Strict measures – including curfews and states of emergencies – are in force once more across the continent as Covid cases surge
The country announced a second lockdown from 30 October after daily Covid-related deaths reached their highest levels since April. Due to last at least a month, it is having a limited effect: new infections and hospital admissions dropped sharply at first only to increase sharply at the end of last week. , health ministry data showed
Continue reading...The worst parts of this week’s annual results have already been trailed – but what a terrible year it’s been
No flights, no planes, no crew, no fares – November! Late autumn is, even on easyJet’s standard aviation calendar, quite the worst time of any year, but 2020 has been something else.
On Tuesday, the airline unveils its annual results from what it can only hope are the depths of the Covid-19 abyss. A trading update last month warned on much of the misery – losses of up to £845m, not counting “non-headline items” such as a £145m bad bet on fuel hedging, and the immediate £120m cost of laying off about a third of its staff. The cash burn of around £50m a week over summer “compared favourably” with the previous three months, it said.
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Italy has registered 37,255 new coronavirus infections over the past 24 hours, the health ministry announced on Saturday, down from 40,902 on Friday.
The ministry also recorded 544 Covid-related deaths, down from 550 the day before, Reuters reports.
Sixteen people have been arrested after hundreds of protestors attended an anti-lockdown demonstration in Liverpool city centre.
ARRESTS | 25 people have now been arrested in #Liverpool city centre for public order offences and breaches of Coronavirus regulations. A further male has been arrested after a police officer was assaulted. Please read our statement about why it's so important people stay home: pic.twitter.com/XcLXXLpuPH
Continue reading...Record daily infections in Germany; Naples hospitals at risk of being overwhelmed; France reports slowdown in rate of new cases
Germany’s partial lockdown could be extended beyond the end of the month and hospitals in parts of Italy are near breaking point as Covid-19 cases continued to surge in both countries, despite positive signs elsewhere in Europe.
New daily coronavirus cases in Germany hit a record of 23,542 on Friday, the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases reported, prompting government spokesman Stefan Seibert to say measures “were not expected to be relaxed” by next week.
Continue reading...Politicians struggle to explain why a region so much less affected in spring is so badly hit now
In the countries of central Europe, which during spring seemed to provide a best-practice model for keeping coronavirus at bay, case numbers have risen sharply, and governments in the region fear that their health systems are close to capacity and may struggle to cope. Central Europe is now just as badly hit as countries further west, and by some parameters is doing worse.
The Visegrad Four group of nations – Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary and Slovakia – were all notable for their success in keeping case numbers low earlier in the year, even as gruesome statistics of deaths and hospitalisations came out of western Europe on a daily basis.
Continue reading...Keanu Reeves among 200 people at studio party where guests came as extras, says report
German health authorities say they plan to speak to the studio where the latest Matrix film was shot after a party allegedly attended by the Hollywood actor Keanu Reeves was held to mark the end of filming, despite coronavirus restrictions.
About 200 people were at the party disguised as a film shoot, with the guests invited to come as extras in an apparent attempt to bypass health regulations, according to the German tabloid Bild.
Continue reading...Number of people dying from the disease also increased by 50% since 2016, according to data from the WHO and CDC
The number of measles cases worldwide surged to nearly 900,000 in 2019, the highest figure in more than two decades, underlining a significant U-turn in global progress to combat the disease.
Data from the World Health Organization (WHO) and US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that the number of people dying from measles also increased by 50% since 2016, with an estimated 207,500 deaths in 2019 alone.
Continue reading...Italy also registers 40,000 new infections; Germany records 23,542 new cases; Russia reports its worst day for new infections; Sweden’s hits daily record
Health authorities in the Australian state of NSW have released a list of three key “venues of concern” in Auckland as they check arrivals from New Zealand since 5 November.
•A-Z Collection, Auckland CBD: 10.30am-6.30pm on 8 November, 10.30am-6.30pm on 9 November, or 10.30am-6.30pm 11 November
•The Vincent Residences, Auckland Central: 12am on 7 November to 12pm 12 November
•Red Pig Restaurant, Auckland CBD: 6-8.30pm on 7 November
NSW Health is contacting 455 people who have arrived from New Zealand since 5 November following a locally acquired case of COVID 19 in Auckland. These passengers have been sent a message alerting them to a number of venues of concern in Auckland. pic.twitter.com/Gpd6avauBJ
News agency Reuters is reporting the latest case numbers from Brazil, one of the world’s worst-hit countries.
The country’s health ministry has reported 29,070 new Covid-19 cases and a further 456 deaths from the disease.
Continue reading...Italy registers 636 daily deaths; French PM says no easing of restrictions as cases remain high; Germany seeing tentative signs of flattening curve
Greece reported 3,316 new coronavirus cases on Thursday, its highest daily tally since its first infection surfaced in February, according to health authorities data.
The latest jump in infections brings the total number of cases in the country to 66,637.
Donald Trump’s adviser Corey Lewandowski has become the latest member of the outgoing president’s staff to test positive for coronavirus.
Lewandowski recently traveled to Pennsylvania to assist Trump’s efforts to contest the state’s election results. He said today he believes he was infected in Philadelphia and is not experiencing any symptoms.
Continue reading...Dr Anthony Fauci says unprecedented 'polarisation' has intensified an anti-science feeling in the US and led people to threaten violence against him.
While the top infectious diseases expert commands respect among much of the public, he has received personal death threats as a result of his high-profile statements about the coronavirus pandemic.
The health expert Prof David Heymann, who joined Fauci in a Chatham House webinar, said science had become highly politicised to the point that a mask wearer was seen as a Democrat and a non-mask wearer as a Republican
Continue reading...Didier Raoult stands accused of touting drug as a coronavirus treatment without evidence
A French professor who touts the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine as a coronavirus treatment – without evidence, scientists say – will appear before a disciplinary panel charged with ethics breaches, an order of doctors has said.
Marseille-based Didier Raoult stands accused by his peers of spreading false information about the benefits of the drug. His promotion of hydroxychloroquine was taken up by the US and Brazilian presidents, Donald Trump and Jair Bolsonaro, who trumpeted its unproven benefits in a way critics say put people’s lives at risk.
Continue reading...Resurgence of disease linked to factors including climate crisis and focus of health resources on Covid response
More than 70 people are feared to have died of yellow fever in Nigeria since September, as health authorities warn of a resurgence of the disease.
The country recorded 47 deaths from yellow fever throughout the whole of 2019.
Continue reading...Iran and Lebanon impose lockdowns; Hong Kong, Singapore plan quarantine-free travel bubble; US sees record hospitalisations
Mongolia has reported its first domestic transmissions of the coronavirus, from a truck driver who infected his wife and two other relatives after three weeks of quarantine, according to the AfP news agency.
The landlocked country bordering Russia and China has so far reported just 376 virus cases - all imported - and enforced strict arrival controls that have prompted protests by Mongolians stranded abroad.
Dr David Nabarro, one of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) special envoys on Covid-19, urged people to be “careful” when students in the UK return to university after Christmas to prevent a spike in Covid-19 cases.
Asked about students returning to UK universities in January, and if there was an argument for keeping students at home for longer, Dr Nabarro told Sky News:
We did see that there was quite a big increase in cases in Europe in October and November. We think that was to do with movements that took place in September, including students coming to university.
So if there’s going to be a big return in January, all I’m going to say is, everybody be careful. Because that’s when the virus can really move around quickly.
Continue reading...Italy passes mark after 32,961 new infections in 24 hours; Greece extends curfew after record surge in cases; US has 1m new cases in 10 days
Texas on Wednesday became the first US state with more than 1 million confirmed Covid-19 cases, and California closed in on that mark as a surge of coronavirus infections engulfs the country from coast to coast, AP reports.
The country’s second-most populous state, Teas has recorded 1.01 million coronavirus cases and over 19,000 deaths since the outbreak began in early March, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. California, the most populous state, has logged more than 991,000 cases.
The Swedish prime minister has said his government will present a law proposal that would ban nationwide the sale of alcohol after 10pm in bars, restaurants and night clubs from 20 November in an effort to curb the spread of Covid-19.
Stefan Lofven said that “we are facing a situation that risks becoming pitch-black” and added that Sweden “currently is risking a situation like the one we had last spring”.
Continue reading...Suspicion in Devon town of face masks and 5G means take-up of vaccine may face resistance
Like many people living in or around Totnes in Devon, David, who is in his 70s, has his own theories about coronavirus and its origins. Sitting in the armchair of his house, he says the pandemic is a secret plot to impose a totalitarian world government and a nefarious effort to crush freedom. He scrolls through Facebook, which he recently signed up to, to show many with similar beliefs.
David came to many of these ideas recently. When the pandemic hit, he started looking for answers. “I’m friends with a few people who are active in researching what is going on. I quickly made contact with others putting posts on the internet.”
Continue reading...Europe and US create vast facilities for Covid-19 vaccine but poorer nations lack infrastructure, say experts
Two vast football-pitch-sized facilities equipped with hundreds of large freezers in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and Puurs, Belgium, will be the centres of the huge effort to ship the coronavirus vaccine, developed by US drug giant Pfizer and German biotech firm BioNTech, around the world.
Governments are scrambling to prepare for the rollout of the vaccine, which must be stored at -70C (-94F), after the announcement from the two companies that it was more than 90% effective and had no serious side-effects. The news sparked hopes of a return to normal life and a stock market rally, but now minds are turning to the practicalities of getting the vaccine quickly to populations across the world, in particular to the vulnerable people who need it most.
Continue reading...There are grounds for optimism but also several unknowns around this coronavirus vaccine
Hopes that the end of the coronavirus pandemic has become nearer have soared after the news that a coronavirus vaccine was found to be 90% effective in global trials.
Although there is definite reason to be optimistic, experts have cautioned that the data from the trials conducted by Pfizer and BioNTech are not final, and there remain plenty of unknowns.
Continue reading...Italy imposes tougher restrictions as cases continue to rise; authorities across Europe fear infections and deaths will continue to rise
Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen unit has received the green light to carry out late stage trials for its vaccine in Mexico, the country’s foreign minister Marcelo Ebrard has said.
He said the US vaccine developer Novavax Inc earlier this month also presented health authorities with a request to conduct phase 3 testing in Mexico.
Four judicial investigations have been opened in France into the authorities’ response to the Covid epidemic, the Paris prosecutor’s department has said. The prosecutor opened a preliminary inquiry in June to determine whether any criminal offences might have been committed.
Continue reading...Covid-19 has spread around the planet, sending billions of people into lockdown as health services struggle to cope. Find out where the virus has spread, and where it has been most deadly
Continue reading...President-elect warned the US is ‘facing a very dark winter’ as 200,000 more could die before a vaccine becomes available
Joe Biden vowed on Monday to spare no effort in tackling the coronavirus pandemic as soon as he enters the White House and warned the US is “facing a very dark winter”.
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