China has suspended issuing short-term visas for South Koreans, in the first retaliatory move against countries imposing COVID curbs on Chinese travellers. The Chinese embassy in Seoul said on WeChat that its policy will be adjusted subject to South Korea lifting its "discriminatory entry restrictions" against China. Beijing has been accused by the World Health Organisation of withholding data on the state of the COVID outbreak in China, and several countries have followed the US in requiring negative coronavirus tests for those coming from China. South Korea is among the growing list of countries, including France and Japan, which have imposed border restrictions on travellers from China over concerns about COVID infections following the country's recent reopening. From Thursday, short-term visas for Chinese nationals will be suspended until the end … 阅读全文

Random passengers on direct flights from mainland China into the UK are to be tested for COVID-19 in a new UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) surveillance programme which starts today. Concern is growing that COVID is overwhelming the health system in China as the virus continues to spread through a large population which possesses little immunity thanks to the government's now scrapped Zero-COVID policy, which relied on isolation rather than inoculation. There are also fears about how accurate the country's data is over the outbreak. It is anticipated the currently low numbers of travellers from China will increase from today, as quarantine requirements on return to China are removed, so the new surveillance will begin. Since 5 January, people travelling from mainland China have been asked to take a pre-departure … 阅读全文

BioNTech has signed a deal with the UK government to enrol up to 10,000 patients in clinical trials by the end of 2030 for personalised cancer therapies. The deal is a big win for the UK, yet new cancer treatments will only work if the NHS does. Vaccines based on mRNA were the standout success of the COVID-19 pandemic. And persuading BioNTech, the company which pioneered them, to come to the UK is a coup for the Department of Health. But with even basic cancer services in the UK failing, experts are tempering their enthusiasm. "This is really exciting," says Sam Godfrey of Cancer Research UK. "But the government can't just paper over the cracks with a shiny new announcement." More than 600 million of doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID … 阅读全文

Patients in the UK will get early access to clinical trials for new cancer treatments under a government deal with German pharmaceutical company BioNTech. BioNTech developed an mRNA vaccine with US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer in 2020 during the COVID pandemic. Its partnership with the UK government aims to deliver personalised treatments to 10,000 patients by 2030 through a new research and development hub in Cambridge. Clinical trials could begin as soon as September, Health Secretary Steve Barclay said. The mRNA technology works by targeting specific cells with genetic code from the cancer it is seeking to fight, in contrast to more generalised chemotherapy. Image: BioNTech worked with Pfizer to develop the widely-used mRNA vaccination against COVID Image: BioNTech worked with Pfizer to develop the widely-used mRNA vaccination against COVID The … 阅读全文

After almost three years, the UK Health Security Agency will stop publishing COVID modelling data next month. The increasingly sporadic updates on the virus's R number will cease from 6 January, with it deemed "no longer necessary" thanks to vaccines and therapeutics. COVID's reproductive rate, which referred to the number of people an infected person will pass the disease on to, debuted back in May 2020 and was published weekly during the peak of the pandemic. An R value of 1 means that on average every person who is infected will infect 1 other person, meaning the total number of infections is stable. If R is greater than 1 the epidemic is growing, if R is less than 1 the epidemic is shrinking. If R is 2, on average, each … 阅读全文

The fact that China's authorities will no longer report asymptomatic cases sounds technical but it's really significant. It means the public will never know how bad the current dramatic surge of infections sweeping this country is. For the vast majority of the pandemic China has reported symptomatic and asymptomatic coronavirus cases separately. While it's always been a little unclear how "asymptomatic" has been defined, it has been this number throughout that has made up the vast majority of daily infections. Not reporting it essentially means the rate at which the virus is now ripping through China will be shrouded in secrecy. Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player 2:19 2:19 Threat to China's health service The authorities say the reason for the decision is that many people … 阅读全文

The measures announced today by China give the clearest sign yet that the country's zero COVID stance is on its way out. Some of the "10 measures" announced are pure common sense: strict bans on practices such as blocking fire exits or emergency vehicles in the name of zero COVID, and no more rules governing the sale of cold and flu medicine which has, in recent times, been seen as a sign someone is concealing infection. But other changes are radical overhauls to a system that, just a matter of weeks ago, was being resolutely committed to. Infected people with no symptoms will now be allowed to quarantine at home, while most venues will now allow people to enter without scanning their health kits and without presenting negative tests. This … 阅读全文

The government has agreed to publish documents relating to £200m of personal protective equipment (PPE) contracts given to a company that has been linked to a Conservative peer - but not until probes into the firm have completed. Labour brought a binding vote to the Commons on Tuesday, demanding "all papers, advice, and correspondence" about contracts given to PPE Medpro to be handed over to the Commons' Public Accounts Committee (PAC). The party's deputy leader Anglea Rayner said it was time to "end the cover-up and begin the clean-up", adding: "A vote for this motion is a vote in favour of the truth." Health minister Will Quince said the government was "committed to releasing information" and the motion passed without a vote. But he told the Commons it would only … 阅读全文