The COVID-2019 Thread

[hallelujah]

The EU getting a bit shouty with China.

EU says China behind 'huge wave' of Covid-19 disinformation | World news | The Guardian

Not that anybody (apart from the usual nutters) should be surprised to see the likes of "China" and "disinformation" in the same sentence.

[jabir]

Might be of interest to some, IATA interactive map of the world with travel restrictions by country; zoom in, click, and that country's travel regulations will pop up to the right of the map. Given the rapidly evolving nature and different national responses, IATA probably get the most current data, restrictions and requirements from the airlines and gov agencies.

IATA - International Travel Document News

[Klondyke]

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

The Chinkies never stop copying... (Mayor of Buffalo, please place a complaint at UN)

[harrybarracuda]

First publicly reported.

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

Yes, from those pictures above it would seem the chinkies knew about the Wuhan Virus even earlier than we thought.

[harrybarracuda]

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

The tourists are out and about.

Excellent, let's hope they all do staycations.

[harrybarracuda]

The EU getting a bit shouty with China.

EU says China behind 'huge wave' of Covid-19 disinformation | World news | The Guardian

Not that anybody (apart from the usual nutters) should be surprised to see the likes of "China" and "disinformation" in the same sentence.

Won't stop them, they have a whole army of little tinkers posting bollocks on social media.

[harrybarracuda]

Might be of interest to some, IATA interactive map of the world with travel restrictions by country; zoom in, click, and that country's travel regulations will pop up to the right of the map. Given the rapidly evolving nature and different national responses, IATA probably get the most current data, restrictions and requirements from the airlines and gov agencies.

IATA - International Travel Document News

There was a fake email going around last week purporting to come from ICAO with a list of dates for when all the world's airports were reopening.

It's amazing how many fucking idiots repost this shit without checking.

That on the other hand is a very useful resource: Thank you.

Unfortunately you've had your quota of greens from me it seems, you need to stop behaving yourself.

[jabir]

Not sure what you're on but probably top shelf.

The link works fine, spent half hour there before posting it.

[cyrille]

Harry was just being pleasant.

Your difficulty recognising this odd state of affairs was understandable.

[harrybarracuda]

Harry was just being pleasant.

Your difficulty recognising this odd state of affairs was understandable.

Cunty pissflaps.

[Warwick]

Thailand: The Coronavirus Suicides – The Diplomat

I predicted this as an outcome from government about two months back. Cyrille scoffed at the idea.

[harrybarracuda]

A new high... 134,000 cases globally.

[harrybarracuda]

I think Buttplug will be heading to NYC, where the health department is now recommending glory holes.



Glory Holes Advocated By NYC Health Department For Safe Sex

[harrybarracuda]

Thailand: The Coronavirus Suicides – The Diplomat

I predicted this as an outcome from government about two months back. Cyrille scoffed at the idea.

I was reading this morning how US drug companies are making a killing (excuse the pun) with 20%-odd increases in the sales of anti-anxiety, anti-depressive and sleep medication.

[Latindancer]

Meanwhile, infections in Delhi, which has an official population of 19.6 million, are expected to climb to more than half a million by the end of July.

Coronavirus: The giant city predicted to emerge as the newest epicentre

[OhOh]

Texas Reports Record Jump In COVID-19 Infections As US Total Tops 2 Million: Live Updates

Texas Reports Record Jump In COVID-19 Infections As US Total Tops 2 Million: Live Updates | Zero Hedge

[HermantheGerman]

Africa's gift to the world?

African herbal potion as a remedy for COVID-19?

In Madagascar and other African countries, the Chinese medicinal plant Artemisia annua, also called mugwort, is successfully used against malaria. Supposedly, the drug, administered as an herbal tea, also helped COVID-19 patients. However, there is still insufficient evidence for this.
For the President of Madagascar it is very clear: "Covid-Organics" is the solution to the COVID crisis, Africa's gift to the world. The criticism from the World Health Organization, but also from doctors in his own country, does not unsettle him. Andry Rajoeling asks a rhetorical question on French television:

"If it wasn't for Madagascar, but a European country that had discovered 'Covid Organics', would there be so many doubts? I do not think so."
Popular in Madagascar as a cure for many ailments

Madagascar is home to ten percent of the world production of the Chinese medicinal plant Artemisia annua. The important malaria drug artemisinin is obtained from it. But Artemisia teas are popular on the island as a cure for many ailments, not just for malaria attacks and flu-like infections."With COVID-19, there are also fever and flu symptoms, so it made sense to see if it helps," says Nceba Gqaleni, who studies traditional remedies at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa.

"I heard in the media that patients should be better off, but there was no evidence. So I can’t judge whether it’s true or not. ”
Madagascar only makes claims, no data, Frank van der Kooy also regrets. The pharmacologist from the North African University in South Africa would like to examine “Covid-Organics” himself.

“I would love to go into it, but first I need to know what's really inside and whether it works or not. A means that nothing is known about but now selling all over Africa is wrong. That doesn't help African science. "

Especially since Artemisia annua is a plant from China. Another mugwort variant grows in Africa, Artemisia afra, which is popular with traditional healers and the population alike.

“When I come to the laboratory with Afra, even the cleaning staff recognize the plant. They grow them at home and if they get a cold or flu in winter they drink the tea. It is a well-known medicinal plant. "
Prices have increased tenfold

Since people are afraid of COVID-19, prices have increased tenfold. Years ago Frank van der Kooy found out that Artemisia afra does not contain any Artemisinin. Their effect is probably based on other ingredients. In fact, teas from Artemisia afra work just as well as Artemisia annua teas against malaria. This was shown in 2019 by a study from the Congo with a thousand participants.

“They even claim that the teas are much more effective than modern combination products that contain purified artemisinin. There was also criticism, so the study should be independently confirmed. But they tried it on 1,000 patients and the results look good, better than with modern medication. This is very interesting."

Malaria is caused by a parasite, COVID-19 by a virus. But artemisinin is known to also have some antiviral activity.

“Artemisia is a promising medicinal plant. I want to try both types. That's my plan for today, now that I'm back in the lab. ”
Convincing laboratory experiments

Because for Frank van der Kooy the lockdown is over. The chemist Peter Seeberger from the Max Planck Institute for Colloid Research in Potsdam is already ahead. Years ago he was able to synthesize artemisinin quickly and effectively. In March he took the samples out again.

“When COVID-19 came, we naturally considered what we have in our arsenal. What we saw is that it has moderate activity against the virus and that there is probably a second important mechanism in the organism and that is immunomodulation that could be useful for humans. ”
Because many COVID patients struggle with a dangerously excessive immune response. In fact, the laboratory experiments are so convincing that Peter Seeberger has found partners for a clinical study in humans in the USA. It will start soon. From experience with artemisinin as a malaria drug it is known that the substance is very well tolerated and it is also available.

“I think the tablets are ordered today, it then takes four weeks to be delivered and we assume that it will begin within four to five weeks in humans. It looks like teas are also used. Then we could start earlier. Because the teas are already available.
Studies with several African medicinal plants

In many African countries, they are already being drunk against COVID-19. But they have not yet been examined. And that could have something to do with the fact that this idea of ​​using Artemisia against Covid-19 has become popular in Africa, says Nceba Gqaleni. Another malaria drug was tested in studies after the first signs of antiviral activity.

“It also depends on how deep the pockets are. President Trump supports research on hydroxycholorquin with a lot of money in America. Artemisia afra doesn't have that much money to do the research. ”

Nceba Gqaleni has started studies with several African medicinal plants. Frank van der Kooy wants to examine both Artemisia annua and Artemisia afra teas. Because there are hardly any funds at his university, he launched a crowdfunding campaign. Madagascar is apparently now planning studies with international partners. And Peter Seeberger hopes to be able to present data on the pure substance artemisinin soon. It will soon be clear how effective the different mugwort variants are with COVID-19.

"I think using the idea is a good idea. It's also great that it comes from Africa. We had the same idea at the same time, maybe a little earlier. Does not matter. So, I hope the Madagascar president is right. And then when it's tested, I think so too. Until then, I would like to wait until I make a final judgment. "


Translated from:

Heilpflanze Artemisia annua - Afrikanischer Krautertrank als Heilmittel gegen COVID-19?

[Cujo]

'An American fiasco'
US hits grim milestone of 2m Covid-19 cases



'An American fiasco': US hits grim milestone of 2m Covid-19 cases
Pandemic has devastated US, but experts warn lack of testing and early reopening mean ‘we’re only seeing the tip of the iceberg’

For Americans, coronavirus went from being a mysterious affliction that occurred in far-off lands to 1m confirmed cases on US soil within 14 weeks. Now, just six weeks later, the US has broken through the grim milestone of 2m positive tests for Covid-19, according to the Johns Hopkins University tracker.


The anguish of life lost, of a severely wounded economy and wrenching political turmoil have taken a harrowing toll upon a fatigued American public. But further, perhaps far greater pain is yet to come, pandemic experts have warned, even as authorities wave people back into reopened shops and offices and the US president’s political rhetoric on an epochal crisis dwindles away to near silence.


“Everyone has just looked at the first 100 yards of this marathon,” said Michael Osterholm, the director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota.



Osterholm said a society usually becomes resilient to a virus once at least 60% of the population has been infected, either naturally or via a vaccine, and develops antibodies. This is still a far-off point for the US, with no firm guarantee a working vaccine will ever be developed.


“At most, perhaps 5% of people have been infected,” he said. “If all that pain, suffering and economic destruction got us to 5%, what will it take to get us to 60%? That’s a sobering thought. All of that suffering and death is just getting started. People haven’t quite got that yet.”


The true figure of infection in the US is almost certainly “multiples more” than the 2m confirmed cases, said Irwin Redlener, the director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University, but is obscured to the lack of testing.


Problems in developing and rolling out an effective test dogged the initial US response to the pandemic and although testing has now ramped up, only around 6% of the population has received one.


People with Covid-19 most likely experience either no noticeable symptoms or only minor symptoms such as a dry cough and mild fever.


“We are very much seeing only the proverbial tip of the iceberg,” said Redlener. “We are hampered by the lack of sufficient testing, especially as businesses are reopening across all 50 states.”


Deficiencies in the stockpile of testing kits, swabs, ventilators and protective equipment for medical staff marked the opening stanza of the pandemic in the US. It was a muddled and sometimes astonishing response embodied by Donald Trump, who predicted the virus would vanish in the April sunshine, squabbled with state governors and pondered the merits of injecting bleach or taking hydroxychloroquine, an unproven anti-malarial drug.





A nurse cleans personal protective equipment after being part of a team that treated a coronavirus in San Jose, California. Photograph: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
“From the beginning there has been misrepresentations and fabrications from the White House,” said Redlener. “Whatever the opposite of ‘mission accomplished’ is, that’s what this is. It’s essentially been an American fiasco.”


Yet even as the US has surged past 100,000 deaths from Covid-19, around a quarter of the entire global total, the crisis has faded from the political agenda.


Trump, preoccupied with sending in the military to crush roiling anti-racism protests over the death of George Floyd, has stopped daily press conferences on the pandemic. Re-openings have been left down to the states, conducted in a somewhat haphazard way with at least a dozen states still experiencing rising rates of infections.


Dr Anthony Fauci, the administration’s top infectious disease expert, has admitted not seeing the president in weeks despite the ongoing public health crisis. “Where is it going to end? We’re still at the beginning of it,” Fauci said this week.


A disconcerting element of the crisis for epidemiologists is that so much about Covid-19 is still unknown. The World Health Organization had to clarify it still doesn’t know how often asymptomatic people pass on the virus, after previously saying it was very rare.


It’s not known why some people grouped together, such as meatpacking workers, have become infected at high rates while others, such as prisoners, haven’t to the same degree. There’s uncertainty over how the virus will react to the summer heat or how big a second or third wave of infections will be. Even the symptoms of the virus, previously thought to always include a fever and cough, have confounded previous expectations.


“There are a lot of things we just don’t know and we need a great deal of humility. We aren’t driving this tiger, we are riding it,” said Osterholm.


The decisions made as the virus rumbles on will invariably become as political and moral as they will scientific.


With more than 40 million people already out of work in the US amid an economic downturn that may rival anything seen in the past century, any escalation of lockdown to stop the spread of the virus will risk unbearable mental and financial pain. On the other extreme, attempting to revert to previous patterns of life without a vaccine would likely overwhelm hospitals with the sick and dying.


“We need to really thread the needle between those two things,” said Osterholm. “I worry we have passed over having that difficult conversation. We’ve already decided that it’s over and done with. It’s not.”

'An American fiasco': US hits grim milestone of 2m Covid-19 cases | World news | The Guardian

Meanwhile has anyone seen Fauci?

[Klondyke]

US hits grim milestone of 2m Covid-19 cases

Damned POTUS...

[HuangLao]

Damned POTUS...

That...and the infrastructures in place.
But largely has much to do with the society/culture and it's character/mindset.
Not getting get.

[Cujo]

EU says China behind 'huge wave' of Covid-19 disinformation | World news | The Guardian

China has been accused by Brussels of running disinformation campaigns inside the European Union, as the bloc set out a plan to tackle a “huge wave” of false facts about the coronavirus pandemic.

The European commission said Russia and China were running “targeted influence operations and disinformation campaigns in the EU, its neighbourhood, and globally”. While the charge against Russia has been levelled on many occasions, this is the first time the EU executive has publicly named China as a source of disinformation.


French politicians were furious when a Chinese embassy website claimed in mid-April, at the height of Europe’s pandemic, that care workers had abandoned their jobs leaving residents to die. The unnamed Chinese diplomat also claimed falsely that 80 French lawmakers had used a racist slur against the head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.


“I believe if we have evidence we should not shy away from naming and shaming,” Vĕra Jourová, a European commission vice-president, told reporters. “What we also witnessed is a surge in narratives undermining our democracies and in effect our response to the crisis, for example the claim there are secret US biological laboratories on former Soviet republics has been spread by both pro-Kremlin outlets, as well as Chinese officials and state media.”


“I strongly believe that a geopolitically strong EU can only materialise if we are assertive,” Jourová said, alluding to the aim of the European commission’s president, Ursula von der Leyen, for the body to have more clout on the world stage.


The more assertive stance marks a change in tone from a report in March which merely described Chinese media narratives, while focusing the spotlight on disinformation from Kremlin-backed sources. It comes after lawmakers in the European parliament accused the commission of watering down an earlier report on disinformation under pressure from China – charges EU officials strongly denied.




EU member states are grappling with how to deal with China on a range of fronts, from foreign policy and security, to the economy. The commission described China as a “systemic rival” in a 2019 report that was seen by many member states as marking a watershed in how the EU deals with an increasingly aggressive government in Beijing.


The EU commission also issued an implicit rebuke to Donald Trump, as it noted the harmful effects of his bizarre suggestions about injecting bleach to treat coronavirus. Without naming the US president, a commission document stated that such false claims can be “very harmful”, noting that Belgium’s Poison Control Centre has recorded an increase of 15% in the number of bleach-related incidents.


Jourová repeated her praise of Twitter for putting a factchecking tag on two of Trump’s recent tweets, while saying she would like to see a similar approach taken by social media companies on other false information. “Be it the president, be the diplomats, be it me…. when we [politicians] say something we have to be accountable and we should be able to stand that somebody goes and checks the facts.”


The commission has encouraged social media companies to sign a voluntary code of practice on disinformation, while threatening regulation if they fail to act. The latest report steps up demands on platforms to be more transparent in sharing data with researchers and intensify work with independent fact checkers. “I would not like the platforms themselves to be the arbiters of truth,” Jourová said.


The Chinese-owned video-sharing app TikTok has become the latest company to sign the code of practice, the commission said, joining the likes of Facebook, Google, Twitter and Mozilla.


Topics

Ho ho's not going to like this.

[Warwick]

Is the curfew still in place? I have lost track with all of the conflicting do's and don'ts.

[Chico]

The dirty farang again

Famed Thai Temple Bars Foreigners Entry Over COVID-19 Fears
BANGKOK — One of Thailand’s major tourist attractions is barring entry to foreigners, professing fear that they could spread the coronavirus.
Signs seen Thursday morning at the main gate of Wat Pho, the Buddhist temple adjacent to the Grand Palace in Bangkok, said in English: “Open for Thai only,” “ONLY THAI PEOPLE,” and “NOW NOT OPEN FOR FOREIGNERS.”
The temple is one of the country’s grandest, with murals and gold trim covering many surfaces, but is best known for housing the 46-meter-long (151-foot-long) Reclining Buddha, which is covered in gold leaf.
One of Wat Pho’s administrative staff explained by phone that the temple committee decided to exclude foreigners because of concerns about COVID-19. continue reading link


Famed Thai Temple Bars Foreigners Entry Over COVID-19 Fears - The New York Times

[OhOh]

New SARS-like virus can jump directly from bats to humans, no treatment available


"Findings provide an opportunity to develop drugs and vaccines for coronaviruses before they emerges from animals to cause a human epidemic

Date:
November 10, 2015
Source:
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Summary:

A new bat SARS-like virus has been discovered that can jump directly from its bat hosts to humans without mutation. However, researchers point out that if the SARS-like virus did jump, it is still unclear whether it could spread from human to human.

FULL STORY

---

Researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have discovered a new bat SARS-like virus that can jump directly from its bat hosts to humans without mutation. However, researchers point out that if the SARS-like virus did jump, it is still unclear whether it could spread from human to human.

The discovery, reported in the Nov. 9 issue of Nature Medicine, is notable not only because there is no treatment for this newly discovered virus, but also because it highlights an ongoing debate over the government's decision to suspend all gain of function experiments on a variety of select agents earlier this year. The move has put a substantial standstill on the development of vaccines or treatments for these pathogens should there be an outbreak.

"Studies have predicted the existence of nearly 5,000 coronaviruses in bat populations and some of these have the potential to emerge as human pathogens," said senior author Ralph Baric, a faculty member at the Gillings School of Global Public Health and expert in coronaviruses. "So this is not a situation of 'if 'there will be an outbreak of one of these coronaviruses but rather when and how prepared we'll be to address it."

SARS first jumped from animals to humans in 2002-2003 and caused a worldwide outbreak, resulting in 8,000 cases, including one case in Chapel Hill. With nearly 800 deaths during that outbreak, SARS-CoV presents much like flu symptoms but then can accelerate, compromise breathing and bring on a deadly form of pneumonia. The outbreak was controlled through public health interventions and the original virus was thought to have been extinct since 2004.

Baric and his team demonstrated that the newly-identified SARS-like virus, labeled SHC014-CoV and found in the Chinese horseshoe bats, can jump between bats and humans by showing that the virus can latch onto and use the same human and bat receptor for entry. The virus also replicates as well as SARS-CoV in primary human lung cells, the preferred target for infection.

"This virus is highly pathogenic and treatments developed against the original SARS virus in 2002 and the ZMapp drugs used to fight Ebola fail to neutralize and control this particular virus," said Baric. "So building resources, rather than limiting them, to both examine animal populations for new threats and develop therapeutics is key for limiting future outbreaks."

---

Story Source:
Materials provided by University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Note: Content may be edited for style and length

New SARS-like virus can jump directly from bats to humans, no treatment available: Findings provide an opportunity to develop drugs and vaccines for coronaviruses before they emerges from animals to cause a human epidemic -- ScienceDaily


New SARS-like virus can jump directly from bats to humans, no treatment available • UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health

[harrybarracuda]

Baric and his team demonstrated that the newly-identified SARS-like virus, labeled SHC014-CoV and found in the Chinese horseshoe bats, can jump between bats and humans

Well all the more reason for the chinkies to stop munching bats then, eh HooHoo?