The COVID-2019 Thread

[Buckaroo Banzai]

You're definitely well hydrated.

perhaps you need tp get better hydrated yourself.

"in its latest report, published on Wednesday, the SAMRC said South Africa had seen 157,000 excess deaths in the past 12 months and estimated that 85% of them were caused by COVID-19, which means just over 133,000 people have died from the disease.
This compares to an official death toll of 54,968 since the start of the pandemic. "
S.Africa'''s COVID-19 death toll much higher than official tally - report | Reuters

" Experts believe the spread of new coronavirus variants in Africa has contributed to an increase in both cases and deaths reported across the continent.
There's also concern that these variants can't easily be tracked because the testing required to identify them isn't widely available."
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-53181555

" numerous seroprevalence surveys, which use blood tests to identify whether people have antibodies from prior infection with the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), point to a significant underestimation of African countries’ COVID burden. "
Hidden Toll of COVID in Africa Threatens Global Pandemic Progress - Scientific American

" Presently, no country or continent knows the total number of people infected with COVID-19, despite the confirmed cases. The counts of confirmed cases largely depend on how many people have been tested in each region. To properly monitor the spread of the virus, countries need widespread testing. The African region has about 1.2 billion population, and about 2.4 million people have been tested for COVID-19."
COVID-19: Unpacking the low number of cases in Africa

[pickel]

"in its latest report, published on Wednesday, the SAMRC said South Africa had seen 157,000 excess deaths in the past 12 months and estimated that 85% of them were caused by COVID-19, which means just over 133,000 people have died from the disease.
This compares to an official death toll of 54,968 since the start of the pandemic. "

You do realize South Africa is but one country on the continent?

" Experts believe the spread of new coronavirus variants in Africa has contributed to an increase in both cases and deaths reported across the continent.
There's also concern that these variants can't easily be tracked because the testing required to identify them isn't widely available."

That applies to the whole world.

" numerous seroprevalence surveys, which use blood tests to identify whether people have antibodies from prior infection with the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), point to a significant underestimation of African countries’ COVID burden. "

How many of those tests are being done in America? Have you had one?

" Presently, no country or continent knows the total number of people infected with COVID-19, despite the confirmed cases. The counts of confirmed cases largely depend on how many people have been tested in each region. To properly monitor the spread of the virus, countries need widespread testing. The African region has about 1.2 billion population, and about 2.4 million people have been tested for COVID-19."

That article is 9 months old. But it did have this to say that supports my argument:

Despite lacking the same testing capacity as other regions in the world, the low numbers of confirmed COVID-19 cases can be explained in part due to experiences in handling infectious diseases on the continent. Firstly, resources meant for widespread HIV and tuberculosis testing were leveraged in the fight against COVID-19 [15]. Secondly, the political will exhibited by most governments has been a key element in the response to the pandemic. Governments were swift in imposing lockdowns, restricting movement, and setting up task forces to coordinate efforts

Love the part about political will of governments. How'd that work out for you Florida Man?

[pickel]

It amazes me how people can be so quick to assume the "Dark" Continent would be inept at fighting covid without realizing there has been boots on the ground there from world class health agencies for decades fighting infectious diseases.

In their bigotry do they know that half of African cases come from one country? Which also happens to have the largest white population.

The fact is only two continents have done better than Africa. One of them is populated by penguins, and the other one has a really big fucking moat around it.

[cyrille]

[Klondyke]

^Interesting figures. One can read many of such, and many of very different figures. Depends on what one believes and depends on what is declared as conspiration theory. Yesterday I placed here something what I no longer see, will not dare to mention the name of recognized Thai scientist living and working in Germany.

Another controversy is about dr. Fauci statements:

Biosafety Expert Explains Why Fauci’s NIH ‘Gain-of-Function’ Testimony Was ‘Demonstrably False’
Isaac Schorr
Thu, May 13, 2021, 7:07 AM·3 min read

Dr. Roger Ebright, a professor of chemistry and chemical biology at Rutgers University and biosafety expert, is contesting NIH director Dr. Anthony Fauci’s testimony before the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee on Tuesday.

Dr. Fauci’s claim — made during an exchange with Senator Rand Paul — that “the NIH [National Institutes of Health] has not ever and does not now fund gain of function research in the Wuhan Institute of Virology [WIV]” is “demonstrably false,” according to Ebright.

At least some of the NIH-funded research conducted at the WIV “unequivocally” qualifies as gain-of-function, Ebright told National Review.

A research article written by WIV scientists, “Discovery of a rich gene pool of bat SARS-related coronaviruses provides new insights into the origin of SARS coronavirus”, for example, qualifies as gain-of-function and was clearly a product of NIH-funding.

Ebright insists that the research can be classified as gain-of-function under a number of different definitions, including those found in two pieces of Department of Health and Human Services guidance on the subject.

The first details the Obama administration’s 2014 decision to halt domestic gain-of-function research, which it defines as that which “may be reasonably anticipated to confer attributes to influenza, MERS, or SARS viruses such that the virus would have enhanced pathogenicity and/or transmissibility in mammals via the respiratory route.”

The second — drafted in 2017 as Fauci was pushing to renew government funding for gain-of-function research — provides a definition of what are called “enhanced potential pandemic pathogen (PPP)” or those pathogens “resulting from the enhancement of the transmissibility and/or virulence of a pathogen.”

Ebright claims that the work being conducted at the WIV, using NIH funds originally granted to Peter Daszak of EcoHealth Alliance, “epitomizes” gain-of-function research under the definition HHS provided in its guidance, and is the exact kind of research that led the Obama administration to conclude that gain-of-function was too dangerous to continue domestically.

‘The Wuhan lab used NIH funding to construct novel chimeric SARS-related coronaviruses able to infect human cells and laboratory animals,” he said. “This is high-risk research that creates new potential pandemic pathogens (i.e., potential pandemic pathogens that exist only in a lab, not in nature). This research matches — indeed epitomizes — the definition of ‘gain of function research of concern’ for which federal funding was ‘paused’ in 2014-2017.”

“Chimeric” coronaviruses refers to those that have been altered and enhanced by man, in this case in such a way as to make them more transmissible and dangerous to humans.

The paper drafted by WIV scientists clearly states that the underlying research was funded by, among other entities, the National Institutes of Health. The NIH’s own database of grantees lists this research and confirms that over $660,000 was spent supporting it.

Fauci appears to have been, at best, mistaken while sparring with Senator Paul on Tuesday. At worst, he was playing tenuous word games meant to deceive.

Biosafety Expert Explains Why Fauci’s NIH ‘Gain-of-Function’ Testimony Was ‘Demonstrably False’

[Klondyke]

THE NOVEL CORONAVIRUS’ SPIKE PROTEIN PLAYS ADDITIONAL KEY ROLE IN ILLNESS
Salk researchers and collaborators show how the protein damages cells, confirming COVID-19 as a primarily vascular disease

April 30, 2021
The novel coronavirus’ spike protein plays additional key role in illness
Salk researchers and collaborators show how the protein damages cells, confirming COVID-19 as a primarily vascular disease

LA JOLLA—Scientists have known for a while that SARS-CoV-2’s distinctive “spike” proteins help the virus infect its host by latching on to healthy cells. Now, a major new study shows that the virus spike proteins (which behave very differently than those safely encoded by vaccines) also play a key role in the disease itself.

The paper, published on April 30, 2021, in Circulation Research, also shows conclusively that COVID-19 is a vascular disease, demonstrating exactly how the SARS-CoV-2 virus damages and attacks the vascular system on a cellular level. The findings help explain COVID-19’s wide variety of seemingly unconnected complications, and could open the door for new research into more effective therapies.


Representative images of vascular endothelial control cells (left) and cells treated with the SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein (right) show that the spike protein causes increased mitochondrial fragmentation in vascular cells.
Credit: Salk Institute

“A lot of people think of it as a respiratory disease, but it’s really a vascular disease,” says Assistant Research Professor Uri Manor, who is co-senior author of the study. “That could explain why some people have strokes, and why some people have issues in other parts of the body. The commonality between them is that they all have vascular underpinnings.”

Salk researchers collaborated with scientists at the University of California San Diego on the paper, including co-first author Jiao Zhang and co-senior author John Shyy, among others.

While the findings themselves aren’t entirely a surprise, the paper provides clear confirmation and a detailed explanation of the mechanism through which the protein damages vascular cells for the first time. There’s been a growing consensus that SARS-CoV-2 affects the vascular system, but exactly how it did so was not understood. Similarly, scientists studying other coronaviruses have long suspected that the spike protein contributed to damaging vascular endothelial cells, but this is the first time the process has been documented.

In the new study, the researchers created a “pseudovirus” that was surrounded by SARS-CoV-2 classic crown of spike proteins, but did not contain any actual virus. Exposure to this pseudovirus resulted in damage to the lungs and arteries of an animal model—proving that the spike protein alone was enough to cause disease. Tissue samples showed inflammation in endothelial cells lining the pulmonary artery walls.

The team then replicated this process in the lab, exposing healthy endothelial cells (which line arteries) to the spike protein. They showed that the spike protein damaged the cells by binding ACE2. This binding disrupted ACE2’s molecular signaling to mitochondria (organelles that generate energy for cells), causing the mitochondria to become damaged and fragmented.

Previous studies have shown a similar effect when cells were exposed to the SARS-CoV-2 virus, but this is the first study to show that the damage occurs when cells are exposed to the spike protein on its own.

“If you remove the replicating capabilities of the virus, it still has a major damaging effect on the vascular cells, simply by virtue of its ability to bind to this ACE2 receptor, the S protein receptor, now famous thanks to COVID,” Manor explains. “Further studies with mutant spike proteins will also provide new insight towards the infectivity and severity of mutant SARS CoV-2 viruses.”

The researchers next hope to take a closer look at the mechanism by which the disrupted ACE2 protein damages mitochondria and causes them to change shape.

Other authors on the study are Yuyang Lei and Zu-Yi Yuan of Jiaotong University in Xi’an, China; Cara R. Schiavon, Leonardo Andrade, and Gerald S. Shadel of Salk; Ming He, Hui Shen, Yichi Zhang, Yoshitake Cho, Mark Hepokoski, Jason X.-J. Yuan, Atul Malhotra, Jin Zhang of the University of California San Diego; Lili Chen, Qian Yin, Ting Lei, Hongliang Wang and Shengpeng Wang of Xi’an Jiatong University Health Science Center in Xi’an, China.

The research was supported by the National Institutes of Health, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Shaanxi Natural Science Fund, the National Key Research and Development Program, the First Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University; and Xi’an Jiaotong University.

The novel coronavirus’ spike protein plays additional key role in illness - Salk Institute for Biological Studies

[misskit]

Thailand reports COVID daily record, driven by prison outbreaks


Southeast Asian nation reports 9,635 new cases on Monday, as it scrambles to contain third wave of coronavirus.


Thailand reported 9,635 new coronavirus cases on Monday – a daily record – with more than 70 percent of the cases among people in prison, as the Southeast Asian country scrambles contain a third wave of the virus.


Thailand’s COVID-19 task force said 6,853 of the new cases came from the country’s notoriously overcrowded jails, bringing the country’s overall total since the pandemic began last year to 111,082.

Authorities said 25 people also died from the disease, bringing the death toll to 614.


Thailand, which a population of 69 million, has yet to ramp up its COVID-19 vaccination programme.


It has so far administered 2.2 million doses to front-line workers and high-risk groups using vaccines developed by China’s Sinovac Biotech and AstraZeneca.

A broader vaccination drive is expected to start in June with doses of AstraZeneca manufactured locally. Vaccine registration opened to the public this weekend with a goal of inoculating 70 percent of adults.
The government has tightened restrictions on daily life in an attempt to stamp out the surge in infections.


Measures have also been stepped up in prisons with all inmates required to wear face masks and wash their hands frequently. The Correction Department is also setting up a laboratory to test inmates for the virus.


Thai media have also reported that vaccination will also be rolled out in prisons next month, starting with those who are high risk or over the age of 60.


Thai prisons currently hold about 310,000 people.


Local media reported the cases announced in Monday came from eight jails with the Chiang Mai prison in the north recording the most cases, followed by the Bangkok Remand Prison.


Thailand reports COVID daily record, driven by prison outbreaks | Coronavirus pandemic News | Al Jazeera

[Saint Willy]

Southeast Asian nation reports 9,635 new cases on Monday, as it scrambles to contain third wave of coronavirus.

Yikes.

with more than 70 percent of the cases among people in prison,

What a surprise, crowded jails spread the virus quickly.

Thai prisons currently hold about 310,000 people.

Well, at least they know the upper limit of prison infections.

[russellsimpson]

Thai prisons currently hold about 310,000 people.

Fourth in the world, second in Asia only behind Turkmenistan on a per capital basis.

Thailand reported 9,635 new coronavirus cases on Monday –

Getting up there. Those numbers are comparable to the numbers we saw over here at the peak a couple of months back.

[panama hat]

Well, at least they know the upper limit of prison infections.

If only . . . guards, cleaners, delivery drivers, laundries etc...


Just look at Taiwan - up to now one of the safest places on earth . . . spreading like mad now because of flight attendants. Precisely the thing people have been warning the government about here.

[Buckaroo Banzai]

Originally Posted by misskit
Thailand reported 9,635 new coronavirus cases on Monday –
Getting up there. Those numbers are comparable to the numbers we saw over here at the peak a couple of months back.

Zero cases reported here in Khon Kaen again, and we are no longer a red zone. If it was not for the Facemasks. one would not know there was a pandemic here. . Hope it continues.

[PAG]

Today's numbers: 18 May: 2,473 - 35 dead (apparently includes a further 680 cases in prisons).​

[Seekingasylum]

The sheer knuckle-headed stupidity of the Thai is truly a thing of wonder.

Despite an ever increasing surge in cases arising from a multiplicity of clusters within the entire metropolitan area of Bangkok, a primate city driving the entire Thai economy and the epicentre of its socio-political infrastructure extending radii into every corner of the land, the stupid fucks have relaxed rules in permitting increased social contact within enclosed spaces by opening up dine-in restaurant eating. And of course, shopping malls remain open.

And what have they done in Pattaya, a mere 80 minutes drive from Bangkok? Yep, they've opened up all restaurants to dine-in eating without restrictions, hotels are open if they wish and malls continue to operate as they did before COVID. So come on down Bangkok, lets see if we can get those clusters working their magic throughout the Eastern seaboard.

Yet the schools remain closed and condo pools throughout the districts are cordoned off because the gormless meatheads believe the virus can be transmitted within an aquatic medium.

Truly, the stupidest people on the planet with all the cognitive ability of a dead tree.

[Joe 90]

Well, at least they know the upper limit of prison infections.

They're releasing 50,000 prisoners back into the population according to todays news.

What could possibly go wrong...

[Buckaroo Banzai]

They're releasing 50,000 prisoners back into the population according to todays news.

What could possibly go wrong...

Exactly my first reaction also.
I came from a country that has one of the highest vaccination rates, I am fully vaccinated with Pfizer, I was tested before I came to Thailand, Had to be quarantine like I had ebola dor 7 days (now it is 14) and then tested again before released.
And they are releasing prisoners from one of the most infected area in Thailand in the general population with no precautions whatsoever?
I understand, that it is cruel to hold those with minor offences in such a dangerous environment, and that they want to decrease overcrowding in an attempt to prevent the spread of covid in prison. But shouldn't they quarantine these people first?
perhaps a halfway detention center.

[panama hat]

^ You're just using logic, BB . . .

[PAG]

BREAKING: Thai health ministry reporting 29 deaths and 3,394 cases (*) on Wednesday.

[lom]

They're releasing 50,000 prisoners back into the population according to todays news.

No, today's news says that the government is considering releasing 50,000 prisoners. Key word = consider

[cyrille]

Had to be quarantine like I had ebola dor 7 days

Drama Queen Alert!

[Seekingasylum]

But shouldn't they quarantine these people first?
perhaps a halfway detention center.

What planet do you think you are on?

This is a third world medieval autocratic regime in which the few exploit the many. You do realise that in many government hospitals out in the boonies basic nursing care is provided by relatives and that patients hospitalised often have to sleep on floors.

Anyway, what would the difference be between a halfway detention centre and an all-the-way detention centre?

They're still stuck together in a confined space within close proximity to each other.

Oh, I know, why not bung them all into those hotels that are currently shut down. Give 'em a nice break from all that squalor and violence.

[OhOh]

Last updated: May 19, 2021, 07:04 GMT

United States

Coronavirus

Cases:

33,774,945

Deaths:

601,330

United States COVID: 33,774,945 Cases and 601,330 Deaths - Worldometer

[Mendip]

I looked everywhere for the 'vaccinations in Thailand' thread but couldn't find it. But I guess it's all relevant.

My daughter's school in Korat has offered to include any foreign (Western) parents the opportunity to get vaccinated for Covid as part of their staff vaccination programme. We were sent 'urgent' LINE messages and asked to reply immediately on a hotline number.

I thought about this for a while, and then the school phones asking for a response... very pushy.

I asked them which vaccination it would be - almost certainly Sinovac - but the girl on reception didn't know. We've had no response over the last day or so.

This raised a couple of questions... firstly, the girl on reception didn't seem to realise that there ARE different vaccines out there, but mainly for me... do I take them up on this?

My thinking is there is no point in taking Sinovac as it won't get me back to work and I would be better for other options to come up... most countries don't accept Sinovac for a vaccine 'passport' for travel. But of course it may stop me contracting, or at least developing bad symptoms if I were to contract Covid, or even succumb.

Any thoughts on this?

[OhOh]

as it won't get me back to work and I would be better for other options to come up... most countries don't accept Sinovac for a vaccine 'passport' for travel.

Do you have any links stating which countries have a "passport" criteria confirmed and which vaccines have been included?

[Klondyke]

as it won't get me back to work

Try to search for EudraVigilance, that's for the European results, similar to VAERS. But don't be immediately shocked when you find some scary figures...

[Joe 90]

Any thoughts on this?

You can't work if you've got Covid or worst still long Covid.

Any vaccine is better than no vaccine in the current climate.

Plus you can always take the AZ later when it becomes available when you need to work again.