is African American and works as a social worker, says that pregnant women of colour often aren’t listened to by doctors. She had a traumatic experience giving birth to her previous children in hospital and, along with the additional risk of coronavirus, decided to have her daughter, Jordan, at home with the help of Natalie Watson, co-founder of Steel City Midwives. Mekiya, 25, lives in a suburb of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, an area that has a high death rate for new black mothers. Nationally, black women in 2018 were two and half times more likely than white women to die due to complications related to pregnancy or childbirth
Category Archives: Coronavirus outbreak
Anger at huge shareholder payout as US chain Kohl’s cancels $150m in orders
Retailer paid $109m in dividends just weeks after cancelling clothing orders, leaving suppliers in Bangladesh facing financial crisis
Kohl’s, one of the US’s largest clothing retailers, cancelled millions of dollars worth of existing orders from Bangladeshi and Korean garment factories just weeks before paying out $109m (£85m) in dividends to shareholders, the Guardian can reveal.
The company cancelled orders of clothing worth approximately $100m from Korea and $50m from Bangaldeshi factories after the Covid-19 pandemic struck, and refused petitions from suppliers asking for the option to renegotiate payments.
Continue reading...EU says China behind ‘huge wave’ of Covid-19 disinformation
Brussels shifts position by accusing Beijing for first time of running false campaigns
China has been accused by Brussels of running disinformation campaigns inside the European Union, as the bloc set out a plan to tackle a “huge wave” of false facts about the coronavirus pandemic.
The European commission said Russia and China were running “targeted influence operations and disinformation campaigns in the EU, its neighbourhood, and globally”. While the charge against Russia has been levelled on many occasions, this is the first time the EU executive has publicly named China as a source of disinformation.
Continue reading...‘Are you immune?’ The new class system that could shape the Covid-19 world
Experts suspect – but there is no proof – that antibodies will confer immunity. The implications could be wide-ranging
Scrolling through Airbnbs in Brooklyn, one listing stands out. “IMMUNE HOST,” claims the heading in caps. Among photos of rooftop sunsets and interiors, lies something else unexpected – a picture of a positive antibody test.
Related: Is it safe to protest during a pandemic? Experts answer our questions
Continue reading...Street snacks to sanitiser: the Afghan women fighting coronavirus in Kabul
When lockdown closed their businesses, food sellers adapted their carts into mini disinfection units to tackle the outbreak
Photographs by Stefanie Glinski
Freshta had spent months building up a franchise business to help to feed her family – and break a few taboos on women at the same time – when coronavirus hit Afghanistan.
In November, the engineering student, (who has asked to be identified by one name only) became one of a fleet of female drivers taking 40 Banu’s Kitchen food carts around Kabul, serving up burgers and rice to a predominantly male customer base. “At the beginning, men on the streets would be shocked to see us driving a motorbike and selling food, but after about two or three months, they are now used to it. They even support us,” she says.
Continue reading...Coronavirus live news: Argentina records more than 1,000 daily cases for first time
WHO official walks back asymptomatic transmission comments; world faces worst food crisis in 50 years; UK NHS waiting list could hit 10m
- Fauci: coronavirus pandemic that ‘took over the planet’ is far from over
- Burundi president dies of illness suspected to be coronavirus
- Argentina confirms more than 1,000 new cases in one day for first time
- Brazil restores Covid-19 data to government website
- Australia coronavirus updates – live
Japan’s lower house of parliament has approved an emergency budget worth nearly over £230bn, doubling the scale of measures to pep up the world’s third-biggest economy after the coronavirus tipped it into recession, AFP reports.
Their raucous clucking deprives residents of sleep. They leave the neighbourhood “wrecked”. And food left out for them attracts “rats the size of cats” to an otherwise peaceful, leafy suburb.
New Zealand’s national lockdown to quell the spread of Covid-19 appears to have vanquished the virus, but it has had one unintended consequence: the re-emergence of a plague – not of frogs or locusts but of feral chickens, a flock of which is once again menacing an area of west Auckland.
Related: 'Like a Stephen King movie': feral chickens return to plague New Zealand village
Continue reading...Coronavirus live news: Africa passes 200,000 confirmed cases after Burundi president dies of suspected Covid-19
Asylum applications in Europe fall to lowest level for a decade as borders closed; world faces worst food crisis in 50 years
- Burundi president dies of illness suspected to be coronavirus
- EU says China behind ‘huge wave’ of Covid-19 disinformation
- Fauci: coronavirus pandemic that ‘took over the planet’ is far from over
- WHO urges Pakistan to return to lockdown as hospitals struggle
Louise Taylor and David Conn report:
Premier League clubs should be braced for a collective £500m loss of revenue because of the coronavirus pandemic, Deloitte has warned.
Related: Premier League clubs set for £500m collective loss due to coronavirus
Key developments in the global coronavirus outbreak so far today include:
Continue reading...Surgisphere: mass audit of papers linked to firm behind hydroxychloroquine Lancet study scandal
Questions continue for Surgisphere and CEO Sapan Desai as universities deny knowledge of links to firm behind Lancet’s now-disputed blockbuster study
Dozens of scientific papers co-authored by the chief executive of the US tech company behind the Lancet hydroxychloroquine study scandal are now being audited, including one that a scientific integrity expert claims contains images that appear to have been digitally manipulated.
The audit follows a Guardian investigation that found the company, Surgisphere, used suspect data in major scientific studies that were published and then retracted by world-leading medical journals, including the Lancet and the New England Journal of Medicine.
Continue reading...Coronavirus Australia update: NSW reports zero community transmission as Queensland border challenge hits snag – politics live
Three new cases of Covid-19 reported were all from overseas travellers and are in quarantine; Queensland high court calls requests from lawyers to access border closure documents ‘a fishing expedition’. Follow live updates
- Queensland high court refuses application for border closure documents
- No reported community transmission in NSW
- Sign up for Guardian Australia’s daily coronavirus email
- Download the free Guardian app to get the most important news notifications
Pat Dodson has spoken in the Senate on the issue of Indigenous deaths in custody:
Thirty years ago, the royal commission that I was part of made recommendations to the parliament - 339 recommendations.
That Commission had been set up by the government. And at that time, there were 99 deaths that we were concerned about in this nation to effect a national Royal Commission never got over 400 deaths since that Royal Commission, and we have 30 years that have passed that have not addressed the underlying issues that give rise to people being taken into custody and consequently die in custody.
Tony Burke’s answer to that same question:
Her politics feeds on outrage. It effectively – for all the talk of proud nationalism, that party has imported an American style of politics here.
I don’t want that style of politics here. I don’t particularly want to join the outrage, because that in fact elevates what she said. I would simply refer to it in the way that I guess One Nation wouldn’t want it referred to – that is importing foreign politics into Australia. We should be better than that. And most of us are.
Continue reading...Nigeria to cut healthcare spending by 40% despite coronavirus cases climbing
Nurses say they have been left without promised compensation as £75m set aside for renovation of parliament buildings
Plans by Nigeria’s government to cut healthcare spending risk undermining the country’s coronavirus response and severely impacting already strained services, health and transparency groups have warned.
Funding for local, primary healthcare services will be cut by more than 40% this year in a revised budget expected to be passed into law in the coming weeks.
Continue reading...‘Like a Stephen King movie’: feral chickens return to plague New Zealand village
Lockdown may have vanquished Covid-19, but it has enabled the birds to make an unwanted comeback
Their raucous clucking deprives residents of sleep. They leave the neighbourhood “wrecked”. And food left out for them attracts “rats the size of cats” to an otherwise peaceful, leafy suburb.
New Zealand’s national lockdown to quell the spread of Covid-19 appears to have vanquished the virus, but it has had one unintended consequence: the re-emergence of a plague – not of frogs or locusts but of feral chickens, a flock of which is once again menacing an area of west Auckland.
Continue reading...Global report: WHO urges Pakistan to return to lockdown as hospitals struggle
Brazil restores Covid-19 data online; Argentina passes 1,000 daily cases for first time; Fauci says ‘we’re still at the beginning’ of pandemic
The World Health Organization has taken the unusual step of urging Pakistan to return to lockdown, suggesting the country implement restrictions in a cycle of two weeks on, two weeks off.
While Pakistan has relatively low testing rates, one in four people who are tested return a positive result, the WHO said in a letter to Punjab’s provincial health minister, Yasmin Rashid. Prime Minister Imran Khan has resisted a national lockdown, arguing the country cannot afford it, and provinces have instead introduced patchwork lockdowns. Last week Khan said these would be lifted.
Continue reading...Babylon Health data breach: GP app users able to see other people’s consultations
User alerted company after finding about 50 recordings of appointments that did not apply to him
Babylon Health has suffered a data breach involving confidential patient information, with users of its GP video consultation app allowed to see other patients’ appointments.
The breach emerged when one of its users discovered they had access to video recordings of other patients’ consultations.
Continue reading...CrossFit CEO Greg Glassman resigns after offensive George Floyd and coronavirus tweets
Fitness program lost key partnerships, endorsements and the business of hundreds of affiliated gyms around the world after Glassman tweets
The founder of the US fitness brand CrossFit will step down from his position as CEO following a disastrous few days that have seen the fitness program lose key partnerships, endorsements and the business of hundreds of affiliated gyms around the world.
The move comes after a pair of offensive tweets by Greg Glassman. On Saturday, in response to a tweet from the research centre Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, which stated “Racism is a public health issue”, Glassman tweeted “It’s FLOYD-19”, in reference to the police killing of George Floyd, whose death has sparked a global protest movement.
Continue reading...Prince Philip marks 99th birthday with Queen in lockdown in Windsor Castle
Buckingham Palace release a new photograph of the royal couple ahead of his birthday
Prince Philip, the Queen’s husband, will mark his 99th birthday on Wednesday, with the royal couple still in lockdown due to the coronavirus outbreak.
The Queen, 94, and her husband of 72 years are maintaining social distancing rules at Windsor castle, west of London, because their age puts them in a high-risk category for Covid-19.
Continue reading...Fauci: coronavirus pandemic that ‘took over the planet’ is far from over
US’s top infectious disease expert calls virus his ‘worst nightmare’ as 7 million people have been infected and 400,000 have died
The US’s top infectious disease expert Dr Anthony Fauci warned on Tuesday that the coronavirus pandemic was far from over, calling Covid-19 his “worst nightmare”.
“In a period of four months, it has devastated the whole world,” Fauci said, speaking to executives at a conference of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization. “And it isn’t over yet.”
Continue reading...Global report: Moscow relaxes lockdown despite high caseload; Nigerian deaths rise
South Africa warns pandemic could last up to two years; Indonesia reports largest daily rise in infections
Moscow has partially lifted its lockdown despite Russia reporting thousands of new daily cases and Spain’s government said face masks would remain mandatory in public as Europe continued to emerge from the first phase of its struggle against Covid-19.
Concern mounted, however, over the spread of coronavirus in Africa and elsewhere, with Nigeria confirming 600 deaths from a previously undetected outbreak and South Africa warning its pandemic could last up to two years.
Continue reading...Coronavirus may have been in Wuhan in August, study suggests
Research finds rise in hospital car park usage and web searches for ‘diarrhoea’ and ‘cough’
Coronavirus may have been present and spreading in Wuhan as early as August last year, according to a study that analysed satellite imagery of car parks outside major hospitals and search engine data.
The study, by researchers from Harvard medical school, Boston University of Public Health and Boston children’s hospital, looked at images captured between January 2018 and April 2020 and found a “steep increase” in vehicle counts starting in August 2019 and peaking in December 2019. Between September and October, five of the six hospitals observed had their highest daily volume of cars in the period analysed.
Continue reading...Judge orders Bolsonaro to resume publishing Brazil Covid-19 data
Move comes amid accusations government was trying to suppress the scale of the crisis
A Brazilian supreme court judge has ordered Jair Bolsonaro’s administration to resume publishing complete Covid-19 statistics after moves to suppress such information prompted accusations of authoritarian skulduggery designed to cover up the crisis.
The Brazilian government sparked outrage on Saturday by purging the health ministry website of historical data relating to the pandemic and announcing it would stop publishing the cumulative death toll or number of infections.
Continue reading...Few venture out as lockdown eases in India
Shops, banks, cafes and restaurants remain quiet as fear of the pandemic holds sway in New Delhi
Many shops and restaurants are still deserted as India begins emerging from lockdown this week.
Radha Dhongre, an economist, described going out for a coffee with her daughter on Monday in Khan Market in New Delhi, the Indian capital, the day the lockdown was eased as an experiment. Her trip was motivated by curiosity and a desire to see if it was feasible.
Continue reading...