39 articles from SUNDAY 11.4.2021

Top Beijing official admits efficacy of China’s Covid vaccines is low

Head of country’s disease control centre says vaccines ‘don’t have very high protection rates’Coronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageChina’s top disease control official has admitted that the efficacy of the country’s domestically produced vaccines is low as it emerged the authorities are considering mixing them to try to offer greater protection against...

Ash-covered St. Vincent braces for more volcanic eruptions

People who ignored an initial warning to evacuate the area closest to a volcano on the eastern Caribbean island of St. Vincent raced to get clear Saturday, a day after it erupted with an explosion that shook the ground, spewed ash skyward and blanketed the island in a layer of fine volcanic rock.

Covid-status certificates could lead to deliberate infections, scientists warn

Immunity certification could foster ‘an erroneous sense of no risk’ in people’s behaviour, according to analystsCovid-status certificates – to allow those who have been vaccinated, recovered from the virus or have tested negative to attend an event or holiday abroad – could do harm as well as good, UK government science advisers have warned.While they could encourage some people to get...

Heaven on earth is not without its sorrows | Brief letters

Loneliness | GPs | Letters | Gorillas | Church of EnglandWhile I was not entirely surprised to learn that nearly three-quarters of the population of West Dunbartonshire had experienced loneliness lately, I was shocked that over half of dwellers in Eden had (3.7m over-16s in Britain often or always feel lonely, ONS finds, 7 April). On reflection, however, I recollected that Adam was 100% lonely...

Readers reply: what are thoughts? Where do they come from – and where do they go?

The long-running series in which readers answer other readers’ questions on subjects ranging from trivial flights of fancy to profound scientific and philosophical conceptsWhat are thoughts? Where do they come from, and where do they go when they disappear? Are they “filed” somewhere, a bit like memories, where we can find them again, or once a thought has gone is that it? Sue Christian,...

Early findings show new drug could be ‘gamechanging’ for brain cancer treatment

Using ipatasertib, researchers say some brain cancers could potentially be made vulnerable to immunotherapy agentTwo people with advanced brain cancer of the sort that led to the death of the MP Tessa Jowell have responded well in a small trial to an experimental combination of chemo and immunotherapy drugs. In one case, the life-threatening tumour seems to have disappeared.Doctors at the...

India steps up vaccine effort as Covid cases hit record high

States consider tougher restrictions to slow spread of virus as country fights second wave of infectionsCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageNew Covid-19 cases in India surged to a record 152,879 as the country battled a second wave of infections by pushing for faster vaccinations, with some states considering tougher restrictions to slow the spread of the virus.India...

UK’s Covid vaccine programme on track despite AstraZeneca problems

Seventy-five per cent of population can be fully immunised by first week in August, according to forecastsCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageThe UK’s vaccination programme is expected to be effectively completed shortly after the United States’ this summer, and several weeks ahead of the EU, despite falling up to six weeks behind because of problems affecting its...

How big are the blood-clot risks of the AstraZeneca jab? | David Spiegelhalter and Anthony Masters

Young people have as much chance of winning the lottery as of getting serious blood clots from the AstraZeneca vaccineLast Wednesday, the European Medicines Agency stated there was a plausible link between the Oxford/AstraZeneca (Vaxzevria) vaccine and rare types of blood clotting, which the MHRA estimates may happen in one in 100,000 young adults who get the vaccine.It is challenging to think of...