NHS junior doctor Ed Hope has updated his YouTube channel by vlogging about his experience on the front line of the coronavirus emergency as Covid-19 cases grow in the UK, covering panic buying to specialist mask fitting.
Dr Hope's Sick Notes is a YouTube channel that usually has a 'light-hearted look at hospitals', however the doctor has got serious by looking at the NHS approach from the inside
Continue reading...It’s too early to say whether the country is united but the cracks are beginning to show
Has the national life of this country ever been transformed so completely and at such a speed? In the course of a week, the British landscape has changed and changed utterly. Once crowded streets are deserted. Schools are closed, summer exams cancelled. Football grounds are shuttered and padlocked. Theatres are dark, cinemas silent. They’ve even stopped changing the guard at Buckingham Palace – and from Friday night the pubs are shut.
The economy has juddered into reverse, set to shrink by 15% according to some estimates – a collapse more catastrophic than the Great Depression. Each day has brought news that, in normal times, would constitute an epochal, ground-shaking development but which, in the current climate, has struggled for airtime. The Bank of England cut interest rates to their lowest level since the Bank was founded in 1694, and announced an infusion of £200bn. The pound slid to its lowest level against the dollar since the mid-1980s. Meanwhile, a Conservative government has torn up 40 years of small-state, free market doctrine, first promising to spend a staggering £330bn, and then on Friday evening committing to pay 80% of the wages of workers who have had to down tools, with “no limit” on the funds available. The chancellor, Rishi Sunak, did not exaggerate when he said nothing like this had ever been done before. Even hardcore socialism usually stopped short of calling for the government to take on the payroll of private sector employers. Now it’s Tory party policy.
Continue reading...Fears that lack of coronavirus testing and supplies could mean refugees and those caught in crises are left behind
The world’s most vulnerable people could be last in line for support to deal with the coronavirus outbreak, experts have warned.
Countries already dealing with humanitarian and refugee crises face a struggle to find the resources to deal with the pandemic by the time it reaches them, specialists said in a webinar hosted by the New Humanitarian news agency on Thursday.
Continue reading...Walls have been raised and societies quarantined as people enter a new reality
It should not have come as a surprise. Life had already been upended in China. Iran and Italy have been reeling for a month. And yet it still felt sudden, this week, when walls were raised across the world, entire societies were quarantined and billions of people realised they had crossed a dividing line: from life before coronavirus to after.
After weeks of governments prevaricating over whether to ban mass gatherings, close businesses or seal borders, restrictions came in a flurry. “We are at war,” announced the French president, Emmanuel Macron. But without adequate weapons to fight the virus, let alone enough hospital beds or ventilators, this was the week the world beat a tactical retreat.
Continue reading...Report on Li Wenliang’s death says he did not disrupt public order, but fought bravely
The Chinese doctor who was reprimanded for “spreading rumours” after he sought to warn colleagues about the emergence of Covid-19 has been officially exonerated by an investigation into his death.
However the report has also been criticised for not going far enough, after it only recommended the reprimand against Dr Li Wenliang be withdrawn.
Continue reading...Richard Burr, chairman of the Senate intelligence committee, and Kelly Loeffler of Georgia have denied they kept the public in the dark
Two Republican senators have faced demands to resign after it was reported they sold off millions of dollars worth of stocks just before the market dropped amid fears of the coronavirus pandemic.
Richard Burr of North Carolina, chairman of the Senate intelligence committee, and Kelly Loeffler of Georgia, whose husband is chairman of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), denied that they kept the public in the dark about the scale of the threat.
Continue reading...By identifying and isolating clusters of infected people, we wiped out Covid-19 in Vò
It’s now about one month since Covid-19 began to sweep across Italy. With more than total cases topping 40,000 as of 19 March, it is now the worst-affected country outside of China.
But in the last two weeks, a promising pilot study here has produced results that may be instructive for other countries trying to control coronavirus. Beginning on 6 March , along with researchers at the University of Padua and the Red Cross, we tested all residents of Vò, a town of 3,000 inhabitants near Venice – including those who did not have symptoms. This allowed us to quarantine people before they showed signs of infection and stop the further spread of coronavirus. In this way, we eradicated coronavirus in under 14 days.
Continue reading...Despite the growing death toll and the unprecedented speed at which events are moving, the past few weeks feel like just a prelude of what is to come. By Gavin Francis
On 13 January, a bulletin from Health Protection Scotland was sent to all GP practices in the country describing a “novel Wuhan coronavirus”. I work in a small clinic in central Edinburgh with four doctors, two nurses and six admin staff. It was the first time I’d heard of the virus. “Current reports describe no evidence of significant human to human transmission, including no infections of healthcare workers,” it said reassuringly.
I cast my mind back to the Sars coronavirus of almost two decades ago, and briefly wondered how quickly the spread of this coronavirus would be stopped, as Sars was. A seafood market had been closed and sanitised. The bulletin said that although Wuhan was a city of 19 million people, there were only three flights per week from there to the UK, and the likely impact was “very low”. I shrugged, and carried on with my work.
Continue reading...Authorities fear that passengers from Ruby Princess might be unaware Covid-19 cases were onboard and be ‘wandering around’ city
About 2,700 passengers who disembarked a cruise ship in Sydney have been told to self-isolate after three people who were onboard tested positive for Covid-19.
Confirming the news on Friday, the NSW health minister, Brad Hazzard, said the doctor onboard had conducted 13 tests on the Ruby Princess, which had completed a relatively short cruise around the Pacific to New Zealand.
Continue reading...The world was astonished by the Wuhan quarantine but it seems to have worked
When China announced it was shutting down Wuhan, the centre of the coronavirus outbreak, in a bid to prevent further spread of the disease, the world was stunned and experts sceptical.
Beijing’s decision was a vast experiment, epidemiologists warned, that might not work despite its huge human and economic cost. Quarantine had never been tried on such an enormous scale in the modern world.
Continue reading...One of the last places to be hit by coronavirus, experts in Kenya are worried it doesn’t have the resources to cope
Callers to BK radio, a station broadcasting to the remote region around Mount Elgon in western Kenya, were worried on Wednesday evening.
“Will the government help us if we stay indoors and we need food?” one asked. “What if we have small houses, where we can’t stay too far apart?” asked another.
Continue reading...The truth about how you can catch coronavirus, how much more elderly people are at risk and what you can do to avoid infection
Wearing a face mask is certainly not an iron-clad guarantee that you won’t get sick – viruses can also transmit through the eyes and tiny viral particles, known as aerosols, can penetrate masks. However, masks are effective at capturing droplets, which is a main transmission route of coronavirus, and some studies have estimated a roughly fivefold protection versus no barrier alone (although others have found lower levels of effectiveness).
Continue reading...Bank now realises Europe will sustain grievous economic damage from Covid-19
Weak. Clumsy. Behind the curve. The European Central Bank took stick for its initial response to the Covid-19 pandemic – and rightly so.
Those accusations can no longer be levied after the ECB used an emergency meeting to launch a gigantic new package of quantitative easing (QE) – the electronic money creation device that has become a key tool for central banks since the financial crisis of 2008.
Continue reading...Across Europe and around the world, as people are confined to their apartments, they gather on balconies to applaud medical staff working on the frontline against the virus, as well as perform music, take part in spontaneous flash mobs, or just make the most of the sunshine
Continue reading...US says vaccine is 12 months away, Hubei reports no new cases and cases in Peru rise 61% in single day
Competition laws will be temporarily relaxed to allow supermarkets to collaborate in feeding the UK.
Retailers will be able to pool staff, share data on stock levels, and share distribution depots and delivery vans as supermarkets face intense demand, the government confirmed.
Donald Trump sowed fresh confusion about the US government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic by claiming that a therapeutic drug will be available “almost immediately” – only to be contradicted by officials.
In a rambling performance at Thursday’s White House press conference, the president asserted that chloroquine, used to combat malaria, had been approved and would be made available by prescription.
They’re doing great with the vaccines but there’s still a long process, but the therapies are something we can move on much faster potentially. And the treatments that will be able to reduce the severity or duration of the symptoms – make people better.
Chloroquine, or hydroxychloroquine, this is a common malaria drug. It’s also a drug used for strong arthritis … It’s been around for a long time, so we know if things don’t go as planned it’s not going to kill anybody … It’s shown very, very encouraging early results, and we’re going to be able to make that drug available almost immediately.
Pres. Trump touts chloroquine, an old malaria drug, that doctors say may help treat novel coronavirus, claims it will be available "almost immediately."
Read more about chloroquine: https://t.co/cYt0fxdlfB pic.twitter.com/9oPsMSD3HV
A summary of major developments in the coronavirus outbreak across Australia
• Follow our Australia coronavirus live blog for all the latest news and updates
• Follow the latest global coronavirus updates in our international live blog
Key Australian developments in the global coronavirus outbreak on Thursday include:
Continue reading...The mountain’s closure is devastating for many in a Himalayan nation that relies heavily on trekkers and climbers
The tiny airport at Lukla, perched on the edge of a mountain high in Nepal’s Himalayas, usually echoes with the roar of propeller planes flying a constant stream of adventure-seekers into the small town, known as the gateway to Mount Everest.
During the peak spring tourist season, tens of thousands of trekkers and mountaineers arrive to test themselves on the popular trek to Everest base camp, and perhaps go on to climb the world’s highest peak.
Continue reading...Everything that was once an urgent priority has evaporated. What matters right now is people’s health, and their family’s futures
It’s day three of my self-isolation. I returned to Aotearoa New Zealand on Monday night from a long-planned family wedding in Australia, itself book-ended by apocalyptic circumstance. Fires and floods rolled out the red carpet, while rapid global escalation of Covid-19 brought it to a finale.
I had booked flights back directly into Wellington, our capital city, because I’d intended to return immediately to work on Tuesday morning with the sitting of Parliament. Those intentions had been wiped clear on the weekend, with calls between caucus members and staffers confirming all arrivals back into the country would be required to quarantine themselves for a fortnight. To limit further travel, it transpired I’d be locking myself into a Wellington apartment, the opposite end of the North Island from my home of Auckland.
Continue reading...Thousands of travellers frantically trying to fly back to Australia after government warning over coronavirus pandemic
• Australia coronavirus live: NSW now has 307 confirmed cases, up 40 since yesterday
More than 170 Australians trapped in locked-down Peru have been advised by the government to find a commercial charter flight to get out of the country.
Some passengers have been able to get on chartered flights to the US, while others have been offered a dedicated charter flight from Lima to Sydney, but at a cost of more than $5,000.
Continue reading...Train and bus services are to be limited as travel is restricted, raising questions for both passengers and operators
More draconian restrictions may be needed in London to stop the spread of the coronavirus, with guidance to avoid non-essential travel and stay home being ignored by some, while confirmed cases of sickness escalate rapidly. The prime minister, Boris Johnson, told his Wednesday press conference that he was prepared to take “further and faster measures” to tackle the disease.
Transport for London (TfL) is now moving to cut the number of trains and buses running throughout the week, most likely to the level of weekend schedules. On Wednesday night it announced it was closing up to 40 stations with no interchange from Thursday onwards. But what are the key issues transport chiefs need to consider when limiting services?
Continue reading...