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International Effects of Covid-19

We have ALL your misinformation, plus some TRUE FACTS and SCIENCE.
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RTH10260
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Re: International Effects of Covid-19

#126

Post by RTH10260 »

England’s Covid travel rules spark outrage around the world
Refusal to recognise vaccines given across Latin America, Africa and south Asia has been denounced as ‘discriminatory’

Tom Phillips, Flávia Milhorance in Rio de Janeiro, Emmanuel Akinwotu, and Jon Henley in Paris
Thu 23 Sep 2021 12.38 BST

England’s Covid travel rules and refusal to recognise vaccines administered across huge swaths of the world have sparked outrage and bewilderment across Latin America, Africa and south Asia, with critics denouncing what they called an illogical and discriminatory policy.

The transport secretary, Grant Shapps, described England’s rules, unveiled last Friday, as “a new simplified system for international travel”. “The purpose is to make it easier for people to travel,” Shapps said.

But in many parts of the world there is anger and frustration at the government’s decision to recognise only vaccinations given in a select group of countries.

Under the new rules, travellers fully vaccinated with Oxford/AstraZeneca, Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna or Janssen shots in the US, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea or an EU country will be considered “fully vaccinated” and exempt from quarantine when they arrive in England from an amber list country.

But people who have been fully vaccinated with the same vaccines in Africa or Latin America, as well as other countries including India, will be considered “not fully vaccinated” and forced to quarantine for 10 days on arrival from an amber list country.

In Europe, there is frustration at Britain’s refusal to accept as “fully vaccinated” people who have had Covid and then a single dose of a two-dose shot. Such people are considered fully vaccinated in most EU countries and are able to travel freely around the bloc with an EU digital Covid certificate.

To visit the UK, however, they must quarantine for 10 days, with UK government guidelines currently requiring people vaccinated with a two-dose vaccine such as Moderna or Pfizer to have had both doses “even if you have recently recovered from Covid-19 and have natural immunity”.


https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/ ... -the-world
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Re: International Effects of Covid-19

#127

Post by keith »

Dave from down under wrote: Fri Sep 24, 2021 6:53 pm
For the past two days, the entire nation of Samoa has been locked down, with strips of red fabric flying in front of many homes.

:snippity:

But the Pacific nation has not recorded a single case of COVID-19.
Excellent.

Samoa has obviously learned much since the Kiwi's did such a bad job managing the Spanish Flu pandemic when they were the responsible authority (New Zealand occupied the German colony of Western Samoa at the beginning of WWI). The port authorities allowed flu infected passengers from the ship "Talune" to land and circulate freely. The flu spread through the population like wildfire. When authorities finally got around to asking for help from New Zealand, they point blank refused help from American Samoan medical authorities because the Americans had imposed strict quarantine and the Kiwi Administrator was pissed off at the American Governor. It was months before the Australians (not New Zealand) sent help.

Over 8500 people died (22% of the population and including 45% of the Matais - village chiefs/ family patriarchs). According to a 1947 United Nations report, it was ‘one of the most disastrous epidemics recorded anywhere in the world during the present century, so far as the proportion of deaths to the population is concerned’. Samoa has had a tolerate/hate relationship with Kiwiland ever since - they demanded direct rule from London (granted in 1935) and was gained independence in 1962.

The contrast with American Samoa was palpable: flu did not arrive there until 1920 after its deadliness had dissipated. The American Governor there imposed a strict quarantine and got the local matais to support him. The matais even agreed to cut family visits from Western Samoa and to patrol the coasts and direct all small inter-island boat traffic to Pago Pago for quarantine. All traffic from Western Samoa especially and the world in general was blocked - not even the mail was allowed in unless all were subjected to quarantine. That pissed off the Kiwi governor no end (who was a hard-core racist bastard anyway) but nobody died in American Samoa.

And so far there has been only one case of Covid-19 and no deaths in American Samoa.

How American Samoa Kept a Pandemic at Bay

(edited to fix typo and grammar errors)
Has everybody heard about the bird?
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Re: International Effects of Covid-19

#128

Post by Dave from down under »

From 2 weeks ago, but still relevant

https://www.news.com.au/world/coronavir ... 16ad76ccbc

Americans slam Australia’s Covid policies as their own epidemic spirals out of control

The US is eclipsing Australia’s entire Covid death toll every day, but that hasn’t stopped some Americans from taking aim at our policies.
:snippity:
Let’s stipulate to the obvious, that lockdowns suck and everyone will be relieved when none of the strict measures currently in place across Australia are necessary anymore.

But spare us the overblown rhetoric. Tyrannical madness? Concentration camps? Oppression? If you want to see actual oppression, look at China, or North Korea, or the fate Afghanistan will suffer under Taliban rule.

Lowry, easily the most thoughtful among those mentioned above, accused Australia of “dispensing with key elements of advanced liberal society”. He was referring to things like freedom of movement, and he’s not without a point. Some individual rights have been temporarily curtailed to protect public health.

But there’s another key element that any functioning society requires: mutual obligation. Yes, we all have individual rights, but we also have responsibilities to one another. Every liberal democracy tries to strike a balance between those two things.
:snippity:
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Re: International Effects of Covid-19

#129

Post by raison de arizona »

RTH10260 wrote: Fri Sep 24, 2021 8:33 pm
:snippity:
To visit the UK, however, they must quarantine for 10 days, with UK government guidelines currently requiring people vaccinated with a two-dose vaccine such as Moderna or Pfizer to have had both doses “even if you have recently recovered from Covid-19 and have natural immunity”.


https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/ ... -the-world
Good for them, natural immunity is half as good as the vax at best.
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Re: International Effects of Covid-19

#130

Post by Sam the Centipede »

Dave from down under wrote: Mon Sep 27, 2021 9:37 am From 2 weeks ago, but still relevant

https://www.news.com.au/world/coronavir ... 16ad76ccbc

Americans slam Australia’s Covid policies as their own epidemic spirals out of control
:snippity:
But there’s another key element that any functioning society requires: mutual obligation. Yes, we all have individual rights, but we also have responsibilities to one another. Every liberal democracy tries to strike a balance between those two things.
:snippity:

And that's what the RWNJs won't accept: for them it's all my rights, me, me, me.

Responsibity? We don't need no steenkin' responsibility!

It is a category error to transpose national constitutional laws delineating a restricted system of government, into a quasi-religious code of individual behavior and personal ethics.
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Re: International Effects of Covid-19

#131

Post by RTH10260 »

Herd immunity is not working as expected
Singapore hits record daily number of Covid-19 cases, despite high vaccination rate.

By Isabella Grullón Paz

Singapore has vaccinated the majority of its population, yet in recent days it has still experienced a record surge in new Covid-19 cases.

Coronavirus infections in the Southeast Asian city-state rose to new highs in the past week, with 2,909 new infections reported on Friday, the largest number of daily cases since the pandemic began, the Ministry of Health said in a statement Saturday.

But officials urged residents to remain calm, because more than 98 percent of the newly reported cases have been mild or asymptomatic and can therefore be treated at home. One reason for the mild cases is that Singapore has vaccinated 82 percent of its eligible population, dramatically reducing instances of severe illness, officials said.



https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/10/03 ... ation-rate
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Re: International Effects of Covid-19

#132

Post by RTH10260 »

NYT newsletter wrote:New Zealand abandons its ‘Covid-zero’ strategy

Seven weeks into a wearying lockdown, Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand’s prime minister, yesterday acknowledged an end to the elimination strategy that had given the country one of the lowest rates of Covid cases and deaths in the world, and had allowed its people to live without restrictions during most of the pandemic.

“We’re transitioning from our current strategy into a new way of doing things,” Ardern said. “With Delta, the return to zero is incredibly difficult, and our restrictions alone are not enough to achieve that quickly. In fact, for this outbreak, it’s clear that long periods of heavy restrictions has not got us to zero cases.”

The city of Auckland, where the outbreak is concentrated, will remain in lockdown for as long as the next two months, epidemiologists say, while the country continues its vaccination efforts. A 79 percent of people 12 and older have received at least one dose, and 48 percent have received two doses, according to data from the Ministry of Health.

At risk: Auckland’s outbreak has been complicated by low vaccination rates and rising cases among vulnerable people, including those in temporary housing. “We should have recognized the entrenched transmission in marginalized and deprived groups,” said Dr. Michael Baker, an epidemiologist at the University of Otago. “That’s what basically sustained the outbreak.”
(no link to my email inbox ;) )
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Re: International Effects of Covid-19

#133

Post by RTH10260 »

ahh - the full article
Battling Delta, New Zealand Abandons Its Zero-Covid Ambitions
The country is changing course seven weeks into a lockdown that has failed to end the outbreak and tested the patience of many residents.

By Natasha Frost
Oct. 4, 2021

AUCKLAND, New Zealand — For a year and a half, New Zealand has pursued a strategy of “Covid zero,” closing its borders and quickly enforcing lockdowns to keep the coronavirus in check, a policy it maintained even as other Asia-Pacific countries transitioned to coexisting with the viral threat.

On Monday, New Zealand gave in.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern acknowledged an end to the elimination strategy seven weeks into a lockdown that has failed to halt an outbreak of the Delta variant, announcing that restrictions would be gradually lifted in Auckland, the country’s largest city.


https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/04/worl ... -zero.html
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Re: International Effects of Covid-19

#134

Post by Dave from down under »

Portugal is running out of people to vaccinate

https://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2021-10- ... /100514138

No more lockdowns, no more masks outdoors: Portugal's bars and clubs have opened for the first time since March 2020, and restaurants are operating with no limits on the size of groups.

Key points:

Portugal has the highest rates of vaccination in the world
The establishment of vaccination hub "production lines" at sports centres across the country was instrumental in vaccination efforts
Some experts attribute the successful rollout to very low rates of anti-vaccination sentiment in Portugal
After Portugal achieved its goal of fully vaccinating 85 per cent of the population against COVID-19 in nine months, other countries in Europe and beyond want to know how it was accomplished.

Portugal is the country with the highest percentage of the population fully vaccinated anywhere in the world, according to Oxford University's Our World in Data.

Of those eligible for vaccination — everyone in Portugal above the age of 12 — the percentage of people fully vaccinated is approaching 100 per cent.

"We have actually run out of adults to give shots to," a nurse at a Lisbon vaccine centre told the Washington Post.

The COVID-19 infection rate and admissions to hospital from the virus have dropped to their lowest levels in nearly 18 months.
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Re: International Effects of Covid-19

#135

Post by RTH10260 »

Covid response ‘one of UK’s worst ever public health failures’
Early handling and belief in ‘herd immunity’ led to more deaths, Commons inquiry finds

Ian Sample and Peter Walker
Tue 12 Oct 2021 00.01 BST

Britain’s early handling of the coronavirus pandemic was one of the worst public health failures in UK history, with ministers and scientists taking a “fatalistic” approach that exacerbated the death toll, a landmark inquiry has found.

“Groupthink”, evidence of British exceptionalism and a deliberately “slow and gradualist” approach meant the UK fared “significantly worse” than other countries, according to the 151-page “Coronavirus: lessons learned to date” report led by two former Conservative ministers.

The 2016 exercise warned of the need to stockpile PPE four years before the Covid pandemic hit.

The crisis exposed “major deficiencies in the machinery of government”, with public bodies unable to share vital information and scientific advice impaired by a lack of transparency, input from international experts and meaningful challenge.

Despite being one of the first countries to develop a test for Covid in January 2020, the UK “squandered” its lead and “converted it into one of permanent crisis”. The consequences were profound, the report says. “For a country with a world-class expertise in data analysis, to face the biggest health crisis in 100 years with virtually no data to analyse was an almost unimaginable setback.”



https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... h-failures
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Re: International Effects of Covid-19

#136

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Russia’s daily Covid death toll hits grim record as cases rise and vaccinations lag
On Wednesday, Russia reported 28,717 new Covid cases and 984 deaths caused by the virus, marking the second day in a row that the country has recorded a record-high number of daily fatalities.
:snippity:
Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko delivered sharp warnings on the public health crisis in Russia on Tuesday, telling a cabinet meeting that that incidence of Covid in Russia had increased 16% over the past week and in some regions, the growth rate was more than 30%.

Russia has about 255,000 beds for Covid patients, of which about 235,000 are occupied, Murashko said, with 11% of Russia’s hospitalized Covid patients in a serious or critical condition “and practically all of them are patients who have not been vaccinated,” Murashko said, according to the TASS news agency.
:snippity:
.....vaccination figures remain low with around 31% of Russia’s 144 million population fully vaccinated, according to Our World in Data.
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/10/13/russia- ... kdown.html
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Re: International Effects of Covid-19

#137

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“If everyone fought for their own convictions there would be no war.” ― Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace
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Re: International Effects of Covid-19

#138

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“If everyone fought for their own convictions there would be no war.” ― Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace
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Re: International Effects of Covid-19

#139

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“If everyone fought for their own convictions there would be no war.” ― Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace
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Re: International Effects of Covid-19

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Post by Volkonski »

“If everyone fought for their own convictions there would be no war.” ― Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace
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Re: International Effects of Covid-19

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“If everyone fought for their own convictions there would be no war.” ― Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace
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Re: International Effects of Covid-19

#142

Post by RTH10260 »

Covid: UK faces ‘another lockdown Christmas if we don’t act soon’
Prof Peter Openshaw, a prominent adviser to government on Covid, says there is ‘no point in delaying’

Lucy Campbell
Sat 23 Oct 2021 12.30 BST

A prominent adviser to the government on Covid-19 has said he is very fearful of another Christmas lockdown, as he urged the public to do everything possible to reduce the spread of the virus.

Prof Peter Openshaw, a member of the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (Nervtag), said the current number of cases and deaths rates were unacceptable, and reiterated the importance of measures such as working from home and mask wearing.

His intervention comes after the prime minister resisted calls from health leaders, including the head of the NHS Confederation and the council chair of the British Medical Association, who urged “categorically” that the “time is now” for tighter restrictions.

Asked on Friday about the possibility of a winter lockdown, Boris Johnson said there was “absolutely nothing to indicate that that is on the cards at all”. The chancellor, Rishi Sunak, also said the vaccine rollout and booster jabs made a lockdown or “very significant economic restrictions” unlikely.

The health secretary, Sajid Javid, conceded earlier this week that new cases could reach a record 100,000 a day, but Downing Street insisted there was still spare capacity in the NHS and that “plan B” winter measures, including the mandatory use of face masks and working from home guidance, would only be activated if it came under significant pressure.



https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/ ... t-act-soon
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Re: International Effects of Covid-19

#143

Post by Dave from down under »

Sigh... NSW comes out of lockdown and no-one is surprised that our area that had been almost free of Covid cases for the last year now has...

Daily Cases by LGA
First Dose / Second Dose 15+
95.0% 76.1%
DATE UNKN CASES
25 Oct 10 12

If re-opening had been delayed 2-3 weeks we would have had 95% of 15+ yr olds double vaccinated, rather than 76% :(
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Re: International Effects of Covid-19

#144

Post by Uninformed »

“Covid: Biden sets new rules as air travel to the US reopens”:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-59044856
If you can't lie to yourself, who can you lie to?
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Re: International Effects of Covid-19

#145

Post by AndyinPA »

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-59051105
A Senate panel backed a report calling for charges against Mr Bolsonaro including crimes against humanity, after 600,000 deaths from coronavirus.

The findings will be sent to the chief prosecutor, a Bolsonaro appointee.

The president has maintained he is "guilty of absolutely nothing" but the crisis has dented his popularity.

Brazil's death toll is second only to that of the United States.

There is no guarantee this vote will lead to actual criminal charges, as the report's recommendations must now be assessed by Prosecutor-General Augusto Aras, who is expected to protect the president.
Cross-posted in Brazil thread.
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Re: International Effects of Covid-19

#146

Post by RTH10260 »

China locks down city of 4m people after six Covid cases detected
Residents in Lanzhou, Gansu, told to stay at home as buses, taxis and key rail routes suspended

Agence France-Presse
Tue 26 Oct 2021 11.22 BST

China has placed a city of 4 million under lockdown in an attempt to stamp out a domestic coronavirus outbreak, with residents told not to leave home except in emergencies.

Beijing imposed strict border controls in the weeks after Covid-19 was first detected in China in late 2019, slowing the number of cases to a trickle and allowing the economy to bounce back.

As the rest of the world opens up and tries to find ways to live with the virus, China has maintained a zero-Covid approach that has included harsh local lockdowns imposed over just a handful of cases.

Tuesday’s restrictions came as China reported 29 new domestic infections – including six cases in Lanzhou, the provincial capital of the north-western Gansu province.

Residents of Lanzhou would be required to stay at home, authorities said in a statement. Officials said the “entry and exit of residents” would be strictly controlled and limited to essential supplies or medical treatment.



https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/ ... ansu-covid
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Re: International Effects of Covid-19

#147

Post by Volkonski »

The Netherlands thought it was safe to reopen. It wasn't. :(

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Re: International Effects of Covid-19

#148

Post by Volkonski »

Merkel: Germany hit by full force of Covid

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-5 ... 40BBCWorld
Germany is in the grip of a "dramatic" fourth Covid wave, Chancellor Angela Merkel has said on the eve of a crisis meeting with regional leaders.

Daily infections hit a new German record of 52,826 on Wednesday as European governments responded to a surge on much of the continent.

"It's not too late to decide to get a first vaccination," said Mrs Merkel, calling for a faster booster jab drive.

The Netherlands, now under partial lockdown, also reported record cases.

Austria imposed a lockdown on an estimated two million unvaccinated people on Monday and other European states are weighing up their own restrictions.

Sweden is introducing a Covid vaccination pass from 1 December for the first time for concerts and other indoor events involving more than 100 people. "You who are unvaccinated cannot just carry on as normal; your most important contribution is to get vaccinated," said Social Affairs Minister Lena Hallengren, who accepted the measure was tough but said Sweden was not isolated from the rest of the world.

Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis said anyone who had not been vaccinated (or could show they had had recovered from Covid-19) would be banned from accessing public events or services. From Monday, negative tests would no longer be enough.
“If everyone fought for their own convictions there would be no war.” ― Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace
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Re: International Effects of Covid-19

#149

Post by RTH10260 »

Include Austria, Denmark and the Netherlands with exploding infection numbers. Switzerland is expecting the next wave shortly. Here breakthru cases are increasingly seen with dual vaccinated elderly. Third jab campaign here has only just started. Recent reports have it that the wave is producing hospitalization of the unvaccinated.
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Re: International Effects of Covid-19

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Post by AndyinPA »

I just read somewhere yesterday that Germany closed all of its Christmas markets. I'm sure other countries will follow.
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