The COVID-2019 Thread

[Buckaroo Banzai]

He's 99, actually.

No, his gruesome appearance is genuine enough. The lighting and focus in the image look wrong to me, though, and the subjects' outlines are a little too sharp.

God bless him at 98, if I ever reach 99 I would be happy what ever way I look, What annoys me is that they would waste a vaccine on a 98 year old when there are many 60 year olds with a lot of life left in them that can not get it because there is not enough yet. What did the wish to him after he got it ? May you live to be 100." ?

[harrybarracuda]

Coming to a black market near you: Covid-19 vaccine

Reports of the rich and connected jumping the line to get vaccinated is just the beginning, experts say.

Notwithstanding governments that may or may not be able to control who gets the virus, you can also bet the manufacturers themselves will have arranged a few private sales.

That's probably why Astrazenca stayed away from getting any government money. They can then rightfully claim that they paid for its development and they can sell it to the highest bidder.

[Buckaroo Banzai]

They should let Amazon deliver the vaccine. We will all have it in two days or less. LOL

[PlanK]

Reports of the rich and connected jumping the line to get vaccinated is just the beginning, experts say.

Well, if the Lizard-people are getting it, it must actually work.
Unless they just want it for better 5G reception?

[TTraveler]

The vaccine has become a hot black market/darkweb item. Just like buying drugs on the darkweb, how would one know if they're getting the real thing? I'll just keeping wearing a mask.
A look at the dark web's coronavirus vaccine market. : The Indicator from Planet Money : NPR

[OhOh]

Scanning digital health QR code becomes OBLIGATORY for passengers using ride-hailing services in Beijing

"Using a ride-hailing service in Beijing, such as Uber or local Didi Chuxing, won’t be possible without scanning your health QR code, the city authorities said amid a spike in Covid-19 cases in nearby Hebei province.

Starting from Monday, drivers will be able to deny services to those who refuse to show and scan their QR codes, the state-run Global Times newspaper reported.
The color-based health QR code system was introduced in Beijing and more than 100 other cities in February to help curb the spread of the coronavirus, which was first reported in China's Wuhan more than a month earlier.
The app automatically generates a code for the user. A 'green' one means they are free roam around the capital, while 'yellow' and 'red' codes call for self-isolation or supervised quarantine. "

Scanning digital health QR code becomes OBLIGATORY for passengers using ride-hailing services in Beijing — RT World News
China is fighting COVID-19 with a QR code, but is everyone on board? - CGTN

[OhOh]

Russia reports first case of mutated UK coronavirus variant

10 Jan, 2021 18:54 / Updated 7 hours ago


"A new, more infectious variant of Covid-19, which was discovered in Britain in mid-December, has reached Russia, the country’s wellbeing and consumer-rights watchdog, Rospotrebnadzor, said.

The mutated strain was found in the samples taken from a Russian man who had returned from a trip to the UK before the New Year, Rospotrebnadzor’s head Anna Popova told the Rossiya 1 channel on Sunday.
He didn't show symptoms of the disease and isn’t contagious anymore. “The man was feeling and is currently feeling fine,” Popova said.

The new Covid-19 variant has led in recent weeks to a spike in cases in Britain, particularly in London, and has resulted in many countries banning all travelers from the UK. However, the measures didn’t prevent the spread of the strain, with cases having been detected across Europe, in the US, Asia, and elsewhere.
The UK variant is believed to be up to 70 percent more contagious than the original coronavirus, although there’s currently no evidence of it being deadlier or causing harsher symptoms."

Russia reports first case of mutated UK coronavirus variant — RT Russia & Former Soviet Union


Soon to be referred to as the "Porton Gambit".

[panama hat]

Soon to be referred to as the "Porton Gambit".

Well, the China-Virus is really doing the job it was designed for, eh WahWah. Finally something China-made that does its job well

[harrybarracuda]

Sounds like the chinkies are going to bore the international experts with death by powerpoint rather than letting them go to the source of the Wuhan virus: Wuhan.

BEIJING (AP) — Experts from the World Health Organization are due to arrive in China this week for a long-anticipated investigation into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic, the government said Monday.
The experts will arrive on Thursday and meet with Chinese counterparts, the National Health Commission said in a one-sentence statement that gave no other details.
It wasn’t immediately clear whether the experts would be traveling to the central Chinese city of Wuhan, where the coronavirus was first detected in late 2019.
Negotiations for the visit have long been underway. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus expressed disappointment last week over delays, saying that members of the international scientific team departing from their home countries had already started on their trip as part of an arrangement between the WHO and the Chinese government.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said China had approved the visit following consultations between the sides and called it an opportunity to “exchange views with Chinese scientists and medical experts on scientific cooperation on the tracing of the origin of the new coronavirus.”

China: WHO experts arriving Thursday for virus origins probe

[misskit]

Malaysia to Reimpose 2-Week Limited Lockdown to Stem Virus Spread


KUALA LUMPUR (REUTERS) - Malaysia's Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin on Monday announced a fresh lockdown in the capital Kuala Lumpur and five states, as the Southeast Asian nation's cumulative cases grew to over 135,000 as of Sunday.


Muhyiddin said interstate travel will also be barred during the two-week lockdown, but assured that five essential sectors will be allowed to continue operating under strict regulations.

Malaysia to Reimpose 2-Week Limited Lockdown to Stem Virus Spread | World News | US News

[panama hat]

Sounds like the chinkies are going to bore the international experts with death by powerpoint rather than letting them go to the source of the Wuhan virus: Wuhan.

One powerpoint slide will suffice:




India's fault

[harrybarracuda]

India's fault

Is it India this week? I thought it was Italy's turn again.

[panama hat]

Is it India this week? I thought it was Italy's turn again.

No, no, no. It should have been the US' turn but someone in Beijing mixed up the slides

[hallelujah]

This is a good read about the different approaches and it also delves into why Europe and the US have suffered many more deaths than Asia (and Africa):

The West should envy Japan’s COVID-19 response | The Japan Times

[harrybarracuda]

Malaysia declares a state of emergency until August 1st.

It can be lifted if they get the bug under control.

[Updated] King declares State of Emergency to fight Covid-19 | New Straits Times

[harrybarracuda]

Chinky vaccine looks to be shit, but Indonesia takes it anyway.

BRASILIA (Reuters) - The CoronaVac COVID-19 vaccine developed by China’s Sinovac Biotech has a general efficacy of less than 60% in its clinical trial in Brazil, the news portal UOL reported on Monday, citing two sources that had seen the results.

Indonesia’s food and drug agency on Monday granted emergency use approval to a Covid-19 vaccine developed by China’s Sinovac Biotech, as it became the first country outside China to give the regulatory green light to the vaccine.

The authorisation came after interim data from a late-stage human trial in Indonesia showed the vaccine was 65.3 per cent effective, said Penny K. Lukito, who heads the country’s food and drugs regulator BPOM.

Sinovac'''s vaccine general efficacy less than 60% in Brazil trial - report | Reuters

Coronavirus: Indonesia says China’s Sinovac vaccine 65.3 per cent effective, grants emergency approval | South China Morning Post

[harrybarracuda]

The first decent answer I've seen on the effect of mutations in the Wuhan virus on vaccine efficacy.

Will the current generation of vaccines be effective against a mutated variant of the novel coronavirus?

SARS-CoV-2 mutates regularly, acquiring about one new mutation in its genome every two weeks. In the ‘UK variant’, designated B.1.1.7, there are 23 mutations, including eight in the spike protein. The main mutation is N501Y, which may make the receptor binding stronger and allow the virus to spread better. The ‘South Africa variant’ has three mutations in the spike protein’s receptor binding domain (RBD), and could post a greater challenge than B.1.1.7.

Researchers have found no major changes in neutralisation by N501Y in the UK variant. A study funded by Pfizer suggests its vaccine candidate is effective against this strain of the virus as well.

However, according to another study, the E484 mutation of the ‘South Africa variant’ greatly reduces neutralisation in some individuals – i.e. human antibodies are less effective against this strain.

This said, the effects of mutations differ across individuals, and not everyone is affected similarly by RBD mutations. Sometimes, the effects of mutations change over time for the same individual, as the individual’s immune response matures.

What do these results mean for new variants?

Mutations like E484K are certainly of concern. However, they reduce neutralisation activity – not eliminate it entirely. A virus would need to evolve for many years to be able to evade neutralisation in most people.

So the current vaccines will be useful for quite a while. There is no need to panic. The virus uses its own genetic material to manufacture amino acids that are strung together to make proteins. And thus far, fewer than 1% of the novel coronavirus’s spike protein amino acids have been affected. The virus will need to accumulate many, many more mutations to be able to have a major impact on vaccines.

For example, all the vaccine candidates licensed thus far are polyclonal – producing different antibodies and T-cells that target several parts of the spike protein. The virus will likely need to accumulate multiple mutations corresponding to the spike protein alone to evade immunity induced by vaccines or by natural infection.

SARS-CoV-2 may undergo antigenic drift, and we may need to update the strain we use in our vaccine candidates regularly. (Antigens are a collection of proteins expressed on the virus’s surface, based on which antibodies register the virus’s presence. Antigenic drift is a change in the composition of these proteins due to mutations.) Even if major changes occur in the RBD and a new strain emerges, vaccines based on nucleic-acid technology could be adapted to tackle them in a few weeks or so.

FAQ: Knowns and Unknowns of the World's COVID-19 Vaccine Candidates - The Wire Science

[panama hat]

^ Nice, thank you. My wife and I were actually discussing this in relation to Queen Ardern re-scheduling the first delivery in April, not March and mass-vaccination many months from then.


The idiocy is palpable. We've been covid-free for many months but the cases are piling up in managed quarantine and community transmission is just a minute away. Great PR, minorities-appeasement leader, miserable common-good leader.

[misskit]

Negative COVID-19 Test Result Needed To Enter England From Friday


Passengers arriving from all international destinations will be required to present a negative COVID-19 test result before departing for England to help protect against the new strain of coronavirus.


The British Embassy in Bangkok said passengers will need to present test result to carriers, as well as their Passenger Locator Form. The UK Border Force will conduct spot checks on arrival to ensure that passengers are fully compliant.


The embassy said the decisive action is in response to the changes seen in the transmission of the virus both domestically and across the globe.

MORE Negative COVID-19 Test Result Needed To Enter England From Friday | Chiang Mai One

[harrybarracuda]

The UK Border Force will conduct spot checks on arrival to ensure that passengers are fully compliant.

Fucking arseholes.

CHECK EVERYONE YOU MORONS.

[baldrick]

Queen Ardern

We've been covid-free for many months but the cases are piling up in managed quarantine and community transmission is just a minute away.

NZ seems to have a well managed hotel quarantine system which allows it not to rush in and stab people willy nilly with a vaccine that is being mass tested in countries with leaders who have fcuked up

your complaints seem karen like with the me me me , now now now overtones

why should the NZ govt change and rush in , when their strategy has been the best in the world so far ?

[PlanK]

^
Because the Hatter wants to go to Aus.
Personal inconvenience > national health matters.

[panama hat]

your complaints seem karen like with the me me me , now now now overtones

Not at all as I wouldn't be first in line for the jab anyway, being neither an essential nor a front-line worker (my daughter in Brisbane is, here we're not)

why should the NZ govt change and rush in , when their strategy has been the best in the world so far ?

Because that may change with the number of cases from people returning or coming here to work, as has been the case several times already and it was more by luck than design in March/April.

Because the Hatter wants to go to Aus.

Yea, not sure where you get that from, but no.

Personal inconvenience > national health matters.

Again, hardly but I'm sure you can explain how it is of personal convenience to me as opposed to that of the country.


Basically, the number of cases is piling up at the border/managed quarantine - whether it's workers from Russia and Ukraine arriving infected or returning NZ citizens or PRs or sports teams from Pakistan etc...

People working at these places have been infected, luckily the spread hasn't been large and were contained rapidly. Most medical professionals in NZ are also of the opinion that to get ahead of the virus NZ is very well placed to vaccinate the population in case something happens instead of wading into a pool of overworked and crammed hospitals when it does. I guess PlanB would now say they want to go to Australia as well or are being selfish.
Finally, returnees are required to furnish clear covid test results prior to boarding a flight to NZ (starts Friday) after repeatedly the government repeatedly stating since last August that it isn't workable.
This also from the government which said masks weren't required nor useful until very recently.

Arrival of the vaccine has been pushed out to April now and then only a relatively small quantity.

On a personal level I am quite enjoying being here in a nice summer, it's been lovely spending so much time with the girls, bar one. My work is in SG and MY anyway and with Malaysia going through another dose of c-19, why would I want to go back now. I still have work on a remote basis, not as much and it pays less but it's there.

My gripe, as many it is many people's here, is that NZ has the chance to have a vaccinated population in case shit happens.

[baldrick]

My gripe, as many it is many people's here, is that NZ has the chance to have a vaccinated population in case shit happens.

the main point here being that NZ has been following a plan that has been working and you may wish to say that it is just luck - so be it

why rush into the vaccination program which is really an unknown when you do not have to

vaccinate the healthy front line workers first is easily the logical progression

[panama hat]

why rush into the vaccination program which is really an unknown when you do not have to

I believe there's quite a bit of data that shows the efficacy of the vaccine . . . but you're correct in that NZ doesn't have to, but it would be good to get ahead.
The medical infrastructure here is sadly quite bad and third-rate in terms of high-quality medical professionals, they have all buggered off to SG, MY, Aus, UK, US etc.. to make a lot of dosh. Machinery isn't up to dat - economies if scale, of course. Then there's the ridiculous ACC which merely protects the medial profession from blowback when they screw up - not holding them accountable.
The system will go into shock

vaccinate the healthy front line workers first is easily the logical progression

True.