Top story: Vaccinations must continue, say drug experts
Hello, Warren Murray here to allay any fear of missing out on the news.
Boris Johnson has sought to reassure people about the safety of the Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid vaccine as a trial in children is paused while regulators investigate reports of rare blood clots, mainly in younger women. Scientists stressed the side-effects were extremely rare and the benefits of protection against coronavirus were great. They said vaccination programmes must continue, with risk mitigation for women under 55. The jab has been given to more than 18 million UK adults among whom 30 rare blood clotting cases were reported, and seven deaths. The risk of catching Covid and dying by remaining unvaccinated is higher: in the UK, scientists have calculated one coronavirus death is prevented for every 47,000 vaccines given to people under 50.
Prof Saad Shakir, the director of the drug safety research unit (DSRU) at Southampton University, said evidence of links between the vaccine and the rare blood clots “is consistent with causality”. But Shakir said the AstraZeneca vaccine was safe and effective: “It has protected millions of people from Covid-19 and will continue to do so around the world,” he said. Many vaccines in widespread use had side-effects, he said. Patients in Wales will today become the first in the UK to receive the Moderna shot as part of mass vaccinations, with the first doses in Scotland set to come later this week.
Separately, a study of 236,379 patients who fell severely ill with coronavirus has found that one in three were later diagnosed with a mental health or neurological condition. Researchers using electronic health records, mostly from the US, found the most common such problem was anxiety, in 17% of people. There were also mood disorders (14%), substance misuse disorders (7%), and insomnia (5%). Incidences were lower for brain haemorrhage (0.6%) and dementia (0.7%). Experts have warned that the impact could be felt on health services for many years. Keep our Covid live blog for further developments.
Stick to NI protocol, says EU envoy – Political leaders who want Brexit arrangements for Northern Ireland dumped have failed to produce any better ideas, the EU ambassador to the UK has said. Police have confirmed 41 officers were injured during weekend violence, which Northern Ireland’s assembly is being recalled to debate. João Vale de Almeida called on unionist leaders to focus on making the protocol work rather than fighting it, pledging the EU would be flexible if the British side showed good faith. But he said the British government needed to own the Brexit it got, including the protocol, when it decided to put sovereignty ahead of collaboration on trade. Relations between the UK and the EU over Northern Ireland hit rock bottom four weeks ago when the UK decided to unilaterally delay the scheduled full implementation of the Irish Sea border. The EU is taking legal action as a result.
Midweek catch-up
> People with chronic pain of unknown origin should take exercise, talking therapies and acupuncture instead of painkillers, the medicines watchdog has announced.
> Boris Johnson has been urged to repudiate and withdraw the racial disparity report, which critics say downplays racism in the UK.
> Ukraine’s president has called on Nato to hasten his country’s membership in response to a growing buildup of Russian forces on his country’s borders.
> A broad roadmap to rescue the Iran nuclear deal has been agreed in talks in Vienna, with the aim of bringing Iran and the US back into compliance in as little as two months.
> Projects to transform a former golf course for nature, rewild a village and restore ice age “ghost” ponds are among schemes being launched by the Wildlife Trusts across England and Wales in an £8m campaign.
Cuts to rights being ‘sped through’ – Amnesty has rebuked the UK government over human rights, saying it is “speeding towards the cliff edge” with its policies on housing and immigration, and criticising its seeming determination to stop the public challenging government decisions in court. In its annual human rights report Amnesty also criticises Britain’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, assaults on the right to protest, police discrimination against black and Asian communities, and the resumed arms trade with Saudi Arabia. Amnesty expressed serious concern about the government’s reviews into the Human Rights Act and judicial review – both of which “are being sped through during the pandemic” and could seriously diminish the public’s capacity to challenge government decisions.
Turfed out over twerk – Miss Papua New Guinea has been stripped of her crown after sharing a video of herself twerking on TikTok, with critics saying the incident reveals a deep-seated culture of misogyny. Lucy Maino, 25, who has also served as co-captain of Papua New Guinea’s women’s football team, faced intense online harassment with critics saying it was not fitting behaviour for a “role model”.
After the video and the backlash, Maino was “released” from her duties by the Miss Pacific Islands Pageant PNG committee. Allan Bird, a politician who campaigns against gender-based violence, denounced harassment of Maino: “What kind of society condemns the torture and killing of women yet get upset when a young woman does a dance video?” The UN in Papua New Guinea said: “We see the devastation of violence against women and children in this beautiful country … It starts with telling women they should cover up. It starts with telling women, they shouldn’t dance like that.”
Wild rescue at sea – A maritime rescue that somewhat eclipses the Suez canal affair for sheer drama has taken place off the coast of Norway. After the Eemslift Hendrika tilted over dangerously in rough seas, eight crew were winched to a helicopter from the deck. The remaining four had to jump into the huge waves first when the boat’s movement became too severe, and were hoisted up from there.
The Norwegian coast guard said the vessel later stabilised a bit after one of the smaller boats it was carrying on deck as cargo was thrown into the sea. It was lying about 80 miles north-west of the port city of Alesund, with a tow being arranged.
Chelsea SUV tag has traction – The stereotype of the “Chelsea tractor” is based on reality, according to new figures. SUVs, which produce much greater CO2 emissions than most other cars, are most popular in affluent urban areas such as Kensington and Chelsea, Hammersmith and Fulham and Westminster. Three-quarters of the 360,000 SUVs sold in 2019 in the UK were bought by people living in towns and cities, a report from the New Weather Institute and climate action charity Possible shows. The New Weather Institute said: “The human health and climate damage done by SUVs is huge and needs to be undone.”
Today in Focus podcast: How to counter ‘rape culture’?
The Everyone’s Invited website has collected 14,000 testimonies so far, painting a picture of widespread sexual harassment and violence in our schools. Everyone’s Invited founder Soma Sara and the Guardian’s senior news reporter Alexandra Topping discuss the outcry, the impact and whose responsibility it is to do something about it.
How to counter 'rape culture'?
Lunchtime read: Gambling addicts’ lockdown struggle
Gambling firms have profited during the pandemic while leaving the NHS to “pick up the pieces” of addiction and should be hit with a compulsory levy to fund treatment, the head of mental health in England says. As Claire Murdoch – national mental health director for NHS England – denounces the voluntary system that lets the industry dictate how much it contributes to helping addicts, two UK gamblers tell how trying to resist online betting while stuck in lockdown has been impossible.
Sport
Jürgen Klopp insisted there was no anger left from 2018 but Tuesday night might be a different matter. Some things have changed since these two teams last met in that Champions League final yet the result remained the same, two goals from Vinícius Júnior and one from Marco Asensio taking Real Madrid to another 3-1 victory. The difference is that this time Liverpool will get a second chance and that is the hope to which they must cling after a reunion in which they extracted neither revenge nor redemption. Manchester City failed to assert their usual control against a Borussia Dortmund team that had arrived at a low ebb. And yet, ultimately, they found a way to win, to take a lead into the second leg of this Champions League quarter-final, into Pep Guardiola’s mission to tread uncharted territory at the club.
Norwich City have one foot back in the Premier League after thrashing Huddersfield Town 7-0 at Carrow Road. Teemu Pukki scored a hat-trick as Daniel Farke’s side moved eight points clear at the top of the Championship. Rory McIlroy says a visit to the injured Tiger Woods will help him place extra emphasis on major championship weeks. McIlroy begins his latest tilt at the Masters having failed to win one of golf’s big four events since 2014. Beth Potter is facing fresh disappointment as her world record-beating 5km road time is highly unlikely to be ratified as a UK record, the Guardian understands, as the timekeeper did not have a national level qualification and there was no referee on site. Manu Tuilagi’s hopes of being on this summer’s British & Irish Lions tour of South Africa have been boosted after it emerged he has an outside chance of making his comeback from injury before Warren Gatland names the squad.
Business
The MSCI gauge of Asian shares has climbed to three-week highs as investors eyed the upcoming earnings season for further signs of economic recovery. Japan’s Nikkei was a shade higher while Australian shares rose 0.6% and South Korea’s Kospi added 0.5%. In China though the CSI300 fell about 1% after a strong rally last week. The FTSE should open higher too, while the pound is worth $1.382 and €1.164 at time of writing.
The papers
The Guardian print edition leads with “Keep taking jab, says PM as trial paused to investigate clot reports”. The Mirror has “Passports for shops” saying there is “Anger at new virus plan” – amid a demonstration of the strength of feeling among dozens of Tories, backbencher Steve Baker has said forcing people to show an app-based pass to go to shops, pubs or other crowded public places would create a “miserable dystopia of Checkpoint Britain”. The i splashes with “Virus link to mental health problems” which stems from the same study as our report.
The Metro says “Foreign holidays to Costa packet” – because of the expense of getting a test, running at £420 a person, to get back into Britain. The Mail is hopeful, though – “Cheaper tests to save our summer holidays” it says, offering that Boris Johnson is looking into making it more affordable.
“Pause jabs for young until safety is ‘certain’, says adviser” – that’s the Telegraph, while on that topic the Times has “Oxford jab trial paused amid fear of blood clots”. The Express gets a different angle out of Johnson’s visit to an AstraZeneca plant: “PM – no need to deviate, we’ll stick with roadmap”. The Financial Times’ take of the day is “Goldman bought £75m of shares in Deliveroo to lift price on debut” – and there’s more bad news for the company as delivery drivers plan to go on strike over “poverty pay”.
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