Following the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Outbreak - News and Discussion

AndyKK · Post by **AndyKK** » Fri Nov 26, 2021 9:13 pm

Rich countries could have prevented new Covid variant, say experts

The emergence of new variants like B.1.1.5.2.9 could have been avoided if wealthy countries had ensured poorer nations had access to Covid jabs, experts have said.

Scientists have described B.1.1.5.2.9 , detected in countries including South Africa, as the “most worrying we’ve seen”, with it found to contain a large number of mutations that may not only make it more transmissible, but may also help it to evade the body’s immune system.

But experts such as Tim Bierley, a pharma campaigner at Global Justice Now, said the rise of the variant had been “entirely avoidable” and that conditions for its emergence had been created by low- and middle-income countries being “actively prevented” by the UK from having equitable access to vaccines.

https://www.msn.com/en-xl/news/other/ri ... d=msedgntp

AndyKK · Post by **AndyKK** » Fri Nov 26, 2021 9:26 pm

Shanghai cuts tourism, eastern Chinese city limits transport on resurgent COVID

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - A handful of local COVID-19 cases in eastern parts of China have prompted Shanghai city to limit tourism activities and a nearby city to cut public transportation services, as China insists on zero tolerance against letting clusters spread.

Shanghai city detected three domestically transmitted COVID-19 cases with confirmed symptoms for Nov. 25, official data from the National Health Commission (NHC) showed on Friday. The last local symptomatic infection in Shanghai was reported in August.

The new infections came just days after China contained its biggest outbreak caused by the Delta variant, suggesting the growing challenge in efforts to eliminate local clusters.

https://www.msn.com/en-xl/news/newsworl ... d=msedgntp

Hong Kong and China move closer to partial border reopening

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hong Kong and Chinese authorities said a meeting on Thursday moved them closer to partially reopening the border between them, as the two governments dig their heels in as among the last in the world pursuing a zero-COVID-19 strategy.

The global financial hub has followed Beijing's lead to implement some of the strictest travel restrictions in the world, hoping that would convince China, its main source of economic growth, to allow some cross-border movement.

https://www.msn.com/en-xl/news/newsworl ... d=msedgntp

Will Chinese tourists be flocking into Cambodia like once before?

nemo · Post by **nemo** » Fri Nov 26, 2021 9:36 pm

No!

50% of passengers on recent China to Cambodia flight denied boarding, claims Chinese media
According to a interviewee, passengers were put through a strict examination before boarding – which questions including the purpose of their visit to Cambodia as well as examinations of mobile phone data, including wechat conversation history.

He stated that when he boarded the plane from Wuhan Airport on November 23, it was only a regular inspection, but when he boarded the plane from Guangzhou Airport on November 25, the inspection was ‘very strict’.

The interviewed passenger added that ‘as long as you act right and straight, don’t engage in pornography, gambling and drug industry in Cambodia, especially illegal activities such as online gambling, basically don’t be afraid, because the Chinese police will never deliberately make things difficult.’

It is expected that the number of Chinese visitors to Cambodia will dramatically increase after Prime Minister HE announced that there is no need to quarantine when entering Cambodia

https://www.khmertimeskh.com/50977930/5 ... ese-media/

CEOCambodiaNews · Post by **CEOCambodiaNews** » Fri Nov 26, 2021 11:56 pm

3h ago 13:30
First European case of B.1.1.529 variant identified in Belgium
Daniel Boffey

A first case in Europe of the new variant of Covid-19 has been identified in Belgium in an unvaccinated young adult woman who developed mild flu-like symptoms 11 days after travelling to Egypt via Turkey.

The patient did not report any links with South Africa or other countries in southern Africa. None of her family members have developed symptoms. The patient was said to have a high viral load at the time of diagnosis by researchers at the universities, KU Leuven and UZ Leuven.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/ ... 01d9c7c64c

AndyKK · Post by **AndyKK** » Sat Nov 27, 2021 4:49 am

WHO names new variant Omicron, designates as 'variant of concern'
The World Health Organization has named the B.1.1.529 Covid variant Omicron and says an advisory group has recommended that it should be designated as “of concern”
In a statement, WHO said preliminary evidence suggests the latest variant carries a “higher risk of re-infection than other variants of concern”.

The WHO added:

The first known confirmed B.1.1.529 infection was from a specimen collected on 9 November 2021. This variant has a large number of mutations, some of which are concerning.
Preliminary evidence suggests an increased risk of reinfection with this variant, as compared to other VOCs [variants of concern].

The number of cases of this variant appears to be increasing in almost all provinces in South Africa.

armchairlawyer · Post by **armchairlawyer** » Sat Nov 27, 2021 9:15 am

John Campbell reviews the new variant.
Short version:
There are 3 relevant issues with any new variant:
1. How contagious is it?
2. Does it escape the vaccines?
3. How sick does it make people?

And, the answers are.....
1. Very, very.
2. Highly probable.
3. Don't yet know but probably no sicker than the previous variants. If we're lucky, less sick.

The new variant (named Omicron by the WHO who decided to skip the Greek letters Nu and Xi) may well have developed in an unvaccinated person with untreated HIV (complicated reasons why). Probably occurred in Botswana. It has spread very rapidly in South Africa since its first known outbreak in early November.
It has already out-competed the Delta variant and will almost certainly go everywhere.
Smart countries have already banned flights from all of southern Africa. The WHO and Fauci say no to flight bans.
But flight bans will only buy time.
It will be pretty easy for AZ, PBTEC and MRNA to tweak their vaccines and this will probably be necessary (JC explains exactly why).
People who have had the actual infection will be better protected than those who have had the existing vaccines.
One gilimmer of hope - if it causes low level sickness then as it spreads around the world quickly, it will confer global imminity without causing much sickness.

ExPenhMan · Post by **ExPenhMan** » Sat Nov 27, 2021 9:41 am

Dozens of COVID-19 cases on flight from South Africa, Dutch authorities say

In related news of flight bans from South Africa, two KLM flights from ZA arrived in Amsterdam before the Dutch banned flights from there. At least 85 (!!!!!) tested positive for COVID. Good bloody grief. How does that happen? Did all these passengers buy fake PCR test results? Does KLM require PCR tests? Does Holland?

AMSTERDAM, Nov 26 (Reuters) - Dutch health authorities said that dozens of people who arrived in Amsterdam on two flights from South Africa on Friday are likely infected with COVID-19, and they are conducting further testing to see if people are infected with the recently discovered Omicron coronavirus variant.

Around 600 passengers arrived at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport on the two KLM flights on Friday and then faced hours of delays and testing due to concerns over thenew virus variant. On the basis of initial testing, the Dutch health ministry estimated there may be around 85 positive cases among the passengers.

"Travelers with a positive test result will be placed in isolation at a hotel at or near Schiphol," health authorities said in a statement.

"Of the positive test results, we are researching as quickly as possible whether they are the new variant of concern, now named 'Omicron'."

More at link:

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/pa ... 021-11-26/

nemo · Post by **nemo** » Sat Nov 27, 2021 10:07 am

nemo wrote: ↑Fri Nov 26, 2021 12:04 pm
This variant seems to give quirky results (known as an S-gene dropout) in the standard tests and that can be used to track the variant without doing a full genetic analysis.

That suggests 90% of cases in Gauteng may already be this variant and it "may already be present in most provinces" in South Africa.
This is causing grave concern

https://www.bbc.com/news/health-59418127

hard to identify with current methods

Kammekor · Post by **Kammekor** » Sat Nov 27, 2021 10:35 am

ExPenhMan wrote: ↑Sat Nov 27, 2021 9:41 am Dozens of COVID-19 cases on flight from South Africa, Dutch authorities say

In related news of flight bans from South Africa, two KLM flights from ZA arrived in Amsterdam before the Dutch banned flights from there. At least 85 (!!!!!) tested positive for COVID. Good bloody grief. How does that happen? Did all these passengers buy fake PCR test results? Does KLM require PCR tests? Does Holland?

AMSTERDAM, Nov 26 (Reuters) - Dutch health authorities said that dozens of people who arrived in Amsterdam on two flights from South Africa on Friday are likely infected with COVID-19, and they are conducting further testing to see if people are infected with the recently discovered Omicron coronavirus variant.

Around 600 passengers arrived at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport on the two KLM flights on Friday and then faced hours of delays and testing due to concerns over thenew virus variant. On the basis of initial testing, the Dutch health ministry estimated there may be around 85 positive cases among the passengers.

"Travelers with a positive test result will be placed in isolation at a hotel at or near Schiphol," health authorities said in a statement.

"Of the positive test results, we are researching as quickly as possible whether they are the new variant of concern, now named 'Omicron'."
More at link:

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/pa ... 021-11-26/

The number has 85 not yet been confirmed, 13 cases have, but they deducted the number 85 from the total numbers of passengers and the percentage of people testing positive they have results from.

It puzzles me too though, a negative covid test is a requirement for boarding the plane and entering the country, but this either has not been enforced or fake test results can be obtained very easily.

xandreu · Post by **xandreu** » Sat Nov 27, 2021 10:46 am

armchairlawyer wrote: ↑Sat Nov 27, 2021 9:15 am John Campbell reviews the new variant.
Short version:
There are 3 relevant issues with any new variant:
1. How contagious is it?
2. Does it escape the vaccines?
3. How sick does it make people?

And, the answers are.....
1. Very, very.
2. Highly probable.
3. Don't yet know but probably no sicker than the previous variants. If we're lucky, less sick.

The new variant (named Omicron by the WHO who decided to skip the Greek letters Nu and Xi) may well have developed in an unvaccinated person with untreated HIV (complicated reasons why). Probably occurred in Botswana. It has spread very rapidly in South Africa since its first known outbreak in early November.
It has already out-competed the Delta variant and will almost certainly go everywhere.
Smart countries have already banned flights from all of southern Africa. The WHO and Fauci say no to flight bans.
But flight bans will only buy time.
It will be pretty easy for AZ, PBTEC and MRNA to tweak their vaccines and this will probably be necessary (JC explains exactly why).
People who have had the actual infection will be better protected than those who have had the existing vaccines.
One gilimmer of hope - if it causes low level sickness then as it spreads around the world quickly, it will confer global imminity without causing much sickness.

He also went into how the variant 'probably' (no real proof yet) mutated - it came from a single person already infected with HIV and therefore already had a compromised immune system, which Covid 'took advantage of' (I'm paraphrasing but this was my take from what he was saying) and due to this, the HIV infected person offered little resistance to the level of mutations that Covid was able to do. Which is why this variant shows such an alarmingly high number of mutations - 30. I think he said the Delta variant was just three mutations.

To me, this was the most alarming thing he said in the whole video. If this is what happens every time it finds its way into someone with a compromised immune system such as a person with HIV, has this 'changed the game'? And if so, how significantly?

I can't remember if it was in this video or I read it someone else, but apparently many vaccines have already been produced for many different scenarios and mutations and there is already a vaccine for this specific mutation.

But it does feel like it's back to square one again.

Following the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Outbreak - News and Discussion

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