COVID-19 'Pandemic'
- Thread starter Ocean Breeze
- Start date
Yeah, bit of a case of "the horses when thattaway, but here's your barn door". If the gov't had supported it we'd have had our own vaccine being produced in Canada in early 2021. But - can't have a WESTERN pharmaceutical company that competes with eastern ones, can we.
Fall bivalent boosters: Science update round 3
Alright people, the data you’ve been waiting for: the first real-world effectiveness data on the fall COVID-19 (bivalent) booster. Here are the results. Science until now As a reminder, we hoped the fall booster would accomplish three things: Greater protection
yourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com
What happens in a lab does not necessarily translate into the real world .Fall bivalent boosters: Science update round 3
Alright people, the data you’ve been waiting for: the first real-world effectiveness data on the fall COVID-19 (bivalent) booster. Here are the results. Science until now As a reminder, we hoped the fall booster would accomplish three things: Greater protection
The premise is kind of weird - i thought we'd gotten over the stupid notion of trying to make sure nobody gets it. I thought we'd accepted that what we were really looking for is to make sure nobody got THAT sick and hospitalized (or dead), and then let nature take it's course. As long as it's just like a really nasty flu it's not much threat. So - why is this all about immunization again? there's no numbers on how effective it is in preventing serious illness or death? Isn't that what we care about most?
Regular exercise protects against fatal COVID, study shows
Author of the article:Washington Post
Washington Post
Gretchen Reynolds, The Washington Post
Published Dec 21, 2022 • 3 minute read
Men and women who worked out at least 30 minutes most days were about four times more likely to survive COVID-19 than inactive people, according to an eye-opening study of exercise and coronavirus outcomes among almost 200,000 adults in Southern California.
The study found that exercise, in almost any amount, reduced people’s risks for a severe coronavirus infection. Even people who worked out for as little as 11 minutes a week — yes, a week — experienced lower risks of hospitalization or death from covid than those who moved about less.
“It turns out exercise is even more powerful than we thought” at protecting people from severe covid, said Robert Sallis, a clinical professor at Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine in Los Angeles and senior author of the new study.
The findings add to mounting evidence that any amount of exercise helps lower the ferocity of coronavirus infections, a message with particular relevance now, as holiday travel and gatherings ramp up and COVID cases continue to rise.
Science already offers copious support for the idea that regular, moderate exercise increases our immune response and generally helps us avoid respiratory infections or recover more rapidly if we do catch a bug. In a 2011 study, adults who worked out regularly were almost half as likely to develop colds or similar infections as inactive people and also about 40 percent less likely to report their illnesses as lingering.
A similar pattern is emerging in research about covid, with several studies finding that people who are fit and active wind up hospitalized with or dying of COVID at much lower rates than people who are out of shape. Sallis led a study last year, for instance, of more than 48,000 patients at the Kaiser Permanente health-care system in Southern California, showing that those who almost never exercised were at much higher risk of severe outcomes from COVID, including death, than patients of the same age who were quite active.
But that study, although large in scale, concentrated primarily on two binary groups: those who almost never exercised and those who exercised all the time, passing over the broad swath of people who occasionally work out and leaving important questions unanswered about how much — or, really, how little — physical activity might best help most of us protect ourselves against severe covid.
So, for the new study, which was published this month in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, Sallis and his colleagues again turned to anonymized records about patients of Kaiser Permanente. Since 2009, that health-care system has included exercise as one of the vital signs health-care workers check during each patient visit, meaning they ask patients how many days per week they exercise, typically by walking, and for how many minutes.
The researchers now drew the records for 194,191 Kaiser patients who had been diagnosed with covid between Jan. 1, 2020, and May 31, 2021, and seen a doctor at least three times in recent years, so their records held multiple mentions of their exercise habits.
Averaging that information, the researchers divided people into five groups, based on how much they moved and whether their habits had changed over the years. The least-active group consisted of those who regularly exercised for fewer than 10 minutes a week. The most active consistently worked out at least 150 minutes per week, which is the amount of exercise recommended by federal health agencies.
In-between were groups whose exercise habits had changed from one medical appointment to the next, but generally kept them moving for more than 10 minutes but fewer than an hour a week, and others who regularly worked out for at least an hour weekly, but fewer than 150 minutes.
Next, the researchers checked everyone’s medical records for conditions known to contribute to serious covid outcomes, including obesity, high blood pressure and heart disease.
Finally, they cross-checked data about hospitalization or death of COVID and people’s exercise habits.
The correlations proved to be “very strong, across-the-board,” Sallis said. The more someone exercised, he said, the less likely he or she was to be hospitalized or die after developing COVID.
The differences were most extreme between those who almost never exercised and those who worked out at least 150 minutes per week. The never-exercisers were 391% more likely to die after developing covid than the active men and women — whether they had obesity, high blood pressure or existing heart disease.
torontosun.com
Author of the article:Washington Post
Washington Post
Gretchen Reynolds, The Washington Post
Published Dec 21, 2022 • 3 minute read
Men and women who worked out at least 30 minutes most days were about four times more likely to survive COVID-19 than inactive people, according to an eye-opening study of exercise and coronavirus outcomes among almost 200,000 adults in Southern California.
The study found that exercise, in almost any amount, reduced people’s risks for a severe coronavirus infection. Even people who worked out for as little as 11 minutes a week — yes, a week — experienced lower risks of hospitalization or death from covid than those who moved about less.
“It turns out exercise is even more powerful than we thought” at protecting people from severe covid, said Robert Sallis, a clinical professor at Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine in Los Angeles and senior author of the new study.
The findings add to mounting evidence that any amount of exercise helps lower the ferocity of coronavirus infections, a message with particular relevance now, as holiday travel and gatherings ramp up and COVID cases continue to rise.
Science already offers copious support for the idea that regular, moderate exercise increases our immune response and generally helps us avoid respiratory infections or recover more rapidly if we do catch a bug. In a 2011 study, adults who worked out regularly were almost half as likely to develop colds or similar infections as inactive people and also about 40 percent less likely to report their illnesses as lingering.
A similar pattern is emerging in research about covid, with several studies finding that people who are fit and active wind up hospitalized with or dying of COVID at much lower rates than people who are out of shape. Sallis led a study last year, for instance, of more than 48,000 patients at the Kaiser Permanente health-care system in Southern California, showing that those who almost never exercised were at much higher risk of severe outcomes from COVID, including death, than patients of the same age who were quite active.
But that study, although large in scale, concentrated primarily on two binary groups: those who almost never exercised and those who exercised all the time, passing over the broad swath of people who occasionally work out and leaving important questions unanswered about how much — or, really, how little — physical activity might best help most of us protect ourselves against severe covid.
So, for the new study, which was published this month in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, Sallis and his colleagues again turned to anonymized records about patients of Kaiser Permanente. Since 2009, that health-care system has included exercise as one of the vital signs health-care workers check during each patient visit, meaning they ask patients how many days per week they exercise, typically by walking, and for how many minutes.
The researchers now drew the records for 194,191 Kaiser patients who had been diagnosed with covid between Jan. 1, 2020, and May 31, 2021, and seen a doctor at least three times in recent years, so their records held multiple mentions of their exercise habits.
Averaging that information, the researchers divided people into five groups, based on how much they moved and whether their habits had changed over the years. The least-active group consisted of those who regularly exercised for fewer than 10 minutes a week. The most active consistently worked out at least 150 minutes per week, which is the amount of exercise recommended by federal health agencies.
In-between were groups whose exercise habits had changed from one medical appointment to the next, but generally kept them moving for more than 10 minutes but fewer than an hour a week, and others who regularly worked out for at least an hour weekly, but fewer than 150 minutes.
Next, the researchers checked everyone’s medical records for conditions known to contribute to serious covid outcomes, including obesity, high blood pressure and heart disease.
Finally, they cross-checked data about hospitalization or death of COVID and people’s exercise habits.
The correlations proved to be “very strong, across-the-board,” Sallis said. The more someone exercised, he said, the less likely he or she was to be hospitalized or die after developing COVID.
The differences were most extreme between those who almost never exercised and those who worked out at least 150 minutes per week. The never-exercisers were 391% more likely to die after developing covid than the active men and women — whether they had obesity, high blood pressure or existing heart disease.
Regular exercise protects against fatal COVID, study shows
Adults who worked out at least 30 minutes most days were about four times more likely to survive COVID-19 than inactive people, a study says
Medicago cuts ties with Philip Morris as WHO rejects plant-based COVID shot
Denied due to links with tobacco industry
Author of the article:Bloomberg News
Bloomberg News
Layan Odeh
Published Dec 26, 2022 • 1 minute read
Medicago Inc. severed ties with cigarette maker Philip Morris International Inc after the World Health Organization rejected the Canadian company’s COVID-19 vaccine, according to a tobacco control body.
Covifenz, the world’s first plant-based COVID vaccine, was jointly developed by Medicago, which is owned by Mitsubishi Chemical, Philip Morris and Glaxo. The Canadian government, which provided $173 million in funding for its development, has cleared it for use.
“Tobacco corporations, vaccines and governments don’t mix well and we applaud the expulsion of Philip Morris from the Medicago collaboration,” Les Hagen, the executive director of a not-for-profit organization ASH Canada, said in a statement Monday.
Medicago’s request for an emergency-use listing was denied earlier this year by the World Health Organization because of the links with tobacco industry.
“We are relieved that Canadian governments have washed their hands of this unethical and embarrassing collaboration with a tobacco giant,” Hagen said.
torontosun.com
Denied due to links with tobacco industry
Author of the article:Bloomberg News
Bloomberg News
Layan Odeh
Published Dec 26, 2022 • 1 minute read
Medicago Inc. severed ties with cigarette maker Philip Morris International Inc after the World Health Organization rejected the Canadian company’s COVID-19 vaccine, according to a tobacco control body.
Covifenz, the world’s first plant-based COVID vaccine, was jointly developed by Medicago, which is owned by Mitsubishi Chemical, Philip Morris and Glaxo. The Canadian government, which provided $173 million in funding for its development, has cleared it for use.
“Tobacco corporations, vaccines and governments don’t mix well and we applaud the expulsion of Philip Morris from the Medicago collaboration,” Les Hagen, the executive director of a not-for-profit organization ASH Canada, said in a statement Monday.
Medicago’s request for an emergency-use listing was denied earlier this year by the World Health Organization because of the links with tobacco industry.
“We are relieved that Canadian governments have washed their hands of this unethical and embarrassing collaboration with a tobacco giant,” Hagen said.
Medicago cuts ties with Philip Morris as WHO rejects plant-based COVID shot
Medicago Inc. severed ties with cigarette maker Philip Morris International Inc after WHO rejected the Canadian company’s COVID-19 vaccine.
Could mono virus or fat cells be playing roles?
Symptoms include fatigue, lung problems, brain fog and other neurological symptoms
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Lindsey Tanner
Published Dec 26, 2022 • 5 minute read
A British historian, an Italian archaeologist and an American preschool teacher have never met in person, but they share a prominent pandemic bond.
Plagued by eerily similar symptoms, the three women are credited with describing, naming and helping bring long COVID into the public’s consciousness in early 2020.
Rachel Pope, of Liverpool, took to Twitter in late March 2020 to describe her bedeviling symptoms, then unnamed, after a coronavirus infection. Elisa Perego in Italy first used the term “long COVID,” in a May tweet that year. Amy Watson in Portland, Oregon, got inspiration in naming her Facebook support group from the trucker cap she’d been wearing, and “long hauler” soon became part of the pandemic lexicon.
Nearly three years into the pandemic, scientists are still trying to figure out why some people get long COVID and why a small portion — including the three women — have lasting symptoms.
Millions of people worldwide have had long COVID, reporting various symptoms including fatigue, lung problems, and brain fog and other neurological symptoms. Evidence suggests most recover substantially within a year, but recent data show that it has contributed to more than 3,500 U.S. deaths.
Here’s some of the latest evidence:
WOMEN MORE AT RISK?
Many studies and anecdotal evidence suggest that women are more likely than men to develop long COVID.
There could be biological reasons.
Women’s immune systems generally mount stronger reactions to viruses, bacteria, parasites and other germs, noted Sabra Klein, a Johns Hopkins professor who studies immunity.
Women are also much more likely than men to have autoimmune diseases, where the body mistakenly attacks its own healthy cells. Some scientists believe long COVID could result from an autoimmune response triggered by the virus.
Women’s bodies also tend to have more fat tissue and emerging research suggests the coronavirus may hide in fat after infection. Scientists also are studying whether women’s fluctuating hormone levels may increase the risks.
Another possible factor: Women are more likely than men to seek health care and often more attuned to changes in their bodies, Klein noted.
“I don’t think we should ignore that,” she said. Biology and behaviour are probably both at play, Klein said.
It may thus be no coincidence that it was three women who helped shine the first light on long COVID.
Pope, 46, started chronicling what she was experiencing in March 2020: flu-like symptoms, then her lungs, heart and joints were affected. After a month she started having some “OK” days, but symptoms persisted.
She and some similarly ill colleagues connected with Perego on Twitter. “We started sort of coming together because it was literally the only place where we could do that,” Pope said. “In 2020, we would joke that we’d get together for Christmas and have a party,” Pope said. “Then obviously it went on, and I think we stopped joking.”
Watson started her virtual long haulers group that April. The others soon learned of that nickname and embraced it.
MONO VIRUS
Several studies suggest the ubiquitous Epstein-Barr virus could play a role in some cases of long COVID.
Inflammation caused by coronavirus infection can activate herpes viruses, which remain in the body after causing an acute infection, said Dr. Timothy Henrich, a virus expert at the University of California, San Francisco.
Epstein-Barr virus is among the most common of these herpes viruses: An estimated 90% of the U.S. population has been infected with it. The virus can cause mononucleosis or symptoms that may be dismissed as a cold.
Henrich is among researchers who have found immune markers signaling Epstein-Barr reactivation in the blood of long COVID patients, particularly those with fatigue.
Not all long COVID patients have these markers. But it’s possible that Epstein-Barr is causing symptoms in those who do, although scientists say more study is needed.
Some scientists also believe that Epstein-Barr triggers chronic fatigue syndrome, a condition that bears many similarities to long COVID, but that also is unproven.
OBESITY
Obesity is a risk factor for severe COVID-19 infections and scientists are trying to understand why.
Stanford University researchers are among those who have found evidence that the coronavirus can infect fat cells. In a recent study, they found the virus and signs of inflammation in fat tissue taken from people who had died from COVID.
Lab tests showed that the virus can reproduce in fat tissue. That raises the possibility that fat tissue could serve as a “reservoir,” potentially fueling long COVID.
Could removing fat tissue treat or prevent some cases of long COVID? It’s a tantalizing question, but the research is preliminary, said Dr. Catherine Blish, a Stanford infectious diseases professor and a senior author of the study.
Scientists at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center are studying leptin, a hormone produced by fat cells that can influence the body’s immune response and promote inflammation.
They plan to study whether injections of a manufactured antibody could reduce leptin levels — and in turn inflammation from coronavirus infections or long COVID.
“We have a good scientific basis together with some preliminary data to argue that we might be on the right track,” said Dr. Philipp Scherer.
DURATION
It has been estimated that about 30% of people infected with the coronavirus will develop long COVID, based on data from earlier in the pandemic.
Most people who have lingering, recurrent or new symptoms after infection will recover after about three months. Among those with symptoms at three months, about 15% will continue to have symptoms for at least nine more months, according to a recent study in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Figuring out who’s at risk for years-long symptoms “is such a complicated question,” said Dr. Lawrence Purpura, an infectious disease expert at Columbia University.
Those with severe infections seem to be more at risk for long COVID, although it can also affect people with mild infections. Those whose infections cause severe lung damage including scarring may experience breathlessness, coughing or fatigue for more than a year. And a smaller group of patients with mild initial COVID-19 infections may develop neurologic symptoms for more than a year, including chronic fatigue and brain fog, Purpura said.
“The majority of patients will eventually recover,” he said. “It’s important for people to know that.”
It’s small consolation for the three women who helped the world recognize long COVID.
Perego, 44, developed heart, lung and neurologic problems and remains seriously ill.
She knows that scientists have learned a lot in a short time, but she says “there is a gap” between long COVID research and medical care.
“We need to translate scientific knowledge into better treatment and policy,” she said.
Watson, approaching 50, says she has “never had any kind of recovery.” She has had severe migraines, plus digestive, nerve and foot problems. Recently she developed severe anemia.
She wishes the medical community had a more organized approach to treating long COVID. Doctors say not knowing the underlying cause or causes makes that difficult.
“I just want my life back,” Watson said, “and it’s not looking like that’s all that possible.”
torontosun.com
Symptoms include fatigue, lung problems, brain fog and other neurological symptoms
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Lindsey Tanner
Published Dec 26, 2022 • 5 minute read
A British historian, an Italian archaeologist and an American preschool teacher have never met in person, but they share a prominent pandemic bond.
Plagued by eerily similar symptoms, the three women are credited with describing, naming and helping bring long COVID into the public’s consciousness in early 2020.
Rachel Pope, of Liverpool, took to Twitter in late March 2020 to describe her bedeviling symptoms, then unnamed, after a coronavirus infection. Elisa Perego in Italy first used the term “long COVID,” in a May tweet that year. Amy Watson in Portland, Oregon, got inspiration in naming her Facebook support group from the trucker cap she’d been wearing, and “long hauler” soon became part of the pandemic lexicon.
Nearly three years into the pandemic, scientists are still trying to figure out why some people get long COVID and why a small portion — including the three women — have lasting symptoms.
Millions of people worldwide have had long COVID, reporting various symptoms including fatigue, lung problems, and brain fog and other neurological symptoms. Evidence suggests most recover substantially within a year, but recent data show that it has contributed to more than 3,500 U.S. deaths.
Here’s some of the latest evidence:
WOMEN MORE AT RISK?
Many studies and anecdotal evidence suggest that women are more likely than men to develop long COVID.
There could be biological reasons.
Women’s immune systems generally mount stronger reactions to viruses, bacteria, parasites and other germs, noted Sabra Klein, a Johns Hopkins professor who studies immunity.
Women are also much more likely than men to have autoimmune diseases, where the body mistakenly attacks its own healthy cells. Some scientists believe long COVID could result from an autoimmune response triggered by the virus.
Women’s bodies also tend to have more fat tissue and emerging research suggests the coronavirus may hide in fat after infection. Scientists also are studying whether women’s fluctuating hormone levels may increase the risks.
Another possible factor: Women are more likely than men to seek health care and often more attuned to changes in their bodies, Klein noted.
“I don’t think we should ignore that,” she said. Biology and behaviour are probably both at play, Klein said.
It may thus be no coincidence that it was three women who helped shine the first light on long COVID.
Pope, 46, started chronicling what she was experiencing in March 2020: flu-like symptoms, then her lungs, heart and joints were affected. After a month she started having some “OK” days, but symptoms persisted.
She and some similarly ill colleagues connected with Perego on Twitter. “We started sort of coming together because it was literally the only place where we could do that,” Pope said. “In 2020, we would joke that we’d get together for Christmas and have a party,” Pope said. “Then obviously it went on, and I think we stopped joking.”
Watson started her virtual long haulers group that April. The others soon learned of that nickname and embraced it.
MONO VIRUS
Several studies suggest the ubiquitous Epstein-Barr virus could play a role in some cases of long COVID.
Inflammation caused by coronavirus infection can activate herpes viruses, which remain in the body after causing an acute infection, said Dr. Timothy Henrich, a virus expert at the University of California, San Francisco.
Epstein-Barr virus is among the most common of these herpes viruses: An estimated 90% of the U.S. population has been infected with it. The virus can cause mononucleosis or symptoms that may be dismissed as a cold.
Henrich is among researchers who have found immune markers signaling Epstein-Barr reactivation in the blood of long COVID patients, particularly those with fatigue.
Not all long COVID patients have these markers. But it’s possible that Epstein-Barr is causing symptoms in those who do, although scientists say more study is needed.
Some scientists also believe that Epstein-Barr triggers chronic fatigue syndrome, a condition that bears many similarities to long COVID, but that also is unproven.
OBESITY
Obesity is a risk factor for severe COVID-19 infections and scientists are trying to understand why.
Stanford University researchers are among those who have found evidence that the coronavirus can infect fat cells. In a recent study, they found the virus and signs of inflammation in fat tissue taken from people who had died from COVID.
Lab tests showed that the virus can reproduce in fat tissue. That raises the possibility that fat tissue could serve as a “reservoir,” potentially fueling long COVID.
Could removing fat tissue treat or prevent some cases of long COVID? It’s a tantalizing question, but the research is preliminary, said Dr. Catherine Blish, a Stanford infectious diseases professor and a senior author of the study.
Scientists at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center are studying leptin, a hormone produced by fat cells that can influence the body’s immune response and promote inflammation.
They plan to study whether injections of a manufactured antibody could reduce leptin levels — and in turn inflammation from coronavirus infections or long COVID.
“We have a good scientific basis together with some preliminary data to argue that we might be on the right track,” said Dr. Philipp Scherer.
DURATION
It has been estimated that about 30% of people infected with the coronavirus will develop long COVID, based on data from earlier in the pandemic.
Most people who have lingering, recurrent or new symptoms after infection will recover after about three months. Among those with symptoms at three months, about 15% will continue to have symptoms for at least nine more months, according to a recent study in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Figuring out who’s at risk for years-long symptoms “is such a complicated question,” said Dr. Lawrence Purpura, an infectious disease expert at Columbia University.
Those with severe infections seem to be more at risk for long COVID, although it can also affect people with mild infections. Those whose infections cause severe lung damage including scarring may experience breathlessness, coughing or fatigue for more than a year. And a smaller group of patients with mild initial COVID-19 infections may develop neurologic symptoms for more than a year, including chronic fatigue and brain fog, Purpura said.
“The majority of patients will eventually recover,” he said. “It’s important for people to know that.”
It’s small consolation for the three women who helped the world recognize long COVID.
Perego, 44, developed heart, lung and neurologic problems and remains seriously ill.
She knows that scientists have learned a lot in a short time, but she says “there is a gap” between long COVID research and medical care.
“We need to translate scientific knowledge into better treatment and policy,” she said.
Watson, approaching 50, says she has “never had any kind of recovery.” She has had severe migraines, plus digestive, nerve and foot problems. Recently she developed severe anemia.
She wishes the medical community had a more organized approach to treating long COVID. Doctors say not knowing the underlying cause or causes makes that difficult.
“I just want my life back,” Watson said, “and it’s not looking like that’s all that possible.”
LONG COVID: Could mono virus or fat cells be playing roles?
A British historian, an Italian archaeologist and an American preschool teacher have never met, but they share a prominent pandemic bond.
Chinese dead, being burned in streets, funeral homes overwhelmed: Reports claim
Author of the article
ostmedia News
Published Jan 05, 2023 • 2 minute read
China is a country in major COVID crisis if disturbing images posted on social media showing families burning the bodies of loved ones in the streets are to believed.
This is happening as funeral homes and hospitals say they’re overwhelmed by long lines of customers and too many patients, respectively, since China’s “zero-COVID” policies were reversed last month, reports the New York Post.
One clip shows a wooden casket burning in a rural area while another video, believed to be in Shanghai, shows people gathered around a homemade pyre.
Bloomberg reports one funeral home is only allowing families five to 10 minutes to mourn and that so many people are dying in Shanghai that Longhua Funeral Home is handling five times more corpses than usual daily.
“The whole system is paralyzed right now,” an employee at Longhua told Bloomberg.
A Shanghai resident told a neighborhod group chat on Dec. 28, witnessed by Bloomberg, that after being told all cremation appointments were full until 2023, she planned on finding “an empty patch in our neighborhood to cremate my father. If you have problems with this, please call the police.”
Bloomberg reports officials eventually intervened after neighbours protested.
Meanwhile, the Daily Mail online reports the country’s total number of COVID-related deaths is “huge,” with one doctor saying as many as 70% of Shanghai’s 25 million residents may be infected.
Health officials said on TV the country was seeing an increase “in the critical cases or the fatalities” but claimed the situation was in line with what was happening in other countries.
Beijing was also critical of nations that now require Chinese passengers to show a negative COVID test before entering, including Canada, warning “countermeasures” could be taken in response.
Still, China’s president Xi Jinping admitted in his New Year’s Eve address that his Draconian zero-COVID policy failed to contain the virus and led to the country’s first mass protests in decades.
He acknowledged “unprecedented difficulties and challenges” and said it was “only natural” that his strict lockdown measures were resisted.
Xi’s measures were dropped Dec. 7 but living with the virus has caused infections to peak in Beijing.
During the first 20 days of December, the government’s top health authority estimated 248 million people — equivalent to 18% of the population — had gotten the virus.
China says around 5,000 of its citizens have died due to COVID since it first broke out at the end of 2019 but experts now say it could see 9,000 deaths daily in the wave sweeping the country.
torontosun.com
Author of the article
ostmedia NewsPublished Jan 05, 2023 • 2 minute read
China is a country in major COVID crisis if disturbing images posted on social media showing families burning the bodies of loved ones in the streets are to believed.
This is happening as funeral homes and hospitals say they’re overwhelmed by long lines of customers and too many patients, respectively, since China’s “zero-COVID” policies were reversed last month, reports the New York Post.
One clip shows a wooden casket burning in a rural area while another video, believed to be in Shanghai, shows people gathered around a homemade pyre.
Bloomberg reports one funeral home is only allowing families five to 10 minutes to mourn and that so many people are dying in Shanghai that Longhua Funeral Home is handling five times more corpses than usual daily.
“The whole system is paralyzed right now,” an employee at Longhua told Bloomberg.
A Shanghai resident told a neighborhod group chat on Dec. 28, witnessed by Bloomberg, that after being told all cremation appointments were full until 2023, she planned on finding “an empty patch in our neighborhood to cremate my father. If you have problems with this, please call the police.”
Bloomberg reports officials eventually intervened after neighbours protested.
Meanwhile, the Daily Mail online reports the country’s total number of COVID-related deaths is “huge,” with one doctor saying as many as 70% of Shanghai’s 25 million residents may be infected.
Health officials said on TV the country was seeing an increase “in the critical cases or the fatalities” but claimed the situation was in line with what was happening in other countries.
Beijing was also critical of nations that now require Chinese passengers to show a negative COVID test before entering, including Canada, warning “countermeasures” could be taken in response.
Still, China’s president Xi Jinping admitted in his New Year’s Eve address that his Draconian zero-COVID policy failed to contain the virus and led to the country’s first mass protests in decades.
He acknowledged “unprecedented difficulties and challenges” and said it was “only natural” that his strict lockdown measures were resisted.
Xi’s measures were dropped Dec. 7 but living with the virus has caused infections to peak in Beijing.
During the first 20 days of December, the government’s top health authority estimated 248 million people — equivalent to 18% of the population — had gotten the virus.
China says around 5,000 of its citizens have died due to COVID since it first broke out at the end of 2019 but experts now say it could see 9,000 deaths daily in the wave sweeping the country.
Chinese dead, being burned in streets, funeral homes overwhelmed: Reports claim
China is a country in major COVID crisis if disturbing images posted on social media showing families burning the bodies of loved ones in the streets are to believed.
yep lol just like everything else you've ever read about the global nondemic
thing is who do you believe? the obvious liars or the not so obvious ones?
;?)