The Guardian has coverage of gastric haemorrhage as a sign of desolation (10)
I believe the answer is:
tumbleweed
'a sign of desolation' is the definition.
(a tumbleweed might signify a desolate town)
'the guardian has coverage of gastric haemorrhage' is the wordplay.
'the guardian' becomes 'we' (the crossword setter and their Guardian colleagues).
'has coverage of' indicates putting letters inside (some letters are covered by others).
'gastric' becomes 'tum' (gastric means relating to the stomach).
'haemorrhage' becomes 'bleed' (blood bleeding out from a vessel).
'tum'+'bleed'='tumbleed'
'we' placed inside 'tumbleed' is 'TUMBLEWEED'.
'as' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for tumbleweed that I've seen before include "Plant that blows around in the wind" , "Western drifter" , "Plant of arid regions, rolled about by the wind" , "Ball-like remains of plant blown by prairie winds" , "Plant swept along by the wind - wet Elbe mud (anag)" .)