H5N1

DRC Ebola: A new confirmed case in Beni

Via Provinces 26 DRC: DRC-Ebola: a new confirmed case in Beni. I believe this is the 8th recent case. The Google translation:

While health news remains dominated by the coronavirus pandemic in the DRC, the Ebola epidemic in the eastern provinces continues to sow desolation as the country approached the end of this disease. 

The Beni health zone in North Kivu province has registered a new confirmed case of Ebola virus disease on April 27, 2020. It is a 39-year-old woman living in the health area from Kasanga, listed as contact for the confirmed case of April 10. Irregularly followed for safety reasons, this woman started to show signs of the disease on April 21 with an exposure period ranging from April 4 to 17. From the start of the signs until April 25, she stayed at home. It was on April 25 that she was admitted to the Ndindi cantonment site in Kanzulinzuli. 

She was taken by ambulance to the Beni Transit Center after the alert launched by the response contact response teams because of the added signs. She was investigated, validated and confirmed positive the same day, then transferred to the Beni treatment center. 

It should be noted that, this woman was discharged as a non-case on April 20 from the Ebola treatment center in Beni, where she was interned from April 17 to 20. Thirty-eight contacts, including the entire cantonment site, were pre-listed. Among these contacts are nine family members and thirty-three people already vaccinated. The cantonment site was decontaminated on April 27 and vaccination around this case began on April 28. 

Recall that since the beginning of the epidemic, the cumulative number of cases is three thousand four hundred and sixty-two, including three thousand three hundred and seventeen confirmed and one hundred and forty-five probable. In total, two thousand two hundred and seventy-nine deaths were recorded against one thousand one hundred and seventy people healed.

COVID-19: The homecoming plight facing Chinese stranded in Russia

Via Caixin Global: The Homecoming Plight Facing Chinese Stranded in Russia. Excerpt:

Thousands of Chinese merchants and others working in Russia may be stuck there as Chinese authorities struggle to prevent sick travelers from reigniting the Covid-19 pandemic amid a tenuous recovery. 

Travelers must present test results showing they were free of the deadly coronavirus within 72 hours of boarding Air China flights from Moscow to China under a government policy taking effect May 1, according to the Chinese embassy in Russia. The move may strand many Chinese nationals who are eager to return home for medical care.  

The easing of the domestic outbreak has allowed a steady reopening across China more than two months after the world’s most populous country locked down cities nationwide to fight the first wave of the pandemic. China now faces mounting pressure to control imported cases. There were 22 new infections Tuesday in China, 21 of which involved travelers from abroad, the National Health Commission said Wednesday.

Since early April, dozens of Covid-19 cases were found among passengers on several Air China flights arriving from Moscow. The weekly flight CA910 is the only one remaining in operation between the two countries amid the pandemic.  

Chinese living in Russia fear that China’s largest neighbor is running out of medical resources, according to a Chinese merchant in Moscow. The pandemic is raging in Russia as the country has recorded more than 99,000 cases and nearly 980 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.  

China and Russia temporary closed their land border crossings in the northeast earlier this month. Suifenhe, a small Chinese town where the two countries have a border crossing, implemented a strict lockdown after many Chinese returning from Russia were found to have contracted the virus. 

Health authorities in northwest China’s Shaanxi province reported 20 new confirmed infections and five asymptomatic cases among passengers on a CA910 flight that landed at the provincial capital Xi’an Monday. All travelers arriving there are required to take a virus test before they can transfer to other Chinese cities. 

All of the newly confirmed patients were Chinese nationals. A total of 148 people, all passengers on the flight, were placed under isolation for further medical observation, the provincial health commission said. 

Many Chinese merchants in Russia, especially those who suspect they may be infected, worry that they won’t be able to get treatment in Russia and want to return to China, a Moscow-based trader told Caixin. 

There were about 160,000 Chinese nationals in Russia, according to China’s ambassador to Moscow, Zhang Hanhui, in an April 7 interview with China’s state broadcaster. Many of them are merchants who worked at Moscow’s Lyublino and Sadovod markets. 

Clusters of infection have emerged at the two markets. According to Zhang, mass testing organized by the embassy of 300 Chinese business people found 96 positive results. The markets were closed in late March for the outbreak. 

A Chinese businessman calling himself Kai was among the 20 CA910 passengers who were confirmed infected upon arrival Monday in Xi’an and were hospitalized. 

“I had some symptoms (back in Russia) and was scared. I came back for treatment,” said Kai, a trader at the Lyublino market.  

Kai said he started to experience diarrhea and lose the sense of smell in mid-April. But without symptoms including high fever and breathing difficulties, most patients in Russia are not admitted to hospitals.  

Most of the passengers on the flight were Chinese merchants in Russia and wore protective gear during the trip, Kai said. They took multiple body temperature tests before boarding and during the flight. Some passengers admitted to crew that they took medicine to control body temperature before the flight. About seven people showed fevers during the flight and were isolated in the rear of the cabin, Kai said. 

His economy-class ticket cost 14,800 yuan ($2,090), compared with the normal price of less than 3,000 yuan, Kai said. Options for returning to China have become limited since Russia halted most international flights last month.

US: Hundreds of Georgia’s poultry workers have tested positive for COVID-19

Via The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: EXCLUSIVE: Hundreds of Georgia’s poultry workers have tested positive for COVID-19. Excerpt:

Nearly 400 workers in Georgia’s prized poultry industry have tested positive for the disease caused by the coronavirus, and one has died from his illness, according to Georgia Department of Public Health statistics obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. 

 The 388 workers who have been sickened by COVID-19 represent about 2% of the estimated 16,500 people employed at 14 chicken processing plants across the state.

Obtained from hospitals and poultry plants, the data do not identify the workers or say where they contracted COVID-19. But the head of Baldwin-based Fieldale Farms said a 63-year-old Hispanic man with “other health issues” who worked at the company’s chicken plant in Cornelia died from the disease this month. Many immigrants and refugees work in the state’s poultry industry.

“The biggest challenge for these employees is the community widespread transmission in the areas where they live, the lack of education about COVID-19, and reluctance to change behaviors,” said Georgia Public Health spokeswoman Nancy Nydam, adding that her agency has received many anecdotal reports of people attending large social gatherings, house parties and religious services.

“Also, most live in multi-generational homes with large numbers of family members (12-14 persons),” she said. “They have no place to self-isolate if they are sick with COVID-19 and the whole family ends up getting sick.” 

News of the illnesses comes as President Donald Trump is vowing to prevent food shortages by ensuring America’s meat and poultry processors “continue operations uninterrupted to the maximum extent possible.” He signed a related executive order Tuesday.

Nationwide, at least 20 meatpacking workers have died from COVID-19 and more than 5,000 have been hospitalized for it or are showing symptoms of the disease, according to the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union. Meanwhile, 22 meatpacking plants have closed during the last two months, resulting in a 25% reduction in pork slaughter capacity and a 10% percent drop in beef slaughter capacity, the union said. 

Georgia’s $41 billion poultry industry — it directly employs 45,591 people and is responsible for about 15% of the nation’s poultry production — is racing to prevent such disruptions.

“Georgia’s poultry producers have implemented extraordinary measures to protect employees from the COVID-19 virus while continuing to produce over 31 million pounds of chicken and 7 million table eggs daily to restock the supply chains that feed people throughout the United States,” said Mike Giles, president of the Georgia Poultry Federation.

Giles highlighted the precautions Fieldale Farms has adopted at its chicken processing plants in Gainesville, Murrayville and Cornelia. The employees who work there must don masks, wash their hands in disinfectant and have their temperatures checked before they can go to work each day, said Tom Hensley, president of the Baldwin-based company. Those with high temperatures are referred to a nurse, who asks them a series of questions to determine whether they should be tested for COVID-19. The workers sent home to be tested are paid while they are away.

Eighty-seven of the plants’ 4,000 workers have tested positive for COVID-19, Hensley said. Fifteen have recovered and returned to their jobs.

WHO AFRO COVID-19 - Sitrep 09 (2020)

WHO AFRO has published Situation Report - COVID-19 - Sitrep 09 (2020).

A steady increase in the number of cases has been observed in the WHO African Region since the first case of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was reported on 25 February 2020 in Algeria. All Member States have since been affected, with the exemption of Comoros and Lesotho where there have been no official reports of confirmed COVID-19 cases to date. 

Since our last situation report on 22 April 2020 (External Situation Report 8), there has been a 52% increase in the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases (7 982 additional cases) and a 26% increase in the number of COVID-19 related deaths (183 additional deaths) reported in the WHO African Region. As of 28 April 2020, a cumulative total of 22 376 confirmed COVID-19 cases with 899 deaths (case fatality ratio 4.0%) have been reported across the 45 affected countries in the region. With the rising number of COVID-19 cases, the overall case fatality ratio fell from 4.7% to 4.0% during the reporting period. 

The number of reported new cases has increased by 42% in week 17 (n= 6 254 cases) compared to week 16 (n= 4 419 cases). Although the outbreak has been ongoing for over 9 weeks, the majority (88%) of cases were reported over the past five weeks. Out of the 45 affected countries, 10 (22%) reported over 500 cases, 14 (31%) reported between 100 and 499 cases and 21 (47) reported fewer than 100 cases. 

Seven countries have registered more than 1 000 confirmed COVID-19 cases, including, South Africa (4 996), Algeria (3 649), Cameroon (1 705), Ghana (1 671), Nigeria (1 337), Guinea (1 240) and Côte d’Ivoire (1 164). Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea and Nigeria are the latest countries to cross the 1 000 cases mark this week. Together, these seven most affected countries account for 71% of the cases reported in the region. 

Among countries with widespread transmission, the highest case fatality ratios were observed in Algeria (12.0%), Liberia (11.3%), Burkina Faso (6.6%), Democratic Republic of the Congo (6.1%) and Mali (5.7%). Algeria alone accounted for 49% of COVID-19 deaths reported in the region. 

In week 17 (week ending 26 April 2020), five countries observed an exponential increase in their weekly case incidence; these include Equatorial Guinea 299% (from 79 to 315 cases), Central African Republic 257% (from 14 to 50 cases), Eswatini 196% (from 24 to 71 cases), Nigeria 147% (from 541 to 1 337 cases) and Sierra Leone 108% (50 to 104 cases). Since our last report on 22 April 2020, five countries including Eritrea, Gambia, Mauritania, Namibia and Seychelles have not reported any new confirmed COVID-19 cases. 

Notably, a critical group of people, health workers, have been greatly affected by the COVID-19 outbreak, with 423 infections registered from 23 counties in the region since the beginning of the outbreak. Niger has been the most affected, with 126 health workers infected, followed by Côte d’Ivoire (72), Cameroon (40), Mauritius (30), Ghana (25) and Senegal (22). 

Other countries that recorded health worker infections include Democratic Republic of the Congo (20), Sierra Leone (17), Zambia (15), Equatorial Guinea (13), South Africa (13), Togo (6), Madagascar (5), Congo (4), Eswatini (3), Uganda (3), Kenya (2), Namibia (2), Benin (1), Burundi (1), Central African Republic (1), Guinea-Bissau (1) and Zimbabwe (1).  

Information on sex and age is currently available for 4 361 (20%) of cases. The male to female ratio among confirmed cases is 1.8, and the median age is 42 years old (range: 0 - 105). The distribution of cases according to age and sex is presented in figure 4; older males continue to be disproportionately affected by this disease.

Finnish PM Marin to Parliament on COVID-19: "The Government has made mistakes"

Via Foreigner.fi: Marin to Parliament: "The Government has made mistakes". Excerpt:

Prime Minister Sanna Marin admits that the government has made mistakes in handling the crisis stemming from the Covid-19 epidemic. "We have had to make decisions in the midst of uncertainty and under severe time presure," she emphasized. 

Marín (SDP) visited the Finnish Parliament (Eduskunta) on Wednesday to explain the measures taken in order to curb the epidemic. Before the MPs, the head of the Government made a humble speech, in which she admitted that "in the midst of this crisis, the Government has also made mistakes." 

As examples of these mistakes, the head of the government cited first the "unclear situation" experienced at the Helsinki airport at the beginning of this crisis. A situation that allowed the entry into the country of thousands of Finns who returned from other countries without being subjected to medical controls. According to the Prime Minister, this situation "went on for too long" thought it "should have been resolved more quickly." This was later rectified and the Government imposed controls upon arrivals.  

Later, without leaving the chapter dedicated to errors, Marin referred to the recent controversies derived from subsidies to companies by Business Finland and the failed purchases of protective equipment. 

"The targeting of business subsidies is being investigated and solutions are being sought by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment. We still face challenges in obtaining protective equipment and healthcare supplies, both in Finland and in many other countries, but we are looking into solutions to deal with this issue," she said.  

"Mistakes will also be made in the future" 

The head of the government appealed to the humanity of those who make the decisions and to the difficulty of always being right. Especially in the midst of a scenario as uncertain as the one caused by this crisis: 

"It is absolutely certain that mistakes will also be made in the future. This is because we cannot know everything or predict all possible scenarios. People also fail and make mistakes because we are human," she stressed.  

For these reasons, Marin emphasized it is "extremely important" that the authorities record their experiences in this crisis. "We must learn lessons from the crisis and, once the acute situation is over, we must carefully assess the functioning of our central government, cooperation between authorities and our national preparedness for emergencies.".  

"Based on our experiences so far, I can say that we have lacked the instruments needed to deal with times of crisis, and we have had to create them along the way under far too tight a preparation schedule," the Prime Minister told Parliament. 

"The disease is unpredictable" 

Marin said the Government was also "surprised by the epidemic and its social and economic effects," even though she thinks "Finland has a high level of preparedness for different situations when compared to many other countries."  

She also remarked that "the situation is still very serious. The disease is unpredictable."

Long-term care connected to 79 per cent of COVID-19 deaths in Canada

Via The Globe and Mail: Long-term care connected to 79 per cent of COVID-19 deaths in Canada. Excerpt:

Canadian seniors are suffering the most from COVID-19, with 79 per cent of all deaths in the country now connected to long-term care and seniors’ homes.  

Numbers released on Tuesday show a steep jump from two weeks ago, when almost half of all coronavirus deaths were linked to the homes. The numbers also show the death rate for the disease at 5.5 per cent, more than double the 2.2 per cent on April 9. 

The numbers were released by Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam and her deputy, Dr. Howard Njoo, along with updated short- and long-term projections for the pandemic. By May 5, the models show that the total number of coronavirus-related deaths in Canada could rise to between 3,277 and 3,883, with a 95-per-cent probability.  

"As the epidemic comes under control and the growth of cases slows, the severe outcomes and deaths continue to accrue as COVID-19 takes a heavy toll among highly susceptible populations,” Dr. Tam said at a press conference. 

Quebec, Ontario and Nova Scotia are particularly challenged by outbreaks in long-term care where deaths in single facilities have reached double digits. The updated models confirm the well-documented problems in seniors homes and raise more questions about the lack of transparency around the federal models and their underlying assumptions, according to experts who spoke with The Globe and Mail.  

Despite the bleak figures, Dr. Tam said the overall picture in Canada is improving and the spread of the disease is slowing significantly. In late March, the number of confirmed cases was doubling every three days. That has slowed to every 16 days.  

So far, the federal officials believe Canada is staying within the most optimistic scenario where no more than 10 per cent of people become infected in the first wave of the pandemic. However, if the first wave of the disease has a low infection rate, continuing physical distancing measures will be all the more important, as few people will have immunity.

US COVID-19 death toll is far higher than reported, CDC data suggests

New York Times

Via The New York Times: U.S. Coronavirus Death Toll Is Far Higher Than Reported, C.D.C. Data Suggests. Excerpt:

Total deaths in seven states that have been hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic are nearly 50 percent higher than normal for the five weeks from March 8 through April 11, according to new death statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That is 9,000 more deaths than were reported as of April 11 in official counts of deaths from the coronavirus.  

The new data is partial and most likely undercounts the recent death toll significantly. But it still illustrates how the coronavirus is causing a surge in deaths in the places it has struck, probably killing more people than the reported statistics capture. These increases belie arguments that the virus is only killing people who would have died anyway from other causes. Instead, the virus has brought a pattern of deaths unlike anything seen in recent years.  

If you look at the provisional deaths from all causes, death counts in New York, New Jersey, Michigan, Massachusetts, Illinois, Maryland and Colorado have spiked far above their normal levels for the period. In New York City, the home of the biggest outbreak, the number of deaths over this period is more than three times the normal number. (Recent data suggests it could have reached six times higher than normal.) 

In New Jersey, deaths have been 172 percent of the normal number so far — more than 5,000 additional deaths, compared with an average count from the past five years. In Michigan, the partial death count is 121 percent of the count in a normal year, the equivalent of nearly 2,000 more deaths.  

These numbers are preliminary because death certificates take time to be processed and collected, and complete death tallies from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention can take up to eight weeks to become final. The speed of that data reporting varies considerably by state. In Connecticut, for example, where reported coronavirus deaths are high, the C.D.C. statistics include zero reported deaths from any cause since Feb. 1, because of reporting lags. 

We compared these provisional death counts with the average number of deaths each week over the past five years. Public health researchers use the term “excess deaths” to describe a gap between recent trends and a typical level of deaths. 

It’s difficult to know whether the differences between excess deaths and the official counts of coronavirus deaths reflect an undercounting of coronavirus deaths or a surge in deaths from other causes. It’s probably a mix of both.

'So what?': Bolsonaro shrugs off Brazil's rising COVID-19 death toll

Jornal do Brasil

Via The Guardian: 'So what?': Bolsonaro shrugs off Brazil's rising coronavirus death toll. Excerpt:

More than 5,000 Brazilians have lost their lives to the coronavirus – even more people than in China, if its official statistics are to be believed.

But on Tuesday night Brazil’s president shrugged off the news. “So what?” Jair Bolsonaro told reporters when asked about the record 474 deaths that day. “I’m sorry. What do you want me to do?” 

Bolsonaro’s 11-word response – the latest in a series of remarks belittling the pandemic – sparked immediate fury. One newspaper, the Estado de Minas, stamped the president’s words on to a black front page beside Brazil’s death toll: 5,017. 

“Bolsonaro isn’t just an awful politician and a bad president, he’s a despicable human being,” tweeted Marcelo Freixo, a leftwing opponent. 

“My name’s Messiah,” Bolsonaro also told reporters on Tuesday, in reference to his second name, Messias. “But I can’t work miracles.” 

A wave of disgust swept over social media as word of the president’s comments spread. “A sociopath,” tweeted the musician Nando Moura. “What a tragedy,” wrote the journalist Sônia Bridi.  

“It’s a mockery. An insult. It is intolerable,” tweeted Mariliz Pereira Jorge, a scriptwriter and commentator. 

Another critic superimposed Bolsonaro’s words on to a photograph of the muddy graves into which scores of Brazilian bodies are being deposited each day.  

“Bolsonaro wants to turn Brazil into the Republic of So What,” the political commentator Bernardo Mello Franco wrote in his column on Wednesday.  

The president’s son Carlos Bolsonaro claimed on Twitter that his father’s comments were being distorted by liberal journalists seeking to destroy his reputation.  

Since Brazil confirmed its first coronavirus case on 26 February, Bolsonaro has continually minimised the pandemic, rejecting media “hysteria” over its dangers and suggesting Brazilians could swim in excrement and emerge unscathed.  

The Trump-admiring populist has also purposefully undermined social distancing guidelines, mingling with supporters and sacking his health minister on 16 April after he publicly challenged the president’s behaviour.

Last week, Bolsonaro’s popular justice minister, Sérgio Moro, resigned from government, partly as a result of the president’s anti-scientific stance on Covid-19, according to one person who knows him. 

There is no escaping the scale of the tragedy unfolding in Brazil, with daily images of gravediggers in protective suits emerging from some of the worst-hit cities, including Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Recife and Manaus.  

As Bolsonaro made his remarks, newspapers and television programmes filled with stories about the mothers, fathers, sons and daughters losing their lives to the pandemic. 

In Rio, the victims included Ana Maria, a 56-year-old nursing assistant who had worked in one of the city’s biggest public hospitals and was laid to rest on Tuesday by men in white suits.  

“She gave everything to her job until the very end,” her daughter Taina told Associated Press.

Vietnam: No new COVID-19 case in 13 days, two return to positive

Via VietnamPlus, a VNA report: No new COVID-19 case in 13 days, two return to positive.

Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam recorded no new COVID-19 case as of 6pm on April 29, keeping the total at 270 and marking the 13th straight day without patients infected with the novel coronavirus in the community, according to the National Steering Committee on COVID-19 Prevention and Control. 

However, patients No.130 and 50 returned to positive again. Both of them are being treated at the Hanoi-based National Hospital of Tropical Diseases No.2.  

Among the 270 cases, 130 are imported cases and have been quarantined upon their arrival in Vietnam. 

According to the committee, of the patients being treated, 10 cases tested negative once and four others negative at least twice.  

As of 6pm on April 29, as many as 42,057 who had close contact with confirmed patients and returned from other countries were being quarantined, including 323 in hospital, 6,643 at other quarantine facilities  and 35,091 at home./.

COVID-19 on Wednesday morning: 3,163,492 cases, 219,104 deaths

A screenshot from Covidly.com taken at 7:04 a.m. Pacific time: Covidly - 3,163,492 Cases, 219,104 Deaths.