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6 hours ago, Essjayess said:

Very nice of the scientists to notice the 3rd wave, considering it started 3 or 4 weeks ago. Johnson strikes again?..im sorry i was under the illusion that it was Covid and its variants causing these waves. Around 230 nations on this planet, vast majority of whom are getting these waves of Covid..so you are expecting Boris to have some magical wand to himself trigger these waves all by himself?...and i guess you  blame his triggering by delaying Indian  people coming in to the UK by a few days to late?..be real..these variants will get into most nations sooner or later..im sure Boris has made mistakes...he's human...as has every single leader and government in the world.

Anyways, yes, hospital admissions have increased from very slight to slow to medium now and deaths are just starting to see  very slight rises so..no doubt that this 3rd wave has different circumstances to the first two..we are riding it with much less lockdown than before, with vaccination program protecting hundreds of thousands more each day and with the majority of infections being with the younger generation. The pro active start that the government had on vaccination right from the early days has  helped immensely of course but most praise to the NHS and all the volunteers associated with making it happen.

Agree with most of this but most praise needs to go to Kate Bingham for her work in negotiating the procurement of vaccines from a multiplicity of sources while every other country was sleeping. 

It was a massive coup to procure the Pfizer vaccines from a German lab 2ith cast iron contracts that guaranteed our early supplies and has saved so many lives. 

 

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It was a massive coup to procure the Pfizer vaccines from a German lab 2ith cast iron contracts that guaranteed our early supplies and has saved so many lives. 
 

Is that the same Pfizer that have just done a deal with Germany to provide ( and manufacture ) 1.8 billion Pfizer doses. Unfortunately the war of nationalism killed and carries on killing 10’s of thousands around the world, with an estimated 1.2 billion vaccine doses that could have been manufactured and exported being wasted. 
To quote Johnson in June 2020 any Country ( and there are now plenty of them ) that vaccinate their citizens below the age 50 other than health workers and extremely vulnerable before the same is done throughout the world would be ‘ immoral ‘. 
If only we had followed your mate Ivor Cummins.

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Yeah, just sitting on a nice plastic chair. It's a bit slower than last time. 

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Most businesses have problems with removing screens and giving up masks. I asked a lady encouraging the use of foam antiseptic in a bank, what will happen next month when the freedom we never had hits our shores again' will we get arrested for wearing masks in a bank'? she said ' or for wearing motorbike helmets, you will have to take them off'. 

What when all the guards, 4 per floor, in our concentration/quarantine camps are removed and one is allowed to speak to those in quarantine about their paid for experience?

Plastic screens, now found to be not much safer than no barriers, will be removed, and snide remarks about masks, replaced by a grunt in one's direction.  Lets hope people find enough courage to get back on to public transport and cllrs will be made to utilise their  much adapted council chambers again, rather than spend money on large halls so they can sit far apart from each other, as if distance to each other ever bothered them before.

Medical appointments will be the key when such 'freedom' ever is allowed to be bestowed on us, for them to change emergency laws would have to be removed first, imho. Much will change in the NHS when it is fully privatised and the blueprint for it will be this pandemic and its emergency laws, sadly.

Freedom sounds good to us, but control of the masses is better for those addicted to edicts.

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Brazil followed the Ivor Cummings model, remember him, and had we listened this would have been where the world would be now.

Now we can bring you more from Brazil, where thousands of people protested against the government's handling of the Covid-19 pandemic on Saturday.

They took to the streets of cities across the country as the country's death toll surpassed 500,000.

At these protests much of the fury was aimed at Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro, who has been criticised for his scepticism towards vaccines, lockdowns and mask-wearing.

President Bolsonaro insists he has done all he can to buy vaccines, but many cities have struggled with insufficient doses.

"He took too long to buy the vaccine," Denise Azevedo, one demonstrator in Rio de Janeiro, told Reuters news agency.

"Herd immunity won't do any good. The only immunity you can get is with the vaccine. There is no early treatment. I have lost millions of friends, almost lost a cousin... people are orphans, fatherless, motherless, and childless."

Other protests accused President Bolsonaro of denying the reality of the Covid crisis in Brazil.

"His position on Covid and his denialism are absurd. He has abandoned reality and common sense," Robert Almeida, a 50-year-old photographer marching in Rio, told AFP news agency.

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20 hours ago, ricardo said:

UK continues to drop down the table of the worst hit countries in deaths per million of the population ( now 19th). Argentina and Columbia have just sailed past.

European cases have finally dropped below ours but their deaths have continued to be ten to twenty times higher for past 3 months. A sign of our higher vax'd numbers presumably. I also expect the Delta variant to hit there shortly.

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

Not sure that makes our massive death toll any better.

Thats like having an 8 at golf and saying its OK as my opponent had a 9.

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3 hours ago, Well b back said:

Brazil followed the Ivor Cummings model, remember him, and had we listened this would have been where the world would be now.

Now we can bring you more from Brazil, where thousands of people protested against the government's handling of the Covid-19 pandemic on Saturday.

They took to the streets of cities across the country as the country's death toll surpassed 500,000.

At these protests much of the fury was aimed at Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro, who has been criticised for his scepticism towards vaccines, lockdowns and mask-wearing.

President Bolsonaro insists he has done all he can to buy vaccines, but many cities have struggled with insufficient doses.

"He took too long to buy the vaccine," Denise Azevedo, one demonstrator in Rio de Janeiro, told Reuters news agency.

"Herd immunity won't do any good. The only immunity you can get is with the vaccine. There is no early treatment. I have lost millions of friends, almost lost a cousin... people are orphans, fatherless, motherless, and childless."

Other protests accused President Bolsonaro of denying the reality of the Covid crisis in Brazil.

"His position on Covid and his denialism are absurd. He has abandoned reality and common sense," Robert Almeida, a 50-year-old photographer marching in Rio, told AFP news agency.

Different approaches WBB. This recent article is of interest I believe.

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(21)00978-8/fulltext

It was posted by Alice Roberts in relation to this Lancet article and research and this is her quote:

"Opinions are cheap but evidence is better. The countries who pursued maximum suppression have the best health outcomes, the best economic outcomes AND the least infringement of civil liberties. This is not opinion - it's fact"

 

And whilst I'm posting this I include another interesting article she has posted (click below) about Long Covid and younger people. 

 

 

Edited by sonyc
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22 hours ago, Van wink said:

Yep, its already being reported on the continent and they will be following our curve on this occasion, with probably more serious consequences due to the lower number of vaccinated individuals. I would expect Italy France and the UK all to end up with very similar outcomes on deaths.

More than half of new Covid-19 cases in Lisbon region are Delta variant

Over half the new Covid-19 cases being reported in the Lisbon region are of the more infectious Delta coronavirus variant, preliminary data showed on Sunday as Portugueseauthorities scramble to curb a worrying spike in infections.

Ricardo Jorge, the national health institute, said the Delta variant represented more than 60% of cases in the Lisbon area though still less than 15% in the northern half of Portugal.

The Alpha variant, which was previously dominant in Britain, is more prevalent across Portugal’s north, representing 80% of infections there and only 30% in and around Lisbon, according to the institute.

Portugal posted over 1,000 new Covid-19 cases for the fourth straight day on Saturday and the number of people testing newly positive every 24 hours is back to late February levels, when the country was still under lockdown.

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2 hours ago, sonyc said:

Different approaches WBB. This recent article is of interest I believe.

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(21)00978-8/fulltext

It was posted by Alice Roberts in relation to this Lancet article and research and this is her quote:

"Opinions are cheap but evidence is better. The countries who pursued maximum suppression have the best health outcomes, the best economic outcomes AND the least infringement of civil liberties. This is not opinion - it's fact"

 

And whilst I'm posting this I include another interesting article she has posted (click below) about Long Covid and younger people. 

 

 

Exactly my long standing concerns with the young being left to suffer Covid and belittling long covid.

Spot on.

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1 hour ago, Van wink said:

More than half of new Covid-19 cases in Lisbon region are Delta variant

Over half the new Covid-19 cases being reported in the Lisbon region are of the more infectious Delta coronavirus variant, preliminary data showed on Sunday as Portugueseauthorities scramble to curb a worrying spike in infections.

Ricardo Jorge, the national health institute, said the Delta variant represented more than 60% of cases in the Lisbon area though still less than 15% in the northern half of Portugal.

The Alpha variant, which was previously dominant in Britain, is more prevalent across Portugal’s north, representing 80% of infections there and only 30% in and around Lisbon, according to the institute.

Portugal posted over 1,000 new Covid-19 cases for the fourth straight day on Saturday and the number of people testing newly positive every 24 hours is back to late February levels, when the country was still under lockdown.

If it is only just hitting I would think they are more protected than we were in April, but I am not sure exactly what our figure was in April but as at yesterday for instance Germany were 65,738,489 doses given 50.6 % 1st dose 31.5 % fully vaccinated and approaching 1 million doses per day. They are also using mainly Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson and Johnson, the first 2 a much shorter gap to second dose, Johnson and Johnson only needing 1 dose. Like ourselves I am sure Germany would feel case numbers will go up over the next 3 weeks, but if the U.K. figures hold up, their current hospitalisations and deaths will continue to fall in exactly the same way ours did. This all assumes they did not change track and start vaccinating lower age groups, but I can find nothing to suggest they are not going in age order.

It maybe America that struggles more than anyone in the rich countries as their vaccinations grind to a big slow down ( they are now only doing a million a day ) not due to vaccine shortages but the reluctance of a big proportion of US citizens refusing the jab.

Of course the biggest fear going forward is the vaccines losing efficacy in the older groups at 9 - 12 months, but I suspect the 60 million Pfizer doses that we have recently purchased to arrive in September / October will be used on adults during the autumn to nullify this possibility. I suspect as well it means you guys in the Oxford club will be getting a 3rd jab of Pfizer. Of course nobody knows how long the vaccines will be effective for. 

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34 minutes ago, Yellow Fever said:

Exactly my long standing concerns with the young being left to suffer Covid and belittling long covid.

Spot on.

Indeed the government has always been not very forthcoming on long COVID and the figures. I suspect we will be hearing much more about long COVID and extra things you will be allowed to do if you have 2 doses in the next few days as the government try to increase uptake in the younger groups. I only have this information second hand from Twitter ect but Villa Park has been a walk in all weekend but nowhere near the expected take up.

I am not sure how you measure long COVID against deaths but I saw a figure the other day that for every healthy person under 50 that is saved in the rich countries 32 vulnerable people will die in poorer countries that had not yet been vaccinated.

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Testings these days kind of take a back seat to actual vaccinations, when this time last year they made up so much of the Covid news, but its worth a mention that UK testings reached the 200 million mark today and tests per head of population still put UK in the top spot of all nations  in the world with above 10 mill population.

So yes those first couple months when Covid hit the UK was  very slow off the mark to react, but once things got moving no other major nation has come close to matching our combined testing and vaccination programs. Our NHS may always seem to be under the cosh these days but my goodness they and a heap of volunteers  again and again show how wonderful they are, doing  an almost herculean task every day and every week.

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8 hours ago, Well b back said:

It maybe America that struggles more than anyone in the rich countries as their vaccinations grind to a big slow down ( they are now only doing a million a day ) not due to vaccine shortages but the reluctance of a big proportion of US citizens refusing the jab.

In large part because one of the two major political parties and it’s media allies have been actively campaigning AGAINST vaccinations for months. The data is already showing a higher infection rate for the Delta variant in States having the misfortune to be run by that party… 

Edited by Surfer

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21 hours ago, Well b back said:

Brazil followed the Ivor Cummings model, remember him, and had we listened this would have been where the world would be now.

And let's not forget Sunentra Gupta and the Great Barrington bollox. According to her and her lock-down sceptic pals the virus was "on its way out" in May 2020. 

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8 hours ago, Surfer said:

In large part because one of the two major political parties and it’s media allies have been actively campaigning AGAINST vaccinations for months. The data is already showing a higher infection rate for the Delta variant in States having the misfortune to be run by that party… 

Indeed

Didn’t go down that route, but as I understand it not many Republicans have been vaccinated.
Is there anyway that can be changed ? Over here during the next few days we will be doing things like allowing travel for double vaccinated, relaxing isolation for double jabbed and suddenly reducing the secret long COVID figures to ‘ encourage ‘ younger citizens to get jabbed.

Maybe when Delta hits, Republicans will be queueing up for the jab, at least you have huge reserves that can be used ala China immediately, which I assume to be not exported at the moment in case of this eventuality.

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@yellowfever

As predicted I see there is a press conference today at 11 am to discuss those long COVID figures that have been kept secret over the last year. With pushing out the likelihood of double vaccinated being able to travel abroad, isolation rules changing and entry to music festivals all just aimed at getting the reluctant younger groups vaccinated. At least we will finally find out how bad those long COVID figures are.

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@Van wink

We should be on the cabinet. I see today the government are making out they are being pushed on when booster jabs will start. How coincidental as well that the guy with the beard specifically says can we mix those that have had an AZ by giving them a Pfizer jab. 
To repeat my prediction you guys and girls with AZ will be boosted with Pfizer. 
I do hope this means as soon as our required 2nd dose AZ have been delivered into arms we will finally start exporting to countries desperately in need.

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28 minutes ago, Well b back said:

@Van wink

We should be on the cabinet. I see today the government are making out they are being pushed on when booster jabs will start. How coincidental as well that the guy with the beard specifically says can we mix those that have had an AZ by giving them a Pfizer jab. 
To repeat my prediction you guys and girls with AZ will be boosted with Pfizer. 
I do hope this means as soon as our required 2nd dose AZ have been delivered into arms we will finally start exporting to countries desperately in need.

Yes, I noted that too. 

Perhaps being read into too much but a possible implication us that we are dumping AZ. 

AZ is known to have rare complications but as far as we know these are vanishingly rare in people who did not react adversely to a first dose.  So why dump AZ in those circumstances? Not because of efficacy i would have thought as its about the same (and may prove to be better in the long  run).  Perhaps then because AZ /Oxford are not looking to reformulate? 

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1 hour ago, Barbe bleu said:

Yes, I noted that too. 

Perhaps being read into too much but a possible implication us that we are dumping AZ. 

AZ is known to have rare complications but as far as we know these are vanishingly rare in people who did not react adversely to a first dose.  So why dump AZ in those circumstances? Not because of efficacy i would have thought as its about the same (and may prove to be better in the long  run).  Perhaps then because AZ /Oxford are not looking to reformulate? 

For anyone that follows my postings you will know I how I love Sarah Gilbert and Andrew Pollard who spent the last year and a half developing a vaccine ‘ to benefit the world ‘. Their vaccine was never meant to vaccinate under 50’s in rich nations until over 50’s across the world were vaccinated. The huge amounts of Oxford that should have been manufactured around the world for Covax ect have never materialised with a lot of the Western world in particular the US, India and the U.K. keeping what they manufactured for themselves. The US in particular have the ability to manufacture tens of millions of doses, but those they do have were simply left to rot, although since the G7 meetings this does seem to be changing with 2.5 million doses sent to Thailand as a for instance. India were to be the biggest manufactures but they decided given their circumstances no AZ vaccine was leaving India. China and Russia of course have their own vaccines and after giving plenty away for political gain are now giving compulsory vaccines to their own populations, China have so far given in excess of 1 billion doses to their citizens and nobody knows the Russian numbers as they keep these secret.

In the meantime the mRna vaccines mainly Pfizer and Moderna together with the Johnson and Johnson one dose have become the Western worlds vaccines of choice. With regards efficacy Pfizer in Israel has all reduced COVID dramatically even though their take up rate only reached 60% even though they are now fully open they only record about 25 cases per day and deaths are very rare. We have just bought 60 million doses of Pfizer and the EU have done a deal to manufacture and purchase 1.8 billion doses of Pfizer. The US can make endless amounts of Pfizer and Moderna that dwarf the EU figures, and have no intention ( as things stand ) of ever regulating other vaccines. I will be controversial and even go as far as saying that when rates are quoted the results of the AZ and Pfizer are being combined rather than quoted separately. This applies to the catching of COVID rather than hospitalised and deaths.

It is my understanding that 1.2 billon extra doses could have been made and distributed worldwide by now, but we can’t turn back the clock. The western world seems to have made its choice but has the ability to manufacture 10’s of millions of the Oxford vaccine each month. Why don’t we now ( the western world ) start giving back the dream of Sarah Gilbert and Andrew Pollard and get those vaccines manufactured and exported around the world. Let’s hope personal, political or financial gain do not stop us. We must also be aware that China are not far away from vaccinating all their citizens, once they have done that they will have no hesitation in providing vaccines that the western world does not.

 

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BBC reporting that health experts reckon flu immunity has decreased due to lockdowns and flu could be more of a problem than covid this winter.

I expect some on here will be using that as an argument to lock down forever!  Perhaps now hospitalisations and deaths continue to plateau, and we’re starting to find out about the extent of other negative effects of lockdowns, some will get their perspective back a bit.

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I see Gilmour tested positive for Scotland.

Just how the *** did he catch it ?

I can only assume somebody hasn't been very careful  or isolating professionally enough in the Euros. Who else will test positive?

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Vax

163,750 first dose

109,408 second dose

lack of doses or lack of urgency?????

Hospital patients not updated yet.

Edited by ricardo

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3 hours ago, Well b back said:

For anyone that follows my postings you will know I how I love Sarah Gilbert and Andrew Pollard who spent the last year and a half developing a vaccine ‘ to benefit the world ‘. Their vaccine was never meant to vaccinate under 50’s in rich nations until over 50’s across the world were vaccinated. The huge amounts of Oxford that should have been manufactured around the world for Covax ect have never materialised with a lot of the Western world in particular the US, India and the U.K. keeping what they manufactured for themselves. The US in particular have the ability to manufacture tens of millions of doses, but those they do have were simply left to rot, although since the G7 meetings this does seem to be changing with 2.5 million doses sent to Thailand as a for instance. India were to be the biggest manufactures but they decided given their circumstances no AZ vaccine was leaving India. China and Russia of course have their own vaccines and after giving plenty away for political gain are now giving compulsory vaccines to their own populations, China have so far given in excess of 1 billion doses to their citizens and nobody knows the Russian numbers as they keep these secret.

In the meantime the mRna vaccines mainly Pfizer and Moderna together with the Johnson and Johnson one dose have become the Western worlds vaccines of choice. With regards efficacy Pfizer in Israel has all reduced COVID dramatically even though their take up rate only reached 60% even though they are now fully open they only record about 25 cases per day and deaths are very rare. We have just bought 60 million doses of Pfizer and the EU have done a deal to manufacture and purchase 1.8 billion doses of Pfizer. The US can make endless amounts of Pfizer and Moderna that dwarf the EU figures, and have no intention ( as things stand ) of ever regulating other vaccines. I will be controversial and even go as far as saying that when rates are quoted the results of the AZ and Pfizer are being combined rather than quoted separately. This applies to the catching of COVID rather than hospitalised and deaths.

It is my understanding that 1.2 billon extra doses could have been made and distributed worldwide by now, but we can’t turn back the clock. The western world seems to have made its choice but has the ability to manufacture 10’s of millions of the Oxford vaccine each month. Why don’t we now ( the western world ) start giving back the dream of Sarah Gilbert and Andrew Pollard and get those vaccines manufactured and exported around the world. Let’s hope personal, political or financial gain do not stop us. We must also be aware that China are not far away from vaccinating all their citizens, once they have done that they will have no hesitation in providing vaccines that the western world does not.

 

Great post, and every point spot on IMO.

Oxford did a fantastic job in developing the vaccine and as you also point out had tremendously philanthropic aspirations to help the whole world through this horrible pandemic, so its a great shame that the vaccine hasn't been used in the way that they envisaged and that their aspirations to 'benefit the world' have been largely thwarted by the UK and other western goverments and of course by AstroZeneca themselves - partnering with AZ was rather surprising at the time and has proven to be a poor choice although that is assuming they had a choice - perhaps there wasn't a choice and AZ were the only option on the table to produce 'at cost' - although I was reading something recently that was saying that the 'at cost' promise is not quite what we were led to believe at the time.

Anyway let's hope the west does finally get its act together and starts doing the right thing, even at this very late stage. But, of course, you are also spot on about China and Russia. I don't think that the west (other than perhaps Biden) have even thought about, never mind woken up to the scale, of the political capital and influence all around the globe that they have lost to China and Russia because of the west's selfishness whilst China and Russia have been very astutely demonstrating their friendship & 'benelovence' - cynical it may be but has unquestionably been very successful and will be extremely difficult for the west to unwind.

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1 minute ago, Creative Midfielder said:

.....or lack of people opting to take up the offer??

very possible.

there are quite a few anti vaxers about unfortunately.

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1 minute ago, ricardo said:

very possible.

there are quite a few anti vaxers about unfortunately.

There are also a lot of under 30’s, hence the governments u turns at present regards people double vaccinated to get a higher uptake and suddenly admitting to over a million cases of long COVID.

There should be no shortage of Pfizer ( and Moderna ) as the manufacturing nations ( US and EU ) are making and putting into reserve huge quantities. 
It is now far more vital to have huge reserves for the autumn when nobody knows wether the efficiency of the vaccines will be as strong in those that had their vaccines in January, February and March. From what I have read our recently purchased 60 million doses of Pfizer should arrive in September or October.

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