Covid live news: up to 180,00 healthcare workers killed by virus, WHO says; Melbourne emerges from long lockdown

A WHO paper estimates 80,000 to 180,000 healthcare workers could have died from Covid-19; Australia’s second-most populous city celebrates the end of lockdown

• UK Covid booster jabs could be brought forward as cases hit 52,000
• New Zealand sets 90% vaccination target before shifting from lockdowns
• Beijing rolls out Covid-19 booster shots
• UK PM resists calls to activate ‘plan B’ despite high level of infections
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Hong Kong authorities prevented a Royal Caribbean cruise ship from departing the city’s terminal late on Thursday as a crew member was suspected to have Covid-19 after routine testing, the government and the cruise operator said.

Reuters report that the Spectrum of the Seas ship was scheduled to begin a “cruise to nowhere” journey in nearby waters, restricted to half capacity and only for fully vaccinated residents who tested negative for the virus 48 hours prior to the trip.

It’s a personal choice, but most of us are wearing masks. I mean, on the tube, most of us are wearing masks. I don’t know if you’ve seen that. And I think as more and more it gets into winter, I’ve had a cough, so I’ve been wearing a mask, and having a cough is socially unacceptable now, you know you feel terrible. So I think it is a personal choice.

Many, many people do wear masks, and many people, when you go out into meetings – I was in care homes yesterday – everybody was wearing masks. But it’s about personal choice, you know, we’re not the sort of country that tells you what you need to wear, you know, it is about personal choice. We all know the pros and cons of this. We’ve spent 18-19 months educating ourselves. So we all know what to do, and you know it’s not for the government really to mandate it.

No and to be honest, we didn’t throughout much of the summer. Not many of us have had masks on. I mean, I had a mask on yesterday just because again I was coughing and Theresa May has had one all along because she’s diabetic. There’s actually a number of people who have health concerns. If I sit next to anybody who has a mask on, I always put a mask on, because obviously they’re concerned about themselves, but you’ll find more and more as we go into winter, people will be wearing masks, but we shouldn’t make it this sign of virtue.

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from The Guardian https://ift.tt/3E961C5