Category Archives: Science

Coronavirus live news: Spain passes 100,000 cases, as UN says world faces worst crisis since WW2

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US has one 1 in 5 cases globally; global cases pass 860,000; record daily fatalities in UK, France, Spain and Russia

The European Commission has proposed a short-time work scheme to avoid mass lay-offs across the bloc during the coronavirus pandemic.

The scheme, which is modelled on Germany’s Kurzabeit programme, was announced by Commission head Ursula von der Leyen in a video message.

Companies are paying salaries to their employees, even if, right now, they are not making money. Europe is now coming to their support, with a new initiative.

“It is intended to help Italy, Spain and all other countries that have been hard hit. And it will do so thanks to the solidarity of other member states,” she said.

Italy has extended lockdown restrictions until 13 April as signs emerge indicating the coronavirus contagion might be reaching a “plateau”.

“Italians have shown great maturity,” Roberto Speranza, the health minister, told parliament on Wednesday. “Experts say we are on the right track, and that the drastic measures taken are starting to give results.”

However, Speranza warned “we must not drop our guard” as the recovery will be “prudent and gradual”.

“It would be unforgiveable to mistake this first result for a
definitive defeat of Covid, it’s a long battle.”

The number of new confirmed infections rose by 2,107 on Tuesday, taking the total number of current cases to 77,635, according to figures from Italy’s civil protection authority.

The rise in infections was higher than the daily increase registered on Monday (1,648), but lower than Sunday’s increase of 3,815.

On Tuesday, there was a 2.8% increase in new (i.e current) infections, compared with an average daily rise of 15% during one of the most critical weeks.

The death toll rose by 837 on Tuesday to 12,428, higher than the 812 deaths registered on Monday. The number of people who have recovered from the virus rose by 1,109 to 15,729 on Tuesday, following a record leap of 1,590 on Monday.

The daily death toll and infection rate have also started to slow in Lombardy, the region worst-affected by the virus.

“The curve tells us that we’re at a plateau,” said Silvio Brusaferro, the president of the Higher Health Institute (ISS).

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Hop to it: Researchers pinpoint why Belgian beers don’t keep

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Study finds fashionable hoppy brews lose their characteristic taste while sitting on the shelf

It will be music to the ears of Belgian beer enthusiasts: drink up.

Scientists studying how well the fashionable hoppy-tasting beers of today keep in the cupboard have highlighted the particular propensity for them to lose their flavour over time.

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Planting hope: the Syrian refugee who developed virus-resistant super-seeds

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Plant virologist Dr Safaa Kumari discovered seeds that could safeguard food security in the region – and risked her life to rescue them from Aleppo

The call came as she sat in her hotel room. “They gave us 10 minutes to pack up and leave,” Dr Safaa Kumari was told down a crackling phone line. Armed fighters had just seized her house in Aleppo and her family were on the run.

Kumari was in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, preparing to present a conference. She immediately began organising a sprint back to Syria. Hidden in her sister’s house was a small but very valuable bundle that she was prepared to risk her life to recover.

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Coronavirus live news: rise in Italy, US and France deaths takes global confirmed toll past 40,000

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Worldwide confirmed cases pass 800,000 as Spain and Russia also report record single-day death tolls and Mexico wakes to state of emergency

Do you ever run out of questions, you people? Trump asks a room full of reporters.

Trump is talking about the impeachment. “They probably illegally impeached me... you don’t hear much about that nowadays because everyone’s talking about the virus,” which he is happy about, the US president says.

“The democrats their whole live their whole being their whole existence was to try and get me out of office any way they can even if it was a phony deal.”

"I think I'm getting A pluses now for how I handled myself during a phony impeachment," Trump says.

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New blood test can detect 50 types of cancer

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System uses machine learning to offer new way to screen for hard-to-detect cancers

A new blood test that can detect more than 50 types of cancer has been revealed by researchers in the latest study to offer hope for early detection.

The test is based on DNA that is shed by tumours and found circulating in the blood. More specifically, it focuses on chemical changes to this DNA, known as methylation patterns.

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Scientists develop AI that can turn brain activity into text

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Researchers in US tracked the neural data from people while they were speaking

Reading minds has just come a step closer to reality: scientists have developed artificial intelligence that can turn brain activity into text.

While the system currently works on neural patterns detected while someone is speaking aloud, experts say it could eventually aid communication for patients who are unable to speak or type, such as those with locked in syndrome.

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Who is most at risk from coronavirus and why? – video explainer

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The best thing to do when trying to understand a new virus like Covid-19 is to look at the data. The Guardian's science correspondent Hannah Devlin uses the latest figures to explain who is most at risk of contracting this coronavirus, why men are more likely to die from the disease, and the reasons health workers could be particularly vulnerable

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Coronavirus live news: Spain wakes to more restrictive lockdown as New York state passes 1,000 deaths

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Moscow announces lockdown of 12m people; Syria records first death

Covid-19 infections worldwide have risen to 732,000, according to the Johns Hopkins University tracker. The US had the most cases, with over 142,000; Italy was second with nearly 98,000; and Spain has passed China’s 82,000 cases with 85,000. Italy still had the highest death toll, with nearly 10,800. Spain was second with 7,340. More than 2,500 people have died in the US.

Two of Brazil’s most iconic football stadiums - Rio de Janeiro’s Maracanã and the Pacaembu in São Paulo - are being converted into Covid-19 field hospitals as the country braces for an explosion of coronavirus cases.

The Pacaembu - whose turf has been graced by giants of Brazilian football including Pelé, Socrates and Ronaldo - is expected to open on Wednesday as a 200-bed clinic for coronavirus patients who do not require intensive care treatment.

“From what we have seen in Asia and Europe, the hospital system will fast become overloaded if we don’t have parallel infrastructure,” told Brazilian television network Globo on Sunday night.

The Maracanã - which has hosted two World Cup finals, in 1950 and 2014 - will also reportedly be turned into a hospital in early April.

Other Brazilian cities turning football stadiums into temporary hospitals include Boa Vista in the Amazon state of Roraima and Fortaleza in northeast Brazil.

As of Sunday Brazil had officially confirmed 4,256 cases and 136 Covid-19 deaths - the majority in Rio (17) and São Paulo (98). Those numbers are expected to rise significantly in the coming days as testing increases and the virus spreads. Brazil’s health ministry has warned the hospital system could collapse by the end of April.

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Britons on virus-hit ship wait for Panama Canal green light

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Passengers on cruise liner where four died and its sister ship hope to be flying home soon

Hundreds of passengers, many of them British, on a coronavirus-stricken cruise trip where four people have died are confined to their cabins awaiting the go-ahead to pass through the Panama Canal.

Dozens have fallen ill on the Zaandam cruise ship, which was stranded off the Pacific coast of Panama after several Latin American countries refused to let it into port. Some passengers were transferred to a second ship – the Rotterdam – on Saturday night.

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We can scrutinise our leaders, but we must all improve our responses to coronavirus covid-19

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In a rapidly evolving situation, we must think ahead and react fast, says a special envoy of the WHO director general

Covid-19 is a new virus. Its high transmission rate and rapid exponential growth make its effects particularly serious. We are seeing how, in country after country, this is now far more than a public health issue. Politicians everywhere are having to balance their responses to the health consequences of Covid-19 with the needs of their economies and societies. The interactions are complex and can be highly contextual as differences in the strength of the economy, the age of the population and local health systems and society all interact. People and businesses are hurting and fearful for the future.

There are many lessons from countries where the disease appeared early in the pandemic, but global leaders also need to be aware of the global context. It is right that we scrutinise our leaders’ actions, but it is right because we all need to learn quickly, and to improve our responses. In such a rapidly evolving situation it is far too early to judge what has worked and what has not. What is critical is that we develop our actions fast in response to new information.

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Coronavirus live news: Cases in Italy overtake China, US infections pass 100,000

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Trump invokes Defence Production Act; Syria introduces travel restrictions; The UK, Spain, Italy see biggest daily rise in deaths. Follow the latest updates

Afghanistan has reported 15 new Coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, pushing the total number of infections to 110 - including four NATO forces and two foreign diplomats, Akhtar Mohammad Makoii reports from Herat.

Eleven of the new positive cases have been confirmed in western province of Herat, raising the total number of infections in Afghanistan’s worst affected province to 76. Herat neighbours Iran, where authorities have been struggling to control one of the world’s worst outbreaks.

This tweet from the air traffic tracking service Flightradar24, showing the number of planes in the air on Friday evening compared to four weeks earlier, shows the remarkable impact of travel restrictions across Europe.

Friday evening in Europe - February 28 vs March 27https://t.co/EqV2Vo80Kd pic.twitter.com/4puKM9G1f2

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Tackle climate crisis and poverty with zeal of Covid-19 fight, scientists urge

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Actions taken to suppress coronavirus reveal what measures are possible in an emergency, say experts

Government responses to climate breakdown and to the challenges of poverty and inequality must be changed permanently after the coronavirus has been dealt with, leading scientists have urged, as the actions taken to suppress the spread of the virus have revealed what measures are possible in an emergency.

The Covid-19 crisis has revealed what governments are capable of doing and shone a new light on the motivation for past policies and their outcomes, said Sir Michael Marmot, professor of epidemiology and public health at University College London, and chair of the commission of the social determinants of health at the World Health Organisation.

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Back poor countries fighting Covid-19 with trillions or face disaster, G20 told

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Experts warn leaders of huge social and economic consequences of failing to support developing states against ‘unprecedented threat’

Economists and global health experts have called on G20 leaders to provide trillions of dollars to poorer countries to shore up ailing healthcare systems and economies, or face a disaster that will rebound on wealthier states through migration and health crises.

Twenty experts, among them four Nobel prizewinners, including Joseph Stiglitz, Lord Nicholas Stern and seven chief economists of the World Bank and other development banks, have written to G20 leaders to warn of “unimaginable health and social impacts” as coronavirus rips through the developing world, taking overburdened healthcare systems beyond breaking point, and causing economic and social devastation.

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‘We fear, but have to work’: isolation not an option for the poor of Nairobi

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As coronavirus arrives in Kenya, retreat behind closed doors is only an alternative for those who can afford it

All photographs by Duncan Moore

Benson Kinyale is a security guard who works the door at a luxury apartment complex in the Parklands neighbourhood of Nairobi. While residents of the building have started to hoard supplies and stay at home because of Covid-19, he continues to make the 80km commute by bus from his home outside the city, six days a week.

He knows standing outside and opening doors all day is now a high-risk activity, as is travelling on a crowded matatu minibus almost every day. But he has little choice.

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Scientists find bug that feasts on toxic plastic

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Bacterium is able to break down polyurethane, which is widely used but rarely recycled

A bacterium that feeds on toxic plastic has been discovered by scientists. The bug not only breaks the plastic down but uses it as food to power the process.

The bacterium, which was found at a waste site where plastic had been dumped, is the first that is known to attack polyurethane. Millions of tonnes of the plastic is produced every year to use in items such as sports shoes, nappies, kitchen sponges and as foam insulation, but it is mostly sent to landfill because it it too tough to recycle.

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Cave find shows Neanderthals collected seafood, scientists say

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Discovery adds to growing evidence that Neanderthals were very similar to modern humans

Neanderthals made extensive use of coastal environments, munching on fish, crabs and mussels, researchers have found, in the latest study to reveal similarities between modern humans and our big-browed cousins.

Until now, many Neanderthal sites had shown only small-scale use of marine resources; for example, scattered shells. But now archaeologists have excavated a cave on the coast of Portugal and discovered a huge, structured deposit of remains, including from mussels and limpets, dating to between 106,000 and 86,000 years ago.

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Tokyo and Hong Kong brace amid fears of fresh wave of coronavirus cases

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Tokyo governor warns of measures to prevent ‘explosion’ of cases as Hong Kong health expert calls for curfew to handle cases arriving from overseas

Tokyo faces further isolation measures to prevent an “explosion’ of coronavirus cases and there are calls in Hong Kong for a curfew to stop the health system collapsing amid fears of a second wave of infections in eastern Asia.

The governor of Tokyo has asked the city’s residents to stay at home this weekend “at all costs” to avoid an “explosion” of Covid-19 infections following a rise in the number of local cases.

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Indonesia’s hidden coronavirus cases threaten to overwhelm hospitals

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The country already has the most deaths in south-east Asia, but research suggests the official 800 infections so far may only be 2% of the total

It was just last month that Indonesia’s coronavirus cases stood at zero, with officials fiercely rejecting suggestions that infections were spreading undetected.

Weeks later, 78 fatalities have now been linked to the virus, the highest number in south-east Asia. Seven health workers are among those who have died.

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Spring-heeled: concept that could see Usain Bolt rocket to 50mph

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Prototype of revolutionary running device being worked on by scientists at US university

A wearable spring-based contraption that attaches to the legs has the potential to boost human running speeds by 50%, according to researchers who hope to build the first prototype over the next year.

Scientists came up with the concept after computer models showed that it was possible to dramatically increase the amount of energy people put into each running step by enabling them to do work when their feet are in the air.

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