from the editors
The latest news on the progress of the coronavirus pandemic in Italy and in the world: another 7 deaths in Shanghai, foreseeing a turning point by Wednesday. Pal: We will know about the origin of the virus when Beijing breaks the silence
• The pandemic scenario in Italy continues to improve, albeit gradually.
• Management of the epidemic is more complicated in Shanghai, where the lockdown (amid protests) is ongoing. The city expects a trend reversal starting tomorrow.
• Covid viruses will be available for GPs and pharmacies: Here an expert explains how the distribution will work.
10:38 am The stop for masks in the classroom in Catalonia
Compulsory schoolchildren in Catalonia are the first to be able to take off their masks in class in Spain. This was established by a regional ordinance.
The measure is already in force and applies to primary and secondary schools.
With this decision, the Catalan government anticipates the already announced lifting of the mask requirement in closed rooms at national level by one day, which should be enacted by the Spanish Council of Ministers in the next few hours.
10:06 a.m. What does the lockdown in Shanghai mean for world trade?
What does the lockdown of a city like Shanghai mean for world trade? The answer or at least part of it lies in an image by Scott Gotlieb, an FDA expert who also sits on Pfizer’s board of directors: a map of merchant ships waiting to be unloaded or received at the city’s port Charge.
With Shanghai in neartotal lockdown, this is a map of merchant ships currently waiting offshore to be loaded and unloaded with goods. Worsening of global supply chain problems pic.twitter.com/Md6PtpF3VE
Scott Gottlieb, MD (@ScottGottliebMD) April 18, 2022
09:49 The Covid vaccine and viral load
Vaccination against Covid not only offers greater protection against a severe course of the disease, but also the guarantee of a lower viral load in the event of a SarsCov2 infection.
This is the conclusion of a study published in Nature Medicine, which was carried out by a research group from the University of Geneva and the University Hospitals of Geneva.
The research team measured the viral load of nearly 600 symptomatic patients to identify possible differences in relation to different variants and vaccination status and found that vaccination in infections with Delta drastically reduced the viral load, while in the case of Omicron only a decrease was observed was after three doses of the vaccine.
These results underscore the benefits of vaccination for public health as well as individual protection against serious diseases.
09:42 Bassetti against the mask requirement indoors
The mask must move from being a requirement to being a tool to be used appropriately when needed. Otherwise, a measure that is out of date and out of science today. To say this speaking to AdnKronos and commenting on the decision of a federal judge in Florida that overturned the obligation imposed in the United States by the Centers for Disease Control Matteo Bassetti, Director of the Infectious Diseases Clinic of the San Martino Polyclinic in Genoa .
The point is not to say that the mask will be removed from tomorrow, but that the obligation will be lifted and it will remain in place for some situations and issues. That’s what a modern country does.
09:15 The pandemic and the Lego accounts
The Covid pandemic and the multiplication of social distancing measures, including among children has boosted Lego profits sharply: the budget just released marks a 33% increase to 13.3 billion kroner (1.79 Billion euro).
A result that is reflected in the books of Kirkbi Invest, the Danish fund run by the family that controls (with a 75% stake) the toy building block manufacturer, whose profit of 6.4 (0.86 billion euros ) quadrupled to 27 billion crowns (3.63 billion euros).
09:05 The secrets of the Russian antiCovid mission
Mail and documents collected during the Copasir investigation reveal new and sensational backgrounds of the Russian mission in Italy during the first Covid wave, which began in March 2020, a few weeks after Italy entered a pandemic, and lasted two months . To uncover them Fiorenza Sarzanini, in this article: The terms of the agreement between then Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte and that of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin were very different from what was later revealed.
Certainly, medical care was inadequate in relation to needs, fueling the suspicion that the Russians’ aim was espionage and not as explained humanitarian aid. Also because their condition was final from the first email: “We expect answers to questions within three hours on diplomatic channels in Rome or Moscow”. The full investigation here.
08:52 AntiCovid medication from the family doctor
The Medicines Agency announced a week ago that GPs can also prescribe antiviral drugs to treat Covid which will be available in pharmacies. At the moment, the only thing doctors can administer Paxlovid: A twomolecule combination, three tablets, taken twice a day for 5 days, very early in the disease course (within 5 days of onset of symptoms). To explain everything to Virginia Piccolillo Silvestro Scotti, National Secretary General of the Federation of General Practitioners, here.
08:36 The United States suspends the requirement to wear a mask on public transport
Several airlines and Amtrak, the stateowned company that operates interurban rail service in the United States, have announced the removal of the requirement for passengers to wear a face mask, after a Florida federal court yesterday ruled that the Centers for Disease Control’s obligation exists and Prevention (CDC) was illegitimate.
According to Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle, the CDC regulation went beyond the agency’s legal authority.
The federal government recently extended the obligation to wear masks on public transport until at least May 3rd.
The CDC continues to recommend that people continue to wear masks indoors.
8:29 am The origin of the virus? We will know when Beijing will speak
We don’t know if the defection was natural or if it was an accident. We won’t know until the Chinese break the silence.
To say it with an interview with Corriere the virologist and president of Aifa, Giorgio Pal.
The Chinese, Pal recalled, would not release the lab papers, nor did they respond to the WHO envoys. Many questions remain unanswered, the intermediate animal host that would have served as a bridge between bats and humans has not been found. This virus no longer infects bats, so something happened.
More pandemics will come, Pal said. We have learned that disasters must be managed centrally, not regionally, and that respiratory viruses must be fought by following the sick at home, not in the hospital. Family medicine needs to be reestablished.
The full interview here.
08:23 The doubts about the data on Covid in China
(Guido Santevecchi) After almost 400,000 infections since the beginning of March, between Sunday and Monday, the authorities of Shanghai recorded the first deaths of the Covid19 wave caused by the Omicron variant.
For weeks, rumors of dozens of deaths from Covid in the city’s geriatric hospitals have been circulating on social media in Shanghai. But the political officials were silent.
The numbers of the pandemic in China are controversial: In the first two years, the authorities only recorded symptomatic cases. In this new wave, they have decided to also communicate the asymptomatic ones, which make up about 90% of the total. However, all are isolated in centralized structures where sanitary conditions are poor.
The lockdown imposed on Shanghai’s 26 million residents, confinement in large warehouses, repeat carpet swabs, shortages of supplies from families locked at home have raised doubts and protests. People have started to question the effectiveness of Zero Tolerance. Why paralyze a city of millions when almost all cases are asymptomatic and nobody dies?
Suddenly, the authorities announced the deaths Sunday 3, today 7 as if to warn the people of Shanghai of the seriousness of the situation and the need to accept the strict quarantine that started on the morning of March 28.
The question remains as to the reliability of data on mortality from Covid19 in China. A study just published by the scientific journal Lancet found that as of last November there were 195 deaths per 100,000 people infected worldwide (298 in the US; 188 in Germany; 168 in the UK; 250 in India).
In China, only one death per 100,000 patients.
A figure that seems statistically very unlikely, also given the reduced effectiveness of Chinesemade vaccines and the low proportion of citizens over 60 who have received at least two doses.
extremely rare protests in shanghai
Thousands of Chinese have taken to the streets angry at the lockdown pic.twitter.com/Zir8QTfD72>ian bremmer (@ianbremmer) April 18, 2022
08:03 The dead of Covid in Shanghai
China reported another 7 deaths from Covid19 in Shanghai: the second time in two days that local authorities have certified deaths (yesterday it was 3). Official reports speak of victims between the ages of 60 and 101, all with various chronic illnesses.
The city of 26 million, the heart of the Omicron variant wave, has been in lockdown for weeks. Beijing despite the protests is insisting on the zeroCovid policy of rigid blockades, mass testing and long quarantines, which has avoided serious casualties and public health crises for the past two years.
On Sunday, Shanghai officials reported that fewer than twothirds of residents over 60 had received two antiCovid doses and that fewer than 40 percent had received a booster shot.
The municipality wants to achieve zero social cases by tomorrow: the quarantine centers can accommodate up to 140,000 people.
The way the crisis was managed has been harshly criticized: many residents have taken to social media, denouncing the lack of food and unsanitary quarantine conditions, and sharing videos of protests that have gone viral despite Great Firewall censorship.
April 19, 2022 (Change April 19, 2022 | 10:39)
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