COVID-19 Updates
-
PHE denies it has evidence that older pupils pose Covid infection risk
The government has moved to quell anxieties over its plans to get children back to school by denying it has unpublished evidence that older pupils are more likely to carry…
-
Journalists must overcome their reticence to report on suicide – now more than ever | Martin McKenzie-Murray
For a long time, suicide chilled newsrooms. The fear was simple: reporting suicide would inspire more. Maybe a celebrity’s death aroused unhelpfully lurid coverage, but usually the fear prevailed. In…
-
Essential poll: Victorians overwhelmingly support harsh restrictions to curb Covid second wave
The lockdown might be draconian, but Victorians overwhelmingly support the public health restrictions imposed to curb the second wave of coronavirus infections, with support for the measures highest among voters…
-
NSW on a knife-edge: experts urge new restrictions to avoid uncontrollable spread of Covid-19
New South Wales should introduce new restrictions in order to avoid uncontrollable spread of Covid-19, experts have said, after the premier, Gladys Berejiklian, reiterated the state was on a “knife-edge”…
-
The ‘dividendkeeper’ shuffle: how jobkeeper payments are flowing to shareholders
The use by companies of jobkeeper money to subsidise payouts to their shareholders exposes flaws in the design of the Morrison government’s flagship coronavirus economic support package. So far, there’s…
-
Campsites and holiday cottage bookings for summer 2021 soar
Holiday cottages and camping pitches are already getting snapped up for summer 2021 as ongoing uncertainty around foreign holidays and lack of availability this summer prompts British holidaymakers to book…
-
Unions demand US government take charge over ‘inexcusable’ PPE shortage
A large coalition of labor unions and climate action groups have petitioned the US health and homeland security departments to take over the manufacture and distribution of personal protective equipment…
-
Coronavirus in Europe: French and Dutch on alert over rise in cases
New daily coronavirus infections in the Netherlands are back to roughly half their level at the peak of the pandemic, while France’s prime minister has said it is crucial for…
-
Russia approves Sputnik V Covid vaccine despite testing safety concerns
Russia has approved a controversial Covid-19 vaccine for widespread use after less than two months of human testing, including a dose administered to one of Vladimir Putin’s daughters. The announcement…
-
Russia’s coronavirus vaccine: will it work, and is it safe?
The race to find a vaccine against Covid-19 has not always been particularly edifying, driven at times by so-called “vaccine nationalism”, much cautioned against by the World Health Organization, which…