COVID-19 News and Discussions

weatheriscool
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Rotterdam police open fire as Covid protest turns violent
Source: The Guardian

Police in Rotterdam have fired warning shots, injuring protesters, as riots broke out in central Rotterdam at a demonstration against government plans to restrict access for unvaccinated people to some venues.

Police said in a tweet that “there are injuries in connection with the shots” during the violent unrest on Friday night. Riot police used a water cannon in an attempt to drive hundreds of rioters from a central street in the port city.

Photos in Dutch media showed at least one police car ablaze and another with a bicycle smashed through the windscreen.
...
The government has said it wants to introduce a law that would allow businesses to restrict the country’s coronavirus pass system to people who are fully vaccinated or have recovered from Covid-19, which would exclude people who test negative.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/ ... ns-violent
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wjfox
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Covid: WHO says it is very worried about Europe surge

1 hour ago

The World Health Organization (WHO) is "very worried" about the spread of Covid-19 within Europe as the continent battles a fresh wave of infections.

Speaking to the BBC, regional director Dr Hans Kluge warned that some 500,000 more deaths could be recorded by March unless urgent action is taken. Dr Kluge said introducing measures like mask wearing could immediately help.

The warning comes as several nations report record-high infection rates and introduce full and partial lockdowns.

Dr Kluge said factors like the winter season, insufficient vaccine coverage and the regional dominance of the more transmissible Delta variant were behind the spread. He called for increased vaccine uptake and the implementation of basic public health measures and new medical treatments to help fight the rise.

"Covid-19 has become once again the number one cause of mortality in our region," he told the BBC, adding "we know what needs to be done" in order to fight the disease.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-59358074
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caltrek
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^^^More on that:

Austria Announces Nationwide Lockdown, Vaccine Mandate for All
by Cain Burdeau
November 19, 2021

https://www.courthousenews.com/austria- ... e-for-all/

Introduction:
(CN) — Faced with soaring coronavirus infections, Austria on Friday took the drastic steps of imposing a new nationwide lockdown and announced vaccination will become mandatory for the general population in February, a first for a Western nation.

These strict measures were announced by conservative Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg only five days after Austria took the unprecedented decision of imposing a lockdown on its unvaccinated citizens.

The new lockdown will start on Monday and last for up to 20 days, though it could be extended. People will be able to leave their homes only for essential reasons, such as work, food shopping and exercise. Schallenberg said the vaccine mandate will come into force on Feb. 1. Unvaccinated people could face fines and possibly even jail sentences. The chancellor said legal questions needed to be worked out.

“For a long time, the political consensus has been that we do not want compulsory vaccinations in this country,” Schallenberg said. “But we have to face reality.”

Austria's step toward mandatory vaccination could be the beginning of a trend in Europe. After Austria announced a lockdown for the unvaccinated, other European countries stepped up restrictions against people without vaccine certificates. Calls for mandatory vaccination are growing, but resistance is stiff. Austria's measures have sparked large protests and more are expected over the weekend.
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weatheriscool
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First Wuhan COVID case days later than initially reported: scientist
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-11- ... ntist.html
The first case of COVID-19 identified in Wuhan, China and presented as such by the World Health Organization was actually days later than previously believed and at an animal market, a top scientist said in the journal Science Thursday.

Rather than the original patient being a man who had never been to the Wuhan market where wild and domestic animals were sold, the first known case of COVID-19 turns out to have been a woman who had worked in the market, virologist Michael Worobey wrote.

For Worobey, that key piece of information, and his analysis of other early cases of COVID-19 in the city, clearly tip the scales towards the virus having originated in an animal.

With no definitive evidence, debate has raged among experts since the start of the pandemic almost two years ago over the origin of the virus.

Worobey was one of the 15 or so experts who in mid-May published a column in Science demanding serious consideration of the thesis that the virus had leaked from a laboratory in Wuhan.
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caltrek
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New Zealand Announces the End of Lockdowns and Abandons its "Zero-Covid" Policy
November 22, 2021

https://newsrnd.com/life/2021-11-22-new ... _Rd_F.html

Introduction:
(The Limited Times) New Zealand adopts a new strategy against Covid-19 by ending the three-and-a-half-month confinement in early December

So far, New Zealand has adopted a “zero Covid” strategy.

But with the Delta variant, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern acknowledged that "the hard truth is that the Delta variant is here and not going to go away."

Jacinda Ardern said that from December 2 New Zealand will adopt a new response to Covid-19 aimed at containing the Delta variant rather than attempting to eliminate it completely.

“Although no country has succeeded in eliminating the Delta variant completely, New Zealand is better placed than most to tackle it,” she explained, adding, “So far, his government aimed for a complete elimination of the virus, a so-called “zero-Covid” policy with strict containment measures, rigorous traceability of contacts and strict border controls. In New Zealand, the disease has killed only 40 people in a population of five million, but pressure has increased to end the lockdown imposed on Auckland since the Delta variant was detected there in August.
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andmar74
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It's very interesting what's going on with Covid-19 in Japan. The virus might be self-destructing.
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2021/ ... on-theory/

Free to register for the full article.
Why did Japan’s fifth and biggest wave of the coronavirus pandemic, driven by the supercontagious delta variant, suddenly come to an abrupt end following a seemingly relentless rise in new infections? And what made Japan different from other developed countries that are now seeing a fresh surge in new cases?

According to one group of researchers, the surprising answer may be that the delta variant took care of itself in an act of “self-extinction.”
The SARS virus is related to Covid-19 and was active from 2002 to 2004, where it disappeared. So maybe Covid-19 is also starting to disappear.
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raklian
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In Singapore where there is universal healthcare, being treated like an American is the worst punishment they can give.

To know is essentially the same as not knowing. The only thing that occurs is the rearrangement of atoms in your brain.
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andmar74
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https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... ruce-boros

What is wrong with these people?
Seven doctors contract Covid after attending Florida anti-vaccine summit
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