South Africa offers the world a way out of Covid as Omicron is in full retreat: New infections down and death rate dropping Spectacular drop in new infections As Covid infection rates are dropping rapidly and tens of thousands of South Africans recovering from Omicron without having to go to hospital, it seems the country is heading for a healthy start of the year. In fact, Covid experts are all saying the same: the Omicron wave has passed and other countries can expect [...]
With the UK travel red list reduced, here is where you can go on holiday this winter With 47 countries taken off the travel red list at 4am this morning, including Thailand, South Africa and Mexico, it is now possible to travel relatively unhindered between the UK and several long-haul destinations. Basically, the Government reduced the number of countries it advises British nationals to avoid non-essential travel to, and the red list [...]
‘I told staff to delete the app’: Hospitality reacts to pingdemic crisis While the government was hailing the arrival of so-called “freedom day” yesterday, the threat of rising Covid cases and the “pingdemic” forcing staff to self isolate has left the beleaguered hospitality industry with little to celebrate. One restaurateur told City A.M: “Our ability to operate hangs in the balance by some fairly crude geolocation tech”, [...]
Corona Impact Series: The Walthamstow bakery that was saved by quick thinking and simple tech July 16, 2021 In this series, City A.M. looks at the financial and economic impact of the ongoing pandemic on a range of small and medium-sized businesses across London. READ THE ENTIRE SERIES HERE TODAY BREAD is an artisan bakery based in East London, founded in 2013 from a small flat in Walthamstow. The bakery was the passion project of Alexandre Bettler, who [...]
Brain damage in people who die from Covid-19 identical to Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s June 24, 2021 The brains of people who died as a result of Covid-19 show such a degree of inflammation that they are nearly identical to those in patients who passed away as a result of Alzheimer’s disease or Parkinson’s. Even though none of the patients reported signs of brain impairment in the runup to their death, researchers [...]
Travel industry unites in last-gasp SOS as second ‘lost summer’ looms June 23, 2021 Pilots, travel agents and union members descended on Westminster this afternoon in a plea for the government to “save” the long-suffering travel industry. Due to Covid-19 restrictions, the protestors were forced to appear one after another in two groups of 400, as part of a coordinated campaign of similar events around the country. But even [...]
Michelin starred Pied à Terre in Fitzrovia stops lunch due to ‘Brexit and Covid’ June 21, 2021 In another sign of the post-Covid recruitment crisis, one of London’s oldest Michelin-starred restaurants has closed its lunch service until further notice. Fitzrovia’s Pied à Terre says Brexit and Covid have impacted recruitment so badly it is no longer able to open for the whole day. The restaurant said it could not “protect the welfare [...]
Staff crisis in hospitality: Act now or risk being the next France June 15, 2021 The hospitality sector is in the midst of a staff crisis. We always knew that staffing would be a challenge with full reopening post-Covid, that not everybody would return to work after furlough. Many of our French and Italian staff went back home during lockdown and had decided not to return to the UK or [...]
Corona Impact Series: Why some City workers are retraining as childminders June 11, 2021 In this series, City A.M. looks at the financial and economic impact of the ongoing pandemic on a range of small and medium-sized businesses across London. “The pandemic quite understandably caused people to re-evaluate what’s important to them, and make changes to align their lives with those values. But we couldn’t have predicted quite how much of an impact that [...]
Cheap PCR tests: Where to get them and what you need to fly May 10, 2021 Borders open for international travel on 17 May, with Brits preparing to brave the Kafkaesque nightmare of the traffic light system to visit their favourite summer sun destination. But to travel to many countries, passengers will require a PCR – polymerase chain reaction – Covid test, which must meet performance standards of at least 97 [...]