Science | The Guardian

Guidance published for businesses on how to operate safely; UK coronavirus death toll passes 40,000, official figures say; Reading and Leeds festivals cancelled

My colleague and friend Carol Ellison, who has died of cancer aged 58, was a scientist in the field of biological control of invasive species. This is a little-known but increasingly important tool in the management of alien weeds which, if unchecked, can destabilise ecosystems and constrain agriculture.Born in Croydon, south London, to Edward Ellison, a toolmaker, and his wife, Valerie (nee Rickard), Carol was a committed environmentalist from an early age. She graduated in biological sciences from the University of East Anglia and subsequently registered for an MSc in pest management at Imperial College London, during which she worked with me in Kenya as part of her thesis investigating the potential of fungal pathogens for the control of African grasses. Continue reading...

Tom Hurd, who was at Eton and Oxford with PM, parachuted in to launch new coronavirus unit

China, Denmark and Singapore expand testing; Spain to quarantine new arrivals; France bans drinking on Seine

The prime minister is handling coronavirus so badly now, he makes even his most unpopular predecessors look public-spiritedThough it majors in killing, coronavirus certainly enjoys a sideways glance at inequality. In April, we discovered that the British TV show Holby City owned only one fewer working ventilator than the African country Liberia. On Sunday, construction and manufacturing workers were told to get back to work by a man who skived off five consecutive Cobra meetings during a wildly mushrooming global epidemic. Five! Boris Johnson couldn’t even be bothered to turn up and grip the government’s crucial early response to a deadly virus – are we supposed to believe he’d be rushing back to finish a loft extension out of civic duty? He’s not even prime minister out of civic duty.Still, that’s showbiz. You miss one universal credit meeting and your benefits are stopped; you miss five Cobra meetings and you get to address the nation on its working responsibilities from a drawing room so vast you’d need a hansom cab to traverse it. (When are we de-furloughing the hansom cabbies? I don’t care if they are dead and from the 19th century: that’s hardly a bar to this government assessing them as fit for work.) Continue reading...

Dmitry Peskov confirms to Russian media that he is being treated for Covid-19

Scientists warn of rolling lockdowns if government fails to reconsider its approach

Latest figures from public health authorities on the spread of Covid-19 in the United Kingdom. Find out how many confirmed cases have been reported in each of England’s local authorities

As the coronavirus pandemic swept around the globe, anecdotal reports began to emerge about a strange symptom: people were losing their sense of taste and smell. To find out whether this effect is really down to Sars-CoV-2, and if so, why, Ian Sample talks to Carl Philpott Continue reading...

UK and WHO to lead global Covid-19 information campaign; Aden declared an ‘infested’ city

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We are told to ‘stay alert’, but if alertness could conquer this virus, we would all be fine. The message is about shifting responsibility away from the government and on to the public

A large-scale return to work without the ability to test, trace and isolate risks creating super-spreader events

Cave objects suggest modern humans and Neanderthals shared continent for several thousand years

Billionaire puts more than fifth of stake up for sale to help prop up airline and rest of group

Chris Whitty and Patrick Vallance had no role in signing off advice, Guardian has learned

Latest figures from public health authorities on the spread of Covid-19 in the United Kingdom. Find out how many confirmed cases have been reported in each of England’s local authorities

Researchers have observed mutations in some strains that may help the virus spread

Prime minister says from June some pupils could return to school in England; official UK death toll rises to 31,855

This week is a good time to see red giant Arcturus and bright white Vega, with the Corona BorealisThe northern hemisphere’s spring constellations are now well placed in the evening sky. The chart shows the view looking south from London throughout the evenings this week. The jewel is the orange star Arcturus in Böotes, the herdsman. It can be most easily located by identifying the Plough and following the curve of the handle around and down. Arcturus is a red giant star, fully 25 times the radius of the sun. At a distance of about 37 light years, it is also fairly nearby. It is by far the brightest star in this part of the sky. Continue reading...

System will mirror independent terror alerts, categorising threat level on scale of one to five

UK companies accused of undermining promise to stop advertising during lockdown

While protesters call for further relaxing of social restrictions, scientists warn of new dynamicWith the Covid-19 pandemic stretching into its third month in Europe, Germany is discovering that a competent handling of the crisis in the early stages can become a burden later on.As the kind of dramatic scenes of overstretched health services witnessed in Italy or Spain never fully materialised in Germany, politicians have increasingly struggled to convince the public of the need for strict adherence to social distancing. Now this phenomenon, which the virologist Christian Drosten has called the “prevention paradox”, is fuelling fears of a second wave of the pandemic. Continue reading...

First minister hits out at No 10’s latest coronavirus messaging as ‘vague and imprecise’

Global infections surpass 4m; cluster detected in Dordogne, new cases highlight risks as lockdowns eased

Adapting, picking battles and bribery aid home schooling from Bulgaria to Bondi Beach during the coronavirus pandemic

Testing falls below daily target of 100,000 for seventh consecutive day

As schools and businesses get set to reopen some citizens urge caution, wary of a spike in infections

UK will either ‘adapt’ contact-tracing app or change to decentralised model favoured by other countries

The last of Newfoundland’s Beothuk was thought to have died in 1829 but new research indicates the bloodline did not die out – as Mi’kmaq tradition has always maintainedWhen a woman named Shanawdithit succumbed to tuberculosis in Newfoundland nearly 200 years ago, it was widely believed that her death marked a tragic end to her people’s existence.For centuries, the Beothuk had thrived along the rocky shores of the island, taking on a near-mythical status as descendants of the first people encountered by Norse explorers in what is now Canada. But their population was devastated by decades of starvation and diseases, and when she died in 1829, Shanawdithit was believed to be the last of her line. Continue reading...

Latest figures from public health authorities on the spread of Covid-19 in the United Kingdom. Find out how many confirmed cases have been reported in each of England’s local authorities

This could be the perfect time for couples to boost their sex lifeFor many of us right now, sex couldn’t be further from our minds. Our usual routines have been turned upside down and the way we are living can be challenging for even the most harmonious of relationships. But what if we viewed this time as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reset and refresh our sex lives?The fact that sex isn’t a priority for a large proportion of people fits with findings from sex research along with, well, common sense. Stress and anxiety are known to reduce our sexual desire and a preoccupation with the news, our finances, the health of our loved ones, or how much is in our store cupboards, can understandably slow the wheels of our sex life to a standstill. Continue reading...

As an appeal is launched to boost support, counselling and education for ICU workers, one doctor describes how they strive to save lives

Employers face a logistical nightmare as staff return

Bankuet sees massive growth as the lockdown clears long-life items from supermarket shelves

Since the UK confirmed its first case, its response has proved one of the least effective

Follow the science, they say… So here are 12 new ‘observations’ about life in a post-pandemic worldApologies in advance: this column will be distressing to scientists (including those in my own family, but thankfully none of them read what I write).The rules of the physical world seem to be abandoning us. The virus acts like no other pathogen. Two metres is entirely subjective now, expanding and contracting to meet our needs. Time is non-Newtonian, like the cornflour you’ve probably resorted to if you have small children to entertain, stiff and fluid at once. Numbers are basically meaningless: in pandemic maths, a figure such as 413 deaths – the one released on the day I am writing, an unthinkable catastrophe at another time – is encouraging, a cause for some optimism. Continue reading...

The Labour MP and A&E doctor on her run-in with the health secretary and her shifts on the hospital frontline

Coronavirus crisis reveals weakness in supply chain as medicines in export ban rise from 29 to 196 this year

As hundreds of test kits claim to offer accurate results on previous Covid-19 infection, scientists around the world are working hard to assess their accuracy

Bundesliga suffers huge setback after footballers test positive; Belarus leader holds parade prompting safety concerns as other nations curb WW2 events. This blog has now closed. Follow our continuing coverage below

Only US is judged to have dealt with it worse, after it was reported the UK has the highest death toll of any country in Europe

Leaders of Unison, Unite, the GMB and Usdaw join TUC in calling for radical overhaul of health and safety in the workplace

State reports 73 cases of children falling severely ill with toxic shock-like reaction that has symptoms similar to Kawasaki disease

Letter seeks to dispel view that Prof Neil Ferguson was single architect of lockdown idea

Islanders are coming to terms with unexpected publicity from the contact-tracing pilot project

Latest figures from public health authorities on the spread of Covid-19 in the United Kingdom. Find out how many confirmed cases have been reported in each of England’s local authorities

A summary of the biggest developments in the global coronavirus outbreak

British medical journal’s editorial says the Brazilian president’s disregard for lockdown measures is damaging

20m Americans lost their jobs in April; Donald Trump says virus will ‘go away without a vaccine’. This blog is now closed, follow our new blog below