Third dose of Pfizer vaccine: Covid-19 booster shots ‘are working’ August 24, 2021 A third dose of Pfizer ‘s Covid-19 vaccine has significantly improved protection from infection and serious illness among people aged 60 and older in Israel, compared with those who received two shots, findings published by the Health Ministry. Watch the full report.
England and Wales record highest Covid deaths since March August 24, 2021 Data published today shows that England and Wales recorded 571 Covid-related deaths in the week ending August 13, the highest in five months. According to data from the ONS the figure is the highest since the week ending March 26 when coronavirus was mentioned on 719 death certificates. In the week ending August 13, Covid-related [...]
UK government secures deal for 35 million Pfizer vaccines August 23, 2021 The UK government has agreed a contract for 35 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine to “future proof” the country from the threat of Covid-19. The deal, announced today, will ensure that more vaccines are available in the second half of 2022 to protect against current and future variants of the virus. Health and Social [...]
WHO boss: Halt Covid vaccine booster programmes now to prevent new coronavirus variants August 23, 2021 In order to prevent the emergence of new coronavirus variants, the boss of the World Health Organisation has called for a two-month moratorium on administering Covid-19 booster jabs. WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told media in Hungary’s capital Budapest today that he was “really disappointed” with the scope of vaccine donations worldwide as many countries [...]
Pfizer to buy blood cancer drugmaker for $2.3bn August 23, 2021 Pfizer has announced it will buy all the shares of Trillium Therapeutics, an oncology biotech, for $2.3bn (£1.7bn), as the pharmaceutical invests in blood cancer therapies. The US drugmaker, which acquired a $25m stake in the Canadian oncology biotech last year, has agreed to purchase the remaining shares at $18.50 per share, representing a 203.8 [...]
Exclusive: No pay rise for seven in ten UK workers since start of pandemic August 23, 2021 Nearly seven in ten Britons have had no wage increase since the onset of the pandemic, according to new research shared with City A.M. today. While 28 per cent have seen their salary decrease since the beginning of the pandemic, 38 per cent said their employer has paused pay rises because of the Covid-19 crisis. [...]
PMI: Post-Covid bounce-back slows in August as pingdemic struck August 23, 2021 The UK economy’s post-lockdown boom stalled this month as firms continued to struggle with staff shortages, as a result of the so-called ‘pingdemic’, but strong inflation pressures eased slightly. The IHS Markit/CIPS flash composite PMI dropped for the third consecutive month, sinking to 55.3 from 59.2 in July – its lowest since February- according to the latest [...]
Critically-ill Covid patients far less likely to die when lying on stomach while receiving oxygen August 22, 2021 Critically-ill Covid-19 patients are far less likely to pass away or to require invasive ventilation if they are lying on their stomachs while receiving oxygen, according to a new global study. The impact of the technique, known as awake prone positioning, was assessed in hospitals in six countries and involved more than 1,000 coronavirus patients [...]
National Covid-19 antibody surveillance programme launched by government August 22, 2021 A nation-wide antibody surveillance programme for the public has been launched by the UK Health Security Agency to collect data to build the government’s understanding of immunity against Covid-19. The government today announced that free home antibody tests kits will be offered to adults in the UK who test positive for the virus from Tuesday. [...]
Commuting again after pandemic? Never again, say one in ten Londoners August 20, 2021 Many office workers in London are to set to embark on their return to the workplace after the summer. However, many commuters are not too keen to board a train or catch the tube again, mainly due to increased concern over infection control and social distancing on the daily commute. According to a survey conducted [...]