18th Oct 2021 https://nfind.uk/lockdown_exit/index.php/newsletter=519 lockdown_exit

Lockdown Exit

Reuters Melbourne which has spent more time under COVID19 lockdowns than any other city in the world is set to lift its stayathome orders this week officials said on Sunday. By Friday when some curbs will be lifted the Australian city of 5 million people will have been under six lockdowns totalling 262 days or nearly nine months since March 2020. Australian and other media say this is the longest in the world exceeding a 234day lockdown in Buenos Aires. https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/melbourne-ease-worlds-longest-covid-19-lockdowns-vaccinations-rise-2021-10-17/ 17th Oct 2021

Lockdown Exit

The Associated Press Dr. Anthony Fauci is saying Sunday that it is really unfortunate that Gov. Greg Abbott has moved to ban vaccine mandates in the state of Texas. The nations leading infectious disease doctor speaking on Fox News Sunday said that the Republican governors decision to block businesses from requiring inoculations would damage public health since vaccines are the most effective means to stop the spread of COVID19. Fauci was largely encouraged by the downward trend of coronavirus hospitalizations and deaths across the nation and suggested that vaccinated individuals could have a normal holiday season with others who have received the shot. But he said that those who have not been vaccinated should continue to avoid gatherings and should wear a mask. https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-robert-durst-lifestyle-business-vladimir-putin-d901b45bb662b1e91e2572afb994499c 17th Oct 2021

Lockdown Exit

South China Morning Post The nation of 5 million was largely virusfree until midAugust when it was hit by an outbreak of the highly contagious Delta variant. Health ministry data shows cases have been concentrated among people from the indigenous Maori community who are also the least likely to be vaccinated https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3152556/coronavirus-new-zealand-faces-growing-calls-circuit 16th Oct 2021

Lockdown Exit

Al Jazeera English India has reopened to fully vaccinated foreign tourists travelling on chartered flights in the latest easing of its coronavirus restrictions as infection numbers decline. Foreign tourists on regular flights will be able to enter India starting from November 15 officials said on Friday. It is the first time India has allowed foreign tourists to enter the country since March 2020 when it imposed its first nationwide coronavirus lockdown. It is unclear whether arriving tourists will have to quarantine but they must be fully vaccinated and test negative for the virus within 72 hours of their flight. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/10/15/india-reopens-foreign-tourists-19-months-covid-cases 16th Oct 2021

Lockdown Exit

Al Jazeera English The world is facing a global care crisis that we must address urgently. When children live in unstable family environments or lose crucial family bonds at an early age it can have irreversible consequences on the rest of their lives. We see it when we meet children like eightmonthold Aleksander and his 10yearold sister Natalyia who both live in Ukraine. Tragically they recently lost their mother who was raising them as a single parent. Local child protection authorities put them in the care of their father Ivan. But due to the COVID19 pandemic Ivan lost his job and also found himself unable to adequately provide for the children. The pandemic exacerbated the suffering of children like Alexander and Natalyia all over the world. https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2021/10/14/we-cannot-continue-to-ignore-the-covid-childcare-crisis 16th Oct 2021

Lockdown Exit

The Associated Press New Zealand health care workers administered a record number of vaccine jabs Saturday as the nation held a festival aimed at getting more people inoculated against the coronavirus. Musicians sports stars and celebrities pitched in for the Vaxathon event which was broadcast on television and online for eight hours straight. By late afternoon more than 120000 people had gotten shots eclipsing the daily record of 93000 set in August. The event stretched into the evening. A throwback to TV fundraising telethon events that were popular from the 1970s through the 1990s it comes as New Zealand faces its biggest threat since the pandemic began with an outbreak of the delta variant spreading through the largest city of Auckland and beyond. https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-lifestyle-health-new-zealand-auckland-5f275717ab936669d1a330798128307a 16th Oct 2021

Lockdown Exit

The Wall Street Journal In one of the toughest antiCovid19 regimes in the Western world Italy now requires all private and public sector workers to have a socalled green pass. The policy has kicked in amid unresolved questions on how it will be enforced and whether Italy will have enough testing kits to meet the expected surge in demand by millions of unvaccinated people who want to guarantee access to their workplace. The new requirement positions Italy where 85 of people over the age of 12 have received at least one shot as a test case for how hard Western countries can push their populations to get vaccinated. https://www.wsj.com/articles/italys-tough-workplace-covid-19-pass-a-harbinger-of-bidens-vaccine-mandate-11634300912 16th Oct 2021

Lockdown Exit

The New York Times Since New Zealand closed its borders in March 2020 setting the stage for one of the worlds most successful Covid19 responses the widebody jets that once ferried its citizens to every corner of the globe have mostly been redeployed for shipping freight. And the vast majority of Kiwis have throughout the pandemic been as flightless as their eponymous birds. But on Saturday some 300 residents of Auckland New Zealands biggest city boarded an Air New Zealand Boeing 787 jet once again at the citys international airport. This time it was not to take a trip but to receive a dose of the PfizerBioNTech vaccine in the booth of a businessclass seat. The doses were kept cool with dry ice on the trolleys that typically offer a choice of chicken or beef. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/16/world/australia/new-zealand-vaccines.html 16th Oct 2021

Lockdown Exit

Bloomberg Nigeria is yet to receive supplies of 30 million coronavirus vaccines that it ordered and paid for the countrys finance minister said Friday. We have paid for vaccines the supplies are not coming Minister of Finance Zainab Ahmed said in a Bloomberg TV interview. The donations that have been pledged to us are trickling in. Africas most populous country has only been able to give the Covid19 jabs to 4 million people from a population of about 211 million. We need to be able to find vaccines to ensure that we are able to contain the pandemic Ahmed said. The country has set a target of vaccinating 70 of its population. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-10-15/nigeria-awaits-supply-of-30-million-paid-for-covid-19-vaccines 16th Oct 2021

Lockdown Exit

Bloomberg In May 2021 as the U.S. vaccination campaign started to lose momentum several U.S. states and some cities arrived at the same conclusion To boost uptake theyd launch vaccine lotteries giving locals whod gotten their shot the chance to win a million or more dollars. But a new study published in JAMA Health Forum on Friday suggests that on their own the lotteries launched for vaccinated residents in 19 states failed to achieve their goals of encouraging people to take the Covid vaccine. It found no significant difference in rates of vaccine uptake in states that launched lotteries compared to those that did not. Everyone was rooting for this to work but youve got to check says Andrew I. Friedson an associate professor of economics at the University of Colorado Denver and an author of the report. The way the evidence has stacked up it seems that there are better ways to spend our money. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-10-15/the-million-dollar-misfire-of-vaccine-lotteries 16th Oct 2021

Lockdown Exit

South China Morning Post British health officials said on Friday that 43000 people may have been wrongly told they do not have the coronavirus because of problems at a private laboratory. The UK Health Security Agency said the Immensa Health Clinic Ltd. lab in Wolverhampton central England has been suspended from processing swabs after the false negatives. Will Welfare the agencys public health incident director said it was working to determine the laboratory technical issues behind the inaccurate tests. https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3152558/43000-uk-may-have-received-false-negative-covid-19-test-results 15th Oct 2021

Lockdown Exit

The New York Times During a speech in Geneva Katherine Tai the U.S. trade representative affirmed the Biden administrations commitment to supporting the World Trade Organization but said the intergovernmental organization needed reform. https://www.nytimes.com/video/business/100000008026127/biden-administration-katherine-tai-world-trade-organization.html 14th Oct 2021

Exit Strategies

News24 The deadline for comments on the Wits Universitys proposed compulsory vaccination policy has been extended by a week. Spokesperson Shiron Patel said the deadline was extended to Friday 22 October and that more than 300 comments had been received so far mostly in favour of the policy. The university is proposing compulsory vaccination against Covid19 unless in exceptional circumstances. There are also meetings taking place with various constituencies including other student groupings residences organised labour professional and academic staff administrative staff suppliers and retailers etc Patel said. https://www.news24.com/news24/southafrica/news/wits-extends-deadline-for-comments-on-proposed-compulsory-covid-19-vaccinations-20211015 16th Oct 2021

Exit Strategies

Channel NewsAsia Singapore Fully vaccinated travellers entering Malaysia will undergo a shorter quarantine period of seven days from Monday Oct 18 Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob announced on Friday. They can serve their quarantine at home if suitable or at quarantine stations said Ismail Sabri after a meeting of the Special Committee on COVID19 Pandemic Management. Travellers who are not vaccinated or have not been fully vaccinated will have to undergo 10 days quarantine at the quarantine station he said. The quarantine period for close contacts will also be reduced to seven days at home for those fully vaccinated. It will be 10 days for those unvaccinated or partially vaccinated. https://www.channelnewsasia.com/asia/malaysia-fully-vaccinated-travellers-shorter-quarantine-oct-18-covid-19-2247846 16th Oct 2021

Exit Strategies

BBC News Singapores borders have effectively been closed for 21 months so news that the rules will finally be relaxed has sent residents rushing for a ticket out. From 19 October people will be able to travel freely from Singapore to ten countries around the world without quarantine and with fewer swab tests as long as they are vaccinated. By 15 November one more country South Korea will be added to the list. The cabin fever was just driving us crazy. Theres no demarcation between leisure and work here Low Ka Wei a corporate communications executive told the BBC. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-58880707 16th Oct 2021

Exit Strategies

Bangkok Post Bangkok is set to reopen to fully vaccinated international visitors next month with swab hubs being set up to test tourists upon their arrival in the capital. Bangkok governor Pol Gen Aswin Kwanmuang said that the government has laid down a policy to reopen the country on Nov 1 and precautions include testing and quarantine measures. As for the shortening of nighttime curfew hours starting on Saturday City Hall will wait for an official announcement of the easing of virus curbs to be published in the Royal Gazette Pol Gen Aswin said adding that details regarding countdown events will then be discussed. https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2198587/swab-hubs-for-arriving-tourists 16th Oct 2021

Exit Strategies

The Associated Press Russias daily death toll from COVID19 has exceeded 1000 for the first time as the country faces a sustained wave of rising infections. The national coronavirus task force on Saturday reported 1002 deaths in the previous day up from 999 on Friday along with 33208 new confirmed COVID19 cases more than 1000 higher than the day before. Authorities have tried to speed up the pace of vaccination with lotteries bonuses and other incentives but widespread vaccine skepticism and conflicting signals from officials stymied the efforts. The government said this week that about 43 million Russians or about 29 of the countrys nearly 146 million people are fully vaccinated. https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-health-russia-europe-vladimir-putin-3dc18b0cb553028f1407a568ed6141a9 16th Oct 2021

Exit Strategies

The New York Times Reality has refuted dire predictions about how Americans would respond to vaccine mandates. In a poll in September 72 percent of the unvaccinated said they would quit if forced to be vaccinated for work. There were news articles warning of mass resignations. When large employers school districts and hospital systems did finally mandate vaccines people subject to mandates got vaccinated overwhelmingly. After United Airlines mandated vaccines there were only 232 holdouts among 67000 employees. Among about 10000 employees in stateoperated health care facilities in North Carolina only 16 were fired for noncompliance. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/15/opinion/covid-vaccines-unvaccinated.html 16th Oct 2021

Exit Strategies

Reuters Thousands of Sydney residents flocked to a prominent horse race on Saturday as Australias biggest city emerges from a strict COVID19 lockdown and the nation begins to live with the coronavirus through extensive vaccination. Up to 10000 fully vaccinated spectators can now attend races such as The Everest in Sydney Australias richest turf horse race and the countrys most famous Melbourne Cup Day on Nov. 2. New South Wales state of which Sydney is the capital reached its target of 80 of people fully vaccinated on Saturday well ahead of the rest of Australia. https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/horse-race-marks-sydneys-emergence-long-covid-19-lockdown-2021-10-16/ 16th Oct 2021

Exit Strategies

Reuters New Zealand vaccinated at least 2.5 of its people on Saturday as the government tries to accelerate inoculations and live with COVID19 preliminary health ministry data showed. Through an array of strategies gimmicks and Prime Minister Jacinda Arderns encouragement through the day 124669 shots were administered by late in the day in a country of 4.9 million. We set a target for ourselves Aotearoa youve done it but lets keep going Ardern said using a Maori name for New Zealand at a vaccination site according to the Newshub news service. Lets go for 150 thousand. Lets go big or go home. https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/new-zealand-vaccinates-25-its-people-day-drive-live-with-covid-19-2021-10-16/ 16th Oct 2021

Exit Strategies

Reuters The White House on Friday will lift COVID19 travel restrictions for fully vaccinated international visitors starting Nov. 8 ending historic restrictions that had barred much of the world from entering the United States for as long as 21 months. The unprecedented travel restrictions kept millions of visitors out of the United States from China Canada Mexico India Brazil much of Europe and elsewhere shrunk U.S. tourism and hurt border community economies. They prevented many loved ones and foreign workers from reuniting with families. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/exclusive-us-partly-lift-international-travel-curbs-nov-8-official-2021-10-15/ 16th Oct 2021

Exit Strategies

Reuters Zimbabwe will bar unvaccinated government workers from reporting for duty from Monday as part of efforts to fight COVID19 an official circular showed. The southern African country has as of Oct. 14 recorded 4655 COVID19related deaths from 132251 infections since March 2020. Although the country was one of the first on the continent to vaccinate against COVID19 less than 2.5 million people out of its 15 million population have been fully vaccinated. https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/zimbabwe-bars-unvaccinated-civil-servants-work-2021-10-15/ 15th Oct 2021

Exit Strategies

Reuters The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention CDC said late on Friday that it will accept mixeddose coronavirus vaccines from international travelers a boost to travelers from Canada and other places. The CDC said last week that it would accept any vaccine authorized for use by U.S. regulators or the World Health Organization. While CDC has not recommended mixing types of vaccine in a primary series we recognize that this is increasingly common in other countries so should be accepted for the interpretation of vaccine records a CDC spokeswoman said. https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/us-will-accept-mixed-doses-vaccines-international-travelers-2021-10-15/ 15th Oct 2021

Partisan Exits

Reuters A Brazilian Senate probe into the governments handling of the COVID19 pandemic will recommend in its final report due next week that President Jair Bolsonaro face 11 criminal charges the senator leading the inquiry said on Friday though it remains highly unlikely that he will face a trial on any such charges. https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/brazil-pandemic-probe-recommend-bolsonaro-face-11-criminal-charges-senator-says-2021-10-15/ 17th Oct 2021

Partisan Exits

The Wall Street Journal Life on college campuses is as close to prepandemic normalcy as it has been in 18 months but as the semester progresses with few interruptions some students are pushing back calling the mitigation measures schools have imposed an overreach. Student complaints include objections to restrictions on their travel on and off campus increased surveillance and what they consider erosion of civil liberties. Studentled petitions have prompted some schools to drop the use of locationtracking apps and requirements to wear sensors that monitor vital signs. At the core of their concerns is a fear that universities are constructing a bureaucracy designed to control a generation just coming of age. https://www.wsj.com/articles/covid-19-precautions-prompt-backlash-on-college-campuses-11634376600 16th Oct 2021

Partisan Exits

Reuters Waving signs like coercion is not consent and stop the mandate some 200 Boeing Co employees and others staged a protest on Friday over the planemakers COVID19 vaccine requirement for U.S. workers. Boeing said on Tuesday it will require its 125000 U.S. employees to be vaccinated by Dec. 8 under an executive order issued by President Joe Biden for federal contractors. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/boeing-workers-stage-protest-over-vaccine-mandate-2021-10-15/ 16th Oct 2021

Partisan Exits

Reuters The attorneys general of 14 U.S. states sent a letter to Facebook Inc FB.O Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg asking if the top disseminators of vaccine disinformation on the platform received special treatment from the company. The line of inquiry was generated after Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen used internal documents to disclose that the social media platform has built a system that exempts highprofile users from some or all of its rules. In the letter which was sent on Wednesday the 14 Democratic attorneys general said they are extremely concerned with recent reports that Facebook maintained lists of members who have received special treatment and want to know if the Disinformation Dozen were part of those lists. https://www.reuters.com/technology/fourteen-us-attorneys-general-press-facebook-vaccine-disinformation-2021-10-15/ 16th Oct 2021

Partisan Exits

The Associated Press Police departments around the U.S. that are requiring officers to get vaccinated against COVID19 are running up against pockets of resistance that some fear could leave law enforcement shorthanded and undermine public safety. Police unions and officers are pushing back by filing lawsuits to block the mandates. In Chicago the head of the police union called on members to defy the citys Friday deadline for reporting their COVID19 vaccination status. Seattles police department sent detectives and nonpatrol officers to emergency calls this week because of a shortage of patrol officers that union leaders fear will become worse because of vaccine mandates. The standoffs are playing out at a time when many police departments already are dealing with surging homicide rates and staff shortages unrelated to the vaccine. https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-health-police-lawsuits-d072248b2dd77859373744c696e5cfa7 15th Oct 2021

Partisan Exits

The New York Times Mandates have prompted a surge in vaccinations among those who had held out. Some report feeling relief others anguish and resentment. The uptick in vaccinations has contributed experts say to a flattening of the virus curve in New York City where the numbers of new infections and hospitalizations have been falling a trend across the United States as well. Yet with winter approaching public health experts are watching closely for yet another rise in infections. New Yorks vaccination rate is higher than that of the country as a whole with two out of every three residents fully inoculated. Still about one million adult New Yorkers have not gotten at least one vaccine dose. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/16/nyregion/coronavirus-vaccine-resistance.html 15th Oct 2021

Partisan Exits

The Wall Street Journal Moderna has already pledged 500 million doses to Covax the World Health Organizationbacked group distributing donated vaccines to low and middleincome countries. But progressives want the White House to use the Defense Production Act or other means to make Moderna share its intellectual property with the world. In a letter to Dr. Kessler on Tuesday 12 Democrats in Congress led by Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders asserted that the government may have the right to confiscate Modernas IP because it has received huge sums of public funding from American taxpayers. The feds have held Moderna by the hand on a daily basis they said. https://www.wsj.com/articles/bidens-covid-vaccine-double-cross-moderna-patent-11634248823 14th Oct 2021

Continued Lockdown

Bangkok Post Prime Minister Prayut Chanocha on Thursday urged the public businesses and government to cooperate in preparing for the countrys reopening to fully vaccinated tourists next month. The Centre for Covid19 Situation Administration CCSA has also eased additional virus curbs including shortening nighttime curfew hours starting on Saturday https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2197919/kingdom-ready-for-reopening 16th Oct 2021

Scientific Viewpoint

The Hill Unvaccinated people have an 11 times higher risk of dying from COVID19 than fully vaccinated people according to new data posted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention CDC. The data run through August and are from 16 health departments representing about 30 percent of the U.S. population the CDC said. In addition the data show that unvaccinated people have a six times higher chance of testing positive for COVID19 than fully vaccinated people do. https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/576980-cdc-data-unvaccinated-11-times-more-likely-to-die-from-covid-19-than-fully 17th Oct 2021

Scientific Viewpoint

The New York Times Nearly a year after the first Covid19 vaccination campaigns began the vast majority of the shots have gone to people in wealthy nations with no clear path toward resolving the disparity. News this month that an antiviral medication had proved effective against the coronavirus in a large clinical trial has brought new hope of a turning point in the pandemic a nottoodistant future when a simple pill could keep infected people from dying or falling severely ill. The drug molnupiravir made by Merck is easy to distribute and can be taken at home. The trial results showed it halved the risk of hospitalization and death among highrisk people early in their infections. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/17/health/covid-treatment-access-molnupiravir.html 17th Oct 2021

Scientific Viewpoint

News24 New studies by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention CDC show that US counties with masking policies in place in their schools have a lower risk of Covid19 outbreaks compared to counties that do not have masking policies. The United Statesbased research assessed the impact of masking in schools on new Covid19 cases in learners from kindergarten to grade 12 across the country. The CDC examined the difference between paediatric Covid19 case rates in schools with and without school mask requirements. The researchers used data from 1 July to 4 September 2021. The researchers developed inclusion criteria that the schools had to meet to be part of the study. This included a valid school start date in districts with known school mask requirements a uniform mask requirement for all learners and at least three weeks with seven full days of case data after the beginning of the school year. https://www.news24.com/health24/medical/infectious-diseases/coronavirus/studies-show-that-mask-wearing-reduces-covid-19-outbreaks-in-schools-20211014 16th Oct 2021

Scientific Viewpoint

Business Insider South Africa On Friday South Africa reached 20 million administered doses of Covid19 vaccine. Somewhat over a quarter of the adult population is fully vaccinated for the coronavirus. Globally more than 6.6 billion doses have now been administered and the proportion of the world population fully vaccinated is fast approaching 40. https://www.businessinsider.co.za/south-africa-at-20-million-vaccinations-as-the-world-heads-for-half-2021-10 16th Oct 2021

Scientific Viewpoint

CNA Fiftyfive per cent of the migrant workers at Westlite Jalan Tukang dormitory have verified their vaccination status or have been vaccinated against COVID19 as of Saturday Oct 16 the Ministry of Manpower MOM said. The remaining 45 per cent are pending verification or have yet to receive a Pandemic Special Access Route PSAR or World Health Organization Emergency Use Listing Procedure WHO EUL vaccine said MOM in a statement on Saturday. The two PSARapproved vaccines are the ones made by PfizerBioNTech and Moderna. These are also among the WHO EUL vaccines which include AstraZeneca Johnson Johnson Sinopharm Sinovac and Covishield. https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/mom-westlite-jalan-tukang-dormitory-migrant-workers-covid-19-cases-vaccination-2249071 16th Oct 2021

Scientific Viewpoint

Bangkok Post Authorities in Songkhla have toughened screening measures in areas adjacent to the three southernmost border provinces in hopes of bringing down stubbornly high rates of Covid19 infections. People travelling from Pattani Yala and Narathiwat will have to show proof of coronavirus vaccination negative test results or other documents if they wish to enter Songkhla governor Jetsada Jittarat said on Saturday. Songkhla on Saturday reported 621 new coronavirus cases the third highest in the country behind Bangkok 1077 and Yala 664. The new infections raised the cumulative provincial total to 39296 with deaths at 171. The number of daily infections in Songkhla has been between 400 and 600 a day which is partially a reflection of high levels of mass testing by health workers in many areas. https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2198895/songkhla-adopts-stricter-covid-screening 16th Oct 2021

Scientific Viewpoint

Reuters Outside advisers to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Friday unanimously recommended the agency authorize a second shot of Johnson Johnsons COVID19 vaccine for all recipients of the onedose inoculation. The agency is also considering lowering the recommended age for booster shots of the PfizerBioNTech vaccine to people as young as 40 FDA official Dr. Peter Marks told the advisory panel. The FDAs Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee backed the shots for all JJ recipients aged 18 and older at least two months after their first dose. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-fda-advisers-vote-jj-covid-19-vaccine-booster-2021-10-15/ 15th Oct 2021

Scientific Viewpoint

Times of India After mucormycosis black fungus another fungal infection has been detected in four Covidrecovered patients in Pune in the last three months raising concerns among the health fraternity. Prabhakar 66 complained of mild fever and severe lower back pain a month after recovering from COVID19. He was initially treated conservatively with muscle relaxants and nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs without relief. An MRI scan revealed severe infectionled bone damage to the spinal disc spaces called spondylodiscitis. A bone biopsy and culture grew aspergillus species a type of mold fungus. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/new-fungus-stalks-covid-recovered/articleshow/86981744.cms 15th Oct 2021

Scientific Viewpoint

Business Insider South Africa About 90000 Covid19 deaths in the US between June and September were preventable two US nonprofits say. In September 49000 deaths could have been avoided if more adults got a Covid19 shot they said. The Kaiser Family Foundation and the Peterson Center on Healthcare cited a tracker that uses CDC data. https://www.businessinsider.co.za/covid-vaccine-effectiveness-deaths-severe-disease-kaiser-family-foundation-cdc-2021-10 14th Oct 2021

Scientific Viewpoint

Times of India The central drug regulators expert panel has recommended granting marketing authorisation with certain conditions to Bharat Biotechs Covaxin for restricted emergency use in children and adolescents in the age group of 2 to 18 years old. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/expert-panel-recommends-approving-covaxin-for-kids/articleshow/86978499.cms 13th Oct 2021

Coronavirus Resurgence

Associated Press Dr. Anthony Fauci is saying Sunday that it is really unfortunate that Gov. Greg Abbott has moved to ban vaccine mandates in the state of Texas. The nations leading infectious disease doctor speaking on Fox News Sunday said that the Republican governors decision to block businesses from requiring inoculations would damage public health since vaccines are the most effective means to stop the spread of COVID19. Fauci was largely encouraged by the downward trend of coronavirus hospitalizations and deaths across the nation and suggested that vaccinated individuals could have a normal holiday season with others who have received the shot. But he said that those who have not been vaccinated should continue to avoid gatherings and should wear a mask. https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-robert-durst-lifestyle-business-vladimir-putin-d901b45bb662b1e91e2572afb994499c 17th Oct 2021

Coronavirus Resurgence

The Canberra Times An asylum seeker inside a Melbourne hotel being used as an alternative place of detention by the Australian Border Force says detainees are frustrated and scared after three of them tested positive for COVID19. Mustafa Salah 23 has spent the better part of eight years inside Australian detention facilities offshore and within its borders. Hes now in the Park Hotel in Melbourne where he says detainees found out on Sunday that three people had tested positive for COVID19 and others were also showing symptoms. We dont know what to do Mr Salah told AAP. We are always together ... we sit together eat together we really dont know what to do. https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/7472811/covid-cases-in-melbourne-detention-hotel/ 17th Oct 2021

Coronavirus Resurgence

Sydney Morning Herald NSW has recorded 319 new cases of COVID19 on Saturday as the state hit its 80 per cent doubledose vaccination target. Fully vaccinated NSW residents will on Monday have expanded freedoms including being able to participate in community sport and having up to 20 visitors in their homes. Other relaxed restrictions at 80 per cent include the removal of a cap on guests at weddings and funerals masks no longer being required in offices being able to drink while standing and dancing being permitted indoors and outdoors at hospitality venues. However regional travel is no longer on the cards for Sydneysiders at the 80 per cent vaccination level it has been pushed back to November 1 to allow regional vaccination to catch up to the rate in Sydney. https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/nsw-records-319-new-covid-cases-as-state-nears-80-per-cent-double-dose-vaccination-20211016-p590it.html 16th Oct 2021

Coronavirus Resurgence

PerthNow Eight people who came into contact with a COVIDpositive truck driver while he was in WA have not yet returned negative test results. Contract tracers today said they were still waiting for the test results of eight of the 70 close or casual contacts. The 10 close contacts have been instructed to selfquarantine for 14 days. The truck driver was potentially infectious while in WA between September 30 and October 3. He has since travelled to South Australia and is no longer in WA but the risk to local residents has been described as low. https://www.perthnow.com.au/news/coronavirus/wa-contacts-still-waiting-for-test-results-after-coming-into-contact-with-covid-19-infected-truck-driver-ng-b882041996z 16th Oct 2021

Coronavirus Resurgence

Reuters The United States has administered 406570875 doses of COVID19 vaccines in the country as of Friday morning and distributed 493139295 doses the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/us-administers-4066-mln-doses-covid-19-vaccines-cdc-2021-10-15/ 15th Oct 2021