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

[wemakeyousoundb]

but, will it stick to the teflon don?

 

[frogwoman]

900k deaths

 

[editor]

Italians keen to show the world that they can do stupid too

 

[elbows]

Recently I remembered this from June because at the time I checked and the shithead saying it was also Berlusconis doctor, as I mentioned in response back then. And I note that the shit idea he was peddling then that the virus has lost its potency was nowhere to be found months later when the very same doctor advised Berlusconi to go to hospital.

1h ago 17:12

And now.....

Silvio Berlusconi says he is fighting 'hellish' case of coronavirus

Former Italy PM claims doctors have told him he is ‘No 1’ in terms of severity of viral load

www.theguardian.com

Silvio Berlusconi has said doctors at the hospital treating him for Covid-19 told him he was “No 1” for the severity of his viral load and that he is fighting to emerge from a “hellish” illness.

Zangrillo, who is also Briatore’s doctor, provoked widespread criticism in late May after claiming coronavirus “no longer exists clinically”. He appeared to acknowledge his error during an interview on the Cartabianca current affairs programme on Tuesday.

“I said that the virus is clinically dead; I made a mea culpa for an out-of-tune expression but I repeat it in meaning,” he said. “I have always called for common sense: if someone goes to a nightclub without a mask and without taking precautions, I don’t think it’s my fault.”

 

[spring-peeper]

This should be a cautionary tale.
They trace one infected covid at a cottage party, and the spread is now at 40.

One illness at cottage party led to 40 confirmed COVID-19 cases: Dr. Etches

Ottawa's medical officer of health, Dr. Vera Etches, shared a cautionary tale at Wednesday's city council meeting about the spread of COVID-19.

ottawa.ctvnews.ca

" You have a group of 10 friends who were all attending a party at a cottage. There was one person who developed cold-like symptoms while at the cottage party and then tested positive on their return home," Dr. Etches said. "Subsequently, seven of those friends tested positive for COVID-19."
...
"Within 9 days one person with symptoms became 40 confirmed people who tested positive," she said. "These friends went back to their own homes and the infection spread to people who were in their homes, sometimes the vulnerable population, people who needed attend emergency rooms for care."

Some of the people in the homes who later became infected also went out to work or other places, spreading the virus further.

"These people also then attended work and retail locations while they were communicable," Dr. Etches said. "There were situations that included child care, two situations where we did then have to close child care and we saw spread within the child care settings."

eta: Ottawa is an hour away from where I live....I'm out in the country...where I can not see my neighbours....surrounded by trees

 

[frogwoman]

96,760 new cases and 1,213 new deaths in India [source] [source]

Fuck!

 

[Miss-Shelf]

New China virus: Cases triple as infection spreads to Beijing and Shanghai

This comes as China confirms that a new strain of coronavirus can pass from person to person.

www.bbc.co.uk

Bit scary, new virus which seems to have started in China seems very infectious and might be spreading.

Accidentally clicked the start of the thread

This needs some sort of award in the interval forum

Historical post of the year in the before times

 

[frogwoman]

Yeah weltweit 's post needs to be in a museum.

 

[weltweit]

Yeah weltweit 's post needs to be in a museum.

I sometimes feel like all of me should be in one

 

[frogwoman]

I sometimes feel like all of me should be in one

'seems very infectious and might be spreading'

This is all your fault

 

[weltweit]

'seems very infectious and might be spreading'

This is all your fault

TBF it had been spreading since December and that post was IIRC 20th Jan.

 

[sojourner]

A question about stats on the Zoe app I've just started using. The news stated that Sunday's new cases were 2988, but the app says 3610, which is considerably higher. Anyone know why? I know that King's are feeding this data to the govt, so am wondering why the big difference.

 

[frogwoman]

Surely the app is recording people with symptoms as opposed to actually tested

 

[Thora]

Surely the app is recording people with symptoms as opposed to actually tested

It asks you if you have had a test.

 

[frogwoman]

I haven't used it for a while but didn't it say something like 'x number of people with symptomatic covid in the UK' by which it meant anyone with symptoms? I didn't know it was only counting people who had had a test.

 

[Ms Ordinary]

If it was counting anyone reporting symptoms, I'd expect the difference to be much bigger than that though, given how hard it is to access a test, and that a proportion of people with symptoms will end up testing negative.

 

[Supine]

I've got a lot of time for Sweden's take on corona virus. It'll take a couple of years to assess whether it was good or not.

Anders Tegnell and the Swedish Covid experiment | Free to read

The controversial epidemiologist believes lockdown is ‘using a hammer to kill a fly’. Could he be proved right?

www.ft.com

 

[cupid_stunt]

France reported over 10,000 new cases yesterday, the highest ever, more worrying is the raise in hospital admissions.

Over the past week there have been 2,432 hospital admissions for COVID-19 in France, including 417 patients taken to intensive care units, the country's health ministry said.

As a comparison, the UK currently has a total of 884 patients in hospital, and 79 on on ventilation. (LINK)

Coronavirus: France reports highest number of daily COVID cases since pandemic began

It is the first time that COVID-19 infections have topped 10,000 in France in a single day.

news.sky.com

 

[2hats]

COVID-19, children, and schools: overlooked and at risk, Hyde Z., Med J Aust

Abstract: It is widely thought that children are much less susceptible to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection than adults and do not play a substantial role in transmission. However, emerging research suggests this perception is unfounded. Seroprevalence and contact tracing studies show children are similarly vulnerable and transmit the virus to a meaningful degree. Research suggesting otherwise is hampered by substantial bias. Additionally, large clusters in school settings have been reported, with implications for the control of community transmission. Risk-reduction strategies must be implemented in schools as a matter of urgency.

COVID-19, children, and schools: overlooked and at risk

COVID-19, children, and schools: overlooked and at risk

www.mja.com.au

 

[2hats]

Hypothesis that mask wearing might aid immunity through very low dose exposure to SARS-CoV-2 (and this is manifesting itself to some degree as an increasing proportion of mild/asymptomatic cases).

Recent virologic, epidemiologic, and ecologic data have led to the hypothesis that facial masking may also reduce the severity of disease among people who do become infected. This possibility is consistent with a long-standing theory of viral pathogenesis, which holds that the severity of disease is proportionate to the viral inoculum received.

If the viral inoculum matters in determining the severity of SARS-CoV-2 infection, an additional hypothesized reason for wearing facial masks would be to reduce the viral inoculum to which the wearer is exposed and the subsequent clinical impact of the disease. Since masks can filter out some virus-containing droplets (with filtering capacity determined by mask type), masking might reduce the inoculum that an exposed person inhales. If this theory bears out, population-wide masking, with any type of mask that increases acceptability and adherence might contribute to increasing the proportion of SARS-CoV-2 infections that are asymptomatic. The typical rate of asymptomatic infection with SARS-CoV-2 was estimated to be 40% by the CDC in mid-July, but asymptomatic infection rates are reported to be higher than 80% in settings with universal facial masking, which provides observational evidence for this hypothesis. Countries that have adopted population-wide masking have fared better in terms of rates of severe Covid-related illnesses and death, which, in environments with limited testing, suggests a shift from symptomatic to asymptomatic infections. Another experiment in the Syrian hamster model simulated surgical masking of the animals and showed that with simulated masking, hamsters were less likely to get infected, and if they did get infected, they either were asymptomatic or had milder symptoms than unmasked hamsters.

DOI: 10.1056/NEJMp2026913 Facial Masking for Covid-19 - Potential for “Variolation” as We Await a Vaccine, Gandhi, M., Rutherford, G.W., NEJM

 

[littlebabyjesus]

A question about stats on the Zoe app I've just started using. The news stated that Sunday's new cases were 2988, but the app says 3610, which is considerably higher. Anyone know why? I know that King's are feeding this data to the govt, so am wondering why the big difference.

The app estimates total symptomatic cases, while the new cases total is only those who have tested positive (And includes asymptomatic cases, which the app does not address).

The tracking up and down of the app numbers have generally fitted pretty well with other estimates that include asymptomatic cases, but at about a third to half lower. So when zoe say 3,500 new cases per day, that probably means 5-6,000 new infections including asymptomatic ones.

I think the daily update of estimated total symptomatic cases from Zoe is a good early indicator of where things are going. It's up near 40k now from a low of 18k. (At peak it estimates we were at 2 million.)

 

[elbows]

Cheers for those 2hats, shame some probably wont learn from them.

The point about substantial bias in 'children less susceptible' studies could be seen coming from a million miles away for sure. Inconvenient facts that authorities spend a long time trying to deny are a feature of this pandemic, and this extends well beyond authorities and into the research communities, medical orthodoxy etc. That shit is always there but its far more obvious in a bad pandemic.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

I haven't used it for a while but didn't it say something like 'x number of people with symptomatic covid in the UK' by which it meant anyone with symptoms? I didn't know it was only counting people who had had a test.

It isn't.

 

[elbows]

I had previously read that recent lockdown measures in Israel got watered down to try to satisfy ultra-orthodox coalition partners, but I guess the situation there demands more measures and so things have fractured along those lines:

Coronavirus: Israel to impose three-week national lockdown

The restrictions announced on Sunday will last at least three weeks, PM Benjamin Netanyahu says.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[2hats]

Lab engineered proteins interfere with SARS-CoV-2 cell entry mechanisms.

Institute for Protein Design researchers at the University of Washington School of Medicine used computer design to originate new proteins that bind tightly to SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein and obstruct it from infecting cells.

In the experiments, the lead antiviral candidate, named LCB1, rivaled the best-known SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies in its protective actions.

They appear to block SARS-CoV-2 infection at least as well as monoclonal antibodies, but are much easier to produce and far more stable, potentially eliminating the need for refrigeration.

Designed antiviral proteins inhibit SARS-CoV-2 in the lab - UW Medicine | Newsroom

Computer-designed, synthetic miniproteins act as potent, stable antivirals that block coronavirus infection of cultured human cells.

newsroom.uw.edu

DOI: 10.1126/science.abd9909

 

[MrSki]

Israel in second lockdown from Friday.

 

[2hats]

Viral genome sequencing has highlighted how initial efforts to test and trace in Europe and North America were working and clusters only established later than originally thought, (not unsurprisingly) underlining how swift and intensive testing, contact tracing, and isolation measures work and how key they are to containing outbreaks.

Contrary to widespread narratives, the first documented arrivals of infected individuals traveling from China to the U.S. and Europe did not snowball into continental outbreaks, the researchers found.

Instead, swift and decisive measures aimed at tracing and containing those initial incursions of the virus were successful and should serve as model responses directing future actions and policies by governments and public health agencies, the study's authors conclude.

How Coronavirus Took Hold in North America and Europe | University of Arizona News

Early interventions were effective at stamping out infections, but subsequent travel allowed the virus to ignite major outbreaks in Europe and North America, a new study finds.

news.arizona.edu

DOI: 10.1126/science.abc8169

 

[Mation]

Lab engineered proteins interfere with SARS-CoV-2 cell entry mechanisms.

Designed antiviral proteins inhibit SARS-CoV-2 in the lab - UW Medicine | Newsroom

Computer-designed, synthetic miniproteins act as potent, stable antivirals that block coronavirus infection of cultured human cells.

newsroom.uw.edu

DOI: 10.1126/science.abd9909

"In silico" design

 

[frogwoman]

Ugh

 

[frogwoman]

Israel's going back into a full on lockdown