Search found 4 matches for COVID

Chinese city locked down and reportedly sealed off after Omicron breakout

The Chinese city of Baise in #Guangxi (population 3.57 million) has been locked down because of a #Covid outbreak, reports the BBC’s China correspondent Stephen McDonell. He says that it has reportedly been sealed off with people not allowed to enter or leave.


Back to the office tomorrow for workers in India
The Times of India is reporting that the central government offices is calling all workers back to the office from tomorrow, following a decline in coronavirus cases.
Minister of state for personnel and PMO Jitendra Singh said:

A review of the pandemic situation was done on Sunday and it has been decided that full office attendance, without any exemption, shall resume with effect from February 7, 2022.

Another 54,095 Covid cases have been confirmed in the UK, the lowest figure since December, but the statistic does not include cases in Scotland.
The last time daily infection numbers were this low was on 14 December, however Scotland does not report its daily positive test numbers until Monday.
It comes as a further 75 deaths were registered on Sunday. The death toll stands at 158,318 with more than 17.8 million people now having tested positive for the virus.

Italy has reported a fall in Covid cases on Sunday, with 77,029 new infections compared to 93,157 on Saturday.
It took the number of people to have tested positive during the pandemic in the country to more than 11.6 million.
Data from the health ministry, reported by Reuters, showed a decline in daily deaths, from 375 on Saturday to 229 on Sunday.

Vaccine passports are short-term tool - Culture Secretary

Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden has insisted vaccine passports will not be introduced on a "permanent basis".
"Of course we would never look to do this on a permanent basis, it's just whether it might be a tool in the short-term," he told the Andrew Marr Show on the BBC.
He stressed no decisions had yet been made on Covid certification, but "it's important to examine it".
Mark Woolhouse, professor of infectious disease epidemiology at the University of Edinburgh, said vaccine passports were something that needed to be considered.
"It's certainly something we have to consider seriously, as part of a wider package of measures that are designed to make our activities safe," he told Andrew Marr.
"Over the last year, when we have tried to make ourselves safe, we have tended to do this by stopping activities," he said, referring to the lockdown measures
"Part of the point of living with this virus, is we have to switch emphasis," said Prof Woolhouse.

 

UK to test lorry drivers travelling to England

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has tweeted that lorry drivers travelling to England from outside the UK, who stay for two days or more, will be required to take a Covid test within 48 hours of arriving.
If they remain in the UK for a longer period, a second test is required within five days of arrival - with a third test required a further 72 hours later if they are still in the UK.
The new rules will take effect from 6 April.
All drivers arriving in England from continental Europe will be required to complete passenger locator forms to facilitate contact while in the UK.
Tests will be available free at more than 40 Government Haulier Advice sites, and there will be fines of £2000 for failure to comply.
In addition to the rules on testing, lorry drivers entering the UK will have to follow government rules on social distancing.
A second tweet by Mr Shapps said new rules were being "updated" after he said French authorities have dropped their requirement for cross-channel haulier testing.
France - and many parts of Europe - are currently experiencing a surge in coronavirus cases, prompting fears of a third wave in the UK.

  Rt Hon Grant Shapps MP:

HAULIER NEWS: From April 6, lorries visiting England from outside UK (and the Common Travel Area) for more than 2 days will need to take a #Covid test within 48hrs + one every 72hrs after. This is to ensure we keep track of any future #Coronavirus Variants of Concern.

Hauliers have already been being tested - this is just to update now the French requirement has been dropped.

Lawrence  @mentalmapping
replying to @grantshapps :

You’ve had a year to implement this!

Updates from The Guardian today:

The Czech government is likely to ask parliament to extend state of emergency powers that are currently due to run out on 3 November, the health minister Roman Prymula said.
The government on Wednesday announced the closing of most retail shops along with further restrictions to cut social contact as it battles a surge in Covid-19 cases, which have grown at one of the fastest rates in the world over the last week.

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Cristiano Ronaldo is set to miss Juventus’ Champions League clash against Barcelona next week after testing positive for coronavirus for a second time, according to reports.
The 35-year-old initially tested positive for Covid-19 on 13 October and was forced to withdraw from Portugal’s squad during the international break.
He subsequently returned to Italy for his quarantine period and had to miss Juventus’ last two matches against Crotone in Serie A and Dynamo Kyiv in the Champions League.

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Germany has issued travel warnings for popular ski regions in Austria, Italy and Switzerland, scrambling to contain the spread of the coronavirus as new infection numbers rose above 10,000 a day for the first time.
While infection rates in Germany are lower than in much of Europe, they have been accelerating, and the daily number of confirmed cases rose by 11,287 to 392,049. The death toll stands at 9,905.
“The situation has become very serious overall,” Lothar Wieler, head of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases, said. “We still have a chance to slow the spread of the pandemic.” But he said people must stick to the rules and that Germany must prepare for an uncontrolled spread of the virus.
On Wednesday, the German health minister, Jens Spahn, became the latest prominent politician to test positive for the virus. His spokesman said he had symptoms of a cold but no fever. Government sources said he was fit for work.
Berlin issued new travel warnings for Switzerland, Ireland, Poland, most of Austria and some Italian regions including the popular skiing region of South Tyrol. The UK (not including the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man and the overseas territories) is also seen as a high-risk area.
Under the warnings, which take effect from Saturday, travellers returning to Germany must quarantine for 10 days. Quarantine can be lifted early if a test taken after five days comes back negative.
The move could significantly impact the Alpine countries’ ski season, especially Austria, which reported a record 2,435 new daily infections on Thursday and is a popular destination for Germans.
However, there was positive news for Spain’s Canary Islands as the RKI removed it from its risk list, lifting hopes there for German tourists over Christmas and new year.

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Cyprus makes masks obligatory outdoors and imposes curfews

The wearing of face masks will become mandatory in all areas in Cyprus and a curfew will be imposed in two districts that have had a steep rise in Covid-19 cases, the Cyprus Mail reports.
The health minister Constantinos Ioannou said the use of masks will now be obligatory in all outdoor areas, except while exercising. They are already so in all indoor areas where two or more people are present.
He also announced an 11pm curfew in the Limassol and Paphos districts. Between 11pm and 5am, movement will be banned except for people going to work, visiting pharmacies or in the event of medical emergencies. People will be required to present proof of their reason for being outside.
Under the measures, hospitality venues must close by 10.30pm but can continue to deliver. All sports and social activities of children under 18 are suspended.
The measures will be in effect from Friday until 9 November.

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Ireland to impose 5km travel limit in strict new Covid lockdown
The majority of residents at a nursing home in Galway, Ireland, have tested positive for Covid-19, Galway Daily reports.
Of the home’s 28 residents, 26 have tested positive and a number of staff have also contracted the virus.
A local doctor tweeted this morning:

  Dr Martin Daly:
Just received a phone call from Nursing Home . 26 out 28 residents #COVID + . Only one Nurse and Carer available in last 72 hrs as all other staff positive . 1 person has died and another very ill. Nursing Home Say no help available from @HSELive .

It comes as Ireland closed much of its economy and society in a second Covid-19 lockdown on Wednesday, which saw non-essential shops close and people asked to stay at home, with a 5km (3 mile) travel limit for exercise, to curb surging infection rates.
Read more

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Medics in a Siberian city have confirmed that the corpses of dozens of coronavirus victims are lying in the basement of a local hospital because there are not enough doctors to perform autopsies on them.
Local officials have confirmed what was first shown in a ghastly video leaked onto social media from the city of Barnaul in Russia’s Altai region: more than 25 bodies wrapped in black plastic lying on gurneys in a windowless hospital corridor.
“We have bodies here, they all had Covid,” said the anonymous author of the video, who said he was filming on 17 October. Some of the bodies are lying on the floor. At one point during the video an arm is visible.
The video emerged as coronavirus deaths in Russia have risen to record highs with an unprecedented 317 deaths reported on Wednesday, and a further 290 deaths reported on Thursday. New diagnoses have risen to nearly 16,000 cases, the highest daily increase in the country since the outbreak began.
Barnaul has officially tallied less than 300 deaths from coronavirus since the outbreak began, a number that critics say is artificially low.
In a statement, health ministry officials said that 98 people had died at this hospital in Barnaul this month, which has been converted into a treatment point for coronavirus patients.
The bodies in the basement of Barnaul’s hospital number 12 may not appear in official Russian tallies because they had not yet been autopsied.
In a statement, officials cited a “significant increase in the number of deaths per day” and “the need for pathological and anatomical research in all cases”.

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Ethiopia can jail people for up to two years if they deliberately violate restrictions aimed at curbing the spread of Covid-19, the attorney general’s office said, amid concern that citizens were becoming lax after a state of emergency was lifted.
The restrictions prohibit shaking hands, not wearing a mask in a public place, seating more than three people at a table or not keeping around six feet apart.
“Now it is as if Covid is no longer there, the public is not taking care,” the health minister Lia Tadesse tweeted on Thursday. “This will cause a possible increase in the spread of the disease and might be a threat to the nation.”
Africa’s second-most populous nation and regional powerhouse declared a state of emergency in April to curb the spread of the pandemic. It was lifted in September. The health ministry has recorded 91,118 Covid-19 cases, 1,384 deaths and 44,506 recoveries so far.
The disease peaked in Ethiopia toward the end of August, but testing has been also scaled back due to limited resources. At least 79 people died of Covid-19 in the past week, the health ministry said, but less than 2% of deaths are formally recorded.
The new law permits fines and imprisonment for up to two years for anyone who breaks the restrictions, the attorney general’s office said in a statement on its Facebook page on Wednesday.
Ethiopia also postponed its regional and parliamentary elections scheduled for August due to the outbreak. They are expected to be held next year.
Africa has mostly not seen the huge wave of infections and deaths that have swept across Europe and the Americas. Experts say a much younger population, immediate measures to contain the virus and having a more rural population have all helped keep cases down.
But many African leaders are urging vigilance, concerned that any surge in cases could overwhelm rickety public health systems.

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Sweden’s government said on Thursday it would tighten rules for nightclubs to force them to limit the number of partygoers to 50 amid a rise in cases in recent weeks.
“The parties at the nightclubs are over now,” the prime minister, Stefan Löfven, told reporters at a news conference.
At the same time, the government said it would ease rules for sporting and other events where the public could be seated at a safe distance from each other, allowing up to 300 spectators from the current maximum of 50.
The change in rules for public events will come into force from 1 November.

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Denmark has recorded a further 760 coronavirus cases, its highest ever 24-hour figure, according to the latest health authority figures.
Wednesday saw 630 new cases of the virus, the country’s second-highest ever daily total. The previous record of 678 was set on 25 September.
The health minister Magnus Heunicke has already warned that the country will see new restrictions if Covid-19 infections do not slow this week. Earlier on Thursday, he said:

The next two to three days will be decisive. I will not rule out any tightened restrictions or rules at all. We are following closely and authorities have increased alert levels.

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Portugal imposes partial lockdown on three northern municipalities

The Portuguese government announced on Thursday that three municipalities in the northern region will be put under a partial lockdown to contain a surge in coronavirus cases there.
From Friday, around 161,000 residents in the municipalities of Felgueiras, Lousada and Pacos de Ferreira will only be able to leave home for work, school or other essential activities such as buying food and medicine.
“These measures are due to the evolution of the pandemic in these three municipalities,” Cabinet Minister Mariana Viera da Silva told a news conference.
Portugal, with just over 10 million people, has recorded a comparatively low 106,271 cases and 2,229 deaths. But, like in most European countries, infection have risen in recent weeks.
A so-called state of calamity is in place across the country, meaning gatherings are limited to five people, weddings and baptisms can be attended by a maximum of 50 and university parties are banned.

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In India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party promised free doses of any future Covid-19 vaccine for the residents of eastern Bihar state if it wins local elections there, drawing accusations of playing politics with the pandemic.
Reuters reports that the federal finance minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, said that Modi’s BJP would ensure that “everyone in Bihar will get a vaccine for free, that’s our first manifesto promise.”

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After Poland’s deputy health minister warned earlier that the country could pass 10,000 new infections for the second day running, more than 12,100 cases and 170 new deaths have been announced.
The Polish prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, suggested that starting on Saturday, he would like all Poland to be placed under the highest level of restrictions short of a full lockdown.
That would include mandatory use of masks in all open public spaces, limits on the number of people allowed in shops and public transport, and closing gyms and swimming pools.

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Italy registers 16,079 new infections, highest daily case load since outbreak began

Italy has registered 16,079 new coronavirus infections over the past 24 hours, the health ministry said on Thursday, the highest daily tally since the start of the country’s outbreak and up from the previous record of 15,199 posted on Wednesday.
The ministry also reported a further 136 deaths on Thursday, up from 127 the day before, but still far fewer than at the height of the pandemic in Italy in March and April, when a daily peak of more than 900 fatalities was reached.
So far, a total 36,968 deaths have been confirmed in Italy, while 465,726 cases of the disease have been registered.
After declining over the summer, infections have accelerated in the last few weeks. They are now far more widely distributed around the country than during Italy’s first wave, but the hardest hit region is once again Lombardy, around the financial capital Milan.
On Thursday, Lombardy accounted for 4,125 of the country’s new cases. The neighbouring region of Piedmont was the second-worst hit with 1,550 infections.

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France extends curfew to more regions as cases surge

The French prime minister Jean Castex has announced that Covid-19 curfew measures will be extended to a further 38 departments for six weeks because of the rapid spread of the virus across the country.
“The second wave is here” and “the situation is grave”, Castex told a news conference as he announced the curfew would now affect 46 million people - two-thirds of the French population - and would include some overseas territories.
Taking affect from midnight on Friday, people in the affected areas will have to stay at home between 9pm and 6am. Certain activities like travelling for work or seeking medical attention will be permitted, and those who don’t comply with the rules face a fine of €135.
With the R rate now at 1.35 in France, Castex said November would be a tough month regarding Covid-19, adding that the situation would be evaluated next week and more strict curfew measures may be imposed if necessary.

A second wave of the coronavirus epidemic is now under way in France and Europe. The situation is very serious. The coming weeks will be hard and the number of deaths will continue to rise.

Six days ago, the country declared a state of emergency and imposed a curfew in Paris and eight other major cities, impacting around 20 million French citizens, after daily new infections reached record levels.
Speaking with the prime minister at the news conference, the health minister Olivier Veran said he was hoping to see next week the first positive signs of the curfew put in place almost a week ago in those nine cities. Restrictive measures generally take two to three weeks to produce some effects, health experts say.
France has reported more a seven-day average of more than 20,000 new cases over the past six days and the total number of confirmed infections is now over 957,000. More than 34,000 people have died.

Summary for Sunday, 31st May

• Worshippers return to Jerusalem's al-Aqsa mosque - the third holiest site in Islam - after a two-month lockdown
  
• India says it will further ease its lockdown on 8 June despite a record daily rise in cases
  
• President Trump is forced to postpone a G7 summit in June
  
• Vulnerable people in England who have been at home since the lockdown began can go outdoors from Monday
  
• Domestic competitive sport behind closed doors will be allowed from Monday, the UK government says
  
• Confirmed coronavirus cases across the world have now exceeded six million, according to figures from Johns Hopkins University
  

If you’re joining us from the UK and Europe - good morning, and good afternoon if you’re in Asia or Australia. Today’s rolling coverage of the coronavirus pandemic is going to be brought to you by our team in London.
Here are the latest headlines, to catch you up:

• The number of confirmed cases of the virus worldwide has now exceeded six million, according to the tally kept by US-based Johns Hopkins University. More than 369,000 people globally have died
  
• US President Donald Trump has postponed the G7 summit scheduled for June. He had hoped to hold some gatherings in person at Camp David and the White House, but German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she wouldn’t go because of the outbreak
  
• New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has said the ongoing unrest, sparked by the killing of George Floyd by policemen in Minneapolis, is linked to the disproportionate deaths of African-Americans of coronavirus. Minnesota Governor Tim Walz called on protesters to wear masks and try to socially distance
  
• The third holiest site in Islam, the al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem, has reopened after being closed for two months. Hundreds of worshippers - wearing protective masks - chanted “god is great” as they entered the mosque, while some kissed the ground
  
• Rio de Janeiro is planning a six-phase easing of lockdown restrictions, according to local media. Brazil is the epicentre of the virus in Latin America, with the second-highest number of confirmed cases in the world. Its death toll is now higher than France
  
• Belgian Prince Joachim, 28, has contracted coronavirus after going to a party in Córdoba, Spain during lockdown. Spanish police have launched an investigation into the party - anyone found to have broken lockdown rules could be fined up to €10,000 (£9,000; $11,100)
  

Worshippers return to Al Aqsa mosque

After being closed for two months due to coronavirus, al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem has started welcoming worshippers again.
The mosque is the third-holiest site in Islam, after Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia.
Hundreds of people - many of whom wore protective masks - chanted “god is great” as they stood at the mosque’s wooden doors, while some kissed the ground. They were then greeted by mosque director Omar al-Kiswani, who thanked them for being patient.
Here are some photos of the mosque’s reopening.





The latest news from around the UK as lockdown is set to be eased
Here are some of the latest headlines from around the UK:
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Labour whip Rosie Duffield has resigned after admitting breaching lockdown to meet her boyfriend
• The Canterbury MP apologised for meeting her partner before members of different households were allowed to meet in public
  
• Sport is set to return with the first competitive horseracing meeting to be held at Newcastle on Monday, while the government has given the go ahead for elite sport to take place behind closed doors from this week
  
• Vulnerable people who have been shielding will be allowed to leave the house for the first time since March, the government has announced. The details will be announced by Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick at Sunday’s Downing Street press conference
  
• Governors have urged the government to drop plans for all primary school pupils to return to school before the end o the summer term
  
• By Monday, all four UK nations are due to have guidelines in place allowing more than two people to meet outside. Read more here
  

'Test and trace' and lockdown easing lead Sunday papers

The failings of the UK’s testing and tracing policy as well as freedoms allowed by the easing of lockdown measures lead the UK's Sunday papers.
The Sunday People says the system is a “national disgrace” while the Sunday Telegraph reports that the policy was abandoned in the early days of the pandemic as the system could only cope with five cases a week.
Despite the prime minister’s plea to move on from the Dominic Cummings saga, his aide still appears on the front of the Observer and the Mail on Sunday.
The latter says Boris Johnson has rebuked Mr Cummings for the media storm surrounding his lockdown trip to Durham.
And for those who are missing Brexit talk, the Sunday Times splashes on the European Union's chief negotiator warning the prime minister to keep his promises or face a no-deal exit.
Pictures from the protests and riots in the US also feature on many front pages as well as the launch of the SpaceX rocket.

LA closes testing centres amid protests

Protests across the US are escalating in response to the killing of George Floyd by police officers in Minneapolis.
In Los Angeles, officials have closed down the city’s Covid-19 testing centres. LA Mayor Eric Garcetti told reporters this was a safety precaution, adding: “Now is the time to go home. Come back, protest peacefully when there is peace.”
Cities across the US have imposed curfews in an attempt to contain the demonstrations, and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz called on protesters to wear protective masks and socially distance.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo tweeted about systemic racism in the US, linking the collective anger at George Floyd’s death to African Americans being disproportionately more likely to die of the coronavirus.

  :tweet: :Left Quotes: Andrew Cuomo:
Why are black people dying from #COVID at higher rates than white people? Why are health outcomes worse in communities of color? Why did George Floyd die? Why does this happen again and again? It’s all related.

Anti-lockdown protests in Argentina

Hundreds of people in Argentina have taken part in protests against the country's strict lockdown, demanding officials end the measures that were first introduced more than two months ago.
Demonstrators in Buenos Aires and several other cities accused President Alberto Fernandez of acting like a dictator, and called for businesses to reopen.
A small number also held signs repeating debunked conspiracy theories about vaccines and 5G networks.
About 500 people have died of coronavirus in Argentina and the country has had about 16,000 confirmed cases.

What's the latest UK sports news?

• Domestic competitive sport behind closed doors will be allowed in the UK from Monday, with horse racing and snooker resuming competitive action. The Premier League is due to restart on 17 June
  
• Championship club Preston have confirmed striker Jayden Stockley was one of 10 positive tests across eight teams in English football's second tier in the latest round of testing on Thursday and Friday. Middlesbrough and Cardiff each confirmed one positive test. Four clubs took part from League Two, with seven positive tests, but there is no programme of testing for League One at present. There were no new positives from Premier League testing last week
  
• Cricket has finally been played in the British Isles this year, with the first game since the lockdown taking place in Guernsey. A T20 match was played in Castel on Saturday to raise money for the Covid-19 appeal, with a live stream attracting more than 84,000 views on YouTube. County cricket in England is suspended until August, although it is hoped England can play Tests in July
  

Sturgeon: Virus could still run out of control

Scotland's First Minister has been on Sky's Sophy Ridge on Sunday programme where she warned that there was still a "very significant risk that the virus could run out of control again".
She said that was why Scotland was going to be "moving very cautiously" in easing lockdown restrictions.
Sturgeon also said that there should be a clear distinction between politicians making decisions and scientists advising.
It was elected officials who should take responsibilities and not scientists, she said.
She said she felt "deep personal regret" over the number of people dying in Scottish care homes and said she was making the hardest decisions of her career.

The mystery of 'silent spreaders'

As the crisis has unfolded, scientists have discovered more evidence about a strange and worrying feature of the coronavirus.
While many people who become infected develop a cough, fever and loss of taste and smell, others have no symptoms at all and never realise they're carrying Covid-19.
Researchers say it's vital to understand how many are affected this way and whether "silent spreaders" are fuelling the pandemic.
Click here to read more from BBC's science editor David Shukman on how the authorities in Singapore used contact tracing to find out how the virus spread there, and what governments have learned from it as lockdown measures are eased.

Singapore records 518 more cases

Sport returned to Las Vegas overnight as Brazil's Gilbert Burns defeated US former welterweight champion Tyron Woodley in the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
As with the UFC's recent live events in Florida, there were no fans in attendance at the UFC Apex facility and social distancing measures were in place.
The Nevada State Athletic Commission last week gave the go-ahead for combat sports to return to Vegas.
Boxing promoter Bob Arum's Top Rank has lined up cards to be held at the MGM Grand Conference Center, starting with USA's WBO featherweight champion Shakur Stevenson taking on Puerto Rican Felix Caraballo in a non-title bout on 9 June.

Raab 'did not know where Cummings was'

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said he did not know that the prime minister's aide Dominic Cummings had travelled to Durham while he was filling in for Boris Johnson during his coronavirus illness.
There have been calls for Mr Cummings to resign after it was revealed he had travelled to his family's home in Durham from London during lockdown, as well as making a 60-mile round trip from there to Barnard Castle "to test his eyesight".
Mr Raab told Sky News's Sophy Ridge on Sunday he had only known Mr Cummings was "out of action".
He said: "I just knew that he was out of action because he had come down with coronavirus.
"Given the situation we were in with the prime minister taken ill, and very seriously ill as it later emerged, I was just focused with the government and with a great cabinet team and we continued to focus relentlessly on dealing with the virus."