Breastfeeding mothers with Covid-19 'do not pass virus to babies'

Breastfeeding mothers with Covid-19 do not pass the virus on to their babies, a new study has suggested.

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  • Oprah reveals neither Queen nor Prince Philip made remark about Archie's skin colour

    Previously unseen footage from Oprah Winfrey's interview with the Sussexes has been unveiled.

  • Italy's coronavirus death toll passes 100,000, with cases rising

    Italy became the second European country to pass the bleak milestone of 100,000 fatalities from Covid-19 on Monday, with Prime Minister Mario Draghi warning of further pain ahead as hospitalisations jump. The Italian health ministry said 318 new deaths from the disease had been recorded in the past 24 hours, bringing the total tally to 100,103.Italy was the first Western country to be hit by the novel coronavirus 13 months ago. It is now the second in Europe to record more than 100,000 deaths, after the United Kingdom.It took nine months for the country to register its first 50,000 deaths, and just three and half months to double them.Infections rose 23 percent last week by comparison with the week before and health officials have warned that the country faces a fresh surge of cases as a more contagious variant of the disease, first detected in Britain, gains ground.Draghi acknowledged that the situation was deteriorating, but he said his government was going to "significantly step up" its vaccination campaign."The pandemic is not yet over, but with the acceleration of the vaccine plan, a way out is not far off," he said in his first public address since taking office last month.Like in other European Union countries, Italy's vaccination campaign has got off to a slow start, hit in part by delivery delays from drug manufacturers.As of Monday morning, 5.42 million shots had been carried out, with 1.65 million of Italy's 60-million-strong population having received the recommended two doses. The government is considering switching tactics to give priority to first doses rather than stockpile second doses.Real toll may be higherThe health ministry said there had been 687 new hospital admissions over the past 24 hours, up from 443 on Sunday. The total number of patients in intensive care increased by 95, to 2,700.Italy went into a draconian lockdown last March to slow the virus's its advance. New cases fell sharply during the summer, but a second wave slammed the country in the autumn.After subsiding in January, infections have been pushing up again, and authorities said on Friday that the average reproduction number had risen to 1.06 – the first time it had moved above the threshold of 1 for seven weeks.An "R" number above 1 indicates infections will grow at an exponential rate.Data released on Friday suggested the toll might be higher still. Statistics bureau ISTAT said there were 100,525 excess deaths in Italy last year compared with the 2015-2019 average, more than the 75,891 deaths officially linked to coronavirus in 2020. (FRANCE 24 with REUTERS)

  • Boris Johnson claims critics will be ‘pleasantly surprised’ by outcome of Brexit row with Brussels

    ‘We never sulk’: Brussels shrugs off Frost claim of ill-will in Brexit row

  • Protests erupt outside Trump Tower demanding ex-president’s arrest after he returns to NYC

    Former president expected to stay in city until Tuesday, but reason for trip unknown

  • Roy Blunt becomes fourth Republican senator to announce retirement since Biden inauguration

    Seat is expected to stay with the Republicans

  • Trisha Goddard praised for ‘one-sentence annihilation’ of Piers Morgan over racism on GMB

    Goddard held Morgan accountable for Meghan Markle question

  • Scotland lockdown roadmap: Tiers used for easing and everything we know so far

    Nicola Sturgeon criticised Boris Johnson for laying out exact dates in his more detailed exit strategy

  • Lockdown roadmap: Everything you can do from 8 March

    The first step of the coronavirus lockdown brings the return of schools and limited social contact

  • Supreme Court delivers final blow to Trump’s last election challenge

    The Supreme Court has tossed out former President Donald Trump’s last remaining challenge to the 2020 election after he lied about the results of the nationwide vote and urged states to wipe out thousands of ballots while promoting false claims of fraud. The court without comment rejected Mr Trump’s appeal, which challenged thousands of absentee ballots filed in Wisconsin, an election battleground that the former president lost by more than 20,000 votes. It was the last of three petitions filed at the Supreme Court near the end of his presidency that the justices declined to take up.

  • Michelle Keegan denies her marriage to Mark Wright is in trouble

    Michelle Keegan has been forced to deny once again that her marriage to Mark Wright is in trouble.

  • Michelle Keegan wishes her lads' mag shoots had been 'a bit more tasteful'

    The actor has said she doesn't regret the photographs.

  • Princess Diana foresaw Prince Harry's departure from Royal family, Duke claims

    Prince Harry has revealed that he was financially able to step back from the Royal family because his mother, Diana, Princess of Wales left him an inheritance, telling Oprah Winfrey: "I think she saw it coming". The Duke of Sussex told the interviewer Oprah Winfrey that he was now living off money left to him by his late mother after he was “cut off financially” early last year when he and the Duchess moved to the US. “I have what my mum left me and without that we wouldn’t have been able to do this,” he said of his new life in Los Angeles. “It’s like she saw it coming and she’s been with us through this whole process.” The princes were left about £6.5 million each when their mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, died 23 years ago. The sum was invested and gathered substantial interest, so Prince Harry inherited around £10 million on his 30th birthday. Diana's sons were also left her wedding dress, designed by David and Elizabeth Emanuel and made of thousands of pearls, silk layers and a 25ft-train. In 2013, Earl Spencer, Diana's brother, said that other items would also be handed over to William and Harry, in accordance with their mother's will. Other items handed down include: 28 other dresses, designer suits and evening gowns that belonged to Diana, two diamond tiaras, the original text of the Earl Spencer’s tribute to his sister at the funeral in Westminister Abbey and the score and lyrics of the Sir Elton John and Bernie Taupin's version of Candle in the Wind, played by Sir Elton at Diana's funeral.

  • Jacinda Ardern announces New Zealand will only use Pfizer vaccine for ‘fairness’

    New Zealand has signed an agreement to buy an extra 8.5 million doses of Pfizer

  • UK records lowest daily Covid deaths in almost five months

    First time daily deaths below 100 since 19 October

  • Trump ‘greeted by single supporter’ as he returns to New York for first time since presidency

    Queens-born septuagenarian arrives back at former Fifth Avenue residence following four year absence

  • Children who receive false positive Covid tests at school to be banned from class for 10 days

    Children who receive false positives when tested at school will still be told to self-isolate and will be banned from the classroom for 10 days, the Government has said. Ministers have been accused of pursuing a “ridiculous” policy on lateral flow tests that has “no scientific basis” and will result in youngsters missing out on school “unnecessarily”. It comes as millions of children returned to lessons on Monday for the first time in months. Parents and teachers spoke of their joy of children returning to school, with one headteacher saying his school “feels alive again” as he welcomed 500 pupils back on Monday. David McPartlin at Flakefleet Primary School in Fleetwood, Lancashire, said: "There's been a real buzz about the place and a sense of excitement this morning. Today feels like the start of the end of Covid, like we are coming out the end of a very long dark tunnel.” Meanwhile, parents at Ide primary school near Exeter, Devon, described how happy their children were to be back at school. "My youngest has not seen any of his friends or spoken to them for months,” one mother said. “He has really missed seeing them every day." Pupils at secondary schools have been asked to have three rapid antigen tests at school during the first fortnight of term, followed by another at home. After that they will be given two tests per week to take at home, all of which are voluntary.

  • Prince Charles will be 'deeply hurt': Experts weigh in after Harry and Meghan's Oprah interview

    Experts said the Oprah interview with Harry and Meghan led to some 'astonishing' claims.

  • Latest weekly Covid-19 rates for local authority areas in England

    Just six out of 315 local areas recorded a week-on-week increase.

  • Vaccine passports will be a feature of our life for foreign travel, says PM

    Boris Johnson acknowledged that documents providing proof that someone has received a coronavirus jab ‘raise all sorts of issues’.

  • Scottish Tories condemn Nicola Sturgeon’s power over ministerial code, despite loophole clearing Priti Patel

    ‘Scottish Government accountable only to itself’ protests Douglas Ross - but Boris Johnson rejected identical call for change