Further evidence has emerged that the government operated a “VIP” fast-track process for favoured companies leading to accusations that ministers misled the public about billions of pounds of Covid-19 testing contracts.The Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) has previously denied operating any VIP process for companies referred by ministers for possible Covid contracts. In … Read more
England’s new Covid travel rules and refusal to recognise vaccines administered across huge swaths of the world have sparked outrage and bewilderment across Latin America, Africa and south Asia, with critics denouncing what they called an illogical and discriminatory policy.The transport secretary, Grant Shapps, described England’s new rules, unveiled last Friday, as “a new simplified … Read more
Last week more than 100,000 children were absent from school in England with confirmed or suspected Covid infections, the highest number during the pandemic, according to the Department for Education.Five parents and teachers in England share their experiences since the start of the new school year, including how they, their families and their pupils have … Read more
In the least vaccinated states, roughly eight people out of every 100,000 residents died of Covid-19 over the past week, compared with only about two out of every 100,000 people in the 10 most vaccinated states.CNN used data from Johns Hopkins University and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for the analysis. Less … Read more
Future pandemic modelling conducted in Australia will take into account the Delta variant of Covid being more severe and deadly, epidemiologists say.In a briefing on the Doherty Institute modelling that informs the national reopening plan, researchers said on Monday that evidence pointing to Delta’s increased severity has emerged since the initial modelling was conducted. Prof … Read more
Victoria reported 603 new local cases of Covid-19 on Tuesday, as the Australian state’s capital saw aggressive anti-lockdown protests.State authorities imposed a two-week shutdown on construction in Melbourne and other cities from Monday evening after peaceful protests against the industry’s vaccine mandate turned violent.The Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union, whose headquarters was damaged … Read more
“We are at the point where not every patient in need will get the care we might wish we could give,” said Dr. Shelly Harkins, chief medical officer of St. Peter’s Health in Helena, Montana.It’s one of the latest hospitals to resort to crisis standards of care, meaning emergency medicine personnel must ration care.In those … Read more
More than 100m Covid vaccine doses are due to expire and be “thrown away” unless global leaders urgently share surplus supplies with the world’s poorest countries, Gordon Brown has warned.The “staggering” number of stockpiled “use now” jabs will be of no use to anyone by December, according to a new report from the research group … Read more
Double-vaxxed Olympic swimming champion Madison Wilson says she feels “extremely unlucky” to have been hospitalised with Covid-19.Wilson is currently in Naples, Italy where she is competing with the Los Angeles Current in the International Swim League. The positive diagnosis forced her out of the ISL and into a hospital bed.Kayo is your ticket to the … Read more
A proud sports mom, Shantay Brown longs to pack into a crowded stadium for her son’s Ohio State football games and scream her face off over the action on the field.But as with so many other simple pleasures in the age of Covid-19, nothing is that simple for Brown. The 47-year-old Missouri resident takes immunosuppressant … Read more
Dozens of the world’s biggest brands, including Nike, Amazon, Ted Baker and Asos, have been advertising on websites that spread Covid-19 misinformation and conspiracy theories, it has emerged. The companies, as well as an NHS service, are among a string of household names whose ads appear to have helped fund websites that host false and … Read more
There were 20 new cases of COVID-19 in the community on September 18th. Video / NZ Herald The Government will face one of its toughest decisions yet when it meets on Monday to decide whether Auckland should drop to level 3 restrictions, Covid commentators say.Health teams might not have all the answers about where and … Read more
Rules for English travellers heading overseas have been significantly simplified, with the “amber” list of countries scrapped and the traffic light designation replaced with destinations listed as either “red” or OK for travel.The long-heralded shake-up of the travel regulations, announced by the Department for Transport on Friday, also included a reduction in the number of … Read more
One of the scientists behind the UK’s testing network for quickly identifying Covid variants of concern has urged the government to continue surveillance of coronavirus cases brought in to the UK from abroad.Alan McNally, a professor in microbial evolutionary genomics who worked on setting up the lighthouse laboratories, made the comments amid reports ministers are … Read more
Children and adolescents who are infected with Covid-19 rarely have symptoms that last for longer than 12 weeks, according to a review of international research.The review, published in the Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal, suggests that long Covid in children and adolescents is less common than previously feared.The review analysed 14 international studies involving 19,426 children … Read more
It’s a sobering toll that comes as hospitals in the US are struggling to keep up with the volume of patients and more children are grappling with the virus. In hopes of managing the spread and preventing more unnecessary deaths, officials are implementing mandates for vaccinations in workplaces and masking in schools.But with only 54% … Read more
After a run of increased vaccinations across the state, likely caused by concerns over a delta variant-driven surge in COVID cases, vaccination rates are rapidly declining, decreasing by more than half in the last 10 days. On Sept. 1, the state was averaging more than 40,000 new COVID vaccinations a day over a seven-day period. … Read more
Job interviews can be tricky at the best of times. Throw in a sudden need for them to be conducted online and there is an extra layer of difficulty for both candidates and interviewers. For Elizabeth Conley of The Interview Skills Clinic, the pandemic has meant a change in both what she is training candidates … Read more
After months of uncertainty, the UK’s four chief medical officers have said that Covid-19 vaccinations can be offered to all 12-to-15-year-olds. How was the decision made, how will the vaccines be rolled out, and what difference will they make?What were the UK’s chief medical officers asked?Ministers asked the CMOs for advice on whether to offer … Read more
People who were fully vaccinated accounted for just 1.2% of all deaths involving Covid-19 in England in the first seven months of this year.The figures, published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), have been seized on as proof of the success of the vaccine programme.They record that a total of 51,281 deaths involving Covid-19 … Read more
Children aged 12 to 15 will be given Covid vaccinations, the UK’s four chief medical officers have decided, setting aside the view of the government’s vaccine watchdog that the clinical benefits of such jabs were too minimal to justify them.In a decision that will relieve ministers, who hope a mass programme of vaccinating older children … Read more
Auckland’s level 4 lockdown has been extended but Cabinet has made an in-principle decision to shift the region down to level 3 at 11.59pm on September 21. Video / NZ HeraldThe Ministry of Health has released a number of new locations of interest, including several trips on the Western train line, with the most recent … Read more
The UK government is to pull out of a deal with the French pharmaceutical company Valneva to purchase its Covid-19 vaccination, the company has said.The move will come as a blow to the vaccine manufacturing site in Livingston, West Scotland, which was visited by the prime minister, Boris Johnson, in January.About 100m doses of the … Read more
Plans to make vaccine passports mandatory across England in nightclubs and other crowded spaces later this month have been dropped, the health secretary has announced.In a major climbdown by the government, Sajid Javid said he “never liked the idea” but that it was “right to properly look at it, to look at the evidence”.Ahead of … Read more
Scientists would make swifter progress in solving the world’s problems if they learned to put their egos aside and collaborate better, according to the leading researcher behind the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid vaccine.Prof Katalin Karikó, the senior vice-president for RNA protein replacement therapies at BioNTech in Germany, endured decades of scepticism over her work and was demoted … Read more
The German company BioNTech, which developed the Pfizer vaccine, expects to seek approval from regulators for Covid jabs suited for younger children as early as mid-October, its founders have said.“Already over the next few weeks we will file the results of our trial in five- to 11-year-olds with regulators across the world and will request … Read more
More than 101,000 people are currently hospitalized with Covid-19, according to data Thursday from the US Department of Health and Human Services. Now, some patients wanting urgent care won’t get it because so many beds are occupied by Covid-19 patients.”Before Covid, our ICUs were pretty busy. It’s because people were having car accidents and heart … Read more