Browsing: Covid-19

The i says the end of the global Covid-19 pandemic is now “in sight”, the head of the World Health Organisation has said.

The Guardian says Chengdu, the capital of the south-western Chinese province of Sichuan, has extended the coronavirus lockdown of most of its districts indefinitely as it hopes to stem further transmissions in the city of 21.2 million.

The Guardian says Funding to promote the uptake of NHS England’s autumn Covid and flu jabs has been slashed by 63%, it can be revealed, even as the World Health Organization warned of a wave of winter deaths.

Tory leadership hopeful, Rishi Sunak has criticised the government’s response to Covid – suggesting independent scientific advisers were given too much authority.

Euronews says Thousands of people turned out in Vienna on Monday night to pay tribute to an Austrian doctor, who authorities say committed suicide after months of death threats from opponents of coronavirus restrictions and vaccines.

The average life expectancy in Germany dropped between 2019 and 2021 according to the national statistics office, a change that it attributes to the unusually high number of deaths during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Aljazeera says AUSTRALIANS have been urged to work from home and wear masks indoors as the number of people in hospital with COVID-19 nears record levels.

Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner have been cleared by police over Beergate. Durham Police conclude the Labour leader and deputy leader did not break lockdown rules in April 2021.

Aljazeera says MACAU has locked down one of the city’s most famous hotels, the Grand Lisboa, after more than a dozen COVID-19 cases were found there on Tuesday.

The Independent says COVID-19 infections in the UK have jumped by more than half a million, with the rise likely to be driven by the latest Omicron variants BA.4 and BA.5, figures show.

The Independent says HOSPITAL BEDS in England taken up by Covid-19 patients have surged by 37 per cent, as experts warned UK has entered its fifth wave.

The Guardian says THE PANDEMIC has had a lasting legacy on the mental health of the “Covid generation” of students, exacerbating rates of anxiety, depression and self-harm and resulting in a “significant rise” in young people struggling at university, experts have said.

The Daily Mirror says a new Covid outbreak blighting China is believed to be the dreaded Omicron variant which ruined the Christmas and New Years celebrations of millions of Brits last year.

Aljazeera says North Korea recorded 18,820 more cases of fever and no new deaths amid its first official COVID-19 outbreak, state media said on Monday, as authorities continue to insist infections in the impoverished country are being brought under control.

The Guardian says After two years of eating in near-monastic silence, children in Japan have been given permission to chat to their classmates over lunch, as Covid cases in the country continue to fall.

The Metro says Dr Anthony Fauci, President Joe Biden’s coronavirus tsar, has contracted the virus. Fauci ‘is currently experiencing mild symptoms’, according to the institute, and will isolate and work from home.

Euronews says the European Union’s Anti-Fraud office recommended this year that more than €500 million of EU funds be recovered.

Arab News says Shanghai will lock down a district of 2.7 million people on Saturday to conduct mass coronavirus testing, city authorities said, as the Chinese metropolis struggles to fully emerge from punishing curbs.

The Guardian says NHS services for the 2 million Britons struggling with long Covid are “woefully inadequate” given how many people are being diagnosed with the condition, nurses’ leaders have warned.

The Independent says the government is being urged to increase investment in long Covid research after being warned that patients are suffering under a “postcode lottery” in care.

France24 says Shanghai eased a range of Covid-19 restrictions on Wednesday in a step towards returning to normal after a two-month lockdown that confined residents of the megacity to their homes and battered China’s economy.

Arab News says Saudi Arabia reported 530 new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday, according to the Ministry of Health. As a result, the total number of cases in the Kingdom over the course of the pandemic grew to 766,726.

Aljazeera says Hungary’s government will assume emergency powers in order to be able to respond more quickly to challenges created by the war in neighbouring Ukraine.

The Guardian says Airbnb is closing down its business inside China indefinitely, as the country’s zero-Covid policy, lockdowns and travel restrictions continue.

The Guardian says State media photos show Kim carrying Hyon Chol-hae’s coffin and throwing earth into his grave as country battles ‘fever’ cases amid Covid outbreak.