Professor Stephen Powis has said the national effort can work if everyone plays their part
Every citizen in the United Kingdom must play a part if the number of deaths from coronavirus are to be kept below 20,000, the national medical director has said.
The call for a national effort to reduce deaths came as the total who have died rose by 260 since Friday to 1,019. In total, 17,089 have tested positive in the UK.
Continue reading...People across Europe are finding increasingly inventive ways to protect themselves against the psychological risks of isolation
In Italy they are singing and sharing recipes. In France, humour is saving the day. In Spain, communal staircases have become the new running tracks, and in Germany, ordinarily disorderly hackers are busy coding corona-busting apps.
As hundreds of millions of Europeans languish in lockdown, people are finding increasingly inventive ways to keep themselves entertained – and to counter what the continent’s psychologists warning are the very real risks of confinement.
Continue reading...New South Wales on the brink of new restrictions with only essential services to remain open as department store Myer stands down 10,000 staff and closes all its stores from Sunday. This blog is now closed
With that, we’ll be leaving the blog for tonight. We’ll be back tomorrow to pick it all up again.
Today:
Voting has just closed in Queensland for 77 local councils, and two byelections for state parliament.
But the results may not be known for some time, given over 570,000 people applied for postal votes due to the coronavirus pandemic. However, overall turnout is expected to be very low, which could speed the physical vote counting process.
Continue reading...Actions taken to suppress coronavirus reveal what measures are possible in an emergency, say experts
Government responses to climate breakdown and to the challenges of poverty and inequality must be changed permanently after the coronavirus has been dealt with, leading scientists have urged, as the actions taken to suppress the spread of the virus have revealed what measures are possible in an emergency.
The Covid-19 crisis has revealed what governments are capable of doing and shone a new light on the motivation for past policies and their outcomes, said Sir Michael Marmot, professor of epidemiology and public health at University College London, and chair of the commission of the social determinants of health at the World Health Organisation.
Continue reading...Stuart Hamlin urges people to stay inside in an emotional video filmed hours after his mother died from the coronavirus. He describes his pain just four days after Tracy was admitted to hospital with Covid-19 symptoms.
'Losing someone is hard enough, but not being able to hold your family close when you do is the most gut-wrenching pain I've ever felt in my life,' he says.
Continue reading...For Corinne Fowler, the clapping event transcended the bitter rows of the last few years, but also caused a pang of sorrow
The mass clapping event (Millions of Britons clap for carers on coronavirus frontline, 26 March) was bittersweet and loaded with irony. It was an unprecedented show of collective gratitude, inspired by a Dutch woman living in the UK, by a nation whose Brexit vote caused a shortage of medical staff as it sent EU citizens away. A clapping nation whose government created a “hostile environment” to banish the Windrush generation, who made vital contributions to the NHS.
I also thought of supermarket workers on low wages now risking life and limb, generally with no gloves or masks. There is little consideration for their safety. If it weren’t for them we would not be eating.
Continue reading...From underground aqueducts to tree-bridges and fish that love sewage, indigenous customs could save the planet – but are under threat. Landscape architect Julia Watson shares her ‘lo-TEK’ vision
On the eastern edge of Kolkata, near the smoking mountain of the city’s garbage dump, the 15 million-strong metropolis dissolves into a watery landscape of channels and lagoons, ribboned by highways. This patchwork of ponds might seem like an unlikely place to find inspiration for the future of sustainable cities, but that’s exactly what Julia Watson sees in the marshy muddle.
The network of pools, she explains, are bheris, shallow, flat-bottomed fish ponds that are fed by 700m litres of raw sewage every day – half the city’s output. The ponds produce 13,000 tonnes of fish each year. But the system, which has been operating for a century, doesn’t just produce a huge amount of fish – it treats the city’s wastewater, fertilises nearby rice fields, and employs 80,000 fishermen within a cooperative.
Watson, a landscape architect, says it saves around $22m (£18m) a year on the cost of a conventional wastewater treatment plant, while cutting down on transport, as the fish are sold in local markets. “It is the perfect symbiotic solution,” she says. “It operates entirely without chemicals, seeing fish, algae and bacteria working together to form a sustainable, ecologically balanced engine for the city.”
Continue reading...A heavily pregnant woman with coronavirus has begged the public to stop going out in an emotional video from her hospital bed. Karen Mannering, 39, said she had pneumonia in both lungs and had been ill for two weeks. 'I'm fighting for me and my baby,' she said. 'I've got three kids at home and a husband I can't see. Just don't go out, it's not worth it.'
Continue reading...As the Red Cross launches an emergency appeal, its president calls for the world to pull together
If the first casualty of war is truth, the second may very well be something the entire world values highly right now: healthcare.
Families fleeing conflict, or currently in its crosshairs, know that medical assistance is a rare and precious privilege in war zones. Amid the terror of bombs and bullets, a functioning medical facility is a life-saving oasis, but it’s a near certainty medical staff will be overworked and short on supplies.
Continue reading...Australian prime minister has announced a mandatory 14-day quarantine for all arrivals into the country from midnight on Saturday. Morrison also said Australian Defence Force personnel would assist state and local authorities in policing those who will are already isolating at home
A 40-year-old pastor suspected of having coronavirus has issued a plea from his hospital bed over social distancing. Struggling to speak, Mark McClurg, from County Down in Northern Ireland, said the virus 'wants to kill you' and 'take all the life out of your lungs'. 'Don't think for one moment that this is just a wee cold and cough you'll get', he warned
Continue reading...Maritime union said the requirement for ships to ‘self-declare’ illness was ‘woefully inadequate’ 50 days before Ruby Princess allowed to offload sick passengers in Sydney
The New South Wales Port Authority ignored warnings in January of the need for tighter biosecurity checks, the Maritime Union of Australia says.
In an email seen by Guardian Australia, MUA secretary Paul Garrett warned the NSW Port Authority chief executive, Philip Holliday, that ship captains could not be relied upon to self-disclose illnesses on board.
Continue reading...Proposals for England would allow use of ‘reasonable force’ if people refuse to go home
Police will be authorised to use force to send people back home if they refuse to obey the coronavirus lockdown, under government plans.
Ministers will issue fuller details by Thursday of how police will enforce the lockdown ordered by the prime minister on Monday, aimed at stopping the spread of the virus by keeping people apart.
Continue reading...A 51-year-old man suspected of having coronavirus has made an emotional plea for the public to take Covid-19 seriously. Gasping for breath and struggling to speak, Andy Hardwick says he has been floored by it. 'I wouldn't wish it on my enemy,' he says. 'My spine hurts, my back hurts. You don't want to talk, you get shortness of breath if you move around.'
Continue reading...Boris Johnson has thanked the 405,000 people who have responded to the government's call for volunteers to help the NHS support vulnerable people during the coronavirus crisis. On Tuesday, health secretary Matt Hancock asked for 250,000 volunteers
The Philippines has taken drastic measures to combat the spread of Covid-19. The entire country is under strict quarantine and the army is on the streets to monitor compliance. According to official figures, there are 462 positive cases and 33 dead in the Philippines, but it is thought that thousands of cases remain undetected due to lack of resources in a country where millions of people have no access to health care. In the poorest and most crowded areas, it’s almost impossible to adhere to the physical distancing required during quarantine
Continue reading...Health minister Greg Hunt has asked for an urgent briefing on hydroxychloroquine but it has been known to cause heart damage and toxicity
The health minister Greg Hunt has asked for an urgent briefing about the clinical trial of a decades-old drug in the prevention of Covid-19, as countries race to find a way to prevent serious cases and slow the spread.
But infectious disease experts have warned the drug, hydroxychloroquine, is far from proven as effective in treating Covid-19 and that it could take several months for results to be conclusive. In previous studies for other conditions, hydroxychloroquine has been shown to cause heart damage and toxicity.
Continue reading...Britons should ditch their reserve and get used to telling people to stay back, say experts
To stop the spread of the coronavirus, the UK prime minister has urged people to steer clear of each other when they leave their homes.
So what is the new outdoor etiquette?
Continue reading...Town, city and regional mayors across Italy are pleading with residents to stay indoors after witnessing people flouting the lockdown by going jogging, playing ping-pong and taking 'exhausted dogs' for long walks.
The Italian government has banned any travel inside the country and closed all non-essential businesses as it desperately tries to stem the spread of coronavirus.
This is what the mayors of Bari, Messina, Lucera, Gualdo Tadino, the governor of Campania, and the mayor of Reggio Calabria had to say
Continue reading... New WHO guidelines are aimed at protecting one of the most vulnerable sectors of society from the spread of Covid-19
Prisons around the world can expect “huge mortality rates” from Covid-19 unless they take immediate action including screening for the disease, the World Health Organization has warned.
All visitors to prisons along with staff and new admissions should be subject to airport-style temperature testing and health assessments at point of entry, the agency has recommended under new guidelines published today.
Continue reading...