News Round-Up

• “Herd immunity strategy is back” – The policy of herd immunity became so toxic last year that Downing Street banned the use of the phrase in internal government messaging, according to the Daily Mail. But now, the paper says, ministers hope it will slow the spread of infections among the young
• “Isolation rules ‘slam the brakes’ on freedom” – The Government has been accused of delaying ‘Freedom Day’ after revealing that fully vaccinated people will still have to follow self-isolation rules until August 16th, the Telegraph reports
• “Fast-track lanes for vaccinated passengers at Heathrow” – Double-jabbed holidaymakers will be able to digitally upload their vaccination certificates in advance of their flight, the Telegraph reports, before presenting them on arrival and being directed to separate lanes at immigration 
• “Councils will keep powers to impose local Covid restrictions until autumn” – Local authorities will continue to hold emergency powers to manage local outbreaks, the Telegraph says, even if unlocking proceeds as planned on July 19th
• “Family demand answers as father fights for life after Covid jab” – Anthony Shingler, 57, from Northwood in Stoke-on-Trent, was left paralysed after having his first dose of the jab three months ago in March, MailOnline reports
• “Universities to return to in-person teaching or face £500,000 fine” – Undergraduates are still paying full fees of £9,250 a year, the Daily Mail says, despite being forced to learn remotely during most of the pandemic. Now the Universities could face fines if they do not return to in-person teaching
• “Westfield will ‘encourage’ shoppers to wear masks” – Shop owners will have a legal right to turn away customers not wearing masks, according to MailOnline, as different business take different stances
• “Covid has caused ‘diabetes timebomb’” – Diabetes U.K. found GPs performed 41% fewer health checks last year than before the pandemic, the Daily Mail reports
• “Last orders for social distancing gives pubs and restaurants a £400m boost” – Yesterday’s announcement about ending social distancing rules on July 19th increased the value of shares in in pubs and restaurants by almost £400 million, according to the Times
• “Ministers overruled SAGE and ditched masks after being told the economy would lose billions” – The i reports that the decision to scrap mask mandates, despite the advice from SAGE, came after warnings that if they didn’t it would cost the events and hospitality industries billions. The Government is now “following the economy” the report says
• “Health Minister pal who gave Hancock’s aide Parliament pass under investigation” – Labour has called for Lord Bethell to be sacked after it emerged he sponsored a Parliamentary security pass for Gina Coladangelo. He is, according to the Mirror, already under investigation
• “Why it’s time to think differently about Covid” – “The nature of the pandemic in the U.K. has changed,” says the BBC’s Health Correspondent Nick Triggle. “And with it so should many of our assumptions”
• “Labour’s unlocking problem” – The Labour party’s stance on unlocking is “discordant”, says the Isabel Hardman in the Spectator. It seems to be “to complain about it happening while offering a plan that isn’t vastly different”
• “Should we ditch face masks after July 19th?” – Laura Dodsworth takes on Professor Trish Greenhalgh in a head-to-head debate in the Sun. The subject is masking after July 19th
• “Boris faces his greatest test: can he stand firm against Covid hysteria?” – “The great unknown is whether Mr Johnson can withstand the pressure to back down” writes Philip Johnston in the Telegraph
• “The Hancock era is over” – The Spectator’s Kate Andrews notes a “stark contrast” between the current Health Secretary and his predecessor: Sajid Javid is taking more of an interest in the fate of non-Covid patients
• “Lockdown didn’t save lives from cancer” – “There were 350,000 fewer urgent cancer referrals in 2020, and 40,000 fewer cancer diagnoses, compared to 2019,” reports Professor Gordon Wishart, Chief Medical Officer at Check4Cancer, in the Spectator. In Sweden, he says, the picture was different
• “Covid jabs for kids is a bad idea” – Vaccinating children against Covid could have “potential knock-on effects on the tried, tested and trusted childhood-immunisation programme that we already have”, writes Jennie Bristow in Spiked
• “Covid variants – Time to stop jumping at shadows” – “The present wave of mild infections is what endemic Covid looks like in a vaccinated population,” writes Professor Robert Dingwall in Social Science Space. “We no longer need any intervention that we would not have considered desirable in November 2019 to control other seasonal respiratory viruses”
• “Why are we risking our children’s health with unnecessary vaccines?” – “It is hard to see how the benefits of these vaccines could outweigh the possible risks to fit youngsters,” says Laureen Levy at the Conservative Woman, “particularly as the medium to long term risks are unknown”
• “Reasons to be angry – Parts 1 to 100” – Patrick Benham-Crosswell has been “reflecting on our Prime Minister’s plea for the country to be patient”, he says in the Conservative Woman. “Sorry, Boris, it’s not good news”
• “The Downing Street briefings – an exercise in stage-managed hypocrisy” – Roger Watson “predicted that July 19th would be a damp squib”, he says in the Unity News Network, and now, alas, he has “little doubt”
• “Reverend criticises “totalitarianism” of pandemic” – Rev. Dr. William Philip, Senior Minister of Tron Church, Glasgow gave an interview to talkRADIO’s Mark Dolan about the “creeping totalitarianism [lockdown] has brought about”
• “Jamie and Carbon Mike” – Rev Jamie Franklin teams up with New York based software engineer Carbon Mike for a special episode of the Irreverend podcast, covering gain-of-function research in the Wuhan lab, the social and biological catastrophe of lockdown, and the religious significance of the vaccine rollout
• “Passion, Purpose and Ivermectin” – In his latest podcast, Omar Khan speaks with Dr. Pierre Kory of the Frontline COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance about ivermectin
• “The death drive of pandemic policymaking” – “If we managed to close everything down so quickly, why can’t everything open up again as fast?” Rayyan Dabbous asks in the Brussels Times. He suggests that it is to do with what Freud called the death instinct
• “The French health workers reluctant to get the vaccine” – France 24 speaks to a group of caregivers who are reluctant to get jabbed
• “Germany’s fight against vaccine fatigue” – Germany’s health leaders are collectively scratching their heads over why the €25 million vaccine publicity campaign appears to have failed at winning over the sceptics, Deutsche Welle reports, and why many second appointments are being missed
• “Experimental heart drug ‘cures long Covid in hours’” – German doctors are investigating BC 007, a compound developed to treat Heart failure, after it appeared to cure a 59 year-old of his long Covid, the Times reports
• “Cabinet meets on new measures as Israel registers 501 new cases” – The Israeli Government is considering a raft of news measures in response to the current outbreak, according to the Jerusalem Post, such as requiring parents of an infected child to quarantine, whether or not they are vaccinated
• “With no flights and no gov’t benefits, Israel’s tour guides losing hope” – Israel’s inbound tour guide industry is in its worst crisis yet, the Jerusalem Post says, caught between the decision to delay reopening the border and the withdrawal of the Government’s coronavirus financial support schemes
• “Port Colborne clinic injects six with saline instead of Covid vaccine” – 205 people in Port Colborne, Ontario have been asked to book a repeat vaccination after an end-of-day audit found that six of them had been given a dose of Saline without the vaccine, the Toronto Sun reports
• “Psaki says Biden admin would ‘certainly’ support states re-imposing pandemic restrictions” – Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki confirmed that the Biden administration is open to re-imposing COVID-19 restrictions, the Post Millennial reports
• “Billionaire Warren Buffett Predicts New Pandemic Worse Than COVID-19” – “There will be another pandemic,” Warren Buffett has warned, according to the San Antonio Express. It could be worse than COVID-19 because society isn’t prepared to face it, despite the lessons of the Covid experience
• “Santa Clara County Revises Official COVID-19 Death Toll Down by 22%” – Santa Clara County health leaders announced on Friday that they had refined their approach to recording Covid deaths so it only includes deaths caused by the virus and not deaths of people who’ve tested positive, thereby causing the death toll to fall by 22%, CBS reports
• “The COVID-19 era taught us: Don’t trust, verify” – “The most important thing that we need to accept about this whole COVID-19 era,” says Jordan Schachtel, “is that so much of the information we are being flooded with is based on nothing at all”
• “Olympics – No spectators at marathons and race walks, Games at risk of more curbs” – World Athletics is surprised by the decision to ask fans to stay away from the marathon and race walk held outdoors at the Tokyo Olympics, Reuters reports, as it is “seemingly inconsistent” with allowing up to 10,000 people into indoor venues
• “Sydney’s lockdown extended by a week, students to learn online” – The Sydney Morning Herald reports the city’s lockdown is being extended until July 16th, following the health advice given to a crisis cabinet meeting on Tuesday
• “World’s most infectious COVID-19 strain makes its way to Australia” – MailOnline reports that the Lambda variant, which Doctors fear might spread easier than other strains – so far with no proof – has arrived in Australia
• “WHO recommends Roche, Sanofi drugs for COVID-19 to cut death risk” – The World Health Organisation has recommended using arthritis drugs Actemra from Roche and Kevzara from Sanofi with corticosteroids for COVID-19 patients, Reuters reports, after data from some 11,000 patients showed they cut the risk of death
• “Queen Palaszczuk thinks the rules shouldn’t apply to her” – Sky News Australia host Paul Murray takes aim at the Premier of Queensland, Annastacia Palaszczuk, over her intention to travel to Tokyo in support of Brisbane’s bid for the 2032 Olympics at a time when Australia’s borders are supposed to be closed
• “Normal is not ‘Show me your health papers’” – Alan D. Miller appeared on Julia Hartley-Brewer’s talkRADIO show to discuss the urgent need for the hospitality and entertainment sector to open in full. See his article in CityAM too