Category Archives: Health

Western Australia suspends border reopening indefinitely amid Omicron spread

Posted on by

State had been due to open up to double-jabbed international and interstate travellers on 5 February

The reopening of Australia’s most isolated state has been suspended indefinitely to allow West Australians to get booster shots, as the more transmissible Omicron variant rips through the nation.

Just one month after promising that from 5 February double-vaccinated interstate and international travellers would be allowed to enter Western Australia without quarantine, the WA premier, Mark McGowan, has said that all entrants will need to self-isolate for 14 days, be triple-dose vaccinated and take tests.

Continue reading...

Increased Covid risk a ‘trade-off’ in reopening schools, Australian chief medical officer says

Posted on by

PM also announces commonwealth to split school Covid surveillance testing costs with states 50-50 following national cabinet meeting

Australia’s chief medical officer has conceded that children returning to school could create an increased risk of Covid transmission to their families, saying there would be “trade-offs” to getting students back in classrooms.

It comes as the commonwealth agreed to split costs for surveillance testing in schools 50-50 with state governments, despite the prime minister, Scott Morrison, saying there was no medical advice recommending such testing was necessary.

Continue reading...

Nepal hospital trials ‘life-changing’ treatment for leprosy wounds

Posted on by

Technique using artificial scabs made from a patient’s own blood could also help those with diabetes, say doctors

Doctors at a Nepal hospital trialling a new treatment for skin wounds say the technique, which mimics the scabbing process, has “enormous potential”.

Trials at the mountaintop Anandaban leprosy hospital, south of Kathmandu, have been promising, bringing hope to patients worldwide. It is hoped that the treatment will also help millions living with diabetes, who have an increased risk of amputation.

Continue reading...

‘No vax, no play’: surfer Kelly Slater won’t be let into Australia if he’s not vaccinated against Covid

Posted on by

World Surf League events are due in Victoria and WA but federal health minister says position on coronavirus vaccine is ‘pretty clear’ following Novak Djokovic visa saga

Surfing great Kelly Slater could be the next big name in sport to be refused the right to compete in Australia, with the federal health minister saying the 11-time champion will not be allowed into the country if he is not vaccinated against Covid.

Slater, who has not publicly disclosed his Covid vaccination status, has aired some controversial views on the Covid vaccine, including an Instagram comment in October that claimed he knew “more about being healthy than 99% of doctors”.

Continue reading...

On Australia’s deadliest day of Covid pandemic, experts say we don’t know enough about who is dying

Posted on by

Doctors say Australia must coordinate Covid-19 data nationally and pick up the game on testing, tracing, isolating and quarantining

Today is the deadliest day in Australia’s Covid pandemic. So far this year, about 30 Australians a day are dying with Covid.

“[These are] someone’s parents, grandparents, community leaders, people who contribute to our society,” the Burnet Institute director and chief executive officer, Prof Brendan Crabb, says.

Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning

Continue reading...

Australia news live update: PM asked about double standard on Djokovic anti-vax concerns; 23 Covid deaths in Victoria, NSW as hospital cases rise

Posted on by

Victoria reports 22,429 new Covid cases, six deaths and 1,229 people in hospital; NSW records 29,504 cases and 17 deaths, with 2,776 people in hospital; Scott Morrison discusses Novak Djokovic deportation; Australian surveillance flight to assess Tonga tsunami damage delayed; unions meet over workforce and supply chain shortages. Follow all the day’s news

Prime minister Scott Morrison has appeared on 2GB this morning, confirming Djokovic didn’t comply with entry requirements ... but that is not why his visa was cancelled.

Australia has very clear rules and Australians have been following those rules ... we apply our rules equally in this country and there was a very clear message sent – he wanted to come, he wasn’t vaccinated, well you’ve got to have a valid medical exemption and neither of those were in place. People make their own choices, and those choices meant you couldn’t come here and play tennis.

The idea someone could come and not follow those rules just was not on ... he was wrong, simple as that ... we didn’t give him an exemption, the federal government gave him no such exemption.

And that is that Mr Djokovic would be asked to leave, it is in the remit of the minister to do that, the judges reviewed the process and found the process the minister followed was legal. But to be quite frank, I am on the same page as Mr Djokovic. We’ll move on. And the things I will move on to are making sure to keep food on the shelves of supermarkets as ... people have been interested in the story, it’s been a ... soap opera. But now people are going to focus on the tennis, watch the tennis and also focus on looking after them and one of the big issues right now is making sure we keep food on the shelves at the grocery store.

Continue reading...

French parliament approves vaccine pass law to tackle Covid

Posted on by

Law will require people to have a certificate to enter public places such as restaurants and cinemas

France’s parliament has given final approval to the government’s latest measures to tackle Covid-19, including a vaccine pass contested by anti-vaccine protesters.

Lawmakers in the lower house of parliament voted 215 in favour to 58 against on Sunday, paving the way for the law to enter force in the coming days.

Continue reading...

Italian nurse accused of giving fake Covid jabs to anti-vaxxers arrested

Posted on by

Police say people were fraudulently obtaining Covid passes by having fake vaccinations in Palermo

Italian police have arrested a nurse in Palermo for allegedly pretending to give Covid vaccines to anti-vaxxer activists so they could benefit from official health certificates to travel and access bars, restaurants and public transport in the country.

Investigators used a hidden camera to film the nurse, a 58-year-old woman working at an inoculation centre in the Sicilian capital. The clip, released on Saturday on Twitter, shows the health worker apparently loading up a dose of Covid-19 vaccine and then emptying the syringe into a tissue before pretending to inject it into the arms of anti-vaxxers.

Continue reading...

Life after lockdown: how do we best recover from the pandemic?

Posted on by
Two years of Covid have wreaked havoc with the nation’s mental health. What can be learned from the survivors of other traumas and is there a way of thinking ourselves to a happier, healthier place?

It was October 2020 when I realised I was going to have to ask for help. I’ve always been anxious, but thanks to the pandemic, I developed debilitating health anxiety. A dire winter was coming and any respite we’d had over the summer felt like it was slipping away. I couldn’t get to sleep and when I finally did, I had nightmares. My stomach churned and my hands shook so badly I had to give up caffeine. I developed a chronic reflux cough and, on more than one occasion, got into such an irrational spiral about it being Covid that I had to book a PCR test just to be able to function.

“One of the most diabolical things about this pandemic is the on and on-ness of it all,” says Amanda Ripley, author of The Unthinkable: Who Survives When Disaster Strikes – and Why. “Humans can withstand a lot of turmoil and instability if they can recover.” Prior to Covid, Ripley studied people who survived tornadoes and terror attacks, emergencies for which the mental health consequences are much better understood than the long, slow-burn, seemingly endless one we find ourselves living through.

Continue reading...

Australia live news update: Novak Djokovic federal court decision expected today; ‘difficult three weeks’ ahead for NSW amid Covid surge

Posted on by

Government argues Serbian tennis star has become ‘icon’ for anti-vax groups as federal court adjourns; Victoria records 13 Covid-19 deaths and 28,128 new cases; Perrottet warns of ‘difficult three weeks’ as NSW records 20 deaths and 34,660 new cases; Queensland records three deaths and 17,445 new cases; ACT records two deaths and 1,316 cases. Follow all the day’s news here

In further Australian Covid news, the Morrison government has announced $24m in new funding to widen the use of telehealth for GPs and other specialists. The funding is a direct reaction to the infection rate from the Omicron outbreak. AAP reports:

The $24m will also cover the continued supply of personal protective equipment, such as masks, respirators, face shields and gowns for face-to-face consultations including patients that have tested positive through a rapid antigen test.

The latter aligns with national cabinet’s January 5 decision that RAT tests no longer need to be confirmed by a PCR test.

Continue reading...

Covid cases have hit plateau in parts of UK, says top medical adviser

Posted on by

Dr Susan Hopkins says numbers flattening in London, south-east and east of England – and hospital admissions rate starting to slow

The number of Covid infections appears to have reached a plateau in parts of the UK, a senior government health adviser has said, with experts expressing optimism about the latest data.

Infections are flattening in London, the south-east and the east of England, while the rise is slowing in the north of England, said Dr Susan Hopkins, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) chief medical adviser.

Continue reading...

Covid live news: pressure grows on Boris Johnson over lockdown parties; Djokovic to spend night in detention

Posted on by

British PM faces fresh allegations that staff held regular drinking sessions when social mixing was prohibited, as Serbian tennis star fights deportation from Australia

Keir Starmer has ramped up the pressure on Boris Johnson as the prime minister fights to save his job, arguing that the stream of explosive allegations of Downing Street parties has left him “unable to lead”.

In a speech to the Fabian Society conference, the Labour leader accused the Conservatives of running the NHS into the ground because they are “too preoccupied defending his rule breaking”. Stressing that “waiting times were the shortest on record” when Labour left government 12 years ago, he said:

Rather than concentrating on getting through the pandemic and bringing down waiting lists, this self-indulgent Tory party is instead having a fight about a leader who they should have known from the start is not fit for office.

We are witnessing the broken spectacle of a prime minister mired in deceit and deception, unable to lead.

The prime minister needs to do the honourable thing and call it a day for the good of the country.

[This is] not about one isolated incident, what we are seeing with these continued revelations coming out about what’s been going on at No 10 is a pattern of behaviour, and ultimately the buck stops with Boris Johnson.

What I’ve seen, to me it looks like Boris Johnson and those in his inner circle can do what they want and the rest of us have to do as we are told - that’s not acceptable to me, it is not acceptable to my constituents or, I believe, most people in the country. And what that certainly isn’t is ‘levelling up’ in my book.

It doesn’t matter, quite honestly, if the prime minister was present or not present - ultimately, he is responsible for what goes on in government, he is responsible for the culture in No 10 and what we’re seeing is a culture where it is one rule for them and the rest of us do as we’re told, and that’s just not acceptable.

I’m not sure that any apology is going to put that right.

Continue reading...

Psychiatrists warn of police and crime bill’s impact on young people

Posted on by

Academics and clinicians say bill ‘will have a profound negative impact on young people’s mental health’

Hundreds of clinical psychiatrists and psychologists have warned that the police and crime bill reaching its final stages in parliament “will have a profound negative impact on young people’s mental health”.

“We cannot think of better measures to disempower and socially isolate young people,” they say in an open letter signed by more than 350 academics and clinicians and published online.

Continue reading...

Global heating linked to early birth and damage to babies’ health, scientists find

Posted on by

Exclusive: Studies show high temperatures and air pollution during pregnancy can cause lifelong health effects

The climate crisis is damaging the health of foetuses, babies and infants across the world, six new studies have found.

Scientists discovered increased heat was linked to fast weight gain in babies, which increases the risk of obesity in later life. Higher temperatures were also linked to premature birth, which can have lifelong health effects, and to increased hospital admissions of young children.

Continue reading...

Australia’s first-dose vaccination reaches 95%; Djokovic back in hotel detention – as it happened

Posted on by

Health minister Greg Hunt calls vaccine levels a sign of hope; tennis star returns to detention in Melbourne’s Park Hotel. This blog is now closed

Hillsong church says the singing and dancing at their youth summer camp bears no resemblance to a music festival. This is Sian Cain’s piece from yesterday – somehow I’d missed seeing the video footage.

Oh yeah, totally doesn’t look anything like a music festival:

Continue reading...

Boris Johnson unlikely to be seen in public for a week, says Downing St

Posted on by

Period stuck inside No 10 comes at arguably fortuitous time for PM facing intense scrutiny over ‘partygate’

Boris Johnson is unlikely to be seen in public for the next week after a member of his immediate family tested positive for Covid, Downing Street has said.

While self-isolation for contacts of coronavirus cases is no longer mandatory, Johnson’s spokesman said the prime minister would heed guidance to limit outside contacts as much as possible for seven days after the test.

Continue reading...

Covid isolation to be cut to five full days in England, says Sajid Javid

Posted on by

Health secretary confirms reduction in self-isolation period, in decision that could help address staff shortages

The health secretary, Sajid Javid, has confirmed that the minimum time people with Covid in England have to spend in self-isolation is to be cut to five full days.

From Monday, people would be able to leave isolation on day six if they tested negative on days five and six, Javid told the Commons.

Continue reading...

Boris Johnson does not believe he broke Covid rules at party, says minister

Posted on by

Northern Ireland secretary Brandon Lewis defends PM as he pulls out of public engagement in Lancashire

The Northern Ireland secretary, Brandon Lewis, has insisted the prime minister was “very, very sincere” when he apologised for attending an alcohol-fuelled gathering in the Downing Street garden, but did not believe he had broken the rules.

Boris Johnson told MPs on Wednesday he thought he was at a “work event” when he dropped into what his own principal private secretary had called “socially distanced drinks”.

Continue reading...

‘Babies here are born sick’: are Bolivia’s gold mines poisoning its indigenous people?

Posted on by

The government has been criticised for apparent inaction as evidence mounts that mercury contamination is causing illness in fishing communities

Outside a small brick house shared by four families, Daniela Prada, who is heavily pregnant, gathers guava leaves to make a tea for her two-year-old son.

“My baby gets sick a lot,” she says, boiling a pot of water in her outdoor kitchen. “He always has diarrhoea and last night he had a fever. Most of the time I give him natural medicine.”

In an identical house nearby, town leader Oscar Lurici says fevers are a part of life in Eyiyo Quibo village on the Beni River in northern Bolivia. People of all ages suffer from debilitating head and body aches, bouts of vomiting and diarrhoea, memory loss and tiredness. Some children show signs of cognitive development delays.

Continue reading...

‘More people is the last thing this planet needs’: the men getting vasectomies to save the world

Posted on by

With the climate crisis becoming ever more urgent, a growing number of young, childless men are taking the drastic decision of being sterilised for environmental reasons

When Lloyd Williamson lay on his back in a GP’s clinic late last November, it was for the surgical culmination of years of soul searching. Williamson, who is 30 and from Essex, remembers wanting a family as a child, but something changed in his early 20s. “I thought: you know what? I don’t want to bring a life into this world, because it’s pretty shitty as it is and it’s only going to get worse,” he says, two weeks after his vasectomy.

Williamson was largely motivated to sterilise himself by the climate crisis. Given the link between fossil-fuelled economic growth and population growth, he believes that having fewer children is one thing individuals can do to help. “We can’t offset our carbon problem on to the next generation, because it’s not fair on them,” he says.

Continue reading...