Updated news on COVID-19 is on the plus side for people who have been or will soon be vaccinated. Protection is greater and wider than first thought. But “mask-wearing, social distancing, hand-washing and better overall hygiene” are still needed say some of the world’s top doctors.
Recent graphed data from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, the University of Washington’s IHME and the Civil Society Solidarity Partners against COVID-19 (CSPAC) indicates that the coronavirus pandemic will not end any time soon.
“Until the world is vaccinated the virus is not going to disappear anytime soon,” said Dr. Theresa Tam who is the top doctor in Canada’s federal government public health system.
by Micheal John
The news isn’t all bad on the COVID-front. There may be some huge additional benefits—reported Monday from India—from being vaccinated against COVID-19, according to Dr. Liji Thomas, a graduate of the India Government Medical College, University of Calicut, Kerala, in 2001.
Dr. Thomas notes that, “The spike protein sequence of SARS-CoV-2 is 75% identical with that of the earlier SARS-CoV, and 50% identical to the Middle East respiratory syndrome CoV (MERS-CoV) spike sequence. It has 25% to 30% identity with the spike proteins of various less pathogenic human CoVs (hCoVs) that cause seasonal colds.”
She adduces with plenty of back-up evidence from MedRXiV study,“Cross-reactive antibodies after SARS-CoV-2 infection and vaccination”, that protection for the seven known coronaviruses is probable and that additional coronaviruses humans have yet to encounter may also be on the list.
She writes, “A macaque vaccination experiment was used to distinguish cross-reactive antibodies elicited de novo to SARS-CoV-2 by natural infection from a cross-boost given to pre-existing memory B cells from prior hCoV infection. Interestingly, all animals developed antibodies to all hCoV spike proteins.”
Read the report in PDF form: “Could-COVID-19-vaccinations-or-prior-infections-protect-against-other-coronaviruses?”
Canada has been testing grey water for COVID-19
Adding to the solidarity data pool are new ideas implemented in Canada. Seeded back in early 2020 at the pandemic’s beginning, the brainchild of Dr. James Brooks of the Canadian Centre for Communicable Diseases and Infection Control and Dr. Mike Mulvey of the Canadian National Microbiology Laboratory (NML), was put into use as a wastewater surveillance pilot project to generate indicators for early detection of COVID-19 community outbreaks. The outcome has been good, according to all the parties.
NML scientists Dr. Chrystal Landgraff and Dr. Chand Mangat picked up the project as a pandemic surveillance element. Dr. Mangat says it is working and describes wastewater as a “clear window into the community”.
“Wastewater samples are much more informative than anyone would have believed when we first started,” says Dr. Landgraff last week in a written statement at FPM.news‘s request. “One of the chief advantages of wastewater testing for COVID-19 is that it can serve as an early warning system.”
“Dr. Tedros of the World Health Organization said last week that COVID-19 daily cases and deaths were dropping and had been for weeks. What he did not say is that the level from which they are dropping is insanely high,” suggests Fred Harris, a biostatistician and infectious disease researchers with the CSPAC.
“Nearly ten percent of the people in Mexico and Peru, for example, who become infected with COVID-19 will die from the disease. The exact number is 9.4%. And most often these numbers are understated,” Dr. Harris added.
Click any image to enlarge and read.
Highest Case Fatality Rates in the world. Source: Civil Society Partners in Solidarity against COVID-19
Too many countries show large rises in COVID-19 Case Sums
The following nations, fifty in all, are showing large increases in daily cases according to Civil Society Solidarity Partners against COVID-19 and other sources.
Afghanistan, Angola, Argentina, Bahrain, Belarus, Belize, Bhutan, Bolivia, Brazil, Burundi, Cameroon, Chile, China, Colombia, Cuba, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Egypt, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Guyana, Honduras, Ivory Coast, Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritania, Namibia, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Oman, Panama, Paraguay, Philippines, Portugal, Russia, Saint Lucia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Thailand, Timor Leste, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay, Venezuela, and Zimbabwe are each showing significant growth in COVID-19 infections.
Top twenty-five countries have 10,265,664 reported active cases of which a substantial number will die, at least 225,000, and millions will spread the disease to millions more.
Data is from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, the University of Washington’s IHME and the Civil Society Solidarity Partners against COVID-19 (CSPAC).
“10,265,664 Is the reported number of active cases by these twenty-five nations. These are people who came to a clinic or hospital. Most people don’t. After 18 months of data collecting, epidemiologists, biostatisticians and infectious disease researchers know much more about how to plot the real unreported data,” says Dr. Harris.
“The estimated number including those persons who go untested and never report to a medical facility is 94,752,078 infected persons in the below twenty-five nations.”
Top 25 active COVID-19 cases in the world. Source: Civil Society Partners in Solidarity against COVID-19
COVID-19 not going away soon. It is still a dangerous pandemic.
Fran Lawther wrote in The Guardian from the UK, on Friday, that “almost 400,000 people in the UK have reported having symptoms of long COVID-19 for at least a year after their initial infection, data suggests, as new figures show coronavirus infection rates are once again rising in England.”
Twenty eight countries today have over a million accumulated cases each and an aggregate of 10,265,664 active cases according to a database loaned by CSPAC.
The top 7 high-sum-of-cases reporting nations have an aggregate of over 100 million accumulated cases and over eight million active cases, according to the same database from CSPAC.
Countries with over 1 million cases on 7 June 2021. Source: Civil Society Partners in Solidarity against COVID-19
America is not healed. Of the active cases today, 87,534 will die and millions will infect millions more.
“America’s number of active cases have settled at a very high level of 4.9 million active cases.
“Of these reported cases—not estimated but confirmed tested COVID-19 cases—statistically it is safe to say that at least 87,534 will die and millions will infect millions more,” reports Dr. Harris.
USA COVID-19 Data Source: Civil Society Partners in Solidarity against COVID-19
India Source: Civil Society Partners in Solidarity against COVID-19
Deaths summarized by week, Graph by European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.
Sum of Cases by week, Graph by European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.
Click any image to enlarge and read.
Graph: Canada active cases. Chart all data for 7 June 2021 Source: Civil Society Partners in Solidarity against COVID-19
Philippines COVID-19 Data
Some new names of variants is political mumbo jumbo.
Recently, for political reasons, the World Health Organization’s Dr. Tedros decided to rename the numerous variants of the SARS-CoV-2 Virus. The reason behind this is that Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India has been bullying anyone he can who calls the B.1.617.2 the “India variant”.
Harris notes that India with a likely number of 270 million COVID-19 cases according to CSPAC, has a serious government pandemic mismanagement problem.
“Modi himself has demonstrated massive incompetence holding many multi-million person political rallies, no-masks to be seen, in the 2020-Trump-fiasco superspreader-style,” he added.
The Indian Medical Association’s (IMA) Dr. Navjot Dahiya said about Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in early April, that Modi was a ‘super spreader’ and blamed Modi directly for the massive multi-million second wave of COVID-19 hitting India hard.
Dr. Jalil Parkar, one of India’s leading pulmonologists, said to Time Magazine in mid-April, “Our healthcare system has collapsed. We have let down our own people in the country,” he says. “What can doctors do when our infrastructure is unable to take the patients, when there are no hospital beds or oxygen cylinders?”
SARS2 Variants of Concern (VOC)
| WHO |
Pango |
GISAID |
Nextstrain |
1st Sampled |
1st Designated |
| Alpha |
B.1.1.7 |
GRY (formerly GR/501Y.V1) |
20I/S:501Y.V1 |
United Kingdom, Sep 2020 |
18 Dec 2020 |
| Beta |
B.1.351 |
GH/501Y.V2 |
20H/S:501Y.V2 |
South Africa, May 2020 |
18 Dec 2020 |
| Gamma |
P.1 |
GR/501Y.V3 |
20J/S:501Y.V3 |
Brazil, Nov 2020 |
11 Jan 2021 |
| Delta |
B.1.617.2 |
G/452R.V3 |
21A/S:478K |
India, Oct 2020 |
VOI: 4 Apr 2021VOC: 11 May 2021 |
SARS2 Variants of Interest (VOI)
| WHO |
Pango |
GISAID |
Nextstrain |
1st Sampled |
1st Designated |
| Epsilon |
B.1.427/B.1.429 |
GH/452R.V1 |
20C/S.452R |
United States of America, Mar 2020 |
5Mar 2021 |
| Zeta |
P.2 |
GR |
20B/S.484K |
Brazil, Apr 2020 |
17 Mar 2021 |
| Eta |
B.1.525 |
G/484K.V3 |
20A/S484K |
Multiple countries, Dec 2020 |
17 Mar 2021 |
| Theta |
P.3 |
GR |
20B/S:265C |
Philippines, Jan 2021 |
24 Mar 2021 |
| Iota |
B.1.526 |
GH |
20C/S:484K |
United States of America, Nov 2020 |
24 Mar 2021 |
| Kappa |
B.1.617.1 |
G/452R.V3 |
21A/S:154K |
India Oct 2020 |
4 Apr 2021 |