A supercomputer analysed Covid-19 — and an interesting new theory has emerged: A closer look at the Bradykinin hypothesis

‘Earlier this summer, the Summit supercomputer at Oak Ridge National Lab in Tennessee set about crunching data on more than 40,000 genes from 17,000 genetic samples in an effort to better understand Covid-19. Summit is the second-fastest computer in the world, but the process — which involved analyzing 2.5 billion genetic combinations — still took more than a week.

‘When Summit was done, researchers analyzed the results. It was, in the words of Dr. Daniel Jacobson, lead researcher and chief scientist for computational systems biology at Oak Ridge, a “eureka moment.” The computer had revealed a new theory about how Covid-19 impacts the body: the bradykinin hypothesis. The hypothesis provides a model that explains many aspects of Covid-19, including some of its most bizarre symptoms. It also suggests 10-plus potential treatments, many of which are already FDA approved. Jacobson’s group published their results in a paper in the journal eLife in early July...

‘Covid-19 is like a burglar who slips in your unlocked second-floor window and starts to ransack your house. Once inside, though, they don’t just take your stuff — they also throw open all your doors and windows so their accomplices can rush in and help pillage more efficiently...’

Read here (Elemental Medium, September 1, 2020)

How many people has the coronavirus killed?

‘In times of upheaval — wars, natural disasters, outbreaks of disease — researchers need to tally deaths rapidly, and usually turn to a blunt but reliable metric: excess mortality. It’s a comparison of expected deaths with ones that actually happened, and, to many scientists, it’s the most robust way to gauge the impact of the pandemic. It can help epidemiologists to draw comparisons between countries, and, because it can be calculated quickly, it can identify COVID-19 hotspots that would otherwise have gone undetected. 

‘According to data from more than 30 countries for which estimates of excess deaths are available (see ‘Terrible toll’), there were nearly 600,000 more deaths than would normally be predicted in these nations for the period between the onset of the pandemic and the end of July (413,041 of those were officially attributed to COVID-19).’

Read here (Nature, Sept 1, 2020)

What happens if China gets the Covid-19 vaccine first?

‘Fidler [David Fidler, an expert on global health and national security who has consulted for the WHO and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] thinks it’s too much to hope that geopolitics can stop interfering with public health. The current clash between the U.S. and China means the era of U.S.-led altruistic health initiatives done without the motivation of power over a rival, like President George W. Bush’s PEPFAR program to fight infectious diseases in Africa, is over. Today, great powers will try to press their advantage in whatever ways they can.

‘But China and the U.S. can try to keep the competition from spiraling out of control and destroying public health in its wake. In past eras of multipolar rivalry, antagonists have been able to set limits to that competition, singling out certain areas in which they can turn down the heat and cooperate a bit more. The U.S. and China could do that today, Fidler suggests, perhaps by agreeing to take their hands off the WHO.

‘That needs to happen soon. Because right now, nothing is off-limits—which means neither is the destruction of decades worth of public health norms. “If we don’t have some sort of global health détente between Beijing and Washington,” warns Fidler, “we’re in real trouble.”

Read here (Politico, August 31, 2020) 

The most American Covid-19 failure yet: Contact tracing works almost everywhere else. Why not here?

‘Contact tracers are not to blame. Tracers tend to be relatively low-paid, civic-minded workers who make calls relentlessly in an attempt to rescue the nation from a ruthless pandemic. But they’re struggling for three main reasons. (1) There are too many cases to track (2) Testing takes too long (3) Many Americans fear and distrust government.’

Read here (The Atlantic, August 31, 2020)

Winners and losers of the pandemic economy

‘One could draw a few conclusions from these economic realities. For starters, the pandemic economy has accelerated the pre-pandemic trend favoring intangible-asset value creation through firms with relatively fewer employees. We can expect this trend to continue, albeit not at the heightened pandemic-induced pace. Traditional businesses will recover, but the disconnect between value creation across firms depending on intangibles per employee will persist and remain a major economic and social challenge...

‘Finally, given the outsize contribution of digital intangible assets to value creation, it is hard to see a way to reverse the trend of rising wealth inequality. Because the balance sheets of those lower down the income and wealth ladder are largely devoid of assets with high intangible and digital content, the rewards of current economic and technological dynamics will pass them by.’

Read here (Project Syndicate, August 31, 2020)

The post-capitalist hit of the summer

‘The pandemic has reinforced that which has been undermining the foundation of capitalism since 2008: the link between profit and capital accumulation. The current crisis has revealed a post-capitalist economy in which the markets for real goods and services no longer coordinate economic decision-making, the current Technostructure (comprising Big Tech and Wall Street) manipulates behavior at an industrial scale, and the demos is ostracized from our democracies.’

Read here (Project Syndicate, August 31, 2020)

How the race for a Covid-19 vaccine is getting dirty

‘Political pressure has been mounting for scientists to deliver an economy-saving result, and reports of corner-cutting emerge daily... Nor is it just politicians who are in a hurry. On 2 August, Steven Salzberg, a computational biologist at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, suggested in Forbes magazine that a promising vaccine be rolled out to a wider pool of volunteers before clinical trials had been completed, triggering an outcry (and some sympathy) that prompted him to recant the next day. Meanwhile, a research group with links to Harvard University continues to defend its publication in July of a recipe for a DIY Covid-19 vaccine – one that only the group’s 20-odd members had previously tested.’ 

Read here (The Guardian, August 30, 2020)

There is no ‘new normal’: We were not normal to begin with

‘We would like to say that there is no ‘new normal’ because we were not normal to begin with. We have been abnormal as a society for a very long time. The coronavirus has helped to unmask our sick society and systems that we have developed and evolved over many decades. Greed, corruption, power hunger, control, oppression, lies and self-interest have become the hallmarks of our present society, and in most nations. While there are altruistic individuals and some who are trying to improve the situation, many are caught in the chase for wealth and power. Most have become cynical, hope-less and weary.’

Read here (The Malay Mail, August 30, 2020)

The coronavirus is most deadly if you are older and male — new data reveal the risks

‘For every 1,000 people infected with the coronavirus who are under the age of 50, almost none will die. For people in their fifties and early sixties, about five will die — more men than women. The risk then climbs steeply as the years accrue. For every 1,000 people in their mid-seventies or older who are infected, around 116 will die. These are the stark statistics obtained by some of the first detailed studies into the mortality risk for COVID-19.’

Read here (Nature, August 28, 2020)

Could bartering become the new buying in a changed world?

‘The increase in bartering is nowhere better exemplified than in Fiji, which inspired Dunne’s London group. The country has a long tradition of barter, known as ‘veisa’. It’s only grown amid Covid-19, and Fijians have harnessed modern technology to connect even more people...

‘Along with goods, some people have been trading another precious commodity that they may have had more of recently – time. ‘Time banking’, which started in Japan in the 1970s, and in the US in 1992, is seeing a jump in popularity. Members of a time bank spend one hour helping another member, and can receive one hour of help in return. People offer and receive things such as piano lessons, painting services or language teaching.’

Read here (BBC, August 27, 2020) 

What the 'emergency' blood plasma debacle reveals: If the FDA’s emergency authorisations aren’t used responsibly, they could lose their power

‘The FDA previously came under fire for issuing an EUA for after Trump became fixated on the drug, which the agency later rescinded when the drug proved to be ineffective. With plasma, the agency has again issued an EUA following a loud and public campaign by the president based on little scientific evidence. The Trump administration is reportedly considering using the EUA process to fast-track a COVID-19 vaccine before the November election. “It just seems to be a pattern now,” says Jesse Goodman, a former chief scientist at the FDA now at Georgetown. “I’m very worried that this might happen with vaccines.” A controversial EUA for a vaccine could inflame fears that a vaccine is being rushed out.’

Read here (The Atlantic, August 27, 2020)

Bali's move to shut out foreign tourists during coronavirus pandemic sparks 'cultural shift'

"Tourism is the backbone of Bali and the economy has fallen because we rely too much on it," said Gede Robi Supriyanto, a musician and environmental activist in Bali. He said the problem had sparked a "cultural shift", with people who had lost their jobs in tourism moving back to their home villages. "We see an increase of employment in the agricultural sector, more people doing farm work."

Read here (ABC News, August 27, 2020)

US health agency says testing not needed for some exposed to Covid-19, sparking outcry

‘The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said this week that people who were exposed to COVID-19 but are not symptomatic may not need to be tested, sparking outcry among officials and experts who fear the changed guidance was politically motivated. The advice marks a reversal of the agency's previous position recommending testing for all close contacts of people diagnosed with COVID-19, narrowing the scope of instances where the CDC recommends testing. CNN and The New York Times reported on Wednesday that US public health officials were ordered by high-level members of the Trump administration to push forward with the changes.’

Read here (Channel News Asia, August 27, 2020)

Why the United States is having a coronavirus data crisis

 ‘Political meddling, disorganization and years of neglect of public-health data management mean the country is flying blind...

‘Almost every day for the past seven months, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has updated its website with near-real-time information on local outbreaks. The site also reports several COVID-19 statistics for every region of the country. Data dashboards in Singapore and New Zealand offer similar windows into how the coronavirus is spreading within their borders. This helps policymakers and citizens determine how to go about daily life, while reducing risks—and provides researchers with a wealth of data. 

‘By contrast, the United States offers vanishingly few details on how the disease is spreading, even as people increasingly socialize and travel, and authorities reopen schools and businesses. This state of affairs is frustrating data researchers, who want to help authorities make decisions that can save lives...

‘Although information isn’t the only tool that can be used against a pandemic, South Korea’s attention to data correlates with its overall success at controlling the outbreak: the country has had about 3.5 cases per 10,000 people overall, and there have been around 2 COVID-19 deaths per week over the past month. By contrast, the United States has had 175 cases per 10,000 people overall, and about 7,000 people have died of the disease every week for the past month.’

Read here (Scientific American, August 26, 2020)

Malaysia likely to remain closed to tourists into 2021: Minister

‘Wary of recurring coronavirus waves, Malaysia may keep its borders closed to international tourists until the second quarter of next year, the minister responsible for the travel sector said in a recent interview. Nancy Shukri, the minister of tourism, arts and culture, said the government is now re-drafting a "green" list of countries deemed safe from the virus, as a first step. "We initially had a list of countries to be allowed in, but then we saw the second and third waves of coronavirus in some of these countries," she told the Nikkei Asian Review. "So we have to restrategize our plan."

Read here (Nikkei, August 26, 2020)

Sex differences in COVID-19 immune responses affect patient outcomes

‘Yale researchers have identified significant differences in how the immune systems of women and men respond to the virus that causes COVID-19. In a study launched by Women’s Health Research at Yale and published Aug. 28 in Nature, the authors revealed possible biological explanations for why men are more likely than women to suffer severe cases of COVID-19 and die of the disease.

“We now have clear data suggesting that the immune landscape in COVID-19 patients is considerably different between the sexes and that these differences may underlie heightened disease susceptibility in men,” said senior author Akiko Iwasaki, the Waldemar Von Zedtwitz Professor of Immunobiology and Molecular, Cellar and Development Biology, and an investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. “Collectively, these data suggest we need different strategies to ensure that treatments and vaccines are equally effective for both women and men.”

Read here (Yale News, August 26, 2020)

Why do some people weather coronavirus infection unscathed?

‘Asymptomatic cases are not unique to Covid-19. They occur with the regular flu, and probably also featured in the 1918 pandemic, according to epidemiologist Neil Ferguson of Imperial College London. But scientists aren’t sure why certain people weather Covid-19 unscathed. “That is a tremendous mystery at this point,” says Donald Thea, an infectious disease expert at Boston University’s School of Public Health...

‘Disease tolerance is the ability of an individual, due to a genetic predisposition or some aspect of behavior or lifestyle, to thrive despite being infected with an amount of pathogen that sickens others... At least 90 percent of those infected with the tuberculosis bacterium don’t get sick. The same is true for many of the 1.5 billion of people globally who live with parasitic worms called helminths in their intestines...

‘...there are countless disease tolerance pathways. “Every time we figure one out, we find we have 10 more things we don’t understand,” King says. Things will differ with each disease, he adds, “so that becomes a bit overwhelming.”

‘Nevertheless, a growing number of experts agree that disease tolerance research could have profound implications for treating infectious disease in the future. Microbiology and infectious disease research has “all been focused on the pathogen as an invader that has to be eliminated some way,” says virologist Jeremy Luban of the University of Massachusetts Medical School. And as Ayres makes clear, he says, “what we really should be thinking about is how do we keep the person from getting sick.”

Read here (Scientific American, August 25, 2020) 

Starbucks Cafe’s Covid outbreak spared employees who wore masks

‘After a woman with the coronavirus visited a Starbucks cafe north of Seoul this month, more than two dozen patrons tested positive days later. But the four face mask-wearing employees escaped infection.

‘The Aug. 8 outbreak in the South Korean city of Paju is another example of how rapidly the SARS-CoV-2 virus can spread in confined, indoor spaces -- as well as ways to minimize transmission. With health authorities around the world still debating the evidence around face masks, the 27-person cluster linked to the air-conditioned coffee outlet adds more support for their mandatory use to help limit the spread of the Covid-19-causing virus.’

Read here (Bloomberg, August 25, 2020) 

Covid-19 is transmitted through aerosols. We have enough evidence, now it is time to act

‘We should continue doing what has already been recommended: wash hands, keep six feet apart, and so on. But that is not enough. A new, consistent and logical set of recommendations must emerge to reduce aerosol transmission. I propose the following: Avoid Crowding, Indoors, low Ventilation, Close proximity, long Duration, Unmasked, Talking/singing/Yelling (“A CIViC DUTY”). These are the important factors in mathematical models of aerosol transmission, and can also be simply understood as factors that impact how much “smoke” we would inhale.’

Read here (Time Magazine, August 25, 2020)

In the shadow of biological warfare: Conspiracy theories on the origins of Covid-19 and enhancing global governance of biosafety as a matter of urgency

‘Two theories on the origins of COVID-19 have been widely circulating in China and the West respectively, one blaming the United States and the other a highest-level biocontainment laboratory in Wuhan, the initial epicentre of the pandemic. Both theories make claims of biological warfare attempts. According to the available scientific evidence, these claims are groundless. However, like the episodes of biological warfare during the mid-twentieth century, the spread of these present-day conspiracy theories reflects a series of longstanding and damaging trends in the international scene which include deep mistrust, animosities, the power of ideologies such as nationalism, and the sacrifice of truth in propaganda campaigns. Also, the threats associated with biological warfare, bioterrorism, and the accidental leakage of deadly viruses from labs are real and growing. Thus, developing a better global governance of biosafety and biosecurity than exists at present is an urgent imperative for the international community in the broader context of a looming Cold War II. For such a governance, an ethical framework is proposed based upon the triple ethical values of transparency, trust, and the common good of humanity.’

Read here (NCBI, Aug 25, 2020) 

Approval of a coronavirus vaccine would be just the beginning – Huge production challenges could cause long delays

‘There are four main challenges that must be addressed as soon as possible if a vaccine is to be produced quickly and at a large scale. (1) Existing manufacturing capacity is limited (2) The type of vaccine is still unknown (3) The size of the problem is unprecedented (4) “Economic poker game” of seeking to minimize costs and maximize revenue.’

Read here (IPS News, August 25, 2020)

America’s coming double dip

‘Soaring financial markets are blithely indifferent to lingering vulnerabilities in the US economy. But the impact of consumers' fear of COVID-19 on pandemic-sensitive services are unlikely to subside, undermining the case for the uninterrupted recovery that investors seem to expect.’

Read here (Project Syndicate, August 25, 2020) 

The unequal scramble for coronavirus vaccines — by the numbers

‘Wealthy countries have struck deals to buy more than two billion doses of coronavirus vaccine in a scramble that could leave limited supplies in the coming year. Meanwhile, an international effort to acquire vaccines for low- and middle-income countries is struggling to gain traction.’

Read here (Nature, August 24, 2020)

Families on the edge [Malaysia]: Issue 1 -- The immediate impact of the Movement Control Order period

‘In May 2020 UNICEF and UNFPA jointly commissioned the Families on the Edge study to explore the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on women and children in low income urban families in Malaysia. This report is the first in a series of reports under the Families on the Edge project and describes the immediate socio-economic impact of the COVID-19 crisis on a group of 500 families with children in Kuala Lumpur’s low-cost flats, as well as preliminary insights on the relevance, adequacy and accessibility of key COVID-19 mitigation policies and other critical social services for this particularly vulnerable group. Future reports are expected to monitor the extent to which these families recover and offer critical insights for the general public and policymakers as Malaysia aims to ‘build-back-better’

Read here (Unicef Malaysia, August 2020)

Download the 36-page report here (Unicef Malaysia, August 2020)

Evidence for convalescent plasma coronavirus treatment lags behind excitement

‘But so far, there’s little evidence that plasma actually helps patients, and the decision could confound efforts to study its effects, says former FDA commissioner Robert Califf, who now heads clinical policy and strategy at Verily and Google Health in South San Francisco, California... Convalescent plasma has been tested only in small trials without the statistical power to provide firm conclusions... “It’s a potential therapy that could work, and I don’t think it’s out of bounds to make it available” with an authorization, says Califf. “But we ought to be really emphasizing in public-service announcements that participation in randomized trials is a first priority.” 

[This story was written before the US Food and Drug Administration issued an emergency-use authorisation on August 23 to treat COVID-19 with convalescent plasma.]

Read here (Scientific American, August 24, 2020)

WHO cautious on Covid-19 plasma as US issues emergency authorisation

‘The World Health Organisation on Monday (Aug 24) was cautious about endorsing the use of recovered Covid-19 patients' plasma to treat those who are ill, saying that evidence that it works remains "low quality" even as the United States issued emergency authorisation for such therapies. So-called convalescent plasma, which has long been used to treat diseases, has emerged as the latest political flashpoint in the race to find therapies for Covid-19. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Sunday authorised its use after President Donald Trump blamed the agency for impeding the rollout of vaccines and therapeutics for political reasons.’

Read here (Reuters, August 24, 2020)

First Covid-19 reinfection documented in Hong Kong, researchers say

‘Researchers in Hong Kong on Monday reported what appears to be the first confirmed case of Covid-19 reinfection, a 33-year-old man who was first infected by SARS-CoV-2 in late March and then, four and a half months later, seemingly contracted the virus again while traveling in Europe.

‘The case raises questions about the durability of immune protection from the coronavirus. But it was also met with caution by other scientists, who questioned the extent to which the case pointed to broader concerns about reinfection...

‘During his second infection, the man did not have any symptoms. Some patients go through their course of Covid-19 without showing symptoms, but researchers have also hypothesized that secondary cases of the coronavirus will generally be milder than the first.’

Read here (STAT News, August 24, 2020)

The Chinese scientist who sequenced the first Covid-19 genome speaks out about the controversies surrounding his work

‘Over the past few years, Professor Zhang Yongzhen has made it his business to sequence thousands of previously unknown viruses. But he knew straight away that this one was particularly nasty. It was about 1:30 p.m. on Jan. 3 that a metal box arrived at the drab, beige buildings that house the Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center. Inside was a test tube packed in dry ice that contained swabs from a patient suffering from a peculiar pneumonia sweeping China’s central city of Wuhan. But little did Zhang know that that box would also unleash a vicious squall of blame and geopolitical acrimony worthy of Pandora herself. Now, he is seeking to set the record straight.’

Read here (Time Magazine, August 24, 2020) 

Why do Covid fatalities remain low when infection numbers are rising?

‘Most statistics indicate that although cases of Covid-19 are rising in many parts of Europe and the United States, the number of deaths and cases of severe complications remain relatively low. For example, patients on ventilators have dropped from 3,000 at the epidemic’s peak in Britain to 70. At the same time, the number of cases in the UK have begun to rise in many areas.’

Questions: (1) What lies behind this trend? (2) Does that indicate that the worst may be over? (3) Is the Covid-19 virus becoming less deadly?

Read here (The Guardian, August 23, 2020)

The Covid-19 pandemic is fueling the opioid crisis

 This fact sheet provided by the US National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences:

• Identifies the link between the COVID-19 pandemic and an increased risk of opioid misuse.
• Provides tips to manage stressors caused by the pandemic.

Read here (NIH, undated circa 2020)

Being a coronavirus tester has been a life-changing experience

‘Back in the first week, the manual sample handling process allowed us to process several hundred samples. With more volunteers coming in, this increased to several thousand, and when we roped in robots to help, it quickly reached tens of thousands of processed tests per day. Just like the spread of the virus we were competing against, our capacity was growing exponentially. What would normally have taken months or years to establish, now took days or weeks.’

Read here (Channel News Asia, August 22, 2020)

WHO chief hopes coronavirus pandemic will last less than two years

‘The World Health Organization hopes the coronavirus pandemic will be shorter than the 1918 Spanish flu and last less than two years, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Friday, if the world unites and succeeds in finding a vaccine... Tedros said the 1918 Spanish flu “took two years to stop”... ...we have a disadvantage of globalisation, closeness, connectedness but an advantage of better technology.‘

Read here (Reuters, August 22, 2020)

China giving experimental coronavirus vaccines to high-risk groups since July, says official

‘China has been giving experimental coronavirus vaccines to groups facing high infection risks since July, a health official told state media. No vaccine has yet passed final, large-scale trials to prove it is safe and effective enough to protect people from contracting the virus that has led to almost 800,000 deaths worldwide.

‘The aim is to boost the immunity of specific groups of people, including medical workers and those who work at food markets and in the transportation and service sectors, Zheng Zhongwei, a National Health Commission official, told state TV in an interview aired late on Saturday.’

Read here (Reuters, August 22, 2020) 

Hysteria is the most dangerous coronavirus symptom

 ‘Steve Reicher, a professor of social psychology at the University of St Andrews who advises the Government as part of its Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Behaviours, tells the Telegraph: “When you look at the literature on fear and risk, it’s not pointing out there is a danger which causes people to be terrorised by fear. If you tell people what the risks are and give them a clear understanding of what the mitigation is, you don’t get dread and anxiety as people know what to do.” He wants ministers to show clarity about their strategy, warning: “In a vacuum, when people are already concerned, they’ll imagine the worst circumstances.”... ‘For example, the average Briton was found last month to estimate that the disease had wiped out as much as 7 per cent of the United Kingdom, which would equate to around 4.6 million people, rather than the actual rate in the tens of thousands.

‘Although Covid-19 sparked a more draconian response from the British Government, its effectiveness will remain open to question given the UK’s better death rate and economic performance can still be compared unfavourably with Sweden, which eschewed any lockdown whatsoever... When the winter draws near, speculation about whether strict measures like local lockdowns may be necessary to clamp down on Covid will no doubt run rife. In response, many Britons will undoubtedly be tempted to focus on keeping calm and follow what the Prime Minister hails as “good British common sense” - with a bit of Swedish sangfroid.’

[This story is behind a paywall]

Read here (The Telegraph, August 22, 2020)

How viruses shape the world

‘Viruses are unimaginably varied and ubiquitous. And it is becoming clear just how much they have shaped the evolution of all organisms since the very beginnings of life. In this, they demonstrate the blind, pitiless power of natural selection at its most dramatic. And—for one group of brainy bipedal mammals that viruses helped create—they also present a heady mix of threat and opportunity.’

Read here (The Economist, August 22, 2020)

Meet the philosopher who is trying to explain the pandemic: Giorgio Agamben criticises the “techno-medical despotism” of quarantines and closing

‘In a society that respects science, expertise confers power. That has good results, but it brings a terrible problem: Illegitimate political power can be disguised as expertise. This was an idea of the French philosopher Michel Foucault, who used it to explain how experts had expanded definitions of criminality and sexual deviancy. One of Italy’s most celebrated thinkers, Giorgio Agamben, has recently applied similar insights to the coronavirus, at the risk of turning himself into a national pariah...

‘Mr. Agamben’s name may ring a bell for some Americans. He was the professor who in 2004, at the height of the “war on terror,” was so alarmed by the new U.S. fingerprinting requirements for foreign visitors that he gave up a post at New York University rather than submit to them. He warned that such data collection was only passing itself off as an emergency measure; it would inevitably become a normal part of peacetime life.

‘His argument about the coronavirus runs along similar lines: The emergency declared by public-health experts replaces the discredited narrative of “national security experts” as a pretext for withdrawing rights and privacy from citizens. “Biosecurity” now serves as a reason for governments to rule in terms of “worst-case scenarios.” This means there is no level of cases or deaths below which locking down an entire nation of 60 million becomes unreasonable. Many European governments, including Italy’s, have developed national contact tracing apps that allow them to track their citizens using cellphones.’

Read here (New York Times, August 21, 2020)

India, Japan, Australia keen to boost supply chain security by reducing reliance on China

‘The Supply Chain Resilience Initiative will look to secure supply chains and reduce dependence on China in wake of the disruptions caused by the coronavirus. The supply chain initiative could also eventually be expanded to include the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean).’

Read here (South China Morning Post, August 21, 2020)

When a substance abuse crisis and pandemic intersect

‘Even before coronavirus, U.S. drug overdose deaths reached a record high of 70,980 in 2019, an increase of 4.6% from 2018, according to Politico. Fentanyl and other synthetic opioids caused 36,500 of the overdose deaths. A more region-specific study underscores the depths of a national problem. Investigating 7 years of deaths in San Francisco, investigators found that more than 1 in 6 deaths attributed to out-of-hospital cardiac arrest were actually due to overdose. The findings are significant in that San Francisco’s age-adjusted overdose mortality rate nearly mirrors the national rate.

‘White House and health officials said they expected the COVID-19 pandemic to result in the overdose death rate climbing higher this year.

‘Major news organizations have since linked the events of COVID-19 to increased illicit drug use and mortality. Politico reported on a White House drug policy office analysis showing that drug overdose deaths had risen 11.4% in the first four months of this year compared to the same period last year. According to Politico, Kentucky saw a 25% increase in overdose deaths between January and March, while emergency medical system calls and emergency department visits related to overdoses also rose between March and June. West Virginia reported a 50% increase in emergency calls in May. The Washington Post similarly reported that suspected overdoses have steadily increased, from an 18% jump in March 2020 compared to March 2019 to a 42% increase in May 2020 compared to last May.’

Read here (AACC, Aug 20, 2020)

Why is the ‘anti-vaxxer’ movement growing during a pandemic?

 The worldwide rush to rollout the Covid-19 vaccine has created a large group of “vaccine hesitant” people -- over and above the hardcore anti-vaxxers. “Anti-vaccination sentiment is going into the mainstream,” says Heidi Larson, director of the Vaccine Confidence Project at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. “A lot of people you never would have imagined are now saying that maybe the anti-vaccination lobby has a point.”

‘Concerns about vaccinations vary from country to country, but they are often held by people not normally associated with fringe views or conspiracy theories. Many are highly educated, and they are just as likely to be liberal as conservative. “If you want to map where the anti-vaccination movement is strongest, just look for your nearest Whole Foods,” says Barry Bloom, a professor of public health at Harvard University, referring to the high-end supermarket chain.’

Read here (Financial Times, August 20, 2020)

Chinese vaccine giant quotes higher price for doses

‘Sinopharm chief says two-shot regimen will cost around US$145 and is expected to become available in December. Oxford University and AstraZeneca say their candidate will be about US$4 per dose when sold to the government.’

Read here (South China Morning Post, August 20, 2020)

Millions more in India may have caught coronavirus, antibody study suggests

‘More than a quarter of New Delhi's 20 million residents may have caught the novel coronavirus without showing symptoms, a study released on Thursday (Aug 20) indicated, raising fresh doubts about India's official case numbers. Extrapolated, the antibody study on 15,000 residents means 5.8 million people in the bustling capital could have caught the virus - more than 37 times the official tally of 156,139 infections.’

Read here (Straits Times, August 20, 2020) 

Evidence grows that children may play a larger role in transmission than previously believed

Are children the coronavirus’s secret weapon? Because they experience few symptoms of covid-19, children were largely ignored and untested during the early weeks of the pandemic. “But they may have been acting as silent spreaders all along,” our health desk wrote.

A study in the Journal of Pediatrics found high levels of the virus in children's airways, even when they had mild or no symptoms. Previous studies have reached similar conclusions, and researchers are trying to figure out how worried we should be about the children. "Some people thought that children might be protected,” one of the study's authors told The Washington Post. “This is incorrect. They may be as susceptible as adults — but just not visible.”

Read here (Washington Post, August 20, 2020)

What to know about Covid-19 tests, from PCR to antigen to antibody

‘People often talk about COVID-19 testing like it means only one thing. But in reality, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has so far granted emergency-use authorization to more than 200 different tests meant to detect a current or past infection from SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Most recently, the agency made headlines for approving the first such test that uses saliva samples, the aptly named SalivaDirect test out of the Yale School of Public Health.

‘These COVID-19 tests fall into three main categories: PCR, antigen and antibody. Dr. Aneesh Mehta, chief of infectious diseases services at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, Ga., broke down the differences between them—and what to keep in mind if you decide to get tested.’

Read here (Time Magazine, August 20, 2020)

Covid 19 coronavirus: Kiwi doctor goes 'viral' on YouTube with covid fighting tips

‘Two months ago, Sandhya Ramanathan began posting videos on how to manage Covid-19 at home. They were made for her family overseas, in countries where managing the virus was difficult: the UK, US and India.

‘One went, pardon the pun, viral. She filmed the 18-minute video in one take, trying to get out the key messages before she got onto packing her son's bag for school camp. Her legs were asleep by the end of it. Today, that video has almost 360,000 views on YouTube and millions on WhatsApp, where it was shared first with Ramanathan's cousins and then with the rest of the world, desperate for a way to prepare for the pandemic.

‘She'd been looking into ways to treat Covid-19 at home because she knew this is where most people would be dealing with it. One way to save lives – both directly and by reducing the strain on hospitals – is to keep mild cases mild, instead of letting them get worse. "You have to actively treat it, you can't just lie down in bed," says Ramanathan.

‘When she made the video, she took care to outline methods of treatment that didn't involve trips to the doctor or expensive equipment. "I'm just thinking of the people in India, who have no access to a doctor," she says.’

Read here (NZ Herald, Aug 19, 2020)

Watch video here (Youtube, June 14, 2020)

Long-haulers are redefining Covid-19

‘The physical toll of long COVID almost always comes with an equally debilitating comorbidity of disbelief. Employers have told long-haulers that they couldn’t possibly be sick for that long. Friends and family members accused them of being lazy. Doctors refused to believe they had COVID-19. “Every specialist I saw—cardiologist, rheumatologist, dermatologist, neurologist—was wedded to this idea that ‘mild’ COVID-19 infections last two weeks,” says Angela Meriquez Vázquez, a children’s activist in Los Angeles. “In one of my first ER visits, I was referred for a psychiatric evaluation, even though my symptoms were of heart attack and stroke.”

Read here (The Atlantic, August 19, 2020)

WHO urges nations to join global shared vaccine bid

 ‘The WHO wrote to every country on Tuesday (Aug 18) urging them to quickly join its global shared vaccine programme - and spelled out who would get its eventual coronavirus jabs first. The World Health Organisation's director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that without vaccinating the planet's highest-risk populations simultaneously, it would be impossible to rebuild the global economy.

‘And he said the most exposed 20 per cent of each country's population - including front-line health workers, adults over 65 and those with pre-existing conditions - would be targeted in the first wave of vaccinations, once the WHO-led COVAX shared facility can roll out a proven safe and effective vaccine.’

Read here (Straits Times, August 18, 2020)

ISDS enables making more money from losses: Predatory law firms exploit emergency Covid-19 measures

‘With the Covid-19 contagion from late 2019 spreading internationally this year, governments have responded, often in desperation. Meanwhile, predatory international law firms are encouraging multimillion-dollar investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) lawsuits citing Covid-19 containment, relief and recovery measures... Transnational corporations (TNCs) can claim staggering sums in damages for alleged investment losses, for either alleged expropriation, or more typically, indirect ‘damage’ caused by regulatory changes, in this case, Covid-19 government response measures...

‘Foreign registered real estate or property companies can also sue governments that protect lessees or tenants who cannot make their lease or rent payments as contractually scheduled after their operations are shut down or disrupted by emergency regulations imposed. Pharmaceutical and medical supplies companies can also appeal to such arbitration tribunals to claim losses due to price controls and ‘violated’ intellectual property rights for Covid-19 tests, treatments, medical and protective equipment as well as vaccines.’

Read here (ksjomo.org, August 18, 2020) 

Pandemic forces Malaysian palm industry to rethink reliance on foreign labour

‘Malaysia's palm oil producers are embarking on a rare recruitment drive to hire locals and accelerating industry mechanisation as they grapple with a severe shortage of foreign labour due to the coronavirus pandemic. As the September-November peak production season approaches, companies are erecting banners near plantations and posting online job advertisements boasting free housing, free water and other perks of estate life in a bid to lure workers to do everything from driving tractors to harvesting.’

Read here (Reuters, August 18, 2020)

Oxford developers of rapid Covid-19 test awarded RAEng President's Special Award

‘Professor Cui and his team from Oxford's Department of Engineering Science and OSCAR, the Oxford Suzhou Centre for Advanced Research, are one of the winners announced today of the Royal Academy of Engineering's President's Special Awards for Pandemic Service for their rapid viral RNA test for COVID-19.’

Read here (OUP, Aug 17, 2020) 

How China controlled the coronavirus: From the micro point of view of an American teaching and learning in Sichuan during the pandemic

‘Despite the political indoctrination involved in Chinese schooling, the system teaches people to respect science. Hard work is another core value, and somehow society has become more prosperous without losing its edge. Nearly a quarter century ago, I taught young people who were driven by the desire to escape poverty; these days, my middle-class students seem to work at least as hard, because of the extreme competitiveness of their environment. Such qualities are perfect for fighting the pandemic, at least when channelled effectively by government structures. In comparison, the American response often appears passive—even enlightened citizens seem to believe that obeying lockdown orders and wearing masks in public is enough. But any attempt to control the virus requires active, organized effort, and there needs to be strong institutional direction.

‘Instead, the flailing American leadership seems more interested in finding scapegoats, sometimes with a racial tinge—the Kung Flu and the China Virus. Throughout the spring, the Chinese government periodically responded by lashing out at the U.S. and other foreign countries, but such tensions had little impact on my life in Chengdu. Daily interactions remained friendly, and people often made a point of telling me that the problems between governments had nothing to do with our personal relationships.’

Read here (The New Yorker, August 17, 2020)

Fearing a 'Twindemic', health experts push urgently for flu shots

‘As public health officials look to fall and winter, the spectre of a new surge of Covid-19 gives them chills. But there is a scenario they dread even more: a severe flu season, resulting in a "twindemic"... The concern about a twindemic is so great that officials around the world are pushing the flu shot even before it becomes available in clinics and doctors' offices... Dr Robert Redfield, director of the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, has been talking it up, urging corporate leaders to figure out ways to inoculate employees. The CDC usually purchases 500,000 doses for uninsured adults but this year ordered an additional 9.3 million doses.’

Read here (Straits Times, August 17, 2020) 

Coronavirus vaccine: Chinese scientists plan joint trials with Russia despite doubts over ‘world-beating’ breakthrough

‘Chinese scientists have offered to carry out joint vaccine trials with their Russian counterparts in what could be seen as a vote of confidence following Moscow’s decision to rush through approval for a Covid-19 vaccine. The plan was announced by China’s top respiratory diseases expert Zhong Nanshan on Sunday during a symposium with Russian scientists. He did not specify which vaccine candidate would be tested or where the trials would take place.’

Read here (South China Morning Post, August 17, 2020) 

China's lead in coronavirus vaccines raises concern as well as hope

‘China has emerged as a leader in novel coronavirus vaccines, a development that will enhance it as a global power but also raises concerns over safety and the potential for Beijing to use its status in territorial disputes. The country has nine vaccine candidates in clinical trials, including five in Phase 3, the final stage of the process toward approval. This achievement is the result of years of state-led research on infectious diseases. Last week, Chinese drugmaker CanSino Biologics announced it would conduct a Phase 3 trial in Saudi Arabia with 5,000 volunteers. Of the 29 new vaccines in clinical trials around the world, nine are in China, the most of any country. Of the seven that are in Phase 3, China has five. Chinese vaccines are expected to be in practical use as early as the next few months.’

[This story is behind a paywall]

Read here (Nikkei Asian Review, August 17, 2020)

Highly contagious Covid-19 variant detected in two clusters

‘Health Ministry director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah has urged greater caution after a highly contagious variant of the virus that causes Covid-19 had been confirmed in two clusters in Malaysia.

‘In a Facebook post just past midnight this morning, the Institute of Medical Research had just identified the virus carrying the D614G mutation in samples collected from three cases from the Sivagangga cluster, and one case in the Bukit Tiram cluster...

“It has been found to be ten times more likely to infect other individuals, and could spread easily if spread by ‘superspreaders’,” Noor Hisham said.

‘He also voiced concern that experimental vaccines currently in development may not be able to tackle the D614G variant of the virus because it is still relatively new.’

Read here (Malaysiakini, August 16, 2020)

Quick and affordable saliva-based COVID-19 test developed by Yale scientists receives FDA Emergency Use Authorisation

‘A saliva-based laboratory diagnostic test developed by researchers at the Yale School of Public Health to determine whether someone is infected with the novel coronavirus has been granted an emergency use authorization by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). With the FDA’s emergency use authorization, the testing method is immediately available to other diagnostic laboratories that want to start using the new test, which can be scaled up quickly for use across the nation — and, perhaps, beyond — in the coming weeks, the researchers said. A key component of SalivaDirect, they note, is that the method has been validated with reagents and instruments from multiple vendors. This flexibility enables continued testing if some vendors encounter supply chain issues, as experienced early in the pandemic.‘

Read here (Yale News, August 15, 2020)

Seroprevalence study estimates 6% of Britain's population infected, higher among ethnic minorities and healthcare workers

‘Researchers at Imperial College London reported findings from a large seroprevalence study involving more than 100,000 participants in the UK... It estimates the overall UK seroprevalence to be 6.0%, which translates to approximately 3.36 million adult infections through June 20. For comparison, the UK has reported 313,798 cumulative cases to date, which corresponds to approximately 0.6% of the total UK adult population.’ -- John Hopkins e-newsletter.

‘The pandemic of SARS-CoV-2 infection in England disproportionately affected ethnic minority groups and health and care home workers. The higher risk of infection in these groups may explain, at least in part, their increased risk of hospitalisation and mortality from COVID-19.’ Conclusion of the study.

Download here (Imperial College Institute of Global Health Innovation, August 2020)

Covid-19 is causing a microcredit crunch

‘Today the lending portfolios of microfinance institutions (mfis) are worth a combined $124bn. But the industry is in trouble. Covid-19 is straining its finances. Repayments, usually done in cash and in person, have plummeted, yet the banks and investors which provide the mfis with funds still expect money. A crunch looms. More than two-thirds of mfis have cut lending, often by at least half. Nearly one-third do not have enough cash to meet outflows this quarter. If only this were the industry’s only problem. Compounding it is a set of deeper, longer-standing issues that have begun to undermine its reputation for efficiency and probity.’

Read here (The Economist, August 15, 2020)

China drug regulator says Covid-19 vaccines must have 50 percent efficacy rate to be approved for use

‘China's drug regulator has said COVID-19 vaccine candidates must have a 50 percent efficacy rate and be able to provide users with at least six moths' immunity from the virus if they are to be approved in the country. A draft document released by the Chinese Centre for Drug Evaluation (CCDE) laid out the guidelines, stipulating that while 50 percent efficacy is the minimum, the target is that vaccines should be effective for 70 percent of the population.’

Read here (Newsweek, August 15, 2020)

WHO downplays danger of coronavirus latching on to food packaging

‘Two cities in China have found traces of the new coronavirus in cargoes of imported frozen food, local authorities said on Thursday (Aug 13), although the World Health Organization downplayed the risk of the virus entering the food chain. A sample taken from the surface of frozen chicken wings imported into the southern city of Shenzhen from Brazil, as well as samples of outer packaging of frozen Ecuadorian shrimp sold in the northwestern city of Xian, have tested positive for the virus, local Chinese authorities said.

‘Viruses can survive up to two years at temperatures of minus 20 degrees Celsius, but scientists and officials say there is no strong evidence so far the coronavirus can spread via frozen food.’

Read here (Channel News Asia, August 14, 2020)

One in six foreign workers in dorms contracted Covid-19, based on official tally

‘About one in six foreign workers living in dormitories contracted Covid-19, a calculation based on Singapore's official tally showed, but the true infection rate in the dormitories is likely to be higher than this, experts say. If accurate, however, an infection rate of one in six would not be enough for herd immunity to develop in the migrant worker population, they added. A total of 52,425 out of 323,000 workers had been infected as of Wednesday.’

Read here (Straits Times, August 14, 2020)

The 1918 flu faded in our collective memory: We might ‘forget’ the coronavirus, too

‘This year is not the first time a new pandemic has prompted reexamination of the one in 1918. The 20th century saw two more flu pandemics, which occurred in 1957 and 1968. In both cases, “suddenly the memory of the Great Flu reoccurs,” Beiner says. “People begin looking for this precedent; people begin looking for the cure.” Likewise, during the avian flu scare in 2005 and the swine flu pandemic in 2009, Google searches worldwide for “Spanish flu” spiked (though both increases were dwarfed by the one that occurred this past March). All the while a growing body of historical research has been fleshing out the story of the 1918 flu, providing the foundation for a significant resurgence of its memory in the public sphere.’

Read here (Scientific American, August 13, 2020) 

Is Sweden's coronavirus strategy a cautionary tale or a success story?

‘Sweden was one of the few European countries not to impose a compulsory lockdown. Its unusual strategy for tackling the coronavirus outbreak has been both hailed as a success and condemned as a failure. So which is it? Those who regard the strategy as a success claim it reduced the economic impact, but it isn’t clear that it did. What is clear is that so far Sweden has had a more protracted outbreak with far more deaths per capita than its neighbours.

‘While it is sometimes implied that Sweden didn’t have a lockdown, it did. It was just largely voluntary, with only a few legal measures such as a ban on gatherings of more than 50 people. “Voluntary restrictions work as well as legal ones,” says the architect of Sweden’s strategy, chief epidemiologist Anders Tegnell.

Read here (New Scientist, August 13, 2020) 

Israeli hospital trials super-quick saliva test for Covid-19

‘A newly developed saliva test aims to determine in less than a second whether or not you are infected with the novel coronavirus, Israel’s largest medical center said on Thursday... The center said in an initial clinical trial involving hundreds of patients, the new artificial intelligence-based device identified evidence of the virus in the body at a 95% success rate... The company said they are in the process of getting regulatory approval. Each test costs less than 25 cents and it expects the device will eventually cost less than $200.’

Read here (Reuters, August 13, 2020)

Watch here (South China Morning Post video on Youtube)

New Zealand considers freight as possible source of new Covid-19 cluster

‘New Zealand officials are investigating the possibility that its first Covid-19 cases in more than three months were imported by freight, as the country plunged back into lockdown today. Investigations were zeroing in on the potential the virus was imported by freight... Bloomfield [Director General of Health Ashley Bloomfield] said surface testing was underway in an Auckland cool store where a man from the infected family worked... “We are very confident we didn’t have any community transmission for a very long period,” Bloomfield said during a televised media conference. “We know the virus can survive within refrigerated environments for quite some time.”

Read here (Malay Mail, August 12, 2020)

Coronavirus vaccine pre-orders top 5 billion doses in worldwide scramble for supplies

‘Although none of the coronavirus vaccines under development has proved its efficacy yet in clinical trials, at least 5.7 billion doses have been pre-ordered around the world. First shipments of a Covid-19 vaccine created by Western laboratories have often been snapped up by the United States. Six vaccines are in phase 3 efficacy trials involving thousands of people. In a surprise announcement, Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed on Tuesday that a vaccine dubbed “Sputnik V” – after the Soviet satellite – conferred “sustainable immunity” against the novel coronavirus.’

Read here (South China Morning Post, August 12, 2020)

How to stop Covid-19 fuelling a resurgence of AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis

‘A focus on the coronavirus has disrupted detection and treatment of other infectious diseases. Governments and funders can do four things to avert a catastrophe.

‘First, hospitals and health authorities in affected cities and regions must recognize that AIDS, malaria and TB are surging again... Second, researchers must continue to refine their models using more real-world data... Third, there is a need for public-information campaigns... Fourth, these campaigns cannot on their own keep surgeries and wards open, or equipment functioning. The resurgence of infectious diseases has created a greater demand for tests, treatments and research. All of these need more funding.’

Read here (Nature, August 12, 2020)

How the pandemic revealed Britain’s national illness

‘Much of the focus has been on Johnson: an apparent manifestation of all that has gone wrong in Britain, a caricature of imperial nostalgia, Trumpian populism, and a general lack of seriousness. Yet this was not simply an issue of inept political leadership, inept or otherwise: Johnson stuck closely to a strategy designed and endorsed by the government’s experts, leaders in their fields and respected internationally. Even if the prime minister did make serious mistakes, the country’s issues run far deeper. The British government as a whole made poorer decisions, based on poorer advice, founded on poorer evidence, supplied by poorer testing, with the inevitable consequence that it achieved poorer results than almost any of its peers. It failed in its preparation, its diagnosis, and its treatment...

‘As prime minister, Johnson must accept that Britain’s failures are his as well. Still, the difficult truth is that the country’s failures clearly go beyond Johnson. They were collective, multilayered, and deadly. The most difficult question about all this is also the simplest: Why?... What emerges is a picture of a country whose systemic weaknesses were exposed with appalling brutality, a country that believed it was stronger than it was, and that paid the price for failures that have built up for years.’

Read here (The Atlantic, August 12, 2020)

Spread of coronavirus fake news causes hundreds of deaths, thousands of hospistalisations

‘A study has revealed a so-called "infodemic" exacerbated COVID-19 suffering through the spread of rumours and conspiracy theories. The research looked into false notions such as drinking bleach and eating cow dung. 

‘Misinformation about the coronavirus has led to the deaths to at least some 800 people and possibly more, a newly published study in the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene showed. The results revealed that roughly 800 people died from drinking highly-concentrated alcohol in the hope of disinfecting their bodies, while 5,900 citizens were hospitalized after consuming methanol, with 60 people going blind as a result.’

Read here (DW, August 11, 2020)

Tech companies are transforming people’s bedrooms into ‘virtual hospitals.’ Will it last Post-Covid?

‘Telehealth advocates say now is the time to act. A range of virtual offerings could be revolutionary for patients who are seriously sick, need long-term care, or live in rural areas, where hospital closings have left millions of Americans without easy access to treatment. “The environment in a hospital, although it’s very conducive to high intensity care, is not that conducive to being able to engage in normal activities of daily living that might be actually important for recovery,” says Dr. Michael Apkon, president and CEO of Tufts Medical Center...

‘Telehealth can also play an important role in helping patients before they reach the point of needing hospital care. When non-urgent procedures were canceled during the early months of the pandemic, many Americans turned to virtual visits to keep up with routine treatment and ask for guidance from health care providers before venturing into offices.’

Read here (Time, August 10, 2020) 

Hopes for a Covid-19 vaccine in early 2021, but that’s only the start of the story, experts say

‘With six Covid 19 vaccine candidates undergoing final clinical trials, initial data about whether they can protect people from the disease is expected to be available in the next two to three months, assuming all goes well. That gives hope to the possibility that a vaccine could hit the market by early next year...

“Most of the data so far supports the notion that they all do what it says on the tin: induce neutralising antibody and T-cells,” said Daniel Altmann, a professor in the department of medicine at Imperial College London. “But it is a long way from there to proof of safe, long-term, protective immunity.”

Read here (South China Morning Post, August 10, 2020)

Study: 14 face masks, here are the best, worst for Covid-19 coronavirus

This article, inappropriately whimsical in the initial paragraphs, gives summaries of the effectiveness of 14 types of face masks. They are the results of a simple Duke University test to analyse their effectiveness. The fitted N95 came out tops. Three-layer surgical masks and cotton masks, which many people have been making at home, also performed well.

Read here (Forbes, August 9, 2020)

Read the Duke University paper ‘Low-cost measurement of face mask efficacy for filtering expelled droplets during speech’ here 

Murdoch's misinformation: Covid-19, China and climate change

 ‘Is Rupert Murdoch's media empire responsible for spreading deadly misinformation on COVID-19? From the United States to Australia, Murdoch's media empire regularly courts controversy. Its coverage of COVID-19, however, is on another level. The Listening Post's Flo Phillips reports on the Murdoch factor in COVID-19 coverage.’

Also: ‘The Listening Post's Richard Gizbert speaks to someone who has known Rupert Murdoch for decades and is now one of his most outspoken critics: The former prime minister of Australia, Malcolm Turnbull.’

View here (Aljazeera, August 8, 2020)

Long and hard battle to clear worker dorms of Covid-19

On August 7, Singapore finished testing all 323,000 workers in dorms for Covid-19 -- a "massive undertaking" that has taken four months. This story with a video shows how the Sungei Tengah Lodge, a worker dormitory for 23,000, has been cleared of Covid-19. It provides some images of the living conditions there (after they have been cleaned up) and reveals how various agencies as well as the dorm operator have worked together to clear the virus.

Read here (Straits Times, August 8, 2020) 

South voices concerns over “vaccine nationalism” amid COVID-19

‘Several developing countries have expressed serious concerns at the World Trade Organization about rising “vaccine nationalism” and attempts to restrict affordable access to vaccines and therapeutics for combating the Covid-19 pandemic, as the worsening health crisis has continued to ravage countries by claiming nearly 700,000 lives around the world.

‘At the WTO’s TRIPS Council meeting that ended on 3 August, members elected South Africa’s trade envoy Ambassador Xolelwa Mlumbi-Peter as the new chair of the TRIPS Council.

‘The meeting witnessed sharp discussions on “IP measures in the context of the Covid-19,” “intellectual property and the 1998 e-commerce work program,” and “intellectual property and public interest: beyond access to medicines and medical technologies towards a more holistic approach to TRIPS flexibilities”, among others, said a participant, who asked not to be quoted.’

Read here (Third World Network, August 7, 2020)

Europe is near the brink of a second wave of Covid-19. Will its new containment strategy work?

‘While new daily cases are still several times lower than they were during Europe’s peak in March and April, one thing we know about COVID-19 is that it can spread exponentially if allowed to get out of control. Now, all eyes are on Europe to see if it can prevent that from happening.’ This story examines the following:

• Where are cases rising?
• What’s causing the increase?
• Is anything different compared to the first wave?
• Has tourism caused cases to increase?
• What other factors are to blame?
• How are leaders around Europe responding to the increase in cases?
• What lessons can the rest of the world learn?

Read here (Time, August 7, 2020)

India’s coronavirus fight and lessons from my family’s struggle with TB in the 1950s

‘During the current Covid-19 pandemic, I often imagine Biji [mother], with her gritty countenance, asking total strangers why they are not wearing a mask, or reprimanding a group of people for not maintaining a minimum social distance. I had already seen her tackling several difficult situations. But how did she get to a position where she could extract compliance and discipline from people around her?

‘The odds were heavily loaded against Biji for most of her wedded life. She lost four children to infant mortality. When Taaya [father, later inflicted with TB and died aged 43] lost his job, she struggled to run our home by stitching clothes or knitting cane chairs. One day in 1956, we had no vegetables, lentils, potatoes or cooking oil left at home. She gave me a one-anna coin to go and buy 200 grams of raw tomatoes, sprinkled salt on them, and we ate them with chapattis (Indian bread).

‘Alone, she braved deprivation but rarely succumbed to hopelessness. Each hardship only made her more determined to face life in a bold, liberated and result-oriented manner...’

J V Yakhmi is a former chairman of the Atomic Energy Education Society in Mumbai and a retired associate director of the physics group at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre.

Read here (South China Morning Post, August 7, 2020)

Australian develops effective Triple Therapy to treat Covid-19

‘A combination of FDA and TGA approved Ivermectin, Zinc and Doxycycline has shown positive results for COVID-19 and should be considered immediately to fight the pandemic' says CDD Medical Director Professor Thomas Borody...

‘Australia's The Centre for Digestive Disease (CDD) Medical Director Professor Thomas Borody MB, BS, BSc(Med), MD, PhD, DSc, FRACP,FACP,FACG, AGAF, says FDA and TGA approved Ivermectin which he uses regularly in his hospital, has shown positive results for COVID-19 and should be considered immediately to fight the pandemic. Ivermectin was discovered in the 1970s and is on the World Health Organization (WHO) list of essential medicines.

‘Professor Borody has used the same methodology with the COVID-19 Ivermectin Triple Therapy as he used when he developed the world’s first cure for peptic ulcers saving millions of lives around the globe. He says this combination of 3 approved “off the shelf” drugs could be the answer to Australia’s COVID-19 crisis. “If nothing else, make it available in aged care homes immediately. Our elderly are at the highest risk and this is a very safe option especially when we have nothing else except ventilators. Also, our frontline workers deserve more protection with a preventative medication like this, and as an emergency treatment if they test positive,” says Professor Borody.

“An Ivermectin tablet can cost as little as $2 – which could make it by far the cheapest, safest, and fastest cure for Australians and the Australian economy," he added.’

Read here (Biospectrum, August 6, 2020)

One-two punch of protests, coronavirus playing havoc with mental health in Hong Kong, study finds

‘Some three-quarters of Hongkongers are harbouring negative thoughts in the aftermath of last year’s social unrest and amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, with young people suffering significantly more from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depressive symptoms, a new study has found.’

Read here (South China Morning Post, August 6, 2020)

Almost half of UK charities for world's poorest set to close in a year – Survey

‘Nearly half of the UK’s small charities working with the world’s poorest people expect to close within the next 12 months due to lack of financial support, a survey has found. Despite most of them seeing a spike in demand for their services during Covid-19, 15% of the charities will be forced to shut their doors within the next six months, and 45% within a year, according to data from the Small International Development Charities Network (SIDCN).’

Read here (The Guardian, August 6, 2020)

Mandated Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccination predicts flattened curves for the spread of COVID-19

‘Our analysis shows that mandatory BCG vaccination is associated with a flattening of the curve in the spread of COVID-19. The effect we demonstrate is quite substantial. For example, our model estimates that the total number of COVID-19–related deaths in the United States as of 29 March 2020 would have been 468—19% of the actual figure (2467)—if the United States had instituted the mandatory BCG vaccination several decades earlier.’

Read here (Advances Science, August 5, 2020)

Proportion of youth with COVID-19 triples in five months: WHO

‘Young people who are hitting nightclubs and beaches are leading a rise in fresh coronavirus cases across the world, with the proportion of those aged 15 to 24 who are infected rising three-fold in about five months, the World Health Organization said. An analysis by the WHO of 6 million infections between Feb. 24 and July 12 found that the share of people aged 15-24 years rose to 15% from 4.5%.’

Read here (Reuters, August 5, 2020)

Nine important things we’ve learned about the coronavirus pandemic so far

Here are nine of the most important things we’ve learned about SARS-CoV-2 in the past seven months and why we didn’t fully understand or appreciate them at first.

1. Outbreaks of COVID-19 can happen anywhere
2. COVID-19 can sicken and kill anyone
3. Contaminated surfaces are not the main danger
4. It is in the air
5. Many people are infectious without being sick
6. Warm summer weather will not stop the virus
7. Masks work
8. Racism, not race, is a risk factor
9. Misinformation kills

Read here (Scientific American, August 4, 2020) 

US announces major clinical trial of antibody treatment

‘The US has begun late stage clinical trials into a drug formulated to fight Covid-19, officials said Tuesday. The medicine is an antibody against the new coronavirus called LY-CoV555, which was identified in the blood sample of a recovered patient by Canada’s Abcellera Biologics. It was then developed synthetically for mass production by US-based Lilly Research Laboratories in partnership with Abcellera. The Phase 3 trial will initially enrol some 300 volunteers around the world who have been hospitalised with mild to moderate Covid-19 with fewer than 13 days of symptoms.’

Read here (South China Morning Post, August 4, 2020)

China positions itself for ‘vaccine diplomacy’ push to fight Covid-19

‘Beijing is offering loans and priority access to developing countries for vaccinations as they move to large-scale trials. As richer nations scramble for early doses manufacturing constraints likely to cause shortages for years...

‘Vaccines being developed in China are among front-runners in the hunt for safe and effective immunisations to counter the pandemic. China’s diplomats are saying, if successful, the vaccines will be a “global public good”, a pledge made by President Xi Jinping at a meeting of the World Health Organisation’s governing body in May. The assurances come as multiple vaccines worldwide move into large-scale late-phase trials, a step away from potential approval. However, supply shortages for any approved products are likely to persist for months or even years due to manufacturing constraints.’

Read here (South China Morning Post, August 4, 2020)

Electronic wristband to ensure stay-home notice: Quarantine monitoring devices being used by others worldwide

Besides Singapore, many other places in the world have also turned to electronic monitoring devices to help them control the spread of the coronavirus. Here are some places that do so: Hong Kong, South Korea, Malaysia (Sarawak), Jordan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Liechtenstein.

Read here (Straits Times, August 4, 2020)

Travellers to Singapore to wear electronic tracking device while serving Covid-19 stay-home notice outside of facilities

‘All travellers entering Singapore who are serving their stay-home notice (SHN) outside of dedicated facilities will soon have to wear an electronic monitoring device. From Aug 10, 11.59pm, such travellers will have to wear the device throughout the 14-day stay-home period. They include citizens, permanent residents, long-term pass holders, work pass holders and their dependants. Children aged 12 and below are exempted.’

Read here (Straits Times, August 4, 2020)

How the pandemic defeated America

‘It is hard to stare directly at the biggest problems of our age. Pandemics, climate change, the sixth extinction of wildlife, food and water shortages—their scope is planetary, and their stakes are overwhelming. We have no choice, though, but to grapple with them. It is now abundantly clear what happens when global disasters collide with historical negligence.

‘COVID‑19 is an assault on America’s body, and a referendum on the ideas that animate its culture. Recovery is possible, but it demands radical introspection. America would be wise to help reverse the ruination of the natural world, a process that continues to shunt animal diseases into human bodies. It should strive to prevent sickness instead of profiting from it. It should build a health-care system that prizes resilience over brittle efficiency, and an information system that favors light over heat. It should rebuild its international alliances, its social safety net, and its trust in empiricism. It should address the health inequities that flow from its history. Not least, it should elect leaders with sound judgment, high character, and respect for science, logic, and reason.

‘The pandemic has been both tragedy and teacher. Its very etymology offers a clue about what is at stake in the greatest challenges of the future, and what is needed to address them. Pandemic. Pan and demos. All people.’

Read here (The Atlantic, August 4, 2020)

Two decades of pandemic war games failed to account for Donald Trump

‘The scenarios foresaw leaky travel bans, a scramble for vaccines and disputes between state and federal leaders, but none could anticipate the current levels of dysfunction in the United States...

’Perhaps the biggest limitation of simulation exercises was that they didn’t actually drive policymakers to prioritize and fund improvements to the public-health system. Morrison [J. Stephen Morrison, director of global health policy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington DC] now questions whether it’s even possible to do that through simulations alone, or whether people must experience an epidemic at first hand. After more than 70 people in Taiwan died as a result of SARS in 2003, the government mapped out its emergency-response network. “Every year since then, for the past 17 years, they’ve held annual outbreak exercises and practised, practised, practised,” Morrison says...

’Now, the United States has experienced a tragedy, too. The daily number of new COVID-19 cases broke records throughout much of July, after many states attempted to reopen their economies. Frieden [Tom Frieden, a former director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)] says that one of the most crucial actions now is for health departments to strengthen their response systems by analysing data in real time, so that they can tailor interventions as needed. “The best public-health programme is a programme that uses real-time data to make real-time decisions,” he says. “Real life is our exercise.”

Read here (Science Magazine, August 4, 2020)

UN chief outlines ‘bold steps’ for education in the face of Covid-19 disruption affecting 1 billion

The COVID-19 pandemic has created the largest disruption to education in history and prolonged school closures could further entrench inequalities in access to learning, the UN Secretary-General said on Tuesday, underlining the need for “bold steps” to address the crisis. [This is contained in a policy brief]

The UN estimates that the pandemic has affected more than one billion students worldwide. Despite efforts to continue learning during the crisis, including through delivering lessons by radio, television and online, many are still not being reached.

The UN chief said learners with disabilities, members of minority or disadvantaged communities, as well as refugees and displaced persons, are among those at highest risk of being left behind.

Read here (UN News, August 4, 2020) 

Use of MySejahtera app will soon be compulsory

‘Defence Minister Ismail Sabri said the use of the MySejahtera app, a mobile application commission by the federal government to facilitate Covid-19 contact-tracing, will soon be made compulsory in all business premises. "The Attorney-General's Office will gazette the usage of MySejahtera application as compulsory in the near future. However, exceptions are given to premises in rural areas where the internet connection is unstable," he told a press conference in Putrajaya today.’

Read here (Malaysiakini, August 3, 2020) 

Top US infectious disease expert Fauci urges caution on China and Russia Covid-19 vaccines

‘America’s top infectious diseases official has raised concerns over the safety of Covid-19 vaccines being developed by China and Russia as the world scrambles for answers to a pandemic the WHO warned will be felt for decades. Several Chinese companies are at the forefront of the race to develop an immunity to the disease and Russia has set a target date of September to roll out its own vaccine. But US infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci said it was unlikely his country would use any vaccine developed in either country, where regulatory systems are far more opaque than they are in the West.’

Read here (Straits Times, August 3, 2020)

WHO warns of long road ahead, may never be a ‘silver bullet’

‘The World Health Organisation warned on Monday that there might never be a “silver bullet” for Covid-19 in the form of a perfect vaccine, and that the road to normality will be long, with some countries requiring a reset of strategy. WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and WHO emergencies head Mike Ryan exhorted nations to rigorously enforce health measures such as mask-wearing, social distancing, handwashing, contact tracing and testing. “For now, stopping outbreaks comes down to the basics of public health and disease control. The message to people and governments is clear: ‘Do it all’,” Tedros told a virtual news briefing from the UN body’s headquarters in Geneva.’

Read here (South China Morning Post, August 3, 2020)

Unmasking the masks facts and fallacies: Lecture on masks by Dato' Dr Amar Singh

This is highly relevant current information on Covid-19 transmission and the use of face masks including reusable cloth masks and emerging ones.

Watch here (Youtube, August 1, 2020)

Coronavirus: Just 0.3% of cases in Singapore admitted to ICU

‘While Covid-19 cases in Singapore have surged past 50,000, only a tiny fraction of those who fell ill - just 128, or 0.3 per cent - have been admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) as of Monday. Experts said years of investment in healthcare, as well as a well thought out and executed strategy to keep infection numbers low, have helped to ensure the Republic has one of the world's lowest ICU admission - and fatality - rates from Covid-19.’

Read here (Straits Times, July 31, 2020)

What the D614G mutation means for Covid-19 spread, fatality, treatment, and vaccine

‘We are facing the global shift of the SARS-CoV-2 variant — from D614 to G614. The G614 variant is more infectious in laboratory settings; whether it means increased viral spread in humans is unconfirmed. Current evidence says that the G614 variant is not any deadlier than D614. And so, treatment options should not be any more different. Both the D614 and G614 variants should react similarly to vaccines, studies suggest, as the mutation does not change the immunogenic part of the spike protein; that is, the receptor-binding domain (RBD).’

[This is a survey of literature by a young post-grad Malaysian. It gives a rounded picture of the D614G mutation without using too much jargon. Must counter check the accuracy of what's stated against the originals.] 

Read here (Medium, July 31, 2020)

New evidence suggests young children spread Covid-19 more efficiently than adults

Two new studies, though from different parts of the world, have arrived at the same conclusion: that young children not only transmit SARS-CoV-2 efficiently, but may be major drivers of the pandemic as well. The first, which was published in JAMA yesterday, reports findings from a pediatric hospital in Chicago, Illinois. The second, a preprint manuscript awaiting peer review, was conducted in the mountainous province of Trento, Italy.

Read here (Forbes, July 31, 2020)

Careless young people driving some Covid-19 spikes, says WHO

‘The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Thursday (July 30) warned that spikes in coronavirus transmission in a number of countries were being driven by young people "letting down their guard". "Young people are not invincible," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a virtual news conference in Geneva.

‘WHO's technical lead for Covid-19 Maria Van Kerkhove lamented in particular that nightclubs in a number of places had become "amplifiers" of transmission. "We are asking for all people, including young people, to be your own risk manager" and avoid behaviours that could easily increase transmission of the disease.’

Read here (Straits Times, July 31, 2020)

One more reason to wear a mask: You’ll get less sick from Covid-19

‘It’s likely that face masks, by blocking even some of the virus-carrying droplets you inhale, can reduce your risk of falling seriously ill from COVID-19, according to Monica Gandhi, MD, an infectious disease specialist at UC San Francisco.

‘These epidemiological observations are among the evidence that Gandhi and colleagues cite in a paper in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, in which they propose that masks can lead to milder or asymptomatic infections by cutting down on the dose of virus people take in...

‘To Gandhi, these case studies [comparing situations at cruise ships, seafood processing centres, etc] suggest that if more people wore masks, we could see less serious illness from COVID-19 and a higher proportion of asymptomatic cases, currently estimated to be around 40 percent of cases by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Milder infections would ease the burden on the health care system, save lives, and even nudge us closer to herd immunity before a vaccine becomes available, said Gandhi.’

Read here (The University of California, San Francisco, July 31, 2020)

‘We could see this tsunami of people coming’: Inside the secret world of intensive care

“When dealing with patients at the extremes of life,” writes Aoife Abbey, a doctor at University Hospital Coventry in her memoir The Seven Signs of Life, “there is an onus on doctors to be alert for the time when the burden of treatment outweighs the expected benefit for a patient. It is imperative that medicine knows when it is time to work with death, if it is to work at all. Intensive care, perhaps more than any other speciality, is defined by this specific sort of responsibility.”

‘During these months of treating Covid-19 patients, Abbey has seen patients come in with severe acute respiratory failure. Some patients stood to benefit from intensive care, while for others the escalation of treatments, including invasive forms of ventilation, were not deemed to be in their best interest. The established ethical frameworks used to make these kinds of decisions have remained the same when treating patients with Covid-19.’

Read here (The Guardian, July 30, 2020)

Only governments can prevent Covid-19 recessions becoming depressions

‘In March, French economists Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman, both at Berkeley, proposed that governments help ease pain and disruption with payer-of-last-resort programmes, with adversely affected businesses reporting unavoidable monthly overhead and maintenance costs to qualify for government aid.

‘Such a payer-of-last-resort programme would reduce hardship for workers and businesses. It could enable businesses to temporarily suspend or scale down operations, to limit haemorrhage and avoid insolvency, and to pick up quickly as conditions improve. It would maintain ‘cash flow’ for families and businesses, minimising Covid-19 shocks’ adverse secondary impacts on demand (e.g., due to fired workers spending less on consumption), while enabling more rapid recovery as demand resumes.’

Read here (ksjomo.org, July 30, 2020)

Here's what the science actually says about kids and Covid-19

‘As school districts across the United States decide whether to welcome kids back into the classroom for in-person education this fall, administrators find themselves weighing a complex set of variables. There’s the risk of children, teachers and staffers getting sick or spreading the disease, on the one hand. But on the other, there’s evidence that being out of school can degrade children’s long-term learning prospects and mental health; make it harder for many to get the food they need; and make it difficult for parents to work—especially mothers, who are often expected to handle a disproportionate amount of childcare duties. Millions of students, meanwhile, lack access to high-speed broadband internet and other technological resources required to get the most out of remote learning, making it an inadequate substitute for many.’

Read here (Time Magazine, July 29, 2020)

Moderna aims to price coronavirus vaccine at $50-$60 per course: FT

‘Moderna Inc is planning to price its coronavirus vaccine at $50 to $60 per course, at least $11 more than another vaccine from Pfizer Inc and BioNTech, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday, citing unnamed sources. Moderna’s proposed price for a two-dose course sold to governments compares with $39 for two doses under a deal that Pfizer Inc and German partner BioNTech struck with the U.S. government.’

Read here (Reuters, July 29, 2020)

Aliens and reptilians: The odd beliefs of Stella Immanuel, doctor in US viral video retweeted by Trump

‘A Houston doctor who praised hydroxychloroquine as a miracle coronavirus cure in a viral video retweeted by President Donald Trump blames gynaecological problems on sex with evil spirits and believes the US government is run by “reptilians”. Stella Immanuel’s viral speech has drawn attention to a little-known group calling themselves “America’s Frontline Doctors” who appear to exist to promote the common antimalarial drug in the fight against Covid-19.’

Read here (South China Morning Post, July 29, 2020)

Vietnam let down its guard, and cases surged

It’s a familiar story in Asia: Vietnam seemed like a miracle, where months went by without a single coronavirus death or even local transmission. 

 

The economy reopened, travel restarted and residents began leaving their masks at home. But over the weekend, the country announced that the virus was lurking after all — and spreading. Experts do not know the source. 

 

It followed a pattern in places that seemed to have done everything right: Japan, China, Australia and South Korea all recorded spikes on Wednesday. And the mystery is worrying medical experts and residents alike. 

 

Details: Shortly after a 57-year-old man from Danang tested positive, clusters emerged in five hospitals. By Wednesday, the virus had spread north to Hanoi, south to Ho Chi Minh City, to two provinces in the country’s center and even the remote Central Highlands. 

 

Quotable: “In my opinion, this outbreak is more dangerous than the previous one because it is happening at the same time in many places,” said the dean of public health at Quang Trung University.

Read here (New York Times, June 29, 2020)

Fight pandemic, not windmills of the mind

‘Reversing emergency expansionary measures too soon risks aborting recovery and may even trigger new recessions. Even an assets fund manager has acknowledged, “Like a course of antibiotics, an economic relief package is most efficacious when administered to completion”.

‘When President Franklin Delano Roosevelt tried to balance the budget in 1937 after securing re-election, the ensuing downturn ended the recovery, only revived after deficit spending resumed in 1939. Also, countries that abandoned fiscal expansion for consolidation from 2009 had worse recovery records than others.’

Read here (IPS News, July 28, 2020)

Covid-19: Getting our SOPs right - Amar Singh HSS and Lim Swee Im

This article discusses a number of issues on SOPs pertaining to Malaysia today:

• How can we best monitor our pandemic when our numbers are low?
• How ready are our testing capabilities for a second and subsequent waves?
• How good are our safe physical distancing measures?
• Optimising masks in Covid-19 prevention
• There is no way for the poor (B40) to comply with this ruling without a government mandated free programme
• Mask etiquette and our leaders

Read here (The Malay Mail, July 27, 2020)

Covid-19 vaccines may cause mild side effects, experts say, stressing need for education, not alarm

‘While the world awaits the results of large clinical trials of Covid-19 vaccines, experts say the data so far suggest one important possibility: The vaccines may carry a bit of a kick. In vaccine parlance, they appear to be “reactogenic,” meaning they have induced short-term discomfort in a percentage of the people who have received them in clinical trials. This kind of discomfort includes headache, sore arms, fatigue, chills, and fever.

‘At least two manufacturers, Cambridge, Mass.-based Moderna and CanSino, a Chinese vaccine maker, stopped testing the highest doses of their Covid-19 vaccines because of the number of severe adverse events recorded among participants in their clinical trials.’

Read here (STAT, July 27, 2020)

False and misleading claims about vaccines debunked

‘In the week that Oxford University announced promising results from its coronavirus vaccine trial, we're looking at claims on social media about vaccines and misleading statements about their safety.

‘The anti-vaccination movement has gained traction online in recent years, and campaigners opposed to vaccination have moved their focus to making claims relating to the coronavirus.’

Read here (BBC, July 26, 2020)

Child malnutrition and Covid-19: The time to act is now

‘The Lancet recently published a call to action co-authored by the directors of UNICEF, the Food and Agriculture Organization, the World Food Programme, and the WHO. The statement addresses the growing threat of childhood malnutrition due to downstream effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and associated response policies and operations, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. The statement listed 5 “urgent actions” to support children's right to adequate nutrition during the pandemic. Specifically, the authors call on national governments and private donors to support efforts to ensure access to nutritious, safe, and affordable diets; maternal and child health; early detection and treatment for child wasting; nutritious school meals for vulnerable children; and safe access to food and essential services. These priorities must be integrated more completely into the COVID-19 response.’ -- Center for Health Security, John Hopkins University

Read here (The Lancet, July 27, 2020)