The COVID-2019 Thread

[harrybarracuda]

Oh fucking great.

New COVID variant detected in South Africa, most mutated variant so far

The C.1.2 variant first detected in South Africa is more mutated compared to the original virus than any other known variant.

New COVID variant detected in South Africa, most mutated variant so far - The Jerusalem Post

[panama hat]

Can it be called the Xi-Variant . . . damn. More mutation means less affected by existing vaccines.

[PAG]

[cyrille]

Yes, poor white people (including conservatives) make up a large percentage of the unvaccinated.

Though, blacks (not likely conservatives) also are less likely to get vaccinated — 15% less likely.

18-24-year-olds (not likely conservatives) are half as likely to be vaccinated compared to the elderly.

So, it's not just those who "hate gubmint", right?

Nobody but you is suggesting that only 'conservatives'* 'hate gubmint'.




* I note that you can't even bring yourself to use the 'R' word.

[cyrille]

^^ Progress, but enough to again starting on Wednesday?

I wouldn't have thought so.

[Latindancer]

Another one bites the dust.

We should start a thread titled "Moronic COVID and / or vaccine deniers who have died of COVID".



Dad, 30, who organised anti-Covid rally dies from virus

[harrybarracuda]

Can it be called the Xi-Variant . . . damn. More mutation means less affected by existing vaccines.

One thing I haven't found is that actual process used to decide if it gets its own letter...

[Shutree]

One thing I haven't found is that actual process used to decide if it gets its own letter...

The namings are whatever WHO decides is "of concern" but the mystical process behind those decisions is indeed unclear.

[OhOh]

Monday tally.

+
Coronavirus (COVID-19) Cases - Statistics and Research - Our World in Data

[harrybarracuda]

[harrybarracuda]

The website seems to be up:

COVID-19 vaccination request form for foreigners residing in Chiang Mai province

[misskit]

Indonesia schools start cautious reopening after devastating virus wave

JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia's capital Jakarta reopened 600 of its schools on Monday as coronavirus restrictions eased, though a teacher federation urged caution and warned of clusters in classrooms caused by the highly transmissible Delta variant.


Jakarta's infection rate has dropped, authorities said, from a peak last month that saw Indonesia become Asia's coronavirus epicentre, with more than 4 million cases and 131,000 fatalities overall.


Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan said 610 of 10,000 schools deemed safe had opened at 50% capacity in a resumption of a trial that started in April.


"The conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic are much more under control," he said on Instagram.


Vaccinations are not mandatory for at-school learning, Anies has said, adding that 91% of children aged 12-18 and 85% of educators have been fully inoculated. Nearly 70% of Jakarta's 10 million population have been vaccinated.


Zhafira Tsamara Ufaira Azza, 6, was excited to be back at school, where students will rotate with one day per week in class and the rest online at home.


"I got to meet my friends and teachers," she said.


Mother Endang Sugiarti, 35, said she was still worried about the Delta variant.


"But for my daughter's progress and education, I dared to try it first," she said.


Education Minister Nadiem Makarim last week called for school reopening to be accelerated to try to recover lost ground.


"There's a decrease in study targets, lots of children quit school, especially girls in some regions," he said.


"There's a learning loss with permanent impacts."


But Heru Purnomo, of The Federation of Indonesian Teachers Associations, said broadening the reopening could be risky.


According to official data, about 1% of Indonesian coronavirus deaths and 13% of its cases have been minors.


"It could create new clusters...it could add to the death of children," he told Reuters.

Indonesia schools start cautious reopening after devastating virus wave

[KWAN]

Hurrah !
Chonburi releases new orders easing Covid-19 restrictions starting from September 1st - The Pattaya News

[PAG]

A new high for Phuket today, 256 confirmed, plus 2 from the Sandbox, and another 10 ATK cases. 268 total.

[PAG]

[harrybarracuda]

Some positive news to counter the press doom and gloom.

All around the world, there seem to be signs that immunity to SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes the disease COVID-19, doesn't last very long after you're vaccinated.

Israel is now having one of the world's worst COVID-19 surges about five months after vaccinating a majority of its population. And in the U.S., health officials are recommending a booster shot eight months after the original vaccine course.

So, how long does immunity last after two doses of the vaccine? Six months or so? And at that point, how much protection is left over?

It all depends on which type of immunity you're talking about, says immunologist Ali Ellebedy at Washington University in St. Louis. Six months after your vaccine, your body may be more ready to fight off the coronavirus than you might think.

"If you were vaccinated six months ago, your immune system has been training for six months — you are better ready to fight a COVID-19 infection," says Ellebedy.

A series of new studies, including two led by Ellebedy, suggests that mRNA vaccines like those from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna trigger the immune system to establish long-term protection against severe COVID-19 — protection that likely will last several years or even longer, Ellebedy says.

To understand what he's talking about, let's say you received the second Moderna or Pfizer vaccine six months ago. Right away, your immune system got to work and began making antibodies.

These antibodies are a bit like archers outside the moat of a castle. They set up in the lining of your nose and throat, ready to shoot down (aka neutralize) any SARS-CoV-2 particles that try to enter the moat (aka your nasal tissue).

These antibodies can prevent an infection, says bioimmunologist Deepta Bhattacharya at the University of Arizona. They stop the virus from entering cells and setting up shop. They are the body's front-line defense.

But right after vaccination, this initial round of antibodies has a few problems. The antibodies are a bit wimpy. They're not that well trained at killing SARS-CoV-2, and they're not very durable, Bhattacharya says.

About a month after the second mRNA shot, the number of antibodies in the blood reaches its peak level and then starts to decline. The antibodies themselves degrade and the cells that make them die, a study published in the journal Nature reported in June.

This happens with every vaccine, whether it's for COVID-19, the flu or measles, Bhattacharya says. "In every single immune response, there is a sharp rise in antibodies, a period of sharp decline, and then it starts to settle into a more stable nadir."

The media has largely focused on this decline of antibodies as the cause of "waning immunity." And it's true, Bhattacharya says, that this decline in antibodies, combined with the high potency of the delta variant, which began dominating many countries this year, is likely increasing the rate of infection in fully vaccinated people.

"If you get a big dose of delta, as the variant often gives, the virus can slip past the initial wall of antibodies," he says. "So I think we may be seeing some signs of that. But the [level of breakthrough infections] is probably not as dramatic as I think it's being made out to be."

Why? Because the media has largely overlooked several key facts about the antibodies present eight months after the vaccine. For starters, they're more powerful than the original ones triggered by the vaccine, Bhattacharya says.

While the first round of archers (antibodies) was out guarding the moat of your castle (respiratory tract), the immune system wasn't just sitting around idly, hoping those soldiers would be enough. Instead, it was busy training better archers — and a whole bunch of foot soldiers too.

After your second shot, the immune system sets up a training center in the lymph nodes to teach special cells how to make more powerful antibodies, the Nature paper from June reported.

"The quality of the antibody improves over time. It takes far fewer of those new antibodies to protect you," Bhattacharya says. "So I think that worrying about antibody decline is not something that's productive," he adds.

At the same time, the cells that make these souped-up antibodies become souped up themselves, he adds. In the training center, they learn how to make a huge amount of the highly powerful antibodies.

"These cells are remarkable," Bhattacharya says. "They're estimated to spit out something like 10,000 antibody molecules per second." So you don't need many of these cells to protect you against a future infection.

"We've done some back-of-the-envelope calculations to figure out how many of these cells are needed to protect a mouse from a lethal infection. It's three," Bhattacharya says. "Of course, we're bigger than mice. But you get the sense that it doesn't take many to offer good protection."

On top of that, these cells learn something remarkable in the training center: how to persist. "They're essentially given the gift of eternity," says immunologist Ellebedy.

He and his colleagues have found that by about six months after vaccination, these antibody-producing cells go into the bone marrow, where they can live for decades, perhaps even a lifetime, studies have found, and continue to produce antibodies the entire time. In one 2008 study, researchers identified antibodies that could neutralize the 1918 flu in the blood of people who were exposed to the virus 90 years earlier.

"We looked in the bone marrow and have seen these cells in people previously infected with SARS-CoV-2," Ellebedy says. "Now we are finishing research that shows these cells appear in the bone marrow after vaccination as well."

Called long-lived plasma cells, these cells will likely pump out antibodies into the blood for decades, Ellebedy says, giving people some sustained, long-term protection against SARS-CoV-2. (There is a caveat: If the virus changes too much, these antibodies won't be as effective.)

"The antibodies are maintained at very low levels, but they're the first line of defense against an infection," Ellebedy says. "If you're taken by surprise by SARS-CoV-2, these antibodies will slow down the replication of the virus" — until reinforcements come along.

And reinforcements will likely come!

On top of training up better archers (antibodies) and factories to create them (plasma cells), the immune system has also been training up the equivalent of foot soldiers, several studies have found. These foot soldiers are called memory B cells and memory T cells, and they largely serve as a surveillance system, looking for other cells infected with SARS-CoV-2.

"They're patrolling all over," Ellebedy says, checking to see if a cell has SARS-CoV-2 hiding in it. "It's almost like going through the neighborhood, house by house, and just making sure it's clean."

These foot soldiers can't prevent an infection from initially occurring, but they can quickly stop one once it occurs, says immunologist Jennifer Gommerman at the University of Toronto. "Because of the vaccine-generated 'memory' of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, you get a very brisk cellular immune response."

OK. So now we've got all the information to understand what's going on with the COVID-19 vaccine and immune durability.

About six months after the shots, the antibodies in the blood have fallen — as expected. They're also a bit less effective against the delta variant. "Together, that means there are more symptomatic infections as we go further out from the vaccination rollout," Gommerman says.

But in vaccinated people, these infections will most likely be mild or moderate because the immune system isn't starting from scratch. In fact, it's the opposite. It has been training cells and antibodies for months.

"You still have all this immunity inside of your body that will then say, 'OK, we've had a breach, and it's time to bring in the cellular immunity and respond to this threat,' " Gommerman says. "And because of vaccination, you have cells that can do that really quickly."

And so, overall, you'll be less sick than if you weren't vaccinated and be much less likely to end up in the hospital, she says.

"That's really what the vaccines were designed to do — to teach the immune system to deal with this invader if an infection does occur," Gommerman says. "And the vaccines do that remarkably well."

How Long Does Immunity To COVID-19 Last? : Goats and Soda : NPR

[misskit]

Australia in vaccine swap pact with Singapore as COVID-19 cases surge


CANBERRA, Aug 31 (Reuters) - Australia will receive 500,000 doses of Pfizer's (PFE.N) COVID-19 vaccine from Singapore this week, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Tuesday, after Canberra agreed a swap deal in a bid to curtail surging coronavirus infections.


The agreement, which will see Australia return the same amount of Pfizer vaccine doses to Singapore in December, will allow Canberra to accelerate its vaccination programme as daily cases near record levels for the country.


"That means there are 500,000 doses extra that will happen in September that otherwise would have had to wait for several months from now, accelerating our vaccination program at this critical time as we walk towards those 70% and 80% targets," Morrison told reporters in Canberra.


While Australia had managed to successfully contain the coronavirus with a system of strict lockdowns and quarantine, a slow vaccination rollout has made the country vulnerable to the highly infectious Delta variant.


With just under 28% of Australia's population fully vaccinated, compared with 80% in Singapore, several states and territories have had to implement strict lockdowns as cases soared, hitting businesses and the domestic economy.


Capital city Canberra on Tuesday extended its hard lockdown by a further two weeks, and Victoria, the country's second most populous state, is expected to soon follow suit.


Canberra has been in lockdown for three weeks after a spate of cases believed to have spread from New South Wales, the epicentre of Australia's COVID-19 outbreak.


"We are bending the curve down and are getting on top of the outbreak. However, it is a slow process and it will take more time," Australian Capital Territory Chief Minister Andrew Barr told reporters in Canberra.


On Tuesday, Canberra reported 13 new cases in the past 24 hours. New South Wales reported 1,164 new infections, down slightly from a record 1,290 cases the day prior.


Victoria, which has been in lockdown for five weeks, on Tuesday reported 76 new locally acquired coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, up marginally from 73 cases reported the previous day.


State Premier Dan Andrews said too many people remain unvaccinated to significantly ease restrictions, but that Victoria would outline a plan on Wednesday to reduce curbs as vaccination levels rise.


Australia has recorded nearly 54,000 COVID-19 cases and 1,006 deaths since the start of the pandemic, still lower than the caseload and death toll in most comparable nations.

Australia in vaccine swap pact with Singapore as COVID-19 cases surge | Reuters

[OhOh]

So, how long does immunity last after two doses of the vaccine?

How long are covid passports valid for?

[harrybarracuda]

How long are covid passports valid for?

Why are you asking? You won't get one anyway until you've had a decent vaccine.

[harrybarracuda]

You can't fight this level of retardation, but Darwin can.

A far-right conspiracy theorist who had called COVID-19 a “hoax” and hosted a rally last month in Belfast has died in a Florida hospital after contracting the virus.

Robert David Steele, a former CIA officer who also claimed that NASA is operating a child slave colony on Mars, rallied a large crowd at the Crosby Center in Belfast on July 27. Steele was joined by notable Maine conservatives, including Christiane Northrup of Yarmouth and state Rep. Heidi Sampson, R-Alfred.

Northrup, an obstetrician-gynecologist, was once a best-selling self-help author and regular guest on “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” but has most recently gained notoriety promoting misinformation about masking and vaccines.

Sampson, meanwhile, likened COVID-19 vaccine mandates for health care workers to the deadly medical experiments carried out against Jews in Nazi Germany, comparing Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat, to Dr. Josef Mengele, who experimented on concentration camp prisoners and was known as the “Angel of Death.”

Steele also was a Holocaust denier and advanced the unfounded QAnon conspiracy that Democrats are running an underground child-sex trafficking ring.

Multiple media sources in Maine and nationally are reporting Steele’s death, which appeared to be confirmed by his supporters on social media, who are now saying he was murdered by opponents seeking to silence him.

Conspiracy theorist who held Belfast rally and called COVID-19 a hoax dies of COVID - CentralMaine.com

[misskit]

South-East Asia’s battle with COVID-19 intensifies


South-East Asia is now one of the world’s hardest hit regions as the pandemic continues, fueled by the Delta variant. This is in stark contrast to 2020 when countries across the region were hailed for its Covid response.


Hospitals continue to be overwhelmed and death tolls continue to climb amid a largely politically charged environment, particularly in Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia.


Although governments and health authorities are trying to secure more vaccines, particularly the more effective mRNA ones, it has been an uphill battle to keep up with a variant as infectious as Delta.


According to data released by John Hopkins University earlier this month, during the first two weeks of August, the region recorded 38,552 deaths from Covid-19 – nearly twice as much as North America, which was once the epicentre of the outbreak.


“This COVID-19 surge driven by the Delta variant is claiming a tragic toll on families across South-East Asia and it’s far from over,” said Alexander Matheou, Asia Pacific Director of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. We fear that as” the virus spreads from cities to regional and rural areas that many more lives will be lost among the unvaccinated.”


“Vaccinations are at record rates in some countries, yet many South-East Asian nations have low portions of the population fully vaccinated and are languishing far behind Western Europe and North America.”


Here is how each SEA nation is faring amid the pandemic:


Thailand


With a total population of around 69.4 million people, Thailand is currently battling its worst wave of the coronavirus pandemic yet. With its latest vaccine procurements, restrictive measures, and a decrease of local cases, however, authorities believe that the country has passed the peak of the pandemic.


As of Monday, Thailand has had a total of 1,174,091 million cases and a further 11,143 deaths linked to the virus. A total of 6,596,785 people, or 9.9 per cent of the population, have now been fully vaccinated. A total of 28,835,580 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in the country. At least 21,669,955 million people, or 32.6 per cent of the population, have been given at least one jab of vaccine.


Brunei


Brunei broke its 457-day streak of zero local transmissions at the beginning of August, which took the small South-East Asian nation into a two-week lockdown in a bid to contain the outbreak.


The country extended its national lockdown for another two weeks on August 21, with Singapore donating 100,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine to Brunei on the same day.


The country so far has reported a total of 2,462 cases and a further seven deaths linked to the virus. among a total population of 433,285. At the time of writing, 235,414 vaccine doses have been administered and a total of 80,383 (18.2 per cent) of the population have been fully vaccinated.


Cambodia


Cambodia has been experiencing large-scale outbreaks for the most part of 2021, starting in February, when two Chinese nationals who broke quarantine protocols in Phnom Penh tested positive for the virus on February 20. The government then subsequently implemented mass vaccination programmes as well as city-wide lockdowns throughout the following months, particularly from April onwards. But unlike its other South-Eeast Asian counterparts, Cambodia, for the most part, has been rather successful in achieving its vaccination targets.


On the first of August, its Ministry of Public Health confirmed 109 cases of the Delta variant, with five cases detected in the capital city. The government announced in August that it would administer booster vaccine doses to the general population until mid-2022, depending on the supply.


With a total population of 16.49 million people, Cambodia has reported a total of 92,208 cases and 1,881 deaths linked to the virus. A total of 18,337,332 million doses of the vaccine has been administered to the population, with 8,275,430 individuals, or 54.1 per cent of the total population now fully vaccinated.


Indonesia


Indonesia, which became the new epicentre of the outbreak back in July due to the Delta variant, has seen a gradual fall of cases as the government’s vaccination rollout programme finds its footing.


Although the country passed the peak of infection rates in July, Indonesia is still seeing up to 10,000 infections per day as cases spread outwards to other cities and islands such as Bali and Java. The Indonesian government, however, has now begun to gradually ease its lockdown measures during the past weeks, such as reopening schools for children in the capital city of Jakarta after a 18-month lockdown of studying at home.


With a population of 270.6 million, the country has recorded a total of 4,073,831 infections and 131,923 deaths linked to the virus. Out of its 96,512,676 doses of the Covid-10 vaccines now administered in the country, a total of 34,858,000 people, or 13.1 per cent of the population, have now been fully vaccinated.


Laos


The landlocked country of Laos was the last Southeast Asia nation to report the first confirmed case of the virus back in 2020. On August 19, the Laos government announced that the ongoing lockdown would be extended by 15 days until September 2.


With a total population of 7.169 million people, as of August 30, there were a total of 14,641 cases and 12 deaths linked to the virus. 3,098,093 doses of the vaccine have been administered, with 988,156, or 13.9 per cent of the population, now fully vaccinated.


Malaysia


Considered as one of the most politically charged and volatile environments since the pandemic began, on August 16, Malaysia’s Prime Minister Muhyuddin Yassin and his cabinet submitted their resignation letters to the king after a year of mounting pressure and as the nation grapples with its worst coronavirus outbreak and subsequent economic recession.


The country, in recent weeks, have also reported a record of daily cases which have soared onces again due to the highly infectious Delta variant. Earlier on Monday, the country’s new PM, Ismail Sabri Yaakob, announced that he was now in quarantine after coming in close contact with a COVID-19 patient.


With a population of 31.95 million people, the country has seen a total of 1,706,089 cases and a further 16,087 deaths linked to the virus. 34,027,548 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have now been administered throughout the country, with 14,648,590, or 44.7 per cent of the population, now fully vaccinated.


Myanmar


Myanmar, according to Jason Mills, deputy head of mission for Doctors Without Borders in the country, said the country probably has “the most politicized healthcare environment in the world right now,” due to the military coup, the people’s distrust of the military government, and, as the locals have reported, the Myanmar military’s scheme in blocking healthcare accessibility to its people.


In July, it was reported that security forces in Myanmar fabricated a fake COVID-19 emergency to a clinic run by doctors striking against the military regime in Yangon, which later resulted in the arrest of five of the doctors. In August, the head of a charity organization was detained by Myanmar security forces after being tricked into a vaccination centre for a shot.


With a population of 54.05 million, Myanmar has reported a total of 392,300 cases and 15,183 linked to the virus. With a total of 6,253,687 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine administered, only 1,796,830, or 3.3 per cent of the population, have been fully vaccinated.


The Philippines


The Philippines, much like Indonesia, Thailand, and Malaysia, has, for the most part of this year, been engulfed with rising cases of the coronavirus pandemic driven by the Delta variant.


Amid the record of infections, however, President Rodrigo Duterte on August 19 had approved the easing of COVID-19 restrictions in the Manila region starting from August 21 in a bid to try to spur economic activity. This, however, caused apprehension among its healthcare workers with 73 per cent of the country’s intensive healthcare capacity and 61 per cent of isolation beds already filled.


With a population of 108.1 million, the country has seen a total of 1,954,023 cases and a further 33,109 deaths since the pandemic began. A total of 31,433,450 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine has been administered, with 13,371,734, or 12.3 per cent of the population, now fully vaccinated.


Singapore


Perhaps one of the region’s highest success COVID-19 stories, following the rise of the Delta varian in May 2021, the country immediately returned to “Phase 3 Heightened Alert” of the country’s enacted “COVID-19 Control Order” response initiated since 2020, which included a stringent set of preventive measures (three preventive stages) under a system called the “circuit breaker lockdown.”


The country soon eased its preventive measures and entered a “Preparatory Stage of Transition” in August, with a mass vaccination program currently underway after the country successfully acquired the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines for its citizens. On August 20, the country began allowing inbound travelers who have been fully vaccinated with a World Health Organization (WHO) approved vaccine to be eligible for a “vaccination-differentiated safe management measures”, which includes being able to dine in without having to go through “pre-event testing.”


With a population of 5.704 million, the country has reported a total of 67,171 cases and 55 deaths linked to the virus. 8,850,465 doses of the COVID-19 vaccines have now been administered in the island country, with a total of 4,424,703 people, or 77.6 per cent of the population now fully vaccinated.


Timor-Leste


Although not much data is currently available about the pandemic in Timor Leste, or East Timor. The first case of the virus was confirmed in the country in March 2020.


As of August 30, 2021, a total of 16,402 cases and a further 62 deaths linked to the virus have been reported in the country. 556,783 total doses of the COVID-19 vaccines have been given, with 181,411, or 13.1 per cent of the population, now fully vaccinated.


Vietnam


Vietnam, much like Singapore and Thailand during 2020, has been hailed as the world’s leading success stories surrounding the coronavirus pandemic. But this all changed came summer of 2021, mainly due to the Delta variant.


Towards the end of April 2021, the country experienced what was called a “fast-spreading outbreak” throughout the country of more than 350,000 cases, with clusters found in at least ten major hospitals throughout the country.


The country continued to witness a soaring of cases throughout the summer, which, as experts pointed out, was due to its stumbling vaccination rollout program which initially were lacking, and relied heavily on the Chinese-made vaccines. Although vaccine acceptance is high in Vietnam, there is a “distrust on the safety and effectiveness” of Chinese vaccines, said Dr Thu Anh Nguyen, an infectious disease and public health researcher at the University of Sydney


On August 23, the country deployed its troops to enforce a strict lockdown in Ho Chi Minh City, amid panic buying and prohibiting residents from leaving their homes. On the same day, the Vatican also announced that it had sent nearly $120,000 in emergency funding for COVID-19 aid in the country. On August 25, the United States announced that it would donate an additional one million Pfizer vaccine doses to the country within 24 hours.


With a total of 96.46 million people, Vietnam has reported a total of 435,265 infections and 10,749 deaths linked to the virus. A total of 19,151,122 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine has been administered throughout the country, with 2,328,431 of its inhabitants, or a total of 2.4 per cent of the population, now fully vaccinated.


South-East Asia’s battle with COVID-19 intensifies - Thai Enquirer

[PAG]

[Klondyke]

NSW Health switches to recording patients as dying 'with' Covid instead of 'from' after finally acknowledging many of Australia's 993 casualties died from something else or had even recovered from the virus

NSW Health will record patients as dying 'with' instead of 'from' coronavirus

Dr Jeremy McAnulty made admission as the state recorded 1,218 cases

He said it was 'difficult to know' exactly how much virus contributed to death

In NSW, 145 people have died with the virus since the start of the pandemic

By OLIVIA DAY FOR DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA

PUBLISHED: 08:59, 29 August 2021 | UPDATED: 23:28, 31 August 2021

NSW Health has switched to recording patients as dying 'with' instead of 'from' Covid as it acknowledges not all of the country's 933 deaths were directly linked to the deadly virus.

Dr Jeremy McAnulty made the admission during Sunday's Covid briefing as the state recorded 1,218 new cases of coronavirus.

Six people died with Covid-19 in the 24 hours to 8pm on Saturday bringing the total death toll of this outbreak to 89 death since June 16.

Dr McAnulty said the change in language was because it was 'very difficult to know' whether someone with Covid died from the virus, or another health complication.

'We know when elderly people die, they can have a range of comorbidities, and also, being old increases your risk of death,' he said.

'Covid may often play a role in the death, but it may not. Sometimes, some of our cases who have sadly died appear to have recovered from Covid, and then they have died of something [else].

'We report people who have died "with" Covid, unless there is a very clear alternative.'

He added that it was difficult for doctors who were looking after patients to know exactly how much the virus contributed to their death.

The symbolic change in language comes as NSW Health begins to acknowledge the country's 933 Covid deaths were not all direct results of the deadly virus.

As explained by Dr McAnulty, some of the deaths previously reported as 'from Covid' were actually the consequence of another health condition or the victim had fully recovered from the virus before their death.

Read more
Coronavirus Australia: NSW Health switches to recording deaths from 'with' instead of 'from' Covid | Daily Mail Online

[harrybarracuda]

We're up to Mu as of yesterday.

Xi not far off now!

WHO Monitoring New Coronavirus Variant Named "Mu"

The WHO said the variant has mutations that indicate a risk of resistance to vaccines and stressed that further studies were needed to better understand it.

WHO Monitoring New Coronavirus Variant Named Mu

[misskit]

Australia aims to ‘live with virus’ instead of eliminating it


Australian authorities on Wednesday extended the COVID-19 lockdown in Melbourne for another three weeks, as they shift their focus to rapid vaccination drives and move away from a suppression strategy to bring cases down to zero.


Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews flagged a staggered easing of the tough restrictions once 70% of the state’s adult residents receive at least one dose, a milestone he hopes to reach at least by Sept. 23, based on current vaccination rates.


“We have thrown everything at this, but it is now clear to us that we are not going to drive these numbers down, they are instead going to increase,” Andrews told reporters in Melbourne, the state capital, after a lockdown for nearly a month failed to quell the outbreak. The lockdown was due to end on Thursday.


“We got to buy time to allow vaccinations to be undertaken all the while doing this very hard work, this very painful and difficult work, to keep a lid as much as we can on cases.”


New local cases jumped to 120 in Victoria from 76 a day earlier. Of the new cases, 100 have spent time in the community while infectious.


Neighbouring New South Wales state, home to Sydney, on Wednesday brought forward its target date to fully vaccinate 70% of people above 16 to the middle of next month from the initial target of the end of October, as outbreaks spurred a surge in inoculation.


“No matter where you live, life will be much, much better, much freer, as long as you’re vaccinated at 70%,” Berejiklian told reporters. So far 37% are fully vaccinated in the state, while 67% have had at least one dose, slightly higher than the national numbers but well below most comparable nations.


A total of 1,116 new cases were detected in New South Wales, down from 1,164 a day earlier. NSW reported four new deaths, taking the total number of deaths in the latest outbreak to 100.


Prime Minister Scott Morrison told parliament on Wednesday Australians ultimately needed to be released from lockdowns. “Australia can live with this virus,” he said in Canberra.


LIVING WITH COVID


Australia is trying to get a handle on the third wave of infections that has locked down more than half of its 25 million population. Sydney and Melbourne, its largest cities, and capital Canberra are in weeks-long strict stay-at-home orders.


Despite the recent flare-ups, it has managed to keep its coronavirus numbers relatively low, with just over 55,000 cases and 1,012 deaths.


Among the Group of 20 big economies, Australia was the last to record 1,000 COVID-19 deaths, a grim but modest marker by global standards reached this week.


Several major Asia-Pacific economies have fewer COVID-19 deaths, with New Zealand recording just 26.


While Australian authorities had been able to douse past outbreaks through lockdowns, the highly infectious Delta variant has forced the country’s two biggest states to plan for a reopening even as infections rise.


Australian Medical Association vice president Chris Moy told Reuters that Delta’s high infectivity, short incubation and asymptomatic spread had meant the “old playbook did not work”.


“Your window of opportunity at the start to eliminate it is so much smaller and basically once you’re passed that, Delta decides its destiny,” Moy said.


The federal government is pressing the states and territories to stick to a national reopening plan once vaccination rates reach 70%-80% although some virus-free states said they may delay given the rapidly rising Sydney cases.


Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg urged the state leaders to follow the national reopening plans.


“Stick to the plan … a plan that allows businesses to reopen and plan for their own future … a plan that takes Australia forward to living safely with the virus,” Frydenberg said.

Australia aims to 'live with virus' instead of eliminating it | Thai PBS World : The latest Thai news in English, News Headlines, World News and News Broadcasts in both Thai and English. We bring Thailand to the world