HMG has published a provisional provisional list of priorities for getting the vaccine:
https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-vaccine-who-will-be-first-to-get-jab-draft-list-revealed-12081391

(Contrary to some rumours I am in neither the first nor the last group....)

---

Bob Smith
Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society)
Somewhere in the (un)known Universe?

HMG has published a provisional provisional list of priorities for getting the vaccine:
https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-vaccine-who-will-be-first-to-get-jab-draft-list-revealed-12081391

(Contrary to some rumours I am in neither the first nor the last group....)

Considering the number of shots that can be produced and assuming the government has a list of essential personnel, which includes themselves, and all NHS staff, that list might get started sometime in July 2021, maybe later if shots have to be given every 3 months.

Lithuania is now into 91st place by total cases and is now within a day or 2 of overtaking South Korea who is also a day or 2 away from overtaking Australia (89th), Greece is now in 80th while Georgia moved into 78th spot, Bosnia and Herzegovina is now in 73rd as Serbia moved into 72nd, Azerbaijan has made it up into 69th and Croatia has taken 67th spot up.

Libya is now up to 65th spot as they now sit behind Tunisia, Bulgaria overtook Slovakia for 62nd as Lebanon moves into 57th, Honduras has become the 55th country to pass 100,000 cases while Jordan and Hungry continue to chew up the field landing in 48th & 49th spots.

Romania became the 30th country to pass 300,000 cases while Iraq became the 18th country to join the 500,000+ club, Belgium quickly became the 19th, Italy absolutely trampled Peru as they flew into 11th spot and will do the same to Mexico tomorrow. The U.K. passed 1.2 million cases as they case down Argentina while Spain zipped past 1.4 million and France blew Russia out of 4th place and has passed 1.8 million cases.

Meanwhile The U.S. has recorded its 6th day in a row of over 100,000 cases taking their total past 10.4 million infections along with passing 244,444 deaths, but that has not stopped Europe from claiming 2nd spot in the regional race and are now 2.2 million cases behind Asia.

Anyhow, the world's total recorded case number now exceeds 51.2 million along with over 1,268,900 reported deaths. :-(

While there were some other passing moves made they were largely negated by those raging Europeans leaping all over them.

Stay tuned and don't move that dial as I'll be back. ;-)

Nasal spray prevents COVID-19 infection in test animals, new study finds

Story at a glance

Six ferrets were given the treatment and put in three separate cages in groups of two.

Two ferrets that were given a placebo were put in each cage along with one that had recently been infected with the novel coronavirus.

Scientists said none of the animals treated with the nasal spray contracted the virus after 24 hours.

Nasal sprays aren't unknown when it comes to a means of getting an anti-viral drug into the body. But given the very small size of the trial (half a dozen small animals) does not mean it will be of any use in a human, just add the to the hundreds of other candidates some of which are well along the large-scale human trial path.

---

Bob Smith
Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society)
Somewhere in the (un)known Universe?

Might this new strategy redeem the idea of the Test-and-Trace?...

Liverpool to be regularly tested for coronavirus in first whole city testing pilot

Only if they live up to the second part of their name. I searched that Press Release for 'trace', and it turned up nine times - eight of them in the name of the organisation. The only reference to actual tracing in the whole document is this paragraph:

Anyone who tests positive, using either a lateral flow test or an existing swab test, must self-isolate along with their household immediately and their contacts will be traced. Those who test negative will need to continue to follow all national guidance.

Doesn't say who by, doesn't say how fast, doesn't say whether this is forward tracing (who am I going to give it to next?) or reverse tracing (which super-spreader did I get it from?).

There's more analysis in the BBC reporting, but still not enough.

This is now being rolled out to cover a total of 70 areas + university students:

Covid: Mass testing for 67 local areas in England

Student Covid tests for Christmas holiday from 30 November


The student testing is a 'must' to try to reduce COVID being taken home to (elderly, more vulnerable) parents by over a million students going home for Christmas.

The results of the existing blanket testing is a good question yet to be answered for effectiveness... Will we see a more detailed picture and a rapid improvement with people voluntarily isolating earlier to stop any further spread sooner? Or will people be lulled into a feeling of reckless safety to then go out for carefree partying?

And how much of this is making Baroness Dido Harding and her cronies and associates ever richer at our expense, all regardless of any useful results?


Stay safe folks!
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

Well it looks like Australia can enjoy 89th place for a bit longer as South Korea fell just 25 cases short of us, but we're both now in range of Lithuania. Greece jumped over both Singapore and Palestine to take over 79th place while Georgia did the same to Myanmar and Algeria to take up 76th. Bosnia & Herzegovina and Kenya jumped over Kyrgyzstan and Nigeria into 72nd and 73rd respectively as Serbia jumped both Nigeria and Ireland to takeover 70th spot.

Croatia jumped both Uzbekistan and Libya to takeover 65th place while Ethiopia became the 56th country to pass 100,000 infections. Jordan and Hungry continue to chew threw the pack and now occupy 45th and 46th spots while Czechia knocked Bangladesh out of 22nd as Germany became the 14th country to pass 700,000 cases and Iran followed right behind them (this means that there are currently no countries left in the 600,000 club room ATM and there's none in the 800,000 club room either).

Italy trampled over Mexico into 10th place on their path to the 1 million club (currently they're now less than 5K from that mark) while Russia passes 1.8 million cases, but it looks like France didn't get out of the blast zone from taking out Russia from 4th place fast enough and may have suffered some shrapnel damage.

But who can stop the U.S. as they set another daily cases record of over 135,500 (some numbers are still to come in there as yet) taking their case count way past 10.5 million while also passing 245,750 deaths.

Anyhow the world has passed 51.8 million cases and 1,279,000 reported deaths

... But who can stop the U.S. as they set another daily cases record of over 135,500 (some numbers are still to come in there as yet) taking their case count way past 10.5 million while also passing 245,750 deaths...

Biden and Fauci "imploring" people to wear masks for the good of All People and the American People heeding that as a good healthy move?

Trump and the Trump propaganda getting totally totalled in disgrace for his anti-medicine/anti-science politically motivated criminal stupidity?


Here's hoping for a rapid turn-around...

Good health and stay safe folks!
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

Scary https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/11/10/one-in-five-covid-19-survivors-develop-mental-illness-study

One in five COVID-19 survivors develop mental illness: Study

Research finds 20 percent of those infected with COVID-19 diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder within 90 days.

Sri Lanka has passed Uganda to make it up to 102nd by cases and could make 101st by tomorrow's reporting period, but the gaps are opening right up now down the lower end of the list.

South Korea finally passed Australia and then Lithuania leapt over both to take up 89th spot, but there's a bit of a gap for them to bridge before they get to a lonely El Salvador, which leaves Norway, Albania, Montenegro and Luxembourg in a 4 way race to see who'll be next to pass Australia.

Then things start to get very murky at about the 80th position up to 60th as while some countries are fast running out of puff others are going 1 step forward 2 steps back and others are just racing up threw the pack, but I'll try and work it out a bit.

Myanmar passed Kyrgyzstan to move back into 76th place as Georgia leapt over Kyrgyzstan, Nigeria, Kenya (who just passed Nigeria) and Ireland to land in 72nd spot, but not before Bosnia & Herzegovina took 71st for Ireland (who have really put the brakes on), while Serbia leapt over Azerbaijan, Paraguay and Uzbekistan to land in 67th and once they pass Libya (which they should do tomorrow) they'll be joining a strung out bunch trying to catch up with the stragglers of the 100,000+ pack of which includes both Bahrain and China that are only going backwards at a fast rate.

Bulgaria push China aside as it took up 59th place while Japan passed Egypt only for Armenia to jump both into 51st, meanwhile Sweden and Austria are having a little tussle over 37th place, but ATM Austria is coming out on top and now has Ecuador in its sights (Sweden doesn't). Nepal became the 34th country to pass 200,000 reported cases as Romania removed Israel from 29th spot, Turkey got past the Philippines to not only take up 25th place it also became the 25th to pass 400,000 cases (the Philippines became the 26th) while Poland became the 16th country to pass 600,000.

I missed Germany passing Iran taking over 14th spot yesterday, but they now have South Africa just within their range (from there it'll be a hard slog to catch up with Peru). Italy (10th) zapped past the 1 million case barrier and while the U.K. zeroes in on Argentina (7th) they get the distinction of becoming the 5th country to rack up over 50,000 deaths as Spain became the 8th to pass 40,000 and South Africa became the 14th to clock up 20,000.

Meanwhile yesterday's record daily case day for the U.S. has gone from over 135,500 up to over 142,200 and they may do so again today as they fast approach 10.7 million cases along with over 247,000 deaths now. :-O

Currently the world total case tally has passed 52.4 million while deaths have passed 1,288,000. :-(

[edit] The world has just set a new record with a day where the death count has now exceeded 10,000 and all the numbers are no where near all in yet. :-O

But there look to be a bit of a faint glow at the end of the tunnel now.

And the UK here hits the news, sadly:


UK first country in Europe to pass 50,000 deaths
wrote:

A total of 50,365 people have died within 28 days of a positive Covid test, up 595 in the past 24 hours.

The UK is the fifth country to pass 50,000 deaths, coming after the US, Brazil, India and Mexico.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the figures showed, despite hopes for a vaccine, "we are not out of the woods".

He said: "Every death is a tragedy,"...

Stay safe folks!
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

The U.S. finished yesterday's reporting period with a grand total daily case tally of 144,079 and setting another record meanwhile West Virginia set a P.B. of 885 taking their total past 30,000 and California has just become the 2nd state to record over 1 million infections. :-O

France looks like it only suffered a little concussion from blasting Russia out of its way as its picking up its pace again while Argentina will have to put in an unexpected record breaking day to stop the U.K. from claiming 7th place as it smashed its record daily case count by just recording a figure of 33,470.

Germany has also just set its personal best to 23,340 while removing South Africa from 14th spot and the Ukraine has just become the 20th country to pass 500,000 cases.

Israel is now back to 30th place now after implementing their lockdown restrictions, but they could do so much better if they extended those restrictions to include places of worship as they are now the major super spreader centres there.

Oman is now back to 48th as Egypt drops back to 54th while China is down to 60th and Ireland's lockdown is working well so far dropping them back to 75th already. S. Korea is back to 90th followed by Australia in 91st (not bad for 2 countries that ranked 3rd and 7th back at the beginning of all this) while our Kiwi cousins across the ditch look to have settled down to accepting 161st spot and Vietnam maybe lose its 165th place in the next 2-3 days as a couple of competitors close in on them.

Here down under 90-95% of our reported cases are coming from overseas arrivals in quarantine, but at least now all the states are opened up to receiving them (except for Victoria as yet and I hope that they don't screw up again when they soon resume) so the load isn't being carried by just this N.S.W. anymore (since Victoria screwed up that is), and with a lot more repatriation flights to get people back in time for Xmas (and summertime down under) happening now our numbers are expected to grow (but hopefully slowly).

Anyhow I maybe back later with a race update once this reporting period has finished, but who knows on this wet Black Good Friday down under. ;-)

After enjoying a few Good Black Friday (or should that be Black Good Friday?) beers at the pub here's the rest of race update for the last reporting period.

In the cases race North Macedonia removed Malaysia from 85th place with a gap now to be made up before they're within range of Ghana who just got knocked out of 83rd by Slovenia who now has a larger gap to transverse before coming within range of Singapore who just got taken out of 81st spot by Denmark who is trying hard to catch up with the end of the next pack.

Myanmar passed Algeria, but they didn't improve their position any as Greece did a massive leap over Nigeria, Kyrgyzstan, Algeria, Myanmar and Ireland to land in 74th spot and right on the heels of Kenya while Bosnia & Herzegovina, Uzbekistan and Paraguay were leapt over by Georgia who landed in 69th place. Azerbaijan jumped over Uzbekistan and Paraguay to take over 68th while Serbia removed Libya from 66th spot as Lebanon became the 57th country to pass 100,000 reported cases.

Ethiopia displaced Honduras from 55th spot, Belarus removed Egypt from 53rd as Jordon took 44th from the Dominican Republic, Austria took 36th from Ecuador while the Netherlands passed Bangladesh to claim 23rd place and the Ukraine became the 20th country to pass 500,000 infections.

Meanwhile Argentina couldn't pull out a record day so the U.K. is officially in 7th place.

But on a day that saw the world's total cases count pass 53 million cases with another new daily case record of over 643,000 (Sweden and a few other countries are still to add to that) along with passing 1,298,500 deaths as the U.S. has does it again by throwing in another record breaking day of over 161,500 infections this time (Trump's "Super Spreader" events have really worked wonders leading up to the elections there) taking their total case count well past 10.8 million along with passing 248,500 deaths while showing no signs yet of slowing down and very likely to pass 11 million infection during this reporting period. :-O

Anyhow that's enough for today as tomorrow will certainly bring more place changes and mind blowing feats (that's if your mind hasn't been blown out by al ofl this already). ;-)

Trump the superspreader in Trump thread. https://setiathome.berkeley.edu/forum_thread.php?id=85611&postid=2061298#2061298

After enjoying a few Good Black Friday (or should that be Black Good Friday?) beers...

Are you not two weeks too early for that??

:-O


Cheers,
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

After enjoying a few Good Black Friday (or should that be Black Good Friday?) beers...

Are you not two weeks too early for that??
:-O
Cheers,
Martin

Not at all as every 2nd Friday for me is pay day so it's naturally a Good Friday, but falling on the 13th does make it a little confusing. ;-)

Every other Friday is P.O.E.T.S. Day. :-)

Cheers.

The last reporting period saw records tumble left, right and center as the World set another new daily case record of over 656,455 (though a few countries are still to add to that) to take the grand total past 53.7 million while also passing 1.3 million deaths. Many European countries set new P.B.'s, but nothing can over shadow the U.S.'s massive daily case count of over 183,500 taking their total well past 11 million along with racking up 249,998 deaths. :-O

Norway knocked Australia (who has had no locally acquired cases for 7 days now) from 91st place, Greece removed Bosnia & Herzegovina from 72nd spot while Azerbaijan took 69th from Paraguay, Georgia jumped up 2 spots to 67th as Croatia passed Tunisia to take over 64th, Moldova removed China from 60th while Lebanon jumped up 2 places to 55th, Armenia slipped past Guatemala into 50th as Jordan jumped up 2 spots to 42nd place and even though Sweden is yet to add their case numbers they should've removed Ecuador from 37th place (I reckon they just put their case numbers in late to try and hide the fact that things are now going very poorly in their neck of the woods) as Portugal became the 35th country to pass 200,000 cases.

Anyhow many other countries are still going gangbusters closing large gaps to get to their next victims.

Some interesting points raised in these reports that make one think.
No magic bullet

If the rise in cases on Thursday is a blip - there are suggestions it may be linked to a last bout of socialising before lockdown came in -
the expectation is the number of infections will soon start to drop.

Ireland during 1918 Flu pandenic

I've interviewed people who said they weren't allowed by their parents to go out to celebrate the end of the war in November 1918 which was at the peak weeks of the flu.
A week later, you can see spikes in the number of deaths.

However as Wiggo mentioned in a post, Australia is 80% uninhabited. The majority of their population is mainly in large towns & cities, yet they manage to work effectively.

"Australia did try it quite successfully. They managed to delay it coming in by keeping people in ships off the shores before checking them for temperatures and stuff like that.

Don't forget, compared to today, medical science was primitive. Back in 72 , I spoke often with my uncle (b 3/18 - d 5/01).
The rural regions of the country was mainly agricultural & most were deemed as essential workers so no military service & from his family recollections, the flu hardly hit.
I think that not only is Richard H correct in stating that it is a travelers virus, it is also spread by what I call self entitlement fools,
especially those who believe it will never happen to them as they feel fit & healthy.

However, it is a shame that not a lot of governments listen to the past.

Whereas Dublin Corporation and Sir Charles Cameron, who was a marvelous communicator, issued really simple notices like when you get the disease,
go to bed and stay there until you are well better.

The last reporting period saw the world's case total pass 54.3 million while deaths have passed 1,317,400.

Norway claimed 90th place from South Korea, Malaysia and North Macedonia are fighting over 85th, Myanmar knocked Ireland out of 75th, Greece took 70th from Paraguay, Azerbaijan passed Libya for 68th, Serbia removed Tunisia from 65th while Slovakia slipped past Bahrain to take over 63rd as Bulgaria claimed 58th from Venezuela and Japan moved back into 51st after passing Guatemala.

Kazakhstan has provisionally taken 48th spot from Oman, Hungary leapt up 3 spots to 43rd, Portugal claimed 34th from Nepal, Romania brushed Saudi Arabia aside for 28th as the Ukraine claimed 18th from Belgium while Iran replaced South Africa in 14th and Mexico has just become the 11th country to pass 1 million cases.

South Australia has broken our run of no locally acquired cases by reporting 3 of them today out of 17 cases, the rest are all in quarantine after arriving from overseas. :-(

Anyhow that's another race update done, but there'll be more to come.

This advice condemns most office spaces!


Covid-19: Five ways to avoid catching the virus indoors


Hopefully for the sake of better health, workplace aircon systems might yet get upgraded from 'recycled putrid' to 'healthy wholesome' for the air we breathe whilst at work...

However (#1)... That does need investment in better design and in implementing the upgrades... There are already simple retro-fits for using UV-C sterilization lamps and HEPA filters.

However (#2), will greedy bosses go healthy over their greed?


Stay safe folks!
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)