21 articles from SUNDAY 3.1.2021

Brazil wildfires surge again in 2020

The number of wildfires in Brazil increased 12.7 percent last year to a decade-high, according to official figures likely to add to pressure on President Jair Bolsonaro's government over the destruction of the Amazon rainforest.

UK to begin using Oxford Covid vaccine as PM strikes hopeful tone

Boris Johnson says he hopes pace of vaccination can be ramped up to protect tens of millions in months Coronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coveragePeople in the UK will begin receiving the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine on Monday, after the prime minister expressed hope that the pace could be ramped up to protect tens of millions of people from Covid-19 within the next few months.In...

Nicaragua’s Covid story far from truth | Letter

The country should not be held up as a shining example in its response to the pandemic, writes Dr Hilary Francis, who points to the failure to provide accurate data and firing of health workersJohn Perry (Letters, 31 December) suggests that we should learn from the Nicaraguan government’s management of Covid. He doesn’t mention that 700 Nicaraguan health professionals wrote an open letter...

Keir Starmer calls for immediate lockdown in England as Covid cases soar

Labour leader urges prime minister to impose new nationwide restrictions within next 24 hoursCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageThe Labour leader, Keir Starmer, has urged Boris Johnson to avoid delay by imposing new nationwide restrictions in England within the next 24 hours to tackle the “out of control” virus.After the prime minister earlier on Sunday raised the...

How is the Oxford Covid vaccine being deployed in England?

With jab to be administered to public for first time, we look at key questions about its rollout Coronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageThe biggest vaccination programme in the UK’s history will receive a major boost on Monday, with the first use of the Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid vaccine. Here we look at some key questions about how it will be deployed in England. Continue...

India's approval of covid vaccines triggers mass immunisation drive

Green light for Oxford vaccine alongside domestic Covaxin hailed as ‘decisive turning point’ by PMCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageIndia has granted emergency approval to both the Oxford/AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine and the domestically developed Covaxin, signalling the start of one of the largest Covid-19 immunisation drives in the world.At a press conference...

I lived like an astronaut for months in isolation

Kate Greene had a headstart in coping with lockdown cabin fever after living inside a geodesic dome at 8,000ft, as part of a space experimentOnce upon a time I lived on Mars. Or the closest thing to it. At the time I was a science journalist and not necessarily an obvious choice for the mission. And yet I found myself on it. This was 2012 and Kim Binsted, professor of information and computer...

Coronavirus restrictions 'probably about to get tougher', says Boris Johnson

Prime minister says he is ‘fully reconciled’ to prospect of stricter measures in England in weeks aheadCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageBoris Johnson has raised the prospect of even tougher lockdown measures, including school closures, being imposed in England in the coming weeks to stem surging Covid-19 rates.Amid concerns over pressure on the NHS and the higher...

‘It makes me want to cry’: voices of hospital staff on the Covid frontline

Three healthcare workers describe the realities of struggling against a rising tide of coronavirus casesCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageJunior doctorPushpo Hossain is in the eye of the capital’s Covid storm. The ward where the junior doctor cares for severely ill coronavirus patients is having to limit oxygen and consider who gets the hard-to-come-by non-invasive...

Do we have to age?

The biologist Andrew Steele thinks ageing is a disease that can be treated. But if we had a cure for getting old, what would that mean for us?When the biologist Andrew Steele tells people his thoughts on ageing – that we might one day cure it as if it were any other disease – they are often incredulous and sometimes hostile. Once, at a friend’s wedding, he left a group of guests mildly...

The Oxford Covid jab is delivered this week. But when will vaccines bring results?

Fall or rise in coronavirus cases will not initially be a good measure of efficacy, say scientists devising ways to audit progressWhy is Britain delaying second doses of vaccine?Coronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coveragePeople in Britain are set to get their first shots of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine on Monday, with millions of doses being given over the next few months. The...

The Observer view on information about the rollout of the Covid vaccine | Observer editorial

It is right to celebrate the Oxford/AstraZeneca achievement but the government must tell the public when they will be inoculatedTomorrow, Britain will witness an extraordinary moment in its grim struggle to limit the devastation caused by Covid-19 when the first Briton is injected with a vaccine developed by the University of Oxford and the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca. The fact that this...