The PM and NHS leaders will join the tribute to front-line workers who have died with coronavirus.
Coronavirus: UK to hold minute’s silence for key workers who died
Reply
Category Archives: Mind Building
Health24.com | Coronavirus morning update: Concern over Western and Eastern Cape infection rates
WHAT’S HAPPENING IN SA
Cases update:
The latest number of confirmed cases is 4 793.
According to the latest update, 90 deaths have been recorded in the country.
So far, 178 470 tests have been conducted – nearly 10 000 news tests.
READ MORE |All the confirmed cases of coronavirus in SA
Latest news:
Outbreaks among essential workers have led to the Western Cape overtaking Gauteng as the epicentre of the Covid-19 pandemic in South Africa, while funerals and an outbreak in the correctional services system drove up the Eastern Cape’s figures.
This is according to Health Minister Zweli Mkhize, who had a virtual meeting with the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Health and the Select Committee on Health and Social Services on Monday morning.
“We’re seeing changes in the outbreak on a day-to-day basis,” he said. “When we started with the outbreak, Gauteng province was the highest, things have shifted with the Western Cape now the epicentre.”
He said there has been a change in pattern.
“The pattern that we’re seeing is happening in workplaces which were originally identified as essential services.
“It looks like we need to find additional support to strengthen the response of the province in that area.”
He said he has been in contact with Western Cape Health MEC Nomafrench Mbombo and will be visiting the province again soon.
“We are going to be increasing the number of kits that are going to the Western Cape, he said.
“We’ll also be working very closely with the clinicians treating patients to see what assistance they need, we’ll get them their PPEs (personal protective equipment).”
South Africa is counting on accessing R95 billion ($5 billion) from the International Monetary Fund, World Bank and New Development Bank to help finance a R500 billion economic stimulus package.
The money from the multilateral lenders is available only for Covid-19-related measures and the government would have to adhere to some broad agreements, including on what the funding may be used for and repayment terms, National Treasury director-general Dondo Mogajane said in an interview with broadcaster eNCA on Sunday.
The agreements should not compromise the country’s sovereignty, Mogajane said.
President Cyril Ramaphosa on April 21 unveiled the fiscal package to help fight the pandemic, provide aid to the poor and shore up an economy that the central bank projects will contract 6.1% this year. The package includes a R200 billion loan-guarantee programme, tax-relief measures and R130 billion that will be diverted from existing budgets.
READ MORE | SA seeks R95 billion from IMF, World Bank, NDB
The Democratic Alliance (DA) says it is in support of a much wider opening of the economy, and will also challenge the nationwide curfew in its submissions to the government’s risk-adjusted strategy.
The opposition party on Monday said the move to level 4 of the lockdown is intended to allow more economy activity to take place – but is not distinguished enough from level 5.
“Firstly, there is no evidence to say why this should not happen. There has been little to no transparency around that data or the analysis being used to guide government’s response,” DA leader John Steenhuisen said in a statement on Monday.
“Secondly, a wider opening can still achieve the same level of public safety if the government changes its approach from one based on force to one based on trust,” he added.
READ MORE | Level 4 lockdown: DA calls for more economic activity, opposes curfew
Ratings agency Moody’s foresees the South African economy going into recession and the gross domestic product (GDP) contracting 6.5% in real terms in 2020.
This is as a result of long-standing structural challenges and the severe hit to economic activity caused by the coronavirus, Constantinos Kypreos, senior vice president at Moody’s Investors Service, said in a banking system outlook update released on Monday. He foresees that the temporary lockdown of the country will reduce production and cut household consumption. Furthermore, he foresees that the transport, hospitality, mining and manufacturing industries will be particularly hard hit.
Moody’s expects a material deterioration in the credit risk exposure of South African banks.
The ratings agency has changed its outlook for the South African banking system to negative from stable, it said on Monday.
READ MORE | Moody’s sees SA in recession, outlook for banking system negative
WHAT’S HAPPENING IN THE REST OF THE WORLD
Cases update:
For the latest global data, follow this interactive map from Johns Hopkins University & Medicine.
Late on Monday night, positive cases worldwide were more than 3 million, while deaths were more than 210 000.
The United States had the most cases in the world – just short of 984 000, as well as the most deaths – close to 56 000.
READ MORE | All the confirmed cases worldwide
Latest news:
Doctors in the UK have reported a serious new coronavirus-related condition emerging in children, with growing numbers now requiring intensive care.
An “urgent alert” sent out to general practitioners in London in the last three weeks warns of “an apparent rise in the number of children of all ages presenting with a multisystem inflammatory state requiring intensive care” according to a report by the Health Service Journal.
The alert warned that “there is a growing concern that a [Covid-19] related inflammatory syndrome is emerging in children in the UK, or that there may be another, as yet unidentified, infectious pathogen associated with these cases.”
A separate alert, sent out by the Paediatric Intensive Care Society, urges doctors to “please refer children presenting with these symptoms as a matter of urgency,” according to the HSJ.
READ MORE | A serious new coronavirus-related condition may be emerging in children, UK doctors say
WhatsApp seems to have successfully put a leash on messages going viral on its platform.
A spokeswoman told Business Insider it’s seen a huge reduction in viral forwarded messages.
“Since putting into place this new limit, globally there has been a 70% reduction in the number of highly forwarded messages sent on WhatsApp. This change is helping keep WhatsApp a place for personal and private conversations,” she said.
The private messaging service announced in early April that it was placing limits on the mass-forwarding of messages in an effort to stop misinformation about the coronavirus winging its way around the world.
READ MORE | WhatsApp says viral message forwarding is down 70% following new limits
A new analysis of the coronavirus death toll across 14 countries found the official death tolls are likely massively undercounting the true scale of the pandemic.
The Financial Times studied the number of deaths that occured in week-long periods across 14 countries in March and April.
It then compared that figure to the average for the same period between 2015 and 2019, before the pandemic. It concluded that the difference between the two is a reasonable estimate of how many extra deaths the pandemic had caused.
The FT found that the death toll calculated this way was more than 60% higher than adding up various countries’ official death tolls.
READ MORE | Massive undercounting of global coronavirus deaths, according to new analysis
LATEST RESEARCH
Who should be eligible for Covid-19 testing in South Africa? The answer is different depending on who you ask. While the current eligibility criteria for testing is clear, there are some working in the field who feel these criteria are too restrictive and should be broadened.
Testing is central to the Covid-19 strategy in South Africa and in many other countries. Once a person tests positive, they can isolate, and the risk of further onward transmission from that person can be reduced.
Apart from this benefit for the community, earlier testing also makes it more likely that individuals with Covid-19 will receive the healthcare services they need in time should they become seriously ill.
The current criteria according to a National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) brief, dated 9 April 2020, the criteria for persons under investigation (PUI), i.e. those who should be tested for Covid-19, are: Persons with acute respiratory illness with sudden onset of at least one of the following: cough, sore throat, shortness of breath or fever [> 38 degrees Celsius (measured) or history of fever (subjective), irrespective of admission status].
According to Professor Adrian Puren from the NICD the “case definitions used by the NICD are informed by consultation with South African or international experts in the field and guidance from reputable organisations such as the World Health Organisation.
The final definitions are reviewed by the Ministerial Advisory Committee and signed off by the National Department of Health. In the case of community screening, the current criteria are (having) two respiratory symptoms,” he says.
But is there merit in broadening these criteria, for example, for anyone displaying even one symptom or for all persons admitted to hospital regardless of respiratory illness status? “The NICD has revised its criteria for testing as the epidemic has evolved,” says Puren.
“The NICD took pragmatic decisions based on the knowledge available at the time as well as the availability of resources (both human and testing reagents/platforms). The case definition is a guide and the doctor and patient will always review risk and make a decision on whether to test or not on an individual case by case basis.”
READ MORE | Covid-19: Is SA’s testing criteria too restrictive?
HEALTH TIPS (as recommended by the NICD and WHO)
• Maintain physical distancing – stay at least one metre away from somebody who is coughing or sneezing
• Practise frequent hand-washing, especially after direct contact with ill people or their environment
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth, as your hands touch many surfaces and could potentially transfer the virus
• Practise respiratory hygiene – cover your mouth with your bent elbow or tissue when you cough or sneeze. Remember to dispose the tissue immediately after use.
READ MORE: Coronavirus 101
Image credit: Getty Images
Three years of monitoring of Oregon’s gray whales shows changes in health
Three years of “health check-ups” on Oregon’s summer resident gray whales shows a compelling relationship between whales’ overall body condition and changing ocean conditions that likely limited availability of prey for the mammals, a new study from Oregon State University indicates.
Researchers from the Geospatial Ecology of Marine Megafauna Laboratory at OSU’s Marine Mammal Institute used drones to monitor 171 whales off the Oregon Coast during the foraging season between June and October in 2016, 2017 and 2018.
They found that the whales’ health declined following a period of relatively poor upwelling — an ocean condition that brings colder, nutrient-rich water closer to the surface — compared to previous years.
“What we see is this compelling relationship between the oceanographic processes that control the quality and quantity of available prey and whale health,” said Leigh Torres, an assistant professor with the Marine Mammal Institute and the lab’s director. “This research gives us an inclination that changes in ocean conditions might be causing skinny whales.”
The findings may also provide insight into the unusual gray whale die-off event that occurred in 2019 along the Pacific Coast, Torres said. More than 200 gray whales were reported dead between Mexico and Alaska last year, including six in Oregon. Many of the deceased whales appeared to be in poor body condition, meaning they looked skinny.
The study was just published in the journal Ecosphere. The paper’s lead author is Leila Soledade Lemos, who recently completed her doctorate at Oregon State and worked with Torres in the GEMM Lab.
Most gray whales migrate from breeding grounds in Mexico to feeding grounds in the Bering and Chukchi seas between Alaska and Russia, where they spend the summer. The Pacific Coast Feeding Group, as Oregon’s gray whales are known, spend the summer months feeding in coastal waters of Oregon, as well as northern California, Washington and southern Canada.
Torres and her team conduct “health check-ups” on the whales using drones to capture images and nets to capture fecal samples — two methods that provide researchers a lot of information in a noninvasive way, reducing stress on the whales.
Lemos used images captured by the drones to calculate the whales’ Body Area Index. The BAI is similar to the Body Mass Index, or BMI, in humans, because both allow for comparisons among individuals despite differences in length and height.
The Body Area Index is a measurement that allows researchers to compare changes in individual whales as well as the population as a whole during the course of the feeding season and from year to year. The fecal samples help researchers determine a whale’s hormones, sex and diet.
Gray whales typically arrive on the foraging grounds on the skinny side, then in ideal conditions will bulk up over the course of the summer in preparation for migration and breeding.
“With this research, we’re trying to understand more about the health of the whales and how it varies throughout the foraging season and from year to year,” Torres said. “Once we establish a baseline for whale body condition, we can start to see what is healthy and what is not and why.”
The researchers often encounter the same whales multiple times in a season, or from one year to another, and have gotten to know their markings and features well enough to spot the whales by the names they’ve been assigned, such as Spray, Knife and Clouds.
“The first year the whales looked really fat and healthy. But after 2016, the whales were really skinny. You could see their skeletons,” Lemos said. “For these whales, body condition is strongly related to food availability. It is also related to when they invest in reproduction.”
The researchers noted nine pairs of mothers and calves in 2016, but only one pair each in the two following years. Calves had the highest Body Area Index numbers, followed by pregnant females. Lactating females had the lowest BAI and the most depleted body condition.
Overall, the whales’ body condition deteriorated after poor upwelling conditions between 2016 and mid-2018. In 2016, the whales’ mean BAI was 40.82, while in 2017 it was 38.67; 2018 was similar to 2017, at 38.62.
The poor upwelling may have caused a shift in the availability or quality of zooplankton, the whales’ primary prey. But the impact of the changing food supply really became noticeable a year after the poor upwelling condition began.
“There was a one-year lag, or carry-over, between the lack of prey in 2016 and the whales’ body condition the next year,” Torres said.
One of the whales that died during the 2019 event had been observed and catalogued in previous years by Oregon State researchers.
The study highlights the value of monitoring whale health over time, Torres said. The researchers now have four years of data on Oregon’s resident whales and hope to continue monitoring them to better understand health patterns in the population and how they connect to changing ocean conditions.
Getting through the bottleneck — A new class of layered perovskite with high oxygen-ion conductivity
Upon hearing the word “conductor” in reference to chemistry, most will immediately think of the movement of electrons within a material. But electrons are not the only particles that can move across a material; oxide ions can too. Many materials scientists and engineers are currently searching for materials with high oxide-ion conductivity. Such materials have many potential applications, particularly in the development of environmentally friendly technologies. For example, oxide-ion conductors could be used in fuel cells, which directly convert clean fuel such as hydrogen into electrical energy, or in oxygen separation membranes, which could be useful in systems for capturing the CO2 we produce by burning coal or fossil fuels.
Unfortunately, high oxide-ion conductivities can be achieved by a limited number of structure families of materials. The perovskites are one such structure family. Perovskites and layered perovskites have special crystal structures that sometimes exhibit outstanding physical and chemical properties. Prof. Masatomo Yashima and colleagues from the Tokyo Institute of Technology studied a class of layered perovskites, a Dion-Jacobson phase, where two-dimensional perovskite-like “slabs” are stacked and separated by a layer of alkali metal ions, such as the cesium cation (Cs+). In their paper published in Nature Communications, Professor Yashima and his colleagues explain their motivation: “Numerous studies have been conducted on the electrical properties of Dion-Jacobson phases, such as their proton, lithium-ion and sodium-ion conduction. However, there are no reports on the oxide-ion conduction in Dion-Jacobson phases.”
In their study, the scientists first screened sixty-nine potential Dion-Jacobson phases using the bond-valence method. This method allowed them to calculate the energy barriers for oxide-ion migration in each Dion-Jacobson phase, from which they identified CsBi2Ti2NbO10-δ (CBTN) as a promising candidate because it has a low energy barrier and does not contain expensive rare-earth elements. Further, they prepared CBTN samples and found that the oxide-ion conductivity of CBTN was higher than those of many other oxide-ion conductors, such as the conventional yttria-stabilized zirconia.
To understand what causes such high oxide-ion conductivity in CBTN, the scientists analyzed its crystal structure and watched how the structure changes with temperature. Using a super-high-resolution neutron diffractometer, SuperHRPD at J-PARC, they then identified several possible paths across the crystal lattice through which oxide ions could migrate at high temperatures. Most importantly, they discovered a novel mechanism that seems to be one of the causes of the high oxide-ion conductivity: Rise in temperature makes oxygen vacancies appear, which facilitate oxide-ion migration. The large Cs cations and the displacement of the Bi ions in the structure at high temperatures expand the bottlenecks, enabling oxide-ion migration.
This study paves the way for finding inexpensive novel oxide-ion conductors. Based on this oxide-ion conduction mechanism, one can enhance the oxide-ion conductivities of materials of the CBTN family by modifying the chemical composition of CBTN through the addition of impurities (doping). “The present findings of high oxide-ion conductivity in this new structure family, the Dion-Jacobson-type CsBi2Ti2NbO10-δ, and the new enlarged bottleneck concept introduced, could facilitate the design of novel oxide-ion conductors based on Dion-Jacobson phases,” Prof. Yashima and his colleagues conclude. The findings of this study open up the possibilities for many novel applications that will lead to a sustainable future. In fact, the present work was chosen as Editors’ Highlights of Nature Communications.
Story Source:
Materials provided by Tokyo Institute of Technology. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
Coronavirus alert: Rare syndrome seen in UK children
Doctors have been told to look out for a rare but dangerous reaction that may be linked to Covid-19.
Antibiotic exposure can ‘prime’ single-resistant bacteria to become multidrug-resistant
Antibiotics save lives — but using them also helps antibiotic-resistant strains evolve and spread. Each year, antibiotic-resistant bacteria infect some 2.8 million people in the United States, killing more than 35,000, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Infections by multidrug-resistant — or MDR — bacteria, which are resistant to two or more antibiotics, are particularly difficult to treat.
Scientists at the University of Washington and the University of Idaho have discovered just how readily MDR bacteria can emerge. In a paper published April 6 in Nature Ecology & Evolution, the researchers report that, for a bacterial pathogen already resistant to an antibiotic, prolonged exposure to that antibiotic not only boosted its ability to retain its resistance gene, but also made the pathogen more readily pick up and maintain resistance to a second antibiotic and become a MDR strain.
The team’s experiments indicate that prolonged exposure to one type of antibiotic essentially “primed” the bacteria. This priming effect made it more likely that the bacteria would acquire resistance to additional antibiotics, even in the absence of further antibiotic exposure, and helped the strain hold on to those antibiotic-resistance traits for generations.
“Exposure to antibiotics appears to select indirectly for more stable antibiotic resistance systems,” said Benjamin Kerr, a UW professor of biology and co-senior author on the paper. “A more stable system in a strain will increase the chances that it will acquire resistance to multiple antibiotics.”
Their findings also show how antibiotic exposure affects the evolutionary dynamics within bacteria.
“This could help explain not only the rise of multidrug resistance in bacteria, but also how antibiotic resistance persists and spreads in the environment — in health care settings, in soil from agricultural runoff — even long after the antibiotic exposure has ended,” said co-senior author Eva Top, a professor of biology at the University of Idaho.
The researchers tested a common mechanism for the spread of antibiotic resistance: plasmids. These are circular strands of DNA that can contain many types of genes, including genes for antibiotic resistance. Bacteria easily share plasmids, even across species.
Yet plasmids have their downsides, and past research has shown that bacteria readily shed them.
“Even though they can carry beneficial genes, plasmids can also interfere with many types of processes inside a bacterial cell, such as metabolism or DNA replication,” said lead author Hannah Jordt, a UW research scientist in biology. “So, scientists have generally thought of plasmids as costly and burdensome to the host cell.”
The UW-University of Idaho team worked with E. coli cells containing a tetracycline-resistance plasmid and Klebsiella pneumoniae cells containing a chloramphenicol-resistance plasmid. Both hosts, which had not been grown in the presence of antibiotics before, showed no great loyalty to their plasmids. After nine days in an antibiotic-free environment, the fraction of Klebsiella still harboring a plasmid dropped to less than 50%. For E. coli, less than 20% kept their plasmid.
When the researchers exposed the strains to antibiotics, growing each for 400 generations in their respective antibiotic, the strains showed greater affinity for their plasmids even after the antibiotic threat was lifted. After nine days in an antibiotic-free growth medium, more than half of E. coli and Klebsiella cells held on to their respective plasmid.
“Of course, the cells needed their plasmids to help them survive the antibiotic exposure. But even after we took away that selective pressure, both strains retained their plasmids at significantly higher levels than they had before the antibiotic exposure,” said Jordt.
In addition, other experiments showed that antibiotic exposure increased the occurrence of MDR Klebsiella. Even without exposure to antibiotics, Klebsiella pneumoniae can acquire multiple plasmids. For example, when the researchers grew antibiotic-naive Klebsiella and E. coli plasmid-bearing strains together, a small fraction of Klebsiella became MDR by retaining their chloramphenicol-resistance plasmid and acquiring tetracycline-resistance plasmids from E. coli. But when the researchers repeated the experiment using antibiotic-exposed bacteria, they found roughly 1,000 times more MDR Klebsiella.
Prior prolonged exposure to just one antibiotic — chloramphenicol — had increased the likelihood that chloramphenicol-resistant Klebsiella would acquire the tetracycline-resistance plasmid from E. coli in an antibiotic-free environment. In addition, the team’s experiments also showed that, when MDR cells were grown later in an antibiotic-free environment, chloramphenicol-exposed Klebsiella more readily held on to both resistance plasmids.
Evolution can explain both the persistence of the antibiotic-resistance plasmids and the increase of MDR in Klebsiella, the researchers say: Exposing the strains to their respective antibiotic selected for mutations in their genomes to minimize the clash between plasmid and host, making it less costly to keep that plasmid as well as others.
“We believe that by stabilizing one plasmid, these mutations make them more likely to stabilize additionally acquired plasmids,” said Kerr.
Additional experiments may identify the specific mutations that helped E. coli and Klebsiella keep their plasmids, and why Klebsiella was more able to develop into a MDR strain than E. coli. Even though antibiotic exposure creates selective pressure to keep plasmids and acquire new ones, there is still widespread variation in how different species keep, share and receive plasmids.
“There are many, many details to be worked out in the future,” said Top. “But what we see here is that even short-term exposure to just one antibiotic accelerates the development of multidrug resistance, which should give us pause as we use these drugs in health care, agriculture and other settings.”
Coronavirus: Minute’s silence for fallen key workers
The UK is expected to fall silent at 11am on Tuesday after Boris Johnson backs nurses’ campaign.
Health24.com | Coronavirus morning update: SA cases now more than 4 500, as KZN premier warns on eThekwini
WHAT’S HAPPENING IN SA
Cases update:
The latest number of confirmed cases is 4 546.
According to the latest update, 87 deaths have been recorded in the country.
The Western Cape has the most cases – 1 608, and deaths – 33.
Another 7 639 tests have been conducted – bringing the total to 168 643.
READ MORE |All the confirmed cases of coronavirus in SA
Latest news:
eThekwini may face intensified lockdown measures while the rest of the country moves to Level 4, KwaZulu-Natal Premier Sihle Zikalala announced on Sunday.
On Thursday, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced a risk-adjusted strategy, which will see the country downgrading to Level 4 from 1 May.
Level 4 makes provision for limited economic activity and also allows for some movement. A curfew from 20:00 to 05:00 will kick in, it will be mandatory to wear a cloth face mask when you leave your home, and hot foods will be available – for delivery only.
However, the buying and selling of alcohol are still prohibited.
“If we were to use the National Risk-Adjusted Strategy guideline, as things stand, it looks like eThekwini will still remain under stricter lockdown regulations compared to other districts – unless there is a drastic change in the coming days,” said Zikalala.
READ MORE | This is why eThekwini could face stricter lockdown regulations – KZN premier
The majority of people responding to a survey by the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) believe that the national lockdown will impact on their financial security.
Between 45% and 63% of people reported that the lockdown would make it difficult to pay bills, debts, earn income, feed their families and keep their jobs.
Additionally, 26% of people reported that they had no money for food, announced Priscilla Reddy, extraordinary professor at the HSRC, in a presentation of the findings on Sunday.
More than half (55%) of informal settlement residents had no money for food and, about two-thirds of residents from townships, also had no money for food, the survey found.
READ MORE | Lockdown: A quarter of South Africans have no money for food – survey
One in 10 smokers has been able to access cigarettes during the national lockdown, according to the results of a survey released by the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC).
The survey, which was carried out between 7 April and 14 April and had over 19 000 respondents, was set out to understand what South Africans know, and how they are reacting, to the Covid-19 emergency.
It found that cigarettes were more accessible than alcohol during the lockdown, according to Priscilla Reddy, extraordinary professor at the HSRC, in a presentation of the findings on Sunday.
The survey found that a quarter of the people from informal settlements were able to buy cigarettes during the lockdown, which implied that informal trade had continued in these areas.
With South Africa under lockdown since 27 March, the sale of tobacco products and liquor has been prohibited.
READ MORE | Lockdown: Smokers still able to get cigarettes, informal trade is active – survey
WHAT’S HAPPENING IN THE REST OF THE WORLD
Cases update:
For the latest global data, follow this interactive map from Johns Hopkins University & Medicine.
Early on Monday morning, positive cases worldwide were more than 2.96 million, while deaths were more than 206 000.
The United States had the most cases in the world – more than 963 000, as well as the most deaths – more than 54 500.
READ MORE | All the confirmed cases worldwide
Latest news:
China has confiscated over 89 million poor quality face masks, a government official said on Sunday, as Beijing faces a slew of complaints about faulty protective gear exported worldwide.
Demand for protective equipment has soared as nations across the globe battle the deadly coronavirus, which has infected around 2.9 million people.
But a number of countries have complained about faulty masks and other products exported by China, mostly for use by medical workers and vulnerable groups.
China’s market regulators had inspected nearly 16 million businesses and seized over 89 million masks and 418 000 pieces of protective gear as of Friday, said Gan Lin, deputy director of the State Administration of Market Regulation, at a press conference.
READ MORE | China confiscates faulty masks, disinfectants set to be exported worldwide
Boris Johnson will return to work at the start of the week as pressure increases on the UK government over its handling of the coronavirus crisis which has claimed more than 20,000 lives.
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab told Sky News that Johnson would be back in his Downing Street office on Monday after recovering from the virus and was in “good spirits” and “raring to go”.
Raab on Sunday resisted growing calls for the government to relax strict social distancing rules and said they would “be with us for some time”.
He told the BBC: “We do want to look at when it’s safe, when it’s responsible, at ways to allow more outside activities to take place but, again, we have got to have the evidence that it’s a surefooted step and doesn’t allow the coronavirus to get a grip back on the country.”
Johnson ordered the country into lockdown on March 23. It was extended on April 16 and is due for review on May 7.
READ MORE | UK resists calls to ease lockdown as Johnson set to return to work
Up to half of the people who died of COVID-19 in Europe were residents of long-term care facilities, Hans Kluge, the WHO’s regional European director, said on Thursday.
The data, which does not include every European nation, was released Thursday during the WHO daily press briefing.
“This is an unimaginable human tragedy,” Kluge said. “To the many who are experiencing this loss, my thoughts are with you.”
Residents of nursing homes, often those who are of advanced age and have underlying mental and physical illnesses, are at an elevated risk of being infected and suffering from complications related to COVID-19.
Many nursing home residents have also gone without visits from their friends and family as lockdown orders are in place, adding more emotional toll on them, Kluge said.
READ MORE | As many as half of Europe’s COVID-19 deaths were people in long-term care facilities
LATEST RESEARCH
Six researchers sought to look into the potential diagnostic value of saliva, by looking closely at existing studies on saliva and Covid-19. They concluded that saliva swabs can be effective and yield quicker results – if done correctly.
Saliva is a common medium for virus transmission. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the new coronavirus virus spreads primarily through droplets of saliva or discharge from the nose – which can happen when an infected person coughs or sneezes.
Saliva, the authors of the paper note, is made up of 99% water, with the remaining 1% comprising components for, among others, the purpose of tasting and digesting.
Breathing, talking, coughing and sneezing are all ways saliva droplets are generated. The droplets are formed as particles and consist of a mixture of moisture and droplet nuclei of microorganisms.
The authors further explain: “The amount, distance, and size of saliva droplets vary among people, suggesting the infectious strength and transmission path of saliva droplets differ when [the] same pathogen was contracted.”
READ MORE | Coronavirus saliva tests less invasive, safer, and accurate – but only if done properly
HEALTH TIPS (as recommended by the NICD and WHO)
• Maintain physical distancing – stay at least one metre away from somebody who is coughing or sneezing
• Practise frequent hand-washing, especially after direct contact with ill people or their environment
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth, as your hands touch many surfaces and could potentially transfer the virus
• Practise respiratory hygiene – cover your mouth with your bent elbow or tissue when you cough or sneeze. Remember to dispose the tissue immediately after use.
READ MORE: Coronavirus 101
Image credit: Getty Images
Coronavirus: Boris Johnson back at Downing Street to lead response
Boris Johnson will chair the morning cabinet meeting, just over two weeks after leaving hospital.
Coronavirus: UK must find ‘new normal’ to ease lockdown – Raab
It comes as Prime Minister Boris Johnson arrives back in Downing Street to resume work on Monday.
