Deadly Wuhan Coronavirus

[nivek]

Coronavirus second wave is set to kill 5,700 people a DAY in India: Swamped hospitals turn away patients away while victims suffocate to death on wards amid oxygen shortage - and anyone who delays supplies is threatened with the DEATH penalty

Leading virologist Shahid Jameel today warned that India has still yet to hit the peak of its ferocious second wave, with studies suggesting it may record 500,000 cases per day in the first week of May. India's current fatality rate per 100,000 cases is 1.14 per cent, meaning if the nation reaches this anticipated peak there is the potential for 5,700 deaths per day.

Desperate hospitals across the country are buckling under the strain of this second wave, with many quickly running out of oxygen and being forced to turn stricken patients away due to overcrowding. Harrowing images from a makeshift crematorium in New Delhi today illustrated the extent of the pandemic in India, with Sky News correspondent Alex Crawford describing the situation as the 'tip of an iceberg' to a much larger crisis.

The crematorium was set up outside a hospital in the capital by desperate people who 'cannot cope' with the number of dead - and were forced to say goodbye to their loved ones at an ad hoc funeral pyre site. It comes as the High Court in New Delhi, which is home to some 30million people, today met to impose a strict ruling that if anyone is found to be restricting oxygen supplies to hospitals, they 'will be hanged'.

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[nivek]

New Zealand is the envy of the world as more than 50,000 music fans gather for rock concert while other nations are still gripped by Covid



New Zealand-based band Six60 played to a crowd of 50,000 on Saturday, billed as the world's largest concert since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, which has devastated live music industries, as well as other forms of entertainment in front of live crowds.

Pictures from the event at Auckland's Eden Park stadium showed Singer Matiu Walters grinning as he gazed out over tens of thousands damp but delirious fans. The five-piece group has been playing to huge crowds on its tour of the country where social distancing isn't required after the nation all but stamped out the coronavirus with its stringent lockdown measures.

The small island nation of around 5 million people has been hailed for its successful fight against coronavirus, having essentially eradicated the disease. Out of the almost 3.1 million people who have died as a result of Covid-19 around the world, just 26 have been from New Zealand, which has also registered a remarkably low number of cases - just 2,600 - as of April 24, 2021.

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[nivek]

Chilean AstraZeneca trial saw no cases of blood clots

SANTIAGO (Reuters) -Chilean investigators testing the AstraZeneca-Oxford University COVID-19 vaccination in 2,200 people found no instances of blood clots among participants, they said on Friday.

Dr. Maria Elena Santolaya, from the University of Chile which led the trial, said the study included people of all ages, with 20% of them over 60 years old. "In no age group, among women or men, did we have any blood clotting of any nature," she said.

More than a dozen European countries suspended or restricted use of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine, called Vaxzevria, amid reports of blood clots combined with low platelets in a very small number of people who received it.

On Friday, Chile took delivery of the first 158,400 of a promised 800,000 doses delivered through the COVAX vaccines alliance.

(More on the link)

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[nivek]

Very disturbing revelations from India, very grim, and the virus hasn't peaked yet, it's going to get worse...

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As India hits a million Covid cases in three days, ASHISH SRIVASTAVA's harrowing first-hand account says: Babies are sick and pregnant women dying. I saw bodies outside a hospital

• India has seen more than one million coronavirus cases since Wednesday
• A new variant has seeped so deeply into the community its impossible to avoid
• The country's outbreak is now being described as the most deadly in the world
• The worst affected areas, including New Delhi, Mumbai and the state of Maharashtra, have run out of hospital beds and life-saving oxygen

No one in India is safe. This infection has seeped so deeply into the community that it is impossible to avoid the virus with its new, seemingly more infectious mutations, spreading through entire families like wildfire.

Yesterday, India recorded a record coronavirus death toll for the third day running.

Since Wednesday, there have been more than one million infections in what has now been described as the most deadly outbreak in the world. The worst affected areas, including New Delhi, Mumbai and the state of Maharashtra, have run out of hospital beds and oxygen, the lifesaver that Covid sufferers most desperately need.

And patients are suffocating to death because of the shortage – 21 in a single hospital, it was reported yesterday. The government is now deploying military planes and trains to rush oxygen to the capital while the High Court has ruled anyone found obstructing supplies will face the death penalty.

The first wave, which struck six months ago, proved to be manageable. Younger people were hardly affected. Now, the under-40s are sick too. Two-month-old babies are becoming infected. Pregnant women are dying. Hospitals have largely stopped taking patients. Ambulances are taking a whole day to reach some victims. I've visited the Covid wards in several of New Delhi's biggest state-run hospitals. One, Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital, turned its car park into an intensive care ward. Patients are on stretchers in the corridors. Each bed contains as many as three or four patients, all sharing a single cylinder of oxygen.

Even the most seriously ill, those on ventilators, are having the amount of oxygen in their blood capped at 94 per cent. Normal levels are 95 per cent. Even being admitted is no guarantee they'll be treated. Families are being forced to bring in their own food, medicines and oxygen. There are fights on the streets as relatives desperately battle for any supplies.

People call the virus India's great leveller. No amount of money can secure a bed, or an oxygen cylinder, for dying loved ones.

State and private hospitals alike have been hit equally hard. In the absence of any real government action, as India's officials squabble among themselves over who is to blame for the spiralling crisis, social media is the closest thing anyone has to aid. The smaller hospitals say their oxygen supply is being diverted to bigger units. Some are simply telling patients to go home, that they can't be treated.

(Much more on the link)

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[AD1184]

Iraq Covid hospital fire: 82 dead after 'oxygen tank explodes'

The primary treatment for Covid-19 is to administer oxygen, up to 100% purity. The handling of pure oxygen is dangerous, however, and requires special safety measures, training, equipment and maintenance. Almost everything becomes flammable in the presence of pure oxygen. There have been several mass-casualty accidents owing to oxygen handling in this pandemic.

 

[nivek]

The world is starting to grasp the true toll of India’s Covid-19 crisis

The world is seeing a clearer picture of exactly how seriously Covid-19 is ravaging India. With reports and gutting images emerging from New Delhi’s overrun hospitals and cremation sites, experts say that the death toll is much greater than the 193,000 the government has reported. The country of 1.3 billion is now the global epicenter of the pandemic.

Several countries, including India’s political rivals China and Pakistan, are responding to the humanitarian crisis. Amid expressions of solidarity from world leaders, here’s a list of countries mobilizing to send much needed medical equipment, oxygen, vaccines, and treatments so far.

Australia
Prime minister Scott Morrison says that his government is currently working with India’s to determine how it can assist. The two countries together with the US and Japan, are in a bloc called the Quad, that have pledged to supply a billion doses of the Covid-19 vaccine across Asia.

China
Foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian says that Beijing is “ready to provide support and help according to India’s need.” Suspending old rivalries, they are currently in talks with Indian health officials.

Germany
Germany sent 23 mobile oxygen generation plants for use in military units tending to Covid-19 patients. They’re expected to arrive in India this week.

France
French president Emmanuel Macron expressed readiness to support India through the crisis. Details of how and what he plans to offer have yet to be revealed.

Speaking on behalf of the EU, European Council president Charles Michel echoed Macron’s offer to help. He says they plan to discuss specifics during the India-EU Summit in Brussels on May 8.

Pakistan
The Pakistani government is sending medical equipment to its arch-rival. “As a gesture of solidarity with the people of India in the wake of the current wave of COVID-19, Pakistan has offered to provide relief support to India including ventilators, Bi PAP, digital X ray machines, PPEs, and related items,” a government spokesperson said in an April 25 statement.

Social welfare organization Edhi Foundation is also ready to send a fleet of 50 ambulances manned by Pakistani health professionals to help in India’s pandemic response. They are awaiting clearance from the Modi government.

Saudi Arabia
The Saudi government sent 80 metric tons of liquid oxygen on April 24 via the Indian-owned shipping companies Adani Group and Linde. The first tanks are headed to the port of Mundra.



Singapore
The Indian Air Force picked up four cryogenic oxygen tanks donated by Singapore on April 24.

UK
The UK rushed 140 ventilators and 495 oxygen generators to Delhi, according to the Guardian. Additional aid in the coming weeks is expected.

Prime minister Boris Johnson said that he’s “determined to make sure that the UK does everything it can to support the international community in the global fight against pandemic.”

US
Appearing on ABC News this morning, Anthony Fauci, director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, says the US is mulling sending “oxygen supplies, Covid-19 tests, drug treatments, and personal protective equipment.”

Health experts are also pushing the US to lift the ban on raw materials for vaccine production and redirect its stockpile of AstraZeneca doses to India. Bloomberg reports that the Biden administration is sitting on 20 million doses of the Oxford University developed drug, which has yet to be approved by health regulators. The US has also previously provided $5.9 million in Covid-19 relief to India.

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[nivek]

This virus could seriously cripple India...

I posted this back in March 2020, just over a year it took for Covid to grip India, and I hate to say but I think it's going to get worse before it gets better...The rest of the world needs to do more and quickly...

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[nivek]

Man in Mallorca charged with infecting 22 people with COVID-19

A 40-year-old Spanish man was arrested for intentionally causing injury after allegedly infecting 22 people with COVID-19, according to reports. Spanish police said their investigation began in January after a company on the Mediterranean island of Mallorca reported an employee had "become infected but hidden his illness."

Days before an outbreak, the man showed COVID-19 symptoms but refused his colleagues’ suggestions to go home and self-isolate, police said in a statement.

After work, and showing no improvement, he went for a PCR test before visiting a gym and returning to work the next day. Though his team leaders told him to go home after he allegedly had showed a temperature of more than 104 degrees Fahrenheit, the man refused.

He walked around his workplace, lowering his face mask and coughing on people, saying, "I’m going to infect you all with the coronavirus," according to police.

At the end of the day, his PCR test came back positive.

His colleagues were then tested, with five returning positive results. They in turn infected family members, including three 1-year-old babies, police said. At the gym the man visited, three people tested positive and also infected family members.

None of those infected required hospitalization, police said. A judge charged the man and released him on Saturday evening to await trial, Majorca Daily Bulletin reported.

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[nivek]

Israel examining heart inflammation cases in people who received Pfizer COVID shot

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel's Health Ministry said on Sunday it is examining a small number of cases of heart inflammation in people who had received Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine, though it has not yet drawn any conclusions.

Pfizer said it has not observed a higher rate of the condition than would normally be expected in the general population. Israel's pandemic response coordinator, Nachman Ash, said that a preliminary study showed "tens of incidents" of myocarditis occurring among more than 5 million vaccinated people, primarily after the second dose.

Ash said it was unclear whether this was unusually high and whether it was connected to the vaccine. Most of the cases were reported among people up to age 30.

"The Health Ministry is currently examining whether there is an excess in morbidity (disease rate) and whether it can be attributed to the vaccines," Ash said.

(More on the link)

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[nivek]

Fifty-two passengers on one flight from Delhi to Hong Kong test positive for coronavirus after landing - despite ALL presenting negative tests while boarding



All of the passengers who tested positive flew into Hong Kong on a flight from India's capital, run by Indian airline Vistara on April 4 (Pictured left: A seating plan showing where passengers who have tested positive sat during flight). Hong Kong as a whole has been recording fewer daily new infections than the total number detected on the flight, since it brought a fourth wave of infections under control in January.

Meanwhile in India, the country's healthcare system is collapsing under a devastating second wave of coronavirus that is killing more than 2,800 people a day (top right, bottom right) in the nation that is home to 1.3 billion people. A total of 188 passengers could have been on-board the flight, but Hong Kong authorities did not disclose how many people were on the plane. The positive results have surfaced during the mandatory three-week quarantine period enforced by Hong Kong. It is one of the strictest entry measures in the world.

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[AD1184]

Fifty-two passengers on one flight from Delhi to Hong Kong test positive for coronavirus after landing - despite ALL presenting negative tests while boarding



All of the passengers who tested positive flew into Hong Kong on a flight from India's capital, run by Indian airline Vistara on April 4 (Pictured left: A seating plan showing where passengers who have tested positive sat during flight). Hong Kong as a whole has been recording fewer daily new infections than the total number detected on the flight, since it brought a fourth wave of infections under control in January.

Meanwhile in India, the country's healthcare system is collapsing under a devastating second wave of coronavirus that is killing more than 2,800 people a day (top right, bottom right) in the nation that is home to 1.3 billion people. A total of 188 passengers could have been on-board the flight, but Hong Kong authorities did not disclose how many people were on the plane. The positive results have surfaced during the mandatory three-week quarantine period enforced by Hong Kong. It is one of the strictest entry measures in the world.

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I can think of a couple of explanations why this may be so. One, that is discussed in the article, is that negative Covid test "evidence" can be bought for a price in India. The other, which isn't in the article, is that Hong Kong performs PCR testing at a much higher cycle threshold than the point of origin of the passengers, and so detects more 'positive' cases. As I have mentioned before, viral cell culture is the only way to test for sure, but is non-standard.

 

[AD1184]

India's biggest difficulty at the moment in dealing with Covid appears to be its oxygen supply.

‘This is a total collapse’: India’s healthcare system reels as Covid ravages country

According to sources in the above article, the issue is not specifically the rate of production of oxygen in the country, but the ability to transport it to where it is needed. Despite the pandemic having been going for more than one year, the Indian state has failed to anticipate and to prepare for this eventuality. The security of its oxygen supply in a situation of mass outbreak you would think would have been a scenario they would have considered. India is a developing country, but it does have considerable resources to devote to problems of strategic importance.

It strikes me also that the use of an open-circuit oxygen supply in a medical setting at a time of mass shortage is incredibly wasteful. I believe it is correct that humans metabolize roughly 1/1600th of the volume of air which passes through our lungs (and the part that we consume comes from the oxygen present). When breathing oxygen-enriched air in the hospital, a similar fraction of what is discharged by the hospital's oxygen supply is actually used by the patients receiving it. There is a way to use a larger supply of the oxygen by using what is called a rebreather. The exhaled gas, which contains most of the oxygen that was inhaled, plus a bit of carbon dioxide, is passed through a CO2-scrubbing medium. The result is that you get back breathable gas from that which has been exhaled. These systems are used in spacecraft life support systems, diving, and search-and-rescue applications. There may be good reasons that they are not practical in a hospital setting, although I have read that some anaesthesia machines have the ability to function as rebreathers.

Oxygen generating equipment is also something that can be supplied to hospitals, so that they have oxygen supply self-sufficiency. Currently some hospitals have them, and some do not, even in this country. I would have thought that post-Covid, oxygen generators are essential equipment for any hospital.

 

[nivek]

Despite the pandemic having been going for more than one year, the Indian state has failed to anticipate and to prepare for this eventuality. The security of its oxygen supply in a situation of mass outbreak you would think would have been a scenario they would have considered. India is a developing country, but it does have considerable resources to devote to problems of strategic importance.

On Twitter there had been considerable criticism towards the Indian government over this failure to anticipate and prepare for the eventuality of covid raging through India as it is presently along with their current handling of the situation. ..The Indian government requested to Twitter that they remove all criticism and Twitter agreed and did so and is currently still removing any criticism towards the Indian government on their handling of this crisis and suspending accounts of those who continue to try to post criticism...

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[nivek]

As I have mentioned before, viral cell culture is the only way to test for sure, but is non-standard.

Is it because this form of testing is more expensive and takes longer to get the results?...

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[August]

Pill to treat COVID-19 could be available by year's end: Pfizer CEO

 

[nivek]

More proof Covid is in retreat: PHE figures show cases are down in EVERY region and fewer over-80s are catching the virus than ever - as infections and deaths remain flat with 2,445 positive tests and 22 fatalities



Public Health England's weekly Covid report found just 6.3 per 100,000 people in the most vulnerable age group caught the disease in the week ending April 25, the lowest since surveillance data began last June. The infection rate among over-80s peaked at 623 in mid-January. For over-60s, the rate was 9.1, down from 9.9 the week before and a high of 454 at the peak of the second wave. Both lockdown restrictions and vaccines - which were given to the elderly first - have helped turn the tide on the crisis. Latest figures show another 462,000 second and 134,000 first vaccine doses were dished out on Tuesday. It means more than 34million Britons have had at least one dose and 14m have been fully vaccinated.

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[nivek]

The Biden administration FINALLY announced restricted travel from India, weeks late I have to say, such an under-reaction costs countless lives...On top of that he announces this today but it doesn't take effect until next Tuesday?...WTF

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US to restrict travel from India as 1st American COVID aid begins to arrive

The Biden administration on Friday announced it will restrict travel from India as the first U.S. relief arrived to help the country deal with a fast-growing COVID-19 crisis.

"On the advice of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Administration will restrict travel from India starting immediately," White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement. "The policy will be implemented in light of extraordinarily high COVID-19 caseloads and multiple variants circulating in the India."

Friday's statement said that the restrictions will take effect on Tuesday, May 4.

(More on the link)

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[August]

Scientists working on anti-Covid nasal spray

 

[nivek]

Anxiety drove vaccine reactions in 5 states

It was anxiety — and not a problem with the shots — that caused fainting, dizziness and other short-term reactions in dozens of people at coronavirus vaccine clinics in five states, U.S. health officials have concluded.

Experts say the clusters detailed Friday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are an example of a phenomenon that's been chronicled for decades from a variety of different vaccines. Basically, some people get so freaked out by injections that their anxiety spurs a physical reaction.

“We knew we were going to see this” as mass COVID-19 vaccine clinics were set up around the world, said Dr. Noni MacDonald, a Canadian researcher who has studied similar incidents.

The CDC authors said the reports came in over three days, April 7 to 9, from clinics in California, Colorado, Georgia, Iowa and North Carolina. The investigation was based on interviews with, and reports by, clinic staff.

Many of the 64 people affected either fainted or reported dizziness. Some got nauseous or vomited, and a few had racing hearts, chest pain or other symptoms. None got seriously ill.

All received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, and four of the the five clinics temporarily shut down as officials tried to sort out what was happening. Health officials at the time said they had no reason to suspect a problem with the vaccine itself.

(More on the link)

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[JahaRa]

Anxiety drove vaccine reactions in 5 states

It was anxiety — and not a problem with the shots — that caused fainting, dizziness and other short-term reactions in dozens of people at coronavirus vaccine clinics in five states, U.S. health officials have concluded.

Experts say the clusters detailed Friday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are an example of a phenomenon that's been chronicled for decades from a variety of different vaccines. Basically, some people get so freaked out by injections that their anxiety spurs a physical reaction.

“We knew we were going to see this” as mass COVID-19 vaccine clinics were set up around the world, said Dr. Noni MacDonald, a Canadian researcher who has studied similar incidents.

The CDC authors said the reports came in over three days, April 7 to 9, from clinics in California, Colorado, Georgia, Iowa and North Carolina. The investigation was based on interviews with, and reports by, clinic staff.

Many of the 64 people affected either fainted or reported dizziness. Some got nauseous or vomited, and a few had racing hearts, chest pain or other symptoms. None got seriously ill.

All received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, and four of the the five clinics temporarily shut down as officials tried to sort out what was happening. Health officials at the time said they had no reason to suspect a problem with the vaccine itself.

(More on the link)

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My 18 year old grandson got the J&J vaccine a few weeks ago and he had nausea and dizzyness. He called his mother and she told him to calm down, it was probably anxiety. He did some breathing and then was fine.