Coronavirus COVID-19 Thread

[NaffNaffBobFace]

COVID Catharsis Corner - Reports from around the world from today, Saturday 9th of Janurary:

- World: 89,246,327 Confirmed cases and 1,919,703 confirmed deaths.

- World: Passes 89 million cases, we passed 88 million yesterday meaning 1 million more cases in the last 1 day.

- UK: Passes 80,000 confirmed deaths, it passed 70k on the 25th of December meaning 10,000 new deaths in the last 14/15 days - Incidentally, back in the early days of the pandemic 80k fatalities was originally indicated to be the very worst of the very worst case scenarios.

- UK: Property investment company The Hacking Trust contacted doctors surgeries offering £5000 for unused doses of vaccine, giving the impression that they were attempting to jump the queue... They defended their actions saying it "offered charitable donations to staff or surgeries in this difficult time for any vaccines which were unused. We had heard that some vaccines were being unused due to missed appointments. We would apologise that our good intentions have been misinterpreted."

- UK: Government advises the population to "Act like you have got the virus" as experts indicate national lockdown may not be enough and measures may have to be tightened further.

- UK: 12 arrested at Lockdown Protest in London.

- UK: Queen Elizabeth II and husband Prince Philip receive first dose of vaccine.

- Wales: Police turn back more than 100 cars from the Beuaty Spot called Moel Famau, despite warnings on the road to the area including signs that said "Road Closed".

- France: Hotspot of 21 cases of UK variant found Marseille.

- India: Indicates vaccine rollout will proceed on the 16th of January.

 

[NaffNaffBobFace]

COVID Catharsis Corner - Reports from around the world from today, Sunday 10th of Janurary:

- World: 89,960,893 confirmed cases and 1,931,083 confirmed deaths.

- US: Passes 22 million confirmed cases.

- US: All those in the Capitol building when it was invaded on the 6th advised to seek urgent COVID testing after it emerges someone who sheltered in an undisclosed location with the large group of persons has since tested positive for the virus. No further comment - the conspiracy theories have already begun.

- Brazil: Death toll passes 200,000.

- UK: Some ambulance crews in areas most under pressure from COVID cases report waits of up to 9 hours to hand over patents from their vehicles to hospital wards.

- UK: Community rapid COVID testing of non-symptomatic persons to be opened across all areas of England next week, with workers who are unable to work from home to be prioritized.

- UK: London NHS trust cancels emergency cancer operations to cope with COVID.

- Belgium: Death toll passes 20,000.

- Ireland: Indicates it located 3 cases of the South African COVID variant and has contained it - the UK variant continues to surge.

- Russia: Detects first cases of UK variant in returning traveler at the end of last month.

- Japan: Detects 4 cases of new variant from Brazil in four travelers from Brazil. “At the moment, there is no proof showing the new variant found in those from Brazil is high in infectiousness,”

- UK: I saw an article this morning indicating the NHS is not only under pressure from sick patents, as it currently has 46,000+ staff off sick with COVID-19 adding to the mix of how it can cope with the crisis... however I can no longer find the article so it may have been inaccurate and has been pulled...? [EDIT - Located by Vavrik below, many thanks!]

 

[Vavrik]

I was curious, so I looked... Here might be your missing article, or maybe an article that reports pretty much the same data.

Doctors raise alarm as Covid strikes down NHS workforce

Health service in crisis with 46,000 ill, warns BMA chief as calls grow for tough new lockdown steps

www.theguardian.com

 

[NaffNaffBobFace]

I was curious, so I looked... Here might be your missing article, or maybe an article that reports pretty much the same data.

Doctors raise alarm as Covid strikes down NHS workforce

Health service in crisis with 46,000 ill, warns BMA chief as calls grow for tough new lockdown steps

www.theguardian.com

Many thanks! Yep, same one but I didn't remember the correct number and search though I might could not find it again - I'll edit that correct in the Corner post.

 

[Vavrik]

Many thanks! Yep, same one but I didn't remember the correct number and search though I might could not find it again - I'll edit that correct in the Corner post.

You're very welcome! I want to say, your posts about this have been an incredible source of news for me, and I thank you for that. It's meant a lot.

 

[Michael]

 

[NaffNaffBobFace]

You're very welcome! I want to say, your posts about this have been an incredible source of news for me, and I thank you for that. It's meant a lot.

Thanks for the kind words, no problem I'm just copying what I'm reading if it weren't for the jernos I'd have nothing to tell you

 

[NaffNaffBobFace]

COVID Catharsis Corner - Reports from around the world from today, Monday 11th of January:

- World: 90,435,754 confirmed cases and 1,938,004 confirmed deaths.

- World: Passes 90 million confirmed cases, we passed 89 million yesterday meaning another 1 million cases in the last 1/2 days.

- UK: The county of Essex, and Southend Hospital faces critical Oxygen situation having to reduce the desired blood saturation from 92% to 88%-92% to ensure it can go to all the sick - it is not the supply, but the flow - there is so much demand on the pipes it cannot keep up the sufficient pressure to reach all the lungs it needs to at the required dosage.

- UK: BBC launches major access to education initiative for school children who are not able to go to schools in lockdown and who may otherwise have no access to classes, with upheaval of daytime TV schedules and special silibus programs being created. Professor Brian Cox said "These lessons are curated by experts, teachers and educationalists. This is not just putting your children in front of the television to keep them quiet,"

- Scotland: Criminal Justice system suspends majority of trials to counter COVID cases.

- Northern Ireland: Hospitals call in off duty staff and narrowly avoid having to declare a major incident. “This is not a simple matter of putting up more beds. We need the staff to care for the increased number of patients. Pre-existing staffing pressures and staff absence because of Covid, and other reasons, mean that those staff simply aren’t there,”

- Portugal: Sees record high daily deaths.

- Nigeria: Passes 100,000 confirmed cases.

- Ireland: Republic Of Ireland claims the highest infection rate in the world at 10,100 cases per million people, as UK variant climbs to 45% of if new cases in the country.

- Indonesia: Approves Sinovac vaccine.

- Micronesia: Reports their first COVID case transported in a ship crew member and looses its ranking as one of the last places on earth without the infection. Officials say the case "does not present any immediate risk of the virus spreading to the broader community".

- Belgium: Sees significant rise in cases following Christmas.

- Russia: Announces a trial to test if one dose of Sputnik V coined "Sputnik Light" would be sufficient to offer adequate immunity, to hopefully extend limited supplies around the world.

- China: Half a million people placed in Lockdown in areas of Beijing.

- China: Allows WHO team investigating the source of the pandemic into country.

 

[Aramsolari]

COVID Catharsis Corner - Reports from around the world from today, Monday 11th of January:
- Indonesia: Approves Sinovac vaccine.
- Russia: Announces a trial to test if one dose of Sputnik V coined "Sputnik Light" would be sufficient to offer adequate immunity, to hopefully extend limited supplies around the world.

I wonder whether choice of vaccine type has anything to politics and traditional 'spheres of influence'.

-Former Soviet bloc countries = Sputnik vaccine.
-East Asian countries and poorer Southeast Asian = Sinovac
-Europe = Pfizer/BioNtech
-North America = Pfizer/BioNtech, Moderna
-UK = Pfizer/BioNtech and Oxford/AstraZenaca

Interesting to see which countries pick what!

 

[NaffNaffBobFace]

I wonder whether choice of vaccine type has anything to politics and traditional 'spheres of influence'.

-Former Soviet bloc countries = Sputnik vaccine.
-East Asian countries and poorer Southeast Asian = Sinovac
-Europe = Pfizer/BioNtech
-North America = Pfizer/BioNtech, Moderna
-UK = Pfizer/BioNtech and Oxford/AstraZenaca

Interesting to see which countries pick what!

It is interesting, In some recent Catharsis Corners we saw Iran has banned any vaccine made in the US and UK, then you have places like Brazil which appear to have sampled a little of everything withs a fair share of intreague before proceeding with approvals.

Part of me wonders if there is also a logistic element to it? No point moving tens of millions of vaccine doses that need to be kept below 70 centigrade to a country without the infrastructure to store them, and the vaccine needs of an area are more likely to be designed into vaccines made in that area...?

 

[Aramsolari]

It is interesting, In some recent Catharsis Corners we saw Iran has banned any vaccine made in the US and UK, then you have places like Brazil which appear to have sampled a little of everything withs a fair share of intreague before proceeding with approvals.

Part of me wonders if there is also a logistic element to it? No point moving tens of millions of vaccine doses that need to be kept below 70 centigrade to a country without the infrastructure to store them, and the vaccine needs of an area are more likely to be designed into vaccines made in that area...?

Yeah interesting indeed!

Looks like Iran has been working on their own vaccine.

Not really sure about the efficacy though. Something tells me their vaccine is more for domestic 'theatrics' than anything else. They're certainly a government that wants to be seen as independent to it's own people. Autarkic bravado aside, I'll bet money that they're probably negotiating with friendlier heavyweights like Russia and China for access to their vaccines.

Oh and logistics definitely play a part. Canada is sending the Moderna vaccine to more rural areas (with less deep freeze storage facilities) while the Pfizer one does the heavy work in the cities.

 

[NaffNaffBobFace]

Oh and logistics definitely play a part. Canada is sending the Moderna vaccine to more rural areas (with less deep freeze storage facilities) while the Pfizer one does the heavy work in the cities.

Thinking about it there are probably established medical supplies routes in those places and areas mentioned too? Perhaps the path of least resistance will be taken to begin with (getting the nearest vaccines using routes that already exist) so they can start their vaccination programs ASAP and then once it becomes clear which candidates are most effective / most available there will be other routes created?

Sounds like a herculean task getting the population of the planet vaccinated - and it will be a testament to human ingenuity if humanity pulls this off. This Pandemic has really put in to context what an achievement the eradication of Smallpox was.

 

[NaffNaffBobFace]

COVID Catharsis Corner - Reports from around the world from today, Tuesday 12th of January:

- World: 91,087,170 confirmed cases and 1,950,190 confirmed deaths.

- World: Passes 91 million cases, we passed 90 million yesterday meaning a million more cases in the last 1/2 days.

- US: Three members of Congress so far test positive, after sheltering from the January 6th invasion of the Capitol with someone who later tested positive.

- US: Nearly 9 million citizens have been vaccinated so far.

- US: San Diego Zoo finds COVID infection in several Gorillas.

- Canada: Sherbrooke, Quebec, and couple break COVID curfew rules by going for a walk together between the hours 20:00pm and 05:00am. They tried to skirt the rule, by having the husband on a leash. Walking a dog by a single person is permitted between these hours. They were each fined CA$1,546 (USD$1,212, GBP£893)

- UK: Year end figures reveal largest spike in deaths in the UK since 1940, with 91,000 excess deaths over average.

- UK: Ministry of defense indicates over 14,000 members of the military have been involved in the COVID response so far.
“Our country faces an unprecedented challenge and our Armed Forces are working hand in hand with the NHS, [...] “We will continue to bolster those on the front line as they protect and care for the most vulnerable.”

- UK: Food parcels to support the countries most disadvantaged children and their families worth £30 each found not to contain £30 worth of food, and also "not nutritionally sufficient for children and young people" [...] "Children who rely on free school meals have worse health outcomes than their peers and deserve proper help."

- UK: London, and Police and Firefighters drafted in to drive ambulances.

- Sweden: Hits 500,000 confirmed cases, hospitals reported to be struggling. "We are near the limit for what the healthcare system can handle."

- Switzerland: Approves Moderna vaccine.

- Ukraine: Country asks the EU for help sourcing vaccines, reports indicate it is unwilling to buy from Russia which annexed the area of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.

- Malaysia: Announces a month long state of National Emergency.

- Africa: New South Africa variant spreading much faster than previous strains the country has seen.

- Nigeria: Hospitals run low on Oxygen supplies.

- Lebanon: To introduce a 24 hour curfew for 11 days.

- Taiwan: Sees first locally transmitted cases since 22nd of December.

- China: WHO origins of COVID investigation to begin on Thursday.

- Brazil/India: Brazil signs up to receive unproven Covaxin vaccine candidate which is still in trials.

 

[Aramsolari]

COVID Catharsis Corner - Reports from around the world from today, Tuesday 12th of January:
- Canada: Sherbrooke, Quebec, and couple break COVID curfew rules by going for a walk together between the hours 20:00pm and 05:00am. They tried to skirt the rule, by having the husband on a leash. Walking a dog by a single person is permitted between these hours. They were each fined CA$1,546 (USD$1,212, GBP£893)

I mean...French Canadians are a kinky bunch.

 

[NaffNaffBobFace]

COVID Catharsis Corner - Reports from around the world from today, Wednesday 13th of January:

- World: 91,838,572 confirmed cases and 1,968,343 confirmed deaths.

- US: Sees record high daily new deaths at 4,327.

- UK: Sees record high daily new deaths at 1,564.

- Mexico: Sees record high daily new deaths at 1,314

- UK: This second wave has now seen more deaths than were seen in the first wave, with no sign of the fatality rate ebbing.

- UK: Number of people in hospital with COVID 70% higher than at the highest point in the first wave.

- UK: Death toll in the city of London passes 10,000.

- UK: Mass trial of new COVID treatment involving inhaling Beta Interferon, which the body makes when it is under viral attack, begins 'Early findings suggested the treatment cut the odds of a Covid-19 patient in hospital developing severe disease - such as requiring ventilation - by almost 80%.'

- India: Begins vaccine program.

- Jordan: Begins vaccine program.

- Vatican: Begins vaccine program.

- Brazil/China: Medical trials in Brazil suggest Chinese CoronaVac vaccine candidate is 50% effective.

- Switzerland: Iconic ski race canceled as hot spot of up to 27 cases and counting linked back to one single British tourist.

- Brazil: Brazilian COVID variation found to have mutations to its spikes similar to the UK and South African versions suggesting a higher infection ability.

- US: Bruce Willis admits an error of judgement as he neglects to wear a mask in a Pharmacy "Be safe out there everyone and let's continue to mask up," he went on to say.

- Canada: Ontario area locked down as data indicated cases were working their way toward overwhelming hospitals.

- Philippines: detects its first case of UK variant.

- Albania: 1000 doses of vaccine randomly delivered to the country. The Pfizer inoculations were apparently a gift from a European country.

 

[NaffNaffBobFace]

COVID Catharsis Corner - reports from around the world from today, Thursday 14th of January:

- World: 92,596,375 confirmed cases and 1,984,459 confirmed deaths.

- World: Passes 92 million cases, we passed 91 on Tuesday meaning another million cases in the last 2/3 days.

- US: Passes 23 million cases.

- US: Officials indicate COVID is in full resurgence in all metropolitan areas and “significant, continued deterioration from California across the Sunbelt and up into the south-east, mid-Atlantic and north-east”.

- UK: National Health Service has not been able to maintain standard services, with the waiting list for non urgent hospital treatment now at 4.46 million patents as of the end of November 2020, with doctors describing key services as being "in crisis".

- UK: COVID infection rates in most parts of UK level off or fall under the effect of Lockdown, however still sees 47,525 new cases in the last 24 hours.

- Scotland: Scottish government removes vaccine rollout plan from its website after concerns were raised it contained sensitive information.

- Sweden: Death toll passes 10,000 and sees record high daily new deaths.

- Brazil: Claims emerge that a hospital in city of Manaus ran out of oxygen with the loss of an entire wing of COVID patents. Confirmation has not been received if this is correct.

- France: Introduces nationwide curfew of 6pm to last 15 days.

- China: Sees first COVID death in 8 months.

- Vatican: The pope receives vaccine.

- Japan: Opening of Nintendo theme park suspended as state of emergency continues.

- India: Concerns are raised at the Kumbh Mela religious festival, one of earths largest gathering of humans where Hindus go to bathe in the river Ganges, as attendees observed not following COVID precautions.

- WHO: Origins investigation team has arrived in China and have begun 2 weeks quarantine. They are using this time to plan their investigation.

- Russia: Moscow repoens schools while recognizing cases remain high. “It was not an easy decision to take. But the kids are tired of staying at home,” the Moscow mayor said.

- Australia: A racing pigeon who went missing in USA 2 months ago spotted in Melbourne after traveling 8,000 miles across the pacific ocean. Officials say the bird is a "direct biosecurity risk" and is to be caught and destroyed.

 

[Radegast74]

Well, as expected, the holiday times seem to have led to a huge uptick in the number of COVID-19 cases, at least in the US:

Don't ignore this headline: The pandemic is getting worse. What happens next is up to you | CNN

In the first few weeks of 2021, the US shattered its all-time records for the most Covid-19 infections, hospitalizations and deaths reported in one day. A new variant strain is spreading. And many of those sick of taking precautions are getting sick.

www.cnn.com

@Jolly_Green_Giant how are the hospitals/ERs like by you, right now?

 

[NaffNaffBobFace]

COVID Catharsis Corner - Reports from around the world from today, Friday 15th of January:

- World: 93,363,092 confirmed cases and 1,999,849 confirmed deaths.

- World : Passes 93 million cases, we passed 92 yesterday meaning another million cases in the last 1/2 days.

- World, Breaking News: Confimred COVID deaths pass 2 million as this post goes to press.

- US: President Elect Biden unveils relief package plans worth $1.9 trillion.

- China: Sees highest number of new daily infections since March.

- Europe: Pfizer vaccine deliveries to be temporarily reduced to all countries in Europe so they can increase production for the long run "It is not immediately clear how long it will take for Pfizer to attain maximum production capacity, which will rise from 1.3 to 2 billion doses annually."

- Brazil: Video of a nurse in a hospital in the city of Manaus goes viral as the facility runs out of oxygen to treat the sick: "There is no oxygen and lots of people are dying, if anyone has any oxygen, please bring it to the clinic. There are so many people dying."

- Venezuela: To send Oxygen to Brazil to support struggling hospitals.

- UK: A Brazilian variant of COVID found to be in the UK but might not be the one causing concern.

- UK: Only 10 months after it's first lockdown, UK closes all travel corridors and arrivals will need proof of a negative COVID test at most 72 hours old. Travellers have until 4am on Monday, because why do today what you can do on Monday?

- UK: Economy shrank by 2.6% in November.

- UK: London sends seriously ill COVID patents 300 miles to Newcastle to ease pressure on the Capital.

- UK: Temporary Morgue opened in Ruislip (London) with a capacity of 1,300.

- UK: Report emerges of a medic who saw 8 patents die in a single shift, causing concerns of the mental health impact on medical service personnel.

- Norway: Administers first dose of Moderna vaccine.

- Portugal: Sees record high new daily deaths.

- Indonesia: Sees record high new daily cases.

- Paraguay: Approves SputnikV vaccine.

- Turkey: Vaccinates 500,000 people in just two days.

 

[Jolly_Green_Giant]

@Jolly_Green_Giant how are the hospitals/ERs like by you, right now?

Well I haven't been recently so I honestly wouldn't know. I hope to god I don't have to go to the ER again lol. My uncle who's the fire medic in miami dade hasn't said much either, but he says it's serious. Says he can't believe he sees so many people around here not giving a shit.

I have a best friend who's had the virus now. He said he threw up for about a day, ran a fever, felt like he had the flu and then recovered. The big downside now is that hes lost his sense of taste and smell, that seems to be the most common symptom I'm hearing about. His girlfriend works at an assisted living facility, and she probably got it and brought it home, because she was also sick, as well as their 2 year old daughter. Daughter ran a fever, then recovered in about 2 days, and I don't have any details on the girlfriend. Another friend of mine said she had it, only symptoms were the loss of smell and taste and a runny nose. She eventually regained her senses, but my best friend has not.

A reason why ive been staying away from here and discord and the rest of the internet lately is because ive been pretty bummed out about the death of a friend of mine. Earlier last year it turns out her mother killed herself by overdosing after she lost her job and couldnt deal with the stress that came with it. Her daughter, my friend, killed herself in december and I just found out at the beginning of this month. They were already suffering from their lifes troubles, but the new situation people are asked to deal with can be too much to bear. Just remember if some of you are feeling sanctimonious toward people who are against the lockdowns, that you still have a job, you still have support and you aren't sacrificing much at all while peoples lives are being destroyed. There's two sides to this coin and some people are being asked to sacrifice everything. Meanwhile thank god for walmart and for all the businesses that get to stay open and operate normally while select others are forced to go out of business. Idk what happened with my friends job, as everything here in florida is pretty much open for business as usual, but I guess the reopenings came a bit too late or the opportunities for work are slow to come back. I just wonder if they both would still be alive had they not lost their jobs.


EDIT:

Just to throw this out there so you can see the trend. Hospitals are filling up with covid patients, but looking at the data you'd think we had eradicated influenza. I mention it for obvious reasons. There could be many reasons that disparity exists, I'd just like to see a report or some data explaining what's going on to put my suspicions to rest.

2020-w52-flu-review.pdf (floridahealth.gov)

 

[NaffNaffBobFace]

COVID Catharsis Corner - Reports from around the world from today Saturday 16th of January:

- World: 94,132,992 confirmed cases and 2,015,323 confirmed deaths.

- World: Passes 94 million cases, we passed 93 yesterday meaning another 1 million cases in the last 1 day.

- UK: 11 arrests and 25 fines issued at lockdown protest in Birmingham attended by 150.

- UK: Medical profession calls for legal protection from unlawful killing prosecution as pandemic continues to put pressure on hospitals. Groups including the British Medical Association wrote an open letter to the government saying: With the chief medical officers now determining that there is a material risk of the NHS being overwhelmed within weeks, our members are worried that not only do they face being put in this position but also that they could subsequently be vulnerable to a criminal investigation by the police."

- UK: Reports suggest the COVID spike following Christmas may not have been related to mixing on the 25th, but could possibly be the new UK COVID variant making its presence felt.

- Japan: Second COVID wave linked to the suicide rate raising 16% with women and children disproportionately effected. This is in contrary to the drop of 14% in the rate during the first wave.

- Denmark: Detects first know case of South Africa variant.

- Norway: Series of 23 deaths of extremely ill or frail elderly persons potentially linked to adverse reaction to vaccines.

- Australia: Charter flight of tennis players and staff bound for the Australian Open in Melbourne discovers 2 cases of COVID. Whole plane of passengers to be quarantined for 14 days. The two infected were not tennis players.

- China: To donate 500,000 doses of vaccine to the Philippines.

- Portugal: Critical care close to capacity, with 672 beds across the system and 638 currently occupied.

- Pakistan: Approves emergency use of Oxford University/AstraZeneca vaccine.