Celebrities in Australia anger stranded citizens over 'double standard' #IStandWithDan vs #DictatorDan: how fringe accounts gamed Twitter during Melbourne's lockdown. During the height of Melbourne's lockdown, as the city struggled to contain the virus, a separate battle was being fought online.
Key points: Research shows hyper-partisan core of Twitter accounts drove pro- and anti-Dan Andrews hashtags during Melbourne's lockdownHalf of the top 50 Twitter accounts for anti-Andrews hashtags were fabricated or anonymous profilesThe findings challenge the idea of trending hashtags as representative of popular opinion On Twitter, it centred around rival hashtags backing or attacking Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews' handling of the coronavirus outbreak. On one side: #DictatorDan and #DanLiedPeopleDied. On the other: #IStandWithDan. Popular opinion mattered more than ever — controlling the virus required Melburnians to follow the lockdown rules — and a trending hashtag may have appeared to reflect widespread views.
In reality, however, those hashtags were little more representative than billboard ads purchased on the sides of roads. From fringe to front page. A pandemic atlas: USA by the numbers, telling and horrifying. A pandemic atlas: USA by the numbers, telling and horrifying By ADAM GELLER December 16, 2020 GMT.
Doctors warn Delhi's intensive care units are full and COVID-19 symptoms are getting worse - ABC News. Even as coronavirus infections begin to ease in Delhi, doctors are warning that this latest wave of COVID-19 in the city has been far deadlier than before and young people have been among the worst hit.
Dr Farah Husain — who leads an ICU in Delhi's largest coronavirus hospital, LNJP — said the city's intensive care units are still full or close to capacity because patients are experiencing symptoms more severe than what was seen in previous waves. It meant patients were occupying beds for longer. "We were expecting a number [to] rise in the cases," Dr Farah said. "What we were not expecting was the rise in the severity that was seen in the younger and the middle-age group. " Demoralized health workers struggle as virus numbers surge. Doctors and nurses around the U.S. are becoming exhausted and demoralized as they struggle to cope with a record-breaking surge of COVID-19 patients that is overwhelming hospitals and prompting governors to clamp back down to contain the virus.
New York Gov. Millions of hungry Americans turn to food banks for 1st time. Millions of hungry Americans turn to food banks for 1st time By SHARON COHEN December 7, 2020 GMT The deadly pandemic that tore through the nation’s heartland struck just as Aaron Crawford was in a moment of crisis.
He was looking for work, his wife needed surgery, then the virus began eating away at her work hours and her paycheck. The Crawfords had no savings, mounting bills and a growing dread: What if they ran out of food? Will Australians be able to travel again once a coronavirus vaccine is available? - ABC News. The news of two potential COVID-19 vaccines showing promising results in late stage trials has been welcomed by many, including those itching to start travelling or return home.
Earlier this month, the Federal Government released Australia's vaccination policy, which said that while vaccinations will not be mandatory, a proof of vaccination may be required for people entering or returning to the country. It was the first time the Government had given a firm indication of what future international travel might look like. Packed crowds and euphoric leaders: Australia revels in Covid-free days. When the premier of Queensland held her regular Covid-19 update on Friday she couldn’t help letting a smile creep across her face.
“Now, here’s a good one,” Annastacia Palaszczuk told reporters. “I think all Queenslanders are going to be happy about it.” She went on to announce that Brisbane’s Suncorp stadium would host a capacity 52,500 crowd for the forthcoming State of Origin rugby league decider against New South Wales next week. “The cauldron can be filled to 100% capacity,” she said. In the midst of the pandemic, the idea of responsible leaders encouraging citizens to gather in large crowds to sit or stand shoulder to shoulder with strangers might seem to be a case of extreme recklessness. IBAC phone tap reveals Metro Trains manager covered up for company that failed to clean trains properly during pandemic - ABC News. A public transport executive has been caught on a phone tap telling a cleaning company he would "cover up" for them, after it emerged they had failed to spray down a Melbourne train at the start of the state's first coronavirus surge.
Key points: In the covertly recorded conversation, Metro Trains fleet manager Peter Bollas complains to the boss of Transclean that one train wasn't sprayed at allTransclean boss George Haritos replies by telling the train executive to "cover up" for the cleaning companyIt comes as V/Line terminated the contract of its CEO in the wake of the inquiry The admission is contained within a secretly recorded phone call played in public hearings before Victoria's Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (IBAC), which is probing serious misconduct claims in the state's public transport sector. At the time of the alleged corruption, Mr Bollas managed the cleaning contract at Metro Trains, which was awarded to a company called Transclean. How Melbourne embraced its first day of freedom – starting at the stroke of midnight.
Melbourne residents have become somewhat accustomed to the world changing overnight.
But for what felt like the first time, they went to bed on Tuesday knowing they would wake up to a better version of their city. Australia’s second-biggest city has been under harsh lockdown since July and although many businesses and individuals suffered greatly there is no denying it was effective. On 26 October, Daniel Andrews, premier of the state of Victoria, announced the largest step in reopening for Melbourne so far, with non-essential stores, cafes, bars and restaurants able to open, and the “stay at home” orders lifted.
The first day out of lockdown in the city was long, but this time for all the right reasons. 12am. Melbourne is almost out of lockdown. It's time to trust Melburnians to make their own COVID-safe decisions. After days of speculation, today’s announcement by Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews was pretty much as we expected: a significant lifting of restrictions, albeit only a half-step out of lockdown.
From 11.59pm tonight, Melburnians will be able to travel up to 25km from home, with no time limits on exercise or recreation, bringing the chance to play a round of golf or visit the hairdresser. Even more encouragingly, we may only have to wait a week until the lockdown is lifted, the “four reasons” to leave home are removed, and retailers and other businesses can once again open their doors. Andrews said the planned move to step three of the COVID-19 roadmap could be brought forward a week from its provisional date of November 1 if case numbers — now tracking at 7.5 new cases a day for metropolitan Melbourne and just 0.5 in the regions — remain favourable. “Victorians have stayed the course, and we just have a little longer to go,” he said. Buying time.
Sorry Melbourne. The chance of reaching an average five COVID-19 cases by mid-October is less than half - ABC News. Melburnians are addicted to the Victorian health department's daily tweet of the state's new COVID-19 cases. This figure contributes to the all-important rolling 14-day average, which alongside the number of mystery cases, tells us whether we're on target for the next phase of reopening. How likely is it we'll get to the target of an average of no more than five new daily cases by October 19 and fewer than five mystery cases — the triggers for the next stage of restrictions to be lifted?
Our regular modelling updates contribute to assessment of epidemic trends in Australia. This work suggests the chance of achieving the target is 50 per cent or less. Poorest areas of England four times as likely to face lockdown as richest. England’s poorest communities are nearly four times as likely to face lockdown restrictions as the wealthiest areas, a Guardian analysis has found, as local leaders warned of a “winter of dangerous discontent” in the north of England without urgent financial support. A study of official figures shows a wide disparity in the resurgence of coronavirus across the country, with the most deprived areas bearing the brunt of the second wave. In Liverpool, almost two-thirds of the areas with the highest infection rates were among the poorest 10% of communities in England.
As India reaches a macabre new coronavirus COVID-19 milestone, the country gasps for breath - ABC News. Shahnawaz Sheikh doesn't have any medical qualifications, but he and a group of mates from Mumbai are providing a lifesaving service to their community amid the coronavirus pandemic. The volunteers have been supplying free oxygen cylinders to COVID-19 patients and other people suffering respiratory problems for months. "Every patient needs oxygen support whether he is rich or poor," Mr Sheikh told the ABC. "We are trying to save as many lives as possible. " The idea came about after a friend's cousin, who was six-months pregnant, died from a non-COVID-19 illness after she was unable to get admitted to a hospital. Mr Sheikh told the ABC he sold his car so he and a growing list of volunteers could stock up on oxygen tanks. Covid’s second coming: how did Britain get back in this mess? It is the kind of scene that is now a distant memory in the UK.
Some 6,000 miles away, Taipei’s Pawnshop club is crammed every Friday and Saturday evening with sweaty crowds dancing under wreaths of smoke, and jostling each other at the bar for drinks. Here, the only reminders of coronavirus are on the door, where punters have their temperatures checked and scan a QR code to enter their contact details. Taiwan’s strict coronavirus controls means only citizens, long-term residents and travellers with business visas are allowed in, and anyone coming from abroad must spend two weeks in a quarantine hotel. Once that time is up, they emerge into a normality unimaginable in much of the rest of the world. 'Utter disaster': Manaus fills mass graves as Covid-19 hits the Amazon. Day and night, the dead are delivered into the tawny Amazonian earth – the latest victims of a devastating pandemic now reaching deep into the heart of the Brazilian rainforest. On Sunday 140 bodies were laid to rest in Manaus, the jungle-flanked capital of Amazonas state.
On Saturday, 98. Normally the figure would be closer to 30 – but these are no longer normal times. “It’s madness – just madness,” said Gilson de Freitas, a 30-year-old maintenance man whose mother, Rosemeire Rodrigues Silva, was one of 136 people buried there last Tuesday as local morticians set yet another grim daily record. Freitas – who believes his mother contracted Covid-19 after being admitted to hospital following a stroke – recalled watching in despair as her remains were lowered into a muddy trench alongside perhaps 20 other coffins. “They were just dumped there like dogs,” he said. The city’s mayor, Arthur Virgílio, pleaded for urgent international help. What Australia needs to do to avoid a third Covid wave. COVID-19 won't kill the office but people will need reasons not to work from home, experts say - ABC News. Coronavirus Will Change the World Permanently. Here’s How. Revived trust in institutions.Michiko Kakutani is author of the 2018 bestseller The Death of Truth and former chief book critic of the New York Times.
The coronavirus pandemic, one hopes, will jolt Americans into a realization that the institutions and values Donald Trump has spent his presidency assailing are essential to the functioning of a democracy—and to its ability to grapple effectively with a national crisis. A recognition that government institutions—including those entrusted with protecting our health, preserving our liberties and overseeing our national security—need to be staffed with experts (not political loyalists), that decisions need to be made through a reasoned policy process and predicated on evidence-based science and historical and geopolitical knowledge (not on Trump-ian “alternative facts,” political expediency or what Thomas Pynchon called, in Gravity’s Rainbow, “a chaos of peeves, whims, hallucinations and all-round assholery”).
Fast forward to 2020. COVID-19 Information and Resources. Victorian coronavirus healthcare workers not getting best PPE or more N95 masks amid shortage fears - ABC News. Asia Today: India adds over 83,000 cases, nears 5 million. NEW DELHI (AP) — India confirmed more than 83,000 new coronavirus cases on Tuesday, bringing its total caseload to nearly 5 million. The Health Ministry also reported 1,054 new deaths, driving total fatalities up to 80,776. With 4.93 million confirmed cases, India has the second-highest total in the world after the U.S. As India's virus cases rise, so do questions over death toll.
NEW DELHI (AP) — When Narayan Mitra died on July 16, a day after being admitted to the hospital for fever and breathing difficulties, his name never appeared on any of the official lists put out daily of those killed by the coronavirus. Aged care residents giving up due to COVID-19 and isolation, nurses fear - ABC News. Australian National University to lose 465 jobs due to financial impact of COVID-19 - ABC News. Why people get angry at coronavirus rule-breakers and want to call the police - ABC News. Extreme poverty 'will double by Christmas' in UK because of Covid-19. Britain’s largest food bank network has warned that UK destitution rates will double by Christmas alongside an explosion in demand for charity food parcels, as coronavirus job and income support schemes are wound down.
The Trussell Trust predicts that at least 670,000 extra people will become destitute in the last three months of the year – a level of poverty that leaves them unable to meet basic food, shelter or clothing needs – if the government withdraws Covid support for low-income households. Despite unprecedented demand for charity food since lockdown – 100,000 people used food banks for the first time between April and June – the trust said ending furlough in October would trigger a rise in food bank use of at least 61% – equivalent to a year-on-year increase of 300,000 parcels. As the US COVID-19 death toll passes 200,000, Americans are acclimatising to perpetual uncertainty - ABC News. Peru's Indigenous turn to ancestral remedies to fight virus. Palaszczuk shows emotional side as attacks over Queensland border closure take their toll. Victoria restrictions: Hundreds say they'll walk the Tan in Melbourne's latest anti-lockdown protest.
Coronavirus COVID-19 has hit some of India's poorest regions hard. Some doctors worry they're overworked and under protected - ABC News. Second Victorian COVID-19 anti-lockdown protest planned. Melbourne is bracing for another anti-lockdown protest with more than 1,000 planning a “freedom walk” amid stage four COVID-19 restrictions. After violent anti-lockdown protests at the Shrine of Remembrance and surrounding areas on the weekend, some 1,100 Facebook users have signalled their commitment to walk the Royal Botanic Gardens’ Tan track this Saturday. 'Daniel Andrews' police state is now world famous': Bolt.
Dan Andrews has left a trail of sneaky hints that reveal lockdown 'WON'T end for weeks' in Melbourne. Lockdown restrictions could remain imposed on Victorians for many weeks, Daniel Andrews has hinted. The Victorian Premier is set to reveal a decision on Sunday about whether his government will ease the strict Stage 4 rules that have closed down Melbourne for more than a month. However, speaking on Saturday as Victoria announced another 76 new coronavirus cases and 11 deaths, Mr Andrews hinted that the prohibitive measures would continue as long as COVID-19 remains a threat. Stage 4 restrictions in Melbourne, and Stage 3 in the rest of the state, were set to lift on September 13 at 11.59pm after weeks of enduring the miserable lockdown. Coronavirus: The psychological effects of quarantining a city Perth man receives six-month jail term over coronavirus hotel quarantine breach - ABC News.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews suggests stage 3 coronavirus restrictions will be first step after stage 4 lockdown - ABC News. Victoria hotel quarantine guards accused of bad behaviour in emails in inquiry - ABC News. Coronavirus testing in Melbourne went down — here's why some Aussies are avoiding the swab. 'Scarlet E': An eviction in the US can become a life sentence.
Australia's international students are going hungry, with 60 per cent now unemployed. Doctors warned Victoria's health department about hotel infection control dangers before coronavirus spread - ABC News. We put your questions about mental health support during the pandemic to the experts. Visa holders left broke and desperate amid the coronavirus job fallout - ABC News.
India's biggest slum has so far nailed coronavirus COVID-19. Here's how they did it - ABC News. Coronavirus cases among young people worldwide triple in five months. Victorian coronavirus rulebreakers warned as Melbourne woman charged with attacking police officer over mask - ABC News. Complaining about wearing a mask because of coronavirus? These nurses don't want to hear it - ABC News. A case is mounting for paid pandemic leave. But it won't be a silver bullet - ABC News. Coronavirus has exposed the fragility of our social fabric, and the threads are falling apart - ABC News. Presbyterian Church describes 'crazy' evacuation at Kirkbrae aged care home after mounting coronavirus cases - ABC News. Karl Stefanovic abruptly ends interview with anti-masker. Melbourne Bunnings customer who refused to wear mask slammed by medical and legal experts. Video has emerged of the Bunnings anti-mask woman berating an Australia Post worker.
Melbourne's second COVID-19 lockdown harder than the first, as data shows people slower to respond - ABC News. UNSW job cuts to total 493 amid COVID-19 response plan. Coronavirus: Man, 30, dies after attending 'COVID party' Donald Trump says he's now open to masks, but it may be too late to stop America's coronavirus disaster - ABC News. COVID-19 Information and Resources. Victoria on track to overtake NSW as Australia's worst-affected coronavirus state - ABC News. Peers call for tougher regulation of digital and social media in UK. 'Major incident' declared as thousands flock to UK beach during heatwave, sparking COVID-19 fears - ABC News. Coronavirus hotel quarantine numbers crack 60,000 people as governments spend more than $118 million - ABC News.
Your next overseas trip just got pushed back to July 2021 at least - Hack - triple j. Covid 'testing inequality' to widen divide between UK rich and poor. The shape of our new lives: Hope and interdependence in a post-pandemic world - ABC Religion & Ethics. Coronavirus restrictions have brought more bad news for the Australian job market. These are the key numbers you need to know - ABC News. India eases coronavirus lockdown as experts warn of rising infections. Data shows Melbourne suburbs worst hit by COVID-19 financial impact. COVID-19 Financial Impact Index - Taylor Fry. Asha COVID 19 Emergency Response for Slum Children. Anatomy of an outbreak: How the Ruby Princess nightmare unfolded - ABC News. Beyond binaries in COVID-19 discussions.
Re-imagining a better kind of society. When normal returns, what do we want it to be? No masks allowed: stores turn customers away in US culture war. Fewer young adults sticking to lockdown rules, UK study shows. Africa has not been hit hard by coronavirus yet, but the disease could 'smoulder' there for years - ABC News. Arundhati Roy: ‘The pandemic is a portal’ Arundhati Roy: “The Pandemic Is a Portal” - Yes! Magazine. #CoronaCapitalism: six ways capitalism spreads the crisis – Corporate Watch.
Housing is health: Coronavirus highlights the dangers of the housing crisis in Canada’s North. Coronavirus crisis drives housing advocates' push for rent and mortgage relief. Latest: How cities worldwide are lifting coronavirus restrictions. International students face life-changing decisions as COVID-19 takes its toll - ABC News. Racist coronavirus graffiti sprayed on Chinese-Australian family's home in Melbourne.
Covid-19 shows up UK universities' shameful employment practices. Coronavirus: scientists caution against reopening schools. Is COVID-19 the Apocalypse? Generations React. Street Art Murals in response to the COVID-19 Pandemic, 2020. Graphic Medicine. Fake coronavirus cure kills 300 people in Iran after ingesting methanol. Fighting on the front lines against COVID-19 - Sidney Daily News. Coronavirus backlash: US citizens protest on streets in ‘zombie hordes’ Coronavirus: Powerful photos sum up US COVID-19 protests. Are 'busloads' of shoppers really stripping Australia's regional supermarkets bare? Why are Western countries being hit harder than East Asian countries by coronavirus?
Healing the urban-rural divide: Why a 'locals-first' approach doesn't work in a pandemic. UNESCO RESILIART DEBATE Artists and Creativity beyond Crisis.