13th Jul 2022 https://nfind.uk/lockdown_exit/index.php/newsletter=701 lockdown_exit

Lockdown Exit

The Wall Street Journal Covid19 is circulating widely as the BA.5 Omicron subvariant elevates the risk of reinfections and rising case counts spoiling chances for a summer reprieve from the pandemic across much of the U.S. Covid19 levels are high in a fifth of U.S. counties according to the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions metric based on case and hospital data a share that has been mostly rising since midApril. BA.5 is estimated to represent nearly two in three recent U.S. cases that are averaging just more than 100000 a day CDC data show. The true number of infections may be roughly six times as high some virus experts said in part because so many people are using athome tests that state health departments largely dont track. https://www.wsj.com/articles/hopes-of-covid-19-reprieve-fade-as-ba-5-subvariant-takes-over-11657618201 13th Jul 2022

Lockdown Exit

iNews Covid cases have hit a new record in the UK with daily symptomatic infections soaring to 351546 according to the ZOE Covid study app. UK infections are expected to rise even higher to nearly 400000 a day next week before starting to drop down. Cases are starting to plateau in Wales Scotland and Northern Ireland but are still rising in England. https://inews.co.uk/news/science/uk-covid-cases-hit-record-government-accused-ignoring-1737253 13th Jul 2022

Lockdown Exit

Yahoo Style UK Italy will soon start its campaign to administer a second COVID19 booster to everyone aged over 60 the health minister said on Monday after receiving a green light from European Union health agencies. The European recommendation came on Monday amid a new rise in infections and hospitalisations across Europe and was expected to facilitate national decisions to speed up vaccination campaigns which have been slowing in recent months. Health Minister Roberto Speranza said the government had already given the goahead to Italys 20 regional administrations to start the second booster campaign after the approval of national medicine agency AIFA. https://uk.style.yahoo.com/italy-start-administering-second-covid-193852714.html 12th Jul 2022

Lockdown Exit

Reuters New Zealands easing of its strict border curbs has triggered a rush of new departures among locals seeking fresh opportunities abroad adding further pressure to the countrys already tight employment market. A net 10674 people left the country over the 12 months to May according to government data released on Tuesday extending a drain that ran over the past year and is expected to last until new immigrants arrive in greater numbers in 2023. https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/new-zealand-reopens-exodus-worsens-labour-crunch-2022-07-12/ 12th Jul 2022

Lockdown Exit

The BMJ Healthcare workers from ethnic minority groups have felt vulnerable and uncared for during the covid pandemic with some reporting that managers hid personal protective equipment from them and refused to carry out the required risk assessments a senior nurse has said. Speaking at the NHS Race and Health Observatory conference at BMA House on 7 July Felicia Kwaku chair of the Chief Nursing Officers Black and Minority Ethnic Strategic Advisory Group shared some findings from her discussions with thousands of ethnic minority staff since April 2020. This is the stark reality of what some staff went through. Some died in their rooms on their own because of social distancing. Some couldnt get to the phone because they were so hypoxic so they died alone she said. If you were a nurse or midwife who was new to the country you didnt have a lot of the networks so it was very isolating. https://www.bmj.com/content/378/bmj.o1715 12th Jul 2022

Lockdown Exit

The Independent Leading medical figure Professor Sir Chris Whitty consumer expert Martin Lewis and Olympic diver Tom Daley are among those who will be recognised with honours during an investiture ceremony. Englands chief medical officer Sir Chris who appeared on the daily briefing broadcasts to the nation during the coronavirus pandemic will be appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath for services to public health. He previously received the Companion of the Order of the Bath CB in 2015 for services to tropical medicine in the UK and Africa after he helped draw up the Governments response to the Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone but will receive the higher accolade from the Prince of Wales at Windsor Castle on Tuesday after guiding the nation through the Covid19 pandemic. https://www.independent.co.uk/business/chris-whitty-to-be-honoured-for-steering-nation-through-covid-pandemic-b2120923.html 12th Jul 2022

Lockdown Exit

The Independent Global life expectancy has fallen since the Covid pandemic hit according to the United Nations. The world average was nearly two years lower in 2021 compared to 2019 its latest world population report found. In some countries such as Bolivia and Russia the decline was even more dramatic at more than four years. The first case of Covid was recorded in China in late 2019 before other countries started to detect infections from the start of 2020. Since then more than 6.7 million people are estimated to have died from the virus according to a tally by Reuters. https://www.independent.co.uk/world/covid-pandemic-life-expectancy-fall-b2121016.html 12th Jul 2022

Lockdown Exit

Liverpool Echo As Covid19 infections continue to rise across the UK millions of people are thought to currently be infected with the virus. New figures from the Office for National Statistics ONS show that almost 4 of the English population had tested positive for coronavirus at the end of June with higher figures 4.93 5.36 and 5.94 in Wales Northern Ireland and Scotland respectively. The number of hospital admissions is also increasing amid new BA.4 and BA.5 covid variants. And there are no longer any restrictions around the virus in the UK and as we learn to live with covid. https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/covid-rules-thousands-told-not-24458449 12th Jul 2022

Lockdown Exit

Bloomberg The World Health Organization urged governments and health care systems to take steps to curb Covid19 transmission as a fresh wave of infections moves across Europe and the US. Subvariants of the omicron strain are lifting case numbers and leading to further fatalities Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a briefing in Geneva on Tuesday. Tedros as the head of the WHO is known recommended the revival of protocols like maskwearing to stop the spread. New waves of the virus demonstrate that Covid19 is nowhere near over Tedros said adding that he is concerned about a rising trend of deaths. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-07-12/who-chief-warns-of-rising-infections-deaths-from-new-covid-wave 12th Jul 2022

Exit Strategies

Bloomberg Chinas first attempt at a vaccine mandate was abruptly scrapped last week within days of being announced by municipal officials in Beijing. The plan to stop people entering public venues without proof of vaccination sparked an outcry online with Chinese social media users calling it an illegal cap on their freedoms and questioning how effective the vaccines were against immuneevasive variants. Vaccine mandates have emerged as a surprise red line for the ruling Communist Party which up until a few years ago controlled citizens reproductive rights through its one childpolicy and is steaming ahead with other controversial virus curbs such as widespread tracking of individuals through their phones mass testing and border curbs. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-07-12/xi-s-covid-authoritarianism-meets-red-line-at-vaccine-mandates 12th Jul 2022

Exit Strategies

Sky News Hong Kong leader John Lee has defended the citys plan to introduce health codes to combat COVID amid privacy concerns over the system used in mainland China. The proposed approach would restrict the movement of certain people with those infected receiving a red code and those under hotel quarantine getting a yellow code. Mr Lee who spoke at a regular news conference on Tuesday said the plan is part of the citys objective to adopt precise strategies to minimise the scope of restrictions. https://news.sky.com/story/covid-19-hong-kong-leader-defends-plans-for-health-codes-to-tackle-coronavirus-amid-privacy-concerns-12650558 12th Jul 2022

Exit Strategies

Reuters The White House said on Tuesday it will ensure Americans continue to have easy access to COVID19 vaccines treatments and testing to contain the fastspreading Omicron BA.5 subvariant that now makes up a majority of U.S. cases. Health officials say there are indications the subvariant might be better at escaping immunity including from prior infections. BA.5 is estimated to account for 65 of the coronavirus variants circulating in the United States as of last week said Rochelle Walensky the director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention https://www.reuters.com/world/us/white-house-prioritize-vaccine-boosters-testing-combat-omicron-subvariant-2022-07-12/ 12th Jul 2022

Exit Strategies

Reuters The U.S. government will get 3.2 million doses of COVID19 vaccine developed by Novavax Inc once the shot has been authorized by the regulators the Department of Health and Human Services HHS and the company said on Monday. The shot will be made available for free in the country after it gets authorization by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration FDA for emergency use and the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions CDC recommendation. https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/us-secures-32-mln-doses-novavax-covid-vaccine-2022-07-11/ 12th Jul 2022

Exit Strategies

Reuters on MSN.com Shanghai residents queued up in sweltering heat for compulsory mass testing for COVID19 on Tuesday as persistent small outbreaks fuelled anxiety in a city that is still recovering from the painful twomonth lockdown lifted a few weeks ago. https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/unnerved-shanghai-residents-brave-stifling-heat-for-mass-covid-tests/ar-AAZtr6f 12th Jul 2022

Exit Strategies

Reuters Chinas health authority said on Tuesday that local governments no longer need to test some imported goods for the coronavirus in a move aimed at reducing the cost of its strict COVID19 prevention measures. China began testing the packaging of chilled and frozen food imports for the virus in June 2020 after a cluster of infections among workers at a wholesale food market in Beijing. Six months later Beijing also advised testing on ambient products too even as scientists said the risk of coronavirus infection through contact with contaminated surfaces was low. https://www.reuters.com/world/china/china-tells-local-goverments-drop-covid-tests-some-goods-2022-07-12/ 12th Jul 2022

Exit Strategies

CNN US health officials are urgently working on a plan to allow second Covid19 boosters for all adults a senior White House official confirmed to CNN on Monday. The US Food and Drug Administration is making it a high priority the official said. Second boosters have been authorized for adults 50 and older as well as some people with weakened immune systems since late March. But younger adults are eligible for only one booster shot which was authorized in November. https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/11/politics/second-covid-19-boosters-all-adults-plan/index.html 12th Jul 2022

Exit Strategies

The Guardian Hong Kong will mandate electronic tracking bracelets for people in home isolation and bring in a Chinastyle electronic health code system as part of fresh measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus. The quarantine bracelets to be introduced on Friday will be mandatory for people who have tested positive and are quarantining at home to ensure they do not leave the building during their isolation period. We have to make sure that home isolation is more precise while being humane Lo Chungmau the citys new health secretary said announcing the new requirement on Monday. Breaching a mandatory quarantine order in Hong Kong carries a fine of up to HK25000 3200 and up to six months in jail. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jul/12/hong-kong-to-electronically-tag-covid-patients-as-it-adopts-chinas-health-code-system 12th Jul 2022

Exit Strategies

i on MSN.com Covid cases are about to hit a new record after daily symptomatic infections reached 348001 just a few hundred below the previous high in March. Cases have more than tripled in the last six weeks largely because of the new Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 which are much better at overcoming immunity built up from vaccinations and prior infections. But public and government behaviours are also playing a key role with many acting as if the pandemic is over when that is far from the case scientists say. This has enabled cases to soar from 114030 on 1 June to 348001 on Saturday 9 July barely a thousand daily infections below the record 349011 set on 31 March according to the ZOE Covid study app. https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/covid-cases-set-to-hit-new-record-as-experts-call-for-return-of-free-testing-and-school-air-filtration-systems/ar-AAZrMuc 12th Jul 2022

Exit Strategies

Bloomberg Is nothing required any more I think that would be a bit tough Lo said in the interview. At least PCR testing is needed. But does quarantine have to be confined to a fixed location He floated a scenario where arrivals could be subject to PCR testing and prohibited from attending highrisk venues like bars. The city is also planning a Chinalike health code system to manage social distancing. A yellow code will allow people to go to work but prohibit them from highrisk places like agedcare homes or venues where masks are removed. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-07-12/h-k-may-loosen-quarantine-by-november-health-chief-tells-scmp?utm_source=google&amputm_medium=bd&ampcmpId=google 12th Jul 2022

Partisan Exits

Bloomberg Thousands of UK patients with long Covid are leaving the country to seek expensive unproven treatments such as blood washing abroad according to a report. Many travel to private clinics in Cyprus Germany and Switzerland for apheresis a bloodfiltering procedure and anticlotting therapy according to the investigation published Tuesday in the BMJ medical journal. One patient reported paying more than 50000 euros 50185 for apheresis hyperbaric oxygen therapy and an intravenous vitamin drip at a center in Cyprus and returning home with no improvement. Researchers are still puzzled as to the exact cause of long Covid which can appear with vastly different effects in various groups of patients. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-07-12/unproven-long-covid-therapies-sought-by-sufferers-report-says 13th Jul 2022

Partisan Exits

The Guardian It finally got me double lines on a Rat summoning 24 hours of denial and then a week of surrender to the global plague that has stopped the world in its tracks. In my Covid fug I contented myself that I was not 10 years older or immunocompromised or a person with a disability at the same time praying I would not become one of the one in 20 who draw the short straw in longCovid Lotto. As I gave myself over to the virus the death toll in Australia jumped over the 10000 mark a remarkable increase of almost 8000 since the start of the year although a mere drop in the ocean compared with the official global death toll of 6.35 million. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jul/12/when-it-comes-to-covid-australia-must-confront-reality-not-choose-between-extremes 12th Jul 2022

Partisan Exits

ITV News Hong Kongs new health chief said conditional quarantinefree travel could be allowed by November in time for a global bankers summit to be held in the city the South China Morning Post reported Wednesday. The city doesnt need to follow mainland Chinas tough Covid19 policies because it enjoys some degree of freedom under the one country two systems principle Secretary for Health Lo Chungmau said in an interview with the newspaper. https://www.itv.com/news/2022-07-12/long-covid-patients-urged-to-only-access-treatment-through-regulated-trials 12th Jul 2022

Continued Lockdown

The Wall Street Journal Why keep extending the emergency One reason is that in March 2020 Congress barred states from kicking ineligible people off Medicaid rolls during the emergency in return for more federal funding. Medicaid enrollment has ballooned to 95 million30 of Americans are now enrolledfrom 71 million in December 2019. The emergency expands Medicaid in GOP states that opted out of the ObamaCare expansion. It is also a boon for insurers in states that pay per Medicaid participant. Hospitals and physician groups support extending the emergency because they worry that state Medicaid payments will decline if the federal fillip goes away. https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-never-ending-covid-emergency-white-house-biden-administration-fda-vaccines-11657577450?mod=opinion_trending_now_opn_pos3 12th Jul 2022

Scientific Viewpoint

News-Medical.Net The coronavirus disease 2019 COVID19 pandemic caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 SARSCoV2 is known to cause many clinical manifestations. The protection conferred by prior infection or vaccination against infection over the long term is poorly understood. A new paper in Immunological Reviews describes the immunologic parameters associated with protection from COVID19. https://www.news-medical.net/news/20220712/What-is-the-long-term-protection-against-COVID-19.aspx 12th Jul 2022

Scientific Viewpoint

Healthcare IT News CSIRO did not mention how they developed the AI tool called VariantSpark but it was used to analyse around 10000 COVID19 samples in a new study whose findings were published in the peerreviewed journal Computational and Structural Biotechnology Journal. The researchers worked with both Intel and ACTbased cloud system provider RONIN on the said study. According to a media release VariantSpark can provide hourly updates enabling the quick sharing of information with public health decisionmakers and helping hospitals prepare for potential increases in admissions. https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/anz/australias-csiro-develops-machine-learning-tool-spots-emerging-covid-19-variants 12th Jul 2022

Scientific Viewpoint

CIDRAP Inhaled highdose nitric oxide INO200 safely shortened time on supplemental oxygen and hospital stays among pregnant women diagnosed as having severe bilateral COVID19 pneumonia suggests a new study led by Massachusetts General Hospital MGH researchers. COVID19 pneumonia is an especially dire diagnosis for pregnant women because it can rapidly lower oxygen in the blood and body tissues requiring hospital admission and cardiopulmonary support first author Carlo Valsecchi MD said in an MGH news release. Pregnant women are three times more likely to need intensive care unit admission mechanical ventilation or advanced life support and four times more likely to die he said. They also face a greater risk of obstetric complications such as preeclampsia preterm delivery and stillbirth. https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2022/07/nitric-oxide-boosts-oxygen-pregnant-women-covid-19-pneumonia 12th Jul 2022

Scientific Viewpoint

The Lancet COVID19 is a multisystem disorder with high variability in clinical outcomes among patients who are admitted to hospital. Although some cytokines such as interleukin IL6 are believed to be associated with severity there are no early biomarkers that can reliably predict patients who are more likely to have adverse outcomes. Thus it is crucial to discover predictive markers of serious complications. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/landig/article/PIIS2589-7500(22)00112-1/fulltext 12th Jul 2022

Scientific Viewpoint

Reuters BA.5 is estimated to account for 65 of the coronavirus variants circulating in the United States as of last week said Rochelle Walensky the director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention CDC. Officials urged people who are 50 years old or older to get a booster shot and said that would not prevent them from getting another bivalent booster designed to fend off Omicron more specifically later this year. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/white-house-prioritize-vaccine-boosters-testing-combat-omicron-subvariant-2022-07-12/ 12th Jul 2022

Scientific Viewpoint

FiercePharma Just a few weeks after the FDA recommended that COVID19 vaccine manufactures tweak their boosters to zero in on the omicron BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants Moderna has unveiled promising new data for its prospect. On Monday the mRNA specialist said its omicroncontaining bivalent booster elicited higher neutralizing antibody responses compared with the current booster. After one month trial participants who received the bivalent booster had BA.4 and BA.5 neutralizing antibodies that were 1.69 times higher than those who received the original booster the company said. https://www.fiercepharma.com/pharma/modernas-updated-omicron-booster-proves-high-neutralizing-antibody-responses-trial 11th Jul 2022

Coronavirus Resurgence

Stuff There are 11548 new community cases of Covid19 as officials report a further 19 deaths in people with the virus over the past four days. There are 710 people in hospital 17 of whom are in an intensive care or high dependency care unit the Ministry of Health said on Tuesday afternoon. The sevenday rolling average of cases is 9550 up from 7246 last Tuesday and the average of hospitalisations is 613 from 436 this time last week. https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/300635253/covid19-11548-new-community-cases-19-deaths-reported 12th Jul 2022

Coronavirus Resurgence

CBC.ca New Brunswicks COVID19 hazard index score is high right now with an estimated 1700 people being infected with Omicron for the first time each day according to COVID19 Resources Canada a research group funded by the Public Health Agency of Canada. Thats 213 infections per 100000 New Brunswickers as of July 9 nearly 2 times the national average of 87 says Tara Moriarty cofounder of the group. The number of infections is likely even higher when reinfections are included said Moriarty an associate professor and infectious disease researcher at the University of Toronto. You can probably add another 30 per cent she said or 510 infections raising the estimated provincial daily total to 2210. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/covid-19-new-brunswick-hazard-index-high-1.6516798 12th Jul 2022

Coronavirus Resurgence

Stuff Experts say the second Omicron wave has hit with hospitalisations expected to be higher than during the first peak. On Tuesday the Ministry of Health recorded 11548 new community cases of Covid19 the highest number of daily cases since April 7 when 11634 cases were recorded. Hospitalisations have also not been this high since April 4. Dr Emily Harvey a researcher with Covid19 Modelling Aotearoa said Tuesdays daily case numbers had left her concerned. https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/300635510/covid19-experts-concerned-as-daily-cases-hit-threemonth-high 12th Jul 2022

Coronavirus Resurgence

ABC News Tasmania has recorded 1812 new cases of COVID19. Acting State Health Commander Dale Webster said an outbreak management team is meeting regularly to monitor the situation. The Launceston General Hospital and the North West Regional Hospital remain at level three of their COVID19 management plans. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-07-12/hospitals-aged-care-homes-battling-covid-19-outbreaks/101229084 12th Jul 2022

Coronavirus Resurgence

ABC News Health officials are once again raising the alarm about the threat of a resurgence of COVID19 infections across the country as concerns grow about the new omicron subvariant BA.5 which is now the dominant viral strain in the U.S. The BA.5 variant first detected in South Africa earlier this year is currently estimated to account for more than half 53.6 of all new COVID19 cases in the states according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. BA.5 appears to have a growth advantage over the original omicron variant according to the World Health Organization and scientists are closely monitoring the increase in reported cases observed in many countries across the globe. https://abcnews.go.com/Health/omicron-subvariants-threaten-covid-19-resurgence-us/story?id=86611325 12th Jul 2022

Coronavirus Resurgence

ABC News More than 2300 Queensland health staff are off work due to COVID19. Isolation rules around the COVID reinfection period cut from 12 weeks to four weeks Queensland CHO John Gerrard says COVID hospitalisations are getting close to exceeding 1000 during the current third wave. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-07-12/qld-coronavirus-covid19-hospital-triage-tents/101215700 12th Jul 2022

Coronavirus Resurgence

CBS News CBS News reports on Growing concern over COVID19 reinfections as two superinfectious omicron strains become dominant variants in the United States https://www.cbsnews.com/dfw/live/video/20220712095043-growing-concern-over-covid-19-reinfections-as-two-super-infectious-omicron-strains-become-dominant-variants-in-the-united-states/ 12th Jul 2022

New Lockdown

The Taipei Times Macau casino shares yesterday plunged as the Chinese territory embarked on a weeklong lockdown to curb its worst COVID19 outbreak while neighboring Hong Kong said it was mulling a mainlandstyle health code system. Share prices of six gaming conglomerates Sands China Galaxy Entertainment SJM Holdings Melco International MGM China and Wynn Macau fell by between 6 and nearly 9 percent in yesterday morning trade. It is the first casino lockdown in more than two years overriding a previous deal between the industry and the Macau government that only those found with infections would need to close temporarily. https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2022/07/12/2003781621 12th Jul 2022

New Lockdown

Bloomberg Tension is spreading through Shanghai as residents watch the Covid19 caseload tick higher fueling fears theyre headed back into lockdown little more than five weeks after exiting a bruising twomonth ordeal. The city reported 59 new infections for Monday the fourth day in a row case numbers have held above 50. The sharp rise from single digits about a week ago follows the detection of the more contagious BA.5 substrain of the omicron variant which has triggered two additional rounds of mass testing between Tuesday and Thursday this week across nine of the financial hubs 16 districts as well as other areas where cases have been found. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-07-12/anger-in-shanghai-as-covid-s-return-spurs-fears-of-new-lockdown 12th Jul 2022