Covid 19 -

[russellw]

Data valid as at 23:59 GMT December 25th, 2020.

Note: As not all Australian States report at the same time, the data below is based on the previous full day reporting.

11 new cases for Australia and 0 deaths so the CMR is 3.212%. NSW recorded 10 cases, SA and Queensland recorded 2 each and WA recorded 1.

No new cases and no deaths for NZ so CMR is 1.175% and active cases 49.

The UK had 32,725 cases yesterday and 570 deaths.

Just over 193k new cases in the USA yesterday and 2,835 deaths sees CMR drop to 1.764% and active cases at 39.5% with the raw numbers rising and now over 7.5M. Note that the USA is actually minus one day due to time differences.

Other notable points - bearing in mind that some countries didn't report:
Global cases pass 84M with the last 1M in 2 days;
Global deaths pass 1.75M with the last 50k in 4 days;
North America passes 22M cases;
The USA completes 243M, India 166M, Russia 88M, Germany & France 33M, UAE 20M, Australia 11M and Denmark 10M tests.

Namibia (683) - 15% above the high yesterday;
South Korea (1,237) - 13% above the previous high;
Japan (3,841) - 25% above the previous high;
Slovakia (4,046);
South Africa (14,796); and
Colombia (14,941)

... recorded new daily highs; those in blue for the second consecutive day and those in red for a third or more consecutive days.

[russellw]

Cuba is the latest country to join those struggling with 2nd/3rd waves. Their first; over April & May was fairly mild with a peak of 74 cases before the 2nd during August / September which peaked at 93 cases and now the 3rd which started in late November peaked at 217 on 24th December and has been mostly above 100 cases per day all month.

[tweeked]

Japan will need to get a lid on it to have any hope for the Olympics. Change of season may help but they would now have an enormous amount off virus seeding in the community.

[russellw]

Data valid as at 00:00 GMT December 26th, 2020.

Note: As not all Australian States report at the same time, the data below is based on the previous full day reporting.

24 new cases for Australia and 0 deaths so the CMR is 3.209%. NSW recorded 15 cases, WA 6, and Queensland recorded 1.

No new cases and no deaths for NZ so CMR is 1.175% and active cases 49.

The UK had 34,693 cases yesterday and 210 deaths.

Just under 146k new cases in the USA yesterday and 1,314 deaths sees CMR drop to 1.757% and active cases at 39.7% with the raw numbers rising and now over 7.6M. Note that the USA is actually minus one day due to time differences.

Other notable points - bearing in mind that some countries still haven't reported over the Christmas period:
Russia passes 3M cases;
North America passes 22M cases;
The USA completes 245M, India 167M, M, M and M tests.

Only Malaysia (2,335)

... recorded new daily highs; those in blue for the second consecutive day and those in red for a third or more consecutive days.

[russellw]

Looking at the worst hit countries over the last 14 days, sees the trend of European countries dominating the list continue with only one of the worst 15 countries not European. These numbers look at the cases per 100k of population in the last 14 days:

The worst hit include: Lithuania (1,421), Panama (884), Czechia (881), Netherlands (880), USA (859), Montenegro (856), Georgia (840), Croatia (772), Denmark (761), Luxembourg (720), Slovakia (657), Serbia (709), Switzerland (679) and the UK (626).

[Metdevil]

Originally Posted by tweeked

Japan will need to get a lid on it to have any hope for the Olympics. Change of season may help but they would now have an enormous amount off virus seeding in the community.

https://www.mofa.go.jp

Looks like they're currently in discussions about amending the procedure for entry into the country.

"However, the GOJ decided that all foreign nationals who stayed in the United Kingdom (from December 24, 2020) and South Africa (from December 26, 2020) within 14 days prior to submitting the application of landing with this framework will be denied to enter Japan until further notice."

Surprised that it's only the UK, and not all of Europe, to be honest.

[T3rminator]

Originally Posted by Metdevil

https://www.mofa.go.jp

Looks like they're currently in discussions about amending the procedure for entry into the country.

Surprised that it's only the UK, and not all of Europe, to be honest.

Well it has entered Europe now so they'll likely be added to the list. Originally many parts of Europe had blocked UK residents from entering, but I think they later relaxed it.

Japan has another problem. My cousin living there tells me a vast majority of the population does not believe in vaccines.

[Work Horse]

Originally Posted by T3rminator

Well it has entered Europe now so they'll likely be added to the list. Originally many parts of Europe had blocked UK residents from entering, but I think they later relaxed it.

Japan has another problem. My cousin living there tells me a vast majority of the population does not believe in vaccines.

Forward this to your cousin so he does not worry,
https://www.who.int/immunization/mon...e/data/jpn.pdf

Japan has near 100% vaccination rates for most diseases

[T3rminator]

Originally Posted by Work Horse

Forward this to your cousin so he does not worry,
https://www.who.int/immunization/mon...e/data/jpn.pdf

Japan has near 100% vaccination rates for most diseases

Interesting, a quick glance suggests the data seems to be supported by one or two dots onlys. Not sure how to read the data, how do you get over 100 vaccination rate?

She seems to think the locals are all very weary and skeptical on vaccines due to historical issues. Not going to argue against WHO stats, but a quick google brought this up.

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/20...y-coronavirus/

[T3rminator]

Very interesting analysis on Japan's vaccination programs from the NCBI. This article in dated 2014 so things may have changed.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4300546/

They have one of the highest Vaccine Preventable Deaths in the developed world.

It appears they split their vaccines into two categories, Routine and Voluntary. The high take up of vaccines from the WHO stats could be in the "routine" category. Covid will be voluntary according to the japantimes article.

Anyhow, I hope they get a high uptake as it would be good for the world have the Olympic games in 2021.

[Tickford.]

Japan had it's second highest number of positive cases yesterday (3'567). The day before that (Christmas day), they had the highest recorded number ever, 3'841 positive cases. Their numbers are still on a upwards trajectory since the start of November.

My thoughts remain the same as my previous post on the subject.

https://fordforums.com.au/showthread.php?p=6515770

[Tickford.]

South Australia now has the UK variant. Returning traveller from UK - was in medi-hotel, but has been moved to the Royal Adelaide Hospital.


13 countries have reported new variants of the virus:

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/...s-of-covid-19?

[Citroënbender]

I wonder how differently we might view this pandemic, if it had been called the Strayavirus.

[wodahs]

Originally Posted by Citroënbender

I wonder how differently we might view this pandemic, if it had been called the Strayavirus.

Strayviant maybe

[Charliewool]

Originally Posted by Citroënbender

I wonder how differently we might view this pandemic, if it had been called the Strayavirus.

True that!... We could’ve been playing a whole new tune (on a different fiddle)
https://youtu.be/_SkKIFrmBKk

[mostly_broncos]

This just in , media focus groups find the word "mutation" 73% scarier , all new reports will require that word

Never in history has such nonsense been used to politically bludgeon citizens ! Its breathtaking the descent into madness we are witnessing.

The flu mutates all the time , no one mentions it . News of a covid mutation however is "an earthshattering developement!" all citizens of the UK are hereby viewed as trash by dozens of other countries based on what exactly?

Without evidence the new strain is worse its been declared the rapture is about to begin , by the media of course who rule all countries now apparently.



Don't viruses mutate all the time? and don't the mutations usually weaken the virus ? Well thats not nearly alarming enough so it won't be mentioned

[cs123]

Originally Posted by mostly_broncos

This just in , media focus groups find the word "mutation" 73% scarier , all new reports will require that word

Never in history has such nonsense been used to politically bludgeon citizens ! Its breathtaking the descent into madness we are witnessing.

The flu mutates all the time , no one mentions it . News of a covid mutation however is "an earthshattering developement!" all citizens of the UK are hereby viewed as trash by dozens of other countries based on what exactly?

Without evidence the new strain is worse its been declared the rapture is about to begin , by the media of course who rule all countries now apparently.



Don't viruses mutate all the time? and don't the mutations usually weaken the virus ? Well thats not nearly alarming enough so it won't be mentioned

I'm no expert on virus... but that hasn't stopped anyone else having an uneducated option. Yes, virus mutates over time. That is evolution and natural selection means the best strain of the virus will become dominate. Successful mutations for a virus means it can infect more people and continue to exist.

What they don't want is a virus that has mutated and is now not blocked by the vaccine.

But I agree with the news media hype.

[PhilT2]

Originally Posted by mostly_broncos

Don't viruses mutate all the time? and don't the mutations usually weaken the virus ? Well thats not nearly alarming enough so it won't be mentioned

The measles virus seems to have been stable enough that the vaccine has been effective for many years. Lets hope that is the case with Covid. I don't know of any research that indicates mutations usually weaken a virus, if you have a link I'd be interested.

[russellw]

Originally Posted by PhilT2

The measles virus seems to have been stable enough that the vaccine has been effective for many years. Lets hope that is the case with Covid. I don't know of any research that indicates mutations usually weaken a virus, if you have a link I'd be interested.

My understanding was that most RNA viruses regularly mutate and the mutations are generally minor enough to not have an impact on the efficacy of a vaccine. I've read a couple of articles that suggest they can weaken with mutations but I don't know just how definitive that work is.

Originally Posted by mostly_broncos

Without evidence the new strain is worse its been declared the rapture is about to begin , by the media of course who rule all countries now apparently.

Scientists/medical professionals have already provided evidence of it being "worse" in terms of being more contagious. They've already stated that it doesn't cause more serious disease but will infect more people than the original would have.

[Metdevil]

Originally Posted by mostly_broncos

This just in , media focus groups find the word "mutation" 73% scarier , all new reports will require that word

Never in history has such nonsense been used to politically bludgeon citizens ! Its breathtaking the descent into madness we are witnessing.

The flu mutates all the time , no one mentions it . News of a covid mutation however is "an earthshattering developement!" all citizens of the UK are hereby viewed as trash by dozens of other countries based on what exactly?

Without evidence the new strain is worse its been declared the rapture is about to begin , by the media of course who rule all countries now apparently.



Don't viruses mutate all the time? and don't the mutations usually weaken the virus ? Well thats not nearly alarming enough so it won't be mentioned

Wow, there's a lot to unpack here, but let's give it a go.

1) I don't think I've actually seen it being referred to as a 'mutation' in headlines, but rather as a 'variant'. The only scaremongering I've noticed so far has come from this one post.

2) Yes, viruses mutate all the time. Yes, they do mention it, every year that we need a new vaccine for the flu.

3) Covid hasn't changed. Remember, Covid-19 is the disease, not the virus.
And no, the new virus variant is not an 'earth-shattering development'. The Virus has been mutating since it was discovered, hence why we're able to trace where particular cases have come from.

4) Without evidence? https://cmmid.github.io/topics/covid...l-variant.html
It's right there, ready for your peer review.

5) Yes, this new variant (note, not strain) is worse in that it drastically increases infectiousness. The tl;dr of the study is this - The virus genetic material is within a spike protein shell. Spikes make it easier to attach itself to the host. Spikier spike protein = more infectious.
How do we know that it's more infectious? By the rise in rate of infections... https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/uk/

6) No, mutations don't usually weaken the virus (that's not to say that they don't they certainly can). By definition, mutations are the virus' method of improving itself. We are just often able to exploit certain mutations to our advantage in the development of vaccines.

Finally, even CNN, the Big Bad Wolf of the fake news media, and Covid scaremonger extraordinaire, already made the point of noting that mutations aren't a significant occurrence...
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/12/21/e...hnk/index.html

"All viruses mutate over time and new variants are a common emergence, including for the novel coronavirus."

However when that mutation is beneficial to the virus, it's significantly more significant than the insignificant mutations we've noticed since February.

The news isn't being used to 'politically bludgeon citizens', most people are intelligent enough to follow up and do research of their own. If you're sitting yourself in front of a screen for your daily intake of words being said at you without any intention of forming an opinion for yourself, then you're bludgeoning yourself.
The news is not a one-way form of communication, it's your own choice to research multiple sources, and to investigate further when you suspect something is 'nonsense'. The only 'political bludgeoning' comes once you've chosen to be another mouth for these people and chose to further spread that 'nonsense'.

Lastly, try to stay away from articles with the words 'analysis' or 'opinion' in the headline. These are usually the ones with the most nonsense...

[russellw]

Data valid as at 00:00 GMT December 27th, 2020.

Note: As not all Australian States report at the same time, the data below is based on the previous full day reporting.

15 new cases for Australia and 0 deaths so the CMR is 3.207%. NSW recorded 11 cases, WA & SA 2 each and Victoria recorded 1.

16 new cases and no deaths for NZ so CMR is 1.166% and active cases 50.

The UK had 32,340 cases yesterday and 347 deaths.

Just over 184.5k new cases in the USA yesterday and 1,543 deaths sees CMR drop to 1.748% and active cases at 39.6% with the raw numbers rising and now over 7.6M. Note that the USA is actually minus one day due to time differences.

Other notable points - bearing in mind that some countries still haven't reported over the Christmas period:
Global cases pass 81M with the last 1M in 2 days;
Russia passes 3M cases;
North America passes 22M cases;
The USA completes 246M, India 168M, Russia 89M, France 34M, Italy 26M and Indonesia 7M tests.

Only Canada (10,403)

... recorded new daily highs; those in blue for the second consecutive day and those in red for a third or more consecutive days.

[Mr_G6ET]

Seen an interview a day or so ago that the lady (in position I think) said that she was happy to see people wearing masks when she went out because the northern NSW persons are normally quite 'cool', 'casual' people.
What the **** you ignorant uninformed, isolated ****, you think we are different here ?

[.:4:.]

Originally Posted by Mr_G6ET

Seen an interview a day or so ago that the lady (in position I think) said that she was happy to see people wearing masks when she went out because the northern NSW persons are normally quite 'cool', 'casual' people.
What the **** you ignorant uninformed, isolated ****, you think we are different here ?

I saw a random news report a few days before Christmas where they interviewed a random old lady. She did the standard be angry thing and said the pig ignorant 'Christmas is a time for people to be together'. Hmmmmm, its not like when i was a kid and if one kid had chicken pox everyone would be invited over because you supposedly only get that once. I dunno the science behind that mentality, but i only had the pox once.
Covid, considering its been a year and hasnt ****ed off, im of the attitude that no one is completely safe, and if every person takes the recomended precautions, and thats a big statement, it may die off. Issue being, its world wide, not isolated. So probably not happening anytime soon. Even if there is a vaccine, there will be persons who chose against. So its not a race against time, its a waiting game in my opinion untill it goes away. Im not being a negative nancy. But you can recommend people to do things, but that doesnt mean they do it.

[Mr_G6ET]

Originally Posted by .:4:.

I saw a random news report a few days before Christmas where they interviewed a random old lady. She did the standard be angry thing and said the pig ignorant 'Christmas is a time for people to be together'. Hmmmmm, its not like when i was a kid and if one kid had chicken pox everyone would be invited over because you supposedly only get that once. I dunno the science behind that mentality, but i only had the pox once.
Covid, considering its been a year and hasnt ****ed off, im of the attitude that no one is completely safe, and if every person takes the recomended precautions, and thats a big statement, it may die off. Issue being, its world wide, not isolated. So probably not happening anytime soon. Even if there is a vaccine, there will be persons who chose against. So its not a race against time, its a waiting game in my opinion untill it goes away. Im not being a negative nancy. But you can recommend people to do things, but that doesnt mean they do it.

sorry dude, missed my point. All meant was they (she) seemed to think that that the nth NSW was almost too cool for masks. spastic comment from her.
as if we are different location to location. I punch people for less.........covid to stay on topic

[Tickford.]

This...

[Tickford.]

Another Chinese journalist jailed for early reporting of the COVID-19 outbreak in Wuhan.

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/12/28/a...hnk/index.html


4 years for "picking quarrels and provoking trouble."

China has punished 8 whistle blowers so far.

[Romulus]

Originally Posted by Tickford.

This...


image

The only slice missing is the immune system. Its the one thing the health 'experts' refuse to discuss in reducing the chances of contracting or fighting this influenza virus.

[Metdevil]

Originally Posted by Romulus

The only slice missing is the immune system. Its the one thing the health 'experts' refuse to discuss in reducing the chances of contracting or fighting this influenza virus.

That's because your immune system is more responsible for the spread of the virus than it is for the prevention of spread. Coughing, sneezing, producing phlegm, etc are all part of the immune response.
Your immune system offers no protection against inoculation of the virus.

Think of it like an airbag. Airbags don't prevent crashes. They reduce the impact of the crash on the driver. You wouldn't rely on your airbags to prevent a crash from occurring. You certainly wouldn't drive on worn tyres or with worn brakes simply because you know you have an airbag to save you...

[mostly_broncos]

Originally Posted by Tickford.

Another Chinese journalist jailed for early reporting of the COVID-19 outbreak in Wuhan.

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/12/28/a...hnk/index.html


4 years for "picking quarrels and provoking trouble."

China has punished 8 whistle blowers so far.

Its a kinder and gentler China these days , in the bad old days you got a bullet in the neck and there was no news story