BBC Jack Berman and a friend in a pub smoking section – which is under cover but also had fans Jack Berman takes a long drag and then exhales, slowly, in the covered terrace of a 150-year-old pub in a Sydney beach suburb. Around him are others like him: pub goers enjoying the winter sun, … Read more
At least nine reports are expected, covering everything from political decision-making to vaccines. Publishing the first of these, inquiry chair Baroness Hallett said the UK was “ill-prepared for dealing with a catastrophic emergency, let alone the coronavirus pandemic”. “Never again can a disease be allowed to lead to so many deaths and so much suffering,” … Read more
Getty Images Men taking sodium valproate are being warned to use contraception while on the medicine, because of “a potential small increased risk” of neurodevelopmental disorders in their future children, according to the UK’s medicines regulator. It says men must also refrain from donating sperm until three months after they have stopped taking the drug, … Read more
A rare parasitic infection known as raccoon roundworm has been confirmed in Los Angeles, according to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. Two people in the South Bay area of Los Angeles County have been diagnosed with the infection, Baylisascaris procyonis, which is caused by a parasitic worm from the raccoon’s intestines. When … Read more
Health officials in Los Angeles County, California, on Wednesday warned of an “unprecedented” rise in dengue fever among residents who have not traveled out of the country. At least three cases of dengue have been reported in residents in the Baldwin Park neighborhood east of downtown Los Angeles after they were bitten by local mosquitoes, … Read more
Getty Images Racoon dogs are implicated as one of the potential animals that could have been the source of Covid A team of scientists say it is “beyond reasonable doubt” the Covid pandemic started with infected animals sold at a market, rather than a laboratory leak. They were analysing hundreds of samples collected from Wuhan, … Read more
BBC Pam Perceval-Maxwell say the repercussions of not getting eye treatment in a timely fashion was people may lose their sight earlier than otherwise A woman who relies on regular injections to preserve her sight said she worries each night she will wake up blind, because of delayed appointments. Pam Perceval-Maxwell is one of the … Read more
An anti-corruption charity says it has identified significant concerns in contracts worth over £15.3bn awarded by the Conservative government during the Covid pandemic, equivalent to one in every £3 spent. Transparency International UK found 135 “high-risk” contracts with at least three red flags – warning signs of a risk of corruption. Twenty-eight contracts worth £4.1bn … Read more
BBC Mandi Masters, a community midwife, was hospitalised with Covid in the pandemic. The public inquiry into the pandemic will start 10 weeks of hearings on Monday looking at the impact on patients, healthcare workers and the wider NHS. Covid patients have been admitted to hospital more than a million times in the UK since … Read more
Richard Knights/BBC Baroness Lampard paid tribute to the “dedicated and tireless campaigning” of bereaved families as the inquiry opened The chairwoman of an inquiry into more than 2,000 mental health-related deaths has said “we may never know” the true number of people who died. The Lampard Inquiry has got under way, examining deaths at NHS-run … Read more