Saudi Arabia bans religious tourists from entering country as WHO says virus now spreading faster outside China than in it. This blog is closed

Government planning public information campaign amid concerns of an Italy-sized outbreak

The reaction to the outbreak has revealed the unreconstructed despotism of the Chinese stateOver the past 70 years, the Chinese Communist party has subjected its country to a succession of manmade catastrophes, from the Great Famine, the Cultural Revolution and the Tiananmen Square massacre, to the forceful suppression of rights in Hong Kong and Tibet, and the mass internment of Uighurs in Xinjiang. Official coverups and corruption have multiplied the death toll of natural calamities, from the Sars virus to the Sichuan earthquake.Xi Jinping’s mishandling of the coronavirus epidemic must now be added to the party’s shameful list of crimes. With serious outbreaks occurring in Japan, South Korea, Iran and Italy, it is clear that the virus of Xi’s totalitarian rule threatens the health and freedoms not only of the Chinese people, but of all of us everywhere. Continue reading...

Before you start stockpiling face masks, be aware that perverse perceptions of risk may help Covid-19 to spreadOur friend and fellow disaster researcher was recently asked to self-quarantine for two weeks after returning from south-east Asia. Although he hadn’t travelled to China, he had taken a plane home with others who were returning from Beijing. A few days before his voluntary quarantine was set to expire, he visited his office to fetch a library book and ran into a colleague. Why did he take the risk? And was his colleague, who knew about the situation, concerned about contagion?People are often optimistic about risks. In the field of risk perception, we call this an “optimism bias”; people may think they can control their own exposure to diseases, that they don’t need a vaccine because they aren’t susceptible to flu, or that they won’t transmit their cold to others. Our friend was confident he couldn’t be a vector for coronavirus, or Covid-19; likewise, one of our family members recently flew across the country with a severe respiratory ailment, insisting that her mask and careful handwashing would protect those around her on the plane. Continue reading...

Latest figures on new infections suggest Beijing’s strict response to the crisis is paying off

Targaryendraco wiedenrothi has been renamed after House of Targaryen in George RR Martin’s fantasy sagaGeorge RR Martin is celebrating after a palaeontologist, who named a new genus of pterosaur after the dragons of House Targaryen, agreed with him that dragons should have two, rather than four, legs.The fossilised bones of Targaryendraco wiedenrothi, which lived 130m years ago, were discovered by Kurt Wiedenroth in 1984 in northern Germany. The specimen was originally classified within the Ornithocheirus group of pterosaurs, as Ornithocheirus wiedenrothi, but the toothy pterosaur has now been reassigned to the new genus Targaryendraco. Six other already known pterosaurs were also found to be closely related to the group, which features pterosaurs with wingspans between 10 and 26 feet, and narrow snouts. Continue reading...

My friend Mike Solomon, who has died aged 52 of cancer, was a clinical psychologist at the Tavistock clinic in London, working with children and young people with social, emotional and mental health problems.He thrived on building relationships and was often to be found having a clinical “session” with young people on a football pitch or at a bus stop. Continue reading...

What are the symptoms caused by the Covid-19 virus from Wuhan in China, how does it spread from person to person, and when should you call a doctor?

More cases in South Korea while first suspected infection is recorded in Latin America

At least now we know how COMPLETELY UNPREPARED THE WORLD IS

Lone Kabul laboratory preparing to treat patients in the midst of political turmoil and tentative peace talks, as border with Iran closed

Herring gulls more likely to peck at items if humans pretend to eat them firstIt’s the sort a sneaky trick only a gull would learn: by watching how people handle their food, the birds can work out when there are snacks to be had.Researchers found that herring gulls were more likely to peck at items left on the ground if humans had pretended to eat them first. Continue reading...

Switzerland, Austria and Croatia report first cases as outbreak worsens across Europe

Current diagnostic method for Barrett’s oesophagus relies on invasive and costly endoscopyAn electronic device that “sniffs” breath may offer a new way to identify people with a condition that can lead to cancer of the oesophagus, researchers have revealed.Recent figures suggest there are about 9,000 new cases of oesophageal cancer, or cancer of the food pipe, every year in the UK. Continue reading...

Virus appeared in new cases in Italy, Spain, Austria, Switzerland and Croatia

Only five states can detect virus after testing kits found to be faulty – but Trump claims coronavirus ‘is going to go away’

Many experts believe this outbreak will soon be declared a pandemic. Even if it is not containable, it can still be slowedIt now appears almost inevitable that the new coronavirus outbreak will soon be identified as a global pandemic. There has been a surge in cases in Iran, South Korea and Italy, and incidents confirmed in numerous countries, in addition to the almost 80,000 cases seen in China. The World Health Organization argues that it is not a pandemic – spreading internationally in an uncontrolled way – because it is cautiously optimistic that China’s outbreak may have peaked thanks to the strict measures adopted by Beijing. Others say this is already a pandemic in all but name.The WHO’s hesitance may be partly due to its concern about the public reaction, as rational worries combine with limited medical knowledge, xenophobia and broader anxieties. “Using the word pandemic now does not fit the facts, but it may certainly cause fear,” the WHO director general, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, warned on Monday. As concern spreads, economic effects are growing alongside the human toll. Stock markets have taken a hammering. Airlines are suffering, major international events are being cancelled, and companies dependent on Chinese-made components have halted production. Continue reading...

Sufferers found to have low levels of gut microbes that convert bile acids into other substancesHopes of developing a new treatment for ulcerative colitis have been raised by research suggesting the condition may be linked to low levels of certain bacteria in the gut.Ulcerative colitis is a long-term condition in which the colon becomes inflamed. According to the NHS, it is thought to be an autoimmune disease and affects one in every 420 people in the UK. Sufferers need to empty their bowels frequently, develop ulcers in their colon and have recurring bouts of diarrhoea with blood and pus in the faeces. Continue reading...

H10 Costa Adeje Palace hotel on lockdown as first case confirmed in mainland Spain

Feverish Iraj Harirchi says disease ‘doesn’t distinguish between statesman and ordinary citizen’Iran’s deputy health minister said he has contracted the coronavirus and placed himself in isolation, a day after appearing feverish at a press conference in which he downplayed its spread in the shrine city of Qom and said mass quarantines were unnecessary.Iraj Harirchi posted a video on social media on Tuesday acknowledging he had caught the virus, which appears to be taking rapid hold in parts of Iran. The news has underscored widespread fears that the outbreak may have passed a tipping point, before authorities had been able to gauge its full extent. Continue reading...

With people trapped indoors, online activity of all sorts – funny, inspiring, government sanctioned and not – has bloomedIn many ways, the coronavirus outbreak in China has been one big social experiment, testing the thesis: what happens when an entire country goes into hibernation for weeks?Since the outbreak was officially announced more than a month ago, less than one-third of China’s 300 million migrant workers have returned to work a fortnight after the lunar new year break; 270 million children, according to China’s official news agency, are staying home as schools remain shut throughout China. Continue reading...

What are the symptoms caused by the Covid-19 virus from Wuhan in China, how does it spread, and should you call a doctor?

Evaluations of 26 people by Physicians for Human Rights provides first in-depth look at policy’s psychological impactThe trauma Donald Trump’s administration caused to young children and parents separated at the US-Mexico border constitutes torture, according to evaluations of 26 children and adults by the group Physicians for Human Rights (PHR).The not-for-profit group’s report provides the first in-depth look at the psychological impact of family separation, which the US government continued despite warnings from the nation’s top medical bodies. Continue reading...

UK government issues advice to people travelling from quarantine regions

What is a pandemic, why would the WHO declare the Covid-19 outbreak to be one and what comes next?Pandemics have nothing to do with the severity of a disease but are to do with its geographic spread. According to the World Health Organization, a pandemic is declared when a new disease for which people do not have immunity spreads around the world beyond expectations. Continue reading...

Political interference in scientific research has been weaponised during the past decade, and we are all suffering the consequencesPolicies matter. Good policies lead to good outcomes, while bad policies can lead to disaster. But what about where there is no policy, or a policy that is incohesive and incomplete? We only need to look at the state of science research policy in Australia to find out.Scientific research in Australia has always suffered from political influence, because research in Australia is heavily dependent on federal government funding. But political interference in scientific research has been weaponised during the past decade of Coalition governments. Continue reading...

Nation brings in ‘maximum measures’ to contain outbreak at secretive church

System on a ‘knife-edge’ due to skills shortages and funding cuts in England and WalesInnocent people are being wrongly convicted and criminals are escaping justice because of the failure of the forensic science system to meet basic standards, the regulator has said.Delivering a stark message before the release of her annual report on Tuesday, the forensic science regulator, Dr Gillian Tully, told the Guardian the service had been operating “on a knife-edge” for years. Continue reading...

African-American mathematician who played a key role in landing men on the moonIt was not the most arresting of titles: in 1959 the African-American mathematician Katherine Johnson, who has died aged 101, completed a paper entitled Determination of Azimuth Angle at Burnout for Placing a Satellite Over a Selected Earth Position. Thus did she become the first woman to have a credit on a report published by the flight research division of the newly created National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa).Even more significantly, those calculations were at the basis of a crucial part of Johnson’s work for the astronaut John Glenn, when, in 1962, he became the first American to orbit the Earth. “Get the girl,” the astronaut had said, refusing to fly unless Johnson, with her mastery of mathematics, had verified the computer’s work on her mechanical calculating machine. “If she says they’re good, then I’m ready to go.” She did, and he flew. Continue reading...

Leading researcher in animal flight who helped explain the workings of birds and batsColin Pennycuick, who has died aged 86, was the pre-eminent researcher in animal flight over the last century. He focused on the flight of bats and birds (and their possible ancestors), and asked the question: how do they work? To answer this deceptively simple question he brought to bear a mix of sharp logic and original and practical invention.Though he sought to ground his work in the rigorous application of physics and mathematics, he was not satisfied with abstract results and conclusions by themselves, but always sought to democratise his findings, first to the biological sciences community and then to the huge population of lay people fascinated with birds and their flight escapades. Continue reading...

InSight, which touched down in 2018, proves beyond doubt that Mars is seismically activeThe latest robot to land on Mars has felt the ground shake beneath its feet, whirlwinds tear across the surface and sudden blasts of air shoot past like “atmospheric tsunamis”.The measurements are the first to be released from Nasa’s InSight lander, which touched down in the barren expanse of Elysium Planitia in November 2018 on a mission to investigate the planet’s interior. Continue reading...

The solutions to today’s puzzlesEarlier today I set you these three problems about birthdays.1. Philippe [geddit?] was born on 29 February 2016. His parents decided to celebrate his first birthday 365 days later. Continue reading...

Johnson overcame racial and gender-based discrimination to become an integral part of Nasa’s work in space explorationKatherine Johnson, one of the trailblazing African American mathematicians whose story was told in the hit film Hidden Figures, has died, Nasa announced on Monday. She was 101.Related: How history forgot the black women behind Nasa’s space race Continue reading...

Some victims’ diagnosis of HIV and hepatitis C was withheld for years, hearing toldThe guilt of infected blood donors and the anger of victims whose diagnosis of HIV and hepatitis C was withheld from them for years has emerged as evidence given in secret was read out to a public hearing in London.On Monday, witnesses who did not want to appear in person had their testimony delivered by intermediaries who interviewed them for the infected blood inquiry. It is examining how as many as 30,000 people became severely ill after being given contaminated blood products by the NHS in the 1970s and 80s; many have since died. Continue reading...

Cases outside China jump, but WHO experts in Beijing say country has seen ‘steep decline’ in infections

78,000 cases confirmed, as Italy and Iran scramble to contain major outbreaks

Quadrennial questionsIt’s not often a leap year comes around. About once every four years, in fact.To celebrate this year’s bonus day, which falls on Saturday, here are three puzzles about dates and births. Continue reading...

The film Black in Space: Breaking the Color Barrier dives into the under-reported history of efforts to include people of color in the space raceMost children who rise through the American education system are familiar with the US space program – or at least the story of the program’s achievements: John Glenn’s orbit of the earth, John F Kennedy’s promise to put a man on the moon by the end of the 1960s, the Apollo program, Neil Armstrong’s giant leap for mankind. “In the end, the big takeaway we get is that America was first in everything,” the documentary film-maker Laurens Grant told the Guardian. There’s an assumption, in American history textbooks, films and the many commemorative specials on last year’s 50th anniversary of the moon landing, of Nasa’s inevitability to get it right, and to be great.Related: Mercury 13: the untold story of women testing for spaceflight in the 1960s Continue reading...

Manchester City’s fortunes changed dramatically with the takeover by Sheikh Mansour of Abu Dhabi. But after years of success, Europe’s governing body has banned the club from its most prestigious tournament, the Champions League. David Conn explains why. Plus: Alok Jha on the ethics of gene editingIt was deep into injury time in the final match of the 2011-12 season and Manchester City needed a goal to win the Premier League with just seconds remaining. The Argentinian striker Sergio Agüero jinked past a QPR defender and smashed the ball into the net, sending the crowd into raptures and securing the club’s first league title for more than 30 years. More were to follow as the Manchester City trophy cabinet filled up over subsequent years, fuelled by a multimillion-pound spending spree on the world’s best players. All of it financed by Sheikh Mansour of Abu Dhabi’s royal family.But after emails emerged in the German magazine Der Spiegel that appeared to show City had been flouting Uefa’s financial fair play rules, the club were put on notice for a possible sanction. When it came this month it shocked the world of football: a two-year ban from Europe’s most prestigious and lucrative club competition, the Champions League. Continue reading...

As Venus and the crescent moon meet in the evening sky, all of the moon’s disc will be lit by sunlight reflected from Earth

People caught entering or leaving outbreak areas to be fined, after country’s third death

Turkey and Pakistan close borders with Iran after eight deaths, while in northern Italy towns are on lockdown after jump in cases. This blog is closed

What symptoms are caused by the virus from Wuhan in China, how does it spread, and should you call a doctor?

Ankara also suspends incoming flights as Iranian authorities try to contain outbreak in countryTurkey and Pakistan have both closed their borders with Iran, with Turkey also halting incoming flights, in an effort to stop the potential spread of coronavirus after Iran reported 43 cases of the disease.All highways and railways were closed at the border between Turkey and Iran as of 5pm local time and flights from Iran had been suspended, the Turkish health minister, Fahrettin Koca, said on Sunday. Flights from Turkey to Iran were still being allowed. Continue reading...

Seeing the hidden world of care, after my beloved brother’s devastating accident, taught me about people’s remarkable strength and graceI often find myself thinking back to a fairly unremarkable afternoon in 2010. I was sitting in the day room of a care home while my older brother Miles slept beside me, in his wheelchair. Steve, one of the other severely brain-injured residents dotted around the room in wheelchairs, was in distress. His hands were up by his face in tight fists and he was weeping. Nothing anyone did to comfort or soothe him worked; the look on his contorted face was one of pure anguish.And then, just as Miles was waking up, Steve’s wife Natalia entered the room. Seeing her husband, she dropped her bags and ran to him, holding his face in her hands and covering it in kisses. Normally an outspoken and wonderfully foul-mouthed woman, she spoke now in gentle, incantatory whispers. I’ve never seen relief like the relief that flooded Steve’s face; it spread over his face and even his limbs, his neck softening back into the headrest, hands uncurling. It was a moment of tenderness and care, but also such profound intimacy that I found myself turning away, as if I were intruding. Continue reading...

Authorities are caught between urgent need to restart economy and efforts to contain virus

Thirty-two holidaymakers flown back as fear grows for welfare of infected Britons left in Japan

Exploring unusual subjects, from autopsies to the minutiae of long-haul truckingMortem | BBC Sounds

What are the symptoms caused by the virus from Wuhan in China, how does it spread, and when should you call a doctor?

Patients and staff at a hospital near Daegu account for bulk of 229 new cases as links to controversial ‘sect’ are investigatedSouth Korea has reported another huge jump in cases of coronavirus as the country fights to contain the spread of the deadly disease.The number of infections has increased by 229 to 433, officials said on Saturday, with most of the cases linked to the city of Daegu and surrounding region two hours south of Seoul. Continue reading...