Coronavirus COVID-19 - Global Health Pandemic #52

[astheworldfallsdown]

Irish cases pass 20,000 mark, South Korea records zero new domestic cases: Today's Covid-19 Main Points

(Ireland)

A FURTHER 31 people in Ireland have died as a result of Covid-19, health officials confirmed yesterday evening.

It brings the total number of deaths in Ireland, including probable deaths, to 1,190.

Additionally, 376 new cases of Covid-19 were announced, bringing the total number of confirmed cases here past the 20,000 mark to 20,253.

Here are today’s main Covid-19 points:

• Pregnant healthcare staff should not be working with confirmed or suspected Covid-19 patients, the HSE has said – a major shift from previous advice issued at the end of March.
• Banks are expecting to extend the Covid-19 mortgage payment break beyond the initial three-month period.
• Ticket-selling company Ticketmaster has changed its terms and conditions for refunded tickets for rescheduled events, saying it will no longer refund service fees.
• Dublin City Council has said that there has been an “unprecedented and unacceptable” increase in illegal dumping of household waste and other items since the shutdown was announced.
• The Irish government has co-signed a letter with a number of EU countries asking for the European Commission to change the rules on how airline passengers can be refunded for cancelled flights.

 

[tresir2012]

Personally, I think the best course is for many states to slowly begin their reopening phase.

And for the most vulnerable to stay isolated. Those of us who probably cannot live through this virus will have to stay quarantined.

But I think phase one of the roll outs should begin in some areas. Maybe elementary schools and daycares open first, with new precautions.

And manufacturing businesses?

Clinics for non-covid19 treatments?

Outdoor areas for exercises?

I think there will be more cases, but it will increase the 'herd' anti-body numbers and allow more workers and students to safely return to their daily lives.

We cannot ignore the danger of a total economic collapse and broken supply chains and Bankrupt cities and counties. We need to avoid the worst case scenario.

We are already headed for a dire and severe depression. But we need to divert the worst case scenario by beginning to ramp up some economic stimulus opportunities while we still can.

Many companies are already headed for bankruptcy. But many can still be saved. I think we should try to do so. JMO MOO IMO

Kids under 11 should go back to school first and probably older ones too a couple of weeks after. Then workers can go back unless in a vulnerable group, who should then work at home if possible.

 

[tresir2012]

Irish cases pass 20,000 mark, South Korea records zero new domestic cases: Today's Covid-19 Main Points

(Ireland)

A FURTHER 31 people in Ireland have died as a result of Covid-19, health officials confirmed yesterday evening.

It brings the total number of deaths in Ireland, including probable deaths, to 1,190.

Additionally, 376 new cases of Covid-19 were announced, bringing the total number of confirmed cases here past the 20,000 mark to 20,253.

Here are today’s main Covid-19 points:

• Pregnant healthcare staff should not be working with confirmed or suspected Covid-19 patients, the HSE has said – a major shift from previous advice issued at the end of March.
• Banks are expecting to extend the Covid-19 mortgage payment break beyond the initial three-month period.
• Ticket-selling company Ticketmaster has changed its terms and conditions for refunded tickets for rescheduled events, saying it will no longer refund service fees.
• Dublin City Council has said that there has been an “unprecedented and unacceptable” increase in illegal dumping of household waste and other items since the shutdown was announced.
• The Irish government has co-signed a letter with a number of EU countries asking for the European Commission to change the rules on how airline passengers can be refunded for cancelled flights.

I do not agree with the last proposal. Goes against consumer protections.
(Airlines are doing this already BTW, illegally, from personal experience.)

Regarding fly tipping, one of the first places in the UK to close was the dump so fly tipping has, of course, increased here too as well as Ireland.

 

[astheworldfallsdown]

PM to update UK on 'steps to defeat' coronavirus

Prime Minister Boris Johnson will chair a cabinet meeting later and then lead the daily coronavirus briefing for the first time since his return to work.

No 10 said the PM, whose fiancee gave birth on Wednesday, will update the UK on the "fight against this disease and the steps we are taking to defeat it".

But political editor Laura Kuenssberg said he was unlikely to give "chapter and verse" on lifting the restrictions.

No 10 also faces the deadline for its target of 100,000 daily virus tests.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock pledged to reach the goal by the end of April. The latest figures show it reached just over 52,000 coronavirus tests on Tuesday.

A scientist advising the government on testing, Prof John Newton, said he is confident the target will be met, but warned there will be a lag in the data.

 

[tresir2012]

“Lyft to lay off nearly 1,000 employees
Ride-sharing service Lyft plans to lay off 982 employees -- 17% of its company -- due to the coronavirus pandemic, the company said in a regulatory filing Wednesday.

The company has also furloughed approximately 288 employees, according to the filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Lyft will also reduce the base salary for executives and some other employees for 12 weeks starting in May, according to the filing.

The layoffs will cost $28 million to $36 million in severance payments and other benefits, the company said.”

Coronavirus updates: 100 bodies found in trucks outside NYC funeral home

From your link, about the bodies,

7:37 p.m.: 100 bodies found in trucks outside funeral home
One hundred bodies have been found in two unrefrigerated trucks outside of a Brooklyn, New York, funeral home after neighbors complained about a stench from bodies being stored in trailers.

"The Department has been notified of storage issues of decedents and alternate arrangements are being made by the funeral home," the New York State Health Department said in a statement provided to ABC News.

Funeral directors are required to store decedents awaiting burial or other final disposition in appropriate conditions and follow their routine infection prevention and control precautions.

The funeral home director at Andrew T. Cleckley Funeral Services on Utica Avenue in the Flatlands section told New York ABC station WABC they ran out of places to store the bodies.

The state health department will issue a summons for improper storage.

 

[tresir2012]

Pity they didn't warp speed in January.

 

[tresir2012]

I think if we are under a strick diet for protien we might be fine. Nuts, berries and seed people! Nuts berries and seeds. Make sure they are safe if not purchased locally jmo

We could just go back to foraging and hunting for our food instead. Like in the Stone Age.

 

[tmar]

Coronavirus recovery: ACT becomes first state or territory to be free of known cases of COVID-19

4 hrs ago
...
The ACT has become the first Australian jurisdiction to be free of all known cases of the COVID-19.

The last Canberran who tested positive for the infectious disease has now recovered, the ACT Government confirmed today.

The illness claimed three lives in Canberra, which recorded a total of 106 cases since the first case seven weeks ago.

ACT Chief Health Officer Dr Kerryn Coleman said the local elimination of the virus is welcome news, but the pandemic is ongoing.
...
"It is important to stress we should still protect the good work we have done," Dr Coleman said.

"Even though we have no active cases at the moment, it's vitally important that we continue testing as many people with symptoms as possible to know the most accurate representation of COVID-19 within the ACT."

The disease has killed 91 Australians.The fight to contain the coronavirus outbreak continues across the country, with more than 1,000 Australians still infected and 38 patients in intensive care units.

 

[musicaljoke]

Brazil has 212 million people and wuhan virus deaths of 5513. A ridiculously low percentage. Not sure how they got "soaring" out of that. But whatever.

Brazil Coronavirus: 79,685 Cases and 5,513 Deaths - Worldometer

population of brazil 2020 - بحث Google

This site draws people from all over the world. In many nations, including the US and Canada, referring to CoV-19 as "the wuhan virus" is considered a xenophobic slur.

Researchers to study COVID-19-related discrimination against Chinese Americans | UMD College of Education

 

[tresir2012]

6-month-old survived COVID-19 after having open-heart surgery

A 6-month-old girl got a guard of honor from health care workers at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool, England, after defeating COVID-19 following open heart surgery.

Emma and Wayne Bates had their “miracle child” Erin on Oct. 8, 2019, after trying to have a baby for 10 years. One month later, they were heartbroken to learn that Erin was born with a heart condition called Tetralogy of Fallot. Their daughter went into the hospital for open-heart surgery in December and has been recovering there since the operation.

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6-month-old heart surgery patient gets guard of honor from hospital staff after beating COVID-19

Now that did bring a tear to my eye.

 

[tresir2012]

Coronavirus recovery: ACT becomes first state or territory to be free of known cases of COVID-19

4 hrs ago
...
The ACT has become the first Australian jurisdiction to be free of all known cases of the COVID-19.

The last Canberran who tested positive for the infectious disease has now recovered, the ACT Government confirmed today.

The illness claimed three lives in Canberra, which recorded a total of 106 cases since the first case seven weeks ago.

ACT Chief Health Officer Dr Kerryn Coleman said the local elimination of the virus is welcome news, but the pandemic is ongoing.
...
"It is important to stress we should still protect the good work we have done," Dr Coleman said.

"Even though we have no active cases at the moment, it's vitally important that we continue testing as many people with symptoms as possible to know the most accurate representation of COVID-19 within the ACT."

The disease has killed 91 Australians.The fight to contain the coronavirus outbreak continues across the country, with more than 1,000 Australians still infected and 38 patients in intensive care units.

Well done. Hope the other territories follow soon. Good luck.

 

[tmar]

'So what?': Bolsonaro shrugs off Brazil's rising coronavirus death toll

Tom Phillips in Rio de Janeiro
8 hrs ago
...
More than 5,000 Brazilians have lost their lives to the coronavirus – even more people than in China, if its official statistics are to be believed.

But on Tuesday night Brazil’s president shrugged off the news. “So what?” Jair Bolsonaro told reporters when asked about the record 474 deaths that day. “I’m sorry. What do you want me to do?”

Bolsonaro’s 11-word response – the latest in a series of remarks belittling the pandemic – sparked immediate fury. One newspaper, the Estado de Minas, stamped the president’s words on to a black front page beside Brazil’s death toll: 5,017.
“Bolsonaro isn’t just an awful politician and a bad president, he’s a despicable human being,” tweeted Marcelo Freixo, a leftwing opponent.

“My name’s Messiah,” Bolsonaro also told reporters on Tuesday, in reference to his second name, Messias. “But I can’t work miracles.”
...
A wave of disgust swept over social media as word of the president’s comments spread. “A sociopath,” tweeted the musician Nando Moura. “What a tragedy,” wrote the journalist Sônia Bridi.

“It’s a mockery. An insult. It is intolerable,” tweeted Mariliz Pereira Jorge, a scriptwriter and commentator.

Another critic superimposed Bolsonaro’s words on to a photograph of the muddy graves into which scores of Brazilian bodies are being deposited each day.
...

 

[tresir2012]

Coronavirus hero Tom Moore promoted to Colonel on his 100th birthday

Coronavirus hero Tom Moore promoted to Colonel on his 100th birthday
The veteran's big day will also be marked with a flypast by a Spitfire and a Hurricane over his Bedfordshire home.

Captain Tom Moore, the World War Two veteran who has raised almost £30m for NHS charities, is celebrating his 100th birthday, after being promoted to the rank of honorary colonel.

Captain Moore had originally set out to raise £1,000 by walking 100 laps of his garden, but after his story captured the nation's heart the donations flooded in.


In recognition of his achievements, Chief of the General Staff General Sir Mark Carleton-Smith has promoted him to the rank of honorary colonel of the Army Foundation College, a promotion approved by the Queen.

His birthday will also be marked with a Battle of Britain Memorial Flight flypast by a Spitfire and a Hurricane above his Bedfordshire home.

Happy Birthday Colonel Tom. What a fantastic guy, what amazing achievements!

Thanks for finding that. So it was a Spitfire and a Hurricane. Another tear in my eye.

 

[tmar]

Captain Tom inspires coronavirus-hit Britain

Canice Leung
1 day ago
...
Retired British Army Captain Tom Moore, 99, raises money for healthcare workers by attempting to walk the length of his garden one hundred times before his 100th birthday in Marston Moretaine, Britain, April 15, 2020. Moore has raised more than 29 million pounds ($36 million) for the National Health Service by completing laps of his garden with the help of a walking frame. REUTERS/Peter Cziborra

 

[astheworldfallsdown]

Coronavirus: The last places on Earth which have no reported COVID-19 cases

There are still 33 countries and territories across the world which have not yet reported a single case of the novel coronavirus.

Many are small, hard-to-reach island nations in the Pacific such as Nauru, Kiribati and the Solomon Islands.

Others include Comoros, Lesotho, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan. Several of these nations are some of the least-populated places in the world.

 

[tresir2012]

https://nypost.com/2020/03/09/its-not-racist-to-call-it-the-wuhan-virus/

 

[FrostOwl]

Even if the corona virus is causing a lot of deaths and illness, the lockdown do have some positive health benefits for some people, as the cleaner air due to less traffic have prevented a number of deaths and pre-term births.
Clean air in Europe during lockdown ‘leads to 11,000 fewer deaths’

 

[tresir2012]

Drug has 'clear-cut' power to fight coronavirus

Remdesivir cut the duration of symptoms from 15 days down to 11 in clinical trial at hospitals around the world.

The full details have not been published, but experts said it would be a "fantastic result" if confirmed, but not a "magic bullet" for the disease.

A drug would have the potential to save lives, ease pressure on hospitals and allow parts of lockdown to be lifted.

Remdesivir was originally developed as an Ebola treatment. It is an antiviral and works by attacking an enzyme that a virus needs in order to replicate inside our cells.

The trial was run by the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and 1,063 people took part. Some patients were given the drug while others received a placebo (dummy) treatment.

Dr Anthony Fauci who runs the NIAID said: "The data shows remdesivir has a clear-cut, significant, positive effect in diminishing the time to recovery."

He said the results prove "a drug can block this virus" and were "opening the door to the fact that we now have the capability of treating" patients.

The impact on deaths is not as clear cut. The mortality rate was 8% in people given remdesivir and 11.6% in those given a placebo, but this result was not statistically significant, meaning scientists cannot tell if the difference is real.

• A SIMPLE GUIDE: How do I protect myself?
• IMPACT: What the virus does to the body
• RECOVERY: How long does it take?
• LOCKDOWN: How can we lift restrictions?
• ENDGAME: How do we get out of this mess?

It is also not clear who is benefiting. Is it allowing people who would have recovered anyway to do so more quickly? Or is it preventing people from needing treatment in intensive care? Did the drug work better in younger or older people? Or those with or without other diseases? Do patients have to be treated early when the virus is thought to peak in the body?

These will be important questions when the full details are eventually published, as a drug could have the twin benefit of saving lives and helping to lift lockdown.

More at link

 

[tresir2012]

Coronavirus updates: Lockdowns 'causing record fall in CO2 emissions' - BBC News

Summary

1. Lockdowns in response to the pandemic will see global emissions fall by a record 8%, the International Energy Agency says
2. But IEA head Fatih Birol adds: “Given the number of deaths and the economic trauma... this historic decline in global emissions is absolutely nothing to cheer”
3. UK minister suggests testing target of 100,000 tests a day will be missed as Boris Johnson leads Cabinet for first time since virus recovery
4. South Korea recorded no new domestically transmitted cases of Covid-19 on Wednesday - four new cases were all imported
5. There is "clear-cut" evidence that a drug called Remdesivir can help people recover, say US officials
6. War-torn Yemen records its first two coronavirus deaths, amid warnings it is ill-prepared for widespread infection
7. There have been more than 3.1 million confirmed cases worldwide and a quarter of a million deaths of people with Covid-19

Posted at 10:4610:46
'Milestone' as South Korea records no local cases

Laura Bicker

BBC News, Seoul


EPACopyright: EPA
During the peak of South Korea's outbreak, Lee Man-hee - the founder of the Shincheonji Church, which was linked to a number of South Korean cases - apologised to the nationImage caption: During the peak of South Korea's outbreak, Lee Man-hee - the founder of the Shincheonji Church, which was linked to a number of South Korean cases - apologised to the nation
This feels like a milestone - and as a journalist who has followed the country’s aggressive and successful fight against this virus, it felt great just to type the words “zero cases”.

In February, South Korea had one of the worst outbreaks in Asia outside mainland China. I remember seeing exhausted doctors and nurses in the worst-hit city of Daegu telling me they would do everything they could to bring the infection rates under control, as ambulances queued around the hospital. The main buildings in the capital Seoul have been lit a brilliant blue in the evening just for them, and deservedly so.

Today thousands of South Koreans are enjoying the spring sunshine on what is a national holiday to celebrate Buddha’s birthday.

The parks are full of people laughing with friends and having picnics. The local airport is crowded with excited passengers flying to the southern island of Jeju to make the most of the long weekend - the busiest the airport has been in months.

Everyone we spoke to felt thankful that the country had stayed out of lockdown. They’ve been shocked by the impact Covid-19 has had on Europe and the US and told us they felt lucky to be able to enjoy time with friends and family. But there is also real caution here - and fear of a second wave.

Posted at 11:0211:02
UK watchdog threatens legal action on holiday refunds

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images
Firms that fail to refund people for holidays and weddings cancelled because of the coronavirus outbreak could face legal action by the consumer watchdog.

The Competition and Markets Authority says it has opened investigations into thousands of complaints and will take companies to court if they flout the law.

It says four out of five complaints made to its Covid-19 Taskforce are about cancellations and refunds.

Issues include holidaymakers being pressured to take vouchers instead of refunds for accommodation.

Read more.

 

[Lilibet]

https://nypost.com/2020/03/09/its-not-racist-to-call-it-the-wuhan-virus/

Instead of the author of this article trying to defend/justify calling Covid-19 the Wuhan (or Chinese) virus, he might want to do some research about the acts of discrimination and outright violence against Asians that using this name has caused. His “geographic” justification for using this name is no longer recommended by the WHO for this very reason.

As Wikipedia points out:

The 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic, which started in the city of Wuhan, Hubei, China, in December 2019, has led to an increase in acts and displays of Sinophobia as well as prejudice, xenophobia, discrimination, violence, and racism against people of East Asian and Southeast Asian descent and appearance around the world...

In the past, many diseases have been named after geographical locations, such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome and Zika virus, but in 2015 the World Health Organization introduced recommendations to avoid this practice, in order to reduce stigma. In accordance with this policy, the WHO recommended the official name "COVID-19" in February 2020.[1]

In early coverage of the outbreak, some news sources associated the virus with China in a way that contributed to stigma. The journal Nature later published an apology for this type of coverage.[1][2] However, even after the majority of politicians had switched to avoiding stigmatizing language when referring to the virus, a minority continued.[1]

The Wikipedia article goes on to list discriminatory and racist actions against Asians by country and in the U.S. section by state. Why insist on using a name that has the potential to cause pain to innocent people? I can’t think of a good reason, but plenty keep trying. JMO

List of incidents of xenophobia and racism related to the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic - Wikipedia