The COVID-2019 Thread

[HuangLao]

They've tested 300,000 out of five million. Is that enough?

Doesn't guarantee that's clean of the virus, though - numerous and uncountable asymptomatic instances?

Nonetheless, NZ - among others - did quite remarkable at containing.
One of the premier models to be followed.

[OhOh]

Lots of tested Baa Baas.

[tomcat]

23andMe Provides More Evidence That Blood Type Plays Role in Virus

By Kristen V Brown
June 8, 2020, 10:00 PM GMT+7
https://www.bloomberg.com/asia

Research from genetic-testing giant 23andMe Inc. found differences in a gene that influences a person’s blood type can affect a person’s susceptibility to Covid-19.

Scientists have been looking at genetic factors to try to determine why some people who contract the new coronavirus experience no symptoms, while others become gravely ill. In April, 23andMe launched a study that sought to use the millions of profiles in its DNA database to shed light on the role genetics play in the disease.

Preliminary results from more than 750,000 participants suggests type O blood is especially protective against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, the company said on Monday. The findings echo other research that has indicated a link between variations in the ABO gene and Covid-19.

Many other groups, including 23andMe competitor Ancestry Inc., are combing the genome to help make sense of the virus. It is known that factors such as age and underlying health conditions can determine how people fare once they’ve contracted Covid-19. But those factors alone don’t explain the wide diversity of symptoms, or why some people contract the disease and others don’t. Studying the genetics of the people who are more susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 could help identify and protect those more at risk, as well as help speed treatment and drug development.

Several other studies looking at both severity of illness and susceptibility to disease have also suggested blood type plays a role.

Research published last week prior to peer review suggested blood type may play a role in the severity of patients’ reactions to SARS-CoV-2. That study looked at the genes of more than 1,600 patients in Italy and Spain who experienced respiratory failure and found that having type A blood was linked to a 50% increase in the likelihood a patient would require a ventilator. An earlier Chinese study turned up similar results regarding a person’s susceptibility to Covid-19.

“There have also been some reports of links between Covid-19, blood clotting, and cardiovascular disease,” said Adam Auton, lead researcher on the 23andMe study. “These reports provided some hints about which genes might be relevant.”

The 23andMe study, which looked at susceptibility rather than severity of illness, included 10,000 participants who told the company they had Covid-19.
The research found that individuals with type O blood are between 9% and 18% less likely than individuals with other blood types to have tested positive for the virus. However, there was little difference in susceptibility among other blood types, the study found. When the researchers adjusted the data to account for factors like age and pre-existing illnesses, as well as when it restricted the data to only those with high-probability of exposure like health-care workers, the findings were the same.
Auton said that while this evidence is compelling, there is still a long way to go.

“It's early days; even with these sample sizes, it might not be enough to find genetic associations,” he said. “We're not the only group looking at this, and ultimately the scientific community may need to pool their resources to really address questions surrounding the links between genetics and Covid-19.”

[misskit]

Sunday marked new global peak for coronavirus

More than 136,000 people tested positive for the coronavirus across the globe on Sunday, a new apex that has officials at the World Health Organization (WHO) warning that the worst of the pandemic is still ahead.


Speaking to reporters in Geneva on Monday, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the number of confirmed cases is rising rapidly in South America and South Asia, which accounted for three-quarters of Sunday's new cases.

MORE Sunday marked new global peak for coronavirus | TheHill

[tomcat]

A Million Volunteers Help Thailand Curb Coronavirus Infections

By Randy Thanthong-Knight
June 9, 2020, 4:00 AM GMT+7

• Volunteers are key for virus surveillance across the nation
  
• Economy is restarting after a lockdown was mostly scrapped

A man has his temperature checked in Bangkok on March 23. Photographer: Lillian Suwanrumpha/AFP via Getty ImagesSHARE THIS ARTICLE


Share

Tweet

Post

Email

Follow Bloomberg on LINE messenger for all the business news and analysis you need.


Thailand is banking on an army of volunteer community health workers, tight border controls and acceptance of social distancing to reopen its economy, after a lockdown prevented a large novel coronavirus outbreak.







The nation -- the first to detect the illness outside of China -- has kept infections to about 3,100. New daily Covid-19 cases were mostly in the single digits for the past month, allowing officials to relax the lockdown gradually.


Restaurants and shopping malls are open again and many hotels are accepting bookings from domestic tourists. As activity picks up, one part of the strategy to avoid a second virus wave is a network of more than 1 million health volunteers who monitor for cases so action can be taken quickly.






People eat next to cardboard dinosaurs used for social distancing at a restaurant in Bangkok.

Photographer: Lillian Suwanrumpha/AFP via Getty Images

“They’re the public health foot soldiers,” said Richard Brown, a World Health Organization official in Bangkok who has been directing the body’s Covid-19 response in Thailand. He added that the country’s capacity to quickly carry out contact tracing helped to limit local transmission.
The volunteers undertake tasks such as checking for symptoms and assessing whether new arrivals to a village or city should be tested. For instance, they detected case number 3,018, an asymptomatic 39-year-old man who returned to family in Chiang Mai after working in Phuket.

READ MORE
Thailand Plans ‘Travel Bubbles’ When It’s Ready to Open Borders
Thailand Had No Foreign Tourists in April After Closing Borders
Thailand’s Economy Forecast to Contract as Much as 6%

The population is generally adhering to government guidelines on distancing and hygiene. Nearly everyone wears masks in public and about two-thirds try to keep two meters away from others, according to a Health Ministry survey.
“Thai society has high social capital,” Brown said. “The sense of duty toward other people is really quite strong.”
At the same time, the possibility of a second wave can’t be ruled out, so the government will continue to stress distancing, masks and stepped up cleanliness, he said.
Investors are looking past the threat of another wave and have turned more optimistic. Thai equities are on course to erase pandemic-induced losses this year, and valuations reached a record after earnings estimates were slashed.


The rally is continuing even though life is still far from normal. Thailand remains under a state of emergency, and most incoming international flights are banned through June. Only foreigners from regions where the virus is under control are expected to be allowed in after that.
More From
Prognosis


WHO Sees Low Asymptomatic Risk; Lockdowns Help: Virus Update

U.S. Virus Cases Rise 1.2%; Low Asymptomatic Risk: Virus Update

Toronto Left Out as Ontario Moves Closer to Economic Reopening

New York’s Rate of Covid Infections at Its Lowest, Cuomo Says




READ MORE FROM PROGNOSIS


That’s a major challenge for a country that relied on tourism for about a fifth of gross domestic product before the global pandemic hit. The national planning agency expects the economy to shrink as much as 6% this year, imperiling millions of jobs.
“The opening up of businesses and domestic travel should help alleviate part of the severe blow from the lack of foreign tourists,” said Naris Sathapholdeja, chief economist at TMB Bank Pcl in Bangkok. “But we can’t expect a full recovery. People are very cautious about spending.”

[harrybarracuda]

I really hope they they are first past the post.

LONDON, June 8 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - A team of British scientists developing a coronavirus vaccine has set up a special company to distribute it if they are successful, rather than partnering with a big pharmaceutical company, to ensure access for the world’s poorest.

The scientists from London’s Imperial College hope to bring a low-cost vaccine to the world early next year via a social enterprise — a company that seeks to do good as well as making a profit.

“Right now we think the focus should be on how to solve the problem rather than how to make money out of it,” said Simon Hepworth, director of enterprise at Imperial.

“Social enterprise fits with our mission - applying scientific discoveries for the benefit of society,” he said.

There is intense pressure to develop a vaccine for the new coronavirus, which has already cost hundreds of thousands of lives and millions of jobs globally, with about 100 candidates in development.

Some fear people in wealthier countries, where many of the vaccines and treatments are being developed, will receive them ahead of those in poorer countries.

One of the forerunning vaccinations undergoing clinical trials by a team at Oxford University is already being manufactured by British drugmaker AstraZeneca, which has said it will distribute the vaccine at no profit during the pandemic.

Rather than partnering with one company, Imperial is looking to team up with multiple manufacturers, which could include major pharmaceutical companies.

The social enterprise, called VacEquity Global Health (VGH), is backed by Imperial College and Hong Kong-based Morningside Ventures, which invests in companies that use innovative science for public good.

Imperial College is waiving royalties and will charge a “modest” amount for the vaccination, which was developed with funding from the British government and philanthropic organisations, to cover its costs.

Human clinical trials for the vaccine begin next week, with the aim of distributing the vaccine next year, if it proves safe and effective.

British scientists bypass drug giants to sell potential coronavirus vaccine - Reuters

[harrybarracuda]

WASHINGTON - A U.S. Navy investigation into the spread of the coronavirus aboard the Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier has found that about 60 percent of sailors tested had antibodies for the virus, two U.S. officials told Reuters on Monday, suggesting a far higher infection rate than previously known.

In April, the Navy and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) started conducting serology tests to look for the presence of specific antibodies that are created by the immune system's attack response to the presence of the virus and remain in the blood for a period of time.

More than 1,100 aboard tested positive for the virus as of April, less than 25 percent of the crew.

The spread of the virus on the ship put into motion a series of events that led to the captain of the ship being relieved of his command after the leak of a letter he wrote calling on the Navy for stronger measures to protect the crew.

One sailor from the ship died from the coronavirus and several others were hospitalized. But broadly, sailors, who are generally healthier and younger, faired better than the general population and most showed no symptoms whatsoever.

The officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that about 400 volunteers participated in the serology tests, lower than the 1,000 volunteers that were sought, but enough to provide statistically relevant data about how the virus spread aboard one of world's largest warships.

The Roosevelt has about 4,800 personnel on the ship.

The officials said a formal announcement was expected as early as Tuesday.

The Navy declined to comment.

The serology test results appear to track closely with data from the Roosevelt in early April, which showed that 60 percent of the sailors who were testing positive for the virus itself - not antibodies - were in fact symptom-free.

Medical groups, such as the American Medical Association, have warned that serology tests can lead to false positives.

The CDC has said that definitive data is lacking on whether individuals with antibodies are protected against reinfection from the coronavirus.

In addition to the serology tests, volunteers were also swabbed again for COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the virus, as well as asked to answer a short survey.

Captain Brett Crozier was fired by the Navy's top civilian, then-acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly, against the recommendations of uniformed leaders.

Modly resigned after a series of events, including his going aboard the carrier and questioning Crozier's character in a speech to the Roosevelt's crew, which was leaked to the media.

The Navy has completed a broader review into the events leading to Crozier's firing and is expected to release the results of that investigation in the coming weeks. REUTERS


Read more at Exclusive: U.S. Navy test shows 60 percent of carrier crew have coronavirus antibodies

[kmart]

I really hope they they are first past the post.



British scientists bypass drug giants to sell potential coronavirus vaccine - Reuters

It was London's Imperial College and it's Professor "Doctor Lockdown" Neil Ferguson that supplied all the initial computer model simulations at the outset of this pandemic.

Prof Neil Ferguson coronavirus mastermind of the UK lockdown, others - Business Insider

[harrybarracuda]

It was London's Imperial College and it's Professor "Doctor Lockdown" Neil Ferguson that supplied all the initial computer model simulations at the outset of this pandemic.

Prof Neil Ferguson coronavirus mastermind of the UK lockdown, others - Business Insider

And??

[harrybarracuda]

Good on him!

British pilot makes miraculous recovery




HÀ NỘI — A 43-year-old British pilot named Stephen Cameron, also known as Việt Nam's COVID-19 Patient No. 91, has made a miraculous recovery. He can now sit up, respond to doctors, move his legs, write on a board and press a button to adjust the height of his bed.

The information was provided in the latest update, issued on Monday evening, by the treatment sub-department under the National Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control.

Lương Ngọc Khuê, deputy head of the sub-department, said leading experts from the medical professional council and the sub-department were amazed when they received the pictures sent by doctors of Chợ Rẫy Hospital.

“We could not believe the patient could recover so quickly,” he said.

Khuê said it was the result of co-operation, advice and exchange between doctors from the medical professional council, the sub-department as well as HCM City’s Hospital for Tropical Diseases and Chợ Rẫy Hospital.

“This is an extraordinary effort because we were pessimistic at times,” he said.

"The patient’s miraculous recovery was encouragement to the doctors for their tireless efforts and devotion.

“We will try our best to carry out the best for patients,” he said.

The sub-department said the patient’s pulse is between 90-120 beats per minute; with blood pressure between 120/60mmHg to 150/70 mmHg.

The patient’s lungs exchange oxygen better than before. He has gradually lowered his extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) settings. His fever and distention have been decreased. Doctors also perform physical therapy for the patient twice a day and adjust electrolytes in his body.

Despite his miraculous progress, the doctors said the patient’s condition is still severe.

The patient will need many more weeks to come off the ventilator and recover his motor functions. During the recovery process, he is at risk of infection.

Khuê said thanks to the patient’s miraculous recovery, the ministry’s consideration of a lung transplant is now a contingency plan. — VNS

British pilot makes miraculous recovery - Society - Vietnam News | Politics, Business, Economy, Society, Life, Sports - VietNam News

[jabir]

I really hope they they are first past the post.



British scientists bypass drug giants to sell potential coronavirus vaccine - Reuters

Everything starts off altruistic, but if human nature is anything to go by and Imperial does hit the ground in front, you can bet your ass that the incoming billions will have lots of grubby hands reaching for their fair share.

Or maybe I'm too cynical.

[Klondyke]

After lab leak theory, let’s try this? US senator teases ‘evidence’ China hindering Covid-19 vaccine creation… but doesn’t show it
7 Jun, 2020

‘Go on, don’t be shy, show us!’: Beijing taunts US senator who has ‘proof’ that China’s sabotaging Covid-19 vaccine effort
8 Jun, 2020

A Florida Senator spectacularly claimed he’s got intelligence proving China is obstructing the West’s search for a Covid-19 cure – He shouldn’t be shy to let the world see the “evidence,” Beijing’s diplomats swiftly quipped.

Rick Scott, who sits on the Senate’s Armed Services and Homeland Security Committees, pulled no punches when talking China on the BBC on Sunday. Apart from being hostile to the US and democracy, Beijing communists are hindering the development of a coronavirus vaccine, and are trying “to sabotage us or slow it down,” Scott alleged.

He said there’s “evidence” substantiating the bombshell claim but repeatedly refused to disclose it, citing vague considerations regarding secrecy – much to the disappointment of anchor Andrew Marr.

The Senator’s media blitz predictably caught Beijing’s eye the following day. Since the BBC host failed to extract the proof, Hua Chunying, a spokeswoman for the Chinese foreign ministry, challenged Scott into lifting the shroud of mystery.

Since this lawmaker said he has evidence that China is trying to sabotage Western countries in their vaccine development, then please let him present the evidence. There’s no need to be shy.

In response to Scott’s assertion that Beijing doesn’t want the West to develop the vaccine first, Hua stated during a regular press briefing that the search for a Covid cure isn’t a competition at all.

Previously, China’s Science and Technology Minister Wang Zhigang gave reassurances that his country would make such a vaccine a “global public good” when it finally arrives.

The claim that China is hindering the anti-Covid research effort may well be riding a wave of another theory, one that alleges that coronavirus is man-made and was released from a virology lab in Wuhan, the Chinese city that was the epicenter of the epidemic.

Aggressively pushed by top US officials, the theory was consistently denounced by Beijing which called it an attempt to switch attention from Washington’s handling of its epidemic at home. Certain American allies also doubted the Covid-19 was a human creation, although some pundits suggested a ‘leak’ from the lab could have been accidental.

‘Go on, don’t be shy, show us!’: Beijing taunts US senator who has ‘proof’ that China’s sabotaging Covid-19 vaccine effort — RT World News

[harrybarracuda]

Everything starts off altruistic, but if human nature is anything to go by and Imperial does hit the ground in front, you can bet your ass that the incoming billions will have lots of grubby hands reaching for their fair share.

Or maybe I'm too cynical.

The government are paying for it, so effectively it will be foreign aid. And quite useful I would say, especially with Britain having to negotiate trade deals.

[HuangLao]

The Chinky Conspiracy Theorists.
All talk in their fanciful tradition.
No evidence.
No Proof.

[bsnub]

[Troy]

The Chinky Conspiracy Theorists.
All talk in their fanciful tradition.
No evidence.
No Proof.

Oh do give over, you're the first to say that the Chinese invented everything...

The outbreak was first detected in Wuhan. How the outbreak started, nobody is really sure.

More effort should be put into finding out how to reduce infections, cure infections, and vaccinate against infections, rather than trying to point fingers.

The reported infection rate and deaths in China are much lower than those in many European countries. This could be due to climate, mutation or many other reasons. However, if the reporting from China was significantly under reported to keep travel routes open then it is a serious offence that should be investigated.

[HuangLao]

Animal-to-human transmission from exposure to one another.


Nothing whatsoever to do with wild-eyed schemes of consuming said exotic creatures or the proverbial [and most popular] lab creation theory.

[Troy]

Animal-to-human transmission from exposure to one another.


Nothing whatsoever to do with wild-eyed schemes of consuming said exotic creatures or the proverbial [and most popular] lab creation theory.

That doesn't quite work though does it. If they were not caught and brought to market then there would not have been the exposure to other animals or humans.

However, it is not just bats and the east that expose animals to other animals and humans. Pigs, sheep and cows have caused problems and I have a feeling 'arry is happy to eat them.

[Looper]

Coronavirus: Satellite traffic images may suggest virus hit Wuhan earlier

An apparent surge in traffic outside Wuhan hospitals from August 2019 may suggest the coronavirus hit the area earlier than reported, a study says.

Harvard researchers say satellite images show an increase in traffic outside five hospitals in the Chinese city from late August to December.

The traffic spike coincided with a rise in online searches for information on symptoms like "cough" and "diarrhoea".

China said the study was "ridiculous" and based on "superficial" information.

It is believed that the virus first appeared in China some time in November. Authorities reported a cluster of pneumonia cases with an unknown cause to the World Health Organization (WHO) on 31 December 2019.

"Clearly, there was some level of social disruption taking place well before what was previously identified as the start of the novel coronavirus pandemic," Dr John Brownstein, who led the research, told ABC news.

The study has not been peer-reviewed.
What did the study show?

The researchers examined commercial satellite data from outside five Wuhan hospitals, comparing data from late summer and autumn 2018 to the same time period in 2019.

In one case, researchers counted 171 cars parked at one of Wuhan's largest hospitals, Tianyou Hospital in October 2018.

Satellite data from the same time in 2019 showed 285 vehicles in the same place, an increase of 67%.

A surge in online searches for words associated with the symptoms of coronavirus on the Chinese search engine Baidu seemed to emerge at the same time.

"This is all about a growing body of information pointing to something taking place in Wuhan at the time," Dr Brownstein told ABC.
Media captionPaul Adams asks whether China is being bolder in the wake of the pandemic

"Many studies are still needed to fully uncover what took place and for people to really learn about how these disease outbreaks unfold and emerge in populations. So this is just another point of evidence."

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying dismissed the findings at a press briefing on Tuesday.

"I think it is ridiculous, incredibly ridiculous, to come up with this conclusion based on superficial observations such as traffic volume," she said.
What are the implications of the study?

The BBC's John Sudworth in Beijing says there were limits on the data set used by researchers - for example, they could not always compare satellite images taken on the same day in consecutive years due to cloud cover in some of the photos.

But if the infection was present - undetected perhaps - some people could have been leaving Wuhan and travelling abroad and that fits with some of the other evidence we have begun to see in other parts of the world suggesting early cases of Covid-19, our correspondent says.

The mystery of early 'Covid' cases

However it may be unfair to use the study as evidence of a cover-up or delay in China's response, because with a previously unknown illness taking root in a community it is quite possible that there was some undetected spread before it was noticed officially, our correspondent adds.

China reported pneumonia cases with an unidentified cause to WHO on 31 December 2019.

Nine days later, Chinese authorities revealed they had detected a novel coronavirus (later named Sars-CoV-2, the virus causing Covid-19) in several of the pneumonia cases.

Wuhan and other Chinese cities went into lockdown on 23 January 2020.

The WHO declared Covid-19 a Public Health Emergency of Global Concern on 30 January 2020 - this followed 82 confirmed cases outside China.
'Intriguing new clue'

Analysis by Helen Briggs, BBC Health correspondent

The precise events around the virus timeline are still unclear, more than six months on. The first known cluster of cases in Wuhan in December 2019 was centred around a local seafood market, which also sold live animals, including wildlife.

Tests suggest the virus was present in some form, but not all cases were connected with the market and no animal source has been pinned down. Evidence has since emerged suggesting the virus might have been circulating earlier, including from a French doctor who said his patient tested positive for coronavirus in late December.

Now there is an intriguing new clue, gleaned not from direct evidence, but from studying satellite imagery and internet search terms, which suggest hospital traffic and internet searches for symptoms were on the rise in Wuhan as early as late summer/early autumn.

Only further research into the virus, both in animals and humans will give an answer, although it is possible we will never know exactly where and when it emerged.

Coronavirus: Satellite traffic images may suggest virus hit Wuhan earlier - BBC News

[misskit]

Fourteen States Record Highest-Ever Weekly COVID-19 Infection Rate, Says Report

As some U.S. states are tentatively reopening after their first waves of the novel coronavirus, others are only just at the start. Fourteen states recorded their highest-ever seven-day average of new virus cases at the start of June, according to The Washington Post. The badly hit states are Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Kentucky, New Mexico, North Carolina, Mississippi, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Utah—while Puerto Rico has also recorded its highest-ever weekly average. The virus now appears to be burning through rural areas, in contrast to the beginning of the U.S. outbreak, which saw cities hit hardest. As of Tuesday, the U.S. has reported over 1,960,000 cases of the coronavirus and more than 111,000 people have died.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/fourte...eport?ref=home
https://www.washingtonpost.com/healt...ns-since-june/

[OhOh]

may suggest

Or may not.

[NamPikToot]

Fourteen States Record Highest-Ever Weekly COVID-19 Infection Rate, Says Report

MK i fear the US has a way to go yet, they really aren't falling into line with accepted methods of tackling this - as i said, summer will be over soon and Europe still isn't on top of this so the back end of the year could get messy, everywhere.

[harrybarracuda]

However, it is not just bats and the east that expose animals to other animals and humans. Pigs, sheep and cows have caused problems and I have a feeling 'arry is happy to eat them.

Yes, I'm quite happy to eat them cooked.

[OhOh]

The outbreak was first detected in Wuhan. How the outbreak started, nobody is really sure.

First publicly reported.

As ever, some conceal and obscure previous "mysterious deaths".

[OhOh]

Tourists visit the Huangguoshu Waterfall in Anshun, Southwest China's Guizhou province on June 5, 2020.

The tourists are out and about.