Biden’s chief medical adviser also says the US is ‘clearly going in the right direction’ on the pandemic
The US is likely to see an increase in Covid cases like that in Europe and the UK thanks to the BA.2 virus subvariant but not a dangerous surge, Anthony Fauci said on Sunday.
Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser also said the US was “clearly going in the right direction” on the coronavirus pandemic.
Continue reading...Elderly residents are wary of the jab even as Omicron spreads, and critics say zero-Covid policy is not sustainable
When nearby neighbourhoods went into lockdown, Liu Li started stocking up. The 42-year-old Chinese magazine worker bought vegetables, fruit, medicine and other supplies, adding to stores of basics she had maintained since the pandemic began. Last Sunday a resident in the community where Liu lives with her mother, in Changchun city, Jilin, tested positive. Everyone was ordered inside.
The fresh lockdown has, so far, been OK. “I live a normal life,” she says. “I work when there are tasks for me. If there aren’t any, I talk to my mother, watch TV, or play with my cat.”
Continue reading...The US must prepare now for the next surge or variant, whether it’s BA.2 or a different one, experts say
Cases and deaths from Covid-19 have fallen in the US, but warning signs and rises in other countries are prompting experts to take future and existing variants of the virus seriously – and they are warning that America has not yet reached the endemic phase.
It’s important to prepare now for the next surge or variant, whether that’s BA.2 or a different one, experts say.
Continue reading...Hospitals in southern England worst affected, with Devon recording highest ever numbers of Covid patients
Rising numbers of people entering hospital with Covid are leading to other patients becoming infected, staff absences, delayed operations and long waits in emergency departments, experts have said.
In recent weeks, Covid infection levels have been rising in the UK and hospitalisations are also increasing.
Continue reading...Even a mild Covid infection can cause lingering fatigue, but exercise plays a crucial role in recovery
The Omicron variant has caused an avalanche of Covid-19 cases in Australia in the past months. While most people who catch the disease experience mild symptoms, many report feeling short of breath and sluggish for weeks afterward.
“It’s normal to feel tired after a viral infection, and everyone’s recovery is different,” says Janet Bondarenko, a senior respiratory physiotherapist at Alfred hospital in Melbourne. “But the severity of your Covid illness doesn’t necessarily predict whether you will have those lingering symptoms.”
Continue reading...France, Netherlands and Germany all announce plans to reduce or remove Covid controls
France’s nightclubs reopen for the first time in three months on Wednesday and the Netherlands returns to “almost normal” from next Friday, as European countries continue to lift their coronavirus curbs despite relatively high infection numbers.
Groups may also play to standing audiences in French concert venues, customers in bars and cafes will be allowed to eat and drink while standing at the counter and cinemagoers and train passengers can snack during their film or journey.
Continue reading...JCVI advised vaccinating the age group last week, but government is still ‘reviewing’ the evidence
Plans to offer Covid vaccinations to all children aged five to 11 have been delayed by the government because the jabs have not been deemed urgent.
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) decided more than a week ago to expand the vaccination programme to all that age group and handed its advice to ministers.
Continue reading...Two years of the pandemic have meant drops in essential screening and detection, while cancer patients undergo treatments alone and isolate to avoid Covid risks
When Claire Simpson turned 50 in early 2020, she received a letter telling her to get a mammogram. Then the pandemic hit, and Victoria went into lockdown.
“Like many people, I put it off until we were coming out of that lockdown, but by then it was September and I couldn’t get an appointment until December,” she says.
Continue reading...Sound system on parliament grounds plays vaccine messages, Macarena and the crooner’s 1970s hits
New Zealand authorities have deployed Barry Manilow against protesters at its parliament, playing his greatest hits at hundreds camped out over coronavirus restrictions.
The protest began when a convoy of trucks and cars drove to parliament from across the country, inspired by protests in Canada. At first there were more than 1,000 protesters but that number dwindled as the week wore on before growing again on Saturday.
Continue reading...Political rather than scientific choices lie behind UK decision to be first nation to lift restrictions, say specialists
The UK’s prime minister, Boris Johnson, announced this week that he aimed to abolish all Covid regulations, including the requirement to isolate after testing positive, in England from 24 February. Here’s what experts around the world think of that plan, which would make Britain something of an outlier when it comes to coronavirus precautions.
Jon Henley in Paris
Philip Oltermann in Berlin
Sam Jones in Madrid
Angela Giuffrida in Rome
Helena Smith in Athens
Vincent Ni
Tess McClure in Auckland
Melissa Davey in Sydney
Continue reading...Guardian Australia's medical editor Melissa Davey looks at the difference between the immunity to Covid-19 that comes from vaccinations and boosters and that which comes naturally after recovering from infection. Overall, viewing Omicron infection as a ‘natural booster’ which makes a third vaccine dose unnecessary is unwise
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Hundreds still dying from Covid each day in the UK as fear of the virus wanes
The Covid booster campaign has stalled, and declining trust in the prime minister is part of the problem, say scientists.
Only 26,875 people in England had a third dose or booster on 1 February, the latest complete figures available, and 6 million people are at least six weeks overdue for their shot.
Continue reading...‘I just don’t think you wake up on Tuesday and it’s finished,’ says former Sage adviser Sir Jeremy Farrar
Tensions in societies around the world over the current Covid situation are going to be very difficult to handle, one of Britain’s most senior scientific figures has warned.
Sir Jeremy Farrar, the director of the Wellcome Trust, who stepped down as a government scientific adviser in November last year, warned the idea of simply “exiting” a pandemic is not realistic.
Continue reading...Vaccinations, milder Omicron and arrival of spring should keep death rate low as cases rise to all time high
Europe could soon enter a “long period of tranquillity” that amounts to a “ceasefire” in the pandemic thanks to the less severe Omicron variant, high levels of immunity and the arrival of warmer spring weather, the World Health Organization has said.
In an upbeat assessment, Hans Kluge, the WHO’s Europe director, said the region was in a position of “higher protection” that could “bring us enduring peace”, even if a new, more virulent variant than Omicron should emerge.
Continue reading...Scott Morrison announces packages for aged care and NDIS as anti-vaccine protesters mass outside the National Press Club; 77 Covid deaths recorded across NSW, Victoria, Queensland and South Australia. Follow updates live
O’Neil:
A pay rise that lasts up until the next election is a cynical political ploy, because we know this plan ... will not do anything more than hold this thing together by a thread.
The truth is that the aged-care sector – the average experience of a person in aged care today is one of neglect.
The truth is that we have a crisis in aged care that has been eight years in the making.
Scott Morrison has cut aged-care funding personally as treasurer twice. One of the first actions of the incoming government was to cut the wages of aged-care staff and now we are expected to believe that this is going to make a difference?
Continue reading...Vaccine inequity will prolong pandemic and increase risk of new variants developing, modelling finds
The world would be better protected against new Covid variants and there would be substantially fewer deaths in low and middle-income countries if rich nations donated half of their vaccine doses, new research suggests.
The modelling study found it was in wealthy nations’ self-interests to donate doses because vaccine inequity would prolong the pandemic and increase the risk of new variants developing.
Continue reading...Thousands held a loud but peaceful protest in Canada’s capital, Ottawa, against prime minister Justin Trudeau’s Covid-19 vaccine mandates, on the streets and snow-covered lawn in front of parliament. The so-called Freedom Convoy started out as a rally of truckers against a vaccine requirement for cross-border drivers, but turned into a demonstration against government overreach during the pandemic, with a strong anti-vaccination streak
Minister says lower severity of Omicron variant ‘opens the window for us to look at it’
Downing Street appears likely to drop its policy of dismissing frontline NHS and care staff in England who refuse Covid vaccinations, a minister has strongly indicated, after nursing and care organisations called for this to happen.
A decision would be made “in the course of the next few days”, according to Simon Clarke, the chief secretary to the Treasury. He said the lower severity of the Omicron variant of Covid did “open a space” for the policy to be reversed.
Continue reading...Omicron’s ‘close cousin’ has mutations that could alter how it behaves and has begun to surpass Covid’s most common variety in parts of Europe and Asia
The highly transmissible Omicron variant of the Sars-CoV-2 virus – the most common form of which is known as BA.1 – now accounts for nearly all of the coronavirus infections globally.
Though Covid cases have already peaked in some countries, scientists are now tracking a rise in cases caused by a close cousin of Omicron known as BA.2, which is starting to outcompete BA.1 in parts of Europe and Asia. The following is what we know so far about the new subvariant.
Continue reading...Michael Gunner says lockdowns and lockouts no longer effective; At least 88 Covid deaths recorded around the country as Kerry Chant says Omicron sub-variant is circulating in NSW; Queensland reveals back-to-school plan. This blog is now closed
Albanese says Labor will boost aged-care funding, but cannot specify by how much.
There has been a boost.
Two things they haven’t done: One is to tie that funding of actual delivery of better healthcare for aged-care residents in terms of some of the regulatory measures required that were recommended by the royal commission, but the big missing piece in this workforce, we still don’t have a commitment to have a nurse in a nursing home.
We still don’t have a commitment to increase in the number of other care workers in aged care, and we still don’t have a commitment to increases in wages and conditions so that aged-care facilities are able to attract the staff.
Quite clearly there will be a need for increased health funding, but there is a need also to look at the particular areas of funding.
GPs, for example. One of the reasons there is so much pressure on the hospitals is we have GP shortages in terms of training, we have GP shortages in terms of some of the changes that they’ve made to the Medicare schedule that have had an impact in our regions.
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