Deadly Wuhan Coronavirus

nivek

As Above So Below
Coronavirus deaths almost double in a day in Italy, at least nine European nations see record new cases and financial markets plunge as second wave grips the continent

Angela Merkel has warned Germany is heading for 'disaster' after regional leaders refused to sign off on her tough new coronavirus measures amid surging cases in Europe. Coronavirus deaths almost doubled today in Italy and at least nine countries on the continent saw their highest ever daily infection tallies on Thursday.

Merkel lost her temper with state leaders at late-night talks on Wednesday, telling them: 'What we’ve agreed is not enough to ward off disaster.'It came after they agreed to restrictions including an 11pm curfew for bars and restaurants, 10 person limits and compulsory use of masks in busy outdoor areas.

It comes as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia and Switzerland recorded their highest ever daily case tallies on Thursday.

Increased testing capacities mean that it is impossible to compare these figures to the first wave in the spring but the continent is experiencing increased hospitalisations and deaths.

Italy recorded another 83 deaths, a rise of almost double the 43 fatalities on Wednesday, though still far fewer than at the height of the pandemic when a daily peak of more than 900 fatalities was reached.

The European markets took a hit, dipping by more than two percent, as fears grew over the impacts of further lockdown restrictions.

Germany, which logged a record of 6,638 cases, reported 33 new deaths on Thursday which is triple the figure recorded a week ago, though still less than its European neighbours. But Merkel said: 'If you ask me what it is that worries me, it’s the exponential rate of increase. We have to stop that. Otherwise this won’t end well.' She noted that neighbouring European countries were having to take 'very drastic measures.'

France has reported more than 100 deaths per day on average this week, the UK 110, and Spain 160.

This week has seen the Netherlands close bars and restaurants, and the Czech Republic shut down schools.

The Czech Health Ministry confirmed more than 9,500 new virus cases on Wednesday, over 900 more than the days-old previous record. The government announced Thursday that the military will set up a virus hospital at Prague's exhibition centre. 'We have to build extra capacity as soon as possible,' Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis said. 'We have no time. The prognosis is not good.'

The governor of the German state of Bavaria said his region has received a request to treat Czech COVID-19 patients.

In France, which reported over 22,000 new infections Wednesday, President Emmanuel Macron put 18 million residents in nine regions, including Paris, under a 9pm curfew starting Saturday.

France will deploy 12,000 police officers to enforce the curfew and will spend an additional 1 billion euros ($1.2 billion) to help businesses hit by the new restrictions. 'Our compatriots thought this health crisis was behind us,' Prime Minister Jean Castex said. 'But we can't live normally again as long as the virus is here.'

Just as Macron's government tackles the resurgence of infections, French police on Thursday searched the homes of a former prime minister, the current and former health ministers and other top officials in an investigation into the government's pandemic response.

It was triggered by dozens of complaints over recent months, particularly over shortages of masks and other equipment.

Aurelien Rousseau, director of the Paris region's public health agency, said nearly half of its intensive care beds are now occupied by coronavirus patients, with other hospital beds filling rapidly too.

'It's a kind of spring tide that affects everybody simultaneously,' Rousseau said. 'We had a blind spot in our tracking policies. It was the private sphere, festive events.'

Poland registered a record of nearly 9,000 new cases on Thursday. Masks have been required outdoors since Saturday and strict limits have been imposed on the size of gatherings.

Portugal moved to restrict social gatherings to a maximum of five people, while preparing to make masks mandatory outdoors and to impose fines on those disregarding the rules.

Even Sweden, which has chosen a much-debated approach of keeping large parts of society open, raised the prospect of tougher restrictions. 'Too many don't follow the rules,' Prime Minister Stefan Lofven said. 'If there is no correction here, we must take sharper measures.' He didn't elaborate.

In Germany, Bavaria's outspoken governor, Markus Soeder, hammered home the importance of taking action now, arguing that 'everything that comes later will cost more.'

'I'll even go so far as to say that Europe's prosperity is at stake,' he said.

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nivek

As Above So Below
Today's stats from Worldometer, western countries are seeing a big resurgence of covid as the article a couple of posts back acknowledge...Half of the states in the US have over 1000 new cases today...

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pigfarmer

tall, thin, irritable
I can't wrap my head around other countries right now. More worried about what I have to deal with today.

Around here I see colleges and schools open and then freeze, then start, then freeze. No matter what though, they are operating in some fashion and are not just hunkered down waiting for it all to pass.
 

AD1184

Celestial
Here in Britain we have had the infuriating and somewhat amusing story of one Margaret Ferrier:

Margaret Ferrier - Wikipedia

Ms. Ferrier is a Member of Parliament for the constituency of Rutherglen and Hamilton West, in Scotland. On the 26th of September she took a Covid test, after having noticed symptoms of the virus. That same day she also went to a gym, a beauty salon and went shopping. The following day she attended a mass with 50 other parishioners at a Catholic church in Glasgow. The day after that she boarded a train from Scotland to attend the Houses of Parliament in Westminster and spoke at a debate there in the evening. She received a positive result from her test that same evening. She then boarded another train to return to Scotland the following day, and 800 mile round trip.

Margaret Ferrier: Covid breach MP 'went to church while showing symptoms'

She had been up in arms when it emerged that Boris Johnson's adviser Dominic Cummings had travelled to a second home when he was experiencing coronavirus symptoms in breach of lockdown regulations last spring. She had also criticized calls to bring MPs back to Westminster as being 'reckless'. Perhaps she was determined to prove the latter point?


Rutherglen MP calls for Dominic Cummings to resign

She has been suspended by the Scottish National Party and is being asked by members of her constituency and her party to resign her seat, but has indicated that she will not do so. Nicola Sturgeon, leader of the SNP, inadvertently referred to her as 'Margaret Covid' during a press conference, which I think is an apt nickname.

Labour ready to field candidate against Covid shame MP Margaret Ferrier

She justifies her refusal to resign by claiming that the virus made her act out of character.

Margaret Ferrier: Covid MP says virus 'makes you act out of character'
 

Dejan Corovic

As above, so bellow

Great idea. And once the epidemic is gone, it can be worn around the waist as a men's swim briefs.

Now, we shouldn't stop being obsessed with politics, just because we got used to living with the epidemic. Here is this great article about the Swedish "method" of dealing with the pandemic. Apparently, 6,000 people died over there. But a question I am asking is not about the pandemic, but should the Swedish minister for pandemics be charged with manslaughter since he effectively killed 6,000 of his own people. Anders Tegnell appears blissfully impervious to any feeling of guilt, in spite of his method effectively killing six times more of his own people, or 590 people per million, while in Germany only 113 people per million died.

Once we start comparing the governments, some performed better than others and the question is should incompetent officials be punished. I mean, we are not talking about questions of taste, but about human lives.

My question is, should underperforming public officials be punished? If the government was a business, these people would be thrown out onto a street.

‘It’s been so, so surreal.’ Critics of Sweden’s lax pandemic policies face fierce backlash
 
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nivek

As Above So Below
The US is leading the world in new cases and new deaths again today, it's no wonder, earlier today I drove to town to the Walmart and there were roughly only 30 percent of the customers that I saw wearing masks, the other 70 percent were not...

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nivek

As Above So Below
Doesn't mention Australia. We are doing better than any other country beating this thing and we don't even rate a mention ? Typical.

I did not copy the entire list of countries which is why you don't see Australia, I only took a screen shot of the countries that currently have the most problems with covid...

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nivek

As Above So Below
Five South Koreans die after getting flu shots, stirring coronavirus vaccine fears

(Excerpt)

Five people have died after getting flu shots in South Korea in the past week, authorities said, raising concerns over the vaccine’s safety just as the seasonal inoculation programme is expanded to head off potential Covid-19 complications.

Authorities said there was no reason to believe the deaths were linked to the vaccine but an investigation, including post mortems, was under way.

“It makes it hard for us to put out a categorical statement,” Vice Health Minister Kim Gang-lip told a briefing on Wednesday about the deaths, which include a 17-year-old boy and a man in his 70s.

Coming just weeks after the roll-out of the national vaccine programme was suspended over safety worries, the deaths have dominated headlines in South Korea.

Officials last month announced plans to procure 20 per cent more flu vaccines for the winter than the previous year to inoculate 30 million people in a bid to prevent the health system being overloaded by patients with flu and Covid-19 exposure.

However, the start of a free jab programme for around 19 million eligible people was suspended for three weeks after it was discovered that some 5 million doses, which need to be refrigerated, had been exposed to room temperature while being transported to a medical facility.


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