Category Archives: Health

Australia’s Department of Home Affairs made most requests for Covid misinformation takedowns

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Home affairs has made more than 500 requests for information to be removed from social media

The Department of Home Affairs has made more requests for misinformation about the Covid-19 pandemic to be removed from Facebook than any other government department in Australia since March last year, Guardian Australia has learned.

Despite not having direct responsibility over social media companies like Facebook and Twitter, or being responsible for the government’s response to the pandemic, Peter Dutton’s mega agency has sent more than 500 takedown requests for misinformation and scams related to -19, a department spokesperson told Guardian Australia.

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Malawi sacks heads of Covid-19 taskforce amid audit of use of funds

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President Lazarus Chakwera fires several officials and warns ‘no penny meant for saving lives will be stolen, abused or wasted’

Malawi’s president Lazarus Chakwera has fired the heads of his government’s Covid-19 taskforce, in what is being seen as his first decisive move during the pandemic.

The president fired the head of the disaster management department and the taskforce’s co-chair, and suspended further officials, some “for failing to maintain proper records of how such critical funds were used and others for defying my directive to submit reports weekly to my office”. He said the pandemic called for “strong leadership”.

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How heat is radically altering Americans’ lives before they’re even born – video

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Even before a child is born in the US, their race plays a huge part in how they'll experience heat and pollution. 

It starts with America's history of racist housing policies that segregated families of color into undesirable neighborhoods – and we can actually see the effects of those policies today: lots of pavement, little green space, and ultimately more heat. Meanwhile, in areas where white families live, the neighborhoods tend to have a lot more trees and shade, which leads to less heat. And as the climate warms, it's black families who are most likely to be stuck in extremely hot areas.

Recent research is showing us that this isn't just about being uncomfortable. Heat has an effect on everything – from pregnancies to our long-term health to our ability to learn.

As part of our environmental justice series, the Guardian's Alvin Chang and Oliver Milman explain how the climate crisis and race have become inextricably linked in the US

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New Covid variant with potentially worrying mutations found in UK

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Researchers say 32 cases of B1525 in Britain, with other cases in countries including Denmark, US and Australia

Another coronavirus variant with a potentially worrying set of mutations has been detected in the UK and should be targeted in surge testing, experts have said.

The variant, known as B1525, is the subject of a report by researchers at the University of Edinburgh, who say it has been detected through genome sequencing in 10 countries including Denmark, the US and Australia, with 32 cases found in the UK so far. The earliest sequences were dated to December and cropped up in the UK and Nigeria.

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How the Covid pandemic could end – and what will make it happen faster | Devi Sridhar

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Pandemics are global by definition. Only travel restrictions and equal vaccine access for all countries will end this crisis

Most people have already adjusted their expectations to a spring of disruption – but most are quietly hoping that by the summer, and into the autumn, life in the UK will have returned more or less to normal. Are they right to be confident? What can we do to avoid slipping back into a cycle of lockdowns? In short: how does this pandemic end, and how can we end it faster?

Globally, the UK is in the strong position of having at least five effective and safe vaccines, but there are major challenges ahead. We already know about variants, such as those arising in Kent, Brazil and South Africa, which are proving challenging in terms of being more transmissible, and having potentially more severe health outcomes in the case of the UK variant.

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Pakistan to allow private firms to import coronavirus vaccines

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Vaccines also exempt from price caps in divisive move that health experts fear will deepen inequality

Pakistan will allow private companies to import coronavirus vaccines and has exempted the vaccines from price caps in a divisive move that health experts fear will create vast inequalities in access.

The country has been scrambling to secure vaccine supplies but so far only the Chinese-made Sinopharm treatment is being deployed. This month 500,000 doses were donated to Pakistan.

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How a Spanish town pioneered dolls with Down’s syndrome

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The town of Onil has changed the lives of children everywhere

The first time Kelle Hampton glimpsed a doll with Down’s syndrome, anger boiled up inside her. Its exaggerated features bore little resemblance to the sweet facial characteristics that she loved about her daughter Nella, who was born with the genetic disorder.

The experience set the US blogger and author firmly against such dolls. But to her surprise, years later she found herself smitten with another doll. This time it had been carefully crafted to subtly capture the characteristics that made Nella unique. “This one was simply a beautiful doll any child would want to play with,” she said.

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Australia politics live: Daniel Andrews gives press conference update on Victoria cases; jobseeker in spotlight as parliament returns

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Pressure mounts for Coalition to announce a permanent increase to unemployment payment; Australia closes quarantine-free border to New Zealand after coronavirus cases confirmed as UK variant. Follow all the latest news and updates, live

• Victoria Covid hotspots

NSW has recorded no new locally acquired cases - or any cases in hotel quarantine.

So another zero day for NSW

Daniel Andrews:

Again, the types of cases, this UK strain, the fact that despite the amazing efforts of all of our contact traces and testers and lab workers and the work of so many genuine hard-working Victorians, we had a situation where at the same time as we are becoming aware of the primary case, they have already infected their close contacts, that is not something we’ve seen before.

The speed at which this has moved saw our public health team make the very difficult decisions based on the best of science and the best understanding you can possibly have on any outbreak, that this was a difficult but proportionate and necessary thing to do.

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Ministers flatly reject Tory demands to end Covid controls by May

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Backbenchers’ calls dismissed but clamour for a more fixed schedule seems set to increase

Downing Street is pushing back against pressure from Conservative MPs to set a swift timetable to end the lockdown in England after meeting its first major vaccination target, saying any hastiness in reopening could risk undoing the progress made in combating the coronavirus pandemic.

In a sign of the likely battle ahead in the coming weeks, ministers and officials flatly ruled out a demand from Tory backbenchers for all Covid restrictions to be over by the start of May, saying any plan needed to be both more cautious and decided step by step.

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What are the pros and cons of Covid vaccine passports?

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The UK government is reconsidering the idea of certificates of vaccination to help reopen travel and business

Desperate to return to pre-pandemic normality, many countries where vaccination campaigns for Covid-19 are in full swing are considering endorsing “vaccine passports” to reignite international travel and reopen economies.

A week ago, the UK government ruled out plans for such passports – with vaccine minister Nadhim Zahawi calling them “discriminatory” – but on Sunday, the foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, said the documents were “under consideration”. Labour politicians have advocated their introduction, with the former prime minister Tony Blair making the case for domestic vaccine passports in this week’s Mail on Sunday. So what are the pros and cons of such “immunity certificates”?

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CT scan catches 70% of lung cancers at early stage, NHS study finds

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Exclusive: early detection hailed as ‘major breakthrough’ for treatment of Britain’s deadliest form of cancer

Thousands of lives could be saved if people at risk of developing Britain’s deadliest cancer were screened to diagnose it before it becomes incurable, a major NHS study has found.

Giving smokers and ex-smokers a CT scan uncovers cancerous lung tumours when they are at an early enough stage so they can still be removed, rather than continuing to grow unnoticed, it shows.

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Our understanding of Covid and the vaccines is constantly evolving. That’s a good thing | Abby Bloom

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There will continue to be plenty more data gaps because the Covid-19 strain simply behaves like all influenzas and mutates continuously

By the time you read this it will be out of date.

Why? Because every day we receive new data that causes us to rethink and rewrite our response to Covid-19, notably vaccine programs. This is good. I will explain.

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WHO investigator claims China refused to hand over key Covid information

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Australian infection expert, part of a team visiting Wuhan, says they were provided only with a summary of data

There is growing controversy over a World Health Organization investigation into the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic after one of its members said China had refused to hand over key data, and the US national security adviser said he had “deep concerns” about the initial findings.

An international delegation travelled to the Chinese city of Wuhan last month, as part of efforts to understand how the outbreak began. Dominic Dwyer, an Australian infectious disease expert who was part of the team, said they had requested raw patient data but were only given a summary.

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Victoria Covid hotspots: list of Melbourne and regional Vic coronavirus case locations

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Here are the current coronavirus hotspots in Victoria and what to do if you’ve visited them

Victorian authorities have released a list of public exposure sites visited by a confirmed case of Covid-19.

This comes after a hotel quarantine at one of the hotels used to isolate international tennis players and officials in Melbourne for the Australia Open tested positive to the virus.

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Coronavirus live news: New Zealand puts Auckland in level 3 lockdown; Australia to receive first Pfizer vaccine delivery this week

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Victoria’s Holiday Inn outbreak rises to 16 cases on second day of state lockdown; Boris Johnson urges G7 leader to unite against virus. Follow the latest updates live

The press conference in Wellington, held in response to the discovery of three community cases in Auckland, has now finished. As of 11.59PM tonight Auckland will be placed under tougher restrictions, at level three, while the rest of the country will be moved to level two restrictions. (Details of the alert levels can be found online here).

Ardern said she was asking the public “to be strong and to be kind”:

I know we all feel the same way when this happens, we all get that sense of - not again. But remember we have been here before and that means we know how to get out of this again, and that is together. If you know someone in Auckland reach out, please check on them. If you are in Auckland please check on your neighburs and ensure they are looked after and supported.

Related: New Zealand Covid outbreak: Ardern puts Auckland into three-day lockdown

Dr Ashley Bloomfield, New Zealand’s director-general of health, said officials were working under the assumption that the new Auckland cases were one of the new variants of Covid-19. “Regardless of where people have come from, these are the common variants and we do know they are more transmissible,” he said.

Ardern said that the decision to introduce tougher restrictions was “not taken lightly”. However, the cost to the economy would be far greater, she said, if the country was slow to react.

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France hospitals in ‘crisis organisation’ – as it happened

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This blog is now closed. We’ve launched a new blog at the link below:

We’ve launched a new blog at the link below – head there for the latest:

Related: Coronavirus live news: UK variant hits New Zealand; CDC says 'absolutely' too soon to lift US mask mandate

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UK-US Brexit trade deal ‘could fill supermarkets with cancer-risk bacon’

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Fears of illness over nitrites used in US but currently banned in Britain and EU

British stores could be flooded with “dangerous” bacon and ham from the US, marketed under misleading labels, as the result of a transatlantic trade deal, says the author of a new book based on a decade of investigation into the food industry.

The meat has been cured with nitrites extracted from vegetables, a practice not permitted by the European Commission because of evidence that it increases the risk of bowel cancer. But it is allowed in the US, where the product is often labelled as “all natural”. The powerful US meat industry is likely to insist that the export of nitrite-cured meat is a condition of a post-Brexit UK-US trade deal, which the UK government is under intense pressure to deliver.

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Nelson urged mistress to give their baby girl ‘new’ smallpox vaccine

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Naval hero praises Jenner’s cowpox jab in a newly found love letter to Emma Hamilton, written as he prepared for war

He is best remembered as the one-armed hero who defeated Napoleon, rewrote the rules of naval warfare and died at sea, in battle, onboard HMS Victory.

Now, the “chance discovery” of a 220-year-old love letter from Admiral Horatio Nelson to Lady Emma Hamilton, his mistress, reveals how open-minded and ahead of his time the formidable captain was about a radical new scientific breakthrough: the smallpox vaccine. In the letter, dated July 1801, Nelson appears to advocate the use of the brand new vaccine on his own baby daughter.

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Ebola kills four in Guinea in first resurgence of disease in five years

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Health minister says officials ‘really concerned’ about deaths in south-east region Nzerekore

Four people have died of Ebola in Guinea in the first resurgence of the disease in five years, the health minister said on Saturday.

Remy Lamah told AFP officials were “really concerned” about the deaths, the first since a 2013-16 epidemic – which began in Guinea – left 11,300 dead across the region.

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Guinea enters ‘epidemic situation’ as seven Ebola cases confirmed

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Health minister says officials ‘really concerned’ after three deaths from the infectious disease

Guinea has entered an Ebola “epidemic situation” with seven cases confirmed, including three deaths, a leading health official in the west African nation has said.

“Very early this morning, the Conakry laboratory confirmed the presence of the Ebola virus,” Sakoba Keita said after an emergency meeting in the capital.

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