It seems like the whole world is at lock down ...apart from one country.
Quote:
No lockdown here: Belarus's strongman rejects coronavirus risks. He suggests saunas and vodka.
MOSCOW — In Belarus, authoritarian leader President Alexander Lukashenko has famously scoffed at the coronavirus as a “frenzy and psychosis.” His views also come with advice for citizens who don’t share his coronavirus scorn: Hit the sauna, down some vodka and get back to work.
As surrounding countries have closed borders, shut down passenger transportation, banned mass events and effectively moved indoors, Belarus remains open and Lukashenko stays defiant.
Still, Belarus’s soccer league plays on, the only one in Europe still on the field. Theaters are promoting premieres. Markets, shops, bars, restaurants and churches remain open, in the absence of any government order to the contrary.
The air force is conducting field exercises. A Christian Orthodox fair and exhibition, Easter Joy, will be held April 1-12 in the capital, Minsk, with events for families and children.
“This psychosis has crippled national economies almost everywhere in the world,” Lukashenko said Friday, visiting Belgips Plant, a plasterboard manufacturer.
It is a theme he has pounded relentlessly in recent weeks, convinced that the unprecedented measures against the pandemic are designed to benefit some and harm others. On March 19, he slammed the border closures by Belarus’s five neighbors as useless and “absolute and utter stupidity.”
Several other populist leaders have pooh-poohed the novel coronavirus, including President Trump, who initially said the outbreak in the United States was “very much under control.” Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro called it a media fantasy and “a little flu,” claiming that Brazilians could jump into sewers and not get sick.
ut strongman Lukashenko seems to be in a league of his own with his disregard for the global strategies to the contain the pandemic.
On Friday, he cited Trump’s warnings that the cure should not be worse than the disease, as justification for his own course of keeping factories and businesses open and refusing to close the borders.
“Life is going on. You cannot put it on hold,” he said, announcing that Belarus would not cancel May 9 Victory Day celebrations, a day when elderly war veterans from the Great Patriotic War (World War II) get together to celebrate.
“His main idea is that panic is more dangerous than the virus itself,” said political analyst Artyom Shraibman, Minsk-based political analyst of the Carnegie Moscow Center. “So he’s definitely on this Trumpian side of this argument and even more Trumpian than Trump himself because he does not implement any restrictive measures.”
Lukashenko has ordered the state security services to investigate anyone who falsely reports any coronavirus death. But the president, a former Soviet collective farm director, has also been poking fun at the idea of precautions and lockdowns in the country famous in the former Eastern Bloc for its Minsk Tractor Works founded in 1946.
On March 16 he said that instead of worrying about the virus, it was time to work in the fields, sowing crops.
“People are working in tractors. No one is talking about the virus,” Lukashenko said. “There, the tractor will heal everyone. The fields heal everyone,” he added sparking a social media meme around small red pills, shaped like tractors.
Lukashenko had jokes about vodka, too, which was often touted in Soviet times as a “cure” for just about everything. He recommended people not only drink it but wash their hands in it. (In fact, it is not strong enough to kill covid-19, with the CDC recommending disinfectants that are at least 70 percent alcohol. Most vodkas contain 40 percent alcohol.)
“I don’t drink, but recently I’ve been saying that people should not only wash their hands with vodka, but also poison the virus with it. You should drink the equivalent of 40-50 milliliters of rectified spirit daily,” he said on March 16. “But not at work.”
He also recommended that people “wash your hands more often, have breakfast on time, have lunch and dinner.”
And even as mythical cures fly around social media, he suggested that taking a sauna frequently could help combat the virus, which he said did not survive at high temperatures.
“Go to the sauna. Two or three times a week will do you good. When you come out of the sauna, not only wash your hands, but also inside [with] 100 grams [of vodka].” He has predicted the virus will have passed by Easter, which Orthodox churches celebrate on April 19 this year.
It was only Thursday that Belarus imposed a requirement that arriving foreigners go into 14 days of self-isolation. Belarus has been carrying out targeted coronavirus tests — 24,000 so far (compared with almost 250,000 for Russia’s 145 million people) and contact tracing. Lukashenko also has ordered increased production of ventilators.
But he maintains that lockdowns and closures do not work.
That approach has not only provoked attacks from his political opponents. It also has worried Lukashenko’s powerful ally, Russia, which closed its border with Belarus, even though both countries signed a treaty on a unified state in 1999. Lukashenko said Russia’s move was “like starting a war.”
Shraibman, of the Carnegie Institute, said Lukashenko was more worried about an impending economic crisis as a result of the coronavirus than the virus itself.
“Civil society and opposition groups are very critical of the handling of this crisis,” he said. “People look around them and see that all the other countries have resorted to a very different approach.”
The World Health Organization has endorsed the Belarus authorities’ approach of testing, contact tracing and isolating covid-19 cases and their contacts.
Batyr Berdyklychev, the WHO representative in Belarus, did not directly criticize Lukashenko’s policies but emphasized the global closures are a key part of the effort.
There is no “one-size-fits-all” approach,” Berdyklychev said.
“Countries with small clusters should trace contacts, test suspected cases, isolate patients and guide people on the ways to protect themselves, thus limiting further spread,” he said.
Lukashenko has warned companies to keep their workers, no matter what.
He threatened on Friday that private companies that laid off workers because of the global economic difficulties would be barred from operating in Belarus in future, BelTA news agency reported.
Alexander Feduta, an independent Belarusian political analyst, said government efforts to keep the economy operating would buffer Belarus from an economic blow.
Professor Neil Ferguson video calls into the Science and Technology committee
Sarah Knapton, Science Editor
25 MARCH 2020 • 4:13 PM _________________ --
'Suppression of truth, human spirit and the holy chord of justice never works long-term. Something the suppressors never get.' David Southwell
http://aangirfan.blogspot.com http://aanirfan.blogspot.com
Martin Van Creveld: Let me quote General Moshe Dayan: "Israel must be like a mad dog, too dangerous to bother."
Martin Van Creveld: I'll quote Henry Kissinger: "In campaigns like this the antiterror forces lose, because they don't win, and the rebels win by not losing."
By Amanda Prestigiacomo DailyWire.com
The Daily Wire MARCH 26TH, 2020
Colorized Tem. The Coronaviruses Owe Their Name To The The Crown Like Projections, Visible Under Microscope, That Encircle The Capsid. The Coronaviruses Are Responsible For Respiratory Ailments And Gastro Enteritis. The Virus Responsible For Sars Belongs To This Family. (Photo By BSIP/UIG Via Getty Images)
Epidemiologist Neil Ferguson, who created the highly-cited Imperial College London coronavirus model, which has been cited by organizations like The New York Times and has been instrumental in governmental policy decision-making, offered a massively downgraded projection of the potential deathtoll on Wednesday.
Ferguson’s model projected 2.2 million dead people in the United States and 500,000 in the U.K. from COVID-19 if no action were taken to slow the virus and blunt its curve. The model predicted far fewer deaths if lockdown measures — measures such as those taken by the British and American governments — were undertaken.
After just one day of ordered lockdowns in the U.K., Ferguson is presenting drastically downgraded estimates, crediting lockdown measures, but also revealing that far more people likely have the virus than his team figured.
Ferguson explained, “I should admit, we’ve always been sensitive in the analysis in the modeling to a variety of levels or values to those quantities. What we’ve been seeing, though, in Europe in the last week or two is a rate of growth of the epidemic which was faster than we expected from early data in China. And so we are revising our quotes, our central best estimate of the reproduction… something more, a little bit above of the order of three or a little bit above rather than about 2.5.” He added, “the current values are still within the wide range of values which modeling groups [unintelligible] we should have been looking at previously.”
A higher rate of transmission than expected means that more people have the virus than previously expected; when the number of those with coronavirus is divided by the number of deaths, therefore, the mortality rate for the disease drops.
Based on both those revised estimates and the lockdown measures taken by the British government, the epidemiologist predicts, hospitals will be just fine taking on COVID-19 patients and estimates 20,000 or far fewer people will die from the virus itself or from its agitation of other ailments, as reported by New Scientist Wednesday.
Ferguson’s change of tune comes days after Oxford epidemiologist Sunetra Gupta criticized the professor’s model.
“I am surprised that there has been such unqualified acceptance of the Imperial model,” Gupta said, according to the Financial Times.
Professor Gupta led a team of researchers at Oxford in a modeling study which suggests that the virus has been invisibly spreading for at least a month earlier than suspected, concluding that as many as half of the people in the United Kingdom have already been infected by COVID-19.
If her model is accurate, fewer than one in a thousand who’ve been infected with COVID-19 become sick enough to need hospitalization, leaving the vast majority with mild cases or free of symptoms.
Ferguson did continue to argue that the Oxford model is too optimistic about death rates.
UPDATE: Amid widespread reporting on his new death rate estimates — including by White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx, who cited his 20,000 estimate during a press conference Thursday — Ferguson issued a statement on social media Thursday to “clear up confusion” about his revised estimates:
I think it would be helpful if I cleared up some confusion that has emerged in recent days. Some have interpreted my evidence to a UK parliamentary committee as indicating we have substantially revised our assessments of the potential mortality impact of COVID-19. This is not the case. Indeed, if anything, our latest estimates suggest that the virus is slightly more transmissible than we previously thought. Our lethality estimates remain unchanged. My evidence to Parliament referred to the deaths we assess might occur in the UK in the presence of the very intensive social distancing and other public health interventions now in place. Without those controls, our assessment remains that the UK would see the scale of deaths reported in our study (namely, up to approximately 500 thousand).
Correction: The original title of this article incorrectly suggested that Neil Ferguson stated his initial model was wrong. The article has been revised to make clear that he provided a downgraded projection given the new data and current mitigation steps. This article has also been updated to include Ferguson’s clarifying statement posted on Twitter on Thursday. _________________ --
'Suppression of truth, human spirit and the holy chord of justice never works long-term. Something the suppressors never get.' David Southwell
http://aangirfan.blogspot.com http://aanirfan.blogspot.com
Martin Van Creveld: Let me quote General Moshe Dayan: "Israel must be like a mad dog, too dangerous to bother."
Martin Van Creveld: I'll quote Henry Kissinger: "In campaigns like this the antiterror forces lose, because they don't win, and the rebels win by not losing."
How’s that for timing?
Netflix’s new, terrifying docuseries Pandemic has dropped just as a new, terrifying virus has landed in real life.
While coronavirus dominates news headlines, Netflix is streaming its six-part series on how prepared (or not) the world is to deal with a new pandemic.
Pandemic: How to Prevent an Outbreak starts with a theory: that we’re due for a new, fast-moving deadly virus. It’s been 100 years since a deadly influenza virus killed 50 to 100 million people, at a time when the global population was just two billion (cue black and white footage of people in old timey face masks, with loads of mass graves being dug).
Now there are nearly eight billion people in the world, as expert Dr. Dennis Carroll, director of USAID’s Emerging Threats Unit, warns in Pandemic: “When we talk about another flu pandemic happening, it’s not a matter of if, but when.”
Could the “when” that haunts this scary series be now?
As of writing, the death toll of coronavirus is nearly 500 people; it has spread to 28 countries, and the global number of confirmed cases is well over 24,000.
As well as loss of life, the virus has caused widespread disruption to financial markets, workplaces, flight patterns and food production – effects predicted and examined with great flair, detail and drama in Pandemic.
One of the executive producers, Sheri Fink, is a journalist, doctor and author of the brilliant Five Days at Memorial, about unpreparedness for Hurricane Katrina. Tweeting about the uncanny timing of the series this week, she said, “We hoped to inform before, not after, another dangerous pathogen emerged.”
People have said the docuseries Pandemic came out at a perfect time, but in fact we made it because some of us had seen the system tested in smaller ways and knew its vulnerabilities. We hoped to inform before, not after, another dangerous pathogen emerged.
— Sheri Fink (@sherifink) February 2, 2020
As a result of coronavirus, viewers will come to the series with an extra level of awareness of the risks of a fast-moving, mysterious virus. But don’t let the fear factor put you off. Pandemic is also informative, inspiring, visually stunning and a great piece of storytelling.
Produced by Zero Point Zero Productions, who also created Anthony Bourdain’s shows, it introduces viewers to a range of characters whose stories unfold as the series gallops across the globe.
The heroes are the scientists, doctors and disaster experts. We follow Dr Syra Madad as she tries to get the New York City hospital system ready for a deadly pandemic, despite budget cuts. We meet Jake Glanville and Sarah Ives, two scientists who are trying to create a global one-shot flu vaccine that they can make available for free to people in developing countries. We go to Jaipur and tour the wards of an overcrowded hospital with Dr. Dinesh Vijay, and head to the poultry markets of Vietnam with Dennis Carroll.
If there is a villain here, it’s not just the virus itself but misinformation that often spreads in tandem with a pandemic.
Experts warn world ‘grossly unprepared’ for future pandemics
Using a similar technique to the film Contagion, the show jumps around the world – from ICE holding camps on the US border, to an underfunded county hospital in Oklahoma, to protests by anti-vaxxers in Oregon, to the fight in the Congo to contain the Ebola virus.
I was moved to tears multiple times – not from fear of what might be coming for us, but from the kindness and dedication of those who work in the field.
Health care workers die and get murdered while treating the Ebola virus in Africa. Indian doctors in overcrowded hospitals for the poor face 1,000 patients a day presenting with serious swine flu symptoms.
There are volunteers giving flu shots at the border, the overworked doctors who rarely see their own kids, the ambitious scientists looking for vaccines while working outside big pharma – all of it shows that people working in strong systems, with decent funding and the cooperation of governments and citizens, can make significant advances.
And when the worst happens? According to Carroll, “Every epidemic is an opportunity to learn.”
• Pandemic: How to Prevent an Outbreak is streaming now on Netflix _________________ --
'Suppression of truth, human spirit and the holy chord of justice never works long-term. Something the suppressors never get.' David Southwell
http://aangirfan.blogspot.com http://aanirfan.blogspot.com
Martin Van Creveld: Let me quote General Moshe Dayan: "Israel must be like a mad dog, too dangerous to bother."
Martin Van Creveld: I'll quote Henry Kissinger: "In campaigns like this the antiterror forces lose, because they don't win, and the rebels win by not losing."
INTERVIEW: Andre Vltchek on Coronavirus in China, South America
https://www.soundcloud.com/21wire/interview-andre-vltchek-on-coronavir us-in-china-south-america _________________ --
'Suppression of truth, human spirit and the holy chord of justice never works long-term. Something the suppressors never get.' David Southwell
http://aangirfan.blogspot.com http://aanirfan.blogspot.com
Martin Van Creveld: Let me quote General Moshe Dayan: "Israel must be like a mad dog, too dangerous to bother."
Martin Van Creveld: I'll quote Henry Kissinger: "In campaigns like this the antiterror forces lose, because they don't win, and the rebels win by not losing."
_________________ --
'Suppression of truth, human spirit and the holy chord of justice never works long-term. Something the suppressors never get.' David Southwell
http://aangirfan.blogspot.com http://aanirfan.blogspot.com
Martin Van Creveld: Let me quote General Moshe Dayan: "Israel must be like a mad dog, too dangerous to bother."
Martin Van Creveld: I'll quote Henry Kissinger: "In campaigns like this the antiterror forces lose, because they don't win, and the rebels win by not losing."
Abstract
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) is the world's wealthiest philanthropic organisation and a major player in global health governance. While its emergence may be dramatic, BMGF's role in global health mirrors the experience of the Rockefeller Foundation's International Health Division nearly 100 years earlier. Both organisations provoked fear and consternation, but their supporters argued that both offered innovative techniques and filled niches governments could not or would not address. This article examines the parallels in arguments for and against the global health activities between the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation. It also calls into question larger questions about the role of private actors in global governance and whether their activities in recent years are really all that unprecedented. _________________ --
'Suppression of truth, human spirit and the holy chord of justice never works long-term. Something the suppressors never get.' David Southwell
http://aangirfan.blogspot.com http://aanirfan.blogspot.com
Martin Van Creveld: Let me quote General Moshe Dayan: "Israel must be like a mad dog, too dangerous to bother."
Martin Van Creveld: I'll quote Henry Kissinger: "In campaigns like this the antiterror forces lose, because they don't win, and the rebels win by not losing."
Prince Philip won't be with us 'much longer' claims Dickie Arbiter
Play Video
Prince Philip, 98, has always loved a good joke and has on numerous occasions made headline with his witty comments. Throughout his more than 70-year-long marriage to the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh has made a series of lighthearted gaffes during his many royal engagements.
And now a comment the 98-year-old Duke made more than 30 years ago has resurfaced.
In 1988, the Duke of Edinburgh joked about deadly viruses when speaking to Deutsche Press Agentur.
Prince Philip reportedly said: “In the event that I am reincarnated, I would like to return as a deadly virus, to contribute something to solving overpopulation.”
The gaffe has made a comeback due to the recent coronavirus outbreak.
READ MORE: Royal devastation: The ONE person Queen can still rely on amid drama
Prince Philip health: 'Frail' Duke 'won't be with us for long'
The coronavirus originated in Hubei province in China in December 2019 and has so far infected more than 90,000 people worldwide and 51 in the UK.
As the virus continues to spread, a flurry of conspiracy theories has appeared online.
One unearthed theory suggests coronavirus is a bioweapon made by China.
Some claimed that rich, powerful people want to depopulate Earth by killing billions of people.
READ MORE: REAL reason the Queen didn't want Philip to stay in Buckingham Palace
Prince Philip gaffe
Prince Philip and the Queen have been married for more than 70 years (Image: GETTY)
One quote used to support this claim was the one from Prince Philip in 1988.
Prince Philip is currently enjoying life as a retired man.
The Duke of Edinburgh stepped down from royal duties in 2017 at the age of 96 and had undertaken thousands of engagements during his years of service.
Philip famously described himself as “the world’s most experienced plaque unveiler” and undertook 22,191 solo engagements during his career.
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Royal devastation: The ONE person Queen can still rely on amid drama
The Queen’s husband, who turns 99 in June, lives at Wood Farm, a cottage on the Sandringham Estate in Norfolk, alone.
The rural area allows Prince Philip to enjoy a relaxing retirement - and also reduces his risk of being infected with coronavirus, given he's technically self isolating.
He is said to pass the time painting, reading and in warmer weather driving a horse and carriage around the estate.
The Queen also visits her husband at the Sandringham Estate sometimes, and the family always spend Christmas there.
Prince Philip family tree
Prince Philip's family tree (Image: EXPRESS)
Some of Prince Philip’s other controversial jokes
“Deaf? If you are near there, no wonder you are deaf.” (To young deaf people in Cardiff, in 1999, referring to the school’s steel band).
“You managed not to get eaten, then?” (In 1998, he asked a British student who had been trekking in Papua New Guinea).
“Do you have a pair of knickers made out of this?” pointing to some tartan (to Scottish Conservative leader Annabel Goldie at a papal reception in Edinburgh in September 2010). _________________ --
'Suppression of truth, human spirit and the holy chord of justice never works long-term. Something the suppressors never get.' David Southwell
http://aangirfan.blogspot.com http://aanirfan.blogspot.com
Martin Van Creveld: Let me quote General Moshe Dayan: "Israel must be like a mad dog, too dangerous to bother."
Martin Van Creveld: I'll quote Henry Kissinger: "In campaigns like this the antiterror forces lose, because they don't win, and the rebels win by not losing."
The following is from a medical forum. The writer prefers to stay anonymous, because presenting any narrative different than the official one can cause you a lot of stress in the toxic environment caused by the scam which surrounds COVID-19 these days.
I work in the healthcare field. Here's the problem, we are testing people for any strain of a Coronavirus. Not specifically for COVID-19. There are no reliable tests for a specific COVID-19 virus. There are no reliable agencies or media outlets for reporting numbers of actual COVID-19 virus cases. This needs to be addressed first and foremost. Every action and reaction to COVID-19 is based on totally flawed data and we simply can not make accurate assessments.
This is why you're hearing that most people with COVID-19 are showing nothing more than cold/flu like symptoms. That's because most Coronavirus strains are nothing more than cold/flu like symptoms. The few actual novel Coronavirus cases do have some worse respiratory responses, but still have a very promising recovery rate, especially for those without prior issues.
The ‘gold standard’ in testing for COVID-19 is laboratory isolated/purified coronavirus particles free from any contaminants and particles that look like viruses but are not, that have been proven to be the cause of the syndrome known as COVID-19 and obtained by using proper viral isolation methods and controls (not the PCR that is currently being used or Serology /antibody tests which do not detect virus as such). PCR basically takes a sample of your cells and amplifies any DNA to look for ‘viral sequences’, i.e. bits of non-human DNA that seem to match parts of a known viral genome.
The problem is the test is known not to work.
It uses ‘amplification’ which means taking a very very tiny amount of DNA and growing it exponentially until it can be analyzed. Obviously any minute contaminations in the sample will also be amplified leading to potentially gross errors of discovery.
Additionally, it’s only looking for partial viral sequences, not whole genomes, so identifying a single pathogen is next to impossible even if you ignore the other issues.
The Mickey Mouse test kits being sent out to hospitals, at best, tell analysts you have some viral DNA in your cells. Which most of us do, most of the time. It may tell you the viral sequence is related to a specific type of virus – say the huge family of coronavirus. But that’s all. The idea these kits can isolate a specific virus like COVID-19 is nonsense.
And that’s not even getting into the other issue – viral load.
If you remember the PCR works by amplifying minute amounts of DNA. It therefore is useless at telling you how much virus you may have. And that’s the only question that really matters when it comes to diagnosing illness. Everyone will have a few virus kicking round in their system at any time, and most will not cause illness because their quantities are too small. For a virus to sicken you you need a lot of it, a massive amount of it. But PCR does not test viral load and therefore can’t determine if a osteogenesis is present in sufficient quantities to sicken you.
If you feel sick and get a PCR test any random virus DNA might be identified even if they aren’t at all involved in your sickness which leads to false diagnosis.
And coronavirus are incredibly common. A large percentage of the world human population will have covi DNA in them in small quantities even if they are perfectly well or sick with some other pathogen.
Do you see where this is going yet? If you want to create a totally false panic about a totally false pandemic – pick a coronavirus.
They are incredibly common and there’s tons of them. A very high percentage of people who have become sick by other means (flu, bacterial pneumonia, anything) will have a positive PCR test for covi even if you’re doing them properly and ruling out contamination, simply because covis are so common.
There are hundreds of thousands of flu and pneumonia victims in hospitals throughout the world at any one time.
All you need to do is select the sickest of these in a single location – say Wuhan – administer PCR tests to them and claim anyone showing viral sequences similar to a coronavirus (which will inevitably be quite a few) is suffering from a ‘new’ disease.
Since you already selected the sickest flu cases a fairly high proportion of your sample will go on to die.
You can then say this ‘new’ virus has a CFR higher than the flu and use this to infuse more concern and do more tests which will of course produce more ‘cases’, which expands the testing, which produces yet more ‘cases’ and so on and so on.
Before long you have your ‘pandemic’, and all you have done is use a simple test kit trick to convert the worst flu and pneumonia cases into something new that doesn’t actually exist.
Now just run the same scam in other countries. Making sure to keep the fear message running high so that people will feel panicky and less able to think critically.
Your only problem is going to be that – due to the fact there is no actual new deadly pathogen but just regular sick people, you are mislabeling your case numbers, and especially your deaths, are going to be way too low for a real new deadly virus pandemic.
But you can stop people pointing this out in several ways.
1. You can claim this is just the beginning and more deaths are imminent. Use this as an excuse to quarantine everyone and then claim the quarantine prevented the expected millions of dead.
2. You can tell people that ‘minimizing’ the dangers is irresponsible and bully them into not talking about numbers.
3. You can talk nonsense about made up numbers hoping to blind people with pseudoscience.
4. You can start testing well people (who, of course, will also likely have shreds of coronavirus DNA in them) and thus inflate your ‘case figures’ with ‘asymptomatic carriers’ (you will of course have to spin that to sound deadly even though any virologist knows the more symptom-less cases you have the less deadly is your pathogen.
Take these 4 simple steps and you can have your own entirely manufactured pandemic up and running in weeks.
They can not "confirm" something for which there is no accurate test. _________________ --
'Suppression of truth, human spirit and the holy chord of justice never works long-term. Something the suppressors never get.' David Southwell
http://aangirfan.blogspot.com http://aanirfan.blogspot.com
Martin Van Creveld: Let me quote General Moshe Dayan: "Israel must be like a mad dog, too dangerous to bother."
Martin Van Creveld: I'll quote Henry Kissinger: "In campaigns like this the antiterror forces lose, because they don't win, and the rebels win by not losing."
"I'm a doctor and an Infectious Diseases Specialist. I've been at this for more than 20 years seeing sick patients on a daily basis. I have worked in inner city hospitals and in the poorest slums of Africa. HIV-AIDS, Hepatitis,TB, SARS, Measles, Shingles, Whooping cough, Diphtheria...there is little I haven't been exposed to in my profession. And with notable exception of SARS, very little has left me feeling vulnerable, overwhelmed or downright scared.
I am not scared of Covid-19. I am concerned about the implications of a novel infectious agent that has spread the world over and continues to find new footholds in different soil. I am rightly concerned for the welfare of those who are elderly, in frail health or disenfranchised who stand to suffer mostly, and disproportionately, at the hands of this new scourge. But I am not scared of Covid-19.
What I am scared about is the loss of reason and wave of fear that has induced the masses of society into a spellbinding spiral of panic, stockpiling obscene quantities of anything that could fill a bomb shelter adequately in a post-apocalyptic world. I am scared of the N95 masks that are stolen from hospitals and urgent care clinics where they are actually needed for front line healthcare providers and instead are being donned in airports, malls, and coffee lounges, perpetuating even more fear and suspicion of others. I am scared that our hospitals will be overwhelmed with anyone who thinks they " probably don't have it but may as well get checked out no matter what because you just never know..." and those with heart failure, emphysema, pneumonia and strokes will pay the price for overfilled ER waiting rooms with only so many doctors and nurses to assess.
I am scared that travel restrictions will become so far reaching that weddings will be canceled, graduations missed and family reunions will not materialize. And well, even that big party called the Olympic Games...that could be kyboshed too. Can you even
imagine?
I'm scared those same epidemic fears will limit trade, harm partnerships in multiple sectors, business and otherwise and ultimately culminate in a global recession.
But mostly, I'm scared about what message we are telling our kids when faced with a threat. Instead of reason, rationality, openmindedness and altruism, we are telling them to panic, be fearful, suspicious, reactionary and self-interested.
Covid-19 is nowhere near over. It will be coming to a city, a hospital, a friend, even a family member near you at some point. Expect it. Stop waiting to be surprised further. The fact is the virus itself will not likely do much harm when it arrives. But our own behaviors and "fight for yourself above all else" attitude could prove disastrous.
I implore you all. Temper fear with reason, panic with patience and uncertainty with education. We have an opportunity to learn a great deal about health hygiene and limiting the spread of innumerable transmissible diseases in our society. Let's meet this challenge together in the best spirit of compassion for others, patience, and above all, an unfailing effort to seek truth, facts and knowledge as opposed to conjecture, speculation and catastrophizing.
Facts not fear. Clean hands. Open hearts.
Our children will thank us for it." Dr. Abdu Sharkawy _________________ --
'Suppression of truth, human spirit and the holy chord of justice never works long-term. Something the suppressors never get.' David Southwell
http://aangirfan.blogspot.com http://aanirfan.blogspot.com
Martin Van Creveld: Let me quote General Moshe Dayan: "Israel must be like a mad dog, too dangerous to bother."
Martin Van Creveld: I'll quote Henry Kissinger: "In campaigns like this the antiterror forces lose, because they don't win, and the rebels win by not losing."
Modified: 28/03/2020 - 19:55
Minsk fans at Saturday's derby against Dinamo
As the rest of Europe shuts up shop to combat the new coronavirus, Belarus remains resolutely open for business.
Restaurants in the former Soviet Republic continue to serve food, and the country's football league plays on.
Despite being at the door of a Europe grappling with the deadly COVID-19, life goes on here more or less unchecked.
The Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko has dismissed the global health crisis as a "psychosis", and refuses to follow the example of much of the globe by imposing a lockdown.
With less than 100 positive cases and no deaths in Belarus, Lukashenko this week suggested "there shouldn't be any panic" over the virus.
He encouraged his citizens to work on the land.
"There, the tractor will heal everyone. The fields heal everyone," suggested the straight-talking former collective farm director who assumed power in 1994.
On Saturday at an ice hockey gala match he went further, saying that "it was better to die a dignified death than live on your knees".
And so, in stark contrast to all the leagues elsewhere on the European continent, the Belarus championship, like the country's tractors, ploughs on, undeterred.
Saturday's upset win by home side Mozyr over the country's top team BATE Borisov was watched by several thousand fans, and screened live on Russian television.
In the capital, FK Minsk's humble ground was half full for the derby against Dinamo, fans behind both goals ending the game shirtless.
One fan, Igor, 33, told AFP: "Even if we've turned up here, we try to self-isolate, we came by car, we wash our hands 10 times."
He expressed concern at the complacency displayed by some of his fellow supporters.
"It's as if they aren't aware of anything, they go here and there, they're laughing."
- Thermal cameras -
Special measures have been put in place nonetheless including thermal cameras to check the temperature of fans as they enter stadia which are disinfected twice a day.
Those precautions satisfied another fan, Ludmila, a 55-year-old school teacher who said that "people who are ill won't be here".
"We've taken all the measures recommended by the Sports Ministry. All those who are in contact with fans... are supplied with gloves," Belarus football federation spokesman Alexsandr Aleinik told AFP.
Despite the apparent lack of urgency, since Tuesday there has been a shift in tone.
In a meeting with the Chinese ambassador Lukashenko asserted that his country was "controlling very seriously" the situation.
And newspapers and state television began to talk about the pandemic which has now killed more than 25,000 people.
But they stick to the line that a general lockdown is not the solution.
Minsk has become quieter over the past few days, over 65s are encouraged to stay indoors, while pupils are authorised not to attend school.
During rush hour, trains on the metro underground are not as full as usual, numerous companies are allowing staff to work from home.
But bars, cafes and shops remain steadfastly open, without any self-distancing protocol advice for their customers.
Ivan, an employee of a new technology company, has been working from home for the past three weeks.
Yet despite that precaution he meets up with his friends every evening "at the gym or in a cafe".
The authorities justify the lax health regime by the strict confinement of those who have tested positive.
Deputy Health Minister Elena Bogdan says that anyone who has the virus or is showing virus-like symptoms is isolated and hospitalised.
And those they have been in contact with are placed in quarantine.
The country's opposition denounces the official approach.
"The authorities are preparing enormous savings on pensions," opposition minister Mikola Statkevitch said caustically in a video message.
He was alluding to the way the coronavirus has taken a devastating toll on the world's older population.
Another reason for the absence of the draconian measures adopted elsewhere, according to analysts: the country is already in economic difficulty creating tensions with its key ally, Russia.
"And with the global slowing down the situation is even worse," observed analyst Artyom Shraibman.
"Seemingly Lukashenko has decided that it would be suicidal to halt the economy," he said. _________________ --
'Suppression of truth, human spirit and the holy chord of justice never works long-term. Something the suppressors never get.' David Southwell
http://aangirfan.blogspot.com http://aanirfan.blogspot.com
Martin Van Creveld: Let me quote General Moshe Dayan: "Israel must be like a mad dog, too dangerous to bother."
Martin Van Creveld: I'll quote Henry Kissinger: "In campaigns like this the antiterror forces lose, because they don't win, and the rebels win by not losing."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7jK5nUasac _________________ --
'Suppression of truth, human spirit and the holy chord of justice never works long-term. Something the suppressors never get.' David Southwell
http://aangirfan.blogspot.com http://aanirfan.blogspot.com
Martin Van Creveld: Let me quote General Moshe Dayan: "Israel must be like a mad dog, too dangerous to bother."
Martin Van Creveld: I'll quote Henry Kissinger: "In campaigns like this the antiterror forces lose, because they don't win, and the rebels win by not losing."
spiked - humanity is underrated
Chloe Middleton: the coronavirus death that wasn’t
The 21-year-old’s tragic death has not been recorded as due to Covid-19.
Chloe Middleton: the coronavirus death that wasn’t
SPIKED 27th March 2020
This week, the news of the heartbreaking death of 21-year-old Chloe Middleton went across social media. She was reported to be Britain’s youngest coronavirus victim with no pre-existing condition. And so her case was quickly held up as proof as to why young people – thought to be too blasé about Covid-19 – should take the outbreak more seriously.
But the Guardiam reports this afternoon that her death has not actually been recorded as a Covid-19 death:
‘Middleton was taken to Wexham Park hospital in Slough last weekend after she had a heart attack. Attempts to resuscitate her failed and she was pronounced dead soon after arriving… A Berkshire coroner said the death was related to Covid-19 after being told Middleton had a cough, the source said. But this surprised medics at the hospital, who have not recorded it as a coronavirus incident.’
An NHS source tells the Guardian that ‘the coroner’s move “raised eyebrows” at the hospital because [Middleton] had not tested positive for the disease’.
This shows us the dangers of allowing political imperatives – ie, the need for young people to take this crisis seriously – to get ahead of the facts. Amid this outbreak we need clear-eyed discussion of what’s really going on.
It seems this tragedy was too swiftly leapt upon and turned into a cautionary tale about Covid-19, purely because it aligned with some people’s worst fears. We need to do better.
28th March 2020 at 10:37 pm
The Guardian article linked to has been ‘removed on 28 March 2020 pending review’…..
LIAM COOK
27th March 2020 at 11:15 pm
Dear Thompson,
Thank you! I had been looking into this myself as I couldn’t see in any of the reports that this poor young lady has tested positive for SARs-Cov-2. And as her death was a few days before why was it so long to be reported? It was after her family posted a social media message about it…..as I have a little more time on my hands these days I am forming a commission of like minded citizens as me to look into media false reports which are increasing fear where they have not verified the reports, or mince words, mince statistics etc. As this fear created it what is currently causing an overload of hospitals. As ICUs are no busier than a normal winter’s day – quote C.M.O. UK 25.03.2020 during the Prime Ministers address at about 25:25 in, than the current “overload” being reported must at the moment be because of the 10s of thousands of people who are desending on hospitals due to fear to get tested. As only 10% have COVID 19 and only 80% of those should not even be going to the hospital due to light symptoms, the media accurately reporting these things is PARAMOUNT to keeping the country calm and saving the NHS. Fear will destroy the NHS before a (I say a because there are 4 other Human Coronaviruses that commonly affect the population every year) coronavirus does.
Anyway I wanted to see as you and the Guardian are the only 2 news outlets who have told the true story on Chloe’s cause of Death, if you would be interested in the expose I will be putting together at this time on some top media outlets who try to profit off of the CV through false or knowingly inaccurate news stories? _________________ --
'Suppression of truth, human spirit and the holy chord of justice never works long-term. Something the suppressors never get.' David Southwell
http://aangirfan.blogspot.com http://aanirfan.blogspot.com
Martin Van Creveld: Let me quote General Moshe Dayan: "Israel must be like a mad dog, too dangerous to bother."
Martin Van Creveld: I'll quote Henry Kissinger: "In campaigns like this the antiterror forces lose, because they don't win, and the rebels win by not losing."
We are slowly realizing like a creeping horror this is what we've been reporting on all these years and didn't know it. So many agendas coming together under one giant umbrella. Love you guys. Please share this one. It's important. And please join our Patreon if you can. We're just trying to keep the lights on and keep going and get our next big film done.
Much love, Aaron & Mel
(PS - There's an Easter egg at the end of the vid.)
EDIT: (PPS - For those who asked: The clip at the end of the vid is one we put up in 2018 called "One Card to Rule Them All". It was meant to be a parody... sadly it's much less of a parody now.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JLBXfKDbbI _________________ --
'Suppression of truth, human spirit and the holy chord of justice never works long-term. Something the suppressors never get.' David Southwell
http://aangirfan.blogspot.com http://aanirfan.blogspot.com
Martin Van Creveld: Let me quote General Moshe Dayan: "Israel must be like a mad dog, too dangerous to bother."
Martin Van Creveld: I'll quote Henry Kissinger: "In campaigns like this the antiterror forces lose, because they don't win, and the rebels win by not losing."
Larry Elliott Economics editor Thu 26 Mar 2020 06.00 GMT Gordon Brown
‘The more you intervene to deal with the medical emergency, the more you put economies at risk,’ says Gordon Brown. Photograph: Victoria Jones/PA
Gordon Brown has urged world leaders to create a temporary form of global government to tackle the twin medical and economic crises caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The former Labour prime minister, who was at the centre of the international efforts to tackle the impact of the near-meltdown of the banks in 2008, said there was a need for a taskforce involving world leaders, health experts and the heads of the international organisations that would have executive powers to coordinate the response.
A virtual meeting of the G20 group of developed and developing countries, chaired by Saudi Arabia, will be held on Thursday, but Brown said it would have been preferable to have also included the UN security council.
The New York stock exchange stopped floor operations on 20 March after two people who work in the building were tested positive for coronavirus.
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The New York stock exchange stopped floor operations on 20 March after two people who work in the building were tested positive for coronavirus. Photograph: Justin Lane/EPA
“This is not something that can be dealt with in one country,” he said. “There has to be a coordinated global response.”
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Brown said the current crisis was different to the one he was involved in. “That was an economic problem that had economic causes and had an economic solution.
“This is first and foremost a medical emergency and there has to be joint action to deal with that. But the more you intervene to deal with the medical emergency, the more you put economies at risk.”
During the financial crisis, Brown persuaded other global leaders of the need to bail out the banks and then hosted a meeting of the G20 in London, which came up with a $1.1tn rescue package.
Despite Donald Trump’s “America first” policy, he said it was still possible to get support for an emergency body with executive powers.
Traders on the floor of the New York stock exchange moments in 2008.
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Traders on the floor of the New York stock exchange moments in 2008. Photograph: Spencer Platt/Getty Images
Brown said his proposed global taskforce would fight the crisis on two fronts. There would need to be a coordinated effort to find a vaccine, and to organise production, purchasing and prevent profiteering.
Many countries have announced economic packages in the past two weeks but Brown said a taskforce could: make sure the efforts of central banks were coordinated; take steps to prevent the record flight of capital from emerging market economies; and agree a joint approach to the use of government spending to boost growth.
Brown said there had been resistance in 2008 to using the G20 as a vehicle for tackling the financial crisis, but that it should be clear to world leaders that there was no possibility of a go-it-alone approach working.
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“We need some sort of working executive,” Brown said. “If I were doing it again, I would make the G20 a broader organisation because in the current circumstances you need to listen to the countries that are most affected, the countries that are making a difference and countries where there is the potential for a massive number of people to be affected - such as those in Africa.”
To stop coronavirus we will need to radically change almost everything we do: how we work, exercise, socialize, shop, manage our health, educate our kids, take care of family members.
We all want things to go back to normal quickly. But what most of us have probably not yet realized—yet will soon—is that things won’t go back to normal after a few weeks, or even a few months. Some things never will.
You can read all our coverage of the coronavirus/Covid-19 outbreak for free, and also sign up for our coronavirus newsletter. But please consider subscribing to support our nonprofit journalism.
It’s now widely agreed (even by Britain, finally) that every country needs to “flatten the curve”: impose social distancing to slow the spread of the virus so that the number of people sick at once doesn’t cause the health-care system to collapse, as it is threatening to do in Italy right now. That means the pandemic needs to last, at a low level, until either enough people have had Covid-19 to leave most immune (assuming immunity lasts for years, which we don’t know) or there’s a vaccine.
How long would that take, and how draconian do social restrictions need to be? Yesterday President Donald Trump, announcing new guidelines such as a 10-person limit on gatherings, said that “with several weeks of focused action, we can turn the corner and turn it quickly.” In China, six weeks of lockdown are beginning to ease now that new cases have fallen to a trickle.
But it won’t end there. As long as someone in the world has the virus, breakouts can and will keep recurring without stringent controls to contain them. In a report yesterday (pdf), researchers at Imperial College London proposed a way of doing this: impose more extreme social distancing measures every time admissions to intensive care units (ICUs) start to spike, and relax them each time admissions fall. Here’s how that looks in a graph.
A graph of weekly ICU cases over time.
Periodic bouts of social distancing keep the pandemic in check.
Imperial College Covid-19 Response Team.
The orange line is ICU admissions. Each time they rise above a threshold—say, 100 per week—the country would close all schools and most universities and adopt social distancing. When they drop below 50, those measures would be lifted, but people with symptoms or whose family members have symptoms would still be confined at home.
What counts as “social distancing”? The researchers define it as “All households reduce contact outside household, school or workplace by 75%.” That doesn’t mean you get to go out with your friends once a week instead of four times. It means everyone does everything they can to minimize social contact, and overall, the number of contacts falls by 75%.
Under this model, the researchers conclude, social distancing and school closures would need to be in force some two-thirds of the time—roughly two months on and one month off—until a vaccine is available, which will take at least 18 months (if it works at all). They note that the results are “qualitatively similar for the US.”
Eighteen months!? Surely there must be other solutions. Why not just build more ICUs and treat more people at once, for example?
Well, in the researchers’ model, that didn’t solve the problem. Without social distancing of the whole population, they found, even the best mitigation strategy—which means isolation or quarantine of the sick, the old, and those who have been exposed, plus school closures—would still lead to a surge of critically ill people eight times bigger than the US or UK system can cope with. (That’s the lowest, blue curve in the graph below; the flat red line is the current number of ICU beds.) Even if you set factories to churn out beds and ventilators and all the other facilities and supplies, you’d still need far more nurses and doctors to take care of everyone.
A graph of critical care beds occupied over time.
In all scenarios without widespread social distancing, the number of Covid cases overwhelms the healthcare system.
Imperial College Covid-19 Response Team
How about imposing restrictions for just one batch of five months or so? No good—once measures are lifted, the pandemic breaks out all over again, only this time it’s in winter, the worst time for overstretched health-care systems.
A graph showing critical care beds occupied over time for the suppression scenario.
If full social distancing and other measures are imposed for five months, then lifted, the pandemic comes back.
Imperial College Covid-19 Response Team.
And what if we decided to be brutal: set the threshold number of ICU admissions for triggering social distancing much higher, accepting that many more patients would die? Turns out it makes little difference. Even in the least restrictive of the Imperial College scenarios, we’re shut in more than half the time.
This isn’t a temporary disruption. It’s the start of a completely different way of life.
Living in a state of pandemic
In the short term, this will be hugely damaging to businesses that rely on people coming together in large numbers: restaurants, cafes, bars, nightclubs, gyms, hotels, theaters, cinemas, art galleries, shopping malls, craft fairs, museums, musicians and other performers, sporting venues (and sports teams), conference venues (and conference producers), cruise lines, airlines, public transportation, private schools, day-care centers. That’s to say nothing of the stresses on parents thrust into home-schooling their kids, people trying to care for elderly relatives without exposing them to the virus, people trapped in abusive relationships, and anyone without a financial cushion to deal with swings in income.
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There’ll be some adaptation, of course: gyms could start selling home equipment and online training sessions, for example. We’ll see an explosion of new services in what’s already been dubbed the “shut-in economy.” One can also wax hopeful about the way some habits might change—less carbon-burning travel, more local supply chains, more walking and biking.
But the disruption to many, many businesses and livelihoods will be impossible to manage. And the shut-in lifestyle just isn’t sustainable for such long periods.
So how can we live in this new world? Part of the answer—hopefully—will be better health-care systems, with pandemic response units that can move quickly to identify and contain outbreaks before they start to spread, and the ability to quickly ramp up production of medical equipment, testing kits, and drugs. Those will be too late to stop Covid-19, but they’ll help with future pandemics.
In the near term, we’ll probably find awkward compromises that allow us to retain some semblance of a social life. Maybe movie theaters will take out half their seats, meetings will be held in larger rooms with spaced-out chairs, and gyms will require you to book workouts ahead of time so they don’t get crowded.
Ultimately, however, I predict that we’ll restore the ability to socialize safely by developing more sophisticated ways to identify who is a disease risk and who isn’t, and discriminating—legally—against those who are.
We can see harbingers of this in the measures some countries are taking today. Israel is going to use the cell-phone location data with which its intelligence services track terrorists to trace people who’ve been in touch with known carriers of the virus. Singapore does exhaustive contact tracing and publishes detailed data on each known case, all but identifying people by name.
We don’t know exactly what this new future looks like, of course. But one can imagine a world in which, to get on a flight, perhaps you’ll have to be signed up to a service that tracks your movements via your phone. The airline wouldn’t be able to see where you’d gone, but it would get an alert if you’d been close to known infected people or disease hot spots. There’d be similar requirements at the entrance to large venues, government buildings, or public transport hubs. There would be temperature scanners everywhere, and your workplace might demand you wear a monitor that tracks your temperature or other vital signs. Where nightclubs ask for proof of age, in future they might ask for proof of immunity—an identity card or some kind of digital verification via your phone, showing you’ve already recovered from or been vaccinated against the latest virus strains.
We’ll adapt to and accept such measures, much as we’ve adapted to increasingly stringent airport security screenings in the wake of terrorist attacks. The intrusive surveillance will be considered a small price to pay for the basic freedom to be with other people.
As usual, however, the true cost will be borne by the poorest and weakest. People with less access to health care, or who live in more disease-prone areas, will now also be more frequently shut out of places and opportunities open to everyone else. Gig workers—from drivers to plumbers to freelance yoga instructors—will see their jobs become even more precarious. Immigrants, refugees, the undocumented, and ex-convicts will face yet another obstacle to gaining a foothold in society.
Moreover, unless there are strict rules on how someone’s risk for disease is assessed, governments or companies could choose any criteria—you’re high-risk if you earn less than $50,000 a year, are in a family of more than six people, and live in certain parts of the country, for example. That creates scope for algorithmic bias and hidden discrimination, as happened last year with an algorithm used by US health insurers that turned out to inadvertently favor white people.
Do you trust millions of your fellow citizens to do the right thing in a pandemic?
By Lionel Laurent 27 March 2020, 20:09 GMT+13
Lionel Laurent is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering Brussels. He previously worked at Reuters and Forbes.
Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg is known for showing no mercy to world leaders on carbon emissions. This week, she issued a different kind of call: To stay at home and slow the spread of Covid-19. “Follow the advice from experts and your local authorities... Remember to always take care of each other,” she wrote on Instagram, after she and her father experienced symptoms associated with the new coronavirus disease.
Under her country’s rules, she couldn’t be tested for Covid-19, and she technically doesn’t belong to a group that’s at risk — yet the 17-year-old used her platform to warn young people of the “enormous responsibility” they had in not spreading the disease to others.
The teenage Thunberg's advice is harder-hitting than her own government’s. Sweden — ranked the most “free” country in the world along with Finland and Norway — is dealing with a virus that’s seen swathes of Europe and the U.S. impose draconian lockdowns to force people to self-isolate.
The 10 million-strong Swedish population looks no more immune to it than its neighbors: Sweden has 2,510 cases and 42 deaths, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, compared with 2,916 cases and 12 deaths in Norway and 2,014 cases and 34 deaths in Denmark. Yet the Danes have shut schools and many businesses, banned large gatherings, and handed the government sweeping emergency powers; Sweden has gone down a more laissez-faire route. Schools, bars and cafes are still open. Social distancing is recommended, but only those aged over 70 or otherwise at risk are asked to stay home.
Why would a country take such a relaxed stance amid warnings of a brewing “storm” of hospitalized patients in Stockholm, where the military is helping out? There may be some economic self-interest at work. Sweden’s open and trade-dependent economy is already facing its worst recession in living memory, and its leaders probably don’t want to crush domestic demand on top of that. Swedish industrialist Jacob Wallenberg has warned that lockdowns can lead to 20%-30% unemployment rates.
But public trust is clearly at play, too. Sweden’s health authorities are highly politically independent — if their official view is that a lockdown is unnecessary, that resonates. Unlike in the U.K., where public fears played a big role in reversing a similar position held by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, some Swedes still seem more worried by the breakdown of order that shutting schools or panicked policy might provoke. There’s trust in the government, but also trust in other citizens to do the right thing.
Still, as inspiring as it may be to imagine 10 million people independently looking out for each other in a pandemic, there are some pretty glaring risks involved.
The problem with the Swedish strategy is twofold. First: It looks a lot like “wait and see,” as Torbjorn Isaksson, an analyst at Nordea in Stockholm, puts it. This isn’t just a bet on behavioral science but on viral science, namely how the infection curve will progress. Sweden seems to be hoping that the virus’s spread and severity won’t be as bad as the (admittedly divergent) worst-case scenarios; that hospitals won’t buckle under the pressure; and that existing social-distancing guidelines will be enough. “I’m deeply concerned,” virology professor Fredrik Elgh told state broadcaster SVT. Epidemiologist Joacim Rocklov told the FT it was “a huge experiment” that could go “crazily” wrong. Mathematician Marcus Carlsson, less politely, said it amounted to “Russian roulette.”
A wait-and-see approach might protect the economy and preserve social trust, but it isn’t leading to proactive alternatives that have worked elsewhere. For example, countries in Asia that controlled their outbreak without resorting to lockdowns — such as South Korea — radically stepped up testing, tracing and targeted quarantines as a more precise alternative method to slow the virus’s spread. Sweden has deployed tests but, on a per-capita basis, South Korea, Germany and Austria have done more, according to estimates compiled by Our World In Data.
The second problem is that, if the outbreak gets worse, trust in the individual may end up being a fragile and finite resource. One poll by newspaper Svenska Dagbladet this week suggested just over half of Swedes think the response has been “well balanced” — but that doesn’t seem so high considering that policy approval ratings soared to 93% in the U.K. and France after lockdowns were imposed. Far from the positivity of Thunberg’s post, a lot of social-media vitriol has been directed against the chief adviser in charge of Sweden’s coronavirus response. There’s a real chance that Sweden ends up shifting course with harder measures, only far too late, exposing it to all the costs it sought to avoid. On a year-to-date basis, in U.S. dollar terms, the Stockholm OMX benchmark equity index is down 24%, not far off the Euro Stoxx 50’s 27% fall.
Sweden is right to have resisted some of the other excessive and counterproductive measures seen elsewhere in Europe, such as arbitrary border closures that curb the flow of goods and people in a region that would benefit from more collective action. But there comes a time when even free societies need clear, strong direction from their leaders. Sweden would be well advised to avoid having its best-known teenager putting it to shame.
Modified: 28/03/2020 - 19:55
Minsk fans at Saturday's derby against Dinamo
As the rest of Europe shuts up shop to combat the new coronavirus, Belarus remains resolutely open for business.
Restaurants in the former Soviet Republic continue to serve food, and the country's football league plays on.
Despite being at the door of a Europe grappling with the deadly COVID-19, life goes on here more or less unchecked.
The Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko has dismissed the global health crisis as a "psychosis", and refuses to follow the example of much of the globe by imposing a lockdown.
With less than 100 positive cases and no deaths in Belarus, Lukashenko this week suggested "there shouldn't be any panic" over the virus.
He encouraged his citizens to work on the land.
"There, the tractor will heal everyone. The fields heal everyone," suggested the straight-talking former collective farm director who assumed power in 1994.
On Saturday at an ice hockey gala match he went further, saying that "it was better to die a dignified death than live on your knees".
And so, in stark contrast to all the leagues elsewhere on the European continent, the Belarus championship, like the country's tractors, ploughs on, undeterred.
Saturday's upset win by home side Mozyr over the country's top team BATE Borisov was watched by several thousand fans, and screened live on Russian television.
In the capital, FK Minsk's humble ground was half full for the derby against Dinamo, fans behind both goals ending the game shirtless.
One fan, Igor, 33, told AFP: "Even if we've turned up here, we try to self-isolate, we came by car, we wash our hands 10 times."
He expressed concern at the complacency displayed by some of his fellow supporters.
"It's as if they aren't aware of anything, they go here and there, they're laughing."
- Thermal cameras -
Special measures have been put in place nonetheless including thermal cameras to check the temperature of fans as they enter stadia which are disinfected twice a day.
Those precautions satisfied another fan, Ludmila, a 55-year-old school teacher who said that "people who are ill won't be here".
"We've taken all the measures recommended by the Sports Ministry. All those who are in contact with fans... are supplied with gloves," Belarus football federation spokesman Alexsandr Aleinik told AFP.
Despite the apparent lack of urgency, since Tuesday there has been a shift in tone.
In a meeting with the Chinese ambassador Lukashenko asserted that his country was "controlling very seriously" the situation.
And newspapers and state television began to talk about the pandemic which has now killed more than 25,000 people.
But they stick to the line that a general lockdown is not the solution.
Minsk has become quieter over the past few days, over 65s are encouraged to stay indoors, while pupils are authorised not to attend school.
During rush hour, trains on the metro underground are not as full as usual, numerous companies are allowing staff to work from home.
But bars, cafes and shops remain steadfastly open, without any self-distancing protocol advice for their customers.
Ivan, an employee of a new technology company, has been working from home for the past three weeks.
Yet despite that precaution he meets up with his friends every evening "at the gym or in a cafe".
The authorities justify the lax health regime by the strict confinement of those who have tested positive.
Deputy Health Minister Elena Bogdan says that anyone who has the virus or is showing virus-like symptoms is isolated and hospitalised.
And those they have been in contact with are placed in quarantine.
The country's opposition denounces the official approach.
"The authorities are preparing enormous savings on pensions," opposition minister Mikola Statkevitch said caustically in a video message.
He was alluding to the way the coronavirus has taken a devastating toll on the world's older population.
Another reason for the absence of the draconian measures adopted elsewhere, according to analysts: the country is already in economic difficulty creating tensions with its key ally, Russia.
"And with the global slowing down the situation is even worse," observed analyst Artyom Shraibman.
"Seemingly Lukashenko has decided that it would be suicidal to halt the economy," he said.
The 100-page federal plan laid out a grim prognosis and outlined a response that would activate agencies across the government.
Peter BakerEileen Sullivan
By Peter Baker and Eileen Sullivan
March 17, 2020
WASHINGTON — A federal government plan to combat the coronavirus warned policymakers last week that a pandemic “will last 18 months or longer” and could include “multiple waves,” resulting in widespread shortages that would strain consumers and the nation’s health care system.
The 100-page plan, dated Friday, the same day President Trump declared a national emergency, laid out a grim prognosis for the spread of the virus and outlined a response that would activate agencies across the government and potentially employ special presidential powers to mobilize the private sector.
Among the “additional key federal decisions” listed among the options for Mr. Trump was invoking the Defense Production Act of 1950, a Korean War-era law that authorizes a president to take extraordinary action to force American industry to ramp up production of critical equipment and supplies such as ventilators, respirators and protective gear for health care workers.
“Shortages of products may occur, impacting health care, emergency services, and other elements of critical infrastructure,” the plan warned. “This includes potentially critical shortages of diagnostics, medical supplies (including PPE and pharmaceuticals), and staffing in some locations.” P.P.E. refers to personal protective equipment.
The plan continued: “State and local governments, as well as critical infrastructure and communications channels, will be stressed and potentially less reliable. These stresses may also increase the challenges of getting updated messages and coordinating guidance to these jurisdictions directly.”
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Federal civil rights office rejects rationing medical care based on disability or age.
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The plan, which was unclassified but marked “For Official Use Only // Not For Public Distribution or Release,” was shared with The New York Times as Mr. Trump escalated his efforts to curb the spread of the virus. After weeks of playing down the seriousness of the pandemic, saying it would miraculously disappear, Mr. Trump began shifting to a more sober tone during a news conference on Friday announcing the national emergency.
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Much of the plan is bureaucratic in nature, describing coordination among agencies and actions that in some cases have already been taken, like urging schools to close and large events to be canceled. But its discussion of the Defense Production Act came as lawmakers and others urged Mr. Trump to invoke its powers.
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Trump Slowly Enlisting More Agencies in ‘Whole of Government’ Response to Virus
“While the administration’s response has so far lacked the urgency this crisis has called for, there are still steps you can take to mitigate the damage,” Senator Bob Menendez, Democrat of New Jersey, wrote in a letter to Mr. Trump on Tuesday. “Invoking the powers vested in the DPA will enable the federal government to step up and take the type of aggressive steps needed in this time of uncertainty.”
Another letter sent last week by 57 House Democrats led by Representative Andy Levin of Michigan made similar points: “During World War II, our country adapted to the demands of the time to produce mass quantities of bombers, tanks, and many smaller items needed to save democracy and freedom in the world. We know what the demands of this time are, and we must act now to meet these demands.”
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Senator Jack Reed, Democrat of Rhode Island, said that Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper told him on Tuesday that the Pentagon would provide federal health workers with five million respirator masks and 2,000 specialized ventilators. “The American public is on wartime footing in terms of battling the spread of this disease, and the Pentagon has to be part of the effort to help protect the health and safety of the American people,” Mr. Reed said.
But Mr. Trump said on Tuesday that he was not ready to invoke the Defense Production Act. “We’re able to do that if we have to,” he told reporters. “Right now, we haven’t had to, but it’s certainly ready. If I want it, we can do it very quickly. We’ve studied it very closely over two weeks ago, actually. We’ll make that decision pretty quickly if we need it. We hope we don’t need it. It’s a big step.”
Passed in 1950 shortly after American troops went to war defending South Korea against an invasion from North Korea, the Defense Production Act was based on powers used during World War II and authorized the president to require businesses to prioritize and accept contracts necessary for national defense.
Over the years, its scope has been expanded to include domestic preparedness and national emergencies. A president can make direct loans or loan guarantees and purchase commitments, subsidies or other incentives to influence industry to help in times of crisis.
Other key decisions outlined as options for the president include distributing medical supplies and equipment from the Strategic National Stockpile, providing money to states to help them meet demands caused by the coronavirus outbreak and prioritizing the distribution of essential resources to focus on areas most in need.
ZURICH, March 29 (Reuters) - Novartis Chief Executive Vas Narasimhan said his Sandoz generics unit's malaria, lupus and arthritis drug hydroxychloroquine is the company's biggest hope against the coronavirus, Swiss newspaper SonntagsZeitung reported on Sunday.
Novartis has pledged to donate 130 million doses and is supporting clinical trials needed before the medicine, which U.S. President Donald Trump also has been promoting, can be approved for use against the coronavirus.
Other companies including Bayer and Teva have also agreed to donate hydroxychloroquine or similar drugs, while Gilead Sciences is testing its experimental drug remdesivir against coronavirus.
"Pre-clinical studies in animals as well as the first data from clinical studies show that hydroxychloroquine kills the coronavirus," Narasimhan told the newspaper. "We're working with Swiss hospitals on possible treatment protocols for the clinical use of the drug, but it's too early to say anything definitively."
He said the company is currently looking for additional active drug ingredients to make more hydroxychloroquine, should clinical trials be successful.
Further views and information about the 2020 Virus outbreak and is offered. The more digging I have done the worse this looks and smells. The virus is far less deadly than we are being led to believe so this is being used as a covert cover for something more sinister.
I'm certain we are being lied too and hoodwinked as we march peacefully and quietly into Medical martial Law and have many civil liberties taken away for no good reason other than a power grab.
Once your freedoms are taken it could prove hard to recover them.
What I would be doing for treatments and prevention do not underestimate the power of baking soda (sodium bicarb) NOT baking powder. Also Vitamins C (large doses), D and E, selenium and Zinc. Sauerkraut. Colloidal silver for your nose, sinus, throat and nebulise for your lungs. Plenty of rest, fresh air and sunlight (vitamin D). Lots of laughter and avoid stress.
Cut out sugar. Intermittent fasting is also great. You can look at the Wim Hof breathing method as well. Keep your immune system and elimination pathways in good shape.
My book:
I have written a book on health and well-being. Nothing mainstream in here, just things I've observed and worked out that have helped me and others who have used the ideas.
Prince Charles 'may have been infectious to Queen' says expert
ITV's royal correspondent Chris Ship said it was "too close for comfort" to suggest that Prince Charles became infectious just 12 hours after he met the Queen. Prince Charles contracted the coronavirus after suffering from mild symptoms since last weekend. He tested positive for the virus on Tuesday and has been in strict quarantine ever since.
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There was initial panic that Prince Charles may have infected his mother Queen Elizabeth II.
Charles, who is 71, last met with the Queen on 12th March — only a day before palace medical advisers said it was possible that he became infectious with the virus.
However, it was not clear how the advisors arrived at that assessment and the palace declined to identify the members of the royal medical team.
Royal expert Lizzie Robinson, from ITV, echoed this, saying that Prince Charles became infectious only a day after seeing the Queen.
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royal
ITV's royal correspondent Chris Ship said it was "too close for comfort" (Image: GETTY)
ROYAL
Ship insisted that you cannot rule out that the heir to the British throne was infectious before this (Image: GETTY)
Robinson said: "He saw the Queen briefly on the 12th, and that evening he was at an fundraiser, a relief effort around the Australia bush fires.
"Pictures from that dinner show that the room was absolutely ram-packed full of people, with people surrounding him.
"But people are saying the 13th is a key date because doctors say he was unlikely to be infectious until the 13th."
Despite this, Ship insisted that you cannot rule out that the heir to the British throne was infectious in his last meeting with the Queen.
monarch
A spokesman for the Queen said the monarch “remains in good health" (Image: GETTY)
Coronavirus: Wuhan begins lifting restrictions on residents
He told listeners to ITV's Royal Rota: "It is only a day's difference! The day before he was at Buckingham Palace, he was seeing the Queen.
"12 to 24 hours later he becomes infectious. I don't think you can rule out on medical grounds that he wasn't infectious on the 12th when he saw the Queen.
Joined: 25 Jul 2005 Posts: 18335 Location: St. Pauls, Bristol, England
Posted: Sun Mar 29, 2020 10:34 pm Post subject:
Coronavirus strain related to COVID-19 first spotted THREE YEARS AGO, scientists say
THE strain of coronavirus which has so far infected almost 700,000 people worldwide this year may have been identified by scientists three years ago, a new study has suggested.
By Ciaran McGrath
PUBLISHED: 14:37, Sun, Mar 29, 2020 | UPDATED: 15:45, Sun, Mar 29, 2020
Trade in world’s most-trafficked mammal banned
https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1261940/coronavirus-origin-covid- 19-strain-pangolins-bats-china-wuhan-pandemic
The disease first emerged in the city of Wuhan towards the end of last year - but much is yet to be discovered about the mechanism by which it did so. Last week a 57-year-old trader at Huanan seafood market was tentatively identified as the first person there to contract the illness, on December 10. However, she suggested she did so by using toilet facilities shared with wild meat sellers, meaning the search for Patient Zero - the first person infected after COVID-19 jumped species - continues.
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The study, published in the scientific journal Nature, and co-authored by Yi Guan from the University of Hong Kong and Yan-Ling Hu from Guangxi Medical University in China, seeks to shed light on the mystery.
They write: "Although bats are likely reservoir hosts for SARS-CoV-2, the identity of any intermediate host that might have facilitated transfer to humans is unknown."
Their research had identified COVID-19-related coronaviruses in Malayan pangolins (Manis javanica) which had been seized in anti-smuggling operations in southern China.
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Pangolin coronavirus
A strain similar to COVID-19 was identified in pangolins in 2017, the study suggests (Image: GETTY)
Pangolin coronavirus
Pangolins are prized in some part of the world for their meat and scales (Image: GETTY)
Strikingly, a strain similar to the one which is now rampaging through the human population appears to have been present in five out of a total of 18 Malayan pangolins obtained from anti-smuggling operations in southern China between August 2017 and January 2018.
Additionally, they detected similar coronaviruses in three out of 12 additional animals seized in another Chinese province in 2018, and in another animal in a third province from which a sample was taken in 2019.
The viruses isolated have a sequence similarity of between 85 and 92 percent to SARS-CoV-2, the scientific name for the coronavirus which causes COVID-19.
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Pangolin coronavirus
The international trading of pangolin products has been banned since 2016 (Image: GETTY)
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One sample showed strong similarities in a region which encodes the "spike" of the virus, thereby facilitating entry into host cells.
None of the pangolin coronaviruses identified so far have a specific alternation in their sequences which is seen in human SARS-VoV-2, meaning the role the animals have playing in the transmission of the illness to humans remains unclear.
Nevertheless, the study authors highlight pangolins as the only mammals other than bats to date which have been found to be infected with a SARS-CoV-2-related coronavirus, suggesting they play an important role in the "ecology of coronaviruses".
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Horseshoe bats
Horseshoe bats are seen as a reservoir species - but pangolins could be intermediaries (Image: GETTY)
Coronavirus
Coronavirus (Image: There are now almost 700,000 cases of COVID-19 worldwide)
Their report concludes: "The discovery of multiple lineages of pangolin coronavirus and their similarity to SARS-CoV-2 suggests that pangolins should be considered as possible hosts in the emergence of novel coronaviruses and should be removed from wet markets to prevent zoonotic transmission."
Co-researcher Prof Edward Holmes of the University of Sydney added: “The role that pangolins play in the emergence of Sars-CoV-2 is still unclear.
"However, it is striking that the pangolin viruses contain some genomic regions that are very closely related to the human virus.
“The most important of these is the receptor-binding domain that dictates how the virus is able to attach and infect human cells.”
The pangolin is heavily hunted in China, both for its meat, and its skin and scales, which are used in traditional medicine.
Epidemiologists are keen to identify Patient Zero, the discovery of whom would offer vital clues about the origins of the outbreak and the way in which it has spread.
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While the World Health Organization's first press release about the subject, issued on January 5, indicated it first became aware of the illness on December 30, leaked Chinese Government data has suggested the first case was identified on November 17 at the latest, and possibly significantly earlier.
The study's findings, specifically the confirmation that a strain closely related to SARS-CoV-2 was spotted in 2017, raises the possibility of the illness being in circulation significantly longer than previously believed.
Thousands of people across the UK buy a newspaper or have one delivered every single day. In light of the COVID-19 pandemic causing havoc across the globe, health experts have issued warnings urging members of the public to avoid unnecessarily touching objects which may have come into contact with a large number of people. However, the World Health Organisation has confirmed newspapers will not carry the virus.
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In a statement the international body said: "The likelihood of an infected person contaminating commercial goods is low and the risk of catching the virus that causes COVID-19 from a package that has been moved, travelled, and exposed to different conditions and temperature is also low.”
Reinforcing the statement medical practitioner Doctor Hilary Jones said: "For public health information right now it's important people have access to information through newspapers."
He stressed: "It's possible to deliver newspapers safely.
"If someone physically picks them up and delivers them to a doorstep or letterbox it's safe."
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Newspapers cannot infect people with coronavirus say WHO
Newspapers cannot infect people with coronavirus say WHO (Image: GETTY)
Police officers patrol the streets of the UK
Police officers patrol the streets of the UK (Image: GETTY)
Publishers have also long protected customers and staff through health and safety measures at printing plants, distribution centres, and home delivery.
Virologist George Lomonossoff, of the John Innes independent research centre in Norwich, is an expert in molecular biology and the properties of viruses and underlined the safety of newspapers further.
He said: “Newspapers are pretty sterile because of the way they are printed and the process they’ve been through to be produced.
"Traditionally, people have eaten fish and chips out of them for that very reason."
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The virus is under study in order to develop a vaccine
The virus is under study in order to develop a vaccine (Image: GETTY)
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Royal Mail and Amazon packages should also be safe from COVID-19.
The UK Government has committed to allowing news providers to stay open within new lockdown legislation and confirmed that journalists are recognised as key workers.
Research conducted on the new coronavirus and others similar to it, such as SARS, suggest the virus can spread through particles in the air and via contaminated surfaces.
However, Covid-19 is a respiratory illness and is largely spread via droplets in the air, says John Lednicky, a virologist who studies coronaviruses at the University of Florida.
These are typically expelled when an infected person coughs or sneezes.
The heavier of these will fall to the ground, but smaller, lighter particles can travel further and linger in the air, and are more likely to infect other people.
Mr Lednicky said: “You can inhale those, but they can also come into contact with your eyes."
Even if you keep your distance, there’s a chance of coming into contact with a virus as you walk through a cloud of expelled particles. _________________ --
'Suppression of truth, human spirit and the holy chord of justice never works long-term. Something the suppressors never get.' David Southwell
http://aangirfan.blogspot.com http://aanirfan.blogspot.com
Martin Van Creveld: Let me quote General Moshe Dayan: "Israel must be like a mad dog, too dangerous to bother."
Martin Van Creveld: I'll quote Henry Kissinger: "In campaigns like this the antiterror forces lose, because they don't win, and the rebels win by not losing."
Viruses MUTATE in order to bypass our immune systems. That means NEW VIRUSES EVERY YEAR !
Corona viruses have always been around, and comprise 7-14% of viruses (The Glasgow tests did not cover all estimated approximately 100 viruses types in existence).
If you test for viruses there is a likelihood of coming up with corona virus. According to Dr. Wolfgang Wodarg 7-14% is the likelihood of corona virus appearing in any severe respiratory disease. Up to now we didn’t care which virus cased this flu or that disease.
Suddenly for no good reason….[Brexit? ed.] this one is the deadliest virus ever encountered, according to the media and others who should know better.
In Wuhan (population size of London), there is the biggest safety laboratory in China, and there are a lot of experts on the topic of virology dealing with it all day long. They did tests with a few people, less than 50, looked for the viruses they had and did RNA tests in the laboratory. AND THEY FOUND A NEW TYPE that attracted their attention.
After that they put it in the global data base. This data base is accessible to all the scientists in the world. In Berlin, a test was devised and a Mr Drosten submitted a protocol to the WHO and it was admitted very quickly. It was never validated, and because of the increasing panic it was decided to use this test everywhere. There was no way of knowing if Drosten was dealing with a dangerous virus or not since he did not access the requisite epidemiological data to validate the test properly. Go to the whole population and you find 8-10% get sick annually one way or another, go to sick people you find one set of data, go to hospitals and there you find another with an ever increasing likelihood of finding corona virus.
There were an estimated 43,900 excess deaths in England and Wales last winter, the highest number since 1999, figures show.
The report suggests most of the deaths involved people over 75.
The flu virus was a major cause of the rise, along with an influenza vaccine that was less effective than those of previous years, experts said.
The figures are published by the Office for National Statistics and show there were more deaths in women than men.
'Notably high'
Commenting on the provisional statistics, Claudia Wells, at the ONS, said: "A major cause behind the rise was the flu virus, with estimates showing that the flu vaccine was not as effective this winter compared to previous years.
"While the cold temperature is a factor, most of last winter was warmer than average."
Respiratory illnesses such as influenza and pneumonia were the underlying causes of death in more than a third of all winter cases.
Experts say the strain of flu circulating last year had a greater impact on older people, resulting in a number of care home outbreaks and admissions to intensive care.
Meanwhile public health experts estimate that last year's flu vaccine was effective in 34% of people.
Caroline Abrahams, at Age UK, said: "Behind the figures are many individual tragedies of older people dying needlessly before their time."
The Department of Health said its cold weather plan has set out a serious of actions that can be taken by organisations and individuals to reduce cold-related illnesses and deaths.
A spokesperson added: "Excess winter deaths can be due to a number of causes including cold snaps, flu and other respiratory infections.
"Flu is serious, causing severe illness and deaths in winter. It is vital that older people, pregnant women and those with a health condition get their flu jab this winter.
Fluctuating figures
Large fluctuations in winter death rates are not uncommon and there were lower than average figures in 2013-14.
But despite this experts warn this years figures are "notably high".
The ONS defines excess winter deaths as the number of people whose deaths were registered between December and March, compared with the numbers for the previous three months and the following three months.
For the winter, the death rate was 27% higher.
Figures published last month by the National Records of Scotland show that the seasonal difference (comparing the four winter months with the average of the four-month periods before and after the winter) was 4,060 for winter 2014/15.
According to the Scottish government it was the largest seasonal increase since winter 1999/2000.
The Department of Health says the high number of excess winter deaths in 2014/15 was not unique to the UK, with 14 other European countries also reporting an increase in excess mortality.
Thousands of people across the UK buy a newspaper or have one delivered every single day. In light of the COVID-19 pandemic causing havoc across the globe, health experts have issued warnings urging members of the public to avoid unnecessarily touching objects which may have come into contact with a large number of people. However, the World Health Organisation has confirmed newspapers will not carry the virus.
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In a statement the international body said: "The likelihood of an infected person contaminating commercial goods is low and the risk of catching the virus that causes COVID-19 from a package that has been moved, travelled, and exposed to different conditions and temperature is also low.”
Reinforcing the statement medical practitioner Doctor Hilary Jones said: "For public health information right now it's important people have access to information through newspapers."
He stressed: "It's possible to deliver newspapers safely.
"If someone physically picks them up and delivers them to a doorstep or letterbox it's safe."
PROMOTED STORY
Headlines vs Trendlines: COVID-19 and the economy
Headlines vs Trendlines: COVID-19 and the economy
(CGTN)
CLICK HERE to pledge your support to our brave NHS Heroes
Newspapers cannot infect people with coronavirus say WHO
Newspapers cannot infect people with coronavirus say WHO (Image: GETTY)
Police officers patrol the streets of the UK
Police officers patrol the streets of the UK (Image: GETTY)
Publishers have also long protected customers and staff through health and safety measures at printing plants, distribution centres, and home delivery.
Virologist George Lomonossoff, of the John Innes independent research centre in Norwich, is an expert in molecular biology and the properties of viruses and underlined the safety of newspapers further.
He said: “Newspapers are pretty sterile because of the way they are printed and the process they’ve been through to be produced.
"Traditionally, people have eaten fish and chips out of them for that very reason."
READ MORE: Coronavirus crisis: EU ‘acting for themselves’ as claims expert
The virus is under study in order to develop a vaccine
The virus is under study in order to develop a vaccine (Image: GETTY)
RELATED ARTICLES
Vile spitter who claimed he had coronavirus jailed after targeting ...
Brentwood Sainsbury's shut as team in hazmat suits rush to scene
Royal Mail and Amazon packages should also be safe from COVID-19.
The UK Government has committed to allowing news providers to stay open within new lockdown legislation and confirmed that journalists are recognised as key workers.
Research conducted on the new coronavirus and others similar to it, such as SARS, suggest the virus can spread through particles in the air and via contaminated surfaces.
However, Covid-19 is a respiratory illness and is largely spread via droplets in the air, says John Lednicky, a virologist who studies coronaviruses at the University of Florida.
These are typically expelled when an infected person coughs or sneezes.
The heavier of these will fall to the ground, but smaller, lighter particles can travel further and linger in the air, and are more likely to infect other people.
Mr Lednicky said: “You can inhale those, but they can also come into contact with your eyes."
Even if you keep your distance, there’s a chance of coming into contact with a virus as you walk through a cloud of expelled particles.
Thousands of people across the UK buy a newspaper or have one delivered every single day. In light of the COVID-19 pandemic causing havoc across the globe, health experts have issued warnings urging members of the public to avoid unnecessarily touching objects which may have come into contact with a large number of people. However, the World Health Organisation has confirmed newspapers will not carry the virus.
RELATED ARTICLES
Boy, 14, dies of coronavirus in one of Europe's youngest cases
Coronavirus warning: Dozen who died had no prior health conditions
In a statement the international body said: "The likelihood of an infected person contaminating commercial goods is low and the risk of catching the virus that causes COVID-19 from a package that has been moved, travelled, and exposed to different conditions and temperature is also low.”
Reinforcing the statement medical practitioner Doctor Hilary Jones said: "For public health information right now it's important people have access to information through newspapers."
He stressed: "It's possible to deliver newspapers safely.
"If someone physically picks them up and delivers them to a doorstep or letterbox it's safe."
PROMOTED STORY
Headlines vs Trendlines: COVID-19 and the economy
Headlines vs Trendlines: COVID-19 and the economy
(CGTN)
CLICK HERE to pledge your support to our brave NHS Heroes
Newspapers cannot infect people with coronavirus say WHO
Newspapers cannot infect people with coronavirus say WHO (Image: GETTY)
Police officers patrol the streets of the UK
Police officers patrol the streets of the UK (Image: GETTY)
Publishers have also long protected customers and staff through health and safety measures at printing plants, distribution centres, and home delivery.
Virologist George Lomonossoff, of the John Innes independent research centre in Norwich, is an expert in molecular biology and the properties of viruses and underlined the safety of newspapers further.
He said: “Newspapers are pretty sterile because of the way they are printed and the process they’ve been through to be produced.
"Traditionally, people have eaten fish and chips out of them for that very reason."
READ MORE: Coronavirus crisis: EU ‘acting for themselves’ as claims expert
The virus is under study in order to develop a vaccine
The virus is under study in order to develop a vaccine (Image: GETTY)
RELATED ARTICLES
Vile spitter who claimed he had coronavirus jailed after targeting ...
Brentwood Sainsbury's shut as team in hazmat suits rush to scene
Royal Mail and Amazon packages should also be safe from COVID-19.
The UK Government has committed to allowing news providers to stay open within new lockdown legislation and confirmed that journalists are recognised as key workers.
Research conducted on the new coronavirus and others similar to it, such as SARS, suggest the virus can spread through particles in the air and via contaminated surfaces.
However, Covid-19 is a respiratory illness and is largely spread via droplets in the air, says John Lednicky, a virologist who studies coronaviruses at the University of Florida.
These are typically expelled when an infected person coughs or sneezes.
The heavier of these will fall to the ground, but smaller, lighter particles can travel further and linger in the air, and are more likely to infect other people.
Mr Lednicky said: “You can inhale those, but they can also come into contact with your eyes."
Even if you keep your distance, there’s a chance of coming into contact with a virus as you walk through a cloud of expelled particles.
Joined: 30 Jul 2006 Posts: 6060 Location: East London
Posted: Mon Mar 30, 2020 5:53 pm Post subject:
I don't know if this has been covered, but here it is anyhow:
'China’s Coronavirus: A Shocking Update. Did The Virus Originate in the US?':
https://www.globalresearch.ca/china-coronavirus-shocking-update/570519 6 _________________ 'And he (the devil) said to him: To thee will I give all this power, and the glory of them; for to me they are delivered, and to whom I will, I give them'. Luke IV 5-7.
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