Starting first Covid lockdown a week earlier ‘could have led to 34,000 fewer deaths’
Prof Neil Ferguson, one of the Government’s leading modellers during the pandemic, has previously said the UK death toll could have been halved if lockdown had been…
Africa must learn lessons from failure to distribute Covid-19 vaccines, report finds
Low coronavirus vaccination rates across Africa are a result of “consequential failures” in the distribution of jabs, rather than limited access, a report has warned. So far,…
UK approves Moderna Covid vaccine for children aged six to 11
It is the first jab to be a “whole inactivated virus”, which is a traditional approach that has been used for decades to make vaccines for other…
Four in 10 more worried about energy bills than catching Covid
The findings are based on a survey of 28,495 people taken on March 21.The results showed that working-age adults were twice as likely to report concerns about…
Scientists develop ‘decoy cells’ to trick Covid-19 away from healthy ones
A pioneering therapy which floods the body with decoy ‘cells’ to hoodwink viruses into ignoring healthy cells, is being developed by scientists. US scientists from Northwestern University…
As Shanghai’s Covid lockdown goes on, residents fight over bags of food
Ms Tsai said she spends more than four hours a day on delivery apps, hoping to catch a window in which goods – which vanish sooner than…
Why Hong Kong’s elderly are steadfastly refusing Covid vaccines
A slew of scandals involving tainted food and drugs haven’t helped. In 2018, for instance, there was uproar after it emerged that a major pharmaceutical company, Changchun…
One in eight hospital trusts still won’t allow relatives to visit patients
Andrew Denham has been in Bridgwater Community Hospital, Somerset, since December after suffering a pressure sore. This week, his daughter Katherine was turned away from seeing him…
Covid wave may have peaked in young people – but virus levels hit record high
Dame Jenny Harries, the chief executive of the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), said: “These latest study results are another reminder that the pandemic is not over,…
Covid can no longer be an excuse for chaos
After two years of travel restrictions and expensive testing requirements, holidaymakers will have been looking forward to a trip abroad this Easter. At ports of departure, however,…
When will Spain, Italy and Greece finally ditch their ‘unnecessary’ Covid rules?
At a press event last week, over coffee and breakfast tapas, the Spanish Tourist Office spoke confidently about the year ahead, with visitor numbers – after two…
Did the Culture Recovery Fund actually work?
On July 5 2020, the Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, unveiled the £1.57 billion Culture Recovery Fund (CRF), a one-off investment in the UK arts industry to help it weather…
How to book a Covid jab for your child — with slots now open for five to 11-year-olds in England
Bookings opened on Saturday, April 2 for children aged five to 11 in England to receive a Covid-19 vaccine. Children will be offered two doses of the…
More pubs and restaurants face collapse as councils hold on to £300m in grants
Pubs and restaurants face another threat to their survival after less than half of a £635m government support scheme was paid out to ailing businesses. Figures compiled…
Travel to Germany: latest Covid guidance as the country finally scraps masks and vaccine passes
Germany’s version of Freedom Day on March 20 came and went with little fanfare – and little change to regulations. Unfortunately, the chosen date – which marked…
Covid symptoms list expanded to include nine new signs including feeling tired
Prof Tim Spector, the lead scientist on the Zoe Covid symptom tracker app, suggested that not acknowledging the wider list of symptoms afflicting people with the virus,…
Why have I caught Covid five times?
Perhaps the booster hadn’t had time to kick in yet, although experts say the vaccine doesn’t actually seem to do much to prevent you from catching the…
Covid vaccinations open for five to 11-year-olds in England
The development comes as a record 4.9 million people in the UK were estimated to have had the virus in the week ending March 26, according to…
Why Britain’s Covid outlook veers between ‘glorious sunshine and blizzards’
Exactly what happens next, however, is shrouded in thick cloud cover. With an end to mass testing, deciphering data from the UK’s dashboard is increasingly tricky, while…
Covid conundrums: your all-new etiquette guide
According to the Office for National Statistics, around one in 16 people across the UK had Covid in the week ending March 19. Anecdotally, that seems conservative,…
Pupils with Covid should stay at home for three days, not five, says guidance
It came as a plan to develop vaccines within 100 days of a completely new pandemic was on Thursday questioned by the lead scientist on the Oxford…
Covid infections among over-35s soar to record levels in England
Covid-19 infections among people aged 35 and over in England have reached record levels, with “notable increases” in the oldest groups, new figures show. Prevalence of the…
Mouthwash and nine other ways to get rid of Covid
For many people, the pandemic is behind us. Yet Covid is spiking again, with about 126,000 new cases daily in the UK. While 21 million of us…
Covid booster vaccines every four months cannot continue, warns Sir Patrick Vallance
The four-monthly Covid vaccination booster programme cannot continue, Sir Patrick Vallance has warned – saying that the NHS is instead likely to move to an annual jab…
Covid outbreak exposes major holes in China’s pandemic strategy
These numbers are “disastrously low”, according to Paul Mainwood, a Covid analyst, and only marginally better than Hong Kong – where roughly a third of those over…