Posted on: 31-03-20 11:32:05
The health officials are in the fire-fighting mode - some in treatments, some in searching for vaccine. This might not be a time to analyze but someone really need to think what makes the Asian Countries more robust against COVID-19 as compared to western countries. The South Africa and most of the South American Countries are doing very well.
Food habits? Spices in the food? Relying more on hot drinks and not added ice?
Immunity developed over the time by having frequent malaria, flu etc.?
Immunity just because of pure polution in the air and water and food?
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A Proud Indian Canadian
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COVID 19, TORONTO. COVID-19: Status of Cases in Toronto
Last updated: April 8, 2020 at 4:00 p.m.
If you think you have COVID-19 symptoms or have been in close contact with someone who has it, find out if you should visit an assessment centre and where to go.
This daily summary was extracted from the Integrated Public Health Information System at 12:30 p.m. on April 8, 2020. The numbers may differ from other sources, as data are extracted at different times.
Please read on. (Click on the link below)
FH.
https://www.toronto.ca/home/covid-19/media-room/covid-19-status-of-cases-in-toronto/
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Deadly coronavirus comes in three variants, researchers find Types A, B and C are all derived from the pathogen first found in bats but have evolved in different ways, according to a report by British and German geneticists. Findings show that the virus has become well adapted to human transmission and mutates as it spreads, Chinese epidemiologist says.
Covid-19 may attack human immune system like HIV, doctors fear. The study suggests coronavirus can infect T cells.
Nature magazine said that continuing to associate this virus with a specific place (Location) is irresponsible and needs to stop.
Animals hunted, traded and homeless host twice as many viruses that infect us
The spillover of viruses from animals to humans is a direct result of our actions involving wildlife and their habitat, according to the lead author of a new study.
In pandemic-gripped Washington, rhetoric rises but anti-China bills stall
Why Chinese diplomats are spoiling for a fight. Global race for virus vaccine heats up as China seeks volunteers for trial.
CanSino is recruiting healthy volunteers for a clinical trial of its vaccine candidate.
Bug in the system: why there’s no quick fix for a Covid-19 vaccine
The authors of the reports attack said an attack on China’s global trade would undermine its economy and threaten its stability.
The world is under attack from three variants of the deadly coronavirus, according to new research. Photo: EPA-EFEThe world is under attack from three variants of the deadly coronavirus, according to new research. Geneticists from Britain and Germany have mapped the evolutionary path of the coronavirus that causes Covid-19 and determined there are currently three versions of it spreading around the world. The discovery of how the variants were formed and then spread could help scientists to identify its source and explain why it is so contagious. The researchers analysed the first 160 complete viral genomes sequenced from human patients between December 24 and March 4, then reconstructed the early evolutionary pathway of Covid-19 in humans through its mutations.
“There are too many rapid mutations to neatly trace a Covid-19 family tree. We used a mathematical network algorithm to visualise all the plausible trees simultaneously,” said Peter Forster, a geneticist at University of Cambridge and lead author of the study.
“These techniques are mostly known for mapping the movements of prehistoric human populations through DNA. We think this is one of the first times they have been used to trace the infection routes of a coronavirus like Covid-19,” he said in a report about the study on the university’s website.
The team labelled the three variants A, B and C.
Type A was closest to the coronavirus discovered in bats and although found in Wuhan – the central China city that was the epicentre of the initial outbreak – was not the primary type there, they said.
Type A was also found in Americans who had lived in Wuhan, and in other patients diagnosed in the United States and Australia.
The most common variant found in Wuhan was type B, the study said, though this appeared not to have travelled much beyond East Asia before mutating, which the researchers said was probably due to some form of resistance to it outside that region. Coronavirus could target immune system by killing protective cells.
Finally, type C was the variant found most often in Europe based on cases in France, Italy, Sweden and England. It had not been detected in any patients in mainland China, though had been found in samples from Singapore, Hong Kong and South Korea, the study said.
The researchers concluded that variant A was the root of the outbreak as it was most closely related to the virus found in bats and pangolins.
Type B was derived from A, separated by two mutations, while type C was the “daughter” of variant B. “The Wuhan B-type virus could be immunologically or environmentally adapted to a large section of the East Asian population,” Forster said.
“It may need to mutate to overcome resistance outside East Asia. We seem to see a slower mutation rate in East Asia than elsewhere, in this initial phase.”
The research also documented how people’s movements had helped the spread of the virus.
For example, the study suggested that one of the earliest introductions of the virus to Italy – found in a Mexican traveller who was diagnosed on February 28 – came via the first documented German infection – a person who worked for a company in Munich – on January 27. The German contracted the infection from a Chinese colleague in Shanghai, who had recently been visited by her parents from Wuhan.
The researchers documented 10 mutations in the viral journey from Wuhan to Mexico.
“Because we have reconstructed the "family tree" (the evolutionary history) of the human virus, we can use this tree to trace infection routes from one human to the next, and thus have a statistical tool to suppress future infection when the virus tries to return,” Forster said.
He added that researchers can better determine when the outbreak started with the data. “I hope this improved knowledge of the origin and spread will enable more precise computer simulations to predict which measures will be most effective,” he said.
Lu Jiahai, an epidemiologist at Sun Yat-sen University Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong, said the study had provided a preliminary analysis of genomics and molecular variation. “The virus mutates during spreading and has become more adapted to transmission among humans in different populations from different countries,” he said.
But as the variants were related to each other, tracking mutations within different groups could help to determine the origin of the virus, he said. “This research indicates that the spread of the virus is increasingly adapted to different populations and therefore the pandemic needs to be taken seriously,” Lu said.
“People need to pay more attention to prevention and control … the virus may coexist with humans for a long time.”
Enjoy reading it.
FH.
https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3079491/deadly-coronavirus-comes-three-variants-researchers-find
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How this South Korean company created coronavirus test kits in three weeks.
Seoul (CNN) : Before there were any cases of novel coronavirus confirmed in South Korea, one of the country's biotech firms had begun preparing to make testing kits to identify the disease.
On January 16, Chun Jong-yoon, the chief executive and founder of molecular biotech company Seegene, told his team it was time to start focusing on coronavirus. That was before the virus sweeping China had been named Covid-19 and four days ahead of South Korea confirming its first case. "Even if nobody is asking us to, we are a molecular diagnosis company. We have to prepare in advance," he remembered thinking at the time.
Fast forward two months, and South Korea is among the world's worst affected countries, with more than 7,800 people infected, and more than 60 deaths. But one reason why South Korea might have a higher number of infections than other countries is its aggressive approach to testing.
South Korea has ppassed the peak; of the coronavirus outbreak, health minister hopes South Korea has 'passed the peak' of the coronavirus outbreak, health minister hopes. While some nations have struggled to get enough test kits to diagnose suspected patients, South Korea has provided free and easy access to testing for anyone who a doctor deems needs it. The country's Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (KCDC) says the country has 118 facilities that can test -- and all report their results to KCDC. To date, the country has tested more than 230,000 people.
It has even rolled out drive-through coronavirus testing facilities, where motorists are met by health workers dressed in hazmat suits. "Detecting patients at an early stage is very important," South Korea's health minister Park Neung-hu told CNN Monday. "South Korea is an open society and would like to protect the freedom of people moving around and traveling.
"That is why we're conducting mass amount of tests." But to roll out tests en masse, a country first needs test kits.
Please Read on.:
FH.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/12/asia/coronavirus-south-korea-testing-intl-hnk/index.html" target="_blank">
https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/12/asia/coronavirus-south-korea-testing-intl-hnk/index.html</a>
https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/28/tech/korea-coronavirus-tracking-apps/index.html
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/02/coronavirus-testing-how-some-countries-germany-south-korea-got-ahead-of-the-rest
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INSTAGRAM COVID 19 Infection Charts for each State/Province and Country.
FH.
Oxford University scientists starting human trials for virus vaccine next week
Over 500 people who have been recruited; this vaccine has been already tested in several different animal species and found very effective in them.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/oxford-university-scientists-starting-human-trials-for-virus-vaccine-next-week/
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Your Risk of Getting Sick From Covid-19 May Lie in Your Genes. A global consortium of scientists is working to unlock the mystery of the disease’s dramatically varying symptoms.
Some people experience this Covid-19 as nothing more than a mild cold, and others exhibit no symptoms at all. Then there are the thousands who sicken and, often, die. Scientists are working hard to understand the underlying reasons for such huge discrepancies in symptoms and outcomes. No one knows the answer yet. One theory: It is locked deep in our genetic makeup.
We know that age and underlying health conditions, such as hypertension, play a large role in determining how people fare once they’ve contracted Covid-19. But these alone don’t explain the wide diversity of symptoms. Studying the genetics of the virus and people who are more susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 could not only help identify and protect those more at risk but also help speed treatment and drug development.
“What is it that makes some people very sick and other people hardly sick at all? There are two major possibilities,” says Kári Stefánsson, head of deCODE Genetics, an Icelandic subsidiary of Amgen Inc. that has conducted some of the most extensive studies of the virus to date. One is the genetic sequence of the virus itself: that some strains make people sicker than others, he says. The other: the unique genetics of each person who catches the disease.
Some people’s genes may simply make them more vulnerable to severe illness, while others’ genetics may confer resistance. It is generally accepted that our genes do play a role in how we respond to viral infections. On the extreme end, one mutation of the gene CCR5, for example, makes those who carry it resistant to human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV.
HERE is the article in its entireity.:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-16/your-risk-of-getting-sick-from-covid-19-may-lie-in-your-genes
Please enjoy.
FH.
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Quote:
Originally posted by Garvo Gujarati
The health officials are in the fire-fighting mode - some in treatments, some in searching for vaccine. This might not be a time to analyze but someone really need to think what makes the Asian Countries more robust against COVID-19 as compared to western countries. The South Africa and most of the South American Countries are doing very well.
Food habits? Spices in the food? Relying more on hot drinks and not added ice?
Immunity developed over the time by having frequent malaria, flu etc.?
Immunity just because of pure polution in the air and water and food?
Vaccine being tested for Covid 19.: by OXFORD.
“We are going into human trials next week. We have tested the vaccine in several different animal species,” says Professor Adrian Hill. “We have taken a fairly cautious approach, but a rapid one to assess the vaccine that we are developing.”
The vaccine may be ready as soon as September, Dr. Sarah Gilbert, a professor of vaccinology at Oxford from the same team, told The Times on Saturday. She said she was “80 percent confident” that the vaccine being developed by her team of researchers would work and would become available to the general public in about five months.
FH.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WERcBYgrLbA
