News Round Up

• “Anyone can see no-one’s obeying Covid rules anymore” – “Just as the public led the Government into lockdown, so it is leading the government out of lockdown,” says Ross Clark in the Telegraph
• “Now AstraZeneca could be banned for under-40s” – According to the Daily Mail, advisors have written to Matt Hancock to suggest those under 40 should be given an alternative to the AstraZeneca jab as “the experts believe the risk of clotting now outweighs that of Covid in younger adults”
• “Bald men are up to 2.5 times more likely to suffer severe COVID-19 than males with a full head of hair, study warns” – Researchers have found that men with biomarkers linked to hair loss are more susceptible to severe Covid, MailOnline reports
• “NHS Covid jab booking site leaks people’s vaccine status” – The NHS digital website allows people to book an appointment for a vaccine by entering a few personal identity details, but that information is vulnerable to being hacked, the Guardian reports
• “Early cancer diagnoses plummeted in England during Covid pandemic” – During the early months of the pandemic there were a third fewer cancers detected during stage one, when the chances of survival are at their highest, than during the same months of the previous year, according to the Guardian
• “John’s Campaign Demands Removal of Requirement for Care Home Residents to Self-isolate after Medical Visits and Overnight Stays” – John’s Campaign have told Matt Hancock that they expect the isolation requirement to be removed for all types of visits when the guidance is updated on May 10th, or “they will issue proceedings without delay”
• “Kirstie Allsopp brands plans to vaccinate British children over 12 while so many people around the world are at greater risk of Covid-19 ‘disgusting’” – The host of Location, Location, Location has branded the plan to vaccinate children while millions around the world are at greater risk “the pinnacle of Western overconsumption”, the Daily Mail reports
• “Harry and Meghan call for ‘vaccine giveaway’” – Harry and Meghan wrote to the CEOs of Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson and Norovax urging them to “temporarily suspend” intellectual property rights on the jab, MailOnline reports
• “How the West can help India” – Professor Jay Bhattacharya makes the case for sending some of the UK’s stockpile of vaccines to India in the Spectator. He also appears in this week’s Spectator Live
• “A global conspiracy? This book makes me think again” – “Long experience in writing about science and medicine tells me that no one is clever enough – or wicked enough – to initiate such a horror, and then sustain it on a global scale,” writes Neville Hodgkinson in the Conservative Woman. But a new book has given him pause for thought
• “Is Bill Gates ‘a nice man in a jumper’ or a power-hungry egotist?” – The upside of the Gates’ marital breakdown may be that Bill “finds himself distracted, even for a few months, which might give the rest of us respite from his pursuit of world dominance”, says Kate Dunlop at the Conservative Woman
• “COVID-19 Weekly Bulletin” – The latest update from the Health Advisory and Recovery Team, covering vaccination of children, ivermectin and much else
• “Time for Recovery” – The Recovery Group’s Facebook page, with many posts about the impact of lockdowns
• “The Censorship Pandemic” – The Swiss Doctor lists some of the biggest instances of Covid censorship by major social media platforms
• “What will the ‘New Normal’ look like this Summer” – Dan Astin Gregory unpicks what is known to date about life after June 21st for the Pandemic Podcast
• “Why the Government needs accountability” – The Rev. Phil Sacre examines the issue of political accountability, why it is needed, and what has happened to it over the last 12 months
• “Germany to allow AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine for all adults” – German authorities are reversing their previous decision to restrict the AstraZeneca jab to the over 60s, Reuters reports
• “Covid pass a temporary measure, health minister says” – The Cyprus Mail claims that the measures unveiled by the country’s Health Minister, Constantinos Ioannou – a special pass to enter malls, churches and restaurants – will be temporary
• “Don’t Vaccinate the Young and Healthy” – A group of 28 medical experts in Sweden has urged the public health authorities to vaccinate at-risk groups only, and not the young and healthy, Sputnik News reports
• “Russia approves one-dose Sputnik V jab” – It’s slightly less effective than the two jab version, according to Deutsche Welle, but it still meets WHO standards
• “Biden’s Vaccine IP Debacle” – Biden’s decision to endorse a patent waiver on vaccines may be the “single worst presidential economic decision since Nixon’s wage-and-price controls”, says the Wall Street Journal
• “Over a dozen U.S. cities and counties are now pro-freedom ‘sanctuaries’ against Covid measures” – A number of cities and counties primarily located in states with heavy restrictions are designating themselves pre-freed ‘sanctuaries’, according to LifeSiteNews
• “Rowan University To Offer Up To $1,000 To Students Who Are Fully Vaccinated” – Forbes reports on another case of vaccine bribery, this one from New Jersey’s Rowan University who are offering students who provide proof of vaccination $1,000 in credits. It is the most lucrative offer from a US college to date
• “Total lockdown in Kerala from May 8th to May 16th” – A total lockdown has been declared in the Indian state of Kerala, the Times of India reports, in view of the rapid surge in Covid cases
• “Tokyo seeks extension of COVID-19 state of emergency until May 31st” – Japan’s capital is asking the Government to extend the state of emergency until the end of the month, but the Japanese authorities are insisting that the Olympic games should still go ahead
• “Restrictions return amid search for new variant’s mystery spreader” – A case of the B.1.617 Indian variant in Sydney, Australia, which made its way through the quarantine system and has led to the reintroduction of masks and restrictions on household gatherings in New South Wales, the Sydney Morning Herald reports
• “International borders will not reopen ‘any time soon’” – In an interview on Sky News Australia, Finance Minister Simon Birmingham says that the country’s borders will not be opening “any time soon” as there is a “clear message” that Australians do not want to “risk Covid entering”
• “It’s worse than we thought” – Megyn Kelly spotted an action figure of America’s favourite pubic health expert