I think the overstated risks of reinfection and high transmissibility are the concern; once there is data to show it is no more dangerous - or even a lot less so - than Delta, they will disappear.
WHO are routinely against travel bans anyway, because it makes it harder to trace those who seek to circumvent them.
The next post may be brought to you by my little bitch Spamdreth
Originally I found this thread very useful when it first kicked off. There was a lot of good information that was helpful. Now unfortunately Harry has decided quantity over quality making this thread nothing more than a poor quality tabloid. Couple that with his assessment of each of his post that he copies and pastes makes it all pointless now.
So HB, if some challenges you to up your game and post quality versus quantity, why are they whiners? Are we supposed to filter through all your crap? It is a serious question.
At this point if I was a Mod, this thread would be shit canned as there is so much cut and paste nonsense it is pointless to read which is to bad.
Anyway. Good Luck. I know this thread gives you purpose.
Prior coronavirus infections may not protect well against the Omicron variant
New data from South Africa suggests the Omicron variant spreads more than twice as quickly as the Delta variant, and that immunity from prior infection doesn't appear to protect a person very well against Omicron variant.
Why it matters: The findings are extremely preliminary, and there are still many open questions about how well vaccines work against the variant. But these initial breadcrumbs of data are helping the world begin to understand what it's up against.
Where it stands: It's going to be a while before we can draw any firm conclusions about Omicron.
- Until then, scientists will be racing to piece together whatever information they have, and policymakers will then have to make real-time decisions about how to apply that imperfect information.
Driving the news: A South African preprint study released Thursday — which hasn't yet been peer-reviewed — found that reinfection is around three times more likely with Omicron than it was with other variants.
- The study makes no assessment of whether Omicron can also escape vaccine-induced immunity or how well prior infections protect against severe disease.
- South African researchers also released an initial assessment, which also had not yet been peer-reviewed, of how fast Omicron is spreading compared to Delta. The variant's ability to get past the body's immune system is part of what's driving the variant's rapid spread, the NYT reports.
Experts caution that it's way too early to know for sure, but there are some signs that Omicron may not cause more severe disease than the other variants. Under the best-case scenario, it'd cause milder illness.
The bottom line: This early information underscores the importance of getting vaccinated, even if you've already had COVID.
Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.
Another one hopefully going inside.
Fake Covid-19 vaccine cards: Nurse charged with making fake Covid-19 vaccine cards - CNNA nurse in Columbia, South Carolina has been indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of making fraudulent Covid-19 vaccination cards, according to the US Attorney's Office for the District of South Carolina.
Tammy McDonald, 53, is charged with making fake vaccine cards on June 20 and July 28, allegedly filling out vaccine cards for people she knew had not received a Covid-19 shot. She's then accused of lying to federal agents when questioned about the matter in October.
"She provided CDC Covid-19 Vaccination Record Cards to individuals and had personally filled out the individuals' identifying information and lot numbers for vaccines she knew had not been administered to those individuals," the indictment said.
McDonald has been charged with two counts of producing fraudulent identification documents and one count of lying to federal investigators, according to the indictment. She was arraigned Friday and granted a $10,000 bond, and has pleaded not guilty on all charges, according to a press release from the US Attorney's Office.
"Although the indictment speaks for itself, creating fraudulent or fake vaccine cards for those who have not been vaccinated poses a direct threat to the health of the people of South Carolina," Acting US Attorney DeHart said in a statement.
According to the US Attorney's Office, McDonald faces up to 15 years in prison for each count of making fraudulent Covid-19 vaccination cards, and five years in prison for lying to federal investigators.
CNN has reached out to McDonald's attorney for comment and is awaiting a response.
The circus continues. That's two major travel advice changes in a week. Seems fooking overkill to me; one PCR test within 48 hours of flying to the UK and another with 48 hours of landing.
Coronavirus: UK tightens travel rules amid Omicron spread
Travellers heading to the UK will now have to take a Covid test before their departure in an effort to limit spread of the virus, the government has said.
Health Secretary Sajid Javid said the tightened requirements would come into force from 04:00 GMT on Tuesday.
Everyone aged 12 and over will be required to take a pre-departure test a maximum of 48 hours before leaving.
Currently people only need to self-isolate until they test negative within two days of arriving.
Nigeria will be added from Monday to the red list of countries from where people arriving must quarantine in a hotel for 10 days, Mr Javid also confirmed.
The health secretary said the government's strategy since the discovery of the Omicron variant had been to "buy time" to assess and to "put in place protective measures", adding: "We've always said that we would act swiftly should new data require it."
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-59534685
I don't know whether to quote this or not. It might make stumpy and hal's tiny heads explode.
She's definitely a glass half empty type of gal.
As COVID'''s Omicron variant spreads, an Australian research team is '''very concerned''' about discovery on its origins - ABC NewsWhen the virus is studied from another direction — by exploring the nucleocapsid, another viral protein which contributes to viral replication, rather than the spike protein — Palmer says her team found Omicron may have been created by what's called a "recombination" – a supercharged love child of the early Alpha variant plus Delta, something that has not been found in SARS-CoV-2 until now.
"We're very, very concerned," Palmer says, relaying the discovery with a calm and measured voice that belies its seriousness. "It indicates that possibly we could see that variants can recombine and if somebody is infected with two variants there could be a recombination that could lead to a more pathogenic and infectious virus."
Could a substance extracted from edible marine algae stop coronavirus from infecting human cells?
Ulvan, the major water-soluble polysaccharide extracted from the cell wall of green seaweed, could help stop coronavirus from infecting human cells, according to a team of researchers from Tel Aviv University.
https://www.jpost.com/health-and-wel...ovid-19-687775
So Pattaya and Chiang Mai are now legally allowed to serve booze. That will cheer a few people up.
But still the odd hours to stop all the kids stopping by on the way home from school, to get pissed up and buy lady drinks before doing their homework.
I'm guessing they're happy with the case numbers in each.
'Less than 1% chance' of COVID-19 reinfection
A South African health researcher said early data suggests the Omicron variant of coronavirus is highly transmissible, but has a less than 1% chance of re-infection and typically results in “milder” disease.
Speaking on The Andrew Marr Show, Professor Willem Hanekom, director of the Africa Health Research Institute in South Africa said: "We know three things that we didn’t know last week, the first thing is that the virus is spreading extraordinarily fast in South Africa, the increase in cases is much steeper than it’s been in the past three waves."
He said data on reinfections suggests after someone has COVID they have a less than 1% chance of getting the disease again.
"The third little bit of data we have already relates to clinical cases and how severe the disease is," he added.
"The only data suggests the disease may occur more in younger people and mostly younger people who are unvaccinated and overall so far the disease has appeared to be milder but again I want to say we have to be cautious – these are very early days.”
COVID news live: Police clash with protesters in Brussels as scientist says there is 'less than 1% chance of reinfection' with Omicron | UK News | Sky News
Hi guys, any unvaxxed or neutral people here? I got sick of reading Aseannow with its biased 'news'
Warning: Be cautious if you are a fragile pink
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration announced Friday that it is sending 9 million Covid vaccine doses to Africa amid growing concerns about the omicron variant.
The new shipment brings the total U.S. donations to Africa to 100 million vaccines, the White House said. An additional two million vaccines will be sent elsewhere in the world.
Biden administration sending 9 million Covid vaccine doses to Africa
The "Covid Pills" are turning out to be a bit of a disappointment.
Subscribe to read | Financial Times
Thailand joins the club.
Please Wait... | CloudflareBANGKOK — The first known case of the omicron variant of the coronavirus in Thailand was found in a traveler from Spain who entered the country nearly a week ago, the Ministry of Public Health said Monday.
Suphakit Sirilak, director-general of the Department of Medical Sciences, said the person was first tested for COVID-19 on Nov. 30 and the result came out the following day as positive, with a strong indication that the infection was caused by the omicron variant. He was then tested again on Dec. 3, producing the same result.
Suphakit said there is now “99%” chance that the person was indeed infected with the omicron variant.
The unnamed patient was described in the ministry’s news conference as a 35-year-old traveler from “South America,” though his nationality was not identified.
Suphakit said the patient is now receiving treatment in hospital, adding that no one is considered to be in high-risk contact with the man, because the man took strict safety precaution during his travel.
Suphakit also said there is currently no reports of a local outbreak involving the new variant, and the traveler’s infection is categorized as an imported case. The news about an South African woman testing positive for the omicron variant over the weekend turned out to be a false alarm, since the test indicated it was delta variant, Suphakit said.
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