Category Archives: Health

Covid news: UK removes quarantine requirement for arrivals from Balearics, Malta and some Caribbean islands

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Latest updates: territories are added to UK’s green list or green watchlist, while more countries added to red list

Rory Boland, travel editor for consumer group Which?, said travellers still needed to be “extremely cautious” about booking trips abroad.
He said: “Countries can be downgraded quickly and with little warning, as we saw with Portugal, while several European countries have introduced quarantine requirements for UK residents. “Restrictions around international travel are changing regularly and when they do, the cost to holidaymakers is significant. “Most providers will not pay refunds if a country is moved from green to amber, and ‘free’ amendments are often anything but, with many companies requiring significant notice of any changes and bookings for new dates usually costing hundreds of pounds. Travel insurance is also unlikely to pay out in these circumstances. “It is only advisable to book if you are able to do 14 days’ quarantine, can be flexible about destination and dates, and book with a provider that guarantees refunds in the event of traffic light changes or quarantine requirements.”

Eluned Morgan MS, minister for health and social services in Wales, said: “International travel is resuming but the pandemic is not over and protecting people’s health remains our main priority.

“Our strong advice continues to be not to travel overseas unless it is essential because of the risk of contracting coronavirus, especially new and emerging variants of concern.

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Africans ‘dangerously exposed’ by lack of Covid jabs, says WHO

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Third wave could be Africa’s worst yet, official says, with health systems in some parts close to overwhelmed

The World Health Organization has made a new appeal for vaccines for Africa, saying a “fast-surging” third wave of Covid-19 is outpacing efforts to protect populations, “leaving more and more dangerously exposed”.

“The third wave is picking up speed, spreading faster, hitting harder. This is incredibly worrying. With rapidly rising case numbers and increasing reports of serious illness, the latest surge threatens to be Africa’s worst yet,” Dr Matshidiso Moeti, the WHO regional director for Africa, said on Thursday.

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Stars and fans rally behind Britney Spears after shocking claims

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Justin Timberlake and Rose McGowan among those calling for end to singer’s conservatorship

There was tentative anticipation surrounding Britney Spears’ address to an LA court during a hearing on Wednesday on the future of the conservatorship that has governed her life for 13 years.

Would she affirm the theories of the #FreeBritney movement, which alleges she is being held against her will? Or would it be a disappointing procedural affair of little substance?

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‘Your body just stops’: long Covid sufferers face new ordeals as sick pay runs out

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Nurses, teachers and shopworkers who have lost their health and their jobs talk about their struggle for support

Working seven days a week as a nurse and a fitness instructor, while bringing up two young daughters, Rebecca Logan led an extremely active life – until she contracted Covid-19 while working in the emergency department of a hospital in Northern Ireland.

Over a year after first falling ill, the 40-year-old is still suffering from long Covid. For Logan, that means she can only walk for five minutes before needing to rest, and there is a constant ringing in her ears. Her husband has had to pick up the slack at home, alongside his job as a school principal.

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Water of death: how arsenic is poisoning rural communities in India

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‘A crisis is brewing’, experts warn, with contaminated water exposing villagers to increased risk of cancer and affecting children’s brain development

Nine members of Pankaj Rai’s family have died from cancer over the past 20 years. But the 25-year-old farmer from Bihar only found out their deaths were likely a result of arsenic poisoning when his father got sick.

In 2017, Pankaj took his father, Ganesh Rai, to the Mahavir Cancer Institute & Research Centre in Patna. Ganesh had stage 4 kidney cancer. But Dr Arun Kumar, a scientist at the institute, identified the severe skin lesions on his body as signs of arsenic poisoning.

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WHO voices concerns over Sputnik V Covid vaccine plant

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WHO reports issues with quality control data and test results as Slovakia announces it is offloading 160k doses

The World Health Organization has said it has concerns about the methods used at one plant producing the Sputnik V vaccine, as Slovakia announced it would sell or donate 160,000 of the 200,000 doses it has ordered of the Russian shot.

The WHO, which along with the European Medicines Agency (EMA) is reviewing Sputnik V for eventual approval, said in a report on Wednesday it had issues with the integrity of quality control data and test results at one of the four production sites it had seen.

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Sadia Hussein: the FGM survivor who is saving girls from the knife

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Being cut, aged 10, led to extraordinary pain and complications in childbirth. Now Hussein’s campaign to end mutilation has led to a staggering change in attitudes

Sadia Hussein had been in labour for three days when she felt she could take no more. She could hear her mother crying in the distance, pleading with God to save her daughter’s life.

But even though things were clearly not progressing as they should have been, the women in her small Kenyan village were resistant to the idea of sending her to hospital. Her mother told her that doctors would “tear her apart” with a pair of scissors; that, at home, they could at least use a razor. “So now, on top of the overwhelming pain of labour, there was this continuous cutting,” Hussein recalls.

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Australia plans to shelve AstraZeneca Covid vaccine by October

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Controversial vaccine to be given only by request later this year when Moderna and Pfizer will dominate

The federal government has announced it will shelve the controversial AstraZeneca vaccine by October, suggesting it will have enough supplies of other vaccines to meet “allocation horizons” for vaccinating the population by the end of the year.

The government released a revised planning document on Wednesday outlining how it intended to direct supplies over the rest of the year.

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Australia politics live update: new Sydney Covid restrictions and WA closes border to NSW after 16 cases; Victoria to ease rules

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NSW urgently investigating four mystery cases overnight as premier Gladys Berejiklian announces Sydney restrictions. Follow all the latest updates, live

Question time ends.

There is one more of those before the winter break.

‘I’m sure there are blokes that dislike me’ - Barnaby Joyce’s response to the concerns of Nationals women.

The serious concerns these women have about Joyce’s return to a leadership position are worthy of a serious response - not one that deliberately minimises them.

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Covid vaccine map: how are countries around the world doing?

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More than 2bn Covid-19 vaccine doses have been administered worldwide. Find out which countries are vaccinating the most

Since the first Pfizer vaccine against Covid-19 was injected into the arm of a British woman in December 2020, hundreds of millions of vaccine doses have been administered worldwide.

Dozens of countries now have advanced vaccination campaigns as they rush to protect their people and get their economies back up and running. Many are in a position where the most vulnerable people are fully vaccinated, raising hopes that the pandemic’s worst effects may be over.

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NSW Covid update: New Zealand suspends travel bubble as alert issued for Wellington flights

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New Zealand suspends travel bubble with NSW over ‘several unknowns’ including unlinked case in a primary school student

New Zealand has paused quarantine-free travel with New South Wales after the state recorded 10 new locally acquired cases of coronavirus.

NSW Health subsequently said a confirmed case had flown from Sydney to Wellington on the night of Friday 18 June and from Wellington to Sydney on Monday morning.

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Drinking coffee may cut risk of chronic liver disease, study suggests

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UK analysis shows people who drank coffee had 49% reduced risk of dying from the condition

From espresso to instant, coffee is part of the daily routine for millions. Now research suggests the brew could be linked to a lower chance of developing or dying from chronic liver disease.

Chronic liver disease is a major health problem around the world. According to the British Liver Trust, liver disease is the third leading cause of premature death in the UK, with deaths having risen 400% since 1970.

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Australia’s vaccine rollout ‘constrained’ by Pfizer supply shortages until August

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States and territories say more GPs will be needed to dispense Pfizer when supplies increase later in the year

Shortages of the Pfizer Covid vaccine are expected to slow Australia’s rollout through June and July, as states and territories call on the commonwealth to sign up more GPs to dispense doses when supplies increase in August.

The national cabinet met on Monday to discuss Australia’s coronavirus vaccine rollout in the wake of updated health advice that AstraZeneca is not the preferred vaccine for those aged 50 to 59 due to the risk of rare blood clots.

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Simon Jenkins is wrong about the NHS infected blood inquiry | Letters

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A public inquiry was the only way to get justice for those affected by this scandal, which went on for two decades and was covered up for 20 years more, writes Diana Johnson MP

I categorically disagree with the comments from Simon Jenkins about the use and purpose of public inquiries, and with his particular reference to the NHS infected blood inquiry (Public inquiries are institutionally corrupt, we should just give the money to victims, 17 June) .

After nearly 40 years of campaigning and the refusal by the state to acknowledge the harm done to thousands of people, the NHS infected blood inquiry was finally announced in 2017 when all opposition parties in the Commons came together, threatening to vote against Theresa May’s minority government.

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‘I am very shy. It’s amazing I became a movie star’: Leslie Caron at 90 on love, art and addiction

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The legendary actor reflects on her riches-to-rags childhood, confronting depression and alcoholism – and dancing with Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire

Leslie Caron and her companion, Jack, greet me at the front of their apartment. They make a well-matched couple – slight, chic, immaculately coiffured. Caron, the legendary dancer and actor, is 90 in two weeks’ time. Jack, her beloved shih tzu, is about nine.

Caron heads off to make the tea, with Sidney Bechet’s summery jazz playing in the background. I am left alone with Jack to explore the living room. It feels as if I am tunnelling through the history of 20th-century culture. Here is a photo of a pensive François Truffaut; below is a smirking Warren Beatty. The centrepiece on the wall is a huge watercolour of Caron’s great friend Christopher Isherwood, painted by his partner, Don Bachardy. To the left is Louis Armstrong, to the right Rudolf Nureyev, with whom she starred in 1977’s Valentino, and further along is Jean Renoir, who she says was like a father to her. And we have barely started.

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Australia politics live: Nationals in disarray amid spill rumours as PM and premiers to meet for emergency Covid national cabinet – live

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Barnaby Joyce denies he will challenge Michael McCormack for leadership of the National party as a spill is widely anticipated. Follow latest updates

So a grinning Michael McCormack, an unhappy Barnaby Joyce and an ambivalent David Littleproud walk into the Nationals party room.

Leadership. That’s it. That’s the joke.

Sarah Martin tells me that on his way in to the Nationals party room, Michael McCormack was asked how he was feeling and answered with :

Positive, as I’m always feeling”

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High stress may make ‘broken heart syndrome’ more likely, study finds

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Condition also known as takotsubo cardiomyopathy is brought on by an acute emotional shock

Two molecules associated with high stress levels have been implicated in the development of broken heart syndrome, a condition that mainly affects post-menopausal women and is usually brought on by severe stress, such as the loss of a loved one.

The syndrome, formally known as takotsubo cardiomyopathy, is characterised by weakening of the heart’s main pumping chamber and was first identified in 1990 in Japan. It looks and sounds like a heart attack and is consequently often confused for one.

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UK reports 9,284 Covid cases on day before lockdown was due to end

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More than 1m jabs booked on Friday and Saturday after all adults in England invited to get vaccine

More than 9,200 Covid cases were reported in the UK on Sunday, the day before it was originally planned that all remaining Covid restrictions in England would be lifted.

It came as figures revealed that more than 1m Covid jabs were booked in two days following the invitation on Friday for all adults in England to come forward for vaccination.

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‘Two Americas’ may emerge as Delta variant spreads and vaccination rates drop

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Biden’s 70% vaccination target by Fourth of July likely to fall short as efforts to entice people to get shots have lost their initial impact

With Covid vaccination penetration in the US likely to fall short of Joe Biden’s 70% by Fourth of July target, pandemic analysts are warning that vaccine incentives are losing traction and that “two Americas” may emerge as the aggressive Delta variant becomes the dominant US strain.

Efforts to boost vaccination rates have come through a variety of incentives, from free hamburgers to free beer, college scholarships and even million-dollar lottery prizes. But of the efforts to entice people to get their shots have lost their initial impact, or failed to land effectively at all.

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Trudeau makes global vaccine pledge but how committed is Canada?

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Promise to donate 100m doses highlights questions about Canada’s seriousness in helping poorer countries vaccinate

Canada has secured enough potential coronavirus vaccines to fully protect every resident nearly seven times over, even as a global shortage has forced poorer nations to wait.

After initial hiccups with its vaccination plan, more than 65% of Canadians have now received at least one dose, edging ahead of early leaders Israel and the UK, and on Friday, Justin Trudeau said 68m doses will have arrived in Canada by the end of July.

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