COVID-19 Pandemic World Updates

MEXICO
‘Coronavirus is a lie:’ mob attempts to ‘rescue’ patient from Chiapas hospital
An angry crowd of around 300 people attempted to storm the Social Security Institute hospital yesterday in Motozintla, Chiapas, after a third patient in the town was diagnosed with the coronavirus.

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Soldier in Mexico with COVID-19.


Ouch! That's a fit young guy, obviously very ill indeed!
 
MEXICO
‘Coronavirus is a lie:’ mob attempts to ‘rescue’ patient from Chiapas hospital
An angry crowd of around 300 people attempted to storm the Social Security Institute hospital yesterday in Motozintla, Chiapas, after a third patient in the town was diagnosed with the coronavirus.

htFtxO0.jpg


Maybe this is nature's way of thinning the heard. Anyone heard of Darwin? Maybe stupidity looses for once.
 
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An abandoned corpse wrapped in plastic and covered with cardboard lies on a sidewalk in Guayaquil, Ecuador, on April 6.
 
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Cemetery workers dig graves for suspected victims of the COVID-19 pandemic at the Nossa Senhora cemetery in Manaus, Brazil, on May 6.

Brazil's coronavirus cases have spiked to 135,106 including 9,146 deaths, according to numbers released Wednesday by the Brazilian Health Ministry. This surge comes as President Jair Bolsonaro's spokesman, Gen. Otavio Santana do Rego Barros, confirmed he tested positive for Covid-19.

Yet Bolsonaro said earlier this week he believed "the worst had passed" for the coronavirus pandemic, during a press conference outside the Alvorada presidential residence in Brasilia. But as the number of cases and deaths continue to climb, many health experts fear the worst is yet to come.

Since Bolsonaro made the comment in Brasilia on Tuesday, there have been more than 20,000 new cases of coronavirus and the country registered 610 deaths on Thursday, nearly the highest toll yet in a 24-hour period, according to the Health Ministry.

Health Minister Nelson Teich said Thursday that stricter lockdowns may be needed in some of the hardest-hit regions, during a video conference with members of the lower house of Congress.

Former Health Minister Luiz Henrique Mandetta said "the toughest months" are likely to be May and June, during an interview with TV Globo last month, four days before he was fired by Bolsonaro over disagreements on the country's coronavirus strategy.
 
Just remember, our political leaders were telling us this is a hoax. I guess we shouldn't believe our eyes.
 
This is what it's like to be a funeral worker during a pandemic

 
'Covid toes' and other rashes puzzle doctors



Five rashes, including Covid toe, are affecting some hospital patients diagnosed with Covid-19, a small study by Spanish doctors has found.

The rashes tended to appear in younger people and lasted several days.

It is not uncommon for a rash to be a symptom of a virus, such as the spots that indicate chicken pox.

But the researchers said they were surprised to see so many varieties of rash with Covid-19.

Rashes are not currently included in the list of symptoms of the illness.

There have been many reports about "Covid toe" - a rash appearing on Covid patients' feet even in the absence of other symptoms - but lead researcher Dr Ignacio Garcia-Doval said the most common form of rash in the study was maculopapules - small, flat and raised red bumps that tend to appear on the torso.

"It is strange to see several different rashes - and some of them are quite specific," Dr Garcia-Doval told the BBC.

"It usually appears later on, after the respiratory manifestation of the disease - so it's not good for diagnosing patients," he added.

 
Coronavirus found in men's semen

 
Meanwhile in the UK, chaos as the government issues contradictory advice, and Wales Scotland and Northern Ireland refuse to follow the more reckless parts of the UK (aka England) policy.
 
(in Dead from Covid-19 thread)
That's an incredibly strong healthy looking dude interesting if he had any prior health issues.
Thanks for all your updates. Most countries in Europe want to go back to normal this month it is not just Spain. I too fear there will be a devasating second wave in Europe in the next months.
In Bulgaria cases are still increasing and they are death cases every day from COVID but the government will now lift the restricitons and allow people to travel, return to work, go to restaurant and bars etc.
We expect a massive surge in COVID cases here.

You think you've got problems! Russia is lifting lockdown just a cases go through the roof:

Global report: Russia to end national lockdown as French shops reopen
Dutch schools partially reopen and Spain takes first tentative steps towards ‘new normality’
Vladimir Putin delivers a televised address to the nation on Monday.
Vladimir Putin delivers a televised address to the nation on Monday. Photograph: Sputnik/Reuters

Vladimir Putin has announced an end to Russia’s six-week national lockdown despite a record jump in coronavirus cases, as European countries eased their own restrictions by reopening some shops and schools.
In a TV address, Russia’s president said his citizens could go back to work from Tuesday. But he made clear the return was “conditional”, and it would be up to individual regions to decide how fast to lift restrictions. It would be a cautious “step-by-step” exit, he said, adding: “We have a long and difficult process ahead.”
Putin’s decision to reboot the national economy came despite a surge in new cases. On Monday Russia overtook the UK and Italy for number of confirmed infections, reaching 221,234. There had been 11,656 new infections in the previous 24 hours.
The country now trails only Spain and the US in terms of registered cases. The virus appears to be rampant in Moscow, which will remain in its separate city lockdown until the end of May. It has spread across the country, all the way to Russia’s remote Pacific coast.
Putin noted the size of Russia and said the epidemiological situation in different regions varied greatly. Local governments would retain the right to keep lockdown measures in place, he said. He praised Russia’s doctors and nurses and said “extraordinary measures” had prevented a worse outbreak.
The opposition politician Alexei Navalny wrote on Twitter: “This should be remembered. Putin has ended national self-isolation measures aimed at fighting the epidemic on the very day when we have registered a record for new infections. W for Wisdom.”
The official death toll in Russia is 2,009, with 94 new deaths reported in the last 24 hours. But there are widespread suspicions that the numbers are wrong. Novaya Gazeta suggested the real figure could be three times higher, based on an analysis of monthly deaths compared with previous years.
“So far we only see that the increase in mortality is large. It’s many times more than the official number of deaths from coronavirus. By how much – two, three or more – we don’t know yet,” Boris Ovchinnikov, Data Insight’s research director, told the paper.
France, the Netherlands and Spain all took significant steps on Monday towards ending their lockdowns. Across France, shops – including hairdressers – reopened. Citizens were allowed to venture out without formal permission and to drive up to 100km (60 miles) from their homes.
In Paris, the traffic was noticeably up as some people returned to their offices for the first time after an extended break.
Dutch primary schools partially reopened, together with nurseries and libraries. Some hairdressing and beauty salons welcomed customers.
About half of Spain took its first tentative steps towards what the government calls “the new normality” as lockdown restrictions were loosened for many regions – but not for Madrid and Barcelona.
With 51% of Spaniards living in areas that have passed into the second phase of the de-escalation, people were able to congregate in groups of up to 10 individuals, shop in small stores and order a drink or a meal on the terraces outside bars and restaurants.
Areas that qualify include most of Andalusia – Spain’s most populous southern region – as well as the Canary and Balearic Islands. Bars, restaurants, shops, museums, gyms and hotels were allowed to open. Most operated at reduced capacity.
But the capital and Barcelona, two of the hardest-hit cities, remain in the first phase. They will not be able to follow suit until they have permission from the health ministry.
The trend across Europe appears to be one of region-specific easing. Many urban areas are set to continue with restrictive measures amid fears of a second wave of infections.
In Germany, Angela Merkel urged people to remain vigilant. Appearing in the sky lobby of her chancellery in Berlin, she said Germans should continue with physical distancing and wear masks. It was “very important” that people stuck to the “basic precepts”, she stressed.
Her brief comments followed a rise in Germany’s infection rate at the end of last week, in the wake of an easing of restrictions. Over the weekend thousands of demonstrators gathered in cities around the country protesting against what they saw as the infringement of their civil liberties.
There were reports that many people were failing to abide by the distancing or face covering rules – paradoxically as a result of the fact that Germany has successfully contained much of the epidemic. Its infection rate on Monday afternoon was 172,658. A total of 7,681 Germans have died of the virus – far fewer than in other European countries of similar size.
In other developments:
  • South Korea pushed back its reopening of schools by a week as health authorities found dozens of coronavirus infections linked to nightclubs.
  • The Afghan capital, Kabul, recorded its worst day for infections after 161 new cases were reported, and the health ministry warned transmission would continue to surge across the wartorn country. Kabul has 1,257 confirmed cases.
  • Kosovo’s caretaker prime minister, Albin Kurti, said he was in self-isolation after an official in his government had “close contact” with someone who tested positive. Kurti said he would stay at home until the official’s test results were available.
  • Cape Town and the surrounding Western Cape province have become South Africa’s coronavirus hotspot, accounting for more than half of confirmed national cases. These have risen above 10,600.

And an analysis:
 
Meanwhile in the UK, chaos as the government issues contradictory advice, and Wales Scotland and Northern Ireland refuse to follow the more reckless parts of the UK (aka England) policy.

And the reason I'm so furious about our government's botch-up:

Cases may have fallen considerably in London and to a lesser degree in the West Midlands but in my region, Northeast and Yorkshire, they have hardly fallen and may even be rising - and I'm in the high risk group.
 
At last there seems to be a reliable antibody test., though there are still questions over how much immunity the antibodies provide and for how long - and, from a discussion on the BBC this afternoon, over whether it is sensitive enough to detect low antibody levels from an asymptomatic infection rapidly fought off. Still, it is encouraging progress.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/13/public-health-england-approves-roche-test-for-coronavirus-antibodies
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/14/is-the-coronavirus-antibody-test-approved-by-public-health-england-a-game-changer
 
Thanks, again something I hadn't seen. Glad to see you post more Guardian links lately.
 
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