HealthAlert

05/02/2021

Take care!

02/10/2020

Even an effective coronavirus vaccine will not return life to normal in spring, a group of leading scientists has warned.
A vaccine is often seen as the holy grail that will end the pandemic.
But a report, from researchers brought together by the Royal Society, said we needed to be "realistic" about what a vaccine could achieve and when.
They said restrictions may need to be "gradually relaxed" as it could take up to a year to roll the vaccine out.
More than 200 vaccines to protect against the virus are being developed by scientists around the world in a process that is taking place at unprecedented speed.

01/10/2020

The pandemic has since spread to 188 countries with more than 32 million confirmed cases. Lockdowns and other measures to try to stop the virus spreading have thrown many economies into recession.
Meanwhile, efforts to develop an effective vaccine are continuing - although the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that the death toll could hit two million before one is widely available.

The US has the world's highest death toll with about 205,000 fatalities followed by Brazil on 141,700 and India with 95,500 deaths.
Where is Covid-19 spreading the fastest?
The US has recorded more than seven million cases - more than a fifth of the world's total. After a second wave of cases in July, numbers dropped in August but appear to be on the rise again now.

The coronavirus has been spreading fast in India, with the country recording about 90,000 cases a day earlier in September.

Brazil has the highest number of deaths in Latin America and has recorded more than 4.7 million cases, the third highest in the world.
Elsewhere in the region, newly confirmed infections are also rising quickly in Argentina, which now has more than 700,000 cases.

21/09/2020

Coronavirus: 5G and microchip conspiracies around the world

Some of the most persistent conspiracy theories surrounding the coronavirus pandemic have continued to spread around the world.
We've picked out some of the most pervasive false claims and look at how far they've travelled.
5G to Bolivia and beyond
There's absolutely no way 5G mobile phone signals either transmit the virus or reduce our defences to it - we've debunked these claims, which scientists say are biologically impossible.
But this hasn't stopped these rumours going global, leading to protests even in countries where the technology doesn't yet exist.

In Bolivia, the sharing of videos of telecommunications equipment along with claims 5G is responsible for coronavirus, have led to attacks on masts in two towns.

There is no 5G technology in the country, says Adriana Olivera, a journalist at Bolivia Verifica , but "after seeing these rumours, combined with the fact that everyone is confined to lockdown, it led to people pulling down antennas in K'ara K'ara and Yapacani".
* Latin America's coronavirus crisis in numbers

Image caption
Anti-5G posts have also been shared in Peru
Even some senior politicians and religious leaders have been spreading false claims about the technology, linking it to the spread of the virus.
A former Nigerian senator, in a video shared 25,000 times on Facebook, has said the pandemic is purely cover for the introduction of 5G, suggesting it causes harm.
"Those with underlying medical conditions," he says, "are easily consumed by the reaction of this 5G technology and they die."
An evangelical pastor in Tanzania said on Instagram and YouTube that the push for the mobile technology is behind the spread of coronavirus.
A former grand m***i in Egypt has spoken on television about the 5G network and how it might have caused electromagnetic disturbance, creating a perfect environment for the spread of coronavirus.
Meanwhile in Europe, fearmongering has also led to protests and attacks on masts.
The BBC has reported on dozens of incidents of antenna-destruction in the UK.
* Man jailed for 5G phone mast arson attack
* The Inquiry: Why are people attacking 5G mobile phone masts?

Image caption
Bill Gates has featured a lot in Serbian media during the pandemic
In Serbia, 5G conspiracies and speculation about Bill Gates have also been popular both on television and in the tabloid press, where stories are often drawn from English or Russian sources.
"So we get to see the same fake news content as the UK, US or elsewhere," says Lazara Marinkovic, who reports on disinformation for BBC News Serbian.
Celebrities have also fed into the speculation, including Novak Djokovic who revealed his opposition to vaccinations in April and his wife Jelena who shared a video which promoted conspiracies about 5G.
A spreader of the 5G claims in the English-speaking world has been David Icke - the British conspiracy theorist kicked off Facebook and YouTube.
Clips where he discusses a link between 5G and the virus have been censored on social media but are still accessible online, racking up hundreds of thousands of views on Russian YouTube and Facebook accounts.

Bill Gates and microchips
There's no getting away from billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates in the world of the pandemic conspiracy theorists.
One of the most widespread false claims is that the pandemic is a grand plan masterminded by Bill Gates to implant microchips into humans along with a coronavirus vaccine.
Despite the total lack of evidence to support the theory, its global reach has been substantial. The international fact checking network, IFCN, contains a database with coronavirus fact checks from their network of partners. It shows fact-checkers in at least 14 countries have debunked local versions of the microchip theory, including in Greece, Kazakhstan, the Philippines and Mexico.
One YouTube video from Argentina which endorses the theory has clocked up 1.3 million views.
Another Facebook video from Pakistan repeats the claim and has been viewed almost 650,000 times since it was posted in May.
Some versions of the theory put their own local spin on it. In Arabic the imaginary microchips were dubbed "Antichrist chips" in a video with over 375,000 views on YouTube and multiple posts on Facebook.

BBC News Brazil has spotted a version of the "microchip" theory in messages circulating on WhatsApp and Facebook in Portuguese. Users are copying and pasting a chunk of text which opens with the words: "I have to confess, Bill Gates is really an evil genius! It's easy to control submissive people."
The message goes on to claim that Bill Gates is finalising plans for a "stamp-shaped vaccine that goes under the skin" and that this will be linked to an individual's social media profiles in order to control them via 5G.
The combination of the microchip theory with 5G conspiracies was given a boost in Brazil by Allan dos Santos, a strong supporter of President Bolsonaro, who is being investigated by a Brazilian federal inquiry into "fake news".
In a tweet which has been liked more than 14,000 times he quotes a Pakistani commentator as saying Bill Gates wants to implant a nano-chip vaccine to control the population through 5G. Somewhat distancing himself from the claims, he adds "Absurd? It is necessary to debate this."

16/09/2020

Chinese Scientist Says Covid Came From Government Lab In Wuhan: Report

New Delhi: In a stunning revelation, a Chinese virologist has claimed that the coronavirus was created in a government-controlled laboratory in Wuhan, the original epicentre of the outbreak.
The scientist also offered scientific evidence to back her claims.
In an exclusive conversation with ''Loose Women'', a British talk show, scientist Dr Li-Meng Yan said she was assigned to investigate "new pneumonia" in Wuhan. She said that she discovered a cover-up operation regarding coronavirus during her investigation.

Dr Li-Meng, who specialised in virology and immunology at the Hong Kong School of Public Health, said she conducted two researches on new pneumonia in China - first between December and early January, and the second one in mid-January, before fleeing to the US from Hong Kong.
"I decided to report this development to my supervisor, who is also a World Health Organisation (WHO) consultant. There was no response from the WHO and my supervisor. Everyone warned me that do not cross the right line and keep silence or else I would be made to disappear," she said.

The virologist said she had expected her supervisor to "do the right thing on behalf of the Chinese government and WHO".
Several countries, including the US, have criticised both China and WHO for covering-up the severity of the coronavirus outbreak.

Dr Li-Meng revealed she had contacted a famous Chinese YouTuber in the US. The expose, which was in Chinese, said that the Chinese Communist Party was covering up the COVID-19 crisis and there was a human-to-human transmission of the virus.
She also said that coronavirus is a "high-mutant virus" which will become an outbreak soon and the seafood market in Wuhan and the virus's intermediate hosts were just a "smokescreen".

The doctor then made the stunning revelation that the "virus is not from nature" and it was from a "laboratory controlled by the Chinese government in Wuhan".
"This is based on the China Military Institute that discovered and owned some bad coronavirus named CC45 and ZXC41. Based on that, after lab modification becomes a novel virus," she said.

Asked if she had scientific proof about the revelation, Dr Li-Meng said she has intelligence from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), local doctors and other people across China. "These are the truths and all other things were covered up," she added.
The virologist said she is working on a scientific report with a small group of top scientists across the world and the same will be published soon.
"There are two reports. The first one will come in several days and it will tell the people all the evidence," she said, adding that the coronavirus is a highly contagious and a dangerous virus.
Asked whether she was worried about her safety after fleeing Hong Kong, the doctor remarked she wanted to deliver the message as soon as possible to the world.
"It was very scary at that time. But I had to do it because I am a doctor and I cannot see it happen. If I do not tell the truth to the world, I will be regretful. So, this foundation which is based in New York, helped me to secretly leave Hong Kong. They help people who are against the Chinese government," she added.
Giving an insight into her unpublished scientific report, Dr Li-Meng said anyone, even those who do not have knowledge of biology, can read it.

"The genome sequence is like our human fingerprint. So, based on this you can recognise and identify this thing. So, I used the evidence existing in the genome sequence of Sars-CoV-2 to tell people why this came from China and why they are the only ones who made it," she stated.
She further said, "You can check, identify and verify it by yourself. It is a critical thing for us to know the origins of the virus. If not, it will be life-threatening for everyone."

31/08/2020

Elon Musk unveils brain chip implant: 'It's like a Fitbit in your skull'
The coin-sized device could help a paralyzed person operate technology.
Tech mogul Elon Musk unveiled his latest foray into science fiction Friday night: a brain chip implant to allow people who are paralyzed to operate technology, such as smartphones or robotic limbs, with their thoughts.
"I think it's going to blow your minds," Musk said. "It's like a Fitbit in your skull with tiny wires."
But the coin-sized chips, developed by Musk's secretive startup Neuralink, are a ways off from being useful to humans. Friday's livestreamed YouTube demonstration was on a pig named Gertrude, who Musk said had a brain chip implanted two months earlier.

As the pig shuffled around its pen sniffing hay, a computer beeped and blue wavelengths on the screen jumped up and down. Musk said the computer was measuring Gertrude's brain activity. "The beeps you are hearing are real-time signals," he said. "The future's going to be weird."

But the "move fast and break things" ethos that defines Silicon Valley has not always been kind to inventors who try their luck in bio technology. Medical innovation is notoriously slow. Conducting clinical trials to prove the safety and efficacy of medical devices can take years.

31/08/2020

More than 25 million people have been infected with Covid-19 since the pandemic began and 842,000 have died, according to Johns Hopkins University's global tally.
A CDC forecast projects more than 200,000 coronavirus deaths in the United States by Sept. 19, as the country approaches 6 million confirmed coronavirus cases.
At least 36 states have reported positive cases at colleges and universities as a new school year starts, with the University of Alabama alone recording 1,200 cases.
India reported 78,761 new cases in 24 hours and has now recorded 3,542,733 cases in total — behind only the US and Brazil.

22/08/2020

Coronavirus pandemic could be over within two years

The head of the World Health ( ) says he hopes the coronavirus pandemic will be over in under two years.
Speaking in Geneva, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the Spanish flu of 1918 had taken two years to overcome.
But he added that current advances in technology could enable the world to halt the virus "in a shorter time".
"Of course with more connectiveness, the virus has a better chance of spreading," he said.
"But at the same time, we have also the technology to stop it, and the knowledge to stop it," he noted, stressing the importance of "national unity, global solidarity".
The flu of 1918 killed at least 50 million people.
Coronavirus has so far killed almost 800,000 people and infected nearly 23 million.
And what do you think about it ?
When will stop?
Will we ever be able to get back to again ?

18/08/2020

Russian Covid-19 vaccine updates: Sputnik V will end coronavirus
Russia Covid-19 Vaccine Updates: The Phase-III human trials of the Sputnik V vaccine would begin in 7-10 days and several tens of thousands of people would be vaccinated.

, which last week became the first country to
grant regulatory approval to a Covid-19 amid scepticism from the global scientific community has released a video showing how the ‘Sputnik V’ jab would end the novel coronovirus.
The 38-second promotional video, created by the Russian Direct Investment Fund, which has bankrolled the project, shows how the Sputnik V vaccine, named after the first artificial satellite, emerges and slowly eradicates the novel coronavirus from the world, with cases rising to 21.6 million, including 7,74,000 deaths. Another video showing the vaccine’s production has also been released, Sputnik News reported.

Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed the vaccine, developed by Moscow’s Gamaleya Institute along with the Defence Ministry, worked “quite effectively” and formed “stable immunity” against the disease.

Phase III trials to begin in 7-10 days
According to the Tass news agency, the mandatory phase-III human trials of the Sputnik V vaccine would begin in 7-10 days and several tens of thousands of people would be vaccinated. The research will be conducted in the Moscow Region.

“On August 17, we will present the first version of the protocol on post-registration research. Given this great interest and attention of the public and the press, I think that the Health Ministry won’t delay the process and will approve the protocol within a week,” Alexander Gintsburg, Director of the Gamaleya National Research Center, was quoted as saying to Tass.
The vaccine went through phase-I and phase-II testing in superfast time, the entire process being completed in less than two months, with the government skipping Phase III trials before granting approval.

West trying to ‘lure away’ our scientists: Gamaleya head
In sensational claims, Alexander Gintsburg, head of the Gamaleya National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology, said Western research institutions were seeking to “lure” away its scientists to work for them.
“Our researchers have been working at the Gamaleya Institute for ten years…Any American or European university can only dream of having such researchers. And they are seeking to lure them away. But they won’t be able to,” Gintsburg told the Rossiya-1 television channel.
The remarks come amid Western health officials questioning the efficacy and safety of the Russian vaccine as no data on the results of the human clinical trials had been published so far.

About 52% Russian doctors say they won’t get vaccinated: Survey
With Russia planning to administer the first batch of Sputnik V vaccines to health professionals, a survey has found that more than half of Russian doctors are not ready to get vaccinated. An online survey reported by the RBC news website, stated that about one in two Russian medics – 52 per cent – said that they won’t take the Sputnik V vaccine.
Out of the 52 per cent Russian medics who said they won’t administer the new vaccine, 66 per cent cited insufficient data proving its effectiveness while 48 per cent said it was developed too quickly. Only 24.5 per cent are ready to get vaccinated, the Moscow Times report said.
Recently, Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said the first batch of shots would be received primarily by doctors on a voluntary basis.

14/08/2020

Coronavirus is continuing its spread across the world, with nearly 21 million confirmed cases in 188 countries. About 750,000 people have lost their lives.
Cases of the disease are continuing to surge in many countries, while others which had apparent success in suppressing initial outbreaks are now seeing infections rise again.

Where are cases and deaths rising?
Latin America is the epicentre of the pandemic, according to the World Health Organization.
Brazil has the second highest number of cases in the world, after the US, and has recorded more than 100,000 deaths. Mexico, the second-most affected country in the region, has recorded more than 50,000 deaths.
Cases have also risen rapidly in Colombia, Peru, Argentina and Venezuela.
Outside Latin America, Iran is another country that has been badly hit. Official figures show cases on the rise again and a death toll of nearly 20,000 - but
documents leached to the BBC Persian service suggest the real number is actually more than double that.

In Africa, South Africa and Egypt have seen the largest outbreaks so far, with South Africa becoming only the fifth country in the world to record more than 500,000 confirmed cases.
Across the continent, there have been more than a million confirmed cases, although the true extent of the pandemic there is not known. Testing rates are reported to be low, which could distort official estimates.

13/08/2020

13/08/2020

Unregulated social media platforms like Facebook and YouTube may present a health risk to the UK because they are spreading conspiracy theories about coronavirus.
That's the conclusion of a peer-reviewed study published in the journal Psychological Medicine, which finds people who get their news from social media sources are more likely to break lockdown rules.
The research team from Kings College London suggests social media news sites may need to do more to regulate misleading content.
"One wonders how long this state of affairs can be allowed to persist while social media platforms continue to provide a worldwide distribution mechanism for medical misinformation," the report concludes.
The study analysed surveys conducted across Britain in April and May this year.
said it had removed "hundreds of thousands" of coronavirus posts that could have led to harm, while putting warning labels on "90 million pieces of misinformation" globally in March and April.
People were asked if they believed a number of relating to -19: that the was made in a laboratory, that death and infection figures were being manipulated by the authorities, that symptoms were linked to 5G radiation or that there was no hard evidence the virus even exists.
None of these theories has any basis in verifiable fact.
Those who believed such conspiracies were significantly more likely to get their news from unregulated social media. For example, 56% of people who believe that there's no hard evidence coronavirus exists get a lot of their information from Facebook, compared with 20% of those who reject the conspiracy theory.
Sixty percent of those who believe there is a link between 5G and Covid-19 get a fair amount or great deal of their information on the virus from YouTube. Only 14% of those who reject the theory are regular YouTube users.

And 45% of people who believe Covid-19 deaths are being exaggerated by the authorities get a lot of their news on the virus from Facebook, more than twice the 19% of non-believers who say the same.
"There was a strong positive relationship between use of social media platforms as sources of knowledge about Covid-19 and holding one or more conspiracy beliefs," the study finds. "YouTube had the strongest association with conspiracy beliefs, followed by Facebook."

The research also found that people who have left home with possible Covid-19 symptoms were more than twice or three times as likely than those who haven't to get information about the virus from Facebook or YouTube.
People that admitted having had family or friends visit them at home were also much more likely to get their information about coronavirus from social media than those who have stuck by the rules.
The researchers conclude that there is a strong link between belief in conspiracy theories about the virus and risky behaviour during restrictions imposed to prevent its spread.
"Conspiracy beliefs act to inhibit health-protective behaviours," the study concludes, and "social media act as a vector for such beliefs."
The report notes that when misinformation about Covid-19 was propagated by conspiracy theorist David Icke on the local London Live TV station
Do you believe in conspiracy theories?