1.13pm EDT13:13
Anti-vaccine TikTok videos being viewed by children as young as nine
Lies and conspiracy theories about Covid-19, which have amassed millions of views and are accessible to young children, have remained on the social media platform TikTok for months after it was alerted to them, the Guardian has learned.
TikTok accounts with hundreds of thousands of followers that discourage vaccination and peddle myths about Covid survival rates were uncovered by Newsguard, an organisation that monitors online misinformation.
Newsguard said it had flagged the dangerous content to TikTok in June but many of the accounts remained active on the platform.
The revelation comes amid renewed concern about the impact that social media is having on young people, after it was reported that Instagram, which is owned by Facebook, had internal research showing its app was harming teenagers.
As part of its investigation, Newsguard said children as young as nine had been able to access the content, despite TikTok only permitting full access to the app for those aged 13 and over.
Three participants in the organisation’s research who were under 13 were able to create accounts on the app by entering fake dates of birth.
TikTok told the Guardian it worked diligently to take action on content and accounts that spread misinformation.
1.10pm EDT13:10
CDC advisers to meet to discuss Pfizer jabs for young kids – report
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1.06pm EDT13:06
One in 14 secondary school age children in the UK had Covid last week, according to figures released by the Office for National Statistics.
The substantial increase – up from an estimated one in 20 pupils the previous week – suggests that the spread of Covid through secondary schools is far outpacing the government’s vaccination programme.
It follows criticism this week from headteachers and parents about a “haphazard” vaccine rollout that is continuing to disrupt education.
The ONS survey, based on swabs collected from randomly selected households, showed an overall increase in Covid infections in England from one in 85 people to one in 70 in the week ending 2 October.
The trend was driven by an apparently huge rise in infections in secondary age children, with most age ranges showing steady or decreasing rates of positive tests.
Covid cases fell in recent weeks in Scotland and Northern Ireland with an “uncertain” trend in Wales, the ONS survey found.
12.33pm EDT12:33
Canada’s latest coronavirus wave could decline in the coming weeks with increasing numbers of Canadians now vaccinated, a top medical official said on Friday.
Theresa Tam, the chief public health officer, told reporters that the rate of transmission across Canada was now below 1, indicating the current outbreak had “dropped out of a growth pattern at the national level.”
One of the reasons for the drop is the increasing number of people who have been inoculated, Reuters reported. As of 4 October, almost 81% of Canadians above age 12 were fully vaccinated.
“The longer-range forecast suggests that, at current levels of transmission, the fourth wave could decline in the coming weeks,” said Tam.
Official data show 28,141 Canadians have died since the pandemic started last year.
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12.16pm EDT12:16
The English rock band Genesis have postponed the remaining dates in their The Last Domino? tour after positive coronavirus tests.
The four shows were due to be played at the SSE Hydro in Glasgow on Friday night and London’s O2 Arena on 11, 12 and 13 October.
The rock band, known for songs including I Can’t Dance and That’s All, said they are “devastated” by the news, but the safety of the audience and their touring crew takes priority. A statement said:
Following guidance and advice from the government, it is with huge regret that the final four shows of Genesis’ Last Domino? tour … have had to be postponed due to positive Covid-19 tests within the band.
We are working to reschedule them as soon as possible and will announce the new dates through our website and social media channels as soon as possible. All tickets will remain valid and ticket holders will be contacted by their ticket providers.
This is a hugely frustrating development for the band who are devastated with this unlucky turn of events. They hate having to take these steps but the safety of the audience and touring crew has to take priority. They look forward to seeing you upon their return.
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11.34am EDT11:34
Singapore’s health ministry reported 3,590 new cases of coronavirus on Friday, the highest since the beginning of the pandemic.
It also confirmed that the country recorded six new deaths, Reuters reported.
A recent spike in infections after the relaxation of some restrictions has prompted Singapore to pause further reopening.
It also tightened curbs from last week that limited social gatherings to two people and made work from home a default.
More than 80% of Singapore’s population has been vaccinated against the virus.
11.29am EDT11:29
Brazil is set to become the second country in the world to pass 600,000 Covid deaths.
It represents a dark milestone for a government that has been sharply criticised by health experts for mismanaging the outbreak, Reuters reported.
The country has ramped up vaccinations after a slow start, however, and there are signs infections are finally ebbing.
More than 70% of Brazilians have received a first dose, compared to 65% in the United States, which passed 600,000 deaths in June.
“The rejection rate of vaccines is really low, it makes other countries jealous,” said Alexandre Naime Barbosa, head of epidemiology at Sao Paulo State University. “That’s really important for Brazil to contain the pandemic.”
10.47am EDT10:47
The UK government is lifting its advice against non-essential travel to a further 51 countries and territories due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The foreign secretary, Liz Truss, said the decision allowed people to “exercise personal responsibility”.
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) will lift its advice for the Bahamas, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Jamaica, Martinique, Palau, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Western Sahara on Friday, PA Media reported.
Advice for a further 42 locations will be lifted on Monday, including Argentina, Chile, Cuba, Indonesia, Mexico, the Seychelles, South Africa and Thailand.
It follows the removal of travel advisories to 32 countries on Wednesday, and is part of a new policy to stop advising Britons to avoid all but essential travel to non-red list countries on Covid grounds except in “exceptional circumstances”, such as if the local healthcare system is overwhelmed.
This makes it simpler for people visiting those locations to obtain travel insurance. Truss said:
These updates make travel abroad easier – boosting trade, tourism and reuniting friends and families.
I am delighted that the safe reopening of travel allows people to exercise personal responsibility and visit more destinations across the globe.
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10.10am EDT10:10
In the US, health systems in Colorado and Washington are removing unvaccinated patients from organ transplant lists, given research that unprotected recipients are much more likely to die from Covid-19.
UCHealth in Colorado told a patient on the kidney transplant waiting list that she needed to get vaccinated in the next 30 days or she would be removed from the list. Leilani Lutali told 9News that she was the patient in question, and she hadn’t been vaccinated yet because of her religious views.
State representative Tim Geitner, a Republican, tweeted the letter she received on Tuesday and said the health system “denies life-saving treatment.”
It is standard practice to require vaccinations before transplants, experts say, because anti-rejection medications make recipients immune-suppressed and put them at extremely high risk of dying from infections, including the coronavirus.
UW Medicine also added Covid vaccination as a condition for the transplant list a few weeks ago, joining other vaccinations required for years. If patients choose not to be vaccinated, they are removed from the waiting list. In an informal Twitter poll from one transplant director, one-third of respondents said their transplant centres had similar policies.
“Transplant patients are much more vulnerable to infection,” Dr Camille Kotton, clinical director of transplant and immunocompromised host infectious diseases at the Massachusetts General hospital, told the Guardian in an email. “And transplant patients are among the higher risk for developing severe life-threatening Covid-19.”
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9.49am EDT09:49
Dale Moody, one of the thousands of volunteers who took part in the Novavax Covid vaccine trial, said he welcomed the government announcement that they are to be offered approved vaccines so they can travel abroad.
“I am both relieved and elated about the decision to let Novavax volunteers have an approved vaccine for travel or as a booster,” he told the Guardian. “It is a load off my mind.
“I was concerned that we had been cast aside,” said Moody, 69, of Market Drayton, Shropshire. “I had my second dose of Novavax in November last year and was worried about not getting a booster vaccine.”
The married father of two and grandfather of four added:
I have family in Australia and was concerned that the uncertainties about the approval timescale of Novavax would prohibit visiting my family out there.
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9.10am EDT09:10
Families bereaved by Covid have expressed pain at revelations that a government exercise modelling a large-scale coronavirus outbreak recommended four years before the pandemic that better preparations were needed in key areas including building stockpiles of personal protective equipment (PPE) and a contact-tracing system.
“Our loved ones might still be with us today, if only the government had followed their own recommendations,” said Lobby Akinnola, the spokesperson for Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice, which represents more than 4,000 bereaved families.
The group spoke out after the Guardian revealed the previously confidential report into Exercise Alice, in which senior health officials war-gamed cases of Middle East respiratory syndrome (Mers-CoV) arriving in London and Birmingham and spreading rapidly. It warned of the need for stockpiles of PPE, a computerised contact-tracing system and screening for overseas travel.
Akinnola said:
For the tens of thousands of families that lost loved ones as a direct consequence of the lack of PPE, ineffectual contact-tracing systems or the failures in screening for foreign travel, this news is extremely painful.
We can’t help asking what is the point in the department of health carrying out these exercises if they’re just going to ignore them when a crisis actually hits?
