50 articles from SATURDAY 21.3.2020

UK military planners drafted in to help feed vulnerable in Covid-19 outbreak

Food stockpilers told they should be ‘ashamed’ as prime minister urges Britons not to make mother’s day visitsCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageKey military officials are to help ensure food and medicines reach vulnerable people isolated at home during the coronavirus crisis, as part of a nationwide campaign to protect more than a million people most at risk of...

Coronavirus: how Asian countries acted while the west dithered

In Hong Kong and Taiwan, deaths are in single figures. But Europe gambled on a containment strategyCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageThe first coronavirus cases in Taiwan and Italy came only 10 days apart. On Sunday Taiwan, which has deep cultural and economic ties to China, has recorded just 153 cases and two deaths. Italy has more than 47,000 cases and 4,032 people...

Doctors warn coronavirus could overwhelm NHS ‘within weeks’

Intensive care audit shows sharp rise in admissions to critical care as London hospitals struggle to copeCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageThe numbers of coronavirus patients needing life-or-death care have been doubling every three days, a report by senior doctors has revealed. London is worst affected, but the rest of the UK will soon be hit with a similar surge, the...

Vaccine scientist: ‘Everything is so new in dealing with this coronavirus’

Hanneke Schuitemaker, who is leading a team working on a Covid-19 vaccine, tells of the latest developments and what needs to be done nowCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageScientists took a major step last week in their attempt to develop a vaccine that could protect humanity from the effects of Covid-19. In Seattle, Washington, a few dozen volunteers received a vaccine...

We have a once in a generation responsibility to confront Covid-19 | Sadiq Khan

America seems reluctant to lead in this crisis: so Europe, and Britain, must step upCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageCovid-19 is the biggest health, social and economic emergency we have faced since the second world war. And while we’re only at the beginning of the process of halting its spread, we will be living with the consequences for many years to come.Our first...

Prisons ‘could see 800 deaths’ from coronavirus without protective measures

Former justice secretary David Gauke calls for early releases and suspension of short sentences to limit spread of infectionCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageFailure to protect the most vulnerable inmates in the UK prison system from coronavirus could result in more than 800 deaths, experts have warned.Provisional estimates from epidemiologists at University College...

'Flatten the curve': why predicting coronavirus infections and deaths is so tricky

Experts warn epidemic modelling is extremely complex and some homemade graphs on social media are causing a lot of anxietyIf there is a message that has united Australians since the Covid-19 epidemic began, it is that we must “flatten the curve”. It’s a mantra being shared by politicians, doctors, nurses and members of the public.What is more contentious, though, is how to flatten the curve....

The coronavirus story is unfathomably large. We must get the reporting right | Lenore Taylor

Our coverage of the biggest event of our lives is a defining challenge for the news mediaThe news rolls in like waves. One unfathomably huge development crashing on another. President Donald Trump has shut US borders. Now Australia is closed to foreigners too. Scott Morrison is spending billions. The surplus is history, a recession now inevitable. The graph of confirmed cases soars. The death...

Curiosity Mars rover takes a new selfie before record climb

NASA's Curiosity Mars rover recently set a record for the steepest terrain it's ever climbed, cresting the "Greenheugh Pediment," a broad sheet of rock that sits atop a hill. And before doing that, the rover took a selfie, capturing the scene just below Greenheugh.

Lay off those war metaphors, world leaders. You could be the next casualty… | Simon Tisdall

The language of the battlefield is woefully out of place in a global pandemic and does nothing but breed fear• Coronavirus – latest updates• See all our coronavirus coverageIt is always dangerous when facing a crisis to invoke war as an analogy. War is chaos. War, as Thomas Hobbes and those with personal experience know, is limitless death and destruction. By definition, it comprises...

Smartphones could help us track the coronavirus – but at what cost? | John Naughton

It’s wise to be wary of the government adopting intrusive apps that monitor the effectiveness of public health measuresCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageAs we confront the pandemic, we’re flying blind, like pilots in 1930s aeroplanes flying through fog. That, at any rate, is what I take away from reading John Ioannidis, a Stanford professor who is an expert in...

Threat of widespread storms, rain to deter outdoor breaks amid social distancing

An active weather pattern looks to deliver wet weather, and even severe thunderstorms through parts of the country, all before the conclusion of the first week of spring.A storm that will spread a spring snowstorm from the Midwest into the Northeast through Tuesday, will also be responsible for starting off the train of wet weather in the mid-Atlantic."For those looking to take a break from...