Strain is a combination of UK and India variants and is said to spread quickly
Vietnam has discovered a new Covid-19 variant which spreads quickly by air and is a combination of variants first identified in India and the UK, state media has reported.
The country is struggling to deal with fresh outbreaks across more than half of its territory including industrial zones and big cities such as Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.
Continue reading...From face masks to working from home, we examine what the government may risk ditching
From face masks to the rule of six, we’ve got used to Covid restrictions over the past 14 months. But next week the government in England is expected to unveil its review of social distancing rules, ahead of the potential full unlocking of society on 21 June. Although it’s unlikely that recommendations on handwashing and ventilation will be dropped, others, such as restrictions on household mixing or the 1-metre-plus rule, could be lifted.
Doing so would help the hospitality and travel industries, allowing pubs, restaurants and other indoor venues to increase their capacity, and more people to travel abroad for work or holidays. However, with coronavirus resurfacing in some areas of the UK, and the rise of new variants, some have questioned whether this is a good idea.
Continue reading...Problem with camera-based navigation system saw helicopter wobble through the air in biggest tech issue Ingenuity has faced
A navigation timing error sent Nasa’s Mars helicopter on a lurching ride, its first major problem since it took to the Martian skies last month.
The experimental helicopter, named Ingenuity, managed to land safely after the problem occurred, officials at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory said on Thursday.
Continue reading...Medical experts explain how much quarantine breaches, cold weather and pure chance contribute to the spread of coronavirus cases in Melbourne
Victoria has started its seven-day circuit-breaker lockdown – its fourth lockdown since the coronavirus pandemic began.
Other states have also imposed snap lockdowns or restrictions as a result of Covid cases in the community, most recently New South Wales, after a mystery case. But, with the exception of Sydney’s northern beaches cluster, most leaks from hotel quarantine have not resulted in sizeable outbreaks.
Continue reading...Analysis: Scientists agree with the former adviser’s claim, with one calling the estimate ‘conservative’
One of the most shocking allegations made by Boris Johnson’s former chief adviser Dominic Cummings during Wednesday’s joint parliamentary committee hearing was his claim that “tens of thousands of people died who didn’t need to die”, because of the way the government handled the Covid pandemic.
His claims have some support from scientists, who have estimated that the toll from government delays could be as high as 33,000 lives.
Continue reading...To China’s fury, Joe Biden has ordered a review of rival theories about lab leaks and animal hosts
President Joe Biden has ordered US intelligence agencies to conduct a 90-day review of what is known about the origins of Covid-19 and whether it could have escaped from a laboratory in Wuhan. So what does this mean for the lab leak theory?
Continue reading...Brazilian Amazon primates found to adapt their calls to get along better with their neighbours
Monkeys will use the “accent” of another species when they enter its territory to enhance communication, much like a British person living in the US might forgo their ‘tomahto’ for ‘tomayto, researchers have found.
Researchers investigated the behaviour of 15 groups of two roughly squirrel-sized primate species in the Brazilian Amazon: pied tamarins (Saguinus bicolor) and red-handed tamarins (Saguinus midas).
Continue reading...AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson jabs have caused rare blood clots but scientists say they can be redesigned to avoid problem
A team of German scientists believe that they have worked out why some people given the AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson vaccines against Covid-19 develop blood clots – and claim they can tell the manufacturers how to improve the vaccine to avoid it.
The key is in the adenovirus – the common cold virus that is used to deliver the spike protein of the coronavirus into the body, say Rolf Marschalek, a professor at Goethe university in Frankfurt, and colleagues. The mRNA vaccines developed by Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna do not use this delivery system and there have been no blood clotting cases linked to them.
Continue reading...Researchers have discovered that prolonged immersion in a piping hot bath has many of the same medical benefits as aerobic exercise
Name: Hot baths.
Age: First used by the ancient Egyptians 4,000 years ago.
Continue reading...While on a routine patrol, Greg Francek came across bone fragments from prehistoric animals that existed millions of years before humans
Imagine a California with volcanoes erupting to the east and Los Angeles buried under the Pacific Ocean. Giant camels, rhinoceros and four-tusked miniature elephants graze on a lush landscape, only to be preyed upon by bone-crushing dogs.
This is the prehistoric scene conjured up by a trove of new fossils discovered in California’s Sierra foothills – a hugely significant find, and one of the largest in the state’s history.
Continue reading...Several countries tell the WHO annual meeting that a new inquiry with new terms of reference must be launched
The United States and other countries have called for a more in-depth investigation of the pandemic origins, after an international mission to China earlier this year proved inconclusive.
Addressing the World Health Organization’s main annual meeting of member states in Geneva, representatives from several countries stressed the continued need to solve the mystery of how Covid-19 first began spreading among humans.
Continue reading...Scans show some brains have a stronger link between the part that processes sound and that which controls the mouth and throat
Scientists have shed light on why everyday sounds such as chewing, drinking and breathing can be so maddening to some people that it drives them to despair.
While the familiar munching and slurping of the dinner table are innocuous enough to most, those with misophonia – literally a hatred of sound – can find them profoundly irritating, to the point that they become disgusted, anxious, angry and even violent.
Continue reading...Declaration warns that the world is at a turning point in saving poorer countries from devastation
Global faith leaders and senior health and humanitarian figures are calling on countries to ensure the equitable distribution of Covid vaccines, warning that the world is “at a turning point”.
The signatories of an international declaration include Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization; Henrietta Fore, executive director of Unicef, the UN’s children’s agency; Peter Maurer, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross; Filippo Grandi, United Nations high commissioner for refugees; Justin Welby, the archbishop of Canterbury and leader of the global Anglican church; Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb, the grand imam of al-Azhar; and Christian and Jewish leaders.
Continue reading...Latest updates: Pfizer vaccine 88% effective against symptomatic disease from the India variant after second dose, AstraZeneca jab 60% effective
Confusion is reigning after airlines swiftly increased the number of planes travelling to “amber list” holiday destinations from the UK, before the prime minister contradicted ministers over whether trips to such places were permitted. They are not, in fact, allowed, Boris Johnson said.
But if we always believed what the PM said, well, we would be rather foolish. The ins and outs of the guidance are quite nuanced.
Related: Yes but no but yes: flight bookings soar despite baffling travel rules
A coronavirus outbreak on Mount Everest has infected at least 100 climbers and support staff, a mountaineering guide said, giving the first comprehensive estimate amid official Nepalese denials that the disease has spread to the world’s highest peak.
Lukas Furtenbach of Austria, who last week halted his Everest expedition due to virus fears, said one of his foreign guides and six Nepali Sherpa guides had tested positive.
I think with all the confirmed cases we know now confirmed from (rescue) pilots, from insurance, from doctors, from expedition leaders, I have the positive tests so we can prove this … We have at least 100 people minimum positive for Covid in base camp, and then the numbers might be something like 150 or 200.”
Related: Mount Everest Covid outbreak has infected 100 people at base camp, says guide
Continue reading...Health agency says the rates of myocarditis are not higher than expected and no causal link has been found to mRNA jabs
Some teenagers and young adults who received Covid-19 vaccines have experienced heart inflammation, a US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advisory group said, recommending further study of the rare condition.
In a statement dated 17 May, the CDC’s advisory committee on immunisation practices said it had looked into reports that a few young vaccine recipients, predominantly male adolescents and young adults, developed myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle.
Continue reading...Germany to bar visitors from UK over Covid variants of concern; sewage samples being tested across England to monitor Covid variants
Australia has now administered more than 3.5m doses of a Covid-19 vaccine, with a further 89,000 jabs delivered around the country.
New South Wales delivered 12,485 doses in the past 24 hours, becoming another one-day record for the state. Around 5000 of them were administered at its Olympic Park mass vaccination hub alone, AAP reports.
Malaysia has reported a further 6,320 coronavirus cases amid a recent surge in infections, as well as 50 new deaths. Saturday’s figures compare with 4,140 cases and 44 deaths a week today.
The nation reported a record high of 6,806 new cases on Thursday when it also saw its highest daily toll of 59 deaths. Taking the total number of cases since the onset of the pandemic to 505,115, Reuters reports.
A Public Health England study has revealed the vaccines can be up to 88% effective after a second dose
Both the Pfizer and AstraZeneca jabs are highly effective at protecting people from the strain of the Covid-19 virus first found in India, a study by Public Health England (PHE) has found.
The analysis, carried out between 5 April and 16 May, found the Pfizer vaccine was 88% effective against symptomatic disease from the India variant two weeks after a second dose, compared with 93% effectiveness against the Kent strain. For its part, the AstraZeneca jab was 60% effective, compared with 66% against the Kent variant over the same period.
Continue reading...A handwritten letter by Albert Einstein that contains his famous E=mc2 equation has sold at auction for more than $1.2m, about three times more than it was expected to get, a Boston-based auction house said on Friday.
Related: Albert Einstein's 'God letter' reflecting on religion auctioned for $3m
Continue reading...Academics suspect papers with grabby conclusions are waved through more easily by reviewers
Scientific research findings that are probably wrong gain far more attention than robust results, according to academics who suspect that the bar for publication may be lower for papers with grabbier conclusions.
Studies in top science, psychology and economics journals that fail to hold up when others repeat them are cited, on average, more than 100 times as often in follow-up papers than work that stands the test of time.
Continue reading...Boris Johnson still plans to end restrictions in June despite experts’ fears over spread of India and Kent variants
Covid infection levels are showing early signs of an increase in England, data has revealed, as experts continue to warn the variant of concern first detected in India could grow exponentially in the UK.
On Friday Boris Johnson told broadcasters in Portsmouth he has seen nothing to suggest it will be necessary to “deviate from the roadmap”, indicating that the planned lifting of all coronavirus restrictions in England on 21 June may yet go ahead.
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