Category Archives: Infectious Diseases

Ending all Covid restrictions ‘premature and not based on evidence’, says BMA

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Council chair says decision not guided by data or made in consultation with health profession

Ending all Covid restrictions is premature and “not based on current evidence”, the British Medical Association has said, as experts warned dropping testing and self-isolation could lead to a surge in cases.

Boris Johnson told MPs last week that he was preparing to lift the legal requirement in England to self-isolate on 24 February, a month earlier than originally planned, with a formal announcement expected on Monday.

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Cabinet splits emerge over ‘living with Covid’ strategy and free testing

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Sajid Javid expected to push to retain some free testing against Treasury demand to slash budget

Cabinet splits have emerged over the government’s “living with Covid” strategy, with Sajid Javid expected to push to retain some free testing and community surveillance of the virus in the face of a Treasury demand to slash the budget.

Ministers including the health secretary and the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, are expected to meet on Thursday to discuss the strategy before it is announced next week.

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Cook Islands reports first Covid case amid fears of ‘silent transmission’

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Hundreds turn out for testing across the Pacific country after a traveller from New Zealand tested positive for the virus

One of the last remaining countries without Covid-19 - the small Pacific nation of Cook Islands - has reported its first case of the virus.

Prime minister Mark Brown said the first case arrived on an international flight from New Zealand on 10 February.

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Coronavirus live: UK records 41,648 new cases and 35 Covid-linked deaths; French protest convoy reaches Brussels

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UK cases down 30% on the previous week, with weekly deaths down 27.2%; 500 French vehicles arrive in Brussels to protest against Covid measures

Sweden’s Health Agency recommended on Monday that people aged 80 or above should receive a second booster shot of Covid vaccine, the fourth jab in total, to ward off waning immunity amid the rampant spread of the Omicron variant.

The recommendation also covered all people living in nursing homes or who receive assisted living services at home. The second booster shot should be administered at least four months after the first booster jab, the agency said in a statement.

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Next Covid strain could kill many more, warn scientists ahead of England restrictions ending

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Demands grow for government science chiefs to reveal evidence backing move to lift last protective measures

A future variant of Covid-19 could be much more dangerous and cause far higher numbers of deaths and cases of serious illness than Omicron, leading UK scientists have warned.

As a result, many of them say that caution needs to be taken in lifting the last Covid restrictions in England, as Boris Johnson plans to do next week.

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Australia live news updates: Scott Morrison says he ‘understands’ Canberra antivax protesters; NSW records 32 Covid deaths and Vic 19; Perrottet tested in byelections

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Pauline Hanson mobbed by Canberra protesters as Lifeline book fair forced to cancel

From AAP:

Queensland’s health chief is “personally reluctant” to repeal a venue vaccine mandate before the end of winter and says it could in fact be the very last pandemic restriction ditched.

The state’s Omicron outbreak peaked on January 25 with 928 patients in hospital and 71 in intensive care, well below a predicted 3000-7000 general admissions and an ICU intake of several hundred.

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Gordon Brown calls for ‘extraordinary measures’ to tackle Covid inequalities

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The former PM says wealthy nations must coordinate resources to accelerate access to vaccines and testing for developing nations

Gordon Brown has urged rich countries to consider “extraordinary measures” similar to those taken during the global financial crisis to increase developing nations’ access to Covid vaccines, calling on governments to fill a $16bn (£11.8bn) funding gap within weeks.

The former British prime minister, who hosted the 2009 G20 summit credited with having staved off a second Great Depression and as chancellor helped unveil a landmark debt relief package at the 2005 G8 summit in Gleneagles, said a similar act of international coordination was urgently required on Covid.

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Covid rules are to be axed in England, but is pandemic’s end really in sight?

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Analysis: Plans to end isolation rules have been gleefully announced, but questions about infection control remain

As the threat of the Omicron wave has receded in England, the government has been quick to move the conversation on to “living with Covid”.

It was inevitable that this would mean the eventual lifting of legal restrictions, including the need to self-isolate. But even given the optimistic tone in recent weeks, Boris Johnson’s announcement on Wednesday came sooner than many expected.

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Covid live: Sweden scraps almost all restrictions and testing despite pleas from scientists; Spain’s King Felipe tests positive

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Sweden scraps almost all of its few restrictions and stops most testing; Spain’s King Felipe tests positive after displaying mild symptoms

Sajid Javid, the UK health secretary, has pledged to recruit 15,000 new health workers by the end of March to tackle the pandemic treatment backlog.

Writing in the Daily Telegraph, he said the NHS planned “to recruit 10,000 more nurses from overseas and 5,000 more healthcare support workers by the end of March” to improve capacity.

“Remove your mask,” a man demands, as I walk through the crowd. When I say I would like to keep it on, he immediately asks if I’m from mainstream media. I reply that I am and he says “don’t twist the truth just because you’re on the government dollars”. He is not the only one demanding I remove the mask.

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As Hong Kong tightens Covid restrictions again, residents complain of being held ‘hostage’

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Large parts of the world are opening up, but Hong Kong is still pursuing ‘dynamic zero’ despite rising cases and a public running out of patience

A viral open letter from a member of Facebook group, HK Moms, marked something of a shift in public opinion. The group is the type not usually preoccupied with the city’s political upheavals, but the letter revealed a limit had been reached.

Addressing Carrie Lam, Hong Kong’s chief executive, it accused the government of holding its citizens hostage with new Covid measures – the toughest restrictions since June 2020.

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‘Partygate’: Johnson’s removal is now inevitable, warns loyalist

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More MPs set to submit resignation demands as No 10 rejigs team

Boris Johnson’s desperate efforts to save his premiership were undermined on Saturday as one of his most loyal backbench supporters said it was now “inevitable” that Tory MPs would remove him from office over the “partygate” scandal.

In an interview with the Observer, Sir Charles Walker, a former vice-chairman of the 1922 Committee of backbench Conservative MPs, implored the prime minister to go of his own accord in the national interest, and likened events in the Tory party to a Greek tragedy.

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Victoria reports 41 Covid deaths, Qld 21 and NSW 18; anti-vaxxers protest in Canberra – as it happened

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Firefighters in Western Australia battle two emergency-level bushfires. This blog is now closed

NSW case numbers are in, and there have been 8,389 new Covid-19 cases detected over night from PCR and rapid antigen tests.

Sadly, 18 more lives have been lost overnight.

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US Covid death toll surpasses 900,000

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The two-year total compiled by Johns Hopkins University comes less than two months after eclipsing 800,000 deaths

Propelled in part by the wildly contagious Omicron variant, the US death toll from Covid-19 hit 900,000 on Friday, less than two months after eclipsing 800,000.

The two-year total, as compiled by Johns Hopkins University, is greater than the population of Indianapolis, San Francisco, or Charlotte, North Carolina.

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Record Covid cases in Russia and Ukraine complicate military plans

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Spread of Omicron variant cited as another factor that could determine whether Moscow launches offensive

The Omicron variant is causing record numbers of new Covid infections in Russia and Ukraine, threatening to impact military calculations over Russia’s continued troop buildup.

Analysts have cited various factors as possible contributors to whether and how Russia will launch an assault on Ukraine, ranging from Vladimir Putin’s psychological state to the strength of the western response and even the firmness of the ground during a mild winter in the region.

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Covid: Europe set for ‘long period of tranquillity’ in pandemic, says WHO

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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.

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Exposure to one nasal droplet enough for Covid infection – study

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Trial in which volunteers were given dose of virus is first to monitor people during entire course of infection

Exposure to a single nasal droplet is sufficient to become infected with Covid-19, according to a landmark trial in which healthy volunteers were intentionally given a dose of the virus.

The trial, the first to have monitored people during the entire course of infection, also found that people typically develop symptoms very quickly – on average, within two days of encountering the virus – and are most infectious five days into the infection.

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Pfizer seeks US authorization of Covid vaccine for children under five

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FDA decision could come within weeks but big obstacles remain to getting all children inoculated

Children under five, the last group of Americans still ineligible for vaccines against Covid-19, may soon receive emergency authorization for the shots, but getting all children vaccinated remains a serious challenge in the US.

Pfizer and its German pharmaceutical partner BioNTech announced on Tuesday that they were requesting emergency-use authorization of their vaccine for children aged six months to four years.

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Has flu fizzled out? Experts assess the threat to NHS – analysis

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Analysis: Threat failed to materialise this winter but experts say all bets off for next season

As winter approached the situation appeared perilous. Not only was the UK in the midst of a Covid pandemic, but experts feared familiar respiratory viruses could also hit hard.

“I will emphasise that actually flu could be potentially a bigger problem this winter than Covid,” Prof Anthony Harnden, the deputy chair of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme in June.

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Beijing seals off several communities over two cases of Covid-19

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As the Winter Olympics nears, the Chinese capital has locked down some neighbourhoods and is setting up 19 testing points

Beijing officials have sealed off several residential communities north of the city centre after two cases of Covid-19 were found as the Chinese capital prepares to host the Winter Olympics opening ceremony on Friday.

Another 34 cases were confirmed among athletes and others who have come for the Games, the organising committee said. In all, 211 people have tested positive among more than 8,000 who had arrived by the end of Saturday. They include a Swedish cross-country skier and a snowboarder from Slovenia.

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Covid live news: Russia reports record 121,228 new cases; UK to start vaccinating vulnerable children

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Russia confirms a record 121,228 new daily cases of the virus; NHS will offer vaccinations to vulnerable children between five and 11

Polling has begun in Portugal in a parliamentary election marred by fears of a low turnout due to record coronavirus infections, Reuters reports.

At the University of Lisbon, staff outnumbered mostly elderly voters, with signs on the walls asking people to wear a mask, observe social distancing and to use their own pen.

I have huge respect for rank-and-file police officers who put their lives on the line to keep us safe.

For them to do their job, the public have to have trust and confidence in them. But the way the Met has handled this, I think, is undermining that.

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