Category Archives: Science

Coronavirus live news: cases spreading out of control in Hong Kong; UK infection rate flat, says ONS head

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Record 100 new daily cases confirmed in Hong Kong; UK’s head of Office for National Statistics calls for scaling up of testing; South Africa’s cases become fifth-highest worldwide

Thirty-nine people were detained after police were attacked with “a hail of bottles” at an open-air party in central Frankfurt attended by thousands of youngsters, police in the German city said today..

Five officers were injured in the riot that began at around 3:00 am (0100 GMT) when police intervened to stop a brawl involving around 30 people in Frankfurt’s historic Opera square.

People who travel outside of Ireland have been warned they will invalidate their travel insurance even if the place they visit is on a so-called ‘green list’ of safe countries to by published this week, the Irish Times reports.

It added that travel insurance exclusions denying cover to people who travel contrary to official guides are the norm across the sector. At present, the advice from the Irish Government is that non-essential journeys overseas should be avoided.

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What happens when flu meets Covid-19?

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How seasonal viruses interact with the coronavirus is unknown – it may lessen or sharpen the pandemic – so flu vaccinations are vital

Optimists had hoped Covid-19 might not withstand the blistering heat of a British summer. However those hopes have faded: the virus staged a recent resurgence in Iran amid actual blistering temperatures, and has had no trouble persisting in sultry Singapore.

But what happens to Covid-19, and us, when the rain and chill – and flu and sniffles – of autumn set in? Especially, how will the annual winter flu epidemic play out amid a Covid-19 pandemic?

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Israel returns to partial lockdown with immediate weekend shutdown

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Government unveils measures after marathon emergency cabinet session as infections rise

Israel has reimposed some lockdown measures following a vigorous second surge in the number of coronavirus infections, putting in place stringent weekend shutdowns in which shops, hairdressers and attractions will be closed.

The government announced the measures in the early hours of Friday morning, following a marathon emergency cabinet session called after daily infection rates climbed to close to 2,000.

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UK coronavirus live: Johnson to unveil £3bn plan to get NHS ‘battle ready’ for winter

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News updates: PM set to make announcement in press conference on Friday

The news that the court of appeal decided yesterday to allow Shamima Begum to return to Britain makes many front pages this morning, and is now under discussion on the Today programme.

Richard Walton, former head of counter terrorism command at the Met, says the court has made a “profound mistake”. “It’s quite alarming to see the court of appeal taking over the home secretary’s job of deciding who should be allowed into the UK,” he says.

With much discussion today of how to encourage people to embrace the reopening of the economy, Joanna Partridge reports grim findings for England’s pubs, bars and restaurants. Figures released overnight find that sales since they reopened are about 40% down compared on the same period last year.

On the other hand, argues Karl Chessell, director of the consultancy CGA which released the findings, that’s actually better bounceback for the sector than in many other countries. You can read more about that here:

Related: England yet to embrace reopened restaurants and pubs, data suggests

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Closest ever images of sun reveal it is covered in miniature flares

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Solar Orbiter images shot from between Venus and Mercury orbits show ‘campfires’ in corona

The closest ever images of the sun reveal its surface is speckled with “campfires”, miniature versions of the dramatic solar flares visible from Earth.

The observations, beamed back from the Solar Orbiter spacecraft, which is a joint Nasa and European Space Agency (ESA) mission, could help resolve why the sun’s atmosphere is so staggeringly hot compared to the surface – a central paradox in solar physics. Miniature flares have been proposed as a theoretical explanation for the so-called coronal heating problem, but until now no telescope has had a good enough resolution to observe the sun’s atmosphere in sufficient detail.

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Coronavirus live news: Covid-19 was direct cause of 89% of Italy pandemic deaths; Israel faces new lockdown

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Israel reports new daily record of cases; 125 million in India under new lockdown; Beijing Winter Olympics under threat

The news that there may be a delay in re-opening pubs in Ireland has been described as a “hammer blow” by the Licensed Vintners Association, which represents pub owners, who said the future of 7,000 pubs and 50,000 jobs hung in the balance.

Ireland has paused its phased easing of lockdown and extended rules on face coverings amid a surge in Covid-19 cases. Leo Varadkar, the tánaiste (deputy prime minister), told parliament today that pubs, nightclubs and other venues will open no sooner than 10 August, and possibly later.

Covid-19 was found to be the direct cause of death among 89% of the pandemic’s victims in Italy, according to a report on Thursday by the country’s higher health institute and national statistics agency.

The study was based on the death certificates of 4,942 people who had tested positive for Covid-19 and carried out until 25 May, by which time 31,573 people were officially reported to have died of the disease.

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UK coronavirus live: ‘It’s clear the outcome has not been good’ in Britain, Patrick Vallance tells MPs

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Chief scientific adviser gives evidence to science and technology committee; Scotland records first Covid-related death in eight days

Vallance told the committee that SAGE advised the government to impose lockdown measures “as soon as possible” on the 16 or 18 March.

He said this happened as soon as data showed further restrictions were needed. “Looking back, you can see the data may have preceded that but the data was not available before that.”

Back to the Science and Technology committee, where chief scientific adviser has said the coronavirus lockdown “carries risks” to the public’s mental and physical health.

He told the committee it was “crucially important” that the indirect impact of the measures on people’s health were fully understood.

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Pandemic shows climate has never been treated as crisis, say scientists

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Letter also signed by Greta Thunberg urges EU leaders to act immediately on global heating

Greta Thunberg and some of the world’s leading climate scientists have written to EU leaders demanding they act immediately to avoid the worst impacts of the unfolding climate and ecological emergency.

The letter, which is being sent before a European council meeting starting on Friday, says the Covid-19 pandemic has shown that most leaders are able to act swiftly and decisively, but the same urgency had been missing in politicians’ response to the climate crisis.

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From hunger to abuse: how Covid-19 has affected women worldwide

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Experts fear the pandemic may set gender equality back decades. Here, seven women explain the struggles it has brought and their hopes for the future

More men than women may have contracted Covid-19 around the world, but experts have warned that the pandemic may set gender equality back by decades.

Melinda Gates, the co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, said in a paper this week that policymakers risked prolonging the crisis and slowing economic recovery if they ignored the gendered impacts of coronavirus. She added that overhauling systems could allow governments to build “more prosperous, more prepared and more equal” countries.

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Climate change made Siberian heatwave 600 times more likely – study

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Scientists say human fingerprint on record temperatures has rarely if ever been clearer

The record-breaking heatwave in the Siberian Arctic was made at least 600 times more likely by human-caused climate change, according to a study.

Between January and June, temperatures in the far north of Russia were more than 5C above average, causing permafrost to melt, buildings to collapse, and sparking an unusually early and intense start to the forest fires season. On 20 June, a monitoring station in Verkhoyansk registered a record high of 38C.

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Global report: Barcelona facing new lockdown as Tokyo raises alert level

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Tensions over how to quell outbreak in Catalan capital as cases flare up around the world

Part of the northern Spanish region of Catalonia has gone back into lockdown, with Barcelona suggesting it might also follow suit with restrictions in some districts, as authorities sought to control a resurgence of coronavirus cases emerging just weeks after a nationwide lockdown was lifted.

As a judge overturned a previous court decision to approve the stay-at-home order for the Lleida area, west of Barcelona, friction was emerging over how to handle an increase in cases in a suburb of the Catalan capital.

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Coronavirus live news: Mallorca closes Magaluf party strip; US sees another new record number of cases

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160,000 Catalans back into lockdown; Florida records new daily death toll high; India Covid-19 cases top 900,000

Brazil has suffered 1,233 more deaths and registered 39,924 new cases, its health ministry has said. The country has now recorded a total off 75,366 deaths and confirmed 1,996,748 cases in all, making it the world’s second worst-affected.

As the figures were released, the far-right president, who has repeatedly dismissed the dangers posed by the pandemic, publicly acknowledged a second positive test that suggests he has not recovered. Bolsonaro told reporters he would get tested again in a few days.

Scotland could ask people arriving from England to quarantine, its first minister Nicola Sturgeon has said. In an interview with ITV’s Peston programme due to be broadcast in the next couple of hours, she has said:

Scotland would have the ability through public health measures to ask people to quarantine if they came to Scotland. And I’ve said, again, this is not political, it is not constitutional, I’m taking these decisions purely from a public health perspective. We do see prevalence of the virus at a lower level at the moment – although we’re not complacent – than we do in England.

But that’s not something I want to do if we can avoid that. I think the first thing we want to do is work very constructively as we do already with authorities in England to look at good outbreak management and where that requires localised travel restrictions, then rely on that in the first instance.

Well, my calculation is that if we are more successful in driving the virus to very low levels, getting as close as possible to elimination of it before a potential second wave in the autumn and winter, then we will build ourselves a much more sustainable foundation for economic recovery.

So, the judgement is that taking a couple of weeks, and that’s pretty much what we’re talking about here, longer to come out of lockdown, if that buys us a more sustainable recovery in the medium to long term, then that’s the right thing to do.

The sweetest reunion of all #hairdresser #Julie pic.twitter.com/toBnQ4Qmmi

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Coronavirus live news: India Covid-19 cases top 900,000 as 133m re-enter lockdown

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Restrictions imposed on Indian city of Bangalore and state of Bihar; Venezuela’s capital Caracas to go into a strict lockdown on Wednesday; Face masks mandatory in France; Follow the latest updates

AFP is reporting on Tokyo being on its highest coronavirus alert level after a rise in new cases - particularly in younger people, in nightlife areas and also in workplaces and in families - as experts said the rising infections were a clear “red flag”.

However, the move to a “red” alert does not mean the city will ask businesses to close or events to be postponed. Even during a national state of emergency in April, there was no “lockdown” in Japan of the type seen in Europe.

AP are also reporting on how virus restrictions in Australia are being reimposed, shutting businesses and curbing people’s social lives as communities try to curb a disease resurgence before it spins out of control.

Residents of Melbourne, Australia’s second-largest city, were warned today to comply with lockdown regulations or face tougher restrictions. Melbourne’s 5 million people and part of the city’s semi-rural surrounds are a week into a new, six-week lockdown to contain a new outbreak there.

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Competitive hotdog eaters nearing limit of human performance

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A maximum of 84 hotdogs in 10 minutes is possible, says sports science study

The four-minute mile and the two-hour marathon were once believed impossible: now a new gauntlet has been thrown down for the world of elite competition. A scientific analysis suggests competitive eaters have come within nine hotdogs of the limits of human performance.

The theoretical ceiling has been set at 84 hotdogs in 10 minutes. The current world record, set by Joey “Jaws” Chestnut earlier this month, stands at 75.

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Coronavirus live news: India puts Bangalore back into lockdown; Hong Kong tightens social distancing

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Global cases rise by 1m in five days; 5.4m Americans have lost their health insurance; 6,000 new cases in Russia

Iran reports 179 new virus death as authorities announced a decision to once more shutter some businesses in the capital to contain the virus’ resurgence.

The reimposition of restrictive measures comes after the government had progressively lifted them from April to reopen its sanctions-hit economy.

Masks will become mandatory in all enclosed public spaces in France within the next few weeks, President Emmanuel Macron has said in a major Bastille Day interview.

Masks were already obligatory on public transport and recommended in shops, with many store owners refusing to welcome customers not wearing them.

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Does coronavirus spread in the air and how do we stay safe?

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Some scientists believe there is growing evidence of airborne transmission of Covid-19

Some scientists are warning there is growing evidence of airborne transmission of coronavirus. But how does it affect the actions we should take to stay safe?

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NSW on ‘extra high alert’ for Covid-19 resurgence as hotel crackdown announced

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Premier Gladys Berejiklian details stricter regime for pubs as cluster linked to the Crossroads Hotel grows to 30 cases

New South Wales is on “extra high alert” for a widespread Covid-19 resurgence and will require so-called hygiene marshals to enforce social distancing at every pub in the state.

The crackdown comes after patrons who visited a Sydney hotel at the centre of the state’s largest outbreak expressed concern over relaxed safety practices and the pub’s manager conceded more could have been done to record visitors’ contact details.

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Baby boy infected with coronavirus in womb

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French study is believed to be first such confirmed case but doctors say infant has made good recovery

Doctors in France have reported what they believe to be the first proven case of Covid-19 being passed on from a pregnant woman to her baby in the womb.

The newborn boy developed inflammation in the brain within days of being born, a condition brought on after the virus crossed the placenta and established an infection prior to birth. He has since made a good recovery.

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Fauci sidelined as Trump’s White House steps up briefing campaign

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The president says the scientist leading the US fight against the virus has ‘made a lot of mistakes’

He is the US scientist who became the figurehead of attempts to combat the country’s coronavirus epidemic, described in some quarters as “America’s doctor”.

Now Anthony Fauci appears sidelined by Donald Trump’s White House after repeatedly contradicting the president’s view about the effectiveness of the government response.

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‘Compelling’ evidence air pollution worsens coronavirus – study

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Exclusive: best analysis to date indicates significant increases in infections, hospital admissions and deaths

There is “compelling” evidence that air pollution significantly increases coronavirus infections, hospital admissions and deaths, according to the most detailed and comprehensive analysis to date.

The research indicates that a small, single-unit increase in people’s long-term exposure to pollution particles raises infections and admissions by about 10% and deaths by 15%. The study took into account more than 20 other factors, including average population density, age, household size, occupation and obesity.

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