Study shows how quickly coronavirus spreads at home

The novel coronavirus is twice as infectious within households than similar diseases such as SARS, with a substantial number of additional infections spreading before a COVID-19 sufferer shows any symptoms, according to modelling released Thursday.

Researchers based in China and the United States said their findings could have profound impacts on reducing the number of new infections as the pandemic progresses.

Using data on 350 COVID-19 patients and nearly 2,000 of their close contacts in the city of Guangzhou, China, the researchers estimated the virus’ “secondary attack rate” — that is, the probability that an infected person transmits the disease to someone else.

They found that while the average patient had just a 2.4% chance of infecting someone they did not live with, that figure jumped to 17.1% — around one in six — among cohabitants.



According to their models, which rely on data collated in January and February but have been updated to reflect the latest developments, the likelihood of household infection was highest among over-60s, and lowest among under-20s.

The overall chances of infecting a family member or live-in partner with COVID-19 are twice as high as with SARS, and three times higher than MERS, another coronavirus, they found.


Significantly, the researchers found that the probability of a COVID-19 carrier infecting a family member or flatmate was significantly higher — 39% — before they started showing symptoms than afterward.


This suggests that the virus is easily transmissible within its incubation period and may be passed on by individuals who don’t know they are infected.

The team said that isolation within households cut the total number of COVID-19 cases among the study cohort by 20% to 50% compared with no quarantine.

“Although the effect of case isolation seems moderate, the high infectivity of the virus during the incubation period suggests quarantine of asymptomatic contacts could have prevented more onward transmissions,” said Qin-Long Jing from the Guangzhou Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

Many European nations, before implementing weeks-long lockdowns, issued public health advice only to stay at home if an individual was sick — that is, showing symptoms typical to the virus.

The research suggests that may have already been too late to prevent COVID-19 circulating widely.

Writing in a linked comment, Virginia Pitzer from the Yale School of Public Health said that a “key difference” between COVID-19 and other coronaviruses was its “substantially higher” probability of transmission in its incubation period.

She said the research, published in The Lancet, “confirms the relative importance of pre-symptomatic transmission and the relationship between older age and susceptibility, key insights which should inform design of intervention strategies.”

Agence France-Presse

Smartphone tool helps users keep social distance

SAN FRANCISCO — Smartphone users have a new way to keep their distance  – a tool that lets them know when people are getting closer than pandemic guidelines recommend.

The Google-developed Sodar tool available this week taps into Android smartphone cameras to put users in the center of a white circle with a radius of about two meters, or 6.5 feet.


The perimeter, determined based on pandemic social distancing guidelines, is made using the same kind of augmented reality technology in smartphone games such as Pokemon Go.

Circles superimposed on surroundings move with users, keeping smartphones in the center. Users get a visual warning when they are within the potentially hazardous radius.




Sodar works through Google-made Chrome browsers on Android smartphones that support augmented reality, according to the California-based internet firm.

“This experiment uses (the application program interface) WebXR to visualize 2-meter social-distancing guidelines in your environment,” a message at the website said.


The tool came out of an “Experiments With Google” project on technology hacks to help people cope with the coronavirus pandemic.

Agence France-Presse

Buzzfeed closes news operations in Britain, Australia

SYDNEY — Groundbreaking website Buzzfeed said on Thursday that it would be shuttering part of its loss-making news operations in Britain and Australia, as it scales back global ambitions to cut costs.

“For economic and strategic reasons, we are going to focus on news that hits big in the United States during this difficult period,” a company spokesperson said.


Many news outlets have been hard-hit by the coronavirus pandemic, with plummeting advertising revenues and already struggling operations pushed deeper into the red.

Ten staff in Britain and four in Australia will be furloughed, in a move that is expected to become permanent.

The company will no longer cover local news in the two countries, but said: “In the UK, we still plan on retaining some employees who are focused on news with a global audience — social news, celebrity, and investigations.”

The four Australian posts were “no longer essential during this time of sharply limited resources,” the company added.

Once maligned as a funnel for little more than celebrity gossip, clickbait lists and cat pictures, Buzzfeed has developed into a news force to rival more established outlets.

“BuzzFeed gave us space to experiment with covering politics for a young audience,” Australian news editor Lane Sainty tweeted.

She lauded her staff’s work to “tackle important and often under-covered beats like abortion, LGBTQ rights, Indigenous affairs, immigration and internet culture.”

“I’ve always been grateful for that & very proud of our work.”

More cost-cutting measures are expected, including in the United States, where “workshare programs” are being touted as a way of avoiding furloughs.



“Those options need to meet our savings goals, be legally and logistically workable, and allow us to keep producing kinetic, powerful journalism,” Buzzfeed said.

This year “news will spend about $10 million more than it takes in,” it added.

Agence France-Presse

The coronavirus cancels Oktoberfest in Germany

BERLIN — This year’s Oktoberfest in Munich has been called off because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The cancellation of the world-famous annual celebration of beer, which was supposed to run from September 19 to October 4, underlines expectations that the way back to normal life will be very long.

The Oktoberfest typically draws about 6 million visitors every year to the packed festival grounds in Bavaria’s capital.

Bavarian governor Markus Soeder said after meeting Munich’s mayor Tuesday: “We agreed that the risk is simply too high.” He added that “you can neither keep your distance nor work with facial protection” at the Oktoberfest.

Soeder noted that the festival attracts visitors from around the world, raising concerns about bringing new infections to Bavaria.

Mayor Dieter Reiter said that “it is an emotionally difficult moment and of course it is also an economically difficult moment for our city.”

As it stands, major events with large audiences are banned in Germany until at least the end of August.

The country has taken the first steps toward loosening its shutdown, allowing small nonessential shops to start opening this week, but it remains unclear when bars and restaurants will be able to welcome customers again.

The Oktoberfest has previously been canceled during the two world wars; at a time of hyperinflation in Germany in 1923; and because of cholera outbreaks in 1854 and 1873, German news agency dpa reported.

Associated Press

Facebook to warn users who ‘liked’ coronavirus hoaxes

Facebook will soon let you know if you shared or interacted with dangerous coronavirus misinformation on the site, the latest in a string of aggressive efforts the social media giant is taking to contain an outbreak of viral falsehoods.

The new notice will be sent to users who have clicked on, reacted to, or commented on posts featuring harmful or false claims about COVID-19 after they have been removed by moderators. The alert, which will start appearing on Facebook in the coming weeks, will direct users to a site where the World Health Organization (WHO) lists and debunks virus myths and rumors.


Facebook, Google and Twitter are introducing stricter rules, altered algorithms and thousands of fact checks to stop the spread of bad misinformation online about the virus.

Challenges remain. Tech platforms have sent home human moderators who police the platforms, forcing them to rely on automated systems to take down harmful content. They are also up against people’s mistrust of authoritative sources for information, such as the WHO.

“Through this crisis, one of my top priorities is making sure that you see accurate and authoritative information across all of our apps,” Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote on his Facebook page Thursday.

The company disclosed Thursday that it put more than 40 million warning labels in March over videos, posts or articles about the coronavirus that fact-checking organizations have determined are false or misleading. The number includes duplicate claims—the labels were based on 4,000 fact checks.


Facebook says those warning labels have stopped 95% of users from clicking on the false information.

“It’s a big indicator that people are trusting the fact-checkers,” said Baybars Orsek, the director of the International Fact-Checking Network. “The label has an impact on people’s information consumption.”

But Orsek cautioned that the data Facebook provided should be reviewed by outside editors or experts, and called on the historically secretive company to release regular updates about the impact of its fact-checking initiative.

Orsek’s organization is a nonprofit that certifies news organizations as fact-checkers, a requirement to produce fact-checking articles for Facebook. Facebook has recruited dozens of news organizations around the globe to fact-check bad information on its site. The Associated Press is part of that program.

Facebook will also begin promoting the articles that debunk COVID-19 misinformation, of which there are thousands, on a new information center called “Get The Facts.” Putting trustworthy information in front of people can be just as useful, if not more, than simply debunking falsehoods.


Still, conspiracy theories, claims about unverified treatments, and misinformation about coronavirus vaccines continue to pop up on the site dail—sometimes circumventing the safeguards Facebook has implemented.

The new notification feature also only applies to posts on users’ main news feed—not in groups, where misinformation often spreads unchecked, and not on WhatsApp or Instagram, though Facebook has put some other protections in place on those platforms.

That means a lot of users won’t get the new alert from Facebook, said Stephanie Edgerly, an associate professor at Northwestern University who researches audience engagement. She said many users might simply see a false claim in their Facebook feed but not share, like or comment on it.

“A lot of what we know about how people scroll through their news feed not clicking on things, they still reading posts or headlines, without clicking on the link,” Edgerly said.

Facebook users, for example, viewed a false claim that the virus is destroyed by chlorine dioxide nearly 200,000 times, estimates a new study out today from Avaaz, a left-leaning advocacy group that tracks and researches online misinformation.

The group found more than 100 pieces of misinformation about the coronavirus on Facebook, viewed millions of times even after the claims had been marked as false or misleading by fact-checkers. Other false claims were not labeled as misinformation, despite being declared by fact-checkers as false.

“Coronavirus misinformation content mutates and spreads faster than Facebook’s current system can track it,” Avaaz said in its report.

This is especially problematic for Italian and Spanish misinformation, the report said, because Facebook has been slower to issue warning labels on posts that aren’t in English. Avaaz also noted that it can take as long as 22 days for Facebook to label misinformation as such—giving it plenty of time to spread.

False claims about coronavirus treatments have had deadly consequences.

Last month, Iranian media reported more than 300 people had died and 1,000 were sickened in the country after ingesting methanol, a toxic alcohol rumored to be a remedy through private social media messages.

Associated Press

US restaurants turn to grocery sales to help offset losses

O’Fallon, Mo. (AP) — Charlene Gulliford at the Gandy Dancer never figured there would come a day when the Michigan restaurant known for its steaks and seafood would sell toilet paper and cartons of eggs, but the coronavirus has restaurants in survival mode.

The popular restaurant in Ann Arbor now doubles as a grocery store, offering staples such milk and bread in addition to meats and fish from its own pantry — and yes, even paper towels and the ever-elusive toilet paper. Sales began two weeks ago and the Gandy Dancer has found an income source to make up for some of its lost dine-in business, while also filling a need since traditional grocers are struggling to keep up with demand.

“A lot of people are saying they’re happy to support us, but a lot of people are saying, ‘Thank you for helping us,’” said Gulliford, the restaurant’s general manager.

The idea is catching on nationwide. Stay-at-home and social distancing orders meant to slow the spread of COVID-19 have put restaurant dining on hold, forcing many to close and leaving others barely surviving. From large chains to mom-and-pop eateries, restaurants are increasingly turning to grocery sales.

Panera this week launched Panera Grocery, offering not only the St. Louis-based chain’s popular breads, bagels and sweets but items such as milk, eggs and fresh produce that its 2,100 U.S. stores normally use to make meals. Grocery items can be delivered or picked up.

Subway is selling groceries at 250 of its stores in five states -- California, Connecticut, Oregon, Tennessee and Washington. Potbelly Sandwich Shop franchises launched Potbelly Pantry, offering mostly foods that the chain uses to make its sandwiches, such as meats, cheeses and breads.

Panera’s vice president of wellness and food policy, Sara Burnett, said the decision to sell groceries is a reaction to “the unprecedented crisis our country’s going through right now.” She wouldn’t disclose how much the pandemic has cost Panera, but she said 30 percent of its business typically comes from in-restaurant dining, “and that obviously is completely gone.”

The National Restaurant Association says the industry has lost 3 million jobs and $25 billion in sales since March 1. Spokeswoman Vanessa Sink said 3% of restaurants have closed permanently and another 11% expect to do so by the end of the month.

The move to grocery sales has been swift. Panera would typically spend months on a new business proposal, doing research, conducting surveys and opening test markets. Not this time. Panera Grocery went from an idea to launch in two weeks, Burnett said.


Grocery items sold by restaurants vary greatly. Some offer mostly the types of things already in their pantries, such as meats, vegetables, fruit, cheese, milk and eggs. Others, like the Gandy Dancer, offer a much broader selection.

Union Loafers in St. Louis is opting for quality, even if it means a higher price. The restaurant began selling locally produced goods such as eggs, milk, jams and meats on March 31. Co-owner Sean Netzer said patrons don’t mind the higher price — most items are selling out daily.

The chain restaurants, which buy in extraordinary bulk, can afford to sell at a lower cost. Subway and Panera Grocery prices are comparable to grocery store prices, the companies said.

Gulliford said the Gandy Dancer’s prices are more than competitive and can even be cheaper than the grocery store’s. For example, six lemons sell for $1 and potatoes are $1 per pound, she said.

Many of the restaurants-turned-grocery stores are offering “contact-free” service in which the customer place orders by phone or online and the goods are delivered straight to the trunk or backseat of the car. Gulliford said the elderly, who are at a higher risk of serious illness or death from the coronavirus, are especially appreciative of being able to avoid going into stores.

Restaurant operators aren’t sure if grocery sales will continue once the pandemic passes. Panera sees this as “kind of a tipping point to see what our customers need,” Burnett said.

Gulliford said the future is especially difficult to predict during this unprecedented time.

“It just really depends on what the new normal is,” she said.

The Associated Press

TikTok’s time: video platform sees appeal growing during lockdowns

NEW YORK — This is TikTok’s time. The social video platform which was already a favorite of teens is increasingly being used by adults looking for ways to pass the time during coronavirus lockdowns.

Users post short videos — no longer than 60 seconds but often as short as 15 — to showcase their bite-size dance skills or share relatable experiences with a humorous twist.

The application, owned by Chinese tech company ByteDance, saw 65 million worldwide downloads in March, according to analytics site SensorTower.

In addition to the existing 800 million reported in January by DataReportal, the app is nearing a billion users — though TikTok itself does not publish such data.

And though teens have been posting on the platform for months, it seems adults with more free time — as much of the world is encouraged to stay at home to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus — are finally catching on.

Cecile, stuck at home in Paris with her six- and three-year-old children, was intrigued when a friend sent her a video. Soon, she had downloaded the app and was posting clips herself.


“I said to myself: ‘Well, this is something funny I could do with the boys to pass the time, if only for fifteen minutes,'” she said.

“When I say, ‘Come on, we’re making a video,’ they’re ready to go. It makes them laugh.”

Celebrities have joined the fun too, from Jennifer Lopez to Mariah Carey — even 82-year-old Jane Fonda.

Social media use is up across the board as movement is restricted around the world, but TikTok — already having a moment before the pandemic — is doing better than others.

Idyllic vacation views and perfectly framed artistic shots — long the markers of the Instagram aesthetic — are currently out of reach for most.

But the typical TikTok post does not require a beautiful background, explained Thibault Le Ouay, founder of Pentos, a company that helps brands with their marketing strategy on the platform.

“On TikTok, you do a dance in your own house,” he said, pointing to 15-year-old Charli D’Amelio, one of the app’s biggest stars with 46 million subscribers.

“She is at home in leggings. It’s not a video of a beach paradise,” he said. “It’s still something you can do at home.”

Plus, TikTok has levity baked into its DNA.

Many videos on the platform — a descendant of the website Musical.ly — are amateur performances of short choreographed dances and lip syncs to song clips, repeated and riffed on over and over.

“It’s a very interesting position to be in for TikTok right now, because the videos are generally pretty light, humorous, fun and easy,” said Debra Aho Williamson, principal analyst for market research company eMarketer.

“And with all of the negative news that people are hearing on a daily basis from other media, TikTok is something different, and I think that people need that right now.”

#happyathome
The site has also taken on the role of promoting stay-at-home content in an effort to help fight the virus, a TikTok spokeswoman said.

The hashtag #happyathome has seen more than 7.9 billion views.

“We’re committed to doing our part to help the broader community get through this difficult time,” she said.

The app also has a page with information about COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, with contributions from the World Health Organization (WHO) that “dispel some of the myths” around the illness, she said.

Multiple brands have used civic responsibility as an entry point into TikTok, where advertising has been scarce until recently.

US personal hygiene and cleaning product giant Proctor & Gamble has worked with Charli D’Amelio for a campaign about social distancing, for example.

Brands’ marketing ability in general — including the opportunity to monetize content on TikTok — is limited by the pandemic, experts say.

But they are still interested, according to Williamson.

“The problem is for some companies (that) TikTok is an experiment for advertising,” she said. “And if they are being forced to cut their ad budgets — which many companies are right now — things that are experimental often times are the easiest to cut.”

And the app’s Chinese origins could be a concern for some brands in the US that are worried about data usage, she said.

eMarketer, which already predicted TikTok will grow this year to 45 million US users, up from 37 million, has not changed its forecast based on impact from coronavirus.

“The question I have for TikTok and all of the social media platforms that are seeing increases in engagement now is whether it will continue once things get back to normal, once older adults are back working and they have other things going on,” Williamson said.

“It’s too soon to tell right now.”

Agence France-Presse

US service sectors slows in March

WASHINGTON (AP) — Growth in the U.S. service sector slowed in March with a much bigger decline expected in coming months from all the shutdowns and job layoffs that have occurred because of efforts to contain the coronavirus.

The Institute for Supply Management said Friday that its service-sector index slowed to 52.5 in March from a reading of 57.3 in February.

Any reading above 50 indicates the service sector, where most Americans work, is expanding. But with record layoffs over the past two weeks, economists believe services will fall into a contraction in April.

The March report said service industries were already showing signs of the impact of the virus. Reports from the health care sector found significant shortages of personal protective equipment, test swabs and other basic medical supplies.

“Extreme sourcing measures are required to procure necessary supplies for basic operations,” the ISM report said, quoting respondents to its survey.

Anthony Nieves, chair of the survey committee for the ISM services report, said one factor that kept the index from sliding further in March was strength being seen in the government and health care parts of the index.

ISM reported on Wednesday that its manufacturing index did fall into contractionary territory in March with a reading of 49.1. Private economists said they were looking for the services index to slide into contraction territory probably with the April report.

“Conditions in both non-manufacturing and manufacturing are expected to weaken over coming months in response to virus-related shutdowns, supply chain disruptions as well as weak demand,” said Rubeela Farooqi, chief U.S. economist for High Frequency Economics.

Associated Press

Facebook feature lets people reach out for help in pandemic

SAN FRANCISCO–Facebook on Tuesday activated a feature allowing people impacted by the coronavirus pandemic to reach out for help from their community.

The Community Help feature was added to the social network four years ago as a way to find shelter, food or supplies during natural disasters, and this week added the COVID-19 crisis to that list.

“We’ve been seeing since the beginning people asking for help,” Facebook app head Fidji Simo told AFP.

“We’ve been working for a couple of weeks at enabling the feature.”

While Community Help has been activated for tragedies such as the recent Australian wildfires, this time the feature reaches far beyond a single country and had to be woven into the coronavirus information hub, according to Simo.

Facebook set the help radius by default to 50 miles in the US and 100 kilometers in other countries, but people can scale back the area in which they are available to be of assistance.

“You can adjust it down if you can only help in your neighborhood,” Simo said.

The feature lets Facebook users request or offer help from walking dogs or fetching groceries to psychotherapy.

People wishing to help support coronavirus relief efforts can donate money through a UN-Facebook fundraiser, with Facebook matching donations up to a total of $10 million.

The leading online social network said it was adding a way to find and donate to local fundraising campaigns.

“Since the beginning of the spread of the virus and especially as people started practicing social distancing, we’ve seen them turn to Facebook to connect with and take action to help their communities,” Facebook said.


The California-based internet giant also said it was continuing to ramp up efforts to provide reliable, timely information about the pandemic and ways to take action.

Since a COVID-19 Information Center launched two weeks ago at Facebook, more than a billion people have been showed notifications about resources from health authorities through the hub and “educational pop-up” notifications at the social network and Instagram.

AP

Google offers $800 million to pandemic-impacted businesses, health agencies

In response to the coronavirus pandemic, Google on Friday pledged $800 million worth of support for health organizations, researchers and businesses impacted by the crisis.

The aid will come in the form of cash, ad credits, and cloud services from the California-based internet colossus, according to chief executive Sundar Pichai.


Google will provide $250 million in ad grants to the World Health Organization and more than 100 other public agencies around the world providing information to stem the spread of the coronavirus, according to Pichai.

Some $340 million worth of free advertising will be made available to small- or medium-sized businesses in Google’s network that are taking financial hits as people stay home due to virus risk.

“We hope it will help to alleviate some of the cost of staying in touch with their customers,” Pichai said in a blog post.

A pool of $20 million world of credits for services hosted in the Google “cloud” will be available to researchers and academic institutions exploring ways to combat the deadly pandemic or that are tracking critical data about its spread.

Google will also match as much as $10,000 in donations its employees make to organizations in their communities this year, increasing the amount from $7,500.

“Together, we’ll continue to help our communities—including our businesses, educators, researchers and nonprofits—to navigate the challenges ahead,” Pichai said.

Google has been working with partners to ramp up production of protective gear such as face masks for healthcare providers.

Employees from Alphabet divisions including Google, Verily and X are also working with equipment makers to increase the production of ventilators needed to keep some COVID-19 sufferers alive, according to Pichai.

Agence France-Presse

Northern Ireland sportswear factory scrubs up in virus fight

As other factories fall silent due to the coronavirus, the din of production continues at O'Neills sportswear factory in Northern Ireland, where staff have pivoted to making scrubs and facemasks for besieged healthcare workers.

"You always feel proud of your product," business development manager Orla Ward told AFP.

"But this is just on another level because you really are getting it to the people that need it most at this really critical time."


Around 750 staff at the factory in Strabane, which makes kits and leisurewear primarily for Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) sports, were temporarily laid off as the COVID-19 crisis unfolded.

Teams and groups playing GAA sports -- such as hurling and Gaelic football -- began to postpone events and matches as the British and Irish governments restricted gatherings in a bid to stem infections.

"Our business was just basically drying up," Ward explained.

"Over the period of basically two weeks our order book went from extremely busy to practically nothing whatsoever."

But with the factory switching to produce scrubs for local operations of Britain's National Health Service (NHS), 150 staff have been able to return to work.

The news has been a small mercy for the town of Strabane, where the factory is the biggest employer.

- 'Tsunami' of patients -

It has also had an effect on a national scale, boosting Britain's efforts as it prepares for a "tsunami" of new coronavirus patients.

Healthcare workers across Britain have complained of a lack of protective equipment for staff, who are at higher risk of contracting COVID-19.

"The managing director had been speaking to people here in the local hospital and realised that they were in desperate need of scrubs," said Ward.

Ranks of the skilled machinist staff were back at their stations on Thursday, separated from each other under "social distancing" guidelines designed to slow the spread of the virus.

Surrounded by spools of vibrant thread and wearing masks made in the factory, they sewed the maroon fabrics which will soon be worn by frontline NHS staff.

Production began at the O'Neills Strabane location on Wednesday after the fabrics were dyed, given antibacterial treatment and shipped from Dublin -- where the firm is headquartered.

The Strabane factory is currently working to meet an order of 5,000 scrubs -- consisting of a set of trousers, a top and a mask.

"I think there's absolutely a great sense of pride that we can do this," said Ward.

"When you're faced with a challenge, look how quickly and how well you can step up to the plate and really help."

Agence France-Presse

Coronavirus could become seasonal: top US scientist

WASHINGTON, United States — There is a strong chance the new coronavirus could return in seasonal cycles, a senior US scientist said Wednesday, underscoring the urgent need to find a vaccine and effective treatments.

Anthony Fauci, who leads research into infectious diseases at the National Institutes of Health, told a briefing the virus was beginning to take root in the southern hemisphere, where winter is on its way.

"What we're starting to see now... in southern Africa and in the southern hemisphere countries, is that we're having cases that are appearing as they go into their winter season," he said.

"And if, in fact, they have a substantial outbreak, it will be inevitable that we need to be prepared that we'll get a cycle around the second time.

"It totally emphasizes the need to do what we're doing in developing a vaccine, testing it quickly and trying to get it ready so that we'll have a vaccine available for that next cycle."

There are currently two vaccines that have entered human trials — one in the US and one in China — and they could be a year to a year-and-a-half away from deployment.

Treatments are also being investigated — some new drugs and others that have been repurposed, including the antimalarials chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine.

"I know we'll be successful in putting this down now, but we really need to be prepared for another cycle," Fauci concluded.

Fauci's comments suggesting the virus does better in colder weather than it does in hot and humid conditions follows a recent Chinese research paper — still preliminary and awaiting peer-review — that reached the same conclusion.

The reasons are thought to include that respiratory droplets remain airborne for longer in colder weather, and that cold weather weakens immunity.

Another potential reason is that viruses degrade more quickly on hotter surfaces, possibly because a protective layer of fat that envelops them dries out quicker.

But reduced infection rate does not mean the virus gets eliminated — Australia has had almost 2,500 confirmed cases and 8 deaths, for example.

Agence France-Presse

UK govt orders three-week lockdown to tackle virus

LONDON, United Kingdom — Britain on Monday ordered a three-week lockdown to tackle the spread of coronavirus, shutting "non-essential" shops and services, and banning gatherings of more than two people.

"Stay at home," Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in a televised address to the nation, as he unveiled unprecedented peacetime measures after the country's death toll climbed to 335.


The announcement came after outrage in government that recommendations about reducing social contact to minimise close-contact transmission of the virus were being ignored.

Crowds of people were seen enjoying weekend spring sunshine in parks and countryside across the country, prompting calls for tougher action to be imposed.

"From this evening (Monday) I must give the British people a very simple instruction — you must stay at home," Johnson said.

"Because the critical thing we must do is stop the disease spreading between households."

Under the new measures, Johnson said going out to shop for basic necessities was still allowed, as was exercise, medical needs, and travel to and from work.

But shops selling items such as clothes or electronics as well as libraries, playgrounds and places of worship would be shut, with the ban also extending to weddings and baptisms but not funerals.

Parks will remain open but Johnson warned: "If you don't follow the rules the police will have the powers to enforce them, including through fines and dispersing gatherings."

He called the pandemic "the biggest threat this country has faced for decades" and said the already overstretched state-run National Health Service (NHS) would be unable to cope if the pace of transmission continues.

"I urge you at this moment of national emergency to stay at home, protect our NHS and save lives," he said.

The restrictions will be "under constant review", he added.

"We will look again in three weeks, and relax them if the evidence shows we are able to," he said. 

"But at present there are just no easy options. The way ahead is hard, and it is still true that many lives will sadly be lost."

'War-footing'

Britain recorded its first death in the outbreak on March 5 but has been criticised for its light-touch approach to containing the spread compared to more stringent measures elsewhere.

Latest figures show Britain now has 6,650 confirmed cases of COVID-19, with warnings the virus is taking hold quicker than in Italy at the same point.

Italy has suffered the most coronavirus deaths worldwide, with 6,077 fatalities out of 63,927 declared infections.

Johnson had previously resisted mounting public concern that hand-washing was not enough to reduce the impact of COVID-19.

As the numbers of cases and deaths climbed, employees were laid off, and sporting and other events cancelled, he moved to try to limit the social and economic fall-out.

The Bank of England slashed interest rates to record lows, while finance minister Rishi Sunak unveiled a series of multi-billion-pound packages to help those affected.

Notably, the government has stepped in to back up employee wages up to 80 percent, give tax holidays to businesses and boost welfare payments.

But Johnson was forced to go further, and put the government on what he said was a war footing, after dire warnings from scientists that its social distancing strategy was not working.

The government's chief scientific adviser has said it was a "reasonable" estimate that 55,000 people now have the virus in Britain.

'Turn the tide'

The prime minister has promised to "turn the tide" of the outbreak within 12 weeks, urging individuals displaying symptoms to stay at home for seven days.

Schools have been closed, as have pubs, bars, nightclubs, theatres, cafes, and leisure centres, and mass gatherings have been banned.

Foreign minister Dominic Raab on Monday told British travellers overseas to return home "while you still can".

Last week, the elderly and people with underlying serious health conditions were told to self-isolate for 12 weeks.

Meanwhile, continued stockpiling that has stripped supermarket shelves prompted a fresh warning about panic-buying.

Agence France-Presse

California goes on virus lockdown as Italy death toll overtakes China

LOS ANGELES — California was placed under lockdown in the most drastic step yet by a US state to contain the fast-spreading coronavirus as Italy surpassed China as the country with the most deaths from the pandemic.

The United States, meanwhile, is fast-tracking antimalarial drugs for use as a virus treatment, President Donald Trump said, as he lashed out at China for not informing the world earlier about the original outbreak.


China, for its part, on Friday reported a second day with no new domestic cases since the virus appeared in the central city of Wuhan in December, before spreading worldwide.

While there was a glimmer of hope in China, several countries tightened their borders and imposed lockdowns, trapping tens of millions of people in their homes.

And the UN chief warned “millions” could die if the virus spreads unchecked around the globe.

Governments and central banks have unleashed a blockbuster series of measures to prop up the teetering global economy, only to see the once-in-a-century pandemic seemingly spiral further out of control.

The death toll soared in Europe as Italy announced another 427 fatalities on Thursday, taking its total to 3,405, according to a tally compiled by AFP from official sources.

China has officially reported 3,248 deaths from the virus, which can cause respiratory failure, particularly in the elderly.

Globally, the death toll from the virus has risen to almost 10,000 with more than 232,000 cases in 158 countries and territories, according to the AFP tally.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned Thursday of the virus’s potentially devastating effects.

“If we let the virus spread like wildfire — especially in the most vulnerable regions of the world — it would kill millions of people,” Guterres said.


‘Paying a big price’

The number of infections and deaths in the rest of the world has surpassed those in China, which appears to have staunched the virus with strict measures including a complete quarantine of Wuhan since January.

Trump, who has come under fire for his response to the crisis, charged Thursday that the world was paying for China’s lack of transparency about the outbreak there.

“It could have been contained to that one area of China where it started. And certainly, the world is paying a big price for what they did,” he said.

Trump said US authorities were fast-tracking antimalarials chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine for use as a coronavirus treatment, making them available “almost immediately.”

The drugs are synthetic forms of quinine, which has been used to treat malaria for centuries.

As the toll surged in Italy, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said the national lockdown, which has been copied around Europe, would be prolonged to April 3.

France also mooted extending its two-week lockdown ordered this week by President Emmanuel Macron, as the interior minister blasted “idiots” who flout home confinement rules and put others at risk.

In Argentina, President Alberto Fernandez announced a “preventative and compulsory” lockdown from Friday to March 31, while Brazil’s Rio de Janeiro state will close its famed beaches as well as restaurants and bars for 15 days to try to contain the pandemic.

California Governor Gavin Newsom said the state’s lockdown – affecting more than 39 million people – would begin Thursday evening in a “recognition of our interdependence”.

In Britain, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the country could “turn the tide” on coronavirus within 12 weeks – but only if people heed advice to avoid social contact. 



The disease continued to hit high-profile figures with EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier, Monaco’s Prince Albert II and at least a half-dozen NBA players in the United States among those testing positive.

Also falling victim to the pandemic was the G7 summit in June, which was meant to be hosted by Trump at the Camp David presidential retreat near Washington. The group of seven wealthy democracies will now meet via videoconference.

And as the Olympic flame arrived in Japan Friday to a muted reception, Tokyo Games organizers faced renewed calls for the event to be delayed.

“It should be postponed under the current situation where athletes are not well prepared,” Japan Olympic Committee member Kaori Yamaguchi told the Nikkei daily in an interview published the day the flame landed.

Emergency stimulus

With countries paralyzed by the pandemic and stock markets imploding, policymakers this week unleashed a wave of measures to shore up the global economy.

The European Central Bank announced a 750-billion-euro bond-buying scheme, dubbed the “big bazooka.”

In the United States, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin urged Congress to pass a $1-trillion emergency stimulus package.

Asian equities enjoyed some much-needed gains Friday after Wall Street finished higher following a volatile session as investors weighed the government stimulus measures against some of the first data pointing to a sharp US economic slowdown.

European stocks also staged a rebound on the stimulus news.

The battle is only just beginning across the rest of the world, with the shadow of the virus lengthening across Africa. 



The Nigerian megacity of Lagos announced it would shut its schools while Burkina Faso confirmed the first death in sub-Saharan Africa.

Russia reported its first death and even the Pacific nation of Fiji said it had its first case.

Countries are taking increasingly drastic steps to stem infections, with Australia and New Zealand banning non-residents from arriving.

The United States warned against international travel due to the pandemic and advised citizens to come home if possible.

Britain closed dozens of London Underground stations and shut down schools.

EU closed its borders to outsiders and in many countries bars, restaurants and most shops have closed their doors until further notice.

Spain, which is on a near-total lockdown, on Thursday ordered all hotels to close immediately.

Agence France-Presse

US begins first human trial of coronavirus vaccine

The first human trial to evaluate a candidate vaccine against the new coronavirus has begun in Seattle, U.S. health officials said Monday, raising hopes in the global fight against the disease.

But it may be another year to 18 months before it becomes available, once it has passed more trial phases to prove it works and is safe.


The vaccine is called mRNA-1273 and was developed by U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) scientists and collaborators at biotechnology company Moderna, which is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

“The open-label trial will enroll 45 healthy adult volunteers ages 18 to 55 years over approximately 6 weeks,” the NIH said. “The first participant received the investigational vaccine today.”

Funding was also provided by the Oslo-based Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI).

There are currently no approved vaccines or treatments against the coronavirus disease, known as COVID-19, which has infected more than 175,000 people across the world since it was first identified in central China in late December.

It has claimed 7,000 deaths, according to an AFP tally, most in China followed by Italy.

“Finding a safe and effective vaccine to prevent infection with SARS-CoV-2 is an urgent public health priority,” said Anthony Fauci, head of infectious diseases at the NIH, using the technical name for the virus that is believed to have originated in bats.

“This Phase 1 study, launched in record speed, is an important first step toward achieving that goal.”

The Seattle trial will study the impact of different doses delivered by intramuscular injection in the upper arm, with participants monitored for side-effects like soreness or fever.

Coronaviruses are spherical and have spikes protruding from their surface, giving them a crown-like appearance. The spike binds to human cells, allowing the virus to gain entry.


The Moderna candidate vaccine carries the genetic information of this spike in a substance called “messenger RNA.”

Injecting human tissue with the spike’s messenger RNA makes it grow inside the body, thereby eliciting an immune response without having actually infected a person with the full-blown virus.

Global race

Pharmaceuticals and research labs around the world are racing to develop both treatments and vaccines to the new coronavirus.

An antiviral treatment called remdesivir, made by U.S.-based Gilead Sciences, is already in the final stages of clinical trials in Asia and doctors in China have reported it has proven effective in fighting the disease.

But only randomized trials allow scientists to know for sure whether it really helps or whether patients would have recovered without it.

Another U.S. pharma called Inovio, which is creating a DNA-based vaccine, has said it will enter clinical trials next month.

Regeneron is trying to isolate coronavirus-fighting antibodies that can be administered intravenously to confer temporary immunity, and hopes to start human trials by summer.

According to the World Health Organization, 80% of COVID-19 cases are mild, 14% are severe and about 5% are critical, resulting in severe respiratory illness that causes the lungs to fill with fluid which in turn prevents oxygen from reaching organs.

Patients with mild cases recover in a week or two while severe cases can take six or more weeks.

Recent estimates suggest about 1% of all infected people die.

Agence France-Presse

'Super-spreaders': COVID19 myth or reality?

PARIS, France — Can a single COVID-19 patient infect dozens of others? Although transmission rates in the current outbreak appear to be far lower, a variety of factors can lead to an individual infecting many.

The concept of so-called "super-spreaders" — patients who typically infect far more people than the standard transmission rates — emerged in previous outbreaks of diseases such as Sars and Mers.

Amesh Adalja, an expert in emerging infectious diseases at John Hopkins University, said the term was not scientific and there was no set quantity of transmissions that would define a super-spreader.

"But, in general, it is usually a markedly higher figure when compared to that of other individuals," he told AFP.

A range of variables govern how many people an individual infects, from how fast they shed the virus to how many people they come in to close contact with.

The novel coronavirus has a typical transmission rate of 2-3 — that is, every confirmed case appears to infect between 2 and 3 other people on average.

But the pandemic has thrown up at least two patients who appear to have been super-spreaders.

Suspected super-spreaders

One suspected super-spreader, a British national, appears to have infected a dozen others when he returned from Singapore and then went skiing in the Alps.

He recovered, but may have infected another five people after returning home.

In South Korea, which has the second highest number of COVID-19 cases outside of Italy, a woman known as Patient 31 appears to have infected dozens of others.

But in an ever better-connected world, it can be challenging to definitively link transmissions to an individual patient.

"It's possible that what we call super-spreaders exist, those patients who don't only infect 2-3 others but could infect dozens," said Eric Caumes, head of infectious and tropical diseases at Paris' Pitie-Salpetriere Hospital.

"The problem is we aren't spotting them."

According to Olivier Bouchaud, head of infectious diseases at that Avicenne hospital in Paris' suburbs, variable transmission rates could be down to how fast a patient sheds the virus once infected.

"That's just a hypothesis at this point," he said. "Obviously we don't have a clear explanation, and there's nothing specific to COVID-19."

Another unknown is the role played by young children, who are less severely affected by the virus but are capable of transmitting it — part of the reason many countries have moved to close schools in recent days.

'Highly variable'

Cristl Donnelly, professor of Applied Statistics at the University of Oxford, said all disease transmission was by nature "highly variable".

"But we are not all the same, we vary in our immune systems, in our behaviour, and in where we happen to be," she said. 

"All of these things can affect how many people we would transmit to."

Bharat Pankhania, an infectious diseases expert at Britain's Exeter University, even disputed whether super-spreaders existed.

He said that the biggest factors determining transmission were environmental, made worse in dense-populated cities.

"These circumstances often are: crowding; a confined space with poor ventilation; poor infection control, meaning lots of non-porous, hard surfaces which can keep a virus viable for a longer time; a favourable ambient humidity; and the infected person usually being in the early phase of their illness, when virus secretions are at their peak," he said.

It's due to these contributing factors that many experts are reluctant to talk in terms of super-spreaders.

Added to this, as France's health minister has pointed out, the term might be used to stigmatise individuals, when it is likely they transmitted COVID19 without realising.

Agence France-Presse

WHO declares novel coronavirus a pandemic

GENEVA, Switzerland —Three months following its discovery, the novel coronavirus spreading across the globe has reached pandemic level, a characterization the World Health Organization (WHO) finally made on Wednesday as infections rise past 100,000.

"WHO has been assessing this outbreak around the clock and we are deeply concerned both by the alarming levels of spread and severity, and by the alarming levels of inaction," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters in Geneva.

"We have therefore made the assessment that COVID-19 can be characterized as a pandemic," he added.

The declaration came as global health officials reported around 114,000 cases of infections covering 114 countries. More than 90% of cases were recorded in four countries including China, where the virus started spreading, and South Korea where more than 200,000 individuals had tested positive for the virus causing coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19).

"We have never before seen a pandemic sparked by a coronavirus," the WHO chief said.

Global health experts are currently scrambling to develop a vaccine on the new pathogen of coronavirus, a family of viruses that causes respiratory infections typically characterized by cough and colds.

In COVID-19, WHO said recorded symptoms included fever, tiredness and dry cough, while some patients may experience nasal congestion, runny nose, sore throat or diarrhea. "These symptoms are usually mild and begin gradually," WHO said in its Q&A on COVID-19 posted on its website.


What is a pandemic?

"Pandemic" itself is a loosely defined term, but can "can cause unreasonable fear" as Tedros recognized on his statement. That, and the backlash WHO suffered in the past for hastily making such declarations on diseases that appeared easily contained like H1N1 swine flu, prompted the multilateral agency to be more careful on assessing the spread of coronavirus.

A turning point for WHO was a supposed "inaction" on many jurisdictions to control the outbreak. "WHO has been assessing this outbreak around the clock and we are deeply concerned both by the alarming levels of spread and severity, and by the alarming levels of inaction," Tedros said.

Formally, what a pandemic designation does is to call for swift and stronger coordination among countries and stop the spread of infection. It also calls on governments to have proper and effective risk communication plan before, after and during the pandemic.

Agence France-Presse

South Korean sect leader apologizes over coronavirus spread

SEOUL, South Korea — The leader of a secretive South Korean sect linked to more than half the country's 4,000-plus coronavirus cases apologised Monday for the spread of the disease.

Shincheonji head Lee Man-hee's plea for forgiveness came after Seoul city authorities filed a murder complaint against him for failing to cooperate in containing the epidemic.


South Korea's case numbers -- the largest total anywhere outside China -- are expected to rise further as authorities carry out checks on more than 266,000 people associated with the Shincheonji Church of Jesus, which is often condemned as a cult.

"I would like to offer my sincere apology to the people," said Lee, his voice breaking.

"Although it was not intentional, many people have been infected," the 88-year-old said, twice getting to his knees to bow before reporters in Gapyeong, his head to the floor.


"I seek the forgiveness of the people."

"I am very thankful to the government for its efforts," he added. "I also seek the forgiveness of the government."

Lee is revered by his followers as the "Promised Pastor" who has taken on the mantle of Jesus Christ and will take 144,000 people with him to heaven on the Day of Judgement, which he will usher in within his own lifetime.

A 61-year-old female member developed a fever on February 10 but attended at least four church services in Daegu -- the country's fourth-largest city with a population of 2.5 million and the centre of the outbreak -- before being diagnosed.

At services Shincheonji members sit close together on the floor and pray extensively in what critics say creates an ideal environment to spread viral infections.

Lee -- whose organisation says he has tested negative for the virus -- insisted that the group was "actively cooperating with the government".

"At churches, the leader of the church is like a parent and its members are the children," he said, pausing occasionally to wipe tears from his eyes as protesters shouted abuse.

"What parent would stand by and watch when there is such a scary disease that could even lead to death? Wouldn't they try to fix it?"

Seoul's city government has asked prosecutors to press charges including homicide against Lee and 11 other leaders after the sect was accused of submitting false lists of its members to authorities.

For its part, the sect says members face social stigma and discrimination if their beliefs become publicly known, dissuading some from responding to official inquiries.

Under South Korean law prosecutors can make their own decision on whether to act on complaints filed to them, and Yonhap news agency reported that the Seoul City request had been assigned for investigation.

Seoul mayor Park Won-soon added on his Facebook page: "If they had actively taken early measures, we could have prevented the explosive rise of COVID-19 cases in Daegu and North Gyeongbuk province and the deaths of several people."

South Korea reported 476 new coronavirus cases Monday, taking the total to 4,212, while the death toll rose to 22 with four more people dying, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

Infection numbers have surged in the world's 12th-largest economy in recent days and the country's central bank has warned of a contraction in the first quarter, noting the epidemic will hit both consumption and exports.

Scores of events have been cancelled or postponed over the contagion.

The education ministry said that school and kindergarten breaks, which had already been extended nationwide to next Monday, will be lengthened by a further two weeks.

Agence France-Presse

Coronavirus time bomb: America's uninsured and brutal work culture

WASHINGTON, United States — Like many Americans, bartender Danjale Williams is worried about the growing threat of the novel coronavirus.

What makes the 22-year-old in Washington even more frightened: The thought of medical bills she just can't afford, as one of almost 27.5 million people in the United States who don't have health insurance.


"I definitely would second guess before going to the doctor, because the doctor's bill is crazy," she said. "If it did come down to that, I don't have enough savings to keep me healthy."

As the virus begins spreading in the west of the country, where the first death was reported Saturday, public health experts warned the US has several characteristics unique among wealthy nations that make it vulnerable.

These include a large and growing population without medical insurance, the 11 million or so undocumented migrants afraid to come into contact with authorities, and a culture of "powering through" when sick for fear of losing one's job.



"These are all things that can perpetuate the spread of a virus," said Brandon Brown, an epidemiologist at UC Riverside.

The number of Americans without health insurance began falling from a high of 46.7 million in 2010 following the passage of Obamacare (the Affordable Care Act), but has risen again over the past two years.

The current figure is about 8.5 percent of the population.



Getting through the door

Public health experts often worry about the destructive potential of a pandemic in poorer parts of the world like sub-Saharan Africa or South Asia.

These poverty-plagued regions have hospitals that are ill-equipped to stop the spread of infectious diseases, or to adequately care for patients needing breathing assistance, which the most severe cases of COVID-19 require.

By contrast, the US has some of the world's best hospitals and medical staff, but those not lucky enough to have good insurance through their employer, and not poor enough to qualify for state insurance, often opt out of the system entirely.

A routine doctor's visit can run into hundreds of dollars for those without coverage.

"I think that it's possible if this has the sustained spread, that might highlight some of those health care disparities that we already know about and are trying to work on, but haven't figured out a way to solve," said Brian Garibaldi, the medical director of Johns Hopkins Hospital's biocontainment unit.

That's not to say uninsured people have no recourse if they fall seriously ill.

US law requires that people who are truly sick get the care they need, regardless of ability to pay.

Presentee-ism

One of the key messages the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has put out about the coronavirus is to stay home if you have mild respiratory symptoms, except to go to the doctor once you have called in and if they think you need to.

"But a lot of people, depending on their jobs, their position and their privilege, are not able to do that," said Brown.

The US is alone among advanced countries in not offering any federally mandated paid sick leave.

Though private companies offer an average of eight days per year, only 30 percent of the lowest paid workers are  able to earn sick days, according to the Economic Policy Institute.

For many of these people, missing even a day's work can make a painful financial dent.

An October 2019 nationwide survey of 2,800 workers by the accounting firm Robert Half found that 57 percent sometimes go to work while sick and 33 percent always go when sick.

Vaccine cost fears

As the global death toll from the virus approaches 3,000 and the US braces for a wider outbreak, the race is on to develop vaccines and treatments.

Current timeline estimates for the leading vaccine candidate are 12-18 months, but will it be affordable for all? That question was put to Health Secretary Alex Azar in Congress last week.

His response: "We would want to ensure that we work to make it affordable, but we can't control that price because we need the private sector to invest."

Ed Silverman, a columnist for industry news site Pharmalot, panned the comment  as "outrageous."

"No one said profits are verboten," he wrote. "But should we let some Americans who may contract the coronavirus die because the price is out of reach?"

Agence France-Presse

Kissing unlikely to pass on Zika virus — researchers

PARIS, France — Kissing is unlikely to pass on the Zika virus, which is harmless for most people but can cause severe brain damage in unborn children, a study with monkeys showed Monday.

Saliva, it concluded, was not a very effective carrier of the virus, which is known to spread through mosquito bites and sex.

“Our study suggests to us that kissing or sharing cutlery poses very little risk,” said study co-author Thomas Friedrich of the University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine.

“The only time this would not be true is if the Zika-infected person were very, very sick and had an extremely high amount of virus in their body and fluids,” he told AFP.

“Because only one such case is known, we expect this is very rare indeed.”

Friedrich was referring to a case in Utah in the United States last year, when a man contracted the Zika virus while taking care of his dying father. He never touched his father’s blood or other body fluids.

Tests found an unusually high concentration of Zika virus in the father’s blood — some 100,000 times greater than in most patients, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Friedrich and a team set out to test whether Zika can be passed on via the saliva of an infected person.

They conducted two sets of experiments, and reported the results in the journal Nature Communications.

In the first, the team applied Zika virus directly to the tonsils of three macaque monkeys, to show that it can, theoretically, spread through oral contact. All three were infected.

The team then took saliva samples from a different set of monkeys, which had been injected with virus in a concentration similar to what humans would get from a mosquito, and swabbed the tonsils of five healthy peers with it.

Oral sex risk?

None of the five contracted the virus, nor did a pair that had their nostrils or eyelids swabbed.

The monkeys were chosen for the study because they closely resemble humans physically and genetically.

The course of Zika infection in macaques is similar to that in humans, with a similar virus amount, duration of infection, and virus persistence in body fluids.

“So altogether we think our results do apply well to the human situation,” said Friedrich.

The virus is known to remain in the blood and saliva of infected people for about two weeks, but can remain in breast milk and semen for months.

“So transmission by oral sex or by breastfeeding is possible, though the level of risk is not known,” said Friedrich. This was not tested in the study.

Adding monkey spit to virus in a petri dish showed that saliva itself may thwart the virus with anti-microbial action, the team added.

But until we know more, caution is advised.

“Of course, any time someone you know has an infectious disease, it is best to refrain from kissing or sharing food or cutlery until they are feeling better,” said Friedrich.

Since Zika erupted on a large scale in mid-2015, more than 1.5 million people have been infected with the virus, mostly in Brazil and other countries in South America.

In most people, it causes no symptoms, or light ones such as an itchy rash.

But it is very dangerous for fetuses — more than 2,200 babies have been born with Zika-related microcephaly, a shrinking of the brain and skull, according to the World Health Organization.

Many others died before birth.

source: lifestyle.inquirer.net