Category Archives: Health

Australia Covid live update: AMA calls for mask mandate and density limits for Christmas; NSW reports record 3,057 cases, Victoria 1,245

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AMA calls for mask mandate and density limits for Christmas; South Australia records 154 new Covid cases, Queensland 86; RACP calls on state and territory governments to reintroduce restrictions as PM says ‘we’re not going back to lockdowns’; Victoria records 1,245 cases; NSW records 3,057 cases; national cabinet to discuss vaccination timeframes and mask mandates – follow all the day’s news live

According to Seven News Scott Morrison is supportive of an indoor mask mandate in light of the Omicron variant spreading throughout Australia, but not further lockdowns.

Thousands of customers are still without power on Sydney’s northern beaches after the brief but cyclonic weekend storm that felled power lines, leaving a trail of destruction, reports AAP.

It’s a very difficult time of year to be without power, and we apologise for the delays. We are doing everything we can to turn the lights back on as soon as possible. Where we can, we are progressively turning power back on, and as always the safety of our customers and staff remains our number one priority.

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Israel announces fourth jab for over-60s; hospital bosses in England brace for ‘dangerous situation’

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Portugal tells people to work from home from 26 December; Sweden announces working from home and tighter social distancing rules

Singapore has detected a cluster of three Covid-19 cases linked to a gym, its ministry of health said late on Monday.

The variant was found in two men, aged 24 and 21, and an 18-year-old woman.

On Monday morning, a mid-level staff member, who does not regularly have contact with the President, received a positive result for a Covid-19 test.

Three days earlier, on Friday, that staff member had spent approximately 30 minutes in proximity to the President on Air Force One, on the way from Orangeburg, South Carolina to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

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Global Covid vaccination failure will harm Britain, Gordon Brown warns

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Exclusive: Ex-PM says virus will have ‘free rein to mutate’ unless richer countries fund $23bn vaccine drive

The failure to vaccinate the world against coronavirus will come back to haunt even fully vaccinated Britons in 2022, Gordon Brown has warned.

The former prime minister said the emergence of Omicron was “not Africa’s fault”, and added that new variants would continue to wreak havoc because richer countries such as the UK had “stockpiled” hundreds of millions of vaccines.

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Moderna says booster produces strong antibody response to Omicron

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Pharmaceuticals firm says third dose of its Covid vaccine increases antibodies against variant by 37-fold

The pharmaceuticals company Moderna has said a booster dose of its Covid vaccine appeared to protect against the fast-spreading Omicron variant in laboratory testing and that the current version will continue to beits “first line of defence against Omicron”.

The decision to focus on the current vaccine, mRNA-1273, was driven in part by how quickly the variant is spreading. The company plans to develop a vaccine specifically to protect against Omicron, which it hopes to advance into clinical trials early next year.

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Contact with nature in cities reduces loneliness, study shows

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Loneliness is significant mental health concern and can raise risk of death by 45%, say scientists

Contact with nature in cities significantly reduces feelings of loneliness, according to a team of scientists.

Loneliness is a major public health concern, their research shows, and can raise a person’s risk of death by 45% – more than air pollution, obesity or alcohol abuse.

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Christmas curbs could be brought in within days, says Sajid Javid

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Health secretary expected to announce whether social mixing will be curtailed over festive period

Sajid Javid has made clear that fresh Covid restrictions could be imposed before Christmas to slow the spread of the Omicron variant, with ministers set to make a decision in days.

Government insiders expect an announcement to be made early next week about whether social mixing will be curtailed before the festive period – potentially including a cap on the number of families that can meet, or even hospitality closures.

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Life in the ward: how do you care for Covid patients in prison?

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‘You can only build a net, it’s never a wall,’ says Dr Michael Novy, who cared for 160 inmates through a flap in a locked door

  • Read more in our series Inside Covid

From prisoners to the homeless and people living with disabilities – these are some of the at-risk communities hidden from public view during the pandemic. Now the health workers working with them share their stories.

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The science is clear: the case for more Covid restrictions is overwhelming

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Analysis: Omicron studies so far have been rapid first takes, but the message for England is loud and clear

For a variant that came to light less than a month ago, the evidence for Omicron’s potential to wreak havoc has mounted at breakneck speed. What studies have emerged are rapid first takes, but the message they convey is now loud and clear: the scientific case for more restrictions is overwhelming. Without hard and swift action to curb transmission, the NHS faces a battering.

The first red flag came in late November when scientists in southern Africa shared early genomes of what became known as Omicron. Soon after they landed, Tom Peacock, a virologist at Imperial College London, highlighted the “awful” mutations that marked it out as a fast-spreading, vaccine-dodging variant. On receiving a text about Peacock’s tweet, Dr Susan Hopkins, the chief medical adviser to the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), conceded it filled her with gloom.

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London hospital staff speak out: ‘We’re not here to judge, but please get your Covid vaccines’

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Health workers at King’s College hospital fear a surge in admissions as the Omicron wave gathers force, but are cautiously optimistic

On the third floor of one of the country’s biggest hospital trusts, a team of intensive care specialists in masks and visors huddle around a screened bay where a critically ill patient lies unconscious surrounded by cables and tubes.

The elderly man’s breathing is supported by a ventilator and he is connected to an arterial line to measure blood pressure. He is fed by a gastric tube, and a nearby stack of six monitors provide updates on his condition, from oxygen levels to heart rate.

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Is there any good news at all on Omicron? Yes, there are small signs of hope

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Analysis: scientists are only starting to understand new Covid mutation but there is encouraging news from the laboratory, South Africa and on antiviral drugs

It’s hard to find much good news among the waves of grim statistics that have washed over the nation since the emergence of Omicron.

Once again, the NHS is threatened and again, the prospect of a new year lockdown looms. We seem to have gained nothing in the battle against Covid-19 during the past 12 months.

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It’s beginning to look a lot like last Christmas: why the UK has Covid deja vu

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Omicron cases are soaring, experts want curbs and Boris Johnson is dithering. Sound familiar?

That old adage of Marx insists that historical events occur first as tragedy, then as farce. The government’s handling of the pandemic in the UK long ago undermined that progression: tragedy and farce have, since the very beginning of the crisis, always been a double act.

The clashing tone of current events feels like a dispiriting festive repeat of all-too-familiar dramas. A week that began with the exposed scandal of Downing Street lockdown parties, and ended with chief civil servant Simon Case stepping down as investigator of those scandals, because of a party in his own office, was also yet another week in which the alarming progress of the virus outpaced government rhetoric and claimed another thousand lives.

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‘A wave of joy’: babies born from world’s first HIV positive sperm bank

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Sperm Positive launched in New Zealand in 2019 in an effort to reduce the stigma faced by HIV-positive people

Olivia and Amy are sitting outside in the shade, trying to escape from New Zealand’s early-summer humidity. Amy, 10 months old, burbles happily in the background as her mother talks. She is healthy, happy, and oblivious to her status as a world first: one of a handful of babies born from the first sperm bank for HIV-positive donors.

The bank, Sperm Positive, launched in New Zealand in 2019, in an effort to reduce the stigma faced by HIV-positive people – and raise awareness that with treatment, the virus was undetectable and untransmissible. It grabbed international headlines when it was launched, but has been more than a publicity gimmick. Two years on, the bank is bearing fruit.

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T-cells in Pfizer Covid jab recipients stay robust against severe illness

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Research in South Africa raises hopes that similar responses may be present with other vaccines

South African researchers examining how the body’s immune system responds to the Omicron variant have identified that T-cells in people who have had the Pfizer vaccine continue to be robust in potentially protecting against severe illness despite Omicron’s ability to evade other defences.

The research raises hopes that similar responses may be present with other vaccines and within unvaccinated individuals who have been infected with coronavirus.

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Why a UK Omicron wave is dangerous – even if we see mostly mild cases

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Analysis: If the spread continues at this rate, a small proportion of Covid hospitalisations is a serious matter

With the booster programme at full tilt across the UK, immunity against Covid is rising – so it is perhaps not surprising that the concern shown by experts over the steep rise in Omicron infections has left some bemused.

For while the new variant is believed to dodge Covid vaccines to some degree, it is thought the jabs still offer good protection against severe disease – particularly after a booster. And greater levels of immunity mean a lower ratio of hospitalisations to cases – something we have seen before in the UK, where about 22% of cases in those aged 65 and older ended up in hospital in early 2021, when Alpha was dominant but few had received a vaccine, compared with about 6% after the vaccine rollout was well under way.

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Covid live: half of UK adults receive booster vaccine; Ireland sets 8pm curfew for hospitality venues

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Half of UK adults receive booster vaccine; Ireland will also face 50% capacity limit on events

Here is a bizarre story out of the US to add a little light relief to an otherwise sombre news day.

A Florida man wearing a red thong as a face mask was forced off a United Airlines flight after failing to comply with the federal mask mandate.

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What Omicron’s Covid ‘tsunami’ could mean for the UK

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Will the NHS cope? What’s the worst case scenario? The key questions on the fast-spreading variant’s impact

The rapid spread of Omicron across the UK has led public health officials and ministers to warn that, without action, the country will see 1 million infections a day by the end of the month. The consequences of the Omicron “tsunami” are far from clear, but a picture is beginning to take shape.

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No 10 parties raise questions about whether PM will follow Covid science

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Analysis: After a steady stream of reports, how likely is it that Boris Johnson will take advice about imposing tougher restrictions?

• Boris Johnson joined No 10 party during May 2020 lockdown, say sources

Cast your minds back to 15 May 2020. Matt Hancock, the then health secretary before he quit for breaking restrictions by having an affair, was giving a press conference where he said people should be “staying at home as much as is possible”.

Social interaction was strictly limited to outdoors and one person at a time. It was the week when people were told they could meet one parent outside, in a socially distanced way, but not both of them together.

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Omicron R number estimated to be between 3 and 5, says UK health adviser – video

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Dr Susan Hopkins, the chief medical adviser at the UK Health Security Agency, told a select committee on Thursday that for Omicron the R value was between 3 and 5 in the UK and that the variant was spreading rapidly – doubling in size every two days.

Hopkins said data on the severity of Omicron would not be known for another fortnight. At least 250 patients would need to be admitted to hospital before there could be a statistical analysis of the disease, she said

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