A choice of threads for this one but best fit here. :-)
I've said it often & state it again, "Mess with a country's logistic infrastructure, prepare for the consequences".

"The demonstrations this weekend will be unique - fluid, risky and significant," Ottawa police chief Peter Sloly said on Friday, noting they are "massive in scale" and "unfortunately they are polarising in nature".

So no comments on dumb politicians polarising the nation.
Expect a spike in Ottawa

Ontario Premier Doug Ford declared a state of emergency, calling the ongoing protest by the Canadian Freedom Convoy a siege and threatening heavy action against those who refuse to leave.

In a press conference on Friday, Ford said that the original protest can no longer be considered a protest due to its blockage of the Ambassador Bridge, which connects Detroit, Michigan, with Windsor, Ontario. He also said that protesters who do not leave on their own will be fined $100,000 and could face up to a year in prison.

"We're now two weeks into the siege of the city of Ottawa," he said. "I call it a siege 'cause that's what it is. It's an illegal occupation. This is no longer a protest."

He went on to declare a state of emergency throughout the province.

"Today, I am using my authority as premier of Ontario to declare a state of emergency in our province," he said, "and I will convene cabinet to use legal authorities to urgently enact orders that will make crystal clear it is illegal and punishable to block and impede the movement of goods, people and services along critical infrastructure."....

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says that nearly half of the donations flooding into the fundraiser set up for Canadian truckers protesting COVID-19 measures are coming from the United States.

"I've heard that on certain platforms that the number of U.S. donations are approaching 50 percent," Trudeau said during a Friday press conference. "In terms of the presence of Americans in our protests, I can assure you that our police services are monitoring carefully and watching and coordinating with partner agencies around the world."

Canada's anti-vaccine-mandate protesters have received a surge in support from Americans, including politicians like Donald Trump and Senator Ted Cruz, after their funds were frozen by the crowdfunding platform GoFundMe and the federal government. The geographic breakdown of financial contributions to the Freedom Convoy protesters is being investigated by Canadian officials, who have cautioned U.S. officials, such as Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, about "potential foreign interference."

"We have observed that funding has been supplied to support the blockades and [the protests] from abroad," Trudeau said.

"It's important to understand that this money should not be supporting unlawful activities," he added. "Funds cannot be used for criminal or illegal activity, and these blockades are illegal. Canadian banks are monitoring financial activity very closely and taking action as necessary."

Trudeau said President Joe Biden told him in a phone call earlier in the day that he is aware of the U.S. influence on the ongoing protests up north.

"[Biden] expressed concern not just for the impacts right now but the indication that there is international support from the United States and from elsewhere around the world for these protests," Trudeau said.

"We've seen that the attack, for example, on the Ottawa 911 system came from the United States," he added. "We've seen that almost half of the funding—through certain portals—that is flowing to the barricaders here in Canada is coming from the United States."

On Thursday, Ottawa Police Service Chief Peter Sloly said a "concerted effort to flood" the city's 911 phone system "almost jammed up" the call center.

"They were coming in from the United States," Sloly said during a news conference. "Not exclusively, but significantly from United States addresses."

He criticized those efforts, saying it could endanger lives by interfering with real emergencies people have....

A Canadian judge has granted a court order to end a truckers' blockade of a vital trade link with the US.

The chief justice of Ontario's Superior Court of Justice said the injunction would come into effect at 19:00 local time (midnight GMT) on Friday.

The Ambassador Bridge, linking Windsor, Ontario, with Detroit, Michigan, has been blockaded for five days.

Truckers protests against Covid restrictions are also ongoing at other border crossings and in Ottawa.

The ruling was made at a court hearing on Friday. The specifics of the injunction are still being finalised, according to CBC News.

On Thursday, Windsor Police said that law enforcement from other jurisdictions were helping at the site of the protests.

Yuk :-(

https://news.sky.com/story/patient-dies-of-lassa-fever-as-third-case-in-uk-confirmed-health-officials-say-12539342
Lassa fever: Patient dies of Ebola-like virus as third case in UK confirmed, health officials say

The person died at Luton and Dunstable University Hospital in Bedfordshire, following the discovery of two other cases of the Ebola-like virus in the east of England which were announced by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) on Wednesday.

All three cases were within the same family and were linked to recent travel to West Africa, said Dr Susan Hopkins, chief medical adviser at UKHSA.

...In the putrefaction stage of corpse decomposition, bodies release several liters of water as well as a vast range of heavy metals in a brownish-gray liquid called cemetery leachate.

Around 60 percent of cemetery leachate is composed of water. Another 30 to 40 percent are mineral salts. The remaining 10 percent consist of organic substances and various naturally-present metallic compounds such as calcium, chromium, iron, manganese, and lead. It takes up to three years for a buried body to generate cemetery leachate before it starts trickling into the soil....

...

• The village drinking water was polluted by rotting flesh from the overcrowded graveyard

• 42% of children born in Haworth died before the age of six...

such as calcium

chromium, iron

manganese, and lead

It takes up to three years for a buried body to generate cemetery leachate before it starts trickling into the soil....

Booster doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna coronavirus vaccines are safe, and they offer high levels of protection against severe Covid-19 even though that protection can wane over time, according to two studies published by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday.

Evidence of waning protection "reinforces the importance of further consideration of additional doses to sustain or improve protection" against Covid-19-linked hospitalizations and emergency department visits, one of the studies says.

That study, published in the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, examined vaccine effectiveness against Covid-19 hospitalizations and emergency department and urgent care visits among adults in the United States who were either fully vaccinated with two doses or received a third dose of vaccine as a booster. The data included 241,204 emergency department or urgent care visits and 93,408 hospitalizations across 10 states between August 26 and January 22.

The data showed that vaccine effectiveness against emergency department visits and hospitalizations was higher after the third dose than after the second dose but waned over time.

With the Omicron variant dominant in the United States, vaccine effectiveness was 87% against Covid-19 emergency department or urgent care visits and 91% against hospitalizations in the two months after a third dose. It fell to 66% and 78%, respectively, by the fourth month, the data showed.

After just two doses of vaccine, when the Omicron variant was predominant, vaccine effectiveness against hospitalizations declined from 71% in the two months after vaccination to 54% by at least five months, the study found....

But I've heard that before and then another variant arrives on the scene.

Images of Canada's paralysed capital and of pandemic-rules protests have thrust the country's Covid response under the spotlight.

What started as a trucker-led movement to demand the end of a vaccine mandate has escalated to include all kinds of public health restrictions.

But since the pandemic began, Canada has fared far better than the US, despite similar income disparities, territorial divides, and comorbidities such as obesity and hypertension as its southern neighbour.

There is a staggering difference, for example, in how many more Americans have died because of Covid compared to Canadians, both in absolute numbers and as the ratio of deaths per million inhabitants.

So what is going on, and why might Canada's experience be different to that of the US so far? And amid mounting public pressure to relax restrictions, will Canada be able to keep a lid on the pandemic going forward?

Vaccination rates and healthcare differences

As of 9 February, 80% of Canada's population was fully immunised against Covid-19, along with another 5% that is partially vaccinated, meaning they had received at least one dose of a multi-dose vaccine.

In the US, 64% of people are fully vaccinated and 12% partially vaccinated.

Unlike the US, however, Canada has a universal, decentralised and publicly funded healthcare system administered by its 13 provinces and territories.

Very strangely curious...

These numbers do not add up for the UK...


How can we have, the expensive "Dido Test and Trace" figures claiming a rapid fall in numbers to a 'mere' 68,000 new infections per day for the last few days (Cases)...

Yet, we have our Office of National Statistics reporting for last week that we remain at about 1-in-19 people presently infected with covid, unchanged since the New Year partying/celebrations/superspreading?...

... estimates for the week ending 12 February 2022 for England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and for the week ending 13 February 2022 for Scotland...

• In England, the percentage of people testing positive for coronavirus (COVID-19) decreased in the week ending 12 February 2022; ... 2,449,100 people in England had COVID-19 ... around 1 in 20 people.
  
  
• In Wales, ... continued to decrease ... 112,600 people in Wales ... around 1 in 25 people.
  
  
• In Northern Ireland, ... increased ... but the trend was uncertain in the most recent week ... 146,600 people ... around 1 in 13 people.
  
  
• In Scotland, ... increased ... but the trend was uncertain in the most recent week ... 219,300 people ... around 1 in 25 people.
  
  ...
  
  
• In England, the percentage of people testing positive for COVID-19 varied substantially across age groups, with the highest for those aged 2 years to school Year 6 at 7.60% ... and lowest for those aged 70 years and over at 2.23% ...
  

How so??...

So... For one effective and easy reduction of infection rates:

Really, what is the problem for the UK and the USA for people to wear masks in public?

Are (at least) some of the anti-maskers actually covering up for poor hearing?!

Are (at least) some of the anti-maskers actually covering up for poor hearing?!

A new Covid-19 testing device has been launched at the main airport on the Tanzanian island of Zanzibar, a popular tourist destination.

Passengers arriving at the Abeid Amani Karume International Airport are now being tested using a scanner to detect the virus instead of having to provide nose or mouth swabs.

This technological advancement is a result of research, costing about $1bn (£737m), that was conducted by the government of Abu Dhabi - which is part of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).