Cesar Franco is the first person in the UK to undergo a double lung transplant as a result of a Covid-19 infection. He spent five months in St Thomas’ hospital on the NHS’s highest level of live support, with an Ecmo machine effectively breathing for him. When doctors told him his only chance of survival … Read more
The largest protests in a generation erupted in cities across China over the weekend against the government’s zero-Covid policy. The most widely used symbol in the demonstrations has been a blank sheet of paper. It symbolises censorship, and may also, some Twitter users pointed out, be read as a reference to the deaths last week … Read more
Police in major cities across China, including Beijing and Shanghai, have increased efforts to crackdown on zero-Covid protests. According to footage circulating on social media, police have made at least one arrest. Police are patrolling areas where protests began over the weekend, installing security barriers and checking personal phones for signs of civil disobedience. Widespread … Read more
China’s foreign ministry has defended the Communist party’s zero-Covid policy amid rare protests within the country. The foreign ministry spokesperson, Zhao Lijian, paused for a long time when asked by a reporter if China would reconsider the policy given people’s widespread ‘anger and frustration’. He eventually asked for the question to be repeated and then … Read more
Dozens of protesters gathered in Hong Kong in solidarity with anti-lockdown demonstrations in mainland China. The protest was held to commemorate the 10 people who died in a fire in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang region, and show solidarity with the protests that took place over the weekend in cities across China against stringent Covid-19 measures. Hong … Read more
People opposed to China’s strict Covid restrictions are protesting in cities across the country, holding blank pieces of paper as a symbol against censorship. The protests, triggered by a deadly apartment fire in the far west of the country, are taking place in defiance of a series of heavy-handed arrests of demonstrators. The protests mark … Read more
Demonstrations have broken out in cities and university campuses across China amid widespread anger at Covid lockdowns. The wave of civil disobedience was triggered by an apartment fire on Friday in which at least 10 people died in the west Xinjiang region. In an unusually bold act that appeared to indicate the level of people’s … Read more
Protests have broken out in China’s far western Xinjiang region, in the latest demonstration of public anger towards the country’s zero-Covid policy and strict lockdown rules. Crowds chanted ‘End the lockdown’ at hazmat-suited guards following a fire in a high-rise building that killed 10 people in Urumqi, Xinjiang’s capital. According to users on Chinese social … Read more
MPs reacted with outrage following the growing controversy over a PPE company linked to the Conservative peer Michelle Mone after the Guardian reported that Mone referred the company to Tory ministers Michael Gove and Theodore Agnew. Mone’s referral got PPE Medpro into a ‘VIP lane’ securing it two contracts worth more than £203m. Millions of pounds … Read more
Labour was granted an urgent question in the Commons on Thursday about the government’s due diligence in granting PPE contracts to firms via its ‘VIP lane’. This comes after the Guardian revealed Tory peer Michelle Mone secretly received £29m after her husband passed on money from PPE Medpro, a company that was awarded £200m in … Read more