Dozens of people have died in Canada amid an unprecedented heatwave that has smashed temperature records. Police in the Vancouver area have responded to more than 130 sudden deaths since Friday. Most were elderly or had underlying health conditions, with heat often a contributing factor. Canada broke its temperature record for a third straight day […]
By Michelle Roberts Health editor, BBC News online Coronavirus pandemic A mix-and-match approach to Covid vaccines – using different brands of jab for first and second doses – gives good protection against the pandemic virus, a UK study has found. The Com-Cov trial looked at the efficacy of either two doses of Pfizer, two of […]
Soutik Biswas India correspondent Coronavirus pandemic India has classified a new variant of the coronavirus first identified in Europe as a “variant of concern”, but it’s too early to really tell. A mutation is elevated from a “variant of interest” to a “variant of concern” (VOC) when it shows evidence of fulfilling at […]
By Michelle Roberts Health editor, BBC News online Coronavirus pandemic UK coronavirus infections have risen slightly in the last week, with an estimated 119,000 people – up from 110,000 – now positive for the virus. The Office for National Statistics figures, up to 12 June, suggest one in every 540 people is infected. The more infectious […]
By Michelle Roberts Health editor, BBC News online Coronavirus pandemic Exactly a year on from the discovery that a cheap steroid drug prevented Covid deaths, researchers say they have found another life-saving therapy. It is expensive – a potent intravenous infusion of antibodies to neutralise the virus, rather than dampen the body’s inflammatory response […]
A French energy company says it has deliberately released gas from a Chinese nuclear power plant in a bid to fix a “performance issue”. EDF Energy confirmed that there was a build-up of noble gases in one of the two reactors’ primary circuits. It comes after CNN reported that the US government had been assessing […]
Coronavirus pandemic A headache, sore throat and runny nose are now the most commonly reported symptoms linked to Covid infection in the UK, researchers say. Prof Tim Spector, who runs the Zoe Covid Symptom study, says catching the Delta variant can feel “more like a bad cold” for younger people. But although they may not […]
By Faisal Islam Economics editor Coronavirus pandemic The US was worst hit by the pandemic in the G7 big Western democracies over the first year of Covid-19, according to an updated study of excess death figures. The analysis, done for the BBC by the Health Foundation, comes on the eve of the G7 summit in […]
By Vineet Khare BBC Hindi, Delhi Coronavirus pandemic In Delhi in April, six people died alone on a hospital ward, left there by doctors in the midst of the country’s devastating second wave of Covid-19. Video of the bodies left on the ward went viral, but the headlines soon moved on, leaving a void of […]
IMAGE COPYRIGHT GETTY IMAGES India has ordered 300 million doses of an unapproved coronavirus vaccine amid a devastating second wave. The unnamed vaccine from Indian firm Biological E is in Phase 3 trials, and had showed “promising results” in the first two phases, the federal government said in a statement. The $206m order is the […]
