Monthly Archives: December 2021

At least three novel Coronavirus variants have been detected in free-range white-tailed deer at several sites in northeast Ohio, us, according to a study published in Nature.

Previous studies led by the US Department of Agriculture showed evidence of antibodies in wild deer. This new study is the first to report that the growth of laboratory virus isolates supports COVID-19 activity in white-tailed deer, suggesting that researchers have recovered viable samples of novel coronavirus, rather than just its genetic traces.

Based on genome sequencing of samples collected between January and March 2021, the researchers determined that the mutant strain infecting wild deer matched the strain circulating among Ohio coronavirus patients at the time. The collection of samples occurred before the spread of the Delta variant, and the variant was not detected in these deer. The team is testing more samples to see if they are new or old variants, and the persistence of these variants suggests that the virus can linger and survive in the species.

Andrew Bowman, an associate professor of veterinary preventive medicine at Ohio State University and senior author of the paper, said the fact that the deer may have been infected “leads us to the possibility that we may have actually established a new maintenance host outside of humans,” which “could complicate future mitigation and containment plans for COVID-19.”

White-tailed deer photo source: website screenshot

The team collected nasal swabs from 360 white-tailed deer at nine sites in northeast Ohio. Using PCR, the scientists detected genetic material from at least three different virus strains in 129 deer (35.8%) sampled.

The analysis showed that the B.1.2 virus, which was dominant in Ohio during the first months of 2021, spilled multiple times into deer populations at different locations. The evidence shows that six different viruses were introduced into these herds, so it’s not like a deer gets infected once and spreads.

Based on the findings, the researchers estimated infection rates at the nine sites ranged from 13.5 percent to 70 percent, with the highest rates observed at four sites in densely populated neighborhoods.

As a novel Coronavirus reservoir, white-tailed deer could lead to two outcomes, Bowman said: the virus could mutate in deer, facilitating the spread of new strains to other species, including humans; Or the virus could infect deer without mutating, while continuing to evolve in humans, and at some point those variants could jump back into humans when humans have no immunity to strains that infect deer.

But how the virus spread in these deer in the first place, and across species, are unanswered questions related to the new findings. The team speculates that the white-tailed deer became infected by environmental means, perhaps from drinking contaminated water. Studies have shown that the virus spreads in human feces and can be detected in wastewater.

Novel coronavirus has been detected in white-tailed deer in the United States, researchers at Pennsylvania State University said in a pre-publication paper on October 31. Previous studies published by the US Department of Agriculture also showed novel coronavirus infections in white-tailed deer in 2019.

The infection rate was 82.5%
In samples of white-tailed deer collected between 23 November 2020 and 10 January 2021, US researchers found novel coronavirus infections in 80 of 97 white-tailed deer in Iowa, that is, an infection rate of 82.5%.

Tony GOLDBERG, ANIMAL Epidemiologist, UNIVERSITY of Wisconsin-Madison: It means that not only did white-tailed deer have multiple Novel coronavirus infections from humans, but there was rapid transmission from white-tailed deer to white-tailed deer.

So far, us researchers have not detected novel Coronavirus transmission from white-tailed deer to humans, but researchers are beginning to worry that, with such high infection rates, white-tailed deer are likely to act as a reservoir of Novel coronavirus transmission, and that it cannot be ruled out that white-tailed deer could mutate to infect humans in the future.

The USDA found that white-tailed deer were infected as early as 2019
In fact, in August of this year, the USDA released the results of a study they completed in July, in which they collected 385 serum samples from white-tailed deer in the northeastern states of Michigan, Pennsylvania, Illinois, and New York, and found that novel Coronavirus-related antibodies were detected in 40% of them. Several U.S. biological laboratories, including Fort Detrick, are also located in the northeast.

More notably, novel Coronavirus-related antibodies have also been detected in a 2019 sample. This most likely means that novel coronavirus transmission has occurred in humans in the United States since 2019, which in turn has infected white-tailed deer. The first human case of novel coronavirus infection in the United States was reported on 21 January 2020.

White-tailed deer are widely distributed in the United States, and only a few states select a few hundred samples of serum from the USDA for testing. Is this detection range really an accurate reflection of white-tailed deer infections prior to the Novel Coronavirus pandemic? If the 2019 sample pool is expanded, will more white-tailed deer be found to have been infected before the Novel Coronavirus pandemic?

Or evolve into new strains to infect humans and evade existing vaccines
Some previous studies have hinted at the possibility of transmission of the virus from humans to deer, as many other animals besides white-tailed deer can also be infected with novel coronavirus, the New York Times noted. These include ferrets and primates that were deliberately infected in laboratory experiments, zoo animals that caught the virus from keepers, and captive minks that came into contact with farm workers.

If the virus becomes endemic in wild animals like deer, it could evolve over time to be more capable, and a new strain could then infect humans that might be able to evade existing vaccines.

“If deer can re-transmit the virus to humans, it will be a turning point.” Tony Goldberg, a veterinarian at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He studies the evolution of infectious diseases between animals and humans. “It’s very rare and unfortunate for a wild animal to become a reservoir of a virus when it gets infected from a human,” he says.

Recently, according to media reports, the President of the United States Joe biden was recently exposure with a will be confirmed coronavirus infection had close contact, the infection is a working staff in the White House, before the onset of biden had close contact with, in recent period of time the new strain of the super dense gram si virus sweeping across the United States, the daily number of new diagnosed in the United States still maintain high in more than 100000 people, This time, it was revealed that Biden was in close contact with the patient. Is biden about to fall for the same trick? Are you about to get infected with a virus? And to the White House recently, emergency response, although said biden was identified close contact with an infected person, but in recent times the President’s nucleic acid detection results are positive, so there is no evidence that biden has been infected, but the covid after virus infection such as dense gram si will take some time to get a more accurate test results, so it doesn’t give a final conclusion.

The graph is Joe biden

According to American media, who was diagnosed with the White House staff is a middle-level officials don’t often contact with the President, but just before the shortly be detected infection, with Joe biden, who on the U.S. air force plane 1 had 30 minutes of close contact, therefore, in accordance with relevant provisions of the epidemic prevention, biden should be classified as infected with close contacts, This news was just sensation all over the world, because according to the will of coronavirus infection ability, if it is true, then I’m afraid there will be a larger biden may be infected, because according to the United States, Joe biden, contact with the infected person’s position on air force one plane, air force one plane is specifically for the President of the United States air travel office building plane, With a modified Boeing 747 aircraft, and there is a lot of special communications equipment installation, can be real-time army each kind of contact with the United States armed forces, with anti-radiation coating appearance at the same time, equipped with ir decoy flare, anti-missile interference equipment such as electronic warfare system, even by a nuclear strike also has the ability to protect the security of the President and other senior officials in the United States.

The picture shows the American people

Air force 1, although have outstanding external defense capability, internal defense might not be as perfect, but this kind of equipment is used to protect important officials and commanders tend to install three proofing devices, can enter the cabin to the outside of the gas filter cleaning, removal of radioactive substances or virus, when necessary, can also be completely cut off the gas exchange with the outside world, However, there is no evidence that Air Force one used sophisticated equipment to filter air from the cabin. In other words, the virus breathed by an infected person aboard Air Force One might not have been intercepted by air Force One’s filter system and could have infected Biden.

The graph is Joe biden

Although the White House says biden nucleic acid test results were negative, but according to the will of coronavirus characteristics, biden still have a greater risk of infection, may reflect the results of detection of nucleic acids in the next few days, will be coronavirus to middle-aged and old people is a killer virus than young people, about 1% ~ 2% fatality rate of youth, But the fatality rate for the middle-aged and elderly is 10 percent, and biden, who is 79 years old, is still at risk of dying if the U.S. president does catch the virus, even with the help of powerful U.S. medical technology.

The graph is Joe biden

So what would happen if Biden were diagnosed and even killed? How does this affect China? In fact can be seen from the present reality, because of the outbreak, level of economic recession, tear, and the influence of such factors as the disorder degree of American society has higher, at this time the need most is a strong central government pick up the pieces, and then biden if really unfortunate infection even killed, will give the stability of the United States, It would also give biden’s opponents a chance to act, so even if Biden does get sick, the White House is likely to try to keep the news under wraps until he recovers or dies.

Assuming that biden really died, according to the current political situation and legal provisions, vice President of Harris will host become the first female President in American history, although now biden and Harris remains on the surface of the peace, but in fact there are already a deep rift between two people, once Harris, Biden now carry out some policies will be affected by the larger, such as Harris argues that a tougher attitude to China, if really epigyny Harris, America will move more advanced weapons deployed in the Pacific Ocean, and increasing investment in research and development a hypersonic missiles and other advanced weapons, lead to greater pressure on strategy for China, we have to prevent such consequences.

Patients infected with omicron virus during the fourth wave of the South African epidemic were significantly less likely to end up in hospital, while there was no significant difference in the likelihood that hospitalized patients would develop severe illness, according to a newly published preprint study from the National Institute of Infectious Diseases.

(Source: South African National Institute of Infectious Diseases)

In South Africa, a total of 161,328 COVID-19 patients were reported between October 1 and December 6, and PCR testing (Taqpath) was performed in 38,000 cases, of which 31,000 lost at least one S-gene target, the study noted. Of those 31,000, 29,700 were eventually identified as S gene loss (SGTF) infections. All SGTF samples with genomic data as of 14 December were confirmed as omicron virus infection.

This means that between October and December this year, the proportion of Omicron infections in South Africa jumped from 3% to 98%.

(Source: South African National Institute of Infectious Diseases)

After adjusting for several factors, only 2.5 percent of sgTF-infected people were hospitalized in October and November of this year, compared with 12.8 percent of non-SGTF-infected people, the researchers said. In addition to regional factors, younger (less than 5 years old) and older (more than 60 years old) patients were more likely to be admitted to hospital than younger and female patients. In addition, the severity of the Omicron outbreak dropped by 70 percent compared with the April Delta outbreak. Researchers say this may be partly due to higher immunization rates among local populations. But the study also noted that omicron patients may have a higher viral load in general.

Paul Hunter, a professor of medicine at the University of East Anglia, told the press that although the so-called historical control studies using April and November data meant the results could be skewed over time, they were still important. So even if omicron’s cases are less likely to be hospitalized than Delta’s, it’s hard to say whether it’s the difference in virulence itself or whether herd immunity is stronger this November than it was earlier in the year.

Cheryl Cohen, a professor at South Africa’s National Institute of Infectious Diseases, also told a media briefing that it was unclear whether a similar situation would occur in countries with high vaccination rates but low cumulative infection rates. Cohen points out that an estimated 60-70% of south Africans have already been infected with COVID-19 earlier.

RBC analysts (100.43, -1.05, -1.03%) said the Novel Coronavirus pandemic is expected to reduce life expectancy in the UK by nine months, reversing the longevity trend.

Insurance stock analysts Gordon Aitken and Mandeep Jagpal used statistics from the Institute of Actuaries and data from insurers to make their estimates.

“The wave of COVID-19 is likely to persist, and prolonged COVID-19 symptoms will lead to poorer health outcomes,” they wrote in a note to clients. “There may also be second-order effects, such as delayed diagnosis and treatment of other diseases, while the effects of an economic slowdown may also be harmful.”

The higher death toll will allow life insurers to sell more of their reserves and boost operating profits by 7.4 billion pounds ($9.8 billion) a year, or 16 percent, over the next five years.

Michael Marmot, an epidemiologist at University College London, reported in June that life expectancy in England fell by 0.9 years in 2020. Meanwhile, a report in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) last month said a total of 28 million more years of life were lost in 2020 than expected in the 31 countries considered in the study.

Germany has banned British tourists from entering the country, but has not restricted German citizens and their families from returning home, German media reported.

The new rules, which will ban airlines from carrying British passengers to Germany, came into effect at 11pm local time on December 19. The restrictions are likely to remain in place until at least January 3, 2022, according to the Robert Koch Institute, Germany’s public health agency. It is worth mentioning that the new rules will not affect German citizens, their families or transit passengers.

France, meanwhile, has imposed similar restrictions, which came into effect at 11pm local time on December 17. Freight traffic has been badly affected by the flood of passengers travelling to France to avoid a ban on British tourists. There were long queues of cars at the entrance to the Kent M20 motorway to Dover and the Channel Tunnel.

Germany’s new rules immediately triggered a storm of public opinion, and netizens could not help but link it to Japan’s previous epidemic prevention policy. Earlier, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced that the country was closed to foreigners. According to a Japanese government official, the Japanese government has decided to extend the entry ban on foreigners, and the timing of lifting the ban depends on the development of the omicron virus.

The outbreak in the UK has worsened since the discovery of a mutant strain of omicron. The number of confirmed cases of the omicron strain has reached a new high, but the number of new cases across the UK has dropped, the government said on Tuesday. On the same day, the government said more than 900,000 doses of the third dose of COVID-19 vaccine had been administered in the UK in a single day.

It was reported that the omicron mutant strain was first identified in South Africa on 9 November local time and was first reported to WHO on 24 November local time. Omicron is by far the most highly evolved variant, with 32 mutations, twice as many as Delta. Highly infectious and vaccine-resistant, its spike protein changes much more than other variants.

The World Health Organization has designated the omicron variant as “of concern.” Who said it was mobilizing researchers around the world to learn more about omicron’s impact on the COVID-19 outbreak, with results expected in the coming days or weeks.

On the evening of December 18, the Greek National Public Health Organization announced that 4,345 new novel Coronavirus cases had been reported in Greece in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of confirmed coronavirus cases to 1,031,239. Sixty-three new deaths were reported, bringing the total death toll to 19,799.

In an interview, President of the University of Athens Sanos Dimomoulos responded to the current situation of COVID-19 in Greece and issues related to omicron virus.

Asked if the Greek government would return to the restrictive measures it took at the beginning of the outbreak, Sanos Dimomoulos said: “Two years have passed since the outbreak began, and we now have a weapon against the Novel Coronavirus — vaccines and drugs. And he predicted that Greek authorities would not return to the restrictive measures they had taken earlier in the epidemic. Based on the progress made so far in the fight against the outbreak, he believes the end of the epidemic is within reach.

He noted that the pace of the omicron virus’s spread would lead to an explosion in global cases over the next 2-3 months. It is not yet clear how much strain the omicron mutant strain will put on the health system. The severity of the impact will be determined by three factors: 1. The incidence and mortality of omicron virus in unvaccinated populations. 2. How resistant people are to omicron virus after the second or third dose of vaccine. 3. How badly people are re-infected. International scientists are now working to assess the strain omicron puts on the world’s health systems.

But he said: “In any case, global cases will continue to increase, which will inevitably place an additional burden on health systems. Statistically, patients who have been infected with Delta virus are more resistant to Omicron.”

Due to the increase in cases in Omicron, Greece, the Greek authorities are taking measures to effectively vaccinate against the disease. For foreign visitors to Greece, a 24-hour rapid test or PCR test is required within 72 hours. The measure will take effect from December 19 to January 10, 2022.

Sanos Dimoulos reminded the public to always follow quarantine measures to protect their health and safety. “Even if we have booster shots, we should still wear masks in public areas as required, and if we have suspected symptoms, we should be tested immediately. “We should also voluntarily test for the virus before holiday gatherings even if we don’t have any symptoms.”

In the meantime, Sanos Dimoulos encourages people to get booster shots: “Early data show that when people get booster shots, they have a 25-fold increase in antibody levels against omicron virus. “Although we currently lack large-scale data on booster vaccination studies, we predict that advancing booster vaccination efforts will play an important role in combating the oncoming wave of Omicron virus.”

“There is a lot of concern that the emergence of the Omikron strain could undo all the gains that have been made,” said Sanos Dimoulos. But the conjecture turned out to be nonsense. We currently have an effective vaccine against the virus and drugs to treat COVID-19, so the end of the outbreak is within sight!”

The World Short Course Swimming Championships were held in ABU Dhabi from December 16 to 21.

Many elite swimmers from all over the world have withdrawn from this year’s short-course World Championships due to the rapid spread of the mutant virus Omicron once again.

Four members of the Singapore swimming team have tested positive

The entire team withdrew from the short course World Championships

Swimming is also Singapore’s strength, the Singapore swimming team has sent 14 swimmers to compete for MEDALS in the World Short course Championships, domestic swimming fans and coach families are eagerly looking forward to good results!

But, but,

The novel Coronavirus pandemic has once again arrived, breaking everyone’s defences!

Just before the start of the race, four athletes from Singapore tested positive for the coronavirus…

On the afternoon of the 17th, the scheduled events included:

The 400m freestyle,

Women’s 200m freestyle,

Men’s 200m butterfly,

Men’s 200m medley,

Women’s 400m medley and men’s 100m breaststroke.

However, our country all players unexpectedly all have no chance to appear, but under, all athletes had to leave the field with regret.

Singapore’s athletes in ABU Dhabi include several former medalists at the Southeast Asian Games.

Three of Singapore’s four athletes were asymptomatic, while the other athlete had typical symptoms of the disease, including cough, fever and loss of smell and taste.

Image above: Sports Sina

Chinese swimmers have all been tested for COVID-19 before their departure. And you still fall for it! Let’s just say this virus is too sophisticated to be controlled by humans…

As of now, the rest of the team is in self-quarantine, and those who have tested negative for COVID-19 have arranged flights back to Singapore.

Other athletes with COVID-19 will also return to Singapore after they have basically recovered and been cleared to return home.

Pfizer predicts novel Coronavirus pandemic

It could end in 2024!

On Dec. 17, the fabled Pharmaceutical Company Pfizer predicted that the COVID-19 pandemic would likely not end until 2024.

In addition, Pfizer is expected to delay licensing of a lower-dose vaccine for younger children, ages 2 to 4, after it produced a lower-than-expected immune response.

Pfizer further said it is testing three doses of the vaccine in all age groups up to 16, including children aged 2 to 4.

“These data illustrate a booster operation,” Pfizer chief scientific officer Mikael Dols Ten said in a conference call. “Our vaccine’s three-dose primary regimen worked best.”

Pfizer is working with Germany’s BioN Tech to develop a vaccine against the omicron mutant strain, and Pfizer executives said clinical trials of the new vaccine are expected in January.

The new mutated strain of vaccine is expected to generate $31 billion next year.

Source: Temasek Review

Pfizer and BioN Tech use 19 micrograms for children ages 5 to 11; 30 microgram dose of vaccine for children over 12 years of age; Children aged two to five were given a dose of three micrograms.

Clinical trials have shown that low-dose vaccines in children aged 6 to 24 months produce immune responses similar to those seen in adults.

Preliminary speculation is that Pfizer will submit data in the first half of 2022 to authorize emergency use of the vaccine for children 6 months to under 5 years of age.

Singapore is ready

Are you ready for the Omicron strain?

Since September this year, the Number of cases of the Delta variant of COVID-19 in Singapore has reached four figures every day, peaking at 5,324 on Oct 27.

At the height of the epidemic, the death toll was as high as a dozen people a day.

From late November to December, the outbreak in Singapore gradually improved, until now it has dropped to a few hundred people a day, and fewer patients are being hospitalized.

Singapore is still maintaining its existing community management measures, including adjustments to some border policies and a greater emphasis on three-dose vaccination for adults, vaccination for children under 12 and other health care.

However, the omicron variant of the mutant virus is spreading around the world at an unprecedented rate.

Since the omicron variant was first identified in South Africa on November 11 this year, it has now been reported in nearly 80 countries and the number is growing.

The World Health Organization warns: Don’t treat it as a mild illness, the health system could be overwhelmed by the virus again.

Singapore has 24 confirmed cases as of Tuesday.

Experts in Singapore also claim that:

It is only a matter of time before omicron infections surge in the Singapore community! And the size of the population infected with the virus is likely to exceed that of the Delta strain!

It seems that many knowledgeable people in Singapore feel that the country is well prepared to deal with this new virus, as Singapore has learned enough lessons from various outbreaks over the past two years and more.

So the government is taking a more cautious approach to the omicron strain this time, trying to strike a balance between limiting the outbreak and keeping the economy open.

“Singapore is definitely on the path to becoming a Novel Coronavirus resilience nation, and it’s moving forward with determination!

A senior fellow at the Singapore think tank Institute also said:

This path will certainly require more ups and downs and many ways of balancing the economy before Singaporeans can build novel coronavirus immunity in a safe and controlled manner.

Netizens also expressed their opinions on whether Singapore was ready for the omicron virus:

Source: Strait Times

Some netizens said:

It’s better to be prepared than wise! Only by preparing for the worst can we expect the best. Everybody protect themselves!

Another netizen said:

Whoops, we’ve all been fighting novel Coronavirus for two years now, and we already know exactly what rules to apply: wear a mask, use disinfectant at all times, clean the environment, watch out for social distancing… Again and again. Again and again.

If one of us does get infected, we can only pray that it is not serious and that we can recover soon without any lingering effects.

Others commented:

We don’t have a choice! There is no alternative!

Or what the next mutant strain will be?

Then I’m afraid delta will combine with Omicron to form a stronger mutant strain…

Although health officials have sounded the alarm about Omicron, the Delta virus remains by far the dominant novel coronavirus strain in the United States. Scientists say it is actually possible to infect both variants at the same time.

“They are different enough for a person to be infected with both,” said Dr.Stephanie Silvera, according to Fox5. On top of that, it’s also flu season, which means a person could be infected with omicron, Delta and the cold virus at the same time, or with one or both of the variants.

▲ (Image from Pixabay)

Worse, when we see the world before the delta virus infected people infected with the virus that the dense gram si, showed the lowest degree of immunity to this new varieties, scientists think may present two main varieties in the world is still very different, enough to cause two different types of epidemic at the same time, rather than Mr Mick Dijon completely replace delta virus.

On average, omicron currently appears to cause less disease in those who get it, especially in vaccinated people, than previous variants, and various combinations of those at risk groups will see more severe cases.

To that end, global health experts are stressing the need for all of us to wear masks, take care of indoor ventilation, get vaccinations and booster shots to reduce the strain on our health systems this winter.