A UK doctor's diary addresses conspiracy theories
It was just a few days after the ban on visits to his mother’s nursing home in the Swedish city of Uppsala, on 3 April, that Magnus Bondesson started to get worried.
“They [the home] opened up for Skype calls and that’s when I saw two employees. I didn’t see any masks and they didn’t have gloves on,” says Bondesson, a start-up founder and app developer.
“When I called again a few days later I questioned the person helping out, asking why they didn’t use face masks, and he said they were just following the guidelines.”
Jane Dalton
By Manfred Dworschak, Silke Fokken, Jan Friedmann, Florian Gathmann, Kristina Gnirke, Annette Großbongardt, Hubert Gude, Simon Hage, Christoph Hickmann, Armin Himmelrath, Valerie Höhne, Martin Knobbe, Armin Mahler, Cornelia Schmergal und Gerald Traufetter
German Chancellor Angela Merkel isn't generally one to get overexcited, so when she does reach for hyperbole, it tends to reflect genuine elation. "We have achieved a high degree of unity in our approach, which is almost a miracle for a federal republic," she said on Wednesday, after a videoconference with the governors of Germany's 16 states. Bavarian Governor Markus Söder of the Christian Social Union (the sister party to Merkel's conservative Christian Democratic Union), Hamburg Mayor Peter Tschentscher of the Social Democrats (SPD) and Finance Minister Olaf Scholz, likewise of the SPD, were sitting next to her as she spoke, at a safe distance.
by Joshua Wong
Prof John Wright is a doctor and epidemiologist who works at the Bradford Royal Infirmary (BRI). He has been keeping a diary for the BBC about handling the Covid-19 outbreak.
In his latest feature, Prof Wright writes about conspiracy theories spreading within parts of the black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) communities where he lives.
He and colleagues fear these fake news reports, like the example above, are making members of these communities fearful of going to hospital for treatment.
It comes in the context of data which suggests BAME communities are being disproportionately affected by the virus in the UK - something Downing Street has now pledged to investigate.
Anger in Sweden as elderly pay price for coronavirus strategy
Staff with no masks or sanitiser fear for residents as hundreds die in care homesIt was just a few days after the ban on visits to his mother’s nursing home in the Swedish city of Uppsala, on 3 April, that Magnus Bondesson started to get worried.
“They [the home] opened up for Skype calls and that’s when I saw two employees. I didn’t see any masks and they didn’t have gloves on,” says Bondesson, a start-up founder and app developer.
“When I called again a few days later I questioned the person helping out, asking why they didn’t use face masks, and he said they were just following the guidelines.”
Coronavirus: Exterminating bats blamed for spreading Covid-19 would increase risk of further diseases, warn experts
Stop the Wildlife Trade: ‘As we’ve globalised and invaded natural habitats – that’s what’s created the increased risk, not the animals themselves’Jane Dalton
Exterminating colonies of bats because they were the source of Covid-19 would be pointless and could even expose people to even greater risk of new viruses, experts are warning.
Killing wildlife in unhygienic conditions anywhere could allow new pathogens to breed and intensify viruses in surviving animals, it’s claimed.
Scientists believe that Covid-19 originated in horseshoe bats at a live animal slaughter market in China, passing to humans via pangolin.
A Different NormalcyFrustration Mounts Over Tepid Loosening of German Lockdown
Many Germans are growing impatient with the hesitant pace of efforts by the government to loosen the lockdown imposed to bring the number of coronavirus infections under control. But there's little agreement on whether the measures are appropriate: Scientists fear they go too far and business leaders say they do little to change anything.By Manfred Dworschak, Silke Fokken, Jan Friedmann, Florian Gathmann, Kristina Gnirke, Annette Großbongardt, Hubert Gude, Simon Hage, Christoph Hickmann, Armin Himmelrath, Valerie Höhne, Martin Knobbe, Armin Mahler, Cornelia Schmergal und Gerald Traufetter
German Chancellor Angela Merkel isn't generally one to get overexcited, so when she does reach for hyperbole, it tends to reflect genuine elation. "We have achieved a high degree of unity in our approach, which is almost a miracle for a federal republic," she said on Wednesday, after a videoconference with the governors of Germany's 16 states. Bavarian Governor Markus Söder of the Christian Social Union (the sister party to Merkel's conservative Christian Democratic Union), Hamburg Mayor Peter Tschentscher of the Social Democrats (SPD) and Finance Minister Olaf Scholz, likewise of the SPD, were sitting next to her as she spoke, at a safe distance.
Covid-19, jihadist threats and kidnapping fail to stop Mali vote
Polls opened in Mali Sunday for the final round of legislative elections aimed at reviving public faith in the country's embattled institutions despite a bloody jihadist conflict and the coronavirus pandemic.
Voters in Mali, one of the world's most impoverished nations with a population of 19 million, were casting their ballots in the runoff for 147 seats in the National Assembly.
The elections have been repeatedly delayed, eroding trust in institutions as the country struggles with an Islamist revolt that has claimed thousands of lives and forced hundreds of thousands from their homes.
China is committing human rights abuses in Hong Kong
The international community must intervene because this is about the expansion of authoritarianism everywhere.by Joshua Wong
The summer of 2019 in Hong Kong was one of protest; an unprecedented local movement with global effects that took to the streets to demand an end to the now-withdrawn extradition bill, which would have allowed for defendants to be extradited to mainland China, and an end to China's authoritarian war against freedom and democracy.
The world watched as waves of public anger flooded Hong Kong. Police officers unlawfully assaulted bystanders and protesters, arresting almost 7,000 people since protests began in early June. The coronavirus has halted our rallies temporarily but support for our demands, including for the resignation of Hong Kong's leader, Carrie Lam, rises.
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