The COVID-2019 Thread

[misskit]

WHO reports big drop in new coronavirus infections

GENEVA (AP) — The World Health Organization said there were about 4 million coronavirus cases reported globally last week, marking the first major drop in new infections in more than two months. In recent weeks, there have been about 4.4 million new COVID-19 cases.


In its weekly update released on Tuesday, the U.N. health agency said every region in the world saw a drop in COVID-19 cases compared to the previous week.


Although the worldwide number of deaths decreased to about 62,000, with the sharpest decline in Southeast Asia, there was a 7% increase in deaths in Africa. The highest numbers of cases were seen in the U.S., Britain, India, Iran and Turkey and the highly contagious delta variant has now been reported in 180 countries.


WHO also said children and teenagers continue to be less affected by COVID-19 when compared to adults, adding that deaths of people under 24 due to the disease account for fewer than 0.5% of global deaths.

WHO has previously said children should not be prioritized for COVID-19 vaccinations given the extreme vaccine shortages globally.


WHO reports big drop in new coronavirus infections | 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

[PAG]

[Buckaroo Banzai]

Another anti vaxer radio host dies of COVID.


Anti-vaxxer radio host dies from Covid

How many of them are there? One seems to die every other day, very soon we will have to create a special work visa and have some of them immigrate from Russia .

[cyrille]

I suspect that’s the same one already mentioned several days ago.

If not…hurrah.

[Latindancer]

Towards the bottom in the link I gave, it says :
Enyart is at least the fifth anti-vaccine talk show host to die from complications of Covid in recent weeks.

So there will have been plenty more ! Let's hope there will be enough to affect the next election.

[misskit]

Australia Covid-19 cases rise but vaccination surge raises hopes of easing lockdown

Australia’s Victoria state reported its biggest one-day rise in Covid-19 cases of the year on Thursday as a surge in vaccinations nationwide raised hope for easing restrictions with almost 70% of the adult population having had a first dose.


Victoria, home to the city of Melbourne, detected 514 new infections, exceeding the year’s previous daily high of 473 on Monday.


Sydney and Melbourne, Australia’s largest cities, have ramped up their immunization drives as the country struggles to contain a third wave of infections fueled by the highly infectious delta variant, putting nearly half of the 25 million population under strict stay-at-home orders.


Still, Australia’s coronavirus infection rates are far lower than those in many other countries, with some 80,000 cases and 1,128 deaths, and authorities are promising to relax many tough curbs, perhaps next month, after more people get both of their vaccine shots.

“That 70% double dose and 80% double dose mark is within plain sight. Keep going Australia,” Prime Minister Scott Morrison said during a media briefing in Canberra.


Under a reopening plan unveiled in July, the federal government will urge states and territories to start living with the virus once those high targets are reached.


To now, 44% of people over the age of 16 are fully vaccinated while 69% have had at least one dose.


Officials in New South Wales, at the heart of the country’s worst coronavirus outbreak, implored its residents to get their shots soon as they reported 12 new deaths from the virus, with 10 of them people who were not vaccinated.


A total of 1,351 new cases were detected in the state, the majority in its capital, Sydney, up from 1,259.

A nightly curfew in Sydney’s 12 hard-hit western suburbs ended on Wednesday night amid higher vaccinations.


In Victoria, first-dose coverage will hit 70% on Friday, officials said, when some curbs on travel and outdoor exercise in Melbourne will be eased.


Melbourne’s 5 million residents have been stuck in their sixth lockdown, the most in any Australian city since the pandemic began.


An anti-lockdown protest is being planned in Melbourne over the weekend and authorities are looking to avert it by halting public transport and deploying thousands of police.

Australia Covid-19 cases rise but vaccination surge raises hopes

[PAG]

[malmomike77]

Hope on the horizon, lets hope the scam ends soon.

UK Covid-19: Overhaul of international travel rules expected

Changes to the rules on international travel are expected to be announced by the UK government later.


Ministers are considering scrapping the requirement for double-jabbed people returning to the UK to take PCR tests.


The traffic light system could also be simplified, with the amber list removed entirely.


Any changes would apply to England initially, as the UK's devolved administrations are in charge of their own travel rules.


Meanwhile, the Guardian and the Times have reported that dozens of countries will be removed from the red list - the highest level of alert for international travel which means returning travellers must spend 11 nights in hotel quarantine at a cost of £2,285.


There are currently 62 countries on that list.


The removal of the amber list from the traffic light system for travel would mean countries would either be placed on the red or green list - where quarantine is not required.


Currently, travellers who are not fully vaccinated are required to quarantine upon returning to the UK from an amber list destination.


Ministers have also been under pressure to reconsider the testing requirements for travellers.


Under current rules, people arriving from green list countries must take a PCR test shortly before their return and another on their second day back in the UK.


Simon Calder, travel editor of the independent, said holidaymakers would be hoping that the pre-flight test requirement would be removed - as it might give them greater confidence about booking trips, particularly with the October half-term school holiday coming up.


Airlines UK told the BBC that testing requirements were preventing the UK travel industry from competing with European rivals.


Tim Alderslade, the industry body's chief executive, said: "The question is if not now, when, given most of Europe has already removed them? What exactly would it take and what needs to happen?"


He said furlough support was being removed but the travel sector was not being allowed to fully reopen while restrictions such as this remained.


"We either take this opportunity to pare back these restrictions or thousands of jobs will be at stake and our competitiveness as a trading nation will be further eroded," he said.


Huw Merriman, the Conservative chairman of the Commons Transport Select Committee, said PCR tests were expensive and "putting people off travel" while the rapid lateral flow tests were "just as safe". The NHS charges £68 for a lab-processed PCR test.


Fully vaccinated people should only need a PCR test as confirmation if their lateral flow test came back positive, he said.


One justification for requiring PCR tests is that they can be used for gene sequencing and tracking coronavirus variants. But Mr Merriman said just 5% of positive tests were sequenced in July.


"Quite frankly, people are being ripped off," he said.


'Perverse incentives'


However, scientists have said there were risks in replacing PCR tests with lateral flow tests.


Dr Andrew Lee, reader in Global Health at the University of Sheffield, said: "There are perverse incentives to be less truthful if you do the test at home, test positive and then have to potentially pay for another more expensive PCR test and to isolate at home."


He said PCR tests allow variants of concern to be tracked but said it is a "difficult call" about whether they are necessary.


With countries such as those in the EU, there is a greater degree of confidence that variants are being reported and vaccination records are accurate, he said. But he said in others it may be less certain.


A Department for Transport spokesman said: "Our top priority is to protect public health - decisions on our traffic light system are kept under regular review and are informed by the latest risk assessment from the Joint Biosecurity Centre and wider public health factors."


https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-58591550

[Joe 90]

Yet the daily death toll keeps rising again in the UK as winter approaches...

[malmomike77]

^ Indeed, but take a look around you. I still wear a mask in shops and crowded places but i notice that i seem to be in the minority now.

[malmomike77]

Headlines from the UK's travel system change announcement


We'll be ending our live coverage for today shortly but, before we go, here’s a recap of the changes to the rules on foreign travel to and from England, announced within the past hour by the UK transport secretary:


From Monday 4 October, countries will no longer be divided into green, amber or red lists

The amber and green lists will merge into a "Rest of World" (ROW) list

Anyone in a country on this list who's fully vaccinated will no longer have to take a PCR test three days before travelling to England

They will still need to take a PCR test two days after arrival, but this will be replaced by a cheaper and simpler lateral flow test later in October

There will still be a red list of countries - if you visit one of these, you'll have to to spend 11 nights in a quarantine hotel, at a cost of £2,285 for solo travellers

Before the move to the two-tier system, eight countries are being removed from the red list from 22 September

They are Turkey, Pakistan, The Maldives, Egypt, Sri Lanka, Oman, Bangladesh and Kenya.
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[malmomike77]

^ Hal can get back from Eeeegpt without having his brain swabbed now!

[Little Chuchok]

Here is a vid of two professors that know much more about the virus than we do. One is a physician caring for COVID patients in ICU and the other has a PHD in Bio Medical Science. They discuss everything from , comorbidities, death certificates ,vaccines, spike proteins, new treatments etc,

[PAG]

[harrybarracuda]

This is good. Less republican-voting hillbillies to worry about.

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi has surpassed New Jersey as the state with the highest rate of COVID-19 deaths in the U.S.
State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs said the numbers of new cases are still “far more than we’d like to see,” and that more deaths will follow.
Since the start of the pandemic, at least 9,165 people in Mississippi have died of the virus.
That means roughly 1 of every 320 Mississippians have succumbed to the coronavirus.
Of specific concern during the recent surge have been pregnant mothers.
During the pandemic, 15 pregnant women in Mississippi have died of COVID-19. Eight of those dea

Mississippi now has country’s highest rate for COVID deaths

[harrybarracuda]

Ooops.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has suspended the approval process for Russia's Sputnik V COVID vaccine.
A regional WHO official said the manufacturing process of the jab had not met the necessary standards.

Sputnik V: WHO suspends approval process for COVID vaccine due to 'manufacturing' concerns | Euronews

[misskit]

Australia: Violent clash breaks out between police and anti-lockdown protestors


As the Australian government fights to control the surge in coronavirus cases, locals have taken to the streets to raise their voices against extended lockdowns.


Hundreds of locals gathered in the inner-city suburb of Richmond to avoid all pre-decided police checkpoints. People started raising slogans against the extended Covid lockdowns in the country.


However, what was predicted to be a peaceful rally turned into a violent clash between the anti-lockdown supporters and the local police officers.

A huge crowd gathered outside the town hall on Bridge Rd on Sunday. While they chanted their slogans against the government’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, the local police started hushing them away.


This led to a violent clash between the police and protestors and the local officers started using pepper spray on demonstrators


Following the pepper spray attack, the demonstrators saw down in the middle of road.


As per initial local media reports, at least 200 arrests were made by local police officers for flouting Covid regulations, such as not wearing a mask and being too far away from their home.


"What we saw today was a group of protesters that came together, not to protest freedoms, but simply to take on and have a fight with the police," Victoria Police Commander Mark Galliott told media.

Australia: Violent clash breaks out between police and anti-lockdown protestors, World News | wionews.com

[harrybarracuda]

I concur with the commander's description of these bogans looking for a bit of trouble.

[Klondyke]

FDA Advisory Panel Votes Against Endorsing Covid-19 Booster Shots Widely

Recommendation for older adults and those at risk of severe disease is short of Biden administration plans

17 Sep 2021

An advisory panel to the Food and Drug Administration offered a limited endorsement of booster shots of the Covid-19 vaccine from Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE , recommending injections for people 65 and older or at high risk of severe disease but stopping short of justifying them for the broader population.

FDA Advisory Panel Votes Against Endorsing Covid-19 Booster Shots Widely - WSJ

[misskit]

^ My BiL’s doc phoned him yesterday and had him go in for a third jab of Pfizer. He is older and recovering from chemo.

[Klondyke]

FDA panel’s limited booster use recommendation disrupts Biden administration plans
17 Sep 2021

A federal advisory panel voted unanimously Friday to recommend a third shot of Pfizer-BioNTech’s coronavirus vaccine be offered at least six months after the second, but only to people 65 and older and those at high risk for severe COVID-19 regardless of their age.


The committee of scientific experts recommended a far narrower rollout than Pfizer said was needed to address what it described as waning immunity in fully vaccinated people. The company asked the Food and Drug Administration to approve boosters to anyone 16 and older at least six months after their second shot.

But the panel, which operates independently of the FDA, rejected that in a 16-2 vote, saying the New York pharmaceutical giant had provided insufficient evidence that a wider rollout was necessary or that the benefits of a third shot would outweigh the risks of possible side effects.

FDA panel’s limited booster use recommendation disrupts Biden administration plans - The Boston Globe

[harrybarracuda]

So it looks like vaccine passports are the way to go.

The demand for COVID-19 vaccinations tripled in Alberta on Thursday, the day after Premier Jason Kenney announced the province's version of a vaccine passport.
Alberta Health reported 28,158 doses were administered at Alberta Health Services clinics and pharmacies on Thursday compared to 9,750 on Wednesday.
Kenney announced the new restriction exemption program Wednesday night.
The new program will allow non-essential businesses like restaurants, pubs and fitness centres to operate normally if they require patrons to show proof of vaccination or a privately-paid polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test from the previous 72 hours with a negative result.
Businesses that choose not to screen for vaccination status will continue to be subject to restrictions.

Vaccination uptake triples after Alberta announces its version of a vaccine passport | CBC News

[PAG]

[harrybarracuda]

Bye! Thanks for coming!

Personal finance guru Alan Steel, a prominent anti-vaxxer, has died after a month-long battle with Covid-19.
The 74-year-old's death last Wednesday came after he was hospitalised with the virus. Hours before he was placed on a ventilator he had told friends to 'keep their fingers crossed'.
Mr Steel had frequently retweeted anti-vaccine views on Twitter since the start of the pandemic.

Anti-vaxxer finance guru Alan Steel dies from Covid aged 74 | Daily Mail Online

[harrybarracuda]

I would posit that they were suffering from mental confusion before they took the sheep dewormer.

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Since the beginning of August, five Oregonians have been hospitalized due to their misuse of the potent anti-parasitic drug ivermectin.
According to the Oregon Health and Science University, the Oregon Poison Center managed 25 cases of Oregonians intentionally misusing the drug between August 1 and September 14 — five of which led to hospitalization. Two of those patients had to be admitted to an intensive care unit.
There is no clinical data to support the use of ivermectin against COVID-19. The OPC urges people to only use scientifically proven and FDA-approved methods to combat the coronavirus, such as vaccination. Both the FDA and Merck, a company that makes ivermectin for human use, have said there is no scientific data that supports its use for COVID-19.
OHSU says these recent patients were of ages ranging from 20 to 80, but most were above 60. Their symptoms included mental confusion, balance issues, low blood pressure and even seizures.

5 Oregonians hospitalized after misusing ivermectin for COVID | KOIN.com