The coronavirus infection rate in the UK is “still alarmingly high”, the prime minister has said, but England’s chief medical officer has suggested we are past the current peak. Boris Johnson told a Downing Street news briefing that while there were “signs of hope”, as he hailed the UK passing the milestone of having administered
Month: February 2021
If the pandemic has been good for one thing, it’s time in bed. “People are taking a chance to get some extra sleep,” says Daniel McNamara, a data scientist at energy supplier Bulb. “It’s cool.” The insight comes from an unexpected source: smart meters. These devices measure electricity usage and send the information straight to
Russia’s foreign minister has described reaction from Western countries to opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s jailing as “hysteria” – telling them to keep out of Russia’s affairs. At a news conference in Moscow, Sergei Lavrov said: “As for the coverage of events happening in Russia, not just those related to Navalny, but to everything in general,
The Golden Globes have kicked off a delayed awards season, with British stars leading the way in some of the biggest categories. Revenge thriller Promising Young Woman earned its leading lady Carey Mulligan an acting nod, while filmmaker Emerald Fennel picked up two nominations, both for best director and best screenplay. The Crown’s Josh O’Connor
Boris Johnson has vowed to “do everything we need to do” – including an attempt to override post-Brexit arrangements with the EU – in order to “ensure there is no barrier down the Irish Sea”. Having held talks with Northern Ireland’s First Minister Arlene Foster on Wednesday morning, the prime minister later raised the prospect
Rihanna has shown her support for Indian farmers protesting in New Delhi over new agriculture laws they say will destroy their livelihoods. The pop star – who has 101m followers on Twitter – shared a CNN article about the protests on the social media site, with the message: “Why aren’t we talking about this?! #FarmersProtest”.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has pledged to focus on “new products and early initiatives” after announcing he is to step down as chief executive later this year. Mr Bezos is to hand over the role to Andy Jassy during the summer but will stay on as executive chair of the company he founded nearly three
Police in Myanmar have filed a charge against ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been remanded in detention until 15 February. Ms Suu Kyi, who was detained on Monday as Myanmar’s military staged a coup, is charged with breaching the country’s import and export laws. A police document states that four illegally imported
About one in seven people in private households in England had contracted coronavirus by mid-January, according to Office for National Statistics (ONS) estimates. The figure is equivalent to 6.9 million people – 15.3% of the population. The estimate is up from one in nine people in December, last year, and one in 11 people in
Drugs giant GlaxoSmithKline and German biotech firm CureVac have struck a €150m (£130m) deal to develop next-generation COVID-19 vaccines that target several variants of the virus in one product. The companies said in a joint statement that they were targeting a launch of the vaccine in 2022. It comes as public health experts around the
No date has been set for when quarantine hotels will be made mandatory in England, but the health secretary promised “strong” action at the border to protect against new coronavirus variants. Matt Hancock could not say when the government-provided accommodation for residents and nationals arriving from 30 countries will open, after the ambition was announced
The remains of a police officer killed when supporters of Donald Trump stormed the US Capitol last month have been taken to the building’s historic rotunda to lie in honour. Brian Sicknick was on duty when rioters, angry over US president Donald Trump’s election loss, stormed the building on 6 January, and was hit in
A SpaceX Starship prototype rocket has exploded on landing after an experimental launch in Texas. The Starship SN9 launched successfully but blew up on its final descent in Boca Chica on Tuesday, in a repeat of an accident that destroyed previous test rocket the SN8 in December. Like the SN8, the SN9 was a prototype
Amazon has announced its founder and CEO Jeff Bezos is to step down from running the business as it reported record revenues for its core Christmas quarter, topping $100bn for the first time with help from the coronavirus pandemic. The e-commerce, cloud data storage and entertainment giant said Bezos would become executive chair during the
The World Health Organisation team in Wuhan investigating the origins of COVID-19 say they are getting data “which no one has seen before” and are “really getting somewhere” – and have not ruled out the possibility that the virus had escaped from a lab. Dr Peter Daszak, part of the ongoing WHO mission, told Sky
The Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine may have a “substantial effect” on transmission of coronavirus, and a three-month gap between doses does not lower protection, according to a report. Tests results by University of Oxford, published in a pre-print report with The Lancet, showed a 67% reduction in positive COVID-19 swabs among those vaccinated. Live COVID updates from