Covid-19 : The mutation and its effects on the world

[Colorblind Genius]

Do you have a link to the article? It reads pretty badly, doesn't seem genuine. It also doesn't mention how long before he travelled did he get his second dosage. I don't think one can take anything away from the efficacy of the (assuming Moderna) vaccine against the Indian variant from a single case. That is granting that this article is genuine.

Don't share fake news from Indian Whatsapp

News recently broke in.
Probably it will hit major news outlets later on?

https://m.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=311381097209378&id=108365450844278

I called his office but obviously they are closed for the day and there is no pre-recorded message.

May be it's a hoax? Lets hope it is.

 

[Lego20]

All the resources/references are dubious and seem like dark web.

 

[Giannis]

Sketchy sources, I'm calling this a hoax and even if he did die we can't come to the conclusion that the Pfizer or moderna vaccines didn't work against the "Indian variant"

 

[BreadPakoda]

So many things wrong with this post.

He did his MD almost 60 years ago. Must be in his 80s. One case of an 80+ year old man doesn't mean that the vaccines are ineffective against the triple mutant variant. Even the manufacturers do not claim that 100% of the vaccinated people will survive.

Regarding restricting Indians to their country. You want to stop them from doing business or meeting family? That's not how the world works. What if there is a new variant in another country? Restrict them too? How many people will you restrict to their home countries? In fact, the new variant surely is already present outside India.


Also, something terribly wrong in calling the new variants "Brazilian", "Indian", African" etc. when we don't call the virus "Chinese".

 

[MenInG]

Public health experts have recommended a version of the Indian Covid variant found in the UK to be made a "variant of concern", the BBC has been told.

Public Health England (PHE) has been tracking a variant known as B.1.617.2, which appears to have been spreading more quickly in the UK than others.

Scientists believe it is more transmissible than the version of Covid first discovered in Wuhan, China.

A spokesman for PHE said it would not comment on leaked data.

Viruses mutate all the time, producing different versions of themselves. Most of these mutations are insignificant - and some may even make the virus less dangerous - but others can make it more contagious and harder to vaccinate against.

The Kent, South Africa and Brazil strains have all been deemed "variants of concern" in the UK. These versions, along with the India variant, have all undergone changes to their spike protein - the part of the virus which attaches to human cells.

The original India variant - officially known as B.1.617 - was first detected in the country in October.

That version has now been re-characterised as three different subtypes, all with slightly different genetic mutations.

The UK has seen a sharp increase in one version in particular, known as B.1.617.2, which now makes up the majority of all Indian variant cases and appears to be growing faster than other versions.

PHE scientists think with "moderate confidence" that it spreads at least as quickly as the version of the virus first found in Kent last year - known as B.1.1.7 - which is currently dominant in the UK.

But a source has told the BBC there is no evidence this version of the Indian variant is resistant to current vaccines.

It does not feature the E.484K mutation found in the South African variant of the virus, which could help the virus dodge a person's immune system and may affect how well coronavirus vaccines work.

It is believed that more than 500 cases of B.1.617.2 have now been detected across England with the highest levels in London and the north-west of England.

That would represent a sharp rise from the 202 cases officially recorded by PHE in the UK as of 28 April.

It is not known how many of the current infections in the UK can be linked back to international travel.

However, it is thought there has already been some evidence of "significant" community transmission, mainly linked to workplaces and religions gatherings.

In one cluster at a care home, 14 elderly residents who have all been vaccinated were infected with the variant, the source said. A number needed hospital treatment but not for severe disease, and it is thought all have now recovered.

All current vaccines are thought to offer some degree of protection against variants but can never completely stop all Covid infections, especially among the vulnerable or elderly.

 

[OMB]

After Covid-19, it is Black Fungus and White Fungus now

---

Covid-19: After black fungus, white fungus infection reported in India

White fungus affects lungs as well as other parts of the body, such as nails, skin, stomach, kidney, brain, etc.

Even as a black fungus endemic looms over the coronavirus-ravaged India, there's another threat which is baffling medical experts. According to Indian media reports, cases linked to white fungus infection, considered to be more dangerous than black fungus, have been traced in Bihar.

Four cases of white fungal infection have been reported from Patna in Bihar, and one of the infected patients is a famous doctor from Patna, the reports said.

White fungus infection is more dangerous than black fungus because it affects lungs as well as other parts of the body, including nails, skin, stomach, kidney, brain, private parts and mouth, according to a report in the DNA.

Doctors say that white fungus also infect the lungs and an infection similar to Covid-19 is detected when a high-resolution CT scan is performed on the infected patient, DNA reported.

Doctors have issued a warning saying that unlike the black fungus, white fungus infection spreads more easily to vital organs, though there's little evidence as to what exactly makes this new infection more threatening.

A report in the Times of India said that as with black fungus infection, the risk of catching the new disease is the highest for those with frail immunity, suffering from pre-existing medical issues, including diabetes, and/or using steroids. Those put on high oxygen support are also at risk.

The report said a white fungus infection may be risky for pregnant women and children. Hence, proper emphasis should be laid on sanitisation since molds can be directly inhaled by a suspected patient.

https://www.khaleejtimes.com/coronavirus-pandemic/covid-19-after-black-fungus-white-fungus-infection-reported-in-india

 

[gazza619]

May God have mercy on humans of all faiths and colour.

Sorry state of affairs.

 

[Last Monetarist]

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/vietnam-detects-hybrid-indian-uk-covid-19-variant-2021-05-29/

Authorities in Vietnam have detected a new coronavirus variant that is a combination of the Indian and UK COVID-19 variants and spreads quickly by air, the health minister said on Saturday.

After successfully containing the virus for most of last year, Vietnam is grappling with a rise in infections since late April that accounts for more than half of the total 6,856 registered cases. So far, there have been 47 deaths.

"Vietnam has uncovered a new COVID-19 variant combining characteristics of the two existing variants first found in India and the UK," Health Minister Nguyen Thanh Long said, describing it as a hybrid of the two known variants.

"That the new one is an Indian variant with mutations that originally belong to the UK variant is very dangerous," he told a government meeting, a recording of which was obtained by Reuters.

The Southeast Asian country had previously detected seven virus variants: B.1.222, B.1.619, D614G, B.1.1.7 - known as the UK variant, B.1.351, A.23.1 and B.1.617.2 - the "Indian variant".

Long said Vietnam would soon publish genome data of the newly identified variant, which he said was more transmissible than the previously known types.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has identified four variants of SARS-CoV-2 of global concern. These include variants that emerged first in India, Britain, South Africa and Brazil.

Officials at the WHO did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding the variant identified in Vietnam.

Long said laboratory cultures of the new variant showed the virus replicated itself very quickly, possibly explaining why so many new cases had appeared in different parts of the country in a short period of time.

The Health Ministry told the meeting the government was working to secure 10 million vaccine doses under the COVAX cost-sharing scheme, as well as a further 20 million doses of Pfizer's vaccine and 40 million of Russia's Sputnik V.

The country of about 98 million people has so far received 2.9 million doses and aims to secure 150 million this year.

 

[Last Monetarist]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jun/06/covid-delta-variant-about-40-more-transmissible-says-matt-hancock

The new Delta variant of coronavirus appears to be about 40% more transmissible than the variant it has largely replaced, Matt Hancock has said, making government decisions about whether to ease restrictions in England on 21 June “more difficult”.

Saying that under-30s in England will be called to begin vaccinations from next week, the health secretary confirmed it was still possible the reopening programme could be delayed or some rules kept in place.

“We consider all options,” he told Sky News.

The transmissibility of the Delta variant, first identified in India, has been seen as a central factor to the decisions over whether to remove most remaining restrictions in England in a fortnight, with the decision due to be made later this week.

Estimates have said the Delta variant could be anywhere between 30% and 100% more transmissible than the so-called Alpha variant first identified in Kent. But asked for the latest information, Hancock gave a figure of 40%.

“That means that it is more difficult to manage this virus with the new Delta variant,” he said. “But crucially, after two doses of vaccine we are confident that you get the same protection that you did with the old variant. So the good news is that the vaccine still works just as effectively.”

It was, he said, still too early to decide what might happen on 21 June: “The prime minister and I and the team will be looking at all of the data over this week … The critical thing is to see whether the four tests we have set have been met.”

Saying the Covid vaccination programme had “severed but not broken” the link between infection rates and hospitalisations, Hancock said adults under 30 would be able to seek first injections from next week.

“We are not saying no to 21 June at this point,” he said. “We’ll keep watching the data for another week, and critically, watching that link from the number of cases to the number of people who end up in hospital. And it is absolutely true that the number of people ending up in hospital is broadly flat at the moment, while the number of cases is rising, showing that link is not absolute, as it once was.”

After the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Authority (MHRA) approved the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine for 12- to 15-year-olds on Friday, Hancock hinted strongly he would like to see pupils offered jabs, as called for by school leaders.

The matter would be considered by the government’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, he said, and with those aged 18-30 still to get doses, a decision would not be needed for a few weeks.

“But we know that the vaccine both protects you and helps stop you transmitting,” Hancock said. “Making sure that we don’t have whole bubbles having to go home, and the isolation, especially as we saw over the autumn for instance, that has big upsides for education.”

Asked about the delay in putting India on the red list for travel, weeks after Pakistan and Bangladesh, blamed by critics as the reason why the Delta variant has become dominant in the UK, Hancock insisted the data had supported this decision.

 

[cric_man]

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/peteraldhous/delta-variant-vaccination-covid-surges


The Delta Variant Could Create “Two Americas” Of COVID, Experts Warn
If you are fully vaccinated, you are most likely to be safe. But in parts of the US where few people have gotten COVID vaccine shots, the Delta variant could trigger renewed deadly surges.

Peter Aldhous
BuzzFeed News Reporter
Posted on June 17, 2021, at 5:09 p.m. ET



The Delta coronavirus variant, which devastated India and forced the UK to delay lifting its remaining coronavirus restrictions, is now on the rise in the US. What that means for you will depend on whether you are fully vaccinated and where you live.

Experts say we may be about to see the emergence of “two Americas” of COVID: One with high rates of vaccination where the Delta coronavirus variant poses little threat, and the other with low levels of vaccination that will be vulnerable to renewed deadly surges. That divide is driven in large part by partisan politics, with vaccination rates highest in liberal cities and lowest in conservative strongholds across the Deep South and in rural areas across the nation.


"I call it two COVID nations,” Peter Hotez, a vaccine researcher at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, told BuzzFeed News.

Wherever there are low rates of vaccination, the virus will continue to circulate and mutate, increasing the risk that new, more dangerous variants will emerge. With vaccination across most of the world lagging far behind the US, the Delta variant is likely to be followed by others.

The Delta variant, also known as B.1.617.2, was first discovered in India in late 2020 and is thought to have driven that country’s devastating surge in COVID-19, which began in March. It has since spread to more than 80 countries worldwide, including to the US — where the CDC on Tuesday officially designated it a “variant of concern.”

Data from Public Health England indicate that the Delta variant is between 40% and 60% more transmissible than the Alpha variant, also known as B.1.1.7. First identified in the UK and now the most common variant in the US, the Alpha variant is in turn much more transmissible than earlier forms of the coronavirus.



So far, the available vaccines seem to be offering good protection against most variants. But the Delta variant seems able to escape partial immunity to the coronavirus. Although people who are fully vaccinated still seem to be well protected, those who have only been given one shot of a two-dose vaccine remain more vulnerable.

A study in the UK found that two doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine were 88% effective against developing a case of COVID with symptoms from the Delta variant — not much different from the 93% efficacy seen against the Alpha variant. But after just one dose, the vaccine was only about 33% effective against the Delta variant, compared to more than 50% against Alpha. It’s unclear how effective natural immunity from a prior infection will be in protecting people against the Delta variant.

There are also hints that the Delta variant may cause more serious disease. A study of cases in Scotland published this week found that the risk of hospital admission with the Delta variant was roughly doubled compared to people infected with the Alpha variant.

“This is a nasty virus,” John Moore, a virologist at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York, told BuzzFeed News.

With the Delta variant now thought to account for more than 90% of new infections in the UK, and with cases and hospitalizations rising once again, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced on Tuesday that he will delay the removal of remaining coronavirus restrictions in England, originally planned for June 21, by at least four weeks. (Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland set their own health rules, but have made similar moves.)


In the US, the Delta variant now seems to be spreading more quickly than the Alpha variant at a similar stage in its climb to dominance, according to data from outbreak.info, a coronavirus tracking project run by researchers at Scripps Research in La Jolla, California.


It’s unclear whether Delta will dominate as quickly and totally as it did in the UK, where it replaced an outbreak driven almost entirely by the Alpha variant. In the US, a larger number of competing variants are circulating, making it harder to predict what will happen, Bette Korber, a computational biologist at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, told BuzzFeed News. But she expects Delta to become the most common variant in the US within weeks. “It’s really moving quickly,” Korber said.

Health experts say that the US could largely protect itself against the Delta variant by quickly boosting rates of vaccination, which have slowed in recent months. But they fear that some people who are not yet vaccinated may look at what happened with the Alpha variant and decide they can afford to wait and see.


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In late March, with COVID surging in Michigan and cases starting to rise nationally, CDC director Rochelle Walensky described her sense of “impending doom” about a fourth wave of coronavirus across the US driven by the Alpha strain. But the surge turned out to be small and short-lived.

Given the expected speed of the Delta variant’s spread, and the fact that one vaccine dose isn’t enough to provide good protection, deciding to delay vaccination is risky. “Some of those people are going to get a nasty surprise,” Bob Wachter, chair of the Department of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, told BuzzFeed News.


Low vaccine uptake across the South and in rural areas across the country makes these areas most vulnerable to the Delta variant. “I think there’s a decent chance that come winter or fall there will be significant surges and they will almost exclusively strike people who are unvaccinated and strike in regions that have low rates of vaccine uptake,” Wachter said.

But it could be hard to convince people who have so far declined to get vaccinated, given that skepticism seems to be driven in large part by entrenched political allegiances. According to a CBS News/YouGov poll published this week, only 52% of Republicans said they were partially or fully vaccinated, and 29% said they have no intention of getting a vaccine. Among Democrats, 77% said they were already vaccinated, and just 5% said they weren’t intending to get the shots.

Vaccine rollout data at the county level also shows a strong relationship to voting in the 2020 presidential election.


Peter Aldhous / BuzzFeed News / Via CDC / Decision Desk HQ
Each circle represents a county. Only counties where at least 90% of vaccination records include a county of residence are shown.

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“Somehow we have to break this idea that allegiance to conservatism and the Republican Party has to do with not getting vaccinated,” Hotez said. “It’s really troubling.”

 

[Last Monetarist]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jul/01/covid-common-pet-cats-dogs-owners-study-domestic-animals

Cat or dog owners who have Covid-19 should avoid their pets while infected, experts have said.

Scientists in the Netherlands have found coronavirus is common in pet cats and dogs where their owners have the disease. While cases of owners passing on Covid-19 to their pets are considered to be of negligible risk to public health, the scientists say there is a potential risk that domestic animals could act as a “reservoir” for coronavirus and reintroduce it to humans.

Dr Els Broens, from Utrecht University, said: “If you have Covid-19, you should avoid contact with your cat or dog, just as you would do with other people.

“The main concern, however, is not the animals’ health – they had no or mild symptoms of Covid-19 – but the potential risk that pets could act as a reservoir of the virus and reintroduce it into the human population.

Fortunately, to date no pet-to-human transmission has been reported. “So, despite the rather high prevalence among pets from Covid-19 positive households in this study, it seems unlikely that pets play a role in the pandemic.”

The research led by Broens was presented at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) but has not yet been published in a journal.

Broens and his colleagues analysed the PCR test results of 156 dogs and 154 cats from 196 households. Six cats and seven dogs (4.2%) had positive PCR tests and 31 cats and 23 dogs (17.4%) tested positive for antibodies.

Eight cats and dogs that lived in the same homes as the PCR-positive pets were also tested for a second time to check for virus transmission among pets. None of the animals tested positive, suggesting the virus was not being passed between pets living in close contact with one another.

But researchers said their findings show Covid-19 is highly prevalent in pets of people who have had the disease.

Meanwhile, separate research, also presented at the ECCMID meeting, suggests cats that sleep on their owner’s bed may be at particular risk of getting Covid-19 from their owners.

Dorothee Bienzle, a professor of veterinary pathology at the University of Guelph in Canada, who presented the findings, said: “If someone has Covid-19 there is a surprisingly high chance they will pass it on to their pet.

“Cats, especially those that sleep on their owner’s bed, seem to be particularly vulnerable. So, if you have Covid-19, I’d advise that you keep your distance from your pet – and keep it out of your bedroom.”

Bienzle also recommends keeping coronavirus-infected pets away from other people and pets. She said: “While the evidence that pets can pass the virus on to other pets is limited, it can’t be excluded. Similarly, although pets have not been shown to pass the virus back to people, the possibility can’t be completely ruled out.”

Commenting on the findings, Prof James Wood, the head of the Department of Veterinary Medicine at Cambridge University, said both studies were consistent with “a growing number of studies that are suggesting that a substantial proportion of pet cats and dogs may catch Sars-CoV-2 virus (which causes Covid-19) from their owners”.

He added: “Cats and dogs may commonly be infected with the virus, but most reports are that this infection appears to be asymptomatic. It also seems that the virus does not normally transmit from dogs and cats to either other animals or their owners.

“These studies need to be differentiated from earlier work that has reported a very small number of individual cats and dogs to be unwell after they caught Covid-19 from their owners.”

 

[Giannis]

Is another global lockdown imminent with the new variant?

So the Delta (India) variant is raging and it's about to hit the US, apparently the vaccines aren't as effective against it and it's more transmissible and effects younger people at higher rates, just as we thought the pandemic is coming to an end (at least in the first world) it seems like Delta (India) virus will reverse all that progress. Do you guys think things are going to be as bad as March 2020?

 

[ElRaja]

delta variant has spread quickly in the uk, but vaccines seem to have limited hospital visits and deaths significantly more than previous waves.

 

[SangasCoverDrive]

I don't think it would go as bad as 2020 March. The vaccine seems to be working in the case that people are not getting as much hospitalized as they were in March or even January in UK.

 

[PetroDollars]

it wont be as bad, but i think its common sense now, covid is here to stay and we have to adapt to it.

 

[Last Monetarist]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jul/30/covid-delta-variant-guidelines-masks-cdc-paper-transmission

The Delta variant could be as transmissible in vaccinated people as it is in unvaccinated people and could potentially trigger more severe illness in the unvaccinated than other coronavirus strains, according to an internal report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The document, a slide presentation prepared by officials within the US’s health protection agency and obtained by the Washington Post, warned that the Delta variant is as infectious as chickenpox, and argues that government officials must “acknowledge the war has changed” given the severity of the strain.

The CDC document cites data that suggests vaccinated people carry viral loads similar to those who are unvaccinated and infected with the variant, although scientists acknowledge that the likelihood of vaccinated people spreading the virus, if infected, is much rarer compared with unvaccinated people. The internal CDC report, revealed by the Washington Post on Thursday, became public days after the agency changed its guidance to recommend that even vaccinated people wear masks in some indoor settings.

Rochelle Walensky, the director of the CDC, confirmed the authenticity of the report in an interview with CNN.

“I think people need to understand that we’re not crying wolf here. This is serious,” Walensky said. “It’s one of the most transmissible viruses we know about. Measles, chickenpox, this – they’re all up there.”

The Washington Post reported that the data cited in the CDC document played an important role in the agency’s decision to update its mask guidance, which has prompted a backlash from conservatives across the US. The CDC is due to publish data on Friday to support the new recommendations.

The Delta variant is as transmissible as chickenpox, the CDC presentation said, with an infected person infecting eight or nine others on average. The original strain was more comparable to the common cold, with an infected person spreading the virus to two others.

Data shared in the presentation suggested that vaccinated people who become infected with the Delta variant can shed just as much of the virus as unvaccinated people, although it emphasized that vaccines prevent more than 90% of severe disease.

“The measures we need to get this under control – they’re extreme. The measures you need are extreme,” Walensky said.

Walensky said the data in the report did not surprise her: “It was the synthesis of the data all in one place that was sobering.”

Dr Stephen Griffin, a virologist from the University of Leeds, emphasized that breakthrough infections are not common (1-2% according to the latest Public Health England summary, although with the different symptoms of Delta this may be under-estimated), and added that vaccines are still excellent at preventing severe disease and hospitalisations.

“However, it is concerning that when such infections do occur that the titers [concentration of an antibody] in the airway appear the same as during a non-vaccinated infection … it seems that the outbreaks mentioned are consistent with a high degree of infectious virus being produced,” Griffin told the Guardian.

“We must remember though, going forward, that we will see a greater proportion of [vaccinated people]becoming infected as the coverage increases within the population, but the difference here is that Delta certainly appears to do this more often and with more potential for symptomatic infection compared to other variants.”

The CDC document highlights “communication challenges” and says the agency must change its public messaging to emphasize vaccination as the best defense against the Delta variant.

The US is averaging almost 62,000 new Covid-19 infections a day, and the vast majority of those hospitalised and dying have not been vaccinated. Nationwide 49.8% of Americans are fully vaccinated, according to the CDC.

On Thursday Joe Biden described the surge as a “pandemic of the unvaccinated”, and said about 90m Americans who are eligible for a shot have not yet got one.

“Masking is one defense against the spread of Covid-19 but make no mistake: vaccines are the best defence against you getting severely ill from Covid-19. The very best defence,” the president said.

 

[finalfantasy7]

china reporting the delta variant :

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-58095909

 

[MenInG]

Tel Aviv: Israel recorded the first case of "florona" disease, a double infection of COVID-19 and influenza, said Arab News said on Thursday.

"#Israel records first case of #florona disease, a double infection of #COVID19 and influenza," Arab News tweeted.

Meanwhile, Israel's national health providers began administering fourth vaccine shots against COVID-19 on Friday to individuals with compromised immune systems.

The Health Ministry's Director-General Nachman Ash today okayed the boosters for immuno-suppressed people due to the Omicron infection wave, so long as at least four months have passed since their third shot, Time of Israel reported.

On Friday morning Ash also approved vaccines for elderly patients at geriatric facilities. The ministry said this was done "due to concerns of outbreaks at such facilities, and the risk to the health and lives of residents," the publication said.

Isreal is reported a continuous rise in COVID-19 cases.

As per the new data from the Health Ministry nearly 5,000 new cases were diagnosed on Thursday.

https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/israel-detects-first-case-of-florona-disease-report-2681965

 

[KingKhanWC]

Israel has reported a case of 'flurona' in a pregnant woman.

sraeli health authorities have detected a case of what some are calling "flurona" — a double dose of COVID-19 and the flu.

A pregnant woman tested positive for both viruses after being admitted to hospital in Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikva, east of Tel Aviv.

It comes as Israel is experiencing a spike in influenza cases in recent weeks, sparking fears of a "twindemic".
'Flurona' case probably not Israel's first

Local media reported the pregnant woman was the first documented case of the simultaneous infection found in Israel so far in the pandemic.

However, health authorities told online new site Y Net it was likely previous cases had simply gone undetected.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-04/israel-reports-first-case-flurona-coronavirus-flu/100737106

Anyone on here contracted flurona?

Wonder what is next ...

 

[sweep_shot]

Flurona!

What's next?

Carona (cancer + Corona)?

 

[KingKhanWC]

Flurona!

What's next?

Carona (cancer + Corona)?

3. What’s the effect of getting two infections at once?

In a meta-analysis of various studies last May, researchers from the University of Wisconsin found that 19% of people who tested positive for Covid simultaneously tested positive for another pathogen (a so-called “co-infection”) -- be it viral, bacterial or fungal. They found that 24% of patients diagnosed with Covid afterward tested positive for a different pathogen (a so-called “superinfection”). For both categories, the situation was associated with “poor outcomes, including increased mortality,” the authors found. The research underscores the need to test for ailments beyond just

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...lurona-people-are-talking-about-now-quicktake

We might have to wait for the genius Dr Fauci to work this one out too. From this it seems more tests are coming your way in the next year or two.

 

[KingKhanWC]

To add Flurona is not a mutation. Its a combination of two viruses, flu and coronavirus.

 

[Robert]

I am getting my flu jab next week. Haven’t had flu in decades but it was horrible when I did. Could eat nothing for four days but still kept vomiting. Screaming headache that painkillers didn’t stop, alternate fever and chills. Flu hit me like a sledgehammer and I was a young healthy man then too. Thought of getting it now is not nice.

Can get the jab every year now.

 

[Robert]

Flurona!

What's next?

Carona (cancer + Corona)?

Well of course cancer patients are immunocompromised by chemotherapy which kills fast-dividing cells. Or their immune system is engaged fighting the cancer and infection can sneak in. So they are particularly at risk from COVID either way.

My mother had cancer and contracted a UTI. Her immune system was engaged in fighting the cancer and had little left to fight the UTI, which got into her bloodstream and killed her. They flushed her full of antibiotics to slow down the UTI but it was too late. Poor old lady, it was a sad end.

As I understand it anyway. Perhaps [MENTION=132916]Junaids[/MENTION] or other doctors here can explain better.

 

[James]

I am getting my flu jab next week. Haven’t had flu in decades but it was horrible when I did. Could eat nothing for four days but still kept vomiting. Screaming headache that painkillers didn’t stop, alternate fever and chills. Flu hit me like a sledgehammer and I was a young healthy man then too. Thought of getting it now is not nice.

Can get the jab every year now.

I had flu in November this year for 2 weeks. Fully wiped me out for the first week, can barely even remember it; and then had numerous hangover symptoms in the second week whilst I tried to return to normal. Not pleasant at all.

 

[MenInG]

 

[MenInG]

Two rare types of Omicron have been reclassified as COVID variants of concern in the UK.

BA.4 and BA.5 are likely to have a growth advantage over the dominant BA.2 type, according to the UK Health Security Agency, which changed their classification.

 

[Robert]

177,000 deaths in UK due to COVID. But it appears to be slowing down at last - 100 to 200 deaths per day.

Looks like herd immunity is kicking in at last, accelerated by the vaccination programme.

I guess we will treat it like we do the flu, going forward. COVID will continue to kill three or four times as many people as the flu each year. I will certainly get my booster jab every year for both viruses.

 

[ElRaja]

so after two and something years, i finally caught the rona (although I'm pretty sure i had it in Jan 2020 before anyone knew what it was).

no idea what variant i have, but just seems like a mild flu at the moment, had an on and off fever for a day, headaches, body aches, most of that stuff gone and now i just have the cough and phlegm. hoping it clears out over the next day or two.

one of my mates recommended i get an oximeter and as long as my blood oxygen saturation is healthy all i can do is rest and chill till it passes over. not hundred percent sure where i got it from, but most likely from the underground.

 

[Technics 1210]

The threat of Covid turned out to be a hoax, we know this because MSM is not headlining C19 anymore.

Alcohol and Cigarettes kill more per year than Covid. Let this sink in.

 

[MenInG]

Dubai: Saudi Arabia has banned its citizens from travelling to 16 countries following the re-outbreak of COVID-19. These include Lebanon, Syria, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, India, Yemen, Somalia, Ethiopia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Libya, Indonesia, Vietnam, Armenia, Belarus and Venezuela.

The ban comes following a steady increase in the number of daily COVID-19 infections over the past few weeks.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health has ensured the public that it has not detected any cases of monkeypox in Saudi Arabia yet, Al Arabiya reported.

Dr. Abdullah Asiri, deputy minister of health for preventive health, said that the Kingdom’s health sector is capable of monitoring and discovering suspected cases of “monkeypox” and to combat infection.

He said: “There is a standard definition of suspected cases and the way to confirm them and monitoring and diagnosis methods are available in the laboratories of the Kingdom.”

“Until now, cases of transmission between humans are very limited, and therefore the possibility of any outbreaks occurring from it, even in countries that have detected cases, are very low,” he added.

The World Health Organization said about 80 cases of monkeypox have been confirmed in 11 countries, warning that more cases are likely to be reported.

https://gulfnews.com/world/gulf/sau...-india-over-new-covid-19-outbreaks-1.88049016

 

[daytrader]

How many Covid cases does China have and what are its rules?

China has seen its first deaths from Covid-19 in six months, and thousands more people are catching the disease, despite the government's strict lockdown policy.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has said China should rethink its strategy.

Covid rising across China
On Sunday 20 November alone, there were 26,824 new cases recorded in China. That is close to the peak back in April 2022.

Three people in Beijing are reported to have died from Covid-19 over the past few days.

New Covid cases have been reported throughout China. Guangdong, in the south, is the worst affected region.

What are China's lockdown rules?
China is no longer imposing a national lockdown and has relaxed a number of previous measures.

However, the central government is telling local authorities to impose strict lockdowns in their areas when they detect a Covid-19 outbreak - even if only a handful of cases are found.

Mass testing is being carried out in places where cases have been reported. People found to have Covid-19 are isolated at home or placed under quarantine at a government-supervised facility.

Businesses and schools are closed, and so are all shops except for those selling food.

It is one of the toughest anti-Covid regimes in the world and lockdowns last until no new infections are reported.

Tens of millions of people have been living under some kind of lockdown since the latest wave of Covid-19.

Guangzhou, a southern city of nearly 19 million people, recently ordered a five-day lockdown for Baiyun, its most populous district.

Some rules, however, have been relaxed.

Those found with Covid-19 are now kept in isolation for only eight days, rather than 10 - five days at an isolation centre, plus three days of isolation at home.

China is also now allowing international arrivals for the first time since March 2022. Inbound travellers need to take a Covid test 48 hours before they arrive.

Why is China still trying to achieve zero Covid?
Unlike other countries, which have accepted they will have to live with the disease to a certain extent, China is following a policy it calls "dynamic zero" - taking dynamic action wherever Covid-19 flares up in order to eradicate it.

China's government argues that this policy saves lives, because uncontrolled outbreaks would put many vulnerable people at risk, such as the elderly.

Strict lockdowns mean China's death toll has stayed low ever since the start of the pandemic - the official figure is now just over 5,200.

This reported figure equates to three Covid deaths in every million in China, compared with 3,000 per million in the US and 2,400 per million in the UK.

What effect have zero-Covid policies had on China's economy?
In recent months, lockdowns have taken place in several cities at the same time.

These include Shenzhen, a city of 17.5 million, which is the centre of China's technology sector, and Shanghai, a city of 26 million which is China's manufacturing, trade and financial hub.

Lockdowns have led to factories and ports being shut for long periods, and they have affected a number of joint ventures with foreign companies.

This means that China's economy has grown by only 3.9% over the past year, compared with China's growth target of 5.5% for 2022.

It is also affecting businesses and consumers in the rest of the world, who have come to rely on China for supplies of goods.

A lockdown at the Foxconn plant in Zhengzhou has affected the production of iPhones, leading to fears of a worldwide shortage of them.

Factory closures have also led to fears of a shortage of toys worldwide in the run-up to Christmas.

Why does the WHO think a zero-Covid policy is wrong?
China was seen as an example of a country handling the virus relatively successfully at the start of the pandemic.

But the WHO has said it is very hard to contain the current Omicron variant spreading across China because it is more infectious than other variants.

"The virus is evolving, changing its behaviour," said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesu of the WHO. "With that... changing your measures will be very important."

Chinese President Xi Jinping says the zero-Covid policy is "scientific and effective", and the government has said the WHO's suggested change of policy would "inevitably lead to the deaths of a large number of elderly people".

Is more vaccination the answer?
Only about half of people in China aged 80 and above have received their primary vaccinations, with fewer than 20% of them having secured a booster.

Fewer than 60% of the 60-69 age group is fully vaccinated. China has been urging the elderly to get vaccinated.

People in these older age groups are the most likely to die from Covid-19.

There are also doubts over whether the two main vaccines used in China, Sinovac and Sinopharm, are really effective.

Both use inactivated virus to prompt an immune response.

Studies suggest they provide little protection against infection by the Omicron variant, even after two doses.

The US and other Western nations have offered China mRNA vaccines, which might be more effective - but they have not been widely used in mainland China.

BBC

 

[daytrader]

China Covid: Angry protests at giant iPhone factory in Zhengzhou

Protests have erupted at the world's biggest iPhone factory in the Chinese city of Zhengzhou, according to footage circulated widely online.

Videos show hundreds of workers marching, with some confronted by people in hazmat suits and riot police.

Those livestreaming the protests said workers were beaten by police. Videos also showed clashes.

Last month Covid cases saw manufacturer Foxconn lock down the site, prompting some workers to break out and go home.

The company then recruited new workers with the promise of generous bonuses. Foxconn has not yet commented on the latest disturbances.

Footage shared on a livestreaming site showed workers shouting: "Defend our rights! Defend our rights!" Other workers were seen smashing surveillance cameras and windows with sticks.

Several clips also showed workers complaining about food they had been given and saying they had not received bonuses as promised.

"They changed the contract so that we could not get the subsidy as they had promised. They quarantine us but don't provide food," said one Foxconn worker during his live stream.

"If they do not address our needs, we will keep fighting."

He also claimed to have seen a man "severely injured and [who] might die" after a beating from police.

One employee who recently started working at the Zhengzhou plant also told the BBC workers were protesting because Foxconn had "changed the contract they promised".

He said some newly recruited workers also feared getting Covid from staff who had been there during the earlier outbreak.

"Those workers who are protesting are wanting to get a subsidy and return home," the staff member said.

There was a heavy police deployment to the plant on Wednesday morning, he said.

Other livestreamed videos also showed crowds of armed police at the site.

Another newly recruited employee told the BBC he visited the protest scene on Wednesday where he saw "one man with blood over his head lying on the ground".

"I didn't know the exact reason why people are protesting but they are mixing us new workers with old workers who were [Covid] positive," he told the BBC.

Foxconn, a Taiwanese firm, is Apple's main subcontractor and its Zhengzhou plant assembles more iPhones than anywhere else in the world.

In late October many workers fled the plant amid rising Covid cases and allegations of poor treatment of staff, their escape captured on social media as they rode lorries back to their hometowns elsewhere in the central Chinese province.

Foxconn then attempted to convince workers to stay and to recruit new staff by offering higher salaries and bonuses.

The firm has since enacted so-called closed loop operations at the plant - keeping it isolated from the wider city of Zhengzhou because of a Covid outbreak there.

Earlier this month Apple said it expected lower shipments of iPhone 14 models because of the disruption to production in Zhengzhou.

BBC

 

[daytrader]

What do we know about new COVID variant XBB.1.5?
The Omicron subvariant XBB.1.5 has been reported in dozens of countries and the WHO has called it the most transmissible yet.

A new Omicron variant XBB.1.5 is causing concerns among scientists as it is spreading like a wildfire across dozens of countries, with the UN health agency calling it the “most transmissible subvariant detected yet”.

In the United States, XBB.1.5 now accounts for more than 40 percent of COVID-19 cases, sharply rising from 2 percent in the first week of December. It is now US’s second-most dominant strain.

The XBB.1.5, which is a descendant of the Omicron XBB subvariant, has started to rise in parts of Europe, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

Two other Omicron variants – BA.5.2 and BF.7 – were the dominant strains behind a sharp increase in COVID-19 cases in China. Beijing has said at least 60,000 people have died in the past month.


https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/1/14/what-is-the-new-covid-variant-xbb-1-5