Matthew McConaughey struggling with 'anticipation fatigue' during Covid-19 pandemic

Matthew McConaughey has been struggling with the "limbo" part of the Covid-19 pandemic.

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  • Israeli Covid tsar says first Pfizer jab not as effective as hoped and blames spike in cases on British strain

    Israel’s coronavirus tsar has warned that the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine offers less protection than expected, as he blamed the country’s surge in Covid cases partly on the new British variant. Nachman Ash said many Israelis had caught Covid in between their first and second doses of the Pfizer vaccine, suggesting that the first jab is “less effective than we thought,” according to Army Radio. His remarks underline the importance of receiving a second vaccine dose, which according to recent studies is more than 90 per cent effective in protecting against coronavirus. Israel has already given the first of two jabs to nearly 30 per cent of the population and on Tuesday announced it would extend eligibility to those aged 40 and over. But Mr Ash is said to have warned at a cabinet meeting that a new strain of Covid originating in Britain was hampering efforts to tackle the pandemic, as it was responsible for nearly 40 per cent of new cases. It comes after two studies by Israeli healthcare providers found that the first dose of the vaccine reduced the risk of infection by between 30 and 60 per cent. And according to Israeli newspaper Haaretz, a survey by the health ministry found that around six per cent of 189,000 citizens who had received the first jab tested positive for Covid within two weeks. It also stated that 69 people from the sample had tested positive for coronavirus after receiving their second dose of the vaccine. Another study of a hundred people in Israel found that 98 per cent were protected from the disease once the second dose was administered. That research, carried out by the Sheba Medical Center, also said that a second dose of the Pfizer vaccine significantly refused the risk of spreading the virus to others.

  • Five-minute battery: Could charging your electric car soon be as quick as filling your tank?

    Electric cars have gradually become as quick, as good-looking and almost as cheap as their petrol-powered counterparts. But there are still some convenience issues to overcome. Along with making batteries smaller, lighter, safer and more compact, improving charging technology is one of the main barriers to mass electric car uptake - a key part of the UK's climate change plan. While filling up at a petrol pump takes a matter of minutes, charging an electric car is currently a more time-consuming undertaking. On standard home chargers, it can take eight hours or longer for a drained electric car battery to fill up. Most commercial chargers are much faster than this, though. In the UK, the most commonly-found Rapid chargers, which operate at 50 kW, can charge a battery to 80 per cent full in between 20 minutes and an hour. 50kw is not widely considered to be particularly fast, and most UK chargers are even slower than this, so more powerful chargers will certainly help. But even Tesla’s fastest superchargers, which operate at 250kw, require drivers to hang around for more than half an hour to get their empty battery to 100 per cent. The main engineering challenge is not the power available from the charger, but the battery itself. There's a trade-off between producing longer-range cars which can travel further on a single charge and batteries that charge more quickly.

  • As Trump prepares to give Biden the ultimate snub, militia groups send an ominous message

    The president is ready to deal a final blow to tradition, writes Griffin Connolly

  • EU has been able to make ‘quantum leap’ without UK, Brussels’ ambassador says

    Bloc's ambassador to Britain says nobody advocates following Britain out of the EU

  • Storm Christoph: Major incident declared in Greater Manchester as torrential rain threatens flooding

    Weather system expected to bring deluge to northern and central England

  • Government 'looking very carefully' at Pfizer vaccine after 'real world effectiveness' claims

    Israel has warned that the vaccine could drop to 33% effectiveness after the first dose, while the UK continues to wait weeks before providing the booster jab.

  • Huge Saltwater Crocodile Moseys Across Road in Australian Park

    A saltwater crocodile with an unlucky prey animal in its mouth walked across the road before a park ranger at Northern Territory’s Kakadu National Park, footage from January 14 shows.According to the post from the park, crocodile traps were placed around the swamp after the crocodile was seen near the Mudjinbardi Outstation Causeway, close to a popular fishing area. Signs were placed around the causeway for fishermen and visitors to be aware of the reptiles.There are roughly 10,000 crocodiles in Kakadu, making up 10 percent of all the crocodiles in Northern Territory, according to the park. Credit: Kakadu National Park via Storyful

  • Talking can spread Covid as much as coughing, says research

    Talking can spread Covid as much as coughing, says research. Tiny aerosols of the virus emitted when speaking linger in air for longer than larger droplets from a cough

  • Fox News fires editor who defended correct Arizona call after backlash from Trump, viewers

    Chris Stirewalt, the onscreen face on the Arizona projection, has been asked to go

  • Pressure grows on Boris Johnson to agree plan to start easing lockdown restrictions by March 8

    Boris Johnson faces growing pressure from Tory MPs to set out an exit strategy from lockdown based on vaccine rollout forecasts and using March 8 as the target date to start easing the restrictions. Conservatives in the lockdown-sceptic Covid Recovery Group (CRG) highlighted scientific suggestions that the most vulnerable Britons will achieve a significant level of immunity from the virus three weeks after receiving their first dose of the jab. Since the Government has pledged to vaccinate the 14 million most vulnerable Britons by February 15, ministers should prepare to ease the rules three weeks later on March 8, the MPs said. Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary, reiterated this week that the mortality rate is expected to fall by 88 per cent once the most vulnerable cohort, which includes all adults over 70 and the clinically extremely vulnerable, has received an initial dose of the vaccine by the middle of next month.

  • Exclusive: Prince William's closest aide quits

    The Duke of Cambridge is set to lose a second key aide in a year. Christian Jones, who replaced Simon Case as William’s private secretary last March after he was poached by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, is leaving the royal household to join the private equity group Bridgepoint as a partner. The 31-year-old, who was previously William and Kate’s communications secretary, will head up corporate affairs for the £18 billion company. It is understood he will remain an advisor to the royal couple, whom he is credited with protecting from the fallout from “Megxit”, helping them to maintain a visible presence throughout the coronavirus crisis. A royal source said: “Whereas Simon was credited with making the Duke a statesman - Christian has really helped them to steer them through their public-facing role during the pandemic. He’s helped them to grow in confidence by gently pushing them out of their comfort zone.”

  • Zimbabwe's foreign minister dies after contracting COVID-19

    Zimbabwe's foreign minister, Sibusiso Moyo, has died after contracting COVID-19, presidential spokesman George Charamba said on Wednesday. Moyo, a former army general who announced the military coup that led to the removal of the late long-serving leader Robert Mugabe in November 2017. Moyo died at a local hospital early on Wednesday, Charamba said.

  • Rebekah Vardy hits back at fans who suggest husband Jamie looked ‘miserable’ during Dancing On Ice appearance

    Rebekah Vardy has leapt to the defence of her husband Jamie after some critics suggested he looked “miserable” during his brief appearance on Dancing on Ice. The mother-of-five took to Instagram to thank her followers for their support following her Sunday night skating debut on the ITV show, which also stars Myleene Klass, Denise Van Outen and Colin Jackson. In the comments, a few fans suggested her husband - Leicester City player Jamie Vardy - should have “smiled” more when he appeared on the show.

  • ‘It’s unfortunate’: Ashley Biden confirms first lady snubbed her mother on traditional White House handover

    "I think we’re all OK with it,' says incoming first daughter in first ever TV interview

  • Scottish GPs 'cancelling vaccine appointments' in supply hold-up despite 400,000 'unused' doses

    Frustrated GPs are being forced to cancel patients' Covid vaccination appointments thanks to lack of supply despite hundreds of thousands of doses lying unused, Nicola Sturgeon has been warned. Declaring the roll-out was going to plan, the First Minister said around 100,000 people per week were now being vaccinated in Scotland and all over-80s would be reached by the start of February. Between 15 and 20 per cent of Scots aged over 80 have been vaccinated so far, compared to more than half in England, but Ms Sturgeon said care homes had nearly been completed and the roll-out would now accelerate. But she was forced to deny her government is failing to distribute the vaccine to GPs quickly enough after it emerged only 284,582 doses out of Scotland's allocation of 717,000 had been administered. Challenged repeatedly to explain why GPs were running out when more than 400,000 doses were unused, she hit out at the UK Government for leaking the figure and accused it of having a "hissy fit" over her administration publishing confidential supply statistics last week. However, Dr Andrew Buist, who chairs the British Medical Association's Scottish GP committee, said family doctors were frustrated by the "bumpy" supply and they were being kept in the dark over why they had not received shipments. He said: "The workforce is there and that's why it's so incredibly frustrating when the patients want the vaccine, we're very keen to give it to our patients but we just don't have the vaccine in our fridge." Willie Rennie, the Scottish Liberal Democrat leader, said GPs in his Fife constituency had been forced to cancel vaccination appointments because they had not been provided with the necessary supply.

  • Pamela Anderson calls on Trump to pardon Julian Assange: ‘It would be a perfect way to go out’

    Joe Biden is replacing Trump as US president on 20 January

  • Coronavirus deaths hit grim new daily high, as expert warns it will be weeks before they fall significantly

    UK has ‘one of the worst coronavirus problems in the world at the moment’, warns scientist

  • Meghan Markle says reports of what Harry told her moments before their wedding are false

    Meghan's lawyers have said papers got the words Harry told her at the altar on their wedding day wrong.

  • Interactive map shows how many people have had COVID in your area

    There are 'substantial' differences between regions across England, according to ONS data.

  • London bus passenger who claimed it was ‘too stuffy’ for face mask fined £200

    A passenger who claimed it was “too stuffy” to wear a face-mask on a London bus has been fined £200 in the latest Covid crackdown. The man was among passengers caught by a joint Transport for London and police operation in Walthamstow as the enforcement of rules on face coverings on public transport was driven home. The only other passenger stopped for not wearing a mask said he had a medical exemption.