Day: 12 August 2021

A summary of all the most interesting stories that have appeared about politicians’ efforts to control the virus — and other acts of hubris and folly – not just in Britain, but around the world.

Canberra, the capital of Australia, is being plunged into lockdown for a whole week following the reporting of a single positive Covid test.

Fully vaccinated Brits will not have to self-isolate if they come into contact with someone who has tested positive for Covid from Monday, unless they also test positive. The rules will not change for the unvaccinated.

Vaccine passports may be on the way out, with the Government's own scientists this week pointing out that the vaccines don't prevent transmission. In the meantime, it's worth reading the small print on exemptions.

Fewer than one in five workers in U.K. cities have returned to the office, new figures show. The Government is said to be disappointed by this news but it hasn't exactly led by example.

In a recent blog post, the economist Tyler Cowen observes that "it is better to get a given amount of Covid over with more quickly ... subject to the constraint that you do not overwhelm your hospital system".

The CDC in America has published a new study claiming to show that, among the previously infected, the unvaccinated are at more than double the risk of re-infection than the vaccinated. But it has many problems.

A summary of all the most interesting stories that have appeared about politicians’ efforts to control the virus — and other acts of hubris and folly – not just in Britain, but around the world.