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

[Ax^]

so you can drive where you want

but if the police choose to they can give you a big fine?

 

[Ax^]

primary kids back to school WTF?

 

[Ax^]

We will be driven by economic pressure

 

[wayward bob]

primary kids back to school WTF?

beginning of june

 

[wayward bob]

step3 = pubs

 

[wayward bob]

i got my hopes up at him "serving notice"

 

[Ax^]

beginning of june

Don't have kids so not that worried by really wtf are primary school kids missing

plus Kids are dens of fucking infections at the best of time

so maybe keep the little bastards at home

 

[wayward bob]

"everyone in government" except, errr, me and him, and him, and her, and him, and me again...

 

[prunus]

primary kids back to school WTF?

If... if... if... it’s sufficiently hedged that “well we wanted to but you lot fucked it up so more lockdown for you” is nigh-on certainty.

 

[cyril_smear]

don't forget the hand gestures Boris

 

[wayward bob]

Don't have kids so not that worried by really wtf are primary school kids missing

many parents are unable to work without primary childcare. the economy will be missing them.

 

[cyril_smear]

What did he say about extending to a second household?

 

[Ax^]

many parents are unable to work without primary childcare. the economy will be missing them.

said it in another thread Economic pressure will now drive the response to the virus

Proles get back to work

 

[Buddy Bradley]

primary kids back to school WTF?

Netherlands is doing the same, childcare and nurseries reopening tomorrow.

 

[Ax^]

Netherlands is doing the same, childcare and nurseries reopening tomorrow.

thats nice plus they have less than 6 thousand deaths and a population of 17 million

 

[Mogden]

So tomorrow masses of people will be stomping round the pavements, a mix of people going to work and those who now think they can spend all day outside twatting about. As well as lots of cars back out. Oh yes, social distancing will be no problem at all

 

[cupid_stunt]

This is the WORLDWIDE thread - UK thread over there >>>>>>>

 

[PD58]

Another interesting read from a Belgian virologist who caught Covid

‘Finally, a virus got me.’ Scientist who fought Ebola and HIV reflects on facing death from COVID-19

 

[Ax^]

This is the WORLDWIDE thread - UK thread over there >>>>>>>

atm likes can lead you to other threads


was busying posting in the UK thread during Bojo bullshit and ended up over here

 

[elbows]

Researchers at Los Alamos, Sheffield and Duke report identification of a more contagious strain (D614G) of SARS-CoV-2 across Europe and the US East coast that modifies the spike protein. "We see a mutated form of the virus very rapidly emerging, and over the month of March becoming the dominant pandemic form", wrote the lead author.

Spike mutation pipeline reveals the emergence of a more transmissible form of SARS-CoV-2
DOI: 10.1101/2020.04.29.069054
Slightly overly dramatic LA Times article:

Scientists say a now-dominant strain of the coronavirus could be more contagious than original

A mutation in the novel coronavirus has led to a new strain viewed as more contagious than the virus that emerged from China, according to a new study.

www.latimes.com

I found another paper that mentions the D614G/D614S mutations, but this paper is not especially focussed on this one and related claims about it.

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.04.28.066977v1.full.pdf

I also found a virologist who wrote an article about why there is only one strain, and problems with being able to tell the difference between founder effect as opposed to selection pressure-related stuff. I cannot say whether they are 100% spot on with all aspects, but it is this sort of thing that makes me critical and wary of language regarding strains, and claims about transmissibility and particular mutations.

There is one, and only one strain of SARS-CoV-2 | Virology Blog

The moment a preprint emerges describing a new patient isolate of SARS-CoV-2, with a change in the genome sequence, the world seems to explode with concern ...

www.virology.ws

The moment a preprint emerges describing a new patient isolate of SARS-CoV-2, with a change in the genome sequence, the world seems to explode with concern about a new viral ‘strain’. I want to explain why such angst is misguided and in the process explain exactly what is a virus strain and a virus isolate.

I would also caution that making claims that SARS-CoV-2 is becoming more transmissible ignores the fact that the virus is already exceedingly transmissible among humans. For an amino acid change such as D614S to be positively selected, as opposed to being maintained as a consequence of the founder effect, requires selective pressure. For such an already highly transmissible virus, the nature of such selection pressure is difficult to discern.

 

[frogwoman]

Spain had 123 deaths yesterday, the lowest since it started.

 

[elbows]

Spain had 123 deaths yesterday, the lowest since it started.

Weekend numbers usually involve an artificial drop, but all the same Spains numbers have certainly been moving slowly in the right direction. For example deaths per day in Madrid peaked around well over 300, towards the end of April the deaths it was more like 60-70 per day, and more recently its been around 40 something.

 

[weltweit]

South Korea

from 11/05/2020 South Korea struggles to contain new outbreak amid anti-gay backlash

Authorities in South Korea are struggling to contain a new coronavirus outbreak linked to the capital’s nightclub district as a backlash against the country’s gay community increases, prompting fears LGBT people will fail to get tested out of fear of being outed.
..
Of 35 new cases, 29 were found to be linked to Itaewon, the capital’s gay district, according to officials from the Korean Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC), bringing the total number of cases related to the clubs to 86.

..
The media frenzy reached a new level when another infected man was found to have been to an LGBT sauna in Gangnam, prompting a slew of homophobic content in newspapers and online.

The article explains how victimised many gays in South Korea feel, that they may lose their jobs etc if tested and identified, and how their credit card spending is being shared with authorities in their bid to identify people at risk of infection.

 

[weltweit]

Germany

from 10/05/2020 Infection rate rises in Germany as lockdown eases

Coronavirus infections are rising in Germany, official data shows, just days after the country eased its lockdown restrictions.
..
Chancellor Angela Merkel announced a broad relaxation of national restrictions on Wednesday after talks with the leaders of Germany's 16 states.

All shops are allowed to reopen, pupils will gradually return to class and the Bundesliga - Germany's top football league - will restart as soon as next weekend.
..
But some have criticised Mrs Merkel's decision to relax those measures after speaking with the heads of the 16 states on Wednesday.

The chancellor imposed an "emergency brake", requiring local authorities to reimpose restrictions if cases rise above a threshold of 50 per 100,000 people.
..
And one district in the state of Thuringia reportedly recorded more than 80 infections per 100,000 people, thought to be due to outbreaks at care facilities.

 

[Mation]

South Korea

from 11/05/2020 South Korea struggles to contain new outbreak amid anti-gay backlash

Was just watching the BBC reporting on that. People required to give a name and contact (+ wear a mask) to get in to clubs, but some (we're told) leaving false details in fear of homophobic reprisals.

Many and varied are the ways in which this virus is showing up all the shit in ways people (who usually wouldn't) now have to care about. (That's not good; but it is stark.)

 

[frogwoman]

South Korea

from 11/05/2020 South Korea struggles to contain new outbreak amid anti-gay backlash


The article explains how victimised many gays in South Korea feel, that they may lose their jobs etc if tested and identified, and how their credit card spending is being shared with authorities in their bid to identify people at risk of infection.

Yes SK has a serious homophobia problem if my ex's experience is anything to go by. She was seriously fucked up over it.

 

[HAL9000]

A new White House policy was distributed to West Wing staff Monday directing them to wear masks at all times while working in the West Wing, according to sources familiar with the matter told ABC News.

Secret Service agents close to the president and in the vicinity of the Oval Office will also begin wearing masks, one senior administration official said.

During the president’s trip to a Honeywell plant in Phoenix, Arizona, last week, agents who were already on the ground (not traveling with the president) were seen wearing masks. The Secret Services declined to comment for this story.

New White House precautions include requiring masks in Trump's West Wing

On Monday, masks were required to be worn in the West Wing after two aides on the White House campus tested positive for coronavirus last week.

abcnews.go.com

As you may remember....

Coronavirus: Mike Pence flouts rule on masks at hospital

In a deleted tweet, the Mayo Clinic said the US vice-president had been told of their mask rules.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[weltweit]

South Korea

South Korea says there are now 101 new cases of coronavirus linked to a nightclub district in Seoul

from 12/05/2020 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-52627824

 

[weltweit]

Germany

from 11/05/2020 After weeks of relaxation, Germany sees some worrying COVID figures

The reproduction or "R" rate — the rate at which a virus is believed to be spreading — appears to have accelerated for two consecutive days, the Robert Koch Institute said. Over the weekend, Germany's R rate went back over 1, deemed a critical tipping point by many epidemiologists and government leaders.
..
At the beginning of May, the number was between .7 and .8 for several days. On Wednesday last week, as Merkel declared success in the first phase of Germany's battle with the virus and significantly eased lockdown measures, the R rate stood at .65.

..
sis, scientists likely won't link the higher numbers seen over the weekend to the latest, and most significant relaxations of the lockdown, which were announced by the federal and state governments last Wednesday. Measures began to ease weeks before that, however, and the experts will be watching very closely for any continuation of the trend over the R rate of 1, and worrying even more if it goes up higher.

 

[little_legs]

Per FT, it looks like Russia and Brazil are rapidly overtaking the UK.