By Hyonhee
Shin
SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea authorities
scrambled on Thursday to build hospital beds in shipping containers to ease
strains on medical facilities stretched by the latest coronavirus wave, which
shows little sign of abating with 682 new cases.
The resurgence of infections has rekindled concerns about an acute
shortage of hospital beds, prompting Seoul city to begin installing container
beds for the first time since the start of the pandemic.
Health authorities plan to step up testing by launching temporary sites
at some 150 locations across the greater Seoul area.
“We’re in a critical situation where our anti-virus efforts and medical
system’s capacity could reach their limits before long,” Health Minister Park
Neung-hoo told a meeting, vowing to mobilise all available resources.
“Above all, we will secure sufficient treatment centres and hospital
beds for critical cases so that they can receive proper treatment in a timely
manner.”
In Seoul, with a population of 10 million, only around 3% of hospital
beds were available for severe cases, and 17% for all patients, according to
Park Yoo-mi, a quarantine officer at the city government.
The city has dispatched 50 epidemiological investigators to 25 districts
to help track down potential patients, in addition to 10 sent from the central
government, Park said.
A total of 274 military and police officers and other administrative
staff will also be mobilised for epidemiological surveys starting Friday, she
added.
More
https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-healthcare-coronavirus-southkorea/south-korea-scrambles-to-build-container-hospital-beds-to-combat-third-covid-19-wave-idUKKBN28K09W?il=0
UAE says Chinese vaccine 86%
effective, offers few details By JON
GAMBRELL December 9, 2020
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The United
Arab Emirates said Wednesday a Chinese coronavirus vaccine tested in the
federation of sheikhdoms is 86% effective, in a statement that provided few
details but marked the first public release of information on the efficacy of
the shot.
The UAE, home to Dubai and Abu Dhabi, conducted
a trial beginning in September of the vaccine by Chinese state-owned
pharmaceutical giant Sinopharm involving 31,000 volunteers from 125 nations.
Volunteers between 18 and 60 years old received two doses of the vaccine over
28 days.
The UAE’s Health and Prevention Ministry
announced the results via a statement on the state-run WAM news agency, saying
they “have reviewed Sinopharm CNBG’s interim analysis of the Phase III trials.”
“The analysis shows no serious safety
concerns,” the statement said, without detailing whether any participant
suffered side effects.
It wasn’t immediately clear if the announced
results included only those taking part in the testing in the UAE or if they
also include results from China and elsewhere. The statement described the
vaccine as receiving “official registration” without elaborating on what that
meant.
Emirati officials and Sinopharm did not be
immediately respond to questions from The Associated Press.
However, calls Wednesday to SEHA, the Abu Dhabi
health authority, included an option for individuals to schedule an appointment
to receive a “COVID-19 vaccine.” The center was swamped with calls following
the announcement on the vaccine’s efficacy.
The Sinopharm vaccine has been approved for
emergency use in a few countries and the company is still conducting late-stage
clinical trials in 10 countries. Morocco
is gearing up for an ambitious COVID-19 vaccination program, aiming to
vaccinate 80% of its adults in an operation starting this month that’s relying
initially on the Sinopharm vaccine.
More
https://apnews.com/article/technology-dubai-united-arab-emirates-abu-dhabi-coronavirus-pandemic-7450361e298f2536b221e953be12a177
'This was a gift to us':
Ivermectin effective for COVID-19 prophylaxis, treatment By Erin Michael December 08, 2020
Numerous studies have provided evidence supporting the use of ivermectin
to prevent and treat COVID-19, according to the Frontline COVID-19 Critical
Care Alliance.
Paul Marik, MD, FCCM, FCCP, founder of the alliance and a
professor and chief of the division of pulmonary and critical care medicine at
Eastern Virginia Medical School, said that ivermectin “is a safe drug that is
exceedingly cheap.”
He added that “what is truly remarkable — this was a gift
to us — ivermectin has high activity against COVID-19.”
In a press conference, researchers said that ivermectin is
an FDA-approved anti-parasitic drug that has been available for
approximately 40 years and previously earned researchers a Nobel Prize.
Ivermectin is a key factor in the alliance’s I-MASK+
protocol for prophylaxis and early treatment of outpatients with COVID-19. In
the protocol, those at high risk for COVID-19 infection receive ivermectin at
0.2 mg/kg on day 1 and day 3, and weekly for 4 weeks; those who were exposed to
COVID-19 receive the same dose at day 1 and day 3; and both groups receive
daily doses of vitamin D3, vitamin C, quercetin, zinc and melatonin. For early
outpatients with COVID-19, the protocol calls for one dose of ivermectin at 0.2
mg/kg at day 1 and day 3, along with the same daily vitamins and 325 mg per day
of aspirin.
During the press conference, Marik said that much of the
data available on ivermectin in the treatment and prevention of COVID-19 has
been published since August, which was the last time the NIH updated its
recommendations for the novel coronavirus.
Thus far, Marik said, studies have indicated that
ivermectin has demonstrated efficacy in preventing COVID-19 infection prior to
and after exposure to COVID-19. He also said that it has been shown to
effectively treat the virus in the early symptomatic stages and among patients hospitalized with COVID-19 .
In a review of the literature, Marik and colleagues
detailed all available clinical trial results on ivermectin in COVID-19 and concluded
that the drug has benefits in preventing and treating COVID-19 infection.
For instance, Marik and colleagues noted that a randomized
controlled trial in Egypt found that among health care and household contacts
of COVID-19 patients, just 2% of those who received ivermectin and wore PPE
tested positive for the novel coronavirus, compared with 10% of contacts who
were only given PPE.
Marik and colleagues also described a randomized controlled
trial of hospitalized patients that was done concurrently with the prophylaxis
study. The trial included 400 patients split into four groups — two consisting
of patients with mild to moderate illness and two consisting of severely ill
patients. Patients with mild to moderate illness received one dose of ivermectin
per day in addition to standard care or hydroxychloroquine twice a day in
addition to standard care. The researchers determined that the rate of illness
progression was significantly lower among those who received ivermectin (1% vs.
22%). Severely ill patients were assigned to receive standard care plus
ivermectin or hydroxychloroquine. The researchers determined that in addition
to lower rates of COVID-19 illness progression in the ivermectin group (4% vs.
30%), the ivermectin group also had a lower mortality rate (2% vs. 20%).
Pierre Kory, MD, MPA, an associate professor of medicine and a critical care physician at
St. Luke's Medical Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, said that in the days since
their review was written, even more studies have been published supporting the
use of ivermectin in patients with COVID-19.
“All studies showed positive benefits — the majority showed
a decrease in mortality, decreases in hospitalization,” Kory said.
In light of the positive data on ivermectin in COVID-19, the researchers
called on national and global health authorities — including the NIH, WHO and
the CDC — to examine the data.
“We are appealing to these national and global health authorities,”
Marik said. “Please, review the data, and provide guidance to health care
workers across the world so that they can prescribe this medication.”
https://www.healio.com/news/primary-care/20201208/this-was-a-gift-to-us-ivermectin-effective-for-covid19-prophylaxis-treatment
Israeli researchers note possible
link between Parkinson's and COVID-19 "We
diagnosed parkinsonism, meeting the Movement Disorders Society Unified
Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale criteria for the diagnosis of probable
Parkinson's disease," researchers explained. By JERUSALEM
POST STAFF DECEMBER 9, 2020 07:06
Israeli
researchers have noted a possible connection between a novel coronavirus
infection and the early onset of Parkinson's
disease , based off the data of a Ashkenazi-Jewish man who was
hospitalized at Samson Assuta Ashdod University Hospital in Ashdod.
The
45-year-old man was initially hospitalized with a dry cough and muscle pain -
the patient also reported a loss of smell. He was admitted two days after
returning from Israel after being abroad in the USA. The patient believes he
contracted the virus on the plane as he reported a passenger coughing
repeatedly behind him. Via PCR testing he was found positive for SARS-CoV-2,
the scientific term for the novel coronavirus - he had two underlying
conditions: hypertension and asthma.
He
was treated for three days at the hospital, mainly for his asthma with
salbutamol inhalations with no need for invasive treatments such as oxygen
assistance via a ventilator or oxygen supplementation. His only other symptoms
were fatigue, shortness of breath and chest pain; no fever.
The patient was
then released into isolation following his three-day stint in the hospital.
During his three-week isolation, the patient "noticed that his
handwriting had changed and become smaller and less readable than previously.
He started having difficulties speaking and writing text messages on his mobile
phone. He also had episodes of tremor in his right hand," the researchers
said.
Two months following his initial
positive coronavirus diagnosis, the patient was admitted to the Department of
Neurology at Shaare Zedek Medical Center after his Parkinson's-like symptoms
failed to subside.
"On
examination, the patient had hypomimia and hypophonic fluent speech. He had
moderate cogwheel rigidity in the neck and in the right arm, mild cogwheel
rigidity in the left arm, moderate bradykinesia in the right extremities, mild
bradykinesia in the left extremities, and no tremor," the researchers said.
"His gait was slightly slow, with no right arm swing, and the elbow
appeared to be in flexion during walking but with normal step length and
height.
More
https://www.jpost.com/health-science/israeli-researchers-note-possible-link-between-parkinsons-and-covid-19-644153?draft=true
Next, some vaccine links
kindly sent along from a LIR reader in Canada. The links come from a most
informative update from Stanford Hospital in California.
World
Health Organization - Landscape of COVID-19 candidate vaccines . https://www.who.int/publications/m/item/draft-landscape-of-covid-19-candidate-vaccines
NY
Times Coronavirus Vaccine Tracker . https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/science/coronavirus-vaccine-tracker.html
Stanford
Website . https://racetoacure.stanford.edu/clinical-trials/132
Regulatory
Focus COVID-19 vaccine tracker . https://www.raps.org/news-and-articles/news-articles/2020/3/covid-19-vaccine-tracker
Some other useful Covid links.
Johns Hopkins Coronavirus
resource centre
https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html
Rt Covid-19
https://rt.live/
Covid19info.live
https://wuflu.live/
Centers for Disease Control
Coronavirus
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html
The Spectator https://data.spectator.co.uk/city/national
Technology Update.
With events happening
fast in the development of solar power and graphene, I’ve added this section.
Updates as they get reported. Is converting sunlight to usable cheap AC or DC
energy mankind’s future from the 21st century onwards.
Battery startup backed by Bill
Gates claims major breakthrough By Aaron Pressman December 8, 2020 12:00 PM GMT
QuantumScape, a battery startup backed by Bill Gates and Volkswagen ,
said its new technology is on track to be able to power cheap, long-range
electric vehicles within four years.
The company’s lithium-metal battery offered greater
capacity in testing than similar-size current lithium-ion batteries, could
recharge more quickly, and could operate at low temperatures, the company said
Tuesday. The battery could also be recharged repeatedly without degrading,
avoiding a common problem with batteries.
QuantumScape argued that its technology would be cheaper
for car manufacturers and provide cars with power over a longer period of time.
If the company can manufacture the new batteries in large numbers, they could
displace the lithium-ion batteries currently used by companies like Tesla and
Chevrolet.
“That’s really our goal, to build a battery that could help
EVs become more mainstream,” CEO Jagdeep Singh told Fortune. “The
potential now exists for this technology to make its way into real cars on real
roads within the next few years.”
Still, the demonstrations were carried out on a small
version of QuantumScape’s battery, about the size of a thick playing card,
instead of the hefty battery packs used in cars. The company must still prove
that it can manufacture larger batteries and in high quantities.
Volkswagen has agreed to invest up to $300 million in the
startup, taken an ownership stake, and also agreed to partner with QuantumScape
on a manufacturing joint venture. Volkswagen has said it’s looking to produce
car batteries with QuantumScape’s technology in 2025.
For QuantumScape, ramping up production will take time. If
all goes as planned, it expects revenue to grow gradually from $39 million in
2025 to $275 million in 2026 to $3.2 billion in 2027.
“We’d love it to be faster than that, but the reality is
you can’t,” Singh said. “Where we are today is, we’ve got the materials, we’ve
shown they work, and now we need a good team that knows what it’s doing scaling
up production and building factories.”
QuantumScape appears to be taking the lead in a crowded
field. A number of startups are working to improve batteries as are the big
automakers. Tesla said in September that planned modifications to its batteries
will
lower costs and increase range without requiring new technology. However,
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has previously made big promises about batteries and then failed to
achieve them .
One of QuantumScape’s key innovations is to replace the
liquid in today’s lithium-ion batteries with a strip of metal. That makes the
batteries smaller and is supposed to make them safer, since the liquid in
today’s batteries is combustible.
In its demonstrations, QuantumScape said it was able to
recharge a depleted battery to 80% full in just 15 minutes, about one-third the
time required by today’s EV batteries. It also ran the battery at temperatures
as low as –30 degrees Celsius. And the company frequently recharged the battery
over time to show that it could power a car over hundreds of thousands of
miles, just as good as today’s battery technology.
QuantumScape went public last month by merging with a
special purpose acquisition company called Kensington Capital Acquisition. That
has drawn additional scrutiny, since other companies that have used the
technique, like emission-free vehicle builder Nikola, later ran
into problems .
But QuantumScape appears to be on firmer ground since it
has already been working with Volkswagen for several years and has filed copies
of its signed agreements with the major manufacturer with the Securities and
Exchange Commission. Nikola did not have a signed deal with General
Motors when it announced its partnership, and GM ultimately backed out of
investing in the startup.
Also, unlike some other hyped startups that later
ran into trouble , outside experts have been able to assess QuantumScape’s
new technology.
More
https://fortune.com/2020/12/08/quantumscape-battery-lithium-bill-gates/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter_axiosgenerate&stream=top
In central banking as in diplomacy, style, conservative
tailoring, and an easy association with the affluent count greatly and results
far much less.
John Kenneth Galbraith
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