Pandemic

Restaurants have hailed news that its VAT rate is to return to 9% as “common sense”.  During the pandemic, VAT for the hospitality sector was cut from 13.5% to 9%, as it struggled to cope with the chaos of COVID restrictions.  In 2023, the VAT returned to 13.5% and many…

Scientists have decoded the Swiss genome of the 1918 flu virus from a century-old specimen, revealing early adaptations for human infection. Scientists from the Universities of Basel and Zurich have successfully decoded the genome of the influenza virus that caused the 1918–1920 pandemic in Switzerland, using a preserved specimen from…

The Pandemic Aged Everyone’s Brain—Even in Healthy People A study of nearly 1,000 people showed that brain aging was not linked to infection status By Gemma Conroy & Nature magazine iMrSquid/Getty Images The brains of healthy people aged faster during the COVID-19 pandemic than did the brains of people analysed…

Checking your browser before accessing this site. This process is automatic. You will arrive shortly. Read More

Please enable JS and disable any ad blocker Read More

A version of this story appeared in Esquire’s entertainment newsletter, t he Cliff-Hanger . Sign up here to receive weekly criticism of the movie or television show of the moment shipped directly to your in-box. Weird question: Do you remember the pandemic? It wasn’t that long ago that we were…

While inflation may have since been tamed, Statistics Canada’s monthly inflation figures show that the pandemic-era price hikes survived Published Jul 21, 2025 Last updated Jul 21, 2025 8 minute read A customer looks for produce at a grocery store in Ottawa, on Wednesday, April 2, 2025. Photo by Justin…

Checking your browser before accessing this site. This process is automatic. You will arrive shortly. Read More

Soaring food prices placed household budgets under strain, making healthier options even less attainable Photo by Postmedia Article content A new study published in the  Canadian Medical Association Journal  (CMAJ) confirms what many suspected: obesity rates in Canada have surged since the onset of the pandemic. Prior to 2020, the…

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump’s administration said on July 18 that the United States was rejecting changes agreed in 2024 for the World Health Organisation on its pandemic response, saying they violated the country’s sovereignty. Mr Trump, after returning to office on Jan 20, immediately began his nation’s withdrawal from…