Tag: pandemic

Coronavirus Victoria: Daniel Andrews announces permit system for Melbourne

Daniel Andrews has announced a permit system for Greater Melbourne, requiring people to show papers to authorities when they’re out and about for legitimate work reasons.

The move comes as the capital enters a strict stage four lockdown in a bid to slow the rapid spread of coronavirus, with 439 new cases recorded today.

Melbourne is the subject of a nightly curfew between 8pm and 5am, with only essential workers and those seeking or providing care able to leave their homes.

From midnight on Wednesday, a range of non-essential businesses will cease operating.

During the day, people can only go out if it’s absolutely necessary, such as buying groceries, and cannot travel more than 5km from their home.

Mr Andrews today detailed the permit system covering Melbourne, with a particular focus on workers whose industries are still operating, such as supermarkets.

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The land with no face masks: Holland’s top scientists say there’s no solid evidence coverings work and warn they could even damage the fight against Covid-19

‘Face masks in public places are not necessary, based on all the current evidence,’ said Coen Berends, spokesman for the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment. ‘There is no benefit and there may even be negative impact.’

This is a bold but highly controversial stance – especially as fears grow of a second wave sweeping through Europe. Last week, Downing Street joined the global stampede to enforce face masks in public spaces such as shops, supermarkets and stations, following Scotland, Spain and France, along with Holland’s neighbouring nations of Belgium and Germany.

‘We think masks have a great deal of value,’ said Boris Johnson. ‘Scientific evaluation of face coverings and their importance in stopping aerosol droplets has been growing. People should wear them in shops.’

But the Dutch disagree – to the delight of all the citizens I spoke with in Amsterdam. ‘I hate wearing them,’ said Aicha Meziati, 29, in the hip fashion store Das Werk Haus. ‘They are horrible. People look like they have nappies on their faces.’

Margriet, a 24-year-old sales assistant in a pop-up drink shop, said it was hard to read people’s facial expressions when they wore masks. ‘You make contact with people better without them and it is easier to talk to them in the store.’

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Federal Government and Yale Are Holding Clinical Trials on How Best to ‘Persuade’ Americans to Take COVID-19 Vaccines

The Federal Government and Yale are currently holding clinical trials on how best to persuade Americans into taking the Fauci-Gates COVID-19 vaccines.

The study is published at the government website on clinical trials.

The options they are studying include shame and anger techniques:

Other: Control message
Other: Baseline message
Other: Personal freedom message
Other: Economic freedom message
Other: Self-interest message
Other: Community interest message
Other: Economic benefit message
Other: Guilt message
Other: Embarrassment message
Other: Anger message
Other: Trust in science message
Other: Not bravery message

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WHO says there’s no ‘silver bullet’ to defeat coronavirus and ‘there might never be’

The World Health Organization said Monday there may never be a magical cure for the coronavirus even as scientists and drugmakers across the globe race to find a safe and effective vaccine.

Scientists have made progress in identifying treatments that can help people with the most severe forms of Covid-19, and a number of vaccines are in late-stage trials, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said during a press conference from the agency’s Geneva headquarters. “However, there is no silver bullet at the moment and there might never be.”

Tedros wasn’t asked about Russia’s claims that it will be ready to start mass inoculations in October.

There are no-FDA approved drugs for the coronavirus, which has infected more than 18 million people worldwide and killed at least 689,625, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. 

In May, the FDA granted antiviral drug remdesivir an emergency use authorization, allowing hospitals and doctors to use the drug on patients hospitalized with the disease even though the drug has not been formally approved by the agency. The FDA has also said it is looking at dexamethasone, a steroid already authorized in the U.K. for the treatment of Covid-19. 

However,  public health officials say there is no returning to “normal” until there’s a vaccine. There are more than 150 vaccines under development worldwide, according to the WHO. At least 25 are already in clinical trials. On Thursday, senior administration officials at the Department of Health and Human Services said drug companies Pfizer and Moderna, which both began a phase-three trial for their leading vaccine candidates last week, have already vaccinated “several hundred people” within the first few days.

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