Limited data from small test trial shows positive results against South Africa and Brazil strainsCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageThe first “tweaked” vaccine against the worrying coronavirus variants that emerged in South Africa and Brazil has successfully neutralised them in laboratory trials, the US company Moderna has said.The results of the small trial suggest...

Large gatherings and concerts also banned in Egypt; Kenya finds India variant after Uganda also reported it; Tokyo Olympics ‘to go ahead’ after test eventIndia’s neighbours close borders as Covid wave spreads across regionNepal reports 19 positive Covid tests at Dhaulagiri base campIndian delegation forced to self-isolate in London for CovidItaly could reopen to foreign tourists from...

‘Quite spectacular’ discovery shows three-year-old child was carefully laid to rest nearly 80,000 years agoArchaeologists have identified the oldest known human burial in Africa during field work that uncovered the remains of a child laid carefully to rest in a grave nearly 80,000 years ago.The arrangement of the bones shows the three-year-old – named Mtoto after the Swahili word for child...

Exclusive: playlist based on listeners’ backgrounds and tastes found to lower heart rate, agitation and distressBob Marley knew it when he sang on Trenchtown Rock: “One good thing about music when it hits you, you feel no pain.”Now trials are under way at an NHS trust to see if an algorithm can curate music playlists to reduce suffering in Alzheimer’s patients as well as in stressed...

Nasal swabs allegedly washed, repackaged and sold to passengers required to take test at Medan airportCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageStaff at an Indonesian pharmaceutical company have been accused of washing and repackaging used Covid nasal swabs, which were then sold to thousands of unsuspecting travellers.Five employees from the state-owned Kimia Farma have been...

Money for Porton Down laboratory will help to ‘future-proof’ country, says Matt HancockCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageThe UK government is pledging extra money to fast-track vaccines in an effort to stay “one step ahead” of coronavirus variants.The multimillion-pound investment in testing facilities at Porton Down in Wiltshire would help to “future-proof”...

On 22 June 1918, the Manchester Guardian reported that a flu epidemic was moving through the British Isles. It was noted to be ‘by any means a common form of influenza’. Eventually, it took the lives of more than 50 million people around the world. In a special episode to mark the Guardian’s 200th anniversary, Nicola Davis looks back on the 1918 flu pandemic and how it was reported at the...

Analysis of remains of crew on Henry VIII’s favourite warship sheds light on diversity in Tudor EnglandOne is thought to be an archer raised in the Atlas mountains in north Africa, and another may have been a carpenter who grew up in south-west Spain. Others hailed from closer to home, possibly the bustling ports of the English west country or the Thames estuary.The most in-depth study yet of a...

Australia needs to start flattening the mental health curve urgently. The coming budget is an opportunity for actionThe 2021 federal budget has been heralded as the point at which the Morrison government will respond, at scale, to the many failings of the mental health system. We spend only $10.6bn a year providing mental health services to over 4 million people. Importantly, there is an...