Day: 19 April 2021

The Department of Health recorded just four Covid deaths in the past 24 hours – the lowest number since September 7th, when three deaths were announced.

India will be added to the Government's "red list" for international travel as a "precautionary measure" after 103 people in the U.K. were found carrying the country's Covid variant.

For the Lockdown panjandrums on SAGE, this Hogarthian image is what they think the average beer garden looks like on a Saturday afternoon. The war on pubs is a war being waged by puritans against joy, says Sean Walsh.

Sweden's low excess mortality in 2020 undermines the pro-lockdown case. Defenders often counter that Sweden fared badly compared to its neighbours. There are several reasons why this is a bad argument, says Dr Noah Carl.

We have a new 'Sceptic of the Week' – Rod Humphris, landlord of The Raven in Both, who threw Keir Starmer out of his pub at lunchtime today because the Labour leader has done so little to oppose the lockdown policy.

Today we're publishing an original piece by Dr Alan Mordue, a retired public health consultant, about the risk to young people of being vaccinated against COVID-19. He thinks healthy people under 50 shouldn't have the jab.

by Dr. Alan Mordue During this Covid pandemic I have often wondered about how two key principles central to medicine and public health have been used. The first is the Hippocratic oath “primum non nocere” or “first do no harm”, which all doctors used to swear to abide by on graduation. The second is the precautionary principle, used in public health, particularly where there is uncertainty about the health effects of a proposed intervention or exposure to a potential harmful agent. They often seem to have been applied selectively and even ignored, particularly in relation to illnesses other than COVID-19. The press conference on April 7th chaired by Deputy CMO Jonathan Van-Tam with representatives from the MHRA and the JCVI about clotting side effects of the Oxford Astra-Zeneca vaccine was a case in point. During the press conference charts showing potential benefits in preventing ICU admission compared to potential serious harms of the AZ vaccine were presented by age group and for three levels of population incidence of SARS-CoV-2 (2, 6 and 20 per 10,000): Chart 1 – Low Exposure Chart 2– Medium Exposure Chart 3 – High Exposure The conclusions of the press conference were that these blood clots were extremely rare, that the benefits of the AZ vaccine outweigh the risks, and that an alternative vaccine should be ...

The rule that all hospitality customers must sit outdoors has led to large crowds gathering at makeshift beer gardens in city centres, making it difficult for police to enforce social distancing guidelines.

A parliamentary committee has said that one of the causes of "a pandemic of mental health problems" among children was the closure of playgrounds in the first lockdown.

Researchers at Oxford University have launched a trial that will deliberately expose people who have already had Covid to the coronavirus again to study the level of immune protection needed to prevent reinfection.