Day: 17 May 2021

New York will conform with the latest CDC guidance and relax its mask mandate indoors. This relaxation will only apply to vaccinated New Yorkers holding vaccine passports.

Fears over the Indian Covid variant could delay key announcements from the Prime Minister on "social" distancing and vaccine passports as the Government needs more "time to assess the latest data".

A new overview of the evidence on three overlooked COVID-19 treatments – hydroxychloroquine, ivermectin and fluvoxamine – draws our attention to fluvoxamine and its neglected potential.

Matt Hancock has told young people to get vaccinated because long Covid could "ruin your life". However, new research shows the symptoms of long Covid in teens are no less common in those who have not had the virus.

The Government is expected to spend £372 billion in its response to Covid, according to the National Audit Office, with the estimated cost having risen by £100 billion since January.

Men in service and elementary occupations were more likely to die of COVID-19 than those in professional and managerial occupations. This may be because lockdown shifted the burden of COVID-19 onto the working class.

More than 500 bank branches have permanently shut in the U.K. during lockdown, according to a report by Which?, despite calls for branches to remain open for those who rely on in-person banking.

The Government is considering extending lockdown beyond June 21st to protect those who refuse the vaccine from the Indian variant. According to one minister, some unvaccinated "idiots" risk ruining it for everyone else.

Today we're publishing an excerpt from Laura Dodsworth's new book, A State of Fear: how the UK government weaponised fear during the COVID-19 pandemic. In it, Laura asks: Why was Boris's March 23rd 20202 speech so odd?

A summary of all the most interesting stories that have appeared about the virus in the past 24 hours – not just in Britain, but around the world.