Taking a test is the best way to assure yourself and others that you aren’t spreading the virus. Here’s what you need to know.
For those who must travel, or those who are itching to do so, airlines and airports are increasingly offering ways to get tested for the coronavirus ahead of a trip. Taking a test can assure you and others that you aren’t spreading the virus from one place to another.
In recent weeks, some destinations, like Hawaii, New York, Washington, D.C., …
Here are five things you need to know about the coronavirus pandemic this Tuesday morning. We’ll have another update for you at 18:00 GMT.
1. NHS ready for a vaccine
The NHS is ready to start providing the new coronavirus vaccine “as fast as safely possible”, Health Secretary Matt Hancock has said. He was responding to the news that a new vaccine could prevent 90% of people getting Covid-19. Mr Hancock told BBC Breakfast that, if approved, the vaccine developed by Pfizer would be administered in GP surgeries and go-to vaccination centres. He said the the government would provide £150m to assist GPs in rolling out the vaccine and that NHS staff would go into care homes to provide the vaccine to people most vulnerable to Covid-19. Meanwhile, the British Medical Association says plans are being drawn up for clinics to run 12 hours a day, seven days a week to roll out a vaccine as soon as it’s available. The prime minister and his senior scientific advisers are urging caution, imploring the public to continue adhering to social distancing and other rules. …
The second coronavirus wave has already put many hospitals under great pressure, and it’s nurses and physios who bear the brunt of it, writes Dr John Wright of Bradford Royal Infirmary (BRI). Here he introduces four nurses, who describe the strain they are now under.
Work. Sleep. Repeat. Our doctors, nurses, physiotherapists and support staff have settled in to a weary routine. The hospital is nearly full. The patients we admit were infected a fortnight beforehand. The patients who are dying were infected a month ago — when the government’s scientific advisory group, Sage, was recommending a circuit break.
The virus has used this time to great effect. In Yorkshire, one in 37 people tested positive in the last week of October — almost 3% of the population. This is a prevalence figure beyond our comprehension.
The avalanche has begun at the top of the mountain and we are readying ourselves at the base for its unstoppable force. As with the first wave, it is our 2,000-strong nursing staff who will bear the biggest impact. …
