- “Chris Whitty warns U.K. could be plunged back into restrictions in just five weeks” – The Chief Medical Officer has sounded the alarm over a “scary growth” in hospitalisations that could leave the NHS in “trouble again, surprisingly fast”, the Mirror says
- “Lancet Freedom Day letter included people with no scientific clout” – The letter in the Lancet accusing the Government of conducting a “dangerous and unethical experiment” (‘Freedom Day’) accepted signatures from just about anyone, according to MailOnline
- “Exclusive: Neighbours ‘pinged’ through walls by NHS Covid app” – The NHS Test and Trace app has been pinging people through walls, the Telegraph reports
- “Chaos of the pingdemic: bin collections halted, ferries cancelled and guests clean own hotel rooms” – Huge numbers of workers have been sent into isolation by the NHS COVID-19 app, the Telegraph says, including employees of the car manufacturer Rolls Royce who are now on the “edge of a critical situation”
- “Rising Covid cases delay plans to ease contact-tracing app ‘pingdemic’” – Plans to make the NHS contact-tracing app in England less sensitive have been shelved according to the Times, amid concerns about rising cases
- “All official and unofficial Covid symptoms across world – from fever to rashes” – The Mirror provides readers with a round-up of all the symptoms, from a new “continuous cough” to “tiredness” and a “runny nose” that are taken by various authorities around the world as signs that someone may have COVID-19
- “PM’s plans for Covid passports in chaos as eight in 10 nightclubs say they won’t use them” – A survey of 250 nightclubs and event organisers conducted by the Night Time Industries Association finds that just 17% of venues plan to ask customers to show a Covid pass, LBC reports
- “Covid passport backlash as pubs and restaurants say they can’t check QR codes” – Pubs and Restaurant owners have labelled the plans for vaccine passports “completely unworkable”, the Telegraph reports
- “Alcoholic liver deaths increased by 21% during year of the pandemic” – Increased alcohol consumption during the pandemic is likely driving “an unprecedented acceleration in alcoholic liver disease deaths”, says this press release from Public Health England, commenting on its new analysis of alcohol consumption trends
- “France could be put on travel red list as beta variant fears grow” – The Telegraph has learnt that Ministers are considering adding France to the “red list”
- “Mass testing for flu can help NHS beat winter triple whammy” – A new report from the Academy of Medical Sciences recommends that people be tested for flu in the same way as they are for COVID-19 according to the Times. It warns that influenza and RSV hospital admissions and deaths could be twice what is seen in a normal year
- “Nanny Boris: the PM’s alarming flight from liberalism” – “In a rather Orwellian turn, ‘Freedom Day’ means freedom for some, but not for others,” writes Fraser Nelson in the Spectator
- “Unvaccinated as ‘variant factories’?” – Writing for the HART group, Dr Gerry Quinn takes aim at the allegation, made in several media outlets, that unvaccinated people will become potential factories of coronavirus variants. Part of HART’s latest newsletter
- “The beautiful game” – “The latest big debate in Covid biosecurity (Covid BS) is whether we should continue to wear face masks when the mandate is lifted,” says Andy Lambeth on Lockdown Satire. He covers everything you need to know
- “Covid – Start at the beginning and question everything” – In the Conservative Woman, Abir Ballan heralds the Question Everything: Lockdowns Summit taking place in London on Saturday. Both Toby and Will Jones are speaking
- “Our slide into spiritual bankruptcy” – Rebecca D’Amato provides the Conservative Woman with an account of our “apparent, collective slide away from humanity, humility and stoicism towards an emotional immaturity, division and spiritual bankruptcy
- “The Approaching Storm” – “I don’t have a crystal ball or anything, but I’m expecting things to get rather ugly this Autumn, and probably even uglier in the foreseeable future,” says C.J. Hopkins in Off-Guardian
- “Dublin Ireland Protest Against two tier society and Passport Discrimination” – Hugo Talks reports on the protests in Dublin against vaccine passports
- “How strict are France’s Covid border checks? Readers share experiences” – Readers of the Connexion share their generally smooth experiences of travelling to France under the current restrictions
- “Protests in France over health passport – but three million vaccine appointments booked since Macron’s announcement” – The Local reports that French Presidents drastic measure to encourage people to accept vaccination has proven to be effective
- “France is sliding into medical authoritarianism” – “The French president is stamping his will on a vaccine-sceptical country,” says Josie Appleton in Spiked. “Rather than convince or persuade, he has effectively said that if you want to be a citizen, you must be vaccinated”
- “Vaccine failure? Not really” – The Swiss Doctor takes a look at data from European countries which had vaccinated their senior citizens by the time the British variant hit them in spring to conclude that the vaccines were effective in preventing hospitalisation and death
- “Tourism not contributing to surge of COVID-19 infections in Greece” – The Greek Tourism Minister says tourism is not to blame for a surge of COVID-19 infections in Greece, Reuters reports, pointing to the testing data from the country’s entry points
- “Natural infection vs vaccination: Which gives more protection?” – New numbers presented by the Israeli Health Ministry suggests that nearly 40% of Covid cases in the current wave were in people who had received the vaccination whereas just 1% of them had the infection previously, the Arutz Sheva 7 reports
- “Will Israel have a COVID-19 lockdown on Rosh Hashanah?” – Writing for the Jerusalem Post, Maayan Jaffe-Hoffman scrutinises the suggestion of an official that there could be a new lockdown by the Jewish New Year
- “‘A split society’: Doug Ford rejects vaccine passports for Ontario” – Ontario Premier Doug Ford opposes vaccine passports, the Post Millennial reports
- “Kitchener-area waitress short-changed by customer on tip because she was not vaccinated” – A customer at a restaurant in Drayton Ontario, told waitress Brooke Rew that he would add $20 to the tip once she was vaccinated, according to the Post Millennial
- “Biden Keeps Travel Ban on Europeans Despite Pleas to Ease It” – The Biden Administration is not saying when it might lift the travel ban for EU citizens, Bloomberg reports
- “Did Jen Psaki just claim that vaccines ‘can still kill you’?” – Townhall spotlights an apparent slip of the tongue on the part of the White House Press Secretary
- “Covid dashes career hopes for young graduates” – Graduates in India are struggling to make their way in a tightened jobs market, Deutsche Welle reports
- “Unless Sydney lifts its game lockdown could drag on forever” – The Sydney Morning Herald urges the people and Government of New South Wales to lockdown even harder
- “Millions in Victoria wake up to their fifth lockdown” – Melbourne has gone into another lockdown, the Daily Mail reports, after an outbreak of cases connected to a football stadium. There are growing fears that it may last longer than the planned five days
- “Four in five New Zealanders plan to get vaccinated, but many people want more information about vaccine safety” – New research suggest that the proportion of New Zealanders intending to take the vaccine has increased to 80%, but, says Jagadish Thakur in the Conversation, it is not enough to protect the population from the Delta strain
- “The World’s Financial Centres Struggle Back to the Office” – Google mobility data indicates that world’s key financial centres, including London, New York, Singapore and Hong Kong, are struggling to persuade their employees to come back into the office, Bloomberg reports
- “A Conversation On Fear, Altruism, and Freedom” – The latest edition of the AIER’s Author’s Corner sees Ethan Yang sits down with Lou Eastman to discuss Lou’s article exploring the psychological forces that drove the curtailment of liberty in response to COVID-19
- “The War of the Noses’” – In this week’s episode of the Telegraph‘s Planet Normal podcast Professor Paul Dolan tells Allison Pearson and Liam Halligan why the Government must restore freedom in a post-vaccine world
By Jonathan Barr / 16 July 2021 • 02.05
