Category Archives: Infectious Diseases

Australia coronavirus live: NSW records nine new Covid cases as ‘Avalon cluster’ grows to 104 cases

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Gladys Berejiklian urges people to ‘limit your mobility’ as new rules kick in for Christmas Eve in Sydney; medical experts says New Year’s Eve fireworks should be cancelled. Follow all the latest news and updates, live

Today’s seven cases linked to the Avalon cluster brings the total number of cases there to 104.

Chant says all people onboard a Qantas flight from Darwin to Sydney on 17 December have been considered close contacts and have been asked to self-isolate.

A Qantas crew member contracted Covid-19 who was onboard the flight subsequently tested positive. Chant says they are investigating another potential case but the current data is preliminary.

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South African Covid-19 variant may be ‘more effective at spreading’

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Research still to confirm threat posed but variant does not appear to provoke more serious symptoms

The South African variant of Covid-19, two cases of which have now been detected in the UK, is likely to be more transmissible, may hit young people harder, and may be slightly more resistant to vaccines, scientists in South Africa believe.

However, research is still continuing to confirm the threat posed by the variant, which does not appear to provoke more serious symptoms or require different treatment.

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What do we know about the two new Covid-19 variants in the UK?

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One appears to have arisen in Kent, the other brought in from South Africa. Both are highly transmissible

Two new variants of Covid-19 have been identified as of concern in the UK, both said to be more transmissible than the previously dominant version. Here’s what we know so far.

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Australia coronavirus live: NSW reports eight more Covid cases as premier modifies Christmas restrictions in Sydney

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Sydney to keep 10-visitor rule but from 24-26 December children under 12 not counted; lockdown continues in half of northern beaches, but small Christmas gatherings allowed. Follow all the latest news and updates, live

The Northern Territory has revoked its categorisation of New South Wales region Illawarra as a coronavirus hotspot.

Health minister Natasha Fyles made the announcement this afternoon following an emergency cabinet meeting, saying the decision was made because there were no cases from the northern beaches there.

This is based on the evidence that they’ve had no cases from the northern beaches coronavirus cluster. I know people are anxiously awaiting other local government areas, but the advice from our chief health officer Hugh Heggie ... is that it is safe to remove that hotspot declaration for the Illawarra Shire local government area. The others will remain in place.

Victoria is reminding people from greater Sydney, the Central Coast or the northern beaches to not attempt to enter Victoria, just in case you might have forgotten.

If you have been in Greater Sydney, the Central Coast, or Sydney's Northern Beaches since Dec 11 please do not attempt to enter Victoria. Only people who have exclusively visited or travelled through other parts of NSW can apply for a Border Crossing Permit to enter Vic. (1/2) pic.twitter.com/bad8irfvqn

As soon as it’s safe to open back up to NSW, we will. For now, we’re making sure Victoria can stay safe and stay open.

For more information on the NSW outbreak and a map of locations in each zone, visit: https://t.co/sDimRWNc6F (2/2)#COVID19Vic #COVID19nsw

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UK ferry passengers disembark in Calais after France eases travel ban

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About 4,000 lorries, and thousands more small vans, were waiting to cross the Channel on Wednesday morning

Passengers from the UK disembarked from ferries in the port of Calais early on Wednesday after Britain and France agreed a deal to ease a travel ban imposed over the discovery of a new coronavirus variant.

The Cotes des Flandres ferry – the first ship to leave Dover after the restrictions were lifted – arrived at about 3.30am local time, followed shortly afterwards by P&O’s Spirit of France.

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‘Glamping’ at Singapore airport offers in-tents retail therapy

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Guests grounded by Covid can ‘wake up to the refreshing view of the majestic HSBC Rain Vortex’ or peg a bargain in the shops

Singapore’s Changi airport is charging customers up to $269 per night for the chance to camp in a tent in its retail wing, the latest unusual travel experience aimed at boosting revenue during the pandemic.

Tickets for the “glamping” experience, which have already sold out, offer guests the chance to “wake up to the refreshing view of the majestic HSBC Rain Vortex”, the world’s largest indoor waterfall. Tents are four metres in diameter and come with blankets. Shopping discounts are also included.

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Scotland may enter full Covid lockdown, says Sturgeon

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First minister tells MSPs tough restrictions were ‘essential’ to suppress new strain of virus

Nicola Sturgeon has warned MSPs she may have to introduce full lockdown measures across Scotland in the coming days to contain the faster-spreading Covid variant, which has already led to Wales bringing forward a countrywide lockdown from last Sunday and Northern Ireland announcing a six-week lockdown from Boxing Day.

Sturgeon used her weekly coronavirus statement to the Scottish parliament to tighten level 4 measures – the strictest of Scotland’s five-tier system of Covid controls and which all of mainland Scotland will enter from 26 December.

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How KK Shailaja and her ‘Covid brigade’ won a victory against the virus

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Fewer coronavirus patients have died in the state of Kerala than anywhere else in India. No wonder Vogue India named its health minister ‘leader of the year’

By mid-May, the Indian state of Kerala had contained the first wave of Covid-19, earning praise for the quick thinking and joined-up response of its health minister, KK Shailaja, and her team. By July, however, there were suggestions that those plaudits had been premature, and that Kerala’s Covid-19 response had come unstuck. Had it?

Shailaja Teacher – as the 64-year-old minister is affectionately known – had been expecting a surge in infections once India’s lockdown was lifted later in May. Kerala, home to 35 million people, has the country’s most robust health systems, but it is one of India’s poorer states, with one of its oldest populations. About 17% of workers leave to find jobs in neighbouring states, and there were fears about what would happen when, inevitably, these migrants returned. The authorities knew they could not keep Kerala’s borders shut or, given that the state relies on imports, keep it isolated from its neighbours.

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Australia coronavirus live: NSW records eight new Covid cases as Gladys Berejiklian gives update

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Victoria reports one Covid case as the number of new cases in NSW falls for a second day. Follow all the latest news and updates, live
• NSW Covid hotspots – list of venues and case locations
• Border restrictions: the new state and territory rules for NSW travellers
• Australia’s Covid restrictions and lockdown rules – state by state
• Follow the global liveblog

Police have charged four men with unlawfully lighting fires on K’gari/Fraser Island that started the blazes which scorched more than half of the World heritage-listed tourism drawcard.

Queensland Police and and Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service carried out a joint investigation and detectives yesterday charged the four men in their 20s who are all from the Warwick area, 130 kilometres southeast of Brisbane.

Related: Fighting for Fraser Island: how tourism and climate change put an ancient environment at risk

Berejiklian says she is frustrated with other premiers who are closing borders to the whole of NSW.

“There are parts of New South Wales completely unaffected by this current outbreak and yet everybody in New South Wales is suffering because other state leaders made decisions,” she says.

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UK reports another 691 Covid deaths – as it happened

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Anthony Fauci ‘extremely confident’ in vaccine; BioNTech’s CEO says tests being run on mutant strain. This blog is now closed. Follow our new blog below

Coronavirus live updates

We are closing this live blog now, but you can stay up to date with the latest on our new global blog, which you can find below.

Related: Coronavirus live news: US cases increase 14% in one week, France to reopen UK border

Tesco has introduced buying limits on items including toilet roll, eggs, rice, soap and handwash. Customers at the supermarket are now limited to one item per person of toilet roll, and up to three products of eggs, rice, soap and handwash.

It is understood the extra limits are pre-emptive measures to help smooth demand in the coming weeks, rather than a reaction to shortages or a change in buying behaviour. They are on top of a three-item limit on essential items such as flour, dried pasta and anti-bacterial wipes which has been in place for several months.

Related: Tesco limits purchases of toilet roll, eggs, rice, soap and handwash

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New Covid variant in UK: spreading Christmas fear?

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B117 is more transmissible than original virus, but there is no evidence it makes people sicker

If a new virus sounds scary, a new mutating virus sounds scarier still. In Kent in September, scientists now believe, somebody with Covid was the unlucky first person to pass on a variant form of the coronavirus that is maybe as much as 70% more transmissible than the version we have been used to.

The exponential recent rise in cases now blamed on that incident and the UK government response have sparked alarm around the world, with other countries banning flights into the UK for at least 48 hours while everyone figures out what is going on.

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Coronavirus live news: Boris Johnson to hold crisis meeting as India joins countries banning flights from UK

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India joins France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Ireland, Bulgaria in flight bans over new strain; US aid bill should have votes to pass

That’s all from me, Caroline Davies. Thank you for your time. Handing over now to my colleague Aamna Mohdin.

The chairman of the Metropolitan Police Federation, Ken Marsh, has said there is “no way” officers will be knocking on the doors of “normal” households in London to check coronavirus restrictions were being followed now the city is in Tier 4.

“We won’t be knocking on people’s doors at all, unless there is a large group and noise, ie a party or something like that.

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‘The coughing would not stop’: MP talks of ‘unbearable pain’ of Covid

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Labour shadow minister Yasmin Qureshi talks about the shock of being hospitalised and her slow recovery since

A shadow minister who became the first female MP to be hospitalised by Covid-19 has described the “unbearable pain” caused by coughing fits and pneumonia as the disease took hold.

Yasmin Qureshi, the Labour MP for Bolton South East and a shadow minister for international development, said she was left “anxious and concerned” after being rushed by ambulance to her local hospital in October.

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Hard lockdown needed to prevent Sydney Christmas Covid surge, health experts warn

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Raina MacIntyre says without drastic action there could be thousands of cases in early 2021 but others argue NSW Health has struck the right balance

A hard lockdown across Sydney for the next three days is needed to reduce the risk of Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve becoming super spreader events, some health experts have warned.

The dual celebrations could lead to thousands of new cases in the first weeks of 2021 without drastic action, warned Prof Raina MacIntyre, the head of the biosecurity program at the University of New South Wales’ Kirby Institute.

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We need even tougher curbs to fight this new coronavirus strain

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The virus is likely to have spread more widely than the south-east of England, so the lockdown is likely to expand

While the country has obsessed over the Christmas restrictions over the last few weeks the real story lay elsewhere, it transpires. A new strain of the coronavirus emerged a couple of months ago, probably somewhere in the north-east corner of Kent, but went unnoticed for weeks. New viruses emerge all the time, but they usually don’t cause problems. And it usually takes a long time for a new strain – starting from just a single case – to become visible to public health authorities.

In fact, we have one of the most comprehensive and sensitive molecular surveillance systems in the world and that allowed us to pick up this strain relatively quickly. However, the virus has also moved fast – very fast – and spread beyond Kent to Essex, London and elsewhere.

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Johnson U-turn leaves nation’s plans for Christmas in tatters

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Spread of new Covid strain forces lockdown with a ‘stay home’ alert for London and south-east

The nation’s Christmas plans were plunged into chaos last night after Boris Johnson dramatically abandoned his attempts to avoid tighter Covid restrictions, and instead placed millions of people under new lockdown measures to try to curb a highly infectious new strain of the virus.

In a major U-turn that prompted an immediate backlash from his party, the prime minister placed a third of England’s population under new tier 4 restrictions to counter a Covid strain believed to be up to 70% more transmissible than previous variants.

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Greater Sydney lockdown fears as Gladys Berejiklian warns coronavirus cases to worsen

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NSW premier says Sydney ‘on notice’ as travellers into Queensland to require border pass declaration and WA reimposes hard border

The New South Wales premier, Gladys Berejiklian, has warned residents of greater Sydney to prepare for an increase in restrictions if the outbreak of Covid-19 expands beyond the northern beaches.

Meanwhile travellers coming from NSW to Queensland will require a border pass declaration from 1am on Sunday and Western Australia announced it was reinstating its hard border with NSW.

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Covid hotspots NSW: list of Sydney and regional coronavirus case locations

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Here are the current coronavirus hotspots in New South Wales and what to do if you’ve visited them

New South Wales health authorities have updated a list of hotspots where Covid-positive people have visited while infectious.

Those who attended some locations must isolate immediately for 14 days after you were last there, others must monitor for symptoms.

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Coronavirus live news: Boris Johnson to give press briefing – follow live

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Italy and Australia announce new lockdowns; France death toll surpasses 60,000; Sweden introduces tough new measures

Distribution of the Moderna vaccine will begin to more than 3,800 sites across the United States this weekend, after it was approved on Friday by the medicines regulator, the Food and Drug Administration.

Workers in Bloomington, Indiana, will fill and package vials with the mRNA vaccine before handing them on to be shipped from sites including Louisville, Kentucky and Memphis, Tennessee. Those locations are close to air hubs for United Parcel Service Inc and FedEx Corp.

A further 339 people who tested positive for coronavirus have died in hospital in England, NHS England said on Saturday.

Patients were aged between 44 and 100. All except 13, aged between 64 and 95, had known underlying health conditions. The deaths were between 5 November and 18 December.

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A Christmas pandemic like no other? They thought that in 1918

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The post-first world war flu outbreak also came in waves and led to school closures and face-mask rows

This is not the first time that a pandemic has gripped the holiday season. In December 1918, preparations for the first Christmas without war in four years took place in the midst of the worst pandemic since the Black Death.

The 1918-19 influenza, like Covid-19, came in waves. The deadliest began in autumn, peaked in late November and continued through the first weeks of December. It struck hundreds of millions and killed tens of millions worldwide.

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