International COVID-19 Updates & Discussion 2

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flippakitten

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The lockdown was never intended to - nor will it - stop COVID. It was to slow the initial spread so it did not overwhelm the health system and buy time for preparations to be made, including worst case scenario contingencies. If we are not ready now then we never will be and we cannot stay at home for 6, 10, 12 or 18 months until this stuff burns out or a vaccine arrives.

As for Brazil and the USA, they both - arrogantly - downplayed it and reacted slowly. China ignored it before it became impossible to deny that something was up. If anything we jumped the gun. We went in to lockdown early and until now have got off pretty lightly in terms of deaths if you compare us to the likes of Italy, the UK, France and Spain, all of whom have similar population sizes. A lot of these countries waited until the schit hit the fan before they shut down. I distinctly remember football fans travelling between Italy and France whilst northern Italy was going up in flames.

South Africa didn't need to lock down for so long and so hard with rediculous rules, it was pretty clear early on.
I could be wrong but apart from arresting people has any new capacity been added to the medical system?
 

thestaggy

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South Africa didn't need to lock down for so long and so hard with rediculous rules, it was pretty clear early on.
I could be wrong but apart from arresting people has any new capacity been added to the medical system?

I had no issue with the initial lockdown, however I do agree that the arbitrary rules and regulations were ridiculous. I've definitely been against maintaining a hard lockdown for as long as we have.

I know they converted Nasrec in to a ''field hospital''. https://www.iol.co.za/the-star/news...-up-to-accommodate-covid-19-patients-46716441

EDIT: Looks like they did put some thinking in to it.

SA to establish 1,644 field hospitals and quarantine centres

As South Africa braces for an onslaught of COVID-19 infections, the state is moving to establish 1,644 emergency field hospitals and quarantine sites to shield a health-care system short of critical-care beds and ventilators, says a Sunday Times report. A total of 2,000 beds for quarantine patients are being installed at the Nasrec centre in Johannesburg – which is being retrofitted to accommodate patients – and three acute facilities under construction in the Western Cape.
 
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theratman

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South Africa didn't need to lock down for so long and so hard with rediculous rules, it was pretty clear early on.
I could be wrong but apart from arresting people has any new capacity been added to the medical system?
They've turned the CTICC into a hospital. 850 beds added to the system. As a single example that immediately pops to mind.

 
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Interesting discussion on the radio today with Alan Winde - the WC govt is unsure whether they will need a second CTICC field hospital, which good news. It will cost about R35 million or so.

But if predictions of the peak are correct for the WC (end of June / beginning of July), then I don't think it can be justified. Only 45 patients have been admitted so far to the CTICC hospital with 15 already discharged (link). So capacity utilisation is below 5 percent for the moment and there are some days, like yesterday, when active cases decrease.
 
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kolaval

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Let's hope we don't hit worse case scenario, going back to level 4/5 will not be good.
 

Polymathic

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South Africa didn't need to lock down for so long and so hard with rediculous rules, it was pretty clear early on.
I could be wrong but apart from arresting people has any new capacity been added to the medical system?
The lockdown happened at least 3 weeks too early, the problem is that they had to implement it early due to "nuclear bomb" that the ZCC pilgrimage would of been. added that in the first 3 weeks of the lockdown the NCCC did nothing to improve the readiness for the virus and to this day doing virtually nothing to improve mitigation strategies outside of the ones first announced at the start of the lockdown despite almost three months worth of new information being published since then.
 

Napalm

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Glad to see the Daily Mail is maintaining its tradition of hysterical headlines.
This would also mean, that kids or anyone who is Assymtomatic. Could get the same damage. (just no showing it in short term. but what is the long term effect)

 
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Germany's CureVac to begin clinical trials for a Covid-19 vaccine

CureVac has become the second German biotechnology company to be given permission to proceed with clinical trials of a Covid-19 vaccine, days after Berlin stepped in to stop the group falling into foreign hands.

The German regulator said the CureVac trial would be one of just 11 worldwide to be testing its vaccine on humans.

In April, rival BioNTech received regulatory approval for human trials on its vaccine. Both companies specialise in mRNA technology, which can produce a vaccine faster than traditional methods. However, neither company has yet produced a marketable mRNA product.

CureVac, a key player in the race to develop a Covid-19 vaccine, is majority-owned by SAP founder Dietmar Hopp, and counts the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation among its investors.

The German government earlier this week announced plans to invest €300m to secure a stake in the company in a bid to block a foreign takeover of the company after it attracted interest from the Trump administration. The Tübingen-based company intends to float on Nasdaq in July, according to a government document seen by the FT.

 

Polymathic

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Germany's CureVac to begin clinical trials for a Covid-19 vaccine

CureVac has become the second German biotechnology company to be given permission to proceed with clinical trials of a Covid-19 vaccine, days after Berlin stepped in to stop the group falling into foreign hands.

The German regulator said the CureVac trial would be one of just 11 worldwide to be testing its vaccine on humans.

In April, rival BioNTech received regulatory approval for human trials on its vaccine. Both companies specialise in mRNA technology, which can produce a vaccine faster than traditional methods. However, neither company has yet produced a marketable mRNA product.

CureVac, a key player in the race to develop a Covid-19 vaccine, is majority-owned by SAP founder Dietmar Hopp, and counts the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation among its investors.

The German government earlier this week announced plans to invest €300m to secure a stake in the company in a bid to block a foreign takeover of the company after it attracted interest from the Trump administration. The Tübingen-based company intends to float on Nasdaq in July, according to a government document seen by the FT.

The UK going to make 1 billion doses of their vaccine by August, either the we are going to have a vaccine by then or more likely the UK will need a find a way to dispose a billion viles of medical waste really fast
 

tetrasect

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Virus kills more Americans than World War 1

 

tetrasect

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As dysfunctional as the ANC is, I'm glad I don't live in Brazil with a president who literally denies there is a crisis unfolding.


Not only that, it looks like he is planning to break away from democracy and instate himself as military dictator :oops:

 
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daelm

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Not only that, it looks like he is planning to break away from democracy and instate himself as military dictator :oops:


well he stated that's his goal many times. his whole platform was that the dictatorship was a good thing and he'd return to it in a heartbeat. literally.

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daelm

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from a different source:

"In 2014 Bolsonaro told Chamber of Deputies member Maria do Rosario, “I wouldn’t rape you because you don’t deserve it,” and later told a local newspaper she was “too ugly” to sexually assault. Back in 2011, he said he “would be incapable of loving a homosexual son.” When speaking about immigrants in 2015, he said, “The scum of the earth is showing up in Brazil, as if we didn’t have enough problems of our own to sort out.” On the subject of human rights, he said in 1999, “I am in favor of torture, you know that. And the people are in favor as well.”

In a 1993 speech to the Chamber of Federal Deputies, Bolsonaro did not mince words when revealing the true foundation of his political beliefs, scorning the very system that granted him his seat in the first place: “I am in favor of a dictatorship. We will never resolve serious national problems with this irresponsible democracy.” "
 
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