Coronavirus latest news: Backlog of heart patients will take five years to clear, experts warn

Global Health Security Team
·6 min read
Experts warn the backlog of heart patients is set to take five years to clear - PA
Experts warn the backlog of heart patients is set to take five years to clear - PA

The backlog of heart patients is set to take five years to clear, with thousands at risk of dying from treatable conditions, health experts have warned.

Disruption due to the coronavirus pandemic will cause waiting lists for life-saving diagnosis and treatment to double within two years, new analysis has found.

The British Heart Foundation estimates that the number of heart patients waiting to be seen will peak at around 550,385 in January 2024 unless urgent action is taken.

Even in a best-case scenario it would take at least three years to get waiting lists down to pre-pandemic levels, the charity warned.

​​Follow the latest updates below.

05:40 AM

Department of Health ditches return to office diktat

The Department of Health and Social Care has ditched its return to the office diktat for civil servants amid a row over mandarins continuing to work from home.

Staff at the department were told this week that plans for them to return to working in Whitehall between four and eight days every month from September were no longer going to be enforced.

This messaging puts the department at odds with Downing Street, which has said there should be a gradual return of mandarins to the office over the summer.

Read the full story

Read more: Workers ignore Sunak's 'back to the office' call

05:17 AM

China punishes 30 officials for pandemic failing

More than 30 Chinese officials have been fired or received other punishments over accusations they failed to respond properly to the latest surge of the coronavirus in the country.

Among those fired were a vice mayor, heads of city districts and health commissions, and staff in hospital management, airport and tourism departments.

China's National Health Commission on Monday announced 94 new cases of domestic transmission had been recorded over the previous 24 hours.

The latest outbreak is linked to the airport in the eastern city of Nanjing. The delta variant spread among airport workers and has since spread from tropical Hainan province in the south to Inner Mongolia in the far north.

The outbreak has prompted renewed travel restrictions, community lockdowns and the sealing off of the entire city of Zhangjiajie, with a population of 1.5 million.

Workers line up for mass coronavirus tests in a gym n Wuhan -  CHINATOPIX
Workers line up for mass coronavirus tests in a gym n Wuhan - CHINATOPIX

04:46 AM

Canada begins allowing vaccinated US citizens to visit again

Canada on Monday is lifting its prohibition on Americans crossing the border to shop, vacation or visit, but the US is keeping similar restrictions in place for Canadians, part of a bumpy return to normalcy from Covid-19 travel bans.

US citizens and legal permanent residents must be both fully vaccinated and test negative fwithin three days to get across one of the world's longest and busiest land borders. Travellers also must fill out a detailed on application on the arriveCAN app before crossing.

Even though travellers have to register, the Canada Border Services Agency won't say how many people they are expecting to enter Canada for the reopening.

Read more: Florida parents sue governor saying 'children could die' because of mask mandate ban

03:23 AM

Melbourne remains in lockdown, restrictions eased for rest of state

The state of Victoria in Australia is lifting its pandemic lockdown beginning on Tuesday, except in the city of Melbourne.

Australia's second-most populous state imposed a seven-day lockdown last Thursday due to concerns about the spread of the delta variant.

But Victoria Premier Daniel Andrew says all the cases detected in Victoria in recent days have been in Melbourne, with 11 more reported there on Monday. So the lockdown will end in the rest of the state at the end of Monday.

The neighbouring state of New South Wales on Monday reported 283 new coronavirus infections and one death in the latest 24-hour period.

Sydney has been in lockdown since June 26 and will remain under tight pandemic restrictions until at least Aug. 28.

02:51 AM

South Korea opens vaccines up to all adults

South Korea begins opening Covid-19 vaccine reservations for all adults over 18 for the first time on Monday as it scrambles to stave off a rise in sporadic outbreaks, many of them among young, unvaccinated residents.

South Korea was praised for its handling of the virus in the beginning of the pandemic with thorough tracing and testing, but a slow vaccination uptake has overlapped with surge in more transmissible variants.

Some 45 per cent of South Korea's 52 million population have had at least one dose of vaccine, while just 15 per cent have been fully vaccinated as of Sunday midnight.

The country aims to immunise over 70 per cent of adults by September as it vaccinates those in the 18-49 age bracket with Moderna or Pfizer's products.

Inoculation for the age group is due to start on August 26 and is scheduled to run until September 30.

01:13 AM

Japan PM Suga's support slides to record low

Support for Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga slid below 30 per cent for the first time since he took office, a survey showed on Monday, a sign the Tokyo Olympic Games failed to boost his ratings amid a resurgence of coronavirus infections.

Roughly a third disapproved of holding the Games which closed on Sunday and 60 per cent said they did not want Suga to stay on, according to the poll conducted by Asahi newspaper, darkening his ruling party's prospects in general elections to be held later this year.

Japan's slow vaccination rollouts have hurt Suga's popularity and a spike in new infections, caused by the rapid spread of the delta variant, has overshadowed the Olympic Games with cases hitting a milestone of one million on Friday.

Read more: Tokyo Olympics comes to an end with strange, poignant closing ceremony

12:06 AM

Most restrictions lifted in Scotland

Most coronavirus restrictions have been removed in Scotland after the country moved beyond Level 0 at midnight.

Legal requirements for physical distancing - except in healthcare settings - and gatherings have been removed and all venues, including nightclubs, are now able to reopen.

Some measures, such as the requirement to wear face coverings indoors in public places and on public transport, will stay in place.

The First Minister told MSPs last week that the country could move beyond Level 0, the lowest level of a five-tier system of restrictions in Scotland, due to the "steady decline in cases" and "the success of vaccination".

11:31 PM

Today's top stories

Our goal is to create a safe and engaging place for users to connect over interests and passions. In order to improve our community experience, we are temporarily suspending article commenting

Recommended Stories

  • Austin, Texas, activates emergency alert system as COVID crisis reaches "critical" point

    Austin, Texas, issued an emergency alert this weekend over the "severely worsening COVID-19 situation," which has reached a "critical" point, officials said.Why it matters: The Warn Central Texas alert system was designed to be activated during a disaster. "Our hospitals are severely stressed and there is little we can do to alleviate their burden with the surging cases," Austin-Travis County Health Authority's Desmar Walkes said in a statement.Stay on top of the latest market trends and economi

  • Melania Trump hit back at a presidential historian who accused her of 'eviscerating' the White House Rose Garden

    More than 80,000 people have signed a petition against Trump's changes, but Reuters reported some claims made about the renovations were false.

  • Dr. Fauci said the unvaccinated should think of their 'community' because allowing COVID-19 to spread and mutate could create variant 'more problematic than the Delta'

    The Delta variant is currently driving a surge of COVID-19 in the US in areas with low vaccination rates. A worse variant could emerge, Fauci said.

  • Fauci Sounds Covid Alarm: Our ‘Kids Are Getting Sick’

    “Something bad is going on. We've got to realize that,” the White House’s chief medical adviser said

  • Queen’s Brian May Calls Anti-Vaxxers, Including Eric Clapton, ‘Fruitcakes’

    Brian May has just one word to describe people who are against the COVID vaccine: fruitcakes. And evidently, that includes his own “hero,” Eric Clapton. Clapton has been loudly outspoken against the COVID vaccine and lockdowns since they began. May noted that while he definitely doesn’t share those beliefs — and a few other ideals Clapton champions — he still respects Clapton as a person. “I love Eric Clapton, he’s my hero, but he has very different views from me in many ways,” May said in an in

  • Top Cuomo aide resigns after report details allegations of sexual harassment against governor

    Melissa DeRosa, the secretary and a top aide to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, resigned less than a week after the release of a report detailing sexual harassment allegations against her boss.

  • CNN's Jim Acosta said scientists should name COVID-19 variants after Republican governors who've refused to enforce safety measures

    One of the Republicans he suggested was Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, whose state is facing record COVID-19 hospitalizations for the third day in a row.

  • Israeli survey finds 3rd Pfizer vaccine dose has similar side effects to 2nd

    Most people who received a third dose of Pfizer Inc's COVID-19 vaccine felt similar or fewer side effects than they did after receiving the second shot, according to an initial survey in Israel. Israel began offering the booster shots about 10 days ago to people over age 60 as part of efforts to slow the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant. Israel's largest healthcare provider, Clalit, said on Sunday it had administered a third dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine to more than 240,000 people.

  • Australia flags democracies' trade swing from China to India

    Australian special envoy and former Prime Minister Tony Abbott said a free trade agreement between his nation and India would signal the “democratic world’s tilt away from China.” Abbott visited New Delhi last week as Australia’s special trade envoy for India as the Australian government gives priority to sealing a bilateral trade deal. In an opinion piece likely to anger Beijing that that was published in The Australian newspaper on Monday, Abbott said the “answer to almost every question about China is India.”

  • China's wandering elephants may finally be heading home

    An elephant herd that fascinated locals and people around the world by making a yearlong journey into urbanized southwest China, raiding farms and even a retirement home for food, appears finally to be headed home. Despite their entrance into villages and a close approach to the Yunnan provincial capital of Kunming, no animals or humans have been injured. The 14 Asian elephants of various sizes and ages were guided across the Yuanjiang river in Yunnan on Sunday night and a path is being opened for them to return to the nature reserve where they lived in the Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture.

  • New push to disband Minneapolis police after Floyd's death

    On a hot summer afternoon, Latrell Snider and his partner knocked on Abdullahi Mohamed’s door, introduced themselves and launched their pitch: Minneapolis, they said, has a chance to replace its police department with something new, and they wanted Mohamed’s support. When Snider assured him that a new public safety department would still have a police unit but would do things differently — such as responding to some 911 calls without armed officers — Mohamed brightened. More than a year after George Floyd’s death sparked a failed push to abolish the Minneapolis Police Department, activists and several City Council members are trying again, with a well-funded initiative that would ask voters in November whether the department — disparaged by critics for what they say is an enduring culture of brutality — should be dismantled.

  • The vaccinated are angry. That's understandable but unproductive, health experts say

    The resurgence of COVID-19 in the U.S. can be blamed on the unvaccinated, but health experts say blame doesn't help end the pandemic.

  • Student-Athletes Can Now Earn Money. Here Are the Pitfalls.

    Sunisa Lee took home three Olympic medals — gold, silver and bronze — and, in the process, went from being little known outside the gymnastics world to a breakout star. When she arrives at Auburn University in a few weeks, she’ll be among the first Olympians in college to be able to profit off her name and likeness since the National Collegiate Athletic Association decided in June to allow college athletes to earn money while maintaining their amateur status. For someone of her caliber, the payo

  • Trump 2020 legal adviser Jenna Ellis joins rally for impeachment

    Jenna Ellis, a senior legal adviser to former President Donald Trump's 2020 campaign, said on Saturday that President Joe Biden should be impeached, adding her voice to a growing chorus of high-profile conservatives in the media fed up with the current administration.

  • Being double-vaccinated gives 50-60% protection from the Delta variant, study finds

    The study presents lower levels of protection than once thought, but this is largely due to differences in samples.

  • Florida doctors are exhausted and angry as the state's COVID-19 surge unleashes pandemonium inside hospitals: 'Humanly, you just break at some point'

    Every day, an army of medical professionals in Florida goes to battle with the coronavirus pandemic. After a year, the fight is taking its toll.

  • Quan Hongchan: Chinese teen diving star's village mobbed by fans

    Quan Hongchan's village has been sealed off after crowds of people searching for selfies came there.

  • Masks, comfortable clothes likely to linger after pandemic, Post-Schar School polling finds

    Two-thirds of Americans say that once the coronavirus pandemic ends, they plan to put on masks when sick and wear comfortable clothes more often than before, according to a Washington Post-Schar School poll that points to enduring cultural shifts the public health crisis may bring about. The nationwide survey finds that more than 4 in 10 adults intend to wear masks in crowded places after the pandemic. That includes more than half of women, compared with 1 in 3 men.Subscribe to The Post Most new

  • Police pushback doesn't stop conservative gun law rollback

    The latest push to loosen gun laws in states across the U.S. has put police officers at odds with Republican lawmakers who usually trumpet support for law enforcement. In states like Texas, Tennessee and Louisiana, police opposed pushes to drop requirements for people to get background checks and training before carrying handguns in public, plans that came as gun sales continued to shatter records during the coronavirus pandemic. “We feel it was just another opportunity to get our officers hurt,” said Fabian Blache Jr., executive director of the Louisiana Chiefs of Police Association.

  • The family of an unvaccinated Florida man who died of COVID before he could get a shot will hold a vaccine and testing site at his funeral

    Marquis Davis, 28, was hospitalized after catching COVID-19. "He said, 'Bae, I'm going to get the vaccine when I get out of here,'" Davis's wife said.