The Covid inquiry has this afternoon published a full report on its first module, assessing the resilience and preparedness of the UK’s pandemic response. It has so far been met with apparently predetermined headlines of how the UK Government failed its citizens by “preparing for the wrong pandemic”, and that the country was “ill-prepared”. The impact of austerity meant that this was certainly true — but the currently unreported and biggest story in the report is its wholesale attack on the lockdown approach itself.

Deaths linked to excessive drinking surged during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new study from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).

The study in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report found that the average annual number of deaths from “excessive alcohol use” rose by around 30 percent from 2016-2017 to 2020-2021. In the same period, the average annual number of deaths from “excessive alcohol use” rose by around 27 percent for men and 35 percent for women.

This week the UK Covid inquiry briefly turned its attention to one of the most visible and consequential departures from the mainstream lockdown position in 2020: the Great Barrington Declaration. 

But in doing so, the inquiry revealed an alarming lack of professionalism among senior scientists towards dissenting viewpoints and a reluctance to seriously consider these perspectives in its own assessment of the evidence. 

In recent weeks, COVID-19 cases, as estimated from wastewater data, and COVID-19 hospitalizations have been on the rise in the U.S. This comes as the omicron variant EG.5, recently designated as a “variant of interest” by the World Health Organization, became the newly dominant variant in the country.

This has led some public health experts to suggest that some people — especially those at higher risk of severe COVID-19 — wear masks when out in public, and to be a bit more cautious about contracting the coronavirus.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis responded Tuesday to an ongoing series of criticisms leveled at him by former President Donald Trump.

Trump took his latest swing at DeSantis on Saturday, claiming that the governor — whom he has previously nicknamed "Ron DeSanctimonious" — was misguided in COVID-19 pandemic policies in Florida.

"There are Republican governors that did not close their states. Florida was closed for a long period of time." Trump said to reporters. "They're trying to rewrite history."

Former President Donald Trump criticized Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis's COVID-19 lockdown policy, despite persuading him to impose a stay-at-home order in the first place.

Back in 2020, as COVID-19 ravaged the country, DeSantis was reticent about implementing a statewide lockdown but caved after a call with Trump and a "grave reckoning" about the risks of mass deaths if such an order was not imposed, the New York Times reported. Trump took a swing at DeSantis over the weekend for closing his state during the pandemic.

Workers across China have dismantled some of the physical signs of the country’s zero-Covid controls, peeling health code scanning signs off metro station walls and closing some checkpoints after the government unveiled an overhaul of its pandemic policy.

But as many residents expressed relief and happiness at the obvious loosening of measures, some worried about its impact and questioned how the new rules would be rolled out.

China has lifted its strictest zero-Covid policies after protests challenging the draconian measures swept the nation.

Days after a deadly fire in Urumqi propelled fatigued communities to take to the streets, China has initiated an unannounced yet palpable movement away from its “zero-Covid” strategy by lifting lockdowns, ending mass testing and reopening public venues across key provinces.

But Beijing is concerned that the inevitable wave of infections after restrictions are loosened, could lead to a surge in deaths, overwhelm the health system and trigger political instability.