Coronavirus - worldwide breaking news, discussion, stats, updates and more

[Steel Icarus]

Ever heard of a thumbnail? There is text on it.

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Content-free posts are not permitted. Posts containing nothing more than links to websites or video files are not permitted. Please explain the nature and relevance of the linked content as a courtesy to users.

 

[elbows]

Not much time to talk about WHO politics and 'diplomacy' these days, but at least I got a chance to do that earlier in the pandemic. And I should file this here:

Senior WHO adviser appears to dodge question on Taiwan's Covid-19 response

Canadian Bruce Aylward, who visited Wuhan in February, appeared to hang up or be cut off when pressed on Taipei’s record

www.theguardian.com

 

[elbows]

After the changing of the system, it looks like they are back to 2pm for the daily info release including deaths. They might even manage to stick to this schedule from now on, since they have increased the amount of hours they have between the end of the death reporting period and actually reporting the number to the public.

Well so much for that theory, I've not seen any numbers for today yet.

 

[weltweit]

I gather 2 UK flights from Peru with UK Nationals have now arrived back in the UK.

FCO estimates there may be as many as a million Britons still abroad.

 

[bimble]

Well so much for that theory, I've not seen any numbers for today yet.

Think they're out now?
"The number of people who have died in England after contracting coronavirus now stands at 1,284 – a rise of 159 from yesterday – NHS England has said.
The patients were aged between 32 and 98 years old and all but four, aged between 56 and 87 years old, had underlying health conditions, according to the PA news agency."(guardian)

 

[weltweit]

Well so much for that theory, I've not seen any numbers for today yet.

Is there any logic to their current system?

 

[bimble]

Victor Orban has gone for the full authoritarian power grab. Maybe he is just the first .

 

[elbows]

Is there any logic to their current system?

They probably suffer from specific delays, reporting issues, system issues and perhaps also staffing issues. I keep hoping it will settle down.

 

[weltweit]

Apparently Singapore also does not have a lockdown.

 

[editor]

Religion. FFS.

Churchgoers all over world come to terms with physical distancing advice

Services from Moscow to Rio go ahead as some clerics disregard coronavirus risk

www.theguardian.com

 

[weltweit]

Religion. FFS.

Churchgoers all over world come to terms with physical distancing advice

Services from Moscow to Rio go ahead as some clerics disregard coronavirus risk

www.theguardian.com

Indeed, in one of the TV bulletins I watched yesterday there were a couple of Italian women squeezing themselves into a tiny chapel. One of them said it was impossible to be infected in a church, and she was … a doctor

 

[weltweit]

Spain: lockdown is intensified, unessential workers are not allowed to travel to their workplace and have to stay at home.

 

[weltweit]

In NY a hospital is setting up tents in Central Park to treat covid-19 infected patients.

 

[David Clapson]

Don't worry, a cure has been found. It definitely works in the Yoonited States, and no doubt we can get it here if we pay up.

 

[cupid_stunt]

Fucking nutters.

 

[weltweit]

Sweden perseveres with its zero restrictions, wonder for how much longer, Worldometer reports 4,028 cases and 146 deaths.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Is there any logic to their current system?

tbf I'd rather they were delayed a bit than getting it wrong. They are releasing figures for each bit of Britain separately, but England is a big place with lots of local reporting to collate. btw the reason Germany updates several times a day is because each state reports separately. The German reporting appears to be very regular, unsurprisingly. German figures continue to look very promising.

 

[MrSki]

Good to see that some countries are giving help where needed. Shame the UK lacks friends.

 

[andysays]

Don't worry, a cure has been found. It definitely works in the Yoonited States, and no doubt we can get it here if we pay up.

Can we please keep this sort of stuff off the serious threads.

There are plenty of Looney Tunes threads if people really must post this nonsense

 

[weltweit]

Coronavirus: Countries reject Chinese-made equipment

A number of European governments have rejected Chinese-made equipment designed to combat the coronavirus outbreak.

Thousands of testing kits and medical masks are below standard or defective, according to authorities in Spain, Turkey and the Netherlands.
..
On Saturday, the Dutch health ministry announced it had recalled 600,000 face masks. The equipment had arrived from a Chinese manufacturer on 21 March, and had already been distributed to front-line medical teams.

Dutch officials said that the masks did not fit and that their filters did not work as intended, even though they had a quality certificate,
..
Spain’s government encountered similar problems with testing kits ordered from a Chinese company.

It announced it had bought hundreds of thousands of tests to combat the virus, but revealed in the following days that nearly 60,000 could not accurately determine if a patient had the virus.

The Spanish embassy in China tweeted that the company behind the kits, Shenzhen Bioeasy Biotechnology, did not have an official license from Chinese medical authorities to sell its products.

There is a lot more in the article from: Countries reject Chinese-made equipment

 

[elbows]

Sweden perseveres with its zero restrictions, wonder for how much longer, Worldometer reports 4,028 cases and 146 deaths.

It is not zero restrictions. Next time I have a chance to look or something obvious changes, I will post again on the thread about Sweden.

 

[weltweit]

It is not zero restrictions. Next time I have a chance to look or something obvious changes, I will post again on the thread about Sweden.

I think they are permitting socialising in pubs and cafes and I think also gatherings of up to 500 people but no more. Is that what you meant?

 

[weltweit]

China bars foreign visitors as imported cases rise

China has announced a temporary ban on all foreign visitors, even if they have visas or residence permits.

The country is also limiting Chinese and foreign airlines to one flight per week, and flights must not be more than 75% full.

Although China reported its first locally-transmitted coronavirus case for three days on Friday, almost all its new cases now come from abroad.

There were 55 new cases across China on Thursday - 54 of them from overseas.

Although the rules seem dramatic, many foreign airlines had already stopped flying to China - and a number of cities already had restrictions for arrivals.

Last month, for example, Beijing ordered everyone returning to the city into a 14-day quarantine.

from: China bars foreign visitors as imported cases rise

It seems China has had only one homegrown transmission in the last days but 54 from visitors from overseas. I can imagine they are keen to squash the possibility of a new outbreak of community transmission. They say that 565 of their total deaths are described a imported.

 

[cupid_stunt]

China bars foreign visitors as imported cases rise

How ironic, considering they moaned about Trump, and some other countries, banning travel from China, when this first kicked-off.

 

[weltweit]

How ironic, considering they moaned about Trump, and some other countries, banning travel from China, when this first kicked-off.

I was moaning that UK was weeks ago still letting flights in from warm and hot spots. Well now EasyJet has grounded their entire fleet and I expect others will follow, hopefully community transmission will be all we have to worry about here in the UK.

 

[weltweit]

Trump extends US guidelines beyond Easter

President Donald Trump has said federal coronavirus guidelines such as social distancing will be extended across the US until at least 30 April.

He had previously suggested that they could be relaxed as early as Easter, which falls in mid-April.
..
White House medical adviser Dr Anthony Fauci had earlier warned that the virus could kill up to 200,000 Americans.

Dr Fauci said that it was "entirely conceivable" that millions of Americans could eventually be infected.

He said the decision to extend social distancing was made after he heard that "2.2 million people could have died if we didn't go through with all of this", adding that if the death toll could be restricted to less than 100,000 "we all together have done a very good job".

Mr Trump had previously said that Easter - 10-13 April - would be a "beautiful time" to be able to open at least some sections of the country. On Sunday he said that lifting restrictions at Easter was "just an aspiration".

from Trump extends US virus guidelines to end of April

Trump seems all over the place with his pronouncements but Dr Fauci mentioning 100,000 fatalities and Trump saying this would be a good job is worrying. 100,000 people is a lot of people to lose, and the USA had a lot of warning from December 2019 when the virus first started its rampage in Wuhan China. Did they really think it wouldn't come to America? Or did they just waste time that they could have been preparing and stocking up on supplies PPE Testing kits etc etc ?

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Trump extends US guidelines beyond Easter


from Trump extends US virus guidelines to end of April

Trump seems all over the place with his pronouncements but Dr Fauci mentioning 100,000 fatalities and Trump saying this would be a good job is worrying. 100,000 people is a lot of people to lose, and the USA had a lot of warning from December 2019 when the virus first started its rampage in Wuhan China. Did they really think it wouldn't come to America? Or did they just waste time that they could have been preparing and stocking up on supplies PPE Testing kits etc etc ?

By population, their 100,000 is exactly the same as our 20,000. However, given the distribution of the US epidemic, a big chunk of those fatalities will come from the one hotspot around New York/Jersey City.

fwiw I think both are rotten as targets - in and of themselves they contain an implicit admittance of initial failure to act. But it strikes me as partly expectation control and politicking. See, we expected 100,000 and only got 50,000. Look how good we were. Or in Trump's case, how GREAT we are.

 

[weltweit]

Oh, and this:

What's the situation in the US?
Nationwide measures mean citizens must continue to avoid non-essential travel, going to work, and eating at restaurants or bars. Gatherings are limited to groups of under 10 people.

But stricter restrictions apply to millions in some of the worst-hit states.

I didn't know the US was stopping people from going to work.

 

[David Clapson]

Sweden has a sensible population, trusted to do the right thing. We can only look on with envy.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Sweden has a sensible population, trusted to do the right thing. We can only look on with envy.

We'll see. What's the weather like there at the moment? The Swedes normally pour outside as soon as the sun comes out. A nice sunny weekend will be the test.