What you need to know about coronavirus on Tuesday, December 29th

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One thing became clearer Monday: the scale of the crisis in the midst of the pandemic was probably almost 10 times the official level of confirmed cases. According to a study by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, an estimated nearly half a million residents in the Chinese city of Wuhan were infected with Covid-19 reports, Nectar Gan.

The study, conducted a month after China’s “first wave of Covid-19 infection,” found an antibody frequency level of 4.43% for Covid-19 among residents in Wuhan, a city of 11 million person. On Sunday, Wuhan had reported 50,354 confirmed cases of the virus, according to the Wuhan Urban Health Commission.

The study aimed to estimate the extent of past infections in a population by testing serum blood samples from a pool of humans for coronavirus antibodies. His findings are not considered definitive statistics on how many people in a particular area have been exposed to the virus.

Yanzhong Huang, a former chief for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations, said the study points to a problem of underreporting in diseases at the height of the uprising in Wuhan, partly due to the uproar at the time, and a failure to include asymptomatic cases in the official account of confirmed cases. Deficiency is a problem facing health authorities in many countries, often due to lack of capacity and resources. Antibody studies conducted by researchers in other parts of the world also show that the virus was much more common than official statistics suggest.

But in China, there is also a question of transparency, as officials have given the public more optimistic data than they had access to internally, according to previous reports by CNN. Authorities have retrieved citizen journalists who have reported the true truth about hospitalization in Wuhan. On Monday, Zhang Zhan, a former lawyer who reported on the uprising at Wuhan, was sentenced to four years in prison for “building quarries and causing trouble”. . ” Two other independent journalists – Li Zehua and Fang Bin – were also detained after they broadcast the incident.
Former lawyer Zhang Zhan arrived in Wuhan in early February to report the pandemic and the subsequent efforts to contain it. She was sentenced to four years in prison on Monday.

WE WILL NOT. We ANSWER

Q: When is the pandemic over?

A: Many people around the world are raising their hopes on the vaccine, but even that is not a quick fix. It may take years for most of the world’s population to be vaccinated – something that would be necessary to stop the spread – and census figures show that some people may not to be vaccinated.

Even so, vaccination is not a silver bullet. Apparently, even when the vaccine is widespread, we may still need to stay with the virus. After all, only one virus in human history has been eradicated by vaccination – smallpox.

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WHAT’S IMPORTANT

U.S. hospitals could register forcing health professionals to limit care

The U.S. reported 121,235 patients were hospitalized with coronavirus Monday, the highest number since the outbreak began. Intensive care Covid-19 patients have risen from 16% in September to 40% last week, and health experts anticipate that holiday travel could mean an “increase in surgeon’s top . “At this point, health experts are warning that they may have to give nurses, respiratory and care a dose, Madeline Holcombe reports.

Among the bad news, health experts say vaccination needs to be accelerated. To date, approximately 2.1 million vaccine doses have been administered in the U.S. and more than 11.4 million doses have been dispensed as of Monday, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Despite these improvements, Drs. Ashish Jha, dean of Brown University’s School of Public Health, said Monday that the U.S. is falling behind countries like Israel and Canada in the pace of vaccination efforts. “We need to build this up a lot,” he said.

UK back in the ‘eye of the storm’ as things go up

The United Kingdom recorded the highest 41,385 coronavirus cases on Monday and 357 deaths. “We are back in the eye of the storm with the second wave of coronavirus sweeping Europe and, indeed, this country,” said Simon Stevens, head of the National Health Service in England on Monday.

In England, the number of people hospitalized (20,246) is now higher than at the first peak of the pandemic in April (19,000). This is worse than the number forecast by the British Medical Journal and the Journal of the Health Service earlier in December, when they warned the government that they should reverse their decision to suspend Covid’s restrictions. -19 over Christmas.

South Africa is tightening restrictions as a new variable is found overseas

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced stricter restrictions on the country as new issues escalate at an “unprecedented rate.” The news comes after the launch of Covid’s new version. -19 detected in South Africa and cases escalated over the Christmas period.More than 50,000 new cases have been reported since Christmas Eve, and hospitals are close to capacity in several areas, Ramaphosa said.

Under the strict restrictions, all indoor and outdoor collections are banned for 14 days, the nationwide curfew will be extended, the sale of alcohol will be banned, and mask wear will become a legal requirement – with non-compliance leading to fines or up to six months in prison.

“We have let down our guard, and unfortunately we are now paying the price,” Ramaphosa said. The UK and South Africa announced different versions of Covid-19 this month, prompting several countries to ban flights and ban visas from both countries – the most recent of which South Korea.

AIR ON RADAR

  • Vice President Kamala Harris is expected to receive her first dose of live Covid-19 vaccine on camera from Washington, DC, Tuesday. Her vaccine comes just over a week after President Joe Biden was shot.
  • British tourists fled the Swiss ski resort of Verbier “secretly” under cover of darkness rather than applying for a new quarantine imposed on UK visitors.
  • Famous Mexican writer and singer Armando Manzanero died Monday morning after battling Covid-19 for weeks.
  • Biotech company Novavax – which announced the launch of a Phase 3 trial of their Covid-19 vaccine in the US on Monday – confirmed that they are also testing its boot against the UK strain of coronavirus that appears to move more easily.
  • When Covid first began to spread around the world, there seemed to be no worse place to be caught than to board a cruise ship. From the unprecedented scramble for a safe harbor to gloomy ghost ships, this is how the maritime world has been turned on its head.

Why nasal congestion is dangerous during a coronavirus

Most of us choose our noses – some 91% according to the same similar study (small and old) that has ever been done on the subject, perhaps showing how little even scientists want to think about it.

Not only do you spread your own bacteria and viruses on everything you rub after a bout of gold digging – but you also “move germs from your fingers into the nose, which is just the opposite of what you want, “said infectious disease expert Dr. Paul Pottinger, a professor at the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle. you can spread coronavirus to others from your nose-raising session, and you are more likely to get that virus, along with others such as the flu or rhinovirus (the common cold), into your body.

TODAY PODCAST

“I can’t wait for the day when I don’t have to be on TV all day talking about the number of deaths due to Covid-19.” – CNN chief medical journalist Dr. Sanjay Gupta

What is the first thing you want to do when it is safe to see your friends and family again? In the final program of the year, Dr. Gupta will share your biggest hopes and dreams for 2021. more clearly. Listen now.

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