The 'R' number of coronavirus is a figure that is being closely scrutinised as ministers decide when to end lockdown in the UK. Boris Johnson has said the country must keep the R rate below one in order to avoid the disaster of a second peak. But what does the R number mean and why is it important? Kate Proctor explains why the government is keeping a close eye on it and what it signifies
Continue reading...Category Archives: Infectious Diseases
UK takes a pasting from world’s press over coronavirus crisis
Across Europe to the US, the foreign newspaper verdict is Britain has performed badly
Britain’s reputation for its handling of the coronavirus epidemic has taken another global pasting after newspapers worldwide reported on what they described as confusion and internal divisions that are rapidly creating a crisis as big as Brexit for the UK.
With many diplomats admitting that soft power reputations are being forged or destroyed during the pandemic, the European press in particular is taking time to point out that the UK is experiencing the worst death rate in Europe, revealing a National Health Service that is underfunded and underprepared.
Continue reading...What is the future for travel and migration in age of Covid-19?
Lockdowns are starting to ease but travel and migration will be disrupted for longer
Our globalised world has been brought to a crashing halt by coronavirus.
By April, over 90% of the world’s population – 7.1 billion people – lived in countries with coronavirus-related travel restrictions on people arriving from abroad, a Pew study found.
Continue reading...UK coronavirus live: Hancock says care home deaths nearly halved in last few weeks
Health secretary dodges questions over people’s legal right to refuse return to work; Rishi Sunak expected to extend furlough scheme
- Starmer says Johnson giving no clear direction out of lockdown
- Global coronavirus updates - live
- Coronavirus latest: at a glance
- See all our coronavirus coverage
Public transport users should face away from each other when they cannot keep a two-metre gap, the government has said. A report from PA Media on the new transport guidance issued by the government this morning (see 9.28am) goes on:
New guidance issued by the Department for Transport on how to travel safely during the coronavirus outbreak states that passengers should minimise the time they spend near other people and avoid physical contact with them.
It acknowledges that “there may be situations where you can’t keep a suitable distance from people”, such as on busier services or at peak times.
The sandwich chain Subway has today started a phased reopening of around 600 of its 2,600 stores across the UK and Ireland - approximately one in four - for takeway and delivery only.
The outlets have all been fitted with new operational and social distancing safety measures to protect customers, third party delivery and supplier drivers and staff. These have been tested in the small number of stores that have remained open to support and serve key workers and hospital staff.
Continue reading...Coronavirus live news: Italy to reopen bars and restaurants; Spain to quarantine overseas travellers
Trump walks out of press conference; White House staff ordered to wear masks; WHO urges ‘extreme vigilance’ as lockdowns end
- Fauci warns of ‘needless death’ as WHO urges vigilance
- ‘Now it starts again’: new outbreaks spark unease in China
- Coronavirus latest: at a glance
- UK coronavirus updates - live
- See all our coronavirus coverage
Taiwan confirmed no new Covid-19 cases for the fifth consecutive day on Tuesday, keeping the country’s total at 440, according to the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC).
At a daily press briefing, the health minister and head of the CECC, Chen Shih-chung, said it was also the 30th straight day that no domestically transmitted infections had been recorded in Taiwan, CNA reports.
The United Kingdom’s Covid-19 death toll topped 38,000 at the start of the month, including suspected cases, by far the worst official toll yet in Europe, according to official data published on Tuesday.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said it recorded 34,978 Covid-19 related deaths as of 1 May in England and Wales.
Continue reading...Coronavirus live news: Facebook reports rise in posts removed for hate speech
Spain to quarantine overseas travellers; Trump walks out of press conference; White House staff ordered to wear masks
- China plans to test all 11m Wuhan residents for coronavirus
- EU could reopen borders to countries with similar risk profiles
- Coronavirus latest: at a glance
- US coronavirus updates - live
- See all our coronavirus coverage
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reported that another 1,064 people have died and 18,106 new infections have been detected, taking the totals to 80,820 and 1,342,594, respectively.
Parts of Mexico that have been spared the worst of the epidemic could reopen as soon as 17 May – a date some health experts worry is too ambitious as the country still hasn’t carried out widespread testing or enforced strict quarantine.
Jorge Alcocer told reporters that roughly 300 of Mexico’s more than 2,400 municipalities would likely to be reopened, depending on assessments from the health authorities. The rest of the country is projected to reopen at the end of month – with school returning 1 June – according to President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who will unveil plans on Wednesday for “returning to a new normalcy”.
They cannot know [which cities to open] because if a sample is not representative at the state level, would it be much less representative at the municipal level … It’s a national sample. Nothing more.
Continue reading...Bryan Adams attacks China as ‘bat eating, virus making’ source of coronavirus
Canadian pop-rocker conflates various unproven theories about source of disease in expletive-filled rant on Instagram
Bryan Adams has made an expletive-filled attack on Chinese people over coronavirus, in the week he was due to start a concert residency at the Royal Albert Hall, London, that was cancelled due to the outbreak.
Introducing an acoustic performance of the song Cuts Like a Knife on his Instagram page, the Canadian singer wrote:
Continue reading...Global report: Fauci warns of ‘needless death’ as WHO urges vigilance in lifting lockdowns
Health body says coronavirus restrictions must be eased carefully; Iran to reopens mosques; China reports one new case
The World Health Organization has called on countries to show “extreme vigilance” when loosening Covid-19 restrictions as the top US infectious diseases expert, Anthony Fauci, warned that prematurely reopening the American economy would cause “needless suffering and death”.
The WHO’s emergencies chief, Michael Ryan, has hailed the gradual lifting of coronavirus lockdowns in some countries whose death and infection rates were dropping, as a sign of “hope”, but he cautioned that “extreme vigilance is required”.
Continue reading...Coronavirus Australia live update: Marise Payne not consulted before George Christensen moved to ‘summons’ Chinese ambassador – latest news
Treasurer says in statement in lieu of the federal budget: ‘There is no money tree. What we borrow today we must repay in the future.’ Follow the latest news live
- Sign up for Guardian Australia’s daily coronavirus email
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- Coronavirus Australia maps and cases: live numbers and statistics
In what is becoming a common scene, there were long lines of international students waiting for donated meals today.
This footage was shot in Sydney where restaurants in Chinatown are offering free meals to students who have lost jobs and aren’t eligible for jobseeker or jobkeeper.
Quite incredible. A long line of international students in Sydney right now waiting for free food from a restaurant (line goes another 50m around the corner).
International students have been hard hit and aren't eligible for coronavirus stimulus payments. Many rely on free meals pic.twitter.com/eTDtRFU8Lw
Nathan Cleary, the Penrith Panther banned and fined by the NRL for being “untruthful” during the league’s investigation into his social distancing breach, has apologised.
“I’m obviously embarrassed with myself and I’m not happy with what I’ve done,” he told the club’s website. “I just to want to apologise for my actions. My actions were irresponsible, selfish and pretty stupid, to be honest.
Continue reading...The country is being run by a second-rate ad agency. No wonder we feel vulnerable | Suzanne Moore
We are told to ‘stay alert’, but if alertness could conquer this virus, we would all be fine. The message is about shifting responsibility away from the government and on to the public
Someone won Sunday night’s Numberwang, but it wasn’t any of us. What we can do, and who we can do it with, has been turned into some sort of fake algebra with a red-and-blue PowerPoint hump. Boris Johnson, all clenched fists and lockdown hairdo, was resolute about, er, stuff. Ours is not to reason why, his is not to understand how the other half lives.
He talked of a world of golf, tennis, garden centres and people who can go to work in their own cars or on their Bromptons. England in repose. Where, apparently, no one has to think about childcare. The reality is that it is the construction workers, bus drivers and security guards (mostly middle-aged men) who are dying of Covid-19 at an alarming rate, as well as NHS staff and carers. These people are called low-skilled. Many of them are his voters. He risks losing them, so must frame the back-to-work instruction as a matter of personal choice. For now.
Continue reading...Women are on the Covid-19 frontline – we must give them the support they need | Mark Lowcock and Natalia Kanem
An effective response to the pandemic means tackling the violence and inequality faced by women
After a week in which people in some parts of the world have been given cause for optimism that they may have passed the peak of the pandemic, we have seen how extraordinary actions of individuals can change the trajectory for a whole nation.
Retired doctors putting themselves back on the frontline, nurses making their own face masks, parents voluntarily separated from their children so they can care for the sick.
Continue reading...Australia coronavirus live update: Covidsafe app downloads reach 5.5m as Victoria begins easing Covid-19 restrictions – latest news
Deputy CMO says there are ‘very serious risks’ from overcrowding as Victoria plans to lift lockdown rules and another Newmarch resident dies after testing negative. Follow all the latest news and updates, live
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Labor’s foreign affairs spokeswoman, Penny Wong, says Australia’s relationship with China is “not in a great place”.
Speaking to ABC TV this afternoon, Wong said the relationship would benefit from “consistency and discipline and leadership” from the prime minister and foreign minister rather than backbencher-led commentary.
Some Coalition backbenchers, including George Christensen and Concetta Fierravanti-Wells, have been pushing for Australia to take a hard line in its relations with China. Wong also called on the government to provide detailed briefings to parliamentarians on how Australia is handling the China relationship:
I’ve said previously we need to think about the China relationship in 30-year terms, not in three-year terms. Unfortunately, there’s been a little too much from the Morrison government of a reflex to short-term domestic politics on this relationship and more broadly. And we would urge them to take a long-term position and a responsible position, and as much as possible a bipartisan position, when it comes to that relationship that’s in the national interests.
Cafes and restaurants in South Australia were open to sit-down customers today, for the first time in seven weeks. I say sit down, not sit-in, because customers have to dine alfresco. It’s limited to a maximum of 10 customers.
People will not be able to eat indoors at restaurants until June.
It won’t be worth it for many organisations. Some states have told us 10 indoor dining and the industry told us 10 wouldn’t be viable. Even 20 will make it very difficult, so we are trying to work through, with the industry, how we can get them back to being viable as quickly as possible. But we’ve got to do it in a safe way.
Continue reading...Coronavirus live news: Putin to ease Russia lockdown despite record number of new infections
UK and WHO to lead global Covid-19 information campaign; Aden declared an ‘infested’ city
- Russia to end national lockdown, as cases hit record high
- ‘Now it starts again’: new outbreaks spark unease in China
- Coronavirus latest: at a glance
- US coronavirus updates – live
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reported 985 more deaths and 23,792 more confirmed cases since the weekend’s update, taking the overall totals to 79,756 and 1,324,488.
The CDC said the weekend’s numbers were preliminary and had not been confirmed by individual states.
The Guardian has published its editorial on the prime minister’s message to the country as it moves into a dangerous new phase of the epidemic.
For more than 30 years, the term “consensus politics” fell out of fashion in Britain. For generations of Conservative politicians schooled in the dogmas of Thatcherism, the phrase came to connote unpleasant images of sandwiches with union leaders in No 10 and weak government.
Boris Johnson urgently needs to discover the virtues of consensus-building now, after a chaotic few days of mixed messages and confused assertions.
Related: The Guardian view on 'stay alert': a divisive muddle | Editorial
Continue reading...Emma Donoghue: the lockdown lessons she learned from writing Room
The author’s bestselling novel of confinement has gained new resonance during coronavirus
As the author of Room, a story about a mother and child held captive for years in a garden shed, Emma Donoghue mapped the mental toll of extreme confinement long before coronavirus lockdowns.
Her character Ma endured boredom, frustration, anguish and worse – yet somehow created a rich, nurturing environment for her son.
Continue reading...Global report: Covid-19 lockdown rules relax in European nations amid confusion in UK
Boris Johnson criticised for vague blueprint; China reports more infections in Wuhan; Belgium and Greece also ease some measures
Millions of people across Europe are set to embrace a relaxation of stay-at-home rules on Monday, as countries around the world plot their way tentatively through the coronavirus crisis.
In France, from Monday members of the public were able to walk outside without filling in a permit for the first time in nearly eight weeks, teachers will start to return to primary schools, and some shops – including hair salons – will reopen. Bars, restaurants, theatres and cinemas will, however, remain closed.
Continue reading...‘People feel a bit nervous’: France braces for end of lockdown
As schools and businesses get set to reopen some citizens urge caution, wary of a spike in infections
France is set to end eight weeks of strict lockdown as the government urged people to behave responsibly to avoid a sudden spike in coronavirus cases.
Hours before the national déconfinement there were reports of two new Covid-19 clusters in départments designated green – areas where the virus has largely stopped circulating and where most restrictions are being lifted.
Continue reading...South Korea takes first cautious steps into a post-Covid world
Some bars and restaurants are open – with distancing – and schools are starting back, but the country isn’t taking freedom for granted
On a recent evening in Seoul, colleagues and students sat around plastic tables outside restaurants, their chatter interrupted only by the filling of tiny glasses with soju spirit.
They had something to celebrate. Last week, South Korea, once the hardest-hit country outside China, took a cautious first step into a post-coronavirus world, less than four months since it reported its first case.
Continue reading...Victory Day: Belarus swaggers on parade as Russians leave Red Square deserted
In a tale of two cities, Moscow keeps its distance while in Minsk, thousands turn out for the traditional military spectacular
In any other year, hundreds of thousands of Russians would have marched with portraits of relatives who fought in the second world war in a memorial called the Immortal Regiment.
But on Saturday, the images of Soviet veterans and their families floated past on Russian television, a public vigil adapted for the era of social isolation.
Continue reading...Coronavirus live news: entire Dynamo Dresden team quarantined, Russia infections near 200,000
Bundesliga suffers huge setback after footballers test positive; Belarus leader holds parade prompting safety concerns as other nations curb WW2 events; Russia records 10,000 new Covid-19 cases. Follow the latest updates
- Global report: Trump says Covid-19 will ‘go away without vaccine’
- Mike Pence press secretary tests positive to Covid-19
- Brazil’s Bolsonaro must ‘drastically change course’, says The Lancet
- Coronavirus at a glance
- Australia – live news
The novel coronavirus has killed at least 277,127 people since the outbreak first emerged in China last December, according to a tally from official sources compiled by news agency AFP.
At least 4,001,437 cases of coronavirus have been registered in 195 countries and territories. Of these, at least 1,312,900 are now considered recovered.
Key developments in the global coronavirus outbreak today include:
Continue reading...Brazil’s President Bolsonaro must ‘drastically change course’ on Covid-19, says The Lancet
British medical journal’s editorial says the Brazilian president’s disregard for lockdown measures is damaging
The biggest threat to Brazil’s ability to successfully combat the spread of the coronavirus and tackle the unfolding public health crisis is the country’s president, Jair Bolsonaro, according to the British medical journal The Lancet.
In an editorial, The Lancet said his disregard for and flouting of lockdown measures was sowing confusion across Brazil, which reported a record number of Covid-19 deaths on Friday, and is fast emerging as one of the world’s coronavirus hot spots.
Continue reading...