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sexydeathparty · 2 years

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Matt Hancock Slated For Saying Pandemic Is Over In UK: 'How Insulting!'

Matt Hancock declared the pandemic over in the UK

Matt Hancock has been ridiculed for alleging that the Covid pandemic is over in the UK, even as the death toll continues to climb.

Sky News’ Beth Rigby asked the former health secretary: “Is the Covid pandemic finally over, do you think?”

He replied: “Yes, in this country. Covid is obviously endemic, meaning that it’s everywhere and lots of people catch it.

“But every week they publish the statistics about how many people have got antibodies that protect you from Covid and it’s now over 99%.”

ONS data does state that 99% of people across the UK now have antibodies, either through Covid infection or vaccination.

“And that’s great,” Hancock continued. “It means we can have what is essentially a free existence here.

“But it’s not over everywhere around the world. I think one of the really shocking things is watching how some of the countries which went for a zero-Covid strategy at the start are now in real trouble negotiating their way to being part of the international community again.”

China is known for its zero-Covid strategy, along with North Korea and Tonga. Other nations, such as New Zealand, have now ditched this policy after finding the strict lockdowns and contact tracing too difficult to maintain.

.@BethRidgby asks Matt Hancock MP: 'Is the pandemic finally over do you think?' He responds saying ''yes, in this country" but highlights the fact that it is not over around the world. #Rigby: https://t.co/iOm40vn1kt 📺 Sky 501, Virgin 602, Freeview 233 and YouTube pic.twitter.com/jGHsR18LyY

— Sky News (@SkyNews) April 21, 2022

However, Hancock’s claim that the UK is now out of the pandemic misses the key stats, which show 646 people with Covid were reported to have died on Thursday – the day the Tory MP conducted his interview.

This is also an increase from the 350 deaths reported last Thursday.

Deaths involving Covid-19 in England & Wales.

More than 161,800 people have tested positive in the last week as well, even though the number of virus tests being conducted has fallen by 23% in the last seven days, according to the government’s official Covid data.

While the death rate is still a long way off the haunting numbers experienced during previous waves, it’s clearly still a pressing issue for the UK – as people pointed out to the former minister on Twitter.

Er… over 600 people died of Covid today https://t.co/ESBYywvn14

— John Crace (@JohnJCrace) April 21, 2022

Living outside the UK, it really looks as if no one cares anymore despite the high case numbers and deaths.

— Keren Bobker (@FinancialUAE) April 22, 2022

The UK had 600 deaths yesterday - the highest in Europe https://t.co/kIwwbxmjxt

— Best for Britain (@BestForBritain) April 22, 2022

600 deaths. How insulting! #COVID19#CovidIsNotOverhttps://t.co/mDFNUMkdsz

— Carine (@Carine_Buchanan) April 22, 2022

Other people took issue with the way Hancock described Covid as “endemic”, which means it is permanently in circulation although usually confined to a place or population.

This word is usually associated with common illnesses like the flu, where there are recurring outbreaks but at lower levels than we have seen over the course of the Covid pandemic. This is only possible if enough people become immune.

Most experts believe the virus is still far from being endemic especially after Imperial College React’s study found that overall infections in March reached the highest levels recorded throughout the pandemic.

Dame Jenny Harries, the chief executive of the UK Health Security Agency, said: “These latest study results are another reminder that the pandemic is not over and there is still a real risk to many of us catching Covid with infection rates so high.”

Hancock’s comments also aired the day before scientists reported that a UK patient with a severely weakened immune system tested positive for Covid for almost a year and a half.

Suspected to be the longest reported infection, the discovery suggests Covid is still affecting the body in ways we do not yet understand.

Would be funny if not so serious. Do you think he’s misunderstood the definition of ‘Pandemic’? https://t.co/u3byS6SGMJ

— Philip Freeman (@PhilipmFreeman) April 22, 2022

COVID is not yet endemic, not even in the UK https://t.co/KJaLZboBv7

— Björn Meyer (@_b_meyer) April 22, 2022

Matt Hancock misunderstanding the word pandemic and reassuring us that over 1600 deaths a week here means it’s over. https://t.co/DZilCH6hl4

— Andy Turner (@chimpandy) April 22, 2022

The Tory MP has just confirmed that he will be releasing a new book, which will share what he learnt during the pandemic when he was at the helm of the NHS.

Hancock resigned from the cabinet back in June 2021 amid a national scandal. He had been caught on camera breaching his own government’s social distancing rules by kissing one of his aides.

Since then, he has mainly been out of the spotlight. There was a brief flurry of interest in his career when he was appointed to be the UN’s special envoy in Africa back in October, but it was withdrawn days later.

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covid19updater · 4 years

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COVID19 UPDATES 04/22/2020

MORNING:

Mexico: UPDATE MEXICO Mexico has officially entered phase 3 Phase 3 is of rapid rise in the number of infections and large number of hospitalizations which could saturate the National Health System today 8,772 confirmed cases and 712 deaths

World: Major French study warns of second wave risk with only 6 per cent of population immune when the country starts lifting lockdown on May 11 “Our results strongly suggest that without a vaccine, group immunity will be insufficient alone to avoid a second wave at the end of lockdown. Efficient control measures must be maintained beyond May 11, it said.

US: New Covid-19 treatment guidelines from the agency led by Dr. Anthony Fauci undercut President Trump’s promotion of some unproven drugs LINK

US: Over 2,700 coronavirus deaths in the United States over the past day, making it the deadliest day so far.

NYC: Teen successfully treated for COVID with ECMO therapy. LINK

Texas: Texas investigating meat processing plants over coronavirus outbreaks. State health officials confirmed Tuesday that they are investigating an outbreak of the new coronavirus at the JBS Beef packing plant in the Texas Panhandle LINK

NYC: NYC Funeral home storing bodies out back under a tarp due to lack of space: LINK

RUMINT (Massachusetts): An employee at the Star Market grocery store in Belmont, Massachusetts has died from the corona virus. I have a friend whose wife works in this store and no one in the store was made aware of this prior to today that this individual was positive for the Corona Virus.

Japan: Japan's Nagasaki confirms 33 coronavirus cases on cruise ship docked for repairs (Costa Atlantica) 623 crew aboard. LINK

Massachusetts: 2 Massachusetts State Police academy trainees have tested positive for Corona Virus. LINK

China: Beijing is tightening quarantine measures again. The Chinese capital Beijing has again tightened its measures against the introduction of the corona virus. According to the authorities, people who come to the city have to go under “domestic observation” for a week after a two-week quarantine. This means that returnees are not allowed to take part in public life for a total of three weeks.

Idaho: Idaho Lt. Governor now demanding that Idaho’s shutdown to end and all business to reopen, LINK

World: Coronavirus lingered in a woman's eyes long after it cleared from her nose LINK

Spain: Spain registers slight increase in death toll. The Spanish Ministry of Health has announced 435 deaths in the last 24 hours due to the new coronavirus, an increase of five deaths since yesterday. Since April 19, there has been a slowdown in the increase in fatalities in Spain - that day 410 deaths were announced and the next day 399. The death toll now stands at 208,389.

Japan: Tokyo orphanage records eight positive cases among babies and young children

SIngapore: Singapore, a country that was used as an example in the beginning of the pandemic but that, with just two mistakes, saw the whole strategy of success in combating Covid-19 crumbling, this Wednesday passed the barrier of 10,000 infected. In relation to the last 24 hours, and according to data from the local Ministry of Health, there are 1,016 new cases registered in the country

China: In the Chinese city of Wuhan, there are increasing cases in which Covid 19 patients continue to carry the virus after they have survived the disease. They are considered a possible risk of infection. However, these people showed no symptoms of illness, explained doctors of the metropolis before which the pandemic had spread in December. All of them had been tested negative at a certain point in their therapy - the virus could therefore no longer be detected. However, they were later tested positive. According to the doctors, the corona virus was detected in some cases 70 days after the supposed recovery, in others the tests were positive again after 50 to 60 days.

China: Recovered, Almost: China’s Early Patients Unable To Shed Coronavirus LINK

US: First death in the United States occurred three weeks earlier than was estimated. The first death in the United States had been recorded in Kirkland, Washington, on February 29, but there are new data that prove that there had been victims in the country by Covid-19 before: according to CNN, which quotes statements from local authorities, autopsies done in the meantime prove that two people died of the new coronavirus in Santa Clara, Calif., on February 6 and 17. "The testing criteria at that time were limited only to people who had a history of illness and received medical treatment for specific symptoms," explained a state spokesman, adding that samples were also sent to the Center for Disease Prevention and Control from United States.

AFTERNOON/EVENING:

UK: #BREAKING UK #coronavirus hospital death toll rises 759 to reach 18,100: health ministry

North Korea: Taiwan media claiming China sending medical team to help treat Kim Jong Un and fly him to China for further treatment.

US: LATEST: As of 10:30 a.m. ET, April 22, there are 809,770 confirmed coronavirus cases in the US, and 44,825 deaths.

US: Source close to coronavirus task force said others on panel share concerns of CDC Dir Redfield that “second wave” of COVID-19 could be more devastating as it may combine with flu outbreak: “Influenza and COVID simultaneously could completely overwhelm the health care system.”

US: Coronavirus at meat packing plants worse than first thought, USA TODAY investigation finds LINK

Italy: Italy. Dead exceed 25 thousand. With 437 more deaths recorded in the last 24 hours, Italy has already surpassed the 25,000 deaths of Covid-19 (25,085). The most recent Civil Protection figures also report an additional 3,370 positive cases, bringing the cumulative number of infections to 187,327. This is the highest number in four days.

World: *WHO'S TEDROS SAYS HE HOPES U.S. WOULD RECONSIDER FREEZING FUNDS *U.S. WHO FUNDING HELPS FINANCE POLIO ERADICATION, IMMUNIZATIONS *WHO'S RYAN SAYS HOPES U.S. WILL JUST FREEZE SPENDING 60 DAYS

India: #INDIA suspends testing for antibodies to the coronavirus because of concern over the accuracy. The country has ordered more than 500 million testing kits from China.

UK: UK medical adviser Chris Whitty warns: - we are not seeing a steep fall in new infections. - expect many deaths in care homes. - Incredibly small chance of having effective vaccine or drugs in next year.

Texas: TEXAS COVID-19 CASES RISE 18% IN SECOND STRAIGHT DAILY INCREASE

NYC: NOT GOOD: Two cats in New York have tested positive for novel coronavirus making them the first pets in the US known to be infected

Florida: Walgreens employees test positive in Jupiter distribution center LINK

Sweden: BREAKING - Sweden recorded 172 new coronavirus deaths and 682 new #COVID19 cases today on one of its bleakest days since the crisis began.

France: France reports 544 new deaths in the past 24 hours with 5218 still in ICUs and 21.340 total deaths.

Iran: Cases in Tehran (9M) have been on the rise (6% in the last 24 hours) and they come in a more critical condition. Tehran's Emergency Services also says they get calls for much more critical #COVID patients.

World: “Silent hypoxia” killing covid patients who don’t even know they are ill until the damage has occurred LINK

Mexico: UPDATE MEXICO Mexico is expected to break the 10,000 confirmed COVID19 case mark today. Tomorrow should also break the 1,000 mark on deaths from COVID19. A family party in the state of Durango contributes to one family getting infected leading to 11 confirmed cluster cases and one death of a 33 year old healthy woman. While beer / alcohol service is suspended nationally, the desperate beer companies are selling bottled water and other non-alcoholic beverages to stay working.

Texas: Women quarantined because of a COVID-19 outbreak at ICE's El Paso detention facility tell @AngelaKBorder that the situation is more dire than ICE has acknowledged. El Paso public health officials appear to be doing little to track the situation.

Nevada: Las Vegas mayor Carolyn Goodman, who has been openly advocating for Vegas casinos and hotels to completely open up, literally tells Anderson Cooper she has no responsibility to figure out how to do it safely. "It is up to them!"

World: A US government expert panel has formally recommended against using a drug combination promoted by President Donald Trump to fight the coronavirus, because of its potential harmful impact on the heart

Spain: #BREAKING: Spain sends back faulty coronavirus tests made in China... which had been sent out to replace an earlier batch of faulty tests

World: BREAKING - Researchers suspect a **protective effect** of nicotine on #COVID19. This assumption is based on the low number of smokers among coronavirus patients - worldwide the rate is only between 1.4 and 12.5 percent according to several studies. "The hypothesis is that nicotine attaches to cell receptors used by the coronavirus and thus prevents the virus from attaching," says Professor Jean-Pierre Changeux from the Institut Pasteur and the Collège de France. Thus, the coronavirus cannot penetrate the cells and spread in the organism. Nevertheless, people should not buy cigarettes now, because smoking endangers the health, the scientists warn.

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xtruss · 4 years

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IRAN BACKS CHINA, CALLS TO INVESTIGATE U.S. 'CREATION AND SPREAD' OF CORONAVIRUS

— By Ton O'Connor | 3/18/20 | Newsweek

Iran has backed China's calls to investigate yet unfounded claims of the United States being the origin of the new coronavirus as an international blame game worsened over a pandemic that has infected more than 200,000 people across the globe.

Iranian Supreme National Security Council Secretary Ali Shamkhani lashed out on Twitter Wednesday against what he called the "typical way" in which some U.S. officials have emphasized China and its central Hubei province city of Wuhan as the likely place where the COVID-19 disease began and have blamed both Beijing and Tehran's governments for failing to stop its spread. Shamkhani argued this was being done by U.S. officials done in order to "evade responsibility" themselves.

"Instead of leveling false accusations against China and Iran, U.S. officials should respond to international demands regarding its role in creating and spreading the coronavirus and the continuation of its crimes against the Iranian people by keeping in place the economic sanctions," the senior Iranian official wrote.

Shamkhani's rhetoric echoed that of Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian, who alleged in a tweet Thursday that it "might be US army who brought the epidemic to Wuhan."

The tweet accompanied a clip in which Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Robert Redfield acknowledged during a House Oversight Committee session that there was a possibility that people in the U.S. who died of diagnosed influenza may actually have been killed by COVID-19 prior to widespread knowledge of the disease. Neither the CDC nor the World Health Organization has reported any COVID-19 infections in the U.S. prior to the outbreak in Wuhan.

Chinese and Iranian officials pose for a picture published February 29 by Tehran's embassy in Beijing after the Red Cross Society of China donated COVID-19 testing kits and other medical supplies to the Red Crescent Society of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

WHO recommends that new infectious diseases not be associated with geographic locations; people's names, a species/class of animal or food; cultural, population, industry or occupational references or terms that incite undue fear. Its 2015 guideline cites the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) coronavirus as a good example of such naming practices and the Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) coronavirus as a poor one.

Still, President Donald Trump has actively sought to portray the COVID-19 as a "foreign" disease and has recently adopted the term "Chinese Virus" in his social media messaging. He told reporters Tuesday that he instituted the latest term because he "didn't appreciate the fact that China was saying that our military gave it to them."

Trump dismissed reports that such terminology might offend Asian-Americans or put them at risk at another conference the following day, saying "they probably would agree with it 100 percent, it comes from China."

Other Republican lawmakers such as Representative Kevin McCarthy of California, Senator Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee and Senator Rick Scott of Florida have adopted similar, controversial terms to describe COVID-19. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo used the term "Wuhan virus" in countering what he called a "disinformation campaign" by the Iranian government regarding the origin of the disease.

"Instead of focusing on the needs of the Iranian people and accepting genuine offers of support, senior Iranian officials lied about the Wuhan virus outbreak for weeks," Pompeo said during a press conference Tuesday. "The Iranian leadership is trying to avoid responsibility for their grossly incompetent and deadly governance. Sadly, the Iranian people have been suffering these kinds of lies for 41 years."

"They know the truth: The Wuhan virus is a killer, and the Iranian regime is an accomplice," he added.

The Trump administration has also accused China of attempting to initially cover up the extent of the epidemic, which soon produced new outbreaks in South Korea and Iran. While Italy today has the most reported active cases and deaths outside of China, Iran still has still struggled to contain a coronavirus that managed to infect and kill even elite government officials.

Iran has appealed to the International Monetary Fund for $5 billion in emergency funding to help handle its crisis as the country contends with U.S.-imposed economic restrictions laid out since the U.S. left a 2015 multilateral nuclear deal. The agreement saw Tehran agree to curb its nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions relief. Still, the Trump administration left in May 2018, arguing the accord did not go far enough to prevent Iran's support for foreign militias and its ballistic missile development in a move that deeply escalated tensions between the two foes.

"Unlawful US sanctions drained Iran's economic resources, impairing [the] ability to fight #COVID19," Iranian Foreign Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted Tuesday. "They literally kill innocents. It is immoral to observe them: doing so has never saved anyone from future US wrath. Join the growing global campaign to disregard US sanctions on Iran."

The following day, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Abbas Mousavi criticized Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Morocco and the exiled government of Yemen for blocking a Non-Aligned Movement joint statement opposing the ongoing U.S. measures against Iran as it faced mounting COVID-19 infections. China, a party to the nuclear deal, has frequently criticized U.S. sanctions against Iran and has stepped up humanitarian assistance to the country amid the coronavirus pandemic.

"The Iranian government and people are at a crucial juncture in their fight against the epidemic," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang told a press briefing Monday. "Continued unilateral sanctions at this particular time will only make things worse, which apparently breach international law, basic norms governing international relations and humanitarianism."

"They also severely impact Iran's epidemic response and the delivery of humanitarian aid by the U.N. and other organizations," Geng added. "We urge the relevant country to immediately lift such sanctions on Iran, stop getting in the way of Iran's efforts against the epidemic, and avoid further harm to Iran's economy and people's livelihood."

Robert Destro, the State Department's assistant secretary for the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, said last week that the administration would "try to be useful and to provide assistance" to countries like Iran, North Korea and China. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has argued, however, that any country looking to support the Islamic Republic should first consider demanding the release of political prisoners.

"We made a commitment to do everything we can to provide them with all that America can deliver for Iran. I hope they'll accept that offer," Pompeo Tuesday's press conference. "That alone will contribute to Iran being able to manage this problem set for the Iranian people. I hope they'll take us up on these humanitarian efforts, not only us but countries all around the world who want to come help the Iranian people stay healthy and mitigate the risk that's there."

On Tuesday, however, the top U.S. diplomat announced new sanctions against those "who have engaged in activity that could enable the Iranian regime's violent behavior." The designations were listed Wednesday by the State Department and included nine entities and three individuals from Iran, China and South Africa.

The move also came as violence continues to rock Iraq, where a U.S.-led coalition formed to battle the hardline Sunni Islamic State militant group (ISIS) have increasingly faced off with Shiite Muslim militias, some of whom had close ties with Iran.

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