https://twitter.com/UKStatsAuth/stat...43490932387841
There is a rustle in the hedgerow.
*Jeff on*Western gluttony comes back to haunt us*Jeff off*
Obesity and coronavirus: how can a higher BMI increase your risk? | World news | The Guardian
It's certainly been a wake up call to look after ourselves a bit better.
UK is now #2 in the world (after US) when it comes to total deaths from covid-19.
It is also #2 in the world (after Belgium) when it comes to deaths based on population. (results for San Marino and Andorra excluded for obvious reasons)
^ Russia and Brazil will overtake the UK soon enough . . . but then Boris wants an easing n movement, so maybe not.
...OOPS!...
Man Behind Sweden’s Controversial Virus Strategy Admits Mistakes
By Rafaela Lindeberg
June 3, 2020, 1:25 PM GMT+7 Updated on June 3, 2020, 5:31 PM GMT+7
https://www.bloomberg.com/asia
Anders Tegnell Photographer: Pontus Lundahl/AFP via Getty Images
Sweden’s top epidemiologist has admitted his strategy to fight Covid-19 resulted in too many deaths, after persuading his country to avoid a strict lockdown.
“If we were to encounter the same illness with the same knowledge that we have today, I think our response would land somewhere in between what Sweden did and what the rest of the world has done,” Anders Tegnell said in an interview with Swedish Radio.
Tegnell is the brains behind Sweden’s controversial approach to fighting the virus, and the government of Stefan Lofven has deferred to the epidemiologist in its official response to the pandemic. Gatherings of more than 50 people continue to be banned, but throughout the crisis Swedes have been able to visit restaurants, go shopping, attend gyms and send children under 16 to school.
The laxer approach to containing the virus has drawn both praise and condemnation from across the globe. What is beyond debate, however, is the effect the strategy has had on the country’s death toll.
At 43 deaths per 100,000, Sweden’s mortality rate is among the highest globally and far exceeds that of neighboring Denmark and Norway, which imposed much tougher lockdowns at the onset of the pandemic.
“Clearly, there is potential for improvement in what we have done in Sweden,” Tegnell said.
The comments appeared to frustrate some members of the government. Sweden’s minister of health and social affairs, Lena Hallengren, said Tegnell “still can’t give an exact answer on what other measures should have been taken. That question remains, I think,” the minister said, according to Dagens Nyheter.
Falling Behind
Until now, Tegnell had argued that the long-term nature of the Covid-19 pandemic required a more sustainable response than severe and sudden lockdowns. Despite criticism from abroad, Tegnell’s strategy enjoyed widespread support in Sweden.
But with many other European Union countries now rolling back their lockdowns after appearing to bring Covid-19 under control, there are signs that Sweden may be left behind. That includes the freedom of movement of its citizens, as some EU countries restrict access to people coming from what are deemed high-risk Covid zones.
What’s more, there’s so far limited evidence that Sweden’s decision to leave much of its society open will support the economy. Finance Minister Magdalena Andersson recently warned that Sweden is facing its worst economic crisis since World War II, with GDP set to slump 7% in 2020, roughly as much as the rest of the EU.
The government has started to grow concerned at the apparent missteps taken to fight the spread of the virus in Sweden. On Monday, Lofven promised there’d be an inquiry into the handling of the crisis before the summer.
Some lawmakers in Sweden’s parliament were quick to weigh in. Jimmie Akesson, the leader of the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats, tweeted that the comments by Tegnell are “astonishing.”
“For months, critics have been consistently dismissed. Sweden has done everything right, the rest of the world has done it wrong. And now, suddenly, this,” Akesson said.
Majestically enthroned amid the vulgar herd
“If we were to encounter the same illness with the same knowledge that we have today, I think our response would land somewhere in between what Sweden did and what the rest of the world has done,” Anders Tegnell said in an interview with Swedish Radio.
Sounds like something a Thai leader would say after gloriously fcuking up.
This has all the ingredients for complete chaos.
The populace has seen a major player in formulating the rules take the piss out of those very rules.
1 in 5 schools has already decided it will defy requirements to reopen.
The mooted quarantine procedures are a mess. And why quarantine people at all when they are coming from countries with better stats, ie every country in the world bar three or four.
'Air bridges' have been ruled completely impractical in many cases.
The list goes on.
Bumbling BoJo has been a disaster, something that was entirely predictable.
This trendy social-distancing bracelet will vibrate when you go somewhere you shouldn’t – and GCHQ has its maker’s back
"There’s nothing like a global health crisis to help the tech dream of business control freaks to rein in suspicious masses. A GCHQ-backed firm now offers vibrating wristbands for warehouse owners as a Covid social-distancing tool.
Just two years ago Amazon’s patents for vibrating wristbands, which would track every worker and out those who slack, sent chills down people’s spines, with visions of a dystopian future. Now, a similar device exists, in the plastic-and-electronic flesh – and is marketed as a tool to “accelerate the transition back to safe working across a range of industries” after the Covid-19 pandemic.
Manufactured by Tended, a company based in Lincoln, England, the wristbands had a relatively quiet rollout in May. Sensors in the devices use ultra-wideband technology for proximity detection that doesn’t interfere with regular radio communications."
This trendy social-distancing bracelet will vibrate when you go somewhere you shouldn’t – and GCHQ has its maker’s back — RT UK News
Currently the "trendy social-distancing bracelet" is offered with a vibrator and a plastic band.The GCHQ funded developer has an alternate/updated design which incorporates a shaped charge in the wrist band. Secret tests, in a far off hot sandy location renowned world wide for it's "highly efficient irrigation systems", are ongoing.
A tray full of GOLD is not worth a moment in time.
Remind me again how it's 'TRENDY'
Bollocks!
Read more at Coronavirus may damage testicles without entering cells, study findsHONG KONG — The new coronavirus could cause damage to the testicles without actually infecting them, according to a joint study by researchers from China and the United States.
They found that the virus could enlarge and attack the cells that produce sperm, possibly by binding to an enzyme on the cell surface.
But the researchers said there were almost no viral genes found in the semen and testicular tissue of patient samples, suggesting it was not a sexually transmitted infection.
"Sperm donation or an impregnation plan could be considered during convalescence for Covid-19 patients," the researchers concluded in a peer-reviewed paper published in European Urology Focus on Sunday.
There has been debate over the potential impact of the virus on male fertility since it was first reported in the central Chinese city of Wuhan late last year. Some research has detected male hormone abnormalities, but in other studies no trace of the virus has been found in patients' sperm samples.
According to an earlier study in China, about one in five men reported "scrotal discomfort" after contracting the virus. And in the US, the case of a 42-year-old man who sought emergency treatment for "constant stabbing pain that originated from his groin" and later tested positive for Covid-19 was reported in the American Journal of Emergency Medicine.
In the latest study, samples from 11 patients who died from Covid-19 in Wuhan were analysed by a team led by Mr Ming Zhou, a professor with the Tufts Medical Centre in Boston, and Dr Nie Xiu, from the Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan.
They tested for viral genes in tissues involved in sperm and testosterone production, and some samples were also assessed for damage caused by the virus. But only one sample showed a trace of the virus, from a patient with a high viral load. That result could have been because the virus was "present in blood rather than in testicular tissue", the paper said.
However, more than 80 per cent of the samples showed significant damage to the seminiferous tubules — the part of the testicles where sperm is made.
The cells making up these tiny tubes underwent "ballooning changes", becoming much bigger than healthy cells. Some were also damaged to an extent that sperm production could have been affected, the researchers said.
They said it was unclear how the virus did this without entering the testicular cells but noted that the testicles contain an enzyme known as ACE2, which the coronavirus can bind to using a spike protein.
"We speculate that viral membrane proteins, such as the spike protein, may play a role in the injury," the paper said.
Mr Zhang Shuye, a principal investigator with the Shanghai Public Health Clinical Centre at Fudan University, who was not involved in the study, said there was growing support but "no direct scientific proof" for the theory that the virus could cause damage without actually entering a cell.
He used the ACE2 enzyme — which has important roles such as regulating blood pressure — as an example of how this could happen.
"A large number of viral strains can bind to ACE2 and can affect its normal function and [this could] lead to damage of certain cell types that depend on the enzyme," Zhang said.
Damage found in the study samples could also have been caused by immune system malfunction, he added.
Some critically ill Covid-19 patients suffer from multiple organ failure, and previous research has suggested that this could be caused by a destructive immune system overreaction.
Based on their findings, Mr Zhou's team concluded that "studies should be undertaken to find ways to mitigate the risk of testicular injury during the Covid-19 disease course". SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
High consequence infectious diseases (HCID)
Guidance and information about high consequence infectious diseases and their management in England.
Published 22 October 2018
Last updated 21 March 2020 — see all updates
From:Public Health England
Status of COVID-19
As of 19 March 2020, COVID-19 is no longer considered to be a high consequence infectious disease (HCID) in the UK.
The 4 nations public health HCID group made an interim recommendation in January 2020 to classify COVID-19 as an HCID. This was based on consideration of the UK HCID criteria about the virus and the disease with information available during the early stages of the outbreak. Now that more is known about COVID-19, the public health bodies in the UK have reviewed the most up to date information about COVID-19 against the UK HCID criteria. They have determined that several features have now changed; in particular, more information is available about mortality rates (low overall), and there is now greater clinical awareness and a specific and sensitive laboratory test, the availability of which continues to increase.
The Advisory Committee on Dangerous Pathogens (ACDP) is also of the opinion that COVID-19 should no longer be classified as an HCID.
The need to have a national, coordinated response remains, but this is being met by the government’s COVID-19 response.
Cases of COVID-19 are no longer managed by HCID treatment centres only. All healthcare workers managing possible and confirmed cases should follow the updated national infection and prevention (IPC) guidance for COVID-19, which supersedes all previous IPC guidance for COVID-19. This guidance includes instructions about different personal protective equipment (PPE) ensembles that are appropriate for different clinical scenarios.
Definition of HCID
In the UK, a high consequence infectious disease (HCID) is defined according to the following criteria:
- acute infectious disease
- typically has a high case-fatality rate
- may not have effective prophylaxis or treatment
- often difficult to recognise and detect rapidly
- ability to spread in the community and within healthcare settings
- requires an enhanced individual, population and system response to ensure it is managed effectively, efficiently and safely
Classification of HCIDs
HCIDs are further divided into contact and airborne groups:
- contact HCIDs are usually spread by direct contact with an infected patient or infected fluids, tissues and other materials, or by indirect contact with contaminated materials and fomites
- airborne HCIDs are spread by respiratory droplets or aerosol transmission, in addition to contact routes of transmission
List of high consequence infectious diseases
A list of HCIDs has been agreed by a joint Public Health England (PHE) and NHS England HCID Programme:
High consequence infectious diseases (HCID) - GOV.UK
The Covid-19 pandemic is officially over.
Toilet paper is 1/2 price at my supermarket!
Face coverings will become mandatory on all forms of public transport in England from mid-June, the Transport Secretary has announced.
Grant Shapps told Thursday's Downing Street daily briefing that tube, rail and bus passengers in England will be expected to wear face masks from June 15.
Commuters could be fined or refused permission to board buses or trains if they do not comply with the order aimed at stopping the spread of coronavirus.
The Secretary of State also said staff who come into contact with passengers will have to wear face coverings.
Face coverings will become mandatory on all public transport in England from mid-June, Grant Shapps announces | London Evening Standard
Last edited by harrybarracuda; 05-06-2020 at 12:54 AM.
The pandemic isn’t finished with the U.S. labor market, threatening a second wave of job cuts—this time among white-collar workers.
Close to 6 million jobs are potentially on the line, according to Bloomberg Economics. That includes higher-paid supervisors in sectors where frontline workers were hit first, such as restaurants and hotels. It also includes the knock on-effects to connected industries such as professional services, finance and real estate.
Bloomberg - Are you a robot?
The long journey to herd immunity
The sought-after state of herd immunity — in which widespread outbreaks are prevented because enough people in a community are immune to a disease — is complicated by open questions about the effectiveness of a future vaccine and how COVID-19 spreads.
Why it matters: Unless a sufficient level of immunity is achieved in the population, the coronavirus could circulate indefinitely and potentially flare up as future outbreaks.
"When it comes to an infectious disease, herd immunity is essential to stopping its spread and ceasing to be a major health problem."
— Amesh Adalja, senior scholar, Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security
Where it stands: The magic number often cited is a minimum of 60% of the population would need to have immunity.
Right now, antibody studies indicate the world isn't close to that threshold, the NYT reports.
In hard-hit New York, for example, a recent study found 19.9% of people tested have antibodies to SARS-CoV-2. (Though even that is debated by researchers.)
And in Sweden, which took (controversial) relaxed measures in controlling the coronavirus, just 7.3% of Stockholm's population developed antibodies by April.
MORE The long road to coronavirus herd immunity depends on a vaccine and how the virus spreads - Axios
Mount Sinai Study Finds First Cases of COVID-19 in New York City are Primarily from European and US Sources
First definitive molecular epidemiology study of SARS-CoV-2 in New York City to describe the route by which the virus arrived
- New York, NY
- (June 02, 2020)
"New York City’s first confirmed COVID-19 cases are from primarily European and United States sources, according to the first molecular epidemiology study of SARS-CoV-2. The study, published in the journal Science and led by Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (ISMMS) researchers, is the first to trace the source of these cases and show that the SARS-CoV-2 epidemic in New York City predominately arose through untracked transmission between the United States and Europe, with limited evidence to support any direct introductions from China, where the virus originated, or other locations in Asia. The researchers also documented early community spread of SARS-CoV-2 in New York City during that time.
New York City has become one of the major epicenters of SARS-CoV-2 infections in the US with more than 4,000 fatalities in the metropolitan area. The government instituted targeted screening of suspected coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases and a series of successive nation-wide travel restrictions to curtail SARS-CoV-2 introductions into the US from outbreak hotspots in China, Iran, and later mainland European countries to the continental United States. Despite these measures, the first SARS-CoV-2 case in New York State was identified in New York City by the end of February. Knowing the time the virus came to New York and the route it took is essential for evaluating and designing effective containment strategies.
The team of researchers from the Icahn Institute for Data Science and Genomic Technology, the Global Health and Emerging Pathogens Institute, and the Departments of Microbiology, Pathology, and Genetics and Genomic Sciences sequenced 90 SARS-CoV-2 genomes from 84 of over 800 confirmed COVID-19 positive cases within the Mount Sinai Health System.
“We sequenced genomes from COVID-19 cases identified up to March 18,” said Harm van Bakel, PhD, Assistant Professor of Genetics and Genomic Sciences at ISMMS. “These cases were drawn from 21 New York City neighborhoods across four boroughs (Manhattan, Bronx, Queens and Brooklyn), as well as two towns in neighboring Westchester County.”
The team then analyzed these sequences together with all 2,363 publicly available SARS-CoV-2 genomes from around the world to determine the most likely origin of the SARS-CoV-2 strains infecting these metro New York City residents who sought care at Mount Sinai.
“Phylogenetic analysis of 84 distinct SARS-CoV2 genomes indicates multiple independent but isolated introductions mainly from Europe and other parts of the United States. In addition, clusters of related viruses found in patients living in different neighborhoods of the city provide strong evidence of community transmission of SARS-CoV2 in the city prior to March 18, 2020,” said van Bakel.
“These results show that SARS-CoV-2 came to the New York City area predominately via Europe through untracked transmissions." said Viviana Simon, MD, PhD, Professor of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases at ISMMS. "Only one of the cases studied was infected with a virus that was a clear candidate for introduction from Asia, and that virus is most closely related to viral isolates from Seattle, Washington. The study also suggests that the virus was likely circulating as early as late-January 2020 in the New York City area. This underscores the urgent need for early and continued broad testing to identify untracked transmission clusters in the community."
Precision surveillance of pathogens allows researchers to infer both the source and timing by which a pathogen entered a community. In the COVID-19 pandemic, we are fortunate to have many thousands of SARS-CoV-2 sequences collected at GISAID - Initiative by the efforts of clinicians and researchers around the globe. The Pathogen Surveillance Program at ISMMS is a multidisciplinary institutional infrastructure that generates timely high resolution genetic information on pathogens in the large and diverse patient population seeking care at the Mount Sinai Health System and integrates these data into clinical operations to support both research and clinical care at the Mount Sinai Health System."
Mount Sinai Study Finds First Cases of COVID-19 in New York City are Primarily from European and US Sources | Mount Sinai - New York
A comprehensive timeline of the new coronavirus pandemic, from China's first case to the present
Originated in Wuhan, China.
Strains from Europe and Eastern Canada account for most COVID-19 cases in B.C., genomic data shows
"Strains traced to Europe and Eastern Canada are by far the largest source of COVID-19 infections in B.C., according to new modelling presented by the provincial government Thursday.
Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry revealed the results of genomic tracing of different strains of the virus, showing that of those samples that have been sequenced, early cases linked to travel from China and Iran appear to have been well contained, leading to relatively few other infections.
But beginning in March, with an outbreak that began with the Pacific Dental Conference in Vancouver, infections with strains from Eastern Canada and Europe spiked dramatically.
"One of the people that we knew was positive and had attended that conference had previously been in Germany during his incubation period before he became ill," Henry said.
Strains traced to Washington state have also been linked to a large number of cases, particularly in long-term care homes in the Vancouver Coastal Health region.
Henry explained that this kind of tracing is possible because the genome of the virus changes relatively quickly, but not as fast as diseases like influenza.
Genomic tracing of different strains of the novel coronavirus show most infections are linked to variations that have been traced to Europe and Eastern Canada. (B.C. government)
She also announced nine new confirmed cases of the virus on Thursday, for a total of 2,632 to date. No new deaths have been recorded, leaving B.C.'s total at 166.
The new cases announced Thursday include four people who have already recovered, people that Henry described as epidemiologically linked to previous patients who have tested positive.
This means these four people were close contacts of known cases and developed symptoms of COVID-19, but may not have had access to testing at the time.
There are currently 26 people in hospital, including six in intensive care. To date, 2,265 people have recovered from their illnesses, and there are now 201 active cases across the province.
Meanwhile, there has been a new community outbreak at the Beresford Warming Centre in Burnaby, where three people have tested positive for the virus.
...."
Strains from Europe and Eastern Canada account for most COVID-19 cases in B.C., genomic data shows | CBC News
The Chinese doctor who tried to warn others about coronavirus - BBC NewsThe Chinese doctor who tried to warn others about coronavirus
By Stephanie HegartyPopulation Correspondent
- 6 February 2020
Image copyrightWEIBOImage captionDr Li posted this picture of himself from a hospital bed on 31 January - a day before he was diagnosed with coronavirusDr Li Wenliang, who was hailed a hero for raising the alarm about the coronavirus in the early days of the outbreak, has died of the infection.
His death was confirmed by the Wuhan hospital where he worked and was being treated, following conflicting reports about his condition on state media.
Dr Li, 34, tried to send a message to fellow medics about the outbreak at the end of December. Three days later police paid him a visit and told him to stop. He returned to work and caught the virus from a patient. He had been in hospital for at least three weeks.
He posted his story from his hospital bed last month on social media site Weibo.
"Hello everyone, this is Li Wenliang, an ophthalmologist at Wuhan Central Hospital," the post begins.
It was a stunning insight into the botched response by local authorities in Wuhan in the early weeks of the coronavirus outbreak.
Dr Li was working at the centre of the outbreak in December when he noticed seven cases of a virus that he thought looked like Sars - the virus that led to a global epidemic in 2003. The cases were thought to come from the Huanan Seafood market in Wuhan and the patients were in quarantine in his hospital.
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On 30 December he sent a message to fellow doctors in a chat group warning them about the outbreak and advising they wear protective clothing to avoid infection.
What Dr Li didn't know then was that the disease that had been discovered was an entirely new coronavirus.
Image copyrightWEIBOImage captionAfter falling sick, Dr Li said on Weibo that he wondered why authorities were still saying no medical staff had been infectedFour days later he was summoned to the Public Security Bureau where he was told to sign a letter. In the letter he was accused of "making false comments" that had "severely disturbed the social order".
"We solemnly warn you: If you keep being stubborn, with such impertinence, and continue this illegal activity, you will be brought to justice - is that understood?" Underneath in Dr Li's handwriting is written: "Yes, I do."
He was one of eight people who police said were being investigated for "spreading rumours".
At the end of January, Dr Li published a copy of the letter on Weibo and explained what had happened. In the meantime, local authorities had apologised to him but that apology came too late.
For the first few weeks of January officials in Wuhan were insisting that only those who came into contact with infected animals could catch the virus. No guidance was issued to protect doctors.
But just a week after his visit from the police, Dr Li was treating a woman with glaucoma. He didn't know that she had been infected with the new coronavirus.
Image copyrightLI WENLIANGImage caption"We hope you can calm down and reflect on your behaviour," the letter police told him to sign saysIn his Weibo post he describes how on 10 January he started coughing, the next day he had a fever and two days later he was in hospital. His parents also fell ill and were taken to hospital.
It was 10 days later - on 20 January - that China declared the outbreak an emergency.
Dr Li says he was tested several times for coronavirus, all of them came back negative.
Image copyrightWEIBOImage captionDr Li Wenliang was accused of spreading rumoursOn 30 January he posted again: "Today nucleic acid testing came back with a positive result, the dust has settled, finally diagnosed."
He punctuated the short post with an emoji of a dog with its eyes rolled back, tongue hanging out.
Not surprisingly the post received thousands of comments and words of support.
"Dr Li Wenliang is a hero," one user said, worrying about what his story says about their country. "In the future, doctors will be more afraid to issue early warnings when they find signs of infectious diseases."
"A safer public health environment… requires tens of millions of Li Wenliang."
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