Author Topic: General Covid 19 news  (Read 96056 times)

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Offline SteveH

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Re: General Covid 19 news
« Reply #240 on: September 28, 2020, 04:48:12 pm »
THE leader of a council has addressed fears following the rise of Covid cases in Conwy.

Sam Rowlands, leader of Conwy County Borough Council and Abergele councillor, took to video to update residents on September 24.

He said: "You will know that over recent days there have been reports of Conwy being under review by the Welsh Government because what we have seen in September is a steady increase in the number of cases of Covid-19 in Conwy.

"To put this in perspective, throughout all of August there were around 20 positive cases of Covid-19 in Conwy. So far in September, around three weeks in, we've seen 75 cases of Covid-19 here in Conwy.    (my stats say 127 cases )

cont plus video  https://www.northwalespioneer.co.uk/news/18754304.leader-conwy-council-gives-update-following-rise-covid-cases/

Offline SteveH

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Re: General Covid 19 news
« Reply #241 on: September 29, 2020, 05:21:26 pm »
The three North Wales Rainbow hospitals will be retained heading into 2021, due to the coronavirus pandemic, although no patients have yet been treated there.

They were opened earlier this year at Venue Cymru in Llandudno; Ysbyty Enfys Deeside at Deeside Leisure Centre; and the Brailsford Centre at Bangor University, to provide extra capacity following the outbreak.

So far there have been no inpatients treated at them, but health chiefs say they have been used for Covid-19 antibody testing, staff training, blood tests and staff flu vaccinations.

A number of additional beds will also be made available in existing North Wales NHS hospital sites, to secure an overall total of 1,198 extra beds for the region.

In total, more than 5,000 extra beds around Wales will be retained for 2020/21, Welsh Government health minister Vaughan Gething confirmed in a statement today.

The announcement comes as health chiefs brace for winter, which sees extra pressure from other seasonal bugs including the flu.

cont  https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/north-wales-rainbow-hospitals-stay-19015975


Offline Hugo

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Re: General Covid 19 news
« Reply #242 on: September 29, 2020, 06:34:41 pm »
Breaking News.....   Conwy to go in lockdown on Thursday

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-54346608


It's hardly surprising with the influx of visitors coming here.       I was sitting on a wall with my wife today, just eating an ice cream when a woman came and sat right next to me.
Mrs H gave me a tug on my elbow so I moved further away.  The woman made an apology and I asked her was she from England and she replied yes so I told her that the two metre rule still applied here in Wales.      She then replied that she didn't know that but how come because I also  know the rules in England!
To crown it all she was from Stockport an area under lockdown in England      &shake&


Offline Hugo

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Re: General Covid 19 news
« Reply #243 on: September 29, 2020, 06:50:44 pm »
This shouldn't be a request, it should automatically be law and if Boris doesn't make it clear enough then the Wales First Minister should

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-54343943

Offline Hugo

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Re: General Covid 19 news
« Reply #244 on: September 30, 2020, 08:17:35 am »
Coronavirus LIVE: Press conference to take place as four counties prepare for local lockdown

https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/coronavirus-live-press-conference-take-19021099

One of the questions being asked was about Travelling through lockdown areas
A number of people are asking about whether people can travel from England through lockdown areas to Gwynedd and Anglesey.

The answer is, yes they can.          I just hope that it is made quite clear to everyone that this only applies to places in England that are not under lockdown restrictions
.

Offline SteveH

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Re: General Covid 19 news
« Reply #245 on: September 30, 2020, 10:10:05 am »
Quote from the Liverpool Echo............     

"The answer from Welsh Government is 'yes' - travel through the counties is allowed.

This would apply to those coming from lockdown areas in England that don't currently have travel restrictions, such as Liverpool.

But a source said travellers would be expected to travel straight through the lockdown counties - so that means no stopping for a picnic or trip to a cafe."

https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/can-tourists-travel-through-lockdown-19020713

Offline Hugo

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Re: General Covid 19 news
« Reply #246 on: September 30, 2020, 10:26:05 am »
Steve, surely common sense says that people in lockdown areas of England face similar conditions to the lockdown areas of Wales, that is that they cannot travel out of that lockdown area unless they have a valid reason for doing so.
Holidays or climbing up Snowdon are not valid reasons unless those people in England are coming from an area with no lockdown in force,
but those people in lockdown areas of England should remain in those areas until the rules change
Perhaps we might get some clarity when Mark Drakeford appears on TV later today,  let's hope that he explains it to the public  better than a bumbling Boris did yesterday

Offline Hugo

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Re: General Covid 19 news
« Reply #247 on: October 01, 2020, 08:23:17 am »

Offline Hugo

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Re: General Covid 19 news
« Reply #248 on: October 01, 2020, 02:57:30 pm »
If anyone believes that Politicians are honest they haven't read the article in Ian's favourite paper the DFM.       Today I was reading my paper the DM  ( that's the Daily Mirror ) and on the front page of the paper was a photo of Stanley Johnson  ( Boris' 80 year old dad ) and Stanley was inside a shop and wasn't wearing a face mask.
Will Stanley be fined, will Boris' brother's firm get the Government contract?       If I was a betting person I know what I would bet on


https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8775089/Private-Covid-testing-firm-hires-Boris-Johnsons-half-brother-Max-hope-open-doors.html

Offline SteveH

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Re: General Covid 19 news
« Reply #249 on: October 03, 2020, 11:24:19 am »

I heard a comment that Australia had bypassed their usual Flu season, due the the Covid rules in place masks etc, a quick search revealed most of the southern hemisphere reported the same news.... Pity we are not all following the rules....   :(

Health systems across the southern hemisphere were bracing a few months ago for their annual surge in influenza cases, which alongside Covid-19 could have overwhelmed hospitals. They never came.

Many countries in the southern half of the globe have instead experienced either record low levels of flu or none at all, public health specialists in Australia, New Zealand and South America have said, sparing potentially tens of thousands of lives and offering a glimmer of hope as winter approaches in the northern hemisphere.

General practitioners in New Zealand have not detected a single influenza case since they started screening patients in June, health data shows; last year about 57% of the samples they collected were positive.

The trend holds true across the Tasman Sea in Australia, where Covid-19 restrictions have also deeply dented rates of flu and other respiratory illnesses. The country recorded more than 131,000 influenza cases in the peak months of July and August last year, according to government data. Over the same period this year, there were 315.

“Cases have fallen off a cliff since March,” said Prof Ian Barr, deputy director of the World Health Organization’s collaborating centre for reference and research on influenza, in Melbourne.

Fewer than 40 Australians have died from influenza this year, compared to more than 950 last year, “and there haven’t been any deaths for the past three to four months”, Barr added.

Even across South America and in South Africa, where lockdowns have been patchy or harder to enforce, and Covid-19 has spread widely and killed tens of thousands of people, flu rates have been well below historical rates or nonexistent – despite increased testing for it in the Americas, according to the Pan American Health Organisation.

As an unprecedented live experiment on a massive population, it could offer some good news for northern hemisphere countries heading into their own flu season, just as drier air and more time indoors are expected to drive up Covid-19 rates. Even relatively less stringent quarantines appear to be surprisingly potent at suppressing influenza and other common respiratory illnesses.

Full story  https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/sep/17/falling-flu-rates-in-southern-hemisphere-offers-hope-as-winter-approaches-coronavirus

Interesting graphs .... 
https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2020/09/12/the-southern-hemisphere-skipped-flu-season-in-2020

Offline SteveH

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Re: General Covid 19 news
« Reply #250 on: October 08, 2020, 02:07:47 pm »
Coronavirus rates have increased by more than 1,000% in parts of Wales, figures reveal
Counties in North Wales are among those which have seen huge rises.

https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/coronavirus-rates-increased-more-1000-19069684

Offline SteveH

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Re: General Covid 19 news
« Reply #251 on: October 13, 2020, 10:16:04 am »
Researchers in the US have confirmed the country's first case of a patient becoming reinfected with the coronavirus.     Ref wales on line

According to the report, an unnamed 25-year-old man, who lives in Washoe County, Nevada, tested positive in mid-April after showing signs of mild illness, after recovering, and testing negative twice, he started experiencing similar symptoms in late May.

He tested positive again for Covid-19, the disease caused by the virus, but this time his disease progressed to a severe case and he required hospitalisation along with oxygen therapy.

The results, which were published in a pre-print study in August, were released by The Lancet Infectious Diseases on Monday.

The team says that, although further research is needed, the findings suggest that contracting the virus does not guarantee total immunity and that everyone should strictly follow guidelines including masks, social distancing and hand-washing.

The Lancet Published:October 12, 2020    https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(20)30764-7/fulltext

Offline Ian

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Re: General Covid 19 news
« Reply #252 on: October 13, 2020, 10:19:40 am »
Saw that on BBC this morning. It's going to be a dour Christmas and New Year.
Nothing is so firmly believed as that which we least know.  ― Michel de Montaigne

Si hoc legere scis, nimis eruditionis habes.

Offline Hugo

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Re: General Covid 19 news
« Reply #253 on: October 13, 2020, 05:33:23 pm »
Covid: PM rejects English coronavirus hotspots travel ban again

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-54528288

Offline SteveH

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Re: General news ....Flu jabs
« Reply #254 on: October 17, 2020, 02:36:50 pm »
Social media talking about the Rainbow Hospital, who are attempting to inoculate up to 2,000 people today, with their Flu jab.