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Health authorities across Australia call for return of masks amid eighth COVID wave Source:Dailymirror Health authorities in several Australian states have recommended the return of masks amid a spike in COVID-19 cases leading up to Christmas. Virus cases recently spiked 23.6 per cent across the country and experts say we are entering an eighth wave of infections. In NSW, more than 11 per cent of PCR tests came back positive in the two weeks to November 4 and the state’s health department warned “COVID-19 cases are increasing”. “Emergency department presentations for COVID-19 increased across most age groups, particularly young children and those aged 65 years and older,” the department’s latest respiratory surveillance report said. On X (formerly Twitter) people have been asked to consider wearing a mask in crowded indoor areas and to ensure they stay on top of other “everyday habits” followed strictly at the height of the pandemic — including ...

When is the next UK travel-list update and what can we expect? What you need to know about the announcement — and which countries might make the green grade Source:Thetimes Since overseas travel from the UK got the most cautious of green lights in May, our foreign holiday decisions have been ruled by the traffic-light system: all of the world’s countries and territories assigned to the green, amber or red lists. These are roughly based on the Covid-19 risk in the destination and the possibility of bringing troublesome new variants back to the UK. It’s now the amber-red boundary that is most keenly watched: the wrong side of it involves an 11-night stay in a quarantine hotel on the return home, with all the associated costs. For the fully vaccinated there is now little practical difference between the green and amber lists in terms of travel restrictions (both require a pre-departure test and a PCR ...