21-09-20, 14:40
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#46
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re: OMICRON: Scientists Probe Link Between HIV & Variants
Facing Coronavirus “Tipping Point” as Cases Surge Warns Government
UKs’ most senior scientists to make appeal over Covid …'A critical point has been reached'
The Telegraph / BBC News • 21 Sep 2020
The UK is in "the last chance saloon" to avoid tougher lockdown measures. Chief Medical Officer Professor Chris Whitty warns today we are at a "critical point in the pandemic".
"Warning the spread of coronavirus is heading in the wrong direction" and that Britain faces a "very challenging winter period".
Boris Johnson is tomorrow expected to give the nation one final chance to prove it can follow the rules and suppress a second wave.
The Prime Minister is set to threaten curfews on pubs and bans on households socialising if the public does not follow strict self-isolation and social distancing rules. "This is the last chance saloon," said a Government source.
Mixed messages from Mr Johnson have left people not knowing how to behave or behaving badly, says Global Health Security Editor Paul Nuki, as he argues Professor Whitty could still fix that.
Meanwhile, human trials of the Oxford-AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine are yet to resume in the US over concerns the jab may cause adverse reactions. Trials of the Oxford University vaccine have been paused twice after two participants, both British women, developed an inflammation of the spinal cord.
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Read everything we know about the Oxford vaccine and the effectiveness of other jabs around the world.
More;
US Nears 200,000 Covid Deaths
As the US closed in on 200,000 deaths from Covid-19, Donald Trump’s health secretary and a key member of the White House coronavirus taskforce defended the administration’s handling of the pandemic and insisted the president and a senior public health aide were both correct when they made contradictory statements about the imminency of an effective vaccine.
According to Johns Hopkins University, by Sunday morning 199,155 people had died of Covid-19 in the US, suggesting that at current death rates 200,000 would be reached later in the day or on Monday. Other counts put the death toll higher.
Early in the pandemic, Trump said keeping deaths to 100,000 would represent “a very good job”.
The president’s handling of the outbreak has been widely panned, not least after revelations by the reporter Bob Woodward that Trump admitted knowing the seriousness of the threat early on but said he had played it down.
This week Trump also came under fire from a former member of his taskforce, Olivia Troye, who said: “If the president had taken this virus seriously … he would have slowed the virus spread. He would have saved lives.”
On Capitol Hill on Wednesday, CDC director Robert Redfield told the Senate a vaccine would not be generally available until the middle of 2021, adding that if one were available before the end of this year, it would be limited to emergency personnel and vulnerable people.
Trump said: “I think he made a mistake with that statement. When he said it, I believe he was confused. I’m just telling you we’re ready to go.”
Trump’s eagerness to promote a vaccine pairs with his refusal to enforce public health measures at campaign rallies as election day approaches. The president remains behind Joe Biden in national polls and in most key states. On Sunday an ABC/Ipsos poll found 69% of respondents did not trust Trump’s claims about a vaccine.
Confirmed cases 6,807,053 (Yesterday: +36,765)
Deaths 199,400 (Yesterday: +227)
More;
Covid-19 map of the US: latest cases state by state
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