The COVID-2019 Thread

[panama hat]

Pavlov State Medical University

Sounds like one to be trusted

[harrybarracuda]

Sounds like one to be trusted

Does it ring a bell?

[misskit]

Super variant Delta Plus rears its head in Thailand

The even more quickly transmitted version of the Covid-19 Delta variant, Delta Plus, was detected in Thailand in September, when a 49-year-old got infected.






The man had been working in Ayutthaya province, the Department of Disease Control (DDC) said on Monday.


“The case was uncovered by the Army Medical Department in September,” said Dr Chawetsan Namwat, director of the DDC's emergency disease and health hazards control division. “The Delta Plus variant can spread more easily than its Delta counterpart. It is believed to have originated in England where it was detected in 6 per cent of Covid-19 patients.


“In Thailand, the Delta Plus situation is still at the monitoring phase,” he added.


Meanwhile, the overall Covid-19 situation in Thailand is improving, with the number of new infections and deaths generally dropping, including in densely populated areas like Greater Bangkok, DDC reported.


“However, we are closely monitoring areas where infections tend to rise, such as Nakhon Si Thammarat, Tak, Rayong and Chanthaburi,” he said. “These provinces have recently reported new cluster cases linked to funerals or other social activities where people did not wear face masks or shared meals and glasses with others.”


As of Monday, Thailand had administered 70,590,025 doses of the Covid-19 vaccine, with 55.5 per cent of the population having received the first jab and 39.4 per cent their second jab. Bangkok is the only province where nearly everybody has received their first jab, followed by Phuket, where 82.7 per cent of the population has received the first vaccine.

Super variant Delta Plus rears its head in Thailand

[harrybarracuda]

Warning: Be cautious if you are a fragile pink

China placed a city of four million people under lockdown on Tuesday, ordering them not to leave home except in emergencies, in a bid to eradicate a Covid cluster of just a few dozen confirmed cases.

China locks down city of four million over Covid cases - Hong Kong Free Press HKFP

[harrybarracuda]

It just boggles the mind that the world has leaders this fucking shit these days.

RIO DE JANEIRO, Oct 25 (Reuters) - Facebook (FB.O)and YouTube have removed from their platforms a video by Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro in which the far-right leader made a false claim that COVID-19 vaccines were linked with developing AIDS.

Both Facebook and Alphabet Inc's (GOOGL.O) YouTube said the video, which was recorded on Thursday, violated their policies.

"Our policies don't allow claims that COVID-19 vaccines kill or seriously harm people," a Facebook spokesperson said in a statement on Monday.

YouTube confirmed that it had taken the same step later in the day.

"We removed a video from Jair Bolsonaro's channel for violating our medical disinformation policy regarding COVID-19 for alleging that vaccines don't reduce the risk of contracting the disease and that they cause other infectious diseases," YouTube said in a statement.

Facebook, YouTube take down Bolsonaro video over false vaccine claim | Reuters

[harrybarracuda]

Warning: Be cautious if you are a fragile pink

"I'm confident the results will be consistent with those seen in the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine"

Given that you nicked their technology, so you fucking should be.

BEIJING (BLOOMBERG) - The company behind China's first home-grown mRNA Covid-19 vaccine aims to have efficacy data from late-stage testing of the shot before the end of the year, a key step in the nation's drive to match Western use of the cutting-edge technology.The mRNA candidate, developed by Chinese vaccine-maker Walvax Biotechnology, Suzhou Abogen Biosciences and researchers from the Chinese military, has received approval from regulators in Indonesia and Mexico to start phase three testing, Walvax vice-chairman Huang Zhen said in an interview.

Once 52 eligible Covid-19 cases are detected from the trial, which aims to enroll as many as 30,000 people, researchers will conduct interim analysis on the shot's efficacy against both the original version of the virus and its variants, including the highly infectious Delta strain.

"I'm confident the results will be consistent with those seen in the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine," Mr Huang told Bloomberg News. That shot - in use in vast swathes of the West, including the US - was highly effective against symptomatic Covid-19 in phase three trials and has seen its potency hold up well against the Delta variant.

China's mRNA Covid-19 vaccine-maker expects efficacy data by year end, East Asia News & Top Stories - The Straits Times

[harrybarracuda]

Commendable.

Merck has granted a royalty-free license for its promising Covid-19 pill to a United Nations-backed nonprofit in a deal that would allow the drug to be manufactured and sold cheaply in the poorest nations, where vaccines for the coronavirus are in devastatingly short supply.

The agreement with the Medicines Patent Pool, an organization that works to make medical treatment and technologies globally accessible, will allow companies in 105 countries, mostly in Africa and Asia, to sublicense the formulation for the antiviral pill, called molnupiravir, and begin making it.

Merck reported this month that the drug halved the rate of hospitalizations and deaths in high-risk Covid patients in a large clinical trial. Affluent nations, including the United States, have rushed to negotiate deals to buy the drug, tying up large portions of the supply even before it has been approved by regulators and raising concerns that poor countries would be shut out of access to the medicine, much as they have been for vaccines.

Merck Will Share Formula for its Covid Pill With Poor Countries - The New York Times

[misskit]

Third Chinese city placed under Covid lockdown

China placed a third city under lockdown on Thursday to tackle Covid-19 numbers, with around six million people now under orders to stay home as Beijing chases zero cases before the upcoming Winter Olympics.


The country has taken a zero tolerance approach to the virus since it first emerged in central China in 2019, stamping out emerging flare-ups with border closures, targeted lockdowns and strict quarantines.


Although the hard-line measures have kept the number of new cases far lower than most countries, the world's most populous nation is currently grappling with small outbreaks in at least eleven provinces.

MORE Third Chinese city placed under Covid lockdown

[panama hat]

Although the hard-line measures have kept the number of new cases far lower than most countries

Providing China shares data with the transparency equivalent of western nations . . . but we know that China is all about the concept of 'face', so sweet f.a. chance of that

[harrybarracuda]

Coronavirus vaccine: Why are so many Russians skeptical of the COVID shot?

A new lockdown has come into effect in and around Moscow. Only a third of the Russian population is fully vaccinated — experts blame a widespread distrust of the authorities. Why do so many Russians remain skeptical?

Once again, schools, stores, restaurants, sports centers and hair salons in Moscow and the region around the Russian capital have been forced to close. Drugstores and shops that sell food are allowed to remain open, along with theaters and museums, but visitors must show a QR code to prove they've been vaccinated or are fully recovered from a COVID infection.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin announced the new measures last week, ordering all companies to furlough nonessential staff until November 7. On his website, Sobyanin warned of a "historic peak in new COVID infections" and urged his fellow Muscovites to "take a short break and help save the health and lives of many people," assuring them that life would get back to normal afterward.

The new measures coincide with a decree by President Vladimir Putin ordering a nationwide paid week off work in the first week of November, along with smaller-scale lockdown efforts introduced by regional leaders.

The moves come as Russia, which has seen a low vaccination rate, is experiencing new highs in COVID-19 cases and deaths, due in large part to the new, more infectious delta strain. On October 27, authorities registered 36,600 new cases of COVID-19, more than ever. More than 1,000 people are dying every day.

"The situation in Moscow is very serious. We can't talk about waves in Moscow. Since summer we've plateaued at a very high level of new infections," said Dr. Alexey Agranovsky, professor in the Virology Department at Lomonosov Moscow State University.

"Now we're starting from that high level and going up. It's a very concerning and unfortunate situation."
Agranovsky told DW that the new restrictions were the right step, but he said it might not be enough. Most experts recommend a minimum lockdown of two weeks due to the COVID incubation period.

"Eleven days isn't enough at all. It's another example of a half measure, and an attempt to please everyone," he said. "But you have to keep public health in mind. ... We're talking about real deaths, real illness and long COVID. We have to put a stop to it."

He warned that Mayor Sobyanin may be forced to extend the measures, should the rate of infection remain high.

Russia's current struggles are surprising, given the country's first-in-the-world mass vaccination drive. But in the 10 months since the Russian-made Sputnik V was brought to market, Moscow is still struggling to get shots in arms.

Only around 36% of Russians have had at least one dose of a domestic vaccine, one of the lowest rates in Europe. This is low compared to other industrialized countries. In Germany, the vaccination rate is almost twice as high.

Opinion surveys indicate that only slightly more than half of Russians intend to get vaccinated. However, a large minority say they don't intend to get vaccinated at all. Some authorities have suggested compulsory vaccination to turn the tide, but Russians are divided on this issue. According to a recent survey by the Public Opinion Foundation (FOM), 47% of those surveyed were in favor of a mandatory vaccine, while the same proportion was against it.

Part of the problem is Russia's homegrown vaccine; many of those surveyed who had yet to be vaccinated said they'd rather wait for an international version. Andrey Milekhin, vice president of survey institute Gallop International and director of Russia's Romir research institute, said the international community's reluctance to embrace Sputnik V is also weighing on vaccination rates.

"What's happening with the registration of our vaccine? I also don't understand it," he told DW. "Why don't all international medical bodies accept the vaccine? Questions like that erode public trust."

That skepticism isn't limited to the general public, either — many in the medical community have been reluctant as well. "That's the most surprising fact among all the tendencies we're observing," said Agranovsky. "Among doctors, there aren't just a lot of vaccine skeptics, but also people who raise doubts about COVID more generally."

Agranovsky recalled being told by the nurse administering his inoculation that he was "a brave man" for agreeing to be vaccinated. "And it's not just hospital and clinical staff," he said. "There are also people with medical degrees who hold roundtables and discussion forums and they're attracting many people who are affected by their arguments."

The Levada Center, a nongovernmental polling organization, found that the population distrusts both the vaccine and the authorities in general. Denis Volkov, the center's director, told DW that there was a widespread lack of confidence in the country's power structures, with about 50% of Russians disapproving of the government's work.

"The number of those willing to be vaccinated is much lower among those who have a negative attitude toward the authorities," he said, adding that those who distrust the authorities tend to oppose almost all government initiatives, from vaccination campaigns to digital voting to video surveillance. But he also said most of those who were afraid of the vaccine were also worried about contracting COVID-19.

Currently, only about half of the Russian population supports the authorities' efforts to fight the coronavirus pandemic, according to the Romir research institute. "Right now, we're seeing a polarization in public opinion," said director Milekhin. He said this was why there were so many online debates about this issue, and why so many people were deliberately spreading misinformation.

He fears that while the latest lockdown might be the right measure from an epidemiological standpoint, the protracted anti-COVID campaign combined with expanded restrictions is only making many Russians more resistant to the government's pleas to get vaccinated.

"People stop listening. They develop mental blocks. And the thick skin many people develop comes from the fact that all these arguments, the frightening images, just stop having an effect," he said.

According to data collected by the independent website gogov.ru, which tracks vaccinations in Russia, the daily vaccination rate is once again approaching the peak values recorded during the summer, after a similar two-week period with stricter COVID measures. Since mid-October, over 500,000 people have been receiving a shot every day.

Volkov of the Levada Center said the announcement of the new lockdown and the increasing restrictions on unvaccinated people in different regions of Russia had already had an impact on the population's anti-vaccine stance.

"Our studies have shown that a significant proportion of those who do not want to be vaccinated wait for the moment when they can no longer avoid it," he said. "However, suitable measures only work if they are consistent and long lasting, which is not the case here."

Volkov is certain it was the long and hard lockdown in various European countries that contributed to Europeans getting vaccinated in greater numbers than in Russia.

Coronavirus vaccine: Why are so many Russians skeptical of the COVID shot? | Europe | News and current affairs from around the continent | DW | 28.10.2021

[Buckaroo Banzai]

Only a third of the Russian population is fully vaccinated — experts blame a widespread distrust of the authorities. Why do so many Russians remain skeptical?

Why so many Russians are skeptical of the authorities? is there a need to ask?
Why are we skeptical of the Russian authorities?

[panama hat]

^ In a nutshell

[Shutree]

Although the hard-line measures have kept the number of new cases far lower than most countries, the world's most populous nation is currently grappling with small outbreaks in at least eleven provinces.

This virus isn't simply going to disappear. The UK has a similar vaccination rate to China but is still seeing a lot of cases. We don't get a lot of detail about the Chinese cases:

Stranded tourists begin leaving locked down Chinese city - BBC News

In the last couple of weeks, there has been a flare up of cases across multiple regions of China, sparking fears of a winter outbreak. Since 16 October, cases of Covid-19 have been detected in 14 of China's 31 provincial-level regions.

[harrybarracuda]

Some may be surprised that a majority conservative SCOTUS is not supporting the god botherers. Or it could be that they know if they start supporting them, the Satanists will be along in short order demanding a religious exemption from abortion laws.

WASHINGTON, Oct 29 (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday turned away healthcare workers seeking a religious exemption to Maine's COVID-19 vaccine mandate in the latest battle over vaccination to reach the justices.

The court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, rejected a request made by nine unnamed plaintiffs who identified themselves as healthcare workers who object to receiving the shots on religious grounds. The court previously rejected challenges to vaccine mandates in New York and Indiana, though those cases did not involve religious objections.

The justices were divided, with three conservative members saying they would have granted the request.
In Maine, "healthcare workers who have served on the front line of a pandemic for the last 18 months are now being fired and their practices shuttered," conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote in a dissenting opinion. He was joined by Justice Clarence Thomas and Justice Samuel Alito.

Maine Governor Janet Mills' administration had required that all healthcare workers in the state be fully vaccinated by the beginning of October, but the state said it would not enforce it until Friday.

The governor said such workers perform a critical role in protecting the health of Maine's residents and that every precaution needed to be taken to protect against the spread of the coronavirus, especially in light of the presence of the highly transmissible Delta variant.

Maine removed religious exemptions from mandated vaccines in 2019 - before the pandemic - because of falling vaccination rates. Voters in the state overwhelmingly rejected a referendum challenging the law last year.

U.S. Supreme Court rejects religious challenge to Maine vaccine mandate | Reuters

[Switch]

Could this be the start of separating the church from the state. If the US goes that way, it may help other countries to do the same?

[harrybarracuda]

Could this be the start of separating the church from the state. If the US goes that way, it may help other countries to do the same?

It's already separate. It's in the constitution.

[pickel]

It's already separate. It's in the constitution.

It might actually be implemented if they got rid of lobbyists.

[Buckaroo Banzai]

It might actually be implemented if they got rid of lobbyists.

one man's lobbyist is another mans advocate.
it is not the lobbyists that we need to get rid of, it is the influence that money has on politics that needs to be regulated.

[pickel]

it is the influence that money has on politics that needs to be regulated.

Regulated how? By putting it in the constitution?

It's the lobbyists that need to go, and religion plays as big a role as money does in regards to lobbyists. Sometimes the religious pay more.

[Buckaroo Banzai]

Regulated how? By putting it in the constitution?

It's the lobbyists that need to go, and religion plays as big a role as money does in regards to lobbyists. Sometimes the religious pay more.

Do you even know what a lobbyist is?
is it all lobbyists that need to go, or just the ones that disagree with your agenda? and should the people have no way to influence policy other than voting every four years?

[harrybarracuda]

Let's open a thread in Speakers if you wish to debate the merits of separation of church and state.

I only made the comment because it was interesting that Scotus is upholding Covid mandates over religious exemption.

[harrybarracuda]

Warning: Be cautious if you are a fragile pink

Looks like the chinky cover up worked. Unless they stop being wankers, we'll never really know who munched which bat.

Covid-19 origins may never be known, US intelligence agencies say - BBC News

[harrybarracuda]

On September 18, much of the nation’s attention focused on a few hundred far-right activists returning to the scene of the January 6 Capitol insurrection. At the same time, in Oregon, a crowd nearly ten times the size of the DC event marched in protest against COVID-19 mask and vaccine mandates.

At the front of the march was a big “DO NOT COMPLY” banner featuring a red swastika made out of syringes. Behind the banner marched a large crowd of a few thousand, mostly women, carrying signs with slogans like, “I will not comply,” “Take America Back,” “Medical Freedom,” and “My Body My Choice.”

Seconds after a sign comparing the yellow star forced upon Jews during the Nazi occupation of Europe to a vaccine passport QR code passed, one of the rally attendees pointed to another sign that read, “I’m 13 and I can see the Plandemic. #PureBlood” and shouted enthusiastically, “Pure blood! Pure blood, that’s my new thing. Pure blood. I love it.”

The euphemism popularized by anti-vaxxer influencers to describe those who refuse to get vaccinated has a deeply troubling, virulently antisemitic context.

Blood purity was at the core of Nazi ideology. The German Nazi party introduced laws to ensure blood purity, and anyone who acted outside of these laws was deemed to have committed the crime of Blutschande or “blood disgrace.”

As the nearly two thousand anti-masker and anti-vaxxer marchers strode around the state capitol grounds, the violent, racist, misogynist Proud Boys provided security. “God bless our security in the black and yellow,” commented a rally coordinator.

The Salem march was one of the dozens around the country on the same day. Since August, the number of protests against masks and vaccines has skyrocketed.

Though it has received little attention, a surging far-right protest movement rages against governmental and community efforts to stop the spread of the virus. Animated by a refusal to accept the pandemic’s gravity and reality, this is the new face of COVID denial.

New research by the Institute for Research and Education on Human Rights finds that Facebook has become an epicenter of COVID denial activism. For the past year and a half, the IREHR research team tracked anti-mask, anti-vaccine, anti-mandate, anti-lockdown, and other COVID denial efforts on Facebook. The research team examined thousands of public and private Facebook groups. The research team cataloged membership, posts, videos, ads, and events in those groups. This massive trove of data allowed report researchers to capture the first complete picture of how COVID denial spread on Facebook and into the real world.

Variants of this problem exist on other social media platforms (YouTube, Twitter, TikTok, Instagram, etc.), but this report is specific to Facebook. Given the platform’s massive reach and the breadth of the problem uncovered by the IREHR research team, the Facebook problem requires singular examination. More than other platforms, COVID denial activity on Facebook has transitioned into real-world clashes. Violence is increasingly common at real-world COVID denial events organized on Facebook. These forums have also become fruitful radicalization and recruiting grounds for far-right groups.

Before diving into the data, chapter one provides a vivid case study of how Facebook COVID denial activism forced three Washington State schools into lockdown and helped drive a fourteen-year-old into the arms of the Proud Boys.

The data in this report is alarming. As discussed in chapter two, the IREHR research team documented over seventeen hundred COVID denial groups active on Facebook. These groups have a combined membership of nearly two and a half million people. COVID denial groups spread across the country, with groups in all fifty states and the District of Columbia, including a relatively even regional distribution.

The first wave of these groups formed in early 2020 centered around opposing lockdowns and other health-related restrictions. A second wave of COVID denial activity on Facebook began to surge this summer as the Delta variant of the virus emerged, and hospitalization rates climbed. The sharp growth in new groups centered on anti-mask and anti-vaccine activism marks the second wave of COVID denial on the platform.

While the first wave of COVID denial was marked by protests over “reopening” and armed invasions of state capitols, the second wave features localized agitation at city councils, school boards, schools, and hospitals. As explored in chapter ten, violence has erupted at many of these protests organized on Facebook.

Despite many warnings, Facebook repeatedly failed to act on the problem of COVID denial, as discussed in chapter three. One year ago, IREHR identified 1,186 COVID denial Facebook groups. Today, sixty-nine percent of those groups are still active on the platform, while an additional 910 COVID groups were created in the last year, 269 new groups in August 2021 alone. As with previous far-right mobilizations on the platform, Facebook’s inability to tackle the COVID denial problem raises serious questions.

Facebook and COVID Denial ⋆ Institute for Research and Education on Human Rights

[harrybarracuda]

Warning: Be cautious if you are a fragile pink

US donates 1.53 million vaccines to Nepal

Today, the United States is proud to announce the arrival of 1.53 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine at the Tribhuvan International Airport. This donation reaffirms the United States’ decades-old commitment to the Nepali people and is a continuation of our ongoing support to Nepal during the COVID-19 crisis. These vaccines, which require only one shot, are gifts to Nepal on behalf of the American people and have the singular purpose of saving lives. The U.S. donated vaccines are being delivered to the Nepali people in partnership with the COVAX global vaccine initiative and UNICEF.

United States Donates 1.53 Million Vaccines to Nepal, Saving Lives - U.S. Embassy in Nepal

[harrybarracuda]

Warning: Be cautious if you are a fragile pink

I fear that health official may be in for a little "re-education" or perhaps will have to attend a "reorganisation meeting".

China's COVID-19 outbreak developing rapidly, health official says

SHANGHAI, Oct 30 (Reuters) - China's latest COVID-19 outbreak is developing rapidly, a health official said, as the authorities demanded high vigilance at ports of entry amid growing infections in a northeastern border city caused by the virus arriving from abroad.
Some 377 domestically transmitted cases with confirmed symptoms were reported from Oct. 17-29, National Health Commission (NHC) data showed. China has tackled a series of outbreaks this year since it largely contained a national spread in early 2020.

The numbers remain tiny compared with clusters outside the country. However, while the rest of the world works out how to co-exist with COVID, China has maintained its zero tolerance, urging vigilance around border areas and ports to prevent infected inbound travellers spreading the virus to locals.
"Within the past 14 days, 14 provincial areas have reported new locally transmitted cases or asymptomatic carriers," the NHC spokesperson Mi Feng said on Saturday.

"The outbreak is still developing rapidly, and the virus control situation is severe and complicated."
Heihe, a small northeastern city of 1.3 million people that lies on China's side of the Amur river on the border with Russia, reported 26 local cases for Oct. 29, a sharp increase from nine on Oct. 28 and just one on Oct. 27.

"The outbreak has exposed the laxity of mind among some local authorities," Wu Liangyou, another NHC official, said.
China, especially ports of entry, should strengthen test screening of people of high infection risk and improve monitoring of potential flare-ups, as the virus is still spreading in surrounding countries, Wu told a news briefing.

Surveys and virus sequencing results showed the cluster in Heihe was unrelated to an ongoing outbreak hitting mainly the northwestern parts of China, indicating that there was a new source of virus brought from overseas, Wu said.
Many local infections found in the north and northwest parts of China since Oct. 17 could be traced back to a source of virus brought in from overseas, the NHC said last week. read more

China's border towns, many with relatively few resources, have tended to suffer more severe disruptions than richer cities amid the outbreaks.
The small southwestern city of Ruili bordering Myanmar has seen its once robust jewellery trade business, a pillar of its modest economy, dampened by some of the toughest virus measures in China due to repeated outbreaks.

In major cities, officials have vowed strict virus curbs for key international events to minimise the risk of imported virus.
To safely host the Winter Olympics Games in February, Chinese athletes and staff supporting the event must receive a vaccine booster shot, while boosters are recommended for foreign athletes but not compulsory, according to a state television report.

China is aiming to complete vaccinating children aged three to 11 by the end of December, excluding those with medical conditions that may render a COVID-19 shot harmful, Wu said.
It has already fully vaccinated about 75.8% of its 1.4 billion population, and is giving eligible adults a booster shot.

China'''s COVID-19 outbreak developing rapidly, health official says | Reuters