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Covid-19: 04/17 Weekend - Global News

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    Covid-19: 04/17 Weekend - Global News

    As usual from The Guardian:

    • Global coronavirus cases pass 2.1 million. The total number of coronavirus cases across the world has reached at least 2,138,763, according to Johns Hopkins University. The number of cases of coronavirus registered globally passed 1.5 million on 9 April. Deaths have passed 142,000.
    • US president Donald Trump has issued guidelines for reopening the country, with three phases each dependent on states meeting certain criteria. Trump says states who meet Phase 1 criteria can reopen tomorrow (on Friday), and that 29 states will reopen “relatively soon”.
    • Brazil’s president Jair Bolsonaro has sacks his popular health minister Luiz Mandetta, after a weeks-long stand-off between the two men over radically different views of the coronavirus pandemic.
    • The UK government announces lockdown extension for three weeks. The foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, who is deputising for Boris Johnson as he recovers from Covid-19, confirmed the extension following advice from the government’s scientific advisory group for emergencies.
    • 5 million more Americans sign on as unemployed. The US labour department announced that another 5.24 million people filed for unemployment benefits last week, making a total of 22.2 million since 14 March. The largest number of people to ask for unemployment benefits in a four-week period before the Covid-19 crisis came in 1992, when 2.7 million sought support.
    • France registered 753 more deaths from coronavirus infections on Thursday, bringing the total to 17,920, the fourth highest tally in the world. But the number of people in hospital has declined for a second day running.
    • Australia PM says more Covid-19 measures needed. Scott Morrison, Australia’s prime minister, said the country had succeeding in flattening the infection curve but that a “more extensive surveillance regime” needed to be implemented if they were to forge “the road out” of lockdown.
    • EU chief: ‘Europe owes Italy an apology’. Europe owes Italy “a heartfelt apology” for not offering assistance when the country was suffering in the early stages of the coronavirus outbreak, the head of the European Union executive said.
    • New York State lockdown extended to 15 May. Governor Andrew Cuomo also announced that starting on Friday, anyone aged two and older would be required to wear face coverings in public. Another 606 people have died from the virus in New York, the lowest figure in 10 days, bringing the total above 12,000 in the state.
    • IMF: Asian economies will not grow this year. Economies in Asia will see zero growth this year for the first time in 60 years, the International Monetary Fund has said.
    • Singapore reports biggest jump yet in cases. Singapore reported at least 728 new confirmed cases of coronavirus in the previous 24 hours, the biggest jump yet in numbers in the city-state, which had fought hard to keep its outbreak under control.
    • Japan declares nationwide state of emergency. Japan has expanded its state of emergency to cover the entire country. According to AFP, the declaration allows regional governors to urge people to stay indoors, but with no punitive measures or legal force the measure is weaker than strict lockdowns seen in other parts of the world.
    • Facebook to warn users who ‘like’ misinformation. Facebook will begin showing notifications to users who have interacted with posts that contain “harmful” coronavirus misinformation, the company announced.

    Japan: From The Straits Times

    Japan expanded a state of emergency to the whole country on Thursday (April 16), as the number of Covid-19 cases doubled in one week to top the 9,000 mark.

    This brings all 47 prefectures under the decree, which will last until May 6.
    Singapore: From Straits Times

    Like in the past two weeks, foreign workers living in dormitories continue to drive this increase, accounting for 654 of new patients. This means the total number of patients who have tested positive for the virus linked to dormitories now stands at 2,689, or three in five of all cases.
    Gilead Drug: From Marketwatch

    This drug is also being trialed in Hong Kong and know of two cases where this has been used for treatment.

    University of Chicago Medicine researchers said they saw “rapid recoveries” in 125 COVID-19 patients taking Gilead Sciences Inc.’s experimental drug remdesivir as part of a clinical trial, according to a Thursday afternoon report.
    Canada: A story about elderly dying in care homes from the NYT.

    The deaths of 31 people, at least five of whom had the coronavirus, in less than a month at a Canadian nursing home has emerged as the latest painful reminder that long-term care centers are among the places most vulnerable to the pandemic.

    The deaths were discovered late last week at Résidence Herron, a private home for seniors in Montreal, after local health authorities, alarmed by staff shortages and the virus’s spread within the home, took control of the residence.

    They found dehydrated residents lying listless in bed, unfed for days, with excrement seeping out of their diapers.
    Last edited by shri; 17-04-2020 at 09:00 AM.

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    More about the test kits that the UK purchased from China:

    The two Chinese companies were offering a risky proposition: two million home test kits said to detect antibodies for the coronavirus for at least $20 million, take it or leave it.

    The asking price was high, the technology was unproven and the money had to be paid upfront. And the buyer would be required to pick up the crate loads of test kits from a facility in China.

    Yet British officials took the deal, according to a senior civil servant involved, then confidently promised tests would be available at pharmacies in as little as two weeks. “As simple as a pregnancy test,” gushed Prime Minister Boris Johnson. “It has the potential to be a total game changer.”

    There was one problem, however. The tests did not work.
    https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/16/w...gtype=Homepage

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    >>Singapore: From Straits Times

    Like in the past two weeks, foreign workers living in dormitories continue to drive this increase, accounting for 654 of new patients. This means the total number of patients who have tested positive for the virus linked to dormitories now stands at 2,689, or three in five of all cases.<<

    I mean, seriously, what were they expecting would happen?
    But maybe it's OK because those who suffer long term lung or other damage and are no longer Productive Workers can just be shunted back off to their third world countries without cluttering up Singapore's health services.

    Please, let Singapore prove me wrong!


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    Quote Originally Posted by chingleutsch:
    But maybe it's OK because those who suffer long term lung or other damage and are no longer Productive Workers can just be shunted back off to their third world countries without cluttering up Singapore's health services.
    Expendable workers that can easily be replaced

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    Quote Originally Posted by shri:
    More about the test kits that the UK purchased from China:



    https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/16/w...gtype=Homepage
    Del Boy at his best. Trotter's Independent Traders of Only Fools and Horses fame.
    shri likes this.

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    Wuhan death toll numbers adjusted....

    https://twitter.com/AFP/status/1250992343928340480


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    More in this twitter thread:

    A 50% increase will affect fatality ratios significantly...

    https://twitter.com/Rover829/status/1250984958593691649


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