Obadiah Moyo has been charged with criminal abuse of office over the alleged awarding of a $60m contract for Covid-19 supplies
A Zimbabwean health minister charged with corruption in connection with the awarding of a multimillion dollar contract for Covid-19 medical supplies has been fired by the president.
Obadiah Moyo was sacked by Emmerson Mnangagwa this week for inappropriate conduct by a public official.
Continue reading...How often should you wash a cloth mask? And how effective are the disposable ones? The expert guide to choosing, wearing and caring for your face covering
The British have been slow to embrace face masks, despite calls from public health experts. Uptake has been just 25% in the UK, compared with 83.4% in Italy and 65.8% in the US. The president of the Royal Society, Venki Ramakrishnan, said this week that wearing one “is the right thing to do” and that a refusal to do so should be seen as socially unacceptable as drink-driving or not wearing a seatbelt.
Perhaps one of the problems has been the changing advice as new evidence emerges. The World Health Organization (WHO) now recommends people wear cloth masks. Ramakrishnan said that in the UK, “the message has not been clear enough, so perhaps people do not really understand the benefits or are not convinced”. It also doesn’t help that the guidance across the UK is different.
Continue reading...The NSW premier is expected to announce new restrictions today as the state tries to contain ‘high-risk situation’. Follow live news and updates
2020 motto: Please scream inside your heart
Japan’s theme parks have banned screaming on roller coasters because it spreads coronavirus. “Please scream inside your heart.” https://t.co/DJjC40H0Ap
Just re-upping, because it seems relevant
The Armchair Epidemiologist pic.twitter.com/t4CvJo3KCL
Continue reading...The return of stay at home orders has been met with a mixture of resignation and relief, fury and sadness
Melbourne residents will be locked down from midnight on Wednesday. It is both easier and much harder this time around.
Easier because remote working routines have already been established and because, this time, we know what to expect. And harder, because we know what to expect.
Continue reading...Philippe Monguillot left brain dead after assault by men not wearing Covid-19 face masks
French prosecutors have charged two men with attempted murder after a bus driver was assaulted and left brain dead for refusing to let a group of people who were not wearing face masks board the bus.
Four men set upon 59-year-old Philippe Monguillot in the south-western town of Bayonne on Sunday after he asked three of them to wear masks and tried to check another man’s ticket.
Continue reading...WHO adviser says results from well-designed studies are needed before it changes its advice
A major research effort is under way to understand whether Covid-19 can spread through tiny airborne particles that are released by infected people and remain suspended in the air for hours.
Scientists are working alongside sanitary engineers at the World Health Organization to investigate how tiny aerosols bearing the virus may be released into the environment; whether they are spread around rooms by air-conditioning units; and how infectious the particles may be.
Continue reading...Jair Bolsonaro has announced live on television he has tested positive for coronavirus - after months of repeatedly trivializing the pandemic and flouting social distancing guidelines.
In March, as Covid-19 claimed its first victims in Brazil, the far-right populist leader bragged that, if infected, he would quickly shake off the illness thanks to his 'athlete’s background'. Since then, the president has continued to attend social events and political rallies, often wearing masks incorrectly, if at all.
Brazil has suffered one of the world’s worst outbreaks, with more than 1.6m confirmed cases and 65,000 related deaths, according to official data released on 6 July.
As life across Europe gets back to normal, Covid-19 prepares the next wave of outbreaks
Confusion over NSW-Victoria border closure as the state’s northern border closes for the first time in a century and Melbourne prepares for lockdown. Follow the latest news
Someone asks about some sort of foreign travel tax? I don’t know - there is a lot in the question, and it’s involving shiz that none of us can even think about until at least July next year, because I’m not sure if this is common knowledge or not - but Australia’s international borders ARE CLOSED.
Scott Morrison:
Well, there’s a lot of speculation on all those questions. So I don’t intend to engage in what is the normal budget speculation when you lead up to a budget.
Those matters will be addressed in the budget.
On what we are planning on doing with Hong Kong residents, Scott Morrison says:
We continue to be concerned about issues in Hong Kong as many nations are, and we have remained in close contact with other like-minded countries about this issue.
This is about how we, as a nation, are responding, domestically, to these issues.
On the issue of the broader shutdown of Melbourne - this is a matter that the Premier advised me of and, of course, based on their advice and the advice that I have received from the chief medical officer, then this was necessary.
I hope it isn’t for that long. I hope it’s for a shorter period as possible.
Joe Biden says he would return the US to the WHO if elected; WHO acknowledges ‘evidence emerging’ of airborne spread of Covid-19; Jair Bolsonaro tests positive. Follow the latest updates
The Guardian’s Eleanor Ainge Roy reports from Queenstown with Charlotte Graham-McLay in Auckland:
Here’s the full story on a man in compulsory isolation in New Zealand who has absconded from a quarantine hotel to make a late-night “spur-of-the-moment” dash to the supermarket – before testing positive for Covid-19 the following day:
Related: New Zealand: man with Covid-19 absconds from quarantine for supermarket 'dash'
The Netherlands will be at the centre of upcoming talks over European spending on the coronavirus crisis, driven by a mix of traditional Calvinist frugality and political reality, experts say.
As part of the “frugal four” along with Austria, Denmark and Sweden, the Dutch have enraged many in the EU by putting the brakes on a €750bn (US$850bn) rescue package for the worst-hit countries.
Continue reading...Gathering ‘likely contributed’ to surge; Bolsonaro vetoes measures to help indigenous people; Melbourne goes into full lockdown after rises in cases
Nigeria has passed 30,000 confirmed coronavirus cases, according to the country’s Centre for Disease Control.
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Statistics agency is first in France to cross-check Covid-19 fatalities with country of origin
Death rates among immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa doubled in France and tripled in the Paris region at the height of France’s coronavirus outbreak, finds a study from the French government’s statistics agency.
The INSEE agency’s findings, published on Tuesday, are the closest France has come to acknowledging with numbers the disproportionate impact of the virus on the country’s black immigrants and members of other overlooked minority groups.
Continue reading...South Africa’s cases pass 200,000; Kenya emerges from lockdown; Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro tested again for coronavirus
Bolsonaro’s diagnosis comes just three days after he had lunch at the home of the US ambassador to Brazil, Todd Chapman, in the capital, Brasília.
Also present at that Independence Day celebration were several top cabinet members, including foreign minister Ernesto Araújo, defence minister Fernando Azevedo, and the president’s son, Eduardo, a politician who is Steve Bannon’s representative in South America. The men were photographed without face masks.
Reports of Bolsonaro’s possible infection first emerged on Monday evening, with local news outlets reporting that he had been tested after developing coronavirus symptoms, including a 38C temperature and a persistent cough.
An MRI of Bolsonaro’s lungs was also taken, with the president telling supporters it had shown them to be “clear”.
Related: Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro tests positive for coronavirus
Continue reading...Premier Daniel Andrews reimposes stage three restrictions across metropolitan Melbourne to last for six weeks
A record high of 191 new coronavirus cases on Tuesday has prompted the Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, to reintroduce stage three restrictions across all of metropolitan Melbourne.
“I think a sense of complacency has crept into us as we let our frustrations get the better of us,” Andrews said. “I think that each of us know someone who has not been following the rules as well as they should have.
Continue reading...Ongoing destruction of nature will result in stream of animal diseases jumping to humans, says report
The world is treating the health and economic symptoms of the coronavirus pandemic but not the environmental cause, according to the authors of a UN report. As a result, a steady stream of diseases can be expected to jump from animals to humans in coming years, they say.
The number of such “zoonotic” epidemics is rising, from Ebola to Sars to West Nile virus and Rift Valley fever, with the root cause being the destruction of nature by humans and the growing demand for meat, the report says.
Continue reading...Melbourne’s Covid-19 spike has prompted the ‘unprecedented’ move to stop people coming into NSW from Victoria. We look at the details
NSW will temporarily close its border with Victoria at 12.01am Wednesday 8 July in response to Melbourne’s coronavirus outbreak.
The closure, announced at a press conference by Victorian premier Daniel Andrews on Monday, will be enforced by NSW police.
Continue reading...Melbourne’s Covid-19 spike has prompted the ‘unprecedented’ move to stop people coming into NSW from Victoria. We look at the details, from how to get a crossing permit to whether you need to self-isolate
New South Wales temporarily closed its border with Victoria starting from 12.01am Wednesday 8 July in response to Melbourne’s coronavirus outbreak.
The closure, announced at a press conference by Victorian premier Daniel Andrews on Monday, is being enforced by NSW police.
Continue reading...Donald Trump’s handling of US crisis under microscope; Israel reimposes restrictions after infections spike
Air travellers arriving in Scotland from Tuesday will be subject to quarantine spot checks for the first time, after the country reported four days without deaths from Covid-19.
Nicola Sturgeon, the first minister, said her officials and advisers were still deciding which countries would not be subject to quarantine checks, four days after the Home Office released its list of 74 “air bridge” countries and territories.
Related: Air travellers to Scotland to face quarantine spot checks and fines
The US has suffered 235 more deaths and registered 44,361 new cases, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), has said. That takes the respective totals to 129,811 and 2,886,267.
Continue reading...Cases reach almost 700,000 to pass Russia in third place; Iran suffers record death toll; alarm in South Africa as cases jump amid easing of lockdown
India has passed Russia as the country with the third-highest number of coronavirus cases in the world after recording a record number of cases for one day.
The health ministry added 23,000 new cases on Monday, taking India’s total to 697,000 and almost 20,000 deaths. On Sunday India racked up nearly 25,000, its highest total for one day.
Continue reading...Channel Nine initially promoted One Nation leader’s comments describing people locked down due to coronavirus as ‘drug addicts’ who ‘cannot speak English’
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Channel Nine’s Today show has dropped One Nation leader Pauline Hanson as a “regular contributor”, after she described residents of public housing in Melbourne who are locked down due to Covid-19 as “drug addicts” who “cannot speak English”.
In a statement, the channel described her comments as “ill-informed and divisive”, and said “she will no longer be appearing on our program as a regular contributor”.
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