[DigitalOne]

Originally Posted by vivek95

It was the model of Imperial college of London, developed by Neil Fergusson which raised false alarm regarding infections and deaths in massive numbers. Their predictions for every country including India compelled nations to go for this severe lockdown measures.

Originally Posted by am1m

I'm not sure it was the WHO or any expert that recommended the kind of lockdown we had here.

The Niall Fergusson doomsday projections was the singular event which forced almost all countries to lockdown.

WHO consistently praised India's stringent lockdown (Source,
source ).

WHO tried (still trying) to overcompensate for their initial blunders and delays in assessing/informing the risk. Remember their "no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission" tweet?

I used to think that with lockdowns the virus can be contained. My opinion started changing around May end as many sero survey results (from the US) showed how prevalent or infectious the virus is, but is fatal to a very small number of people.

The Spain, Italy, and NYC situation (early April) rattled the world. And led to poor decision making.

Originally Posted by am1m

Some places are still in panic mode.

True. There are states in India with weekly twice lockdowns; and protests against conducting exams.

Originally Posted by proton

Quote
Had a Skype interview with someone from ICMR ( Dr. Bhargava) He is a professor of cardiology ( possibly AIIMS) very honest, no nonsense gentleman. Told me pretty bluntly that the epidemiology wing of ICMR ( possibly in Pune) is practically useless and that's the reason why he is after people who did PhD in public health under ICMR and working elsewhere.

https://techenclave.com/community/th...9/post-2197188

Some quote from an unknown, anonymous post from a public bulletin board being used to slander an organization and their scientists.
@Mods, how is this not a violation of Team-bhp rules?

[Nalin1]

There is only one model. God's model. All other models are a load of rubbish.

When the virus is all over the planet, how does it matter whether there is a lockdown or not? Anybody can get it anytime anywhere from any source.

[am1m]

Went for a haircut after more than 6 months. Couldn't go to my usual barber shop in the neighborhood because they are still shut (i hope not permanently) and the other places seemed too crowded because of the small area of the shops. So we went to my wife's usual hairdresser. He's taking clients by appointment only and they seemed to be taking all sorts of precautions. Ac off, windows open, masks, sanitizers, temp checks, 2 clients at a time in a big space.

Most expensive haircut i've ever had :( Hope in 6 months i can go back to my regular shop. They don't talk so much and i don't need my hair washed by anyone but me thank you!

[Zen2001]

Originally Posted by am1m

I'm not sure it was the WHO or any expert that recommended the kind of lockdown we had here. And certainly not for as long as we did. That was entirely our government (state and central) and most of us willing. In fact one panel of doctors, asked by the government itself, actually told the Karnataka State government that there was no medical reason to keep the lockdown beyond a certain date, and that was much before. But no one listened because of the panic. Some places are still in panic mode. A colleague is travelling to her hometown and apparently they have an 'unofficial' 28-day quarantine in place for travellers, still.

Funny thing is almost everyone is now getting back to their activities with caution, even those who were most concerned about the pandemic...and at a time when the cases are much, much higher than when we were all panicking.

The WHO actually warned India that a lockdown alone could not control the pandemic - something that our great PM was peddling all along from mid March to May. And the public's distrust in doctors (who are considered to fleece patients) added with their blind bhakti of unqualified politicians has put them in the spot they are in now. Sorry people, YOU are to blame. Here's something I'd posted (on another platform) way back in May regarding the efficiency of our great lockdown.

Has the great Indian lockdown averted deaths, or merely delayed them?

- On May 22, the Indian government claimed that the lockdown had averted a significant number of deaths. One study by the Boston Consulting claimed that the lockdown had saved between 1,20,000 – 2,10,000 lives. Subsequently, the Indian Scientists Response to COVID-19 also announced that it had found that the lockdown had averted between 8,000 – 32,000 deaths
by 15 May.

- The purpose of this note is to explain why, even within the context of epidemiological models, and their generalizations, such claims are MISLEADING.

- L →70 day Lockdown (D20 to D90)
- NL1 →No Lockdown but long term precautions from day 20
- NL2 →No Lockdown but long term precautions from day 45

- L Vs NL2 scenario @ day 90, the NL2 scenario has had 11,722 excess deaths. However, it is absurd to conclude from this figure that L has “averted more than 11,000 deaths”. This is because, at the end of 365 days, deaths in the L scenario have caught up. In fact, in the model, there are less than 56 excess deaths after 365 days compared to the lockdown scenario.

- L Vs NL1 scenario @ day 90. Here, in the model, there are 2078 excess deaths compared to the L scenario. But after 365 days, the difference in deaths drops below 28.

[ruzbehxyz]

Among the cities assessed by Times Of India, Bengaluru is the most ‘open’.



Source: Times of India.

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by ruzbehxyz

Among the cities assessed by Times Of India, Bengaluru is the most ‘open’..

That's typical reporting by a tabloid called Times Of India.

They will never learn how to sensibly report news. At first when cases were low they hailed the "implementation" and compared cities with countries. Now when cases are at par or rather super high, they want to say which city is most open. But by publishing such list I wonder what they want to convey anyway?

[PearlJam]

Originally Posted by paragsachania

But by publishing such list I wonder what they want to convey anyway?

Bangalore urban has not done bad at all, compared to cities like Mumbai, Pune, Delhi, etc. I am saying this from the 'active case count' as of today.

Now obviously, the government wants to convey that this is because of their top class handling. They want to convey that they achieved this along with opening up the state economy, jobs, etc. For the record, I give the Karnataka government full credit for having the courage (or compulsion, if you don't want to give them credit) to open up in spite of dire warnings and doomsday predictions from vested interests.

However, I don't believe that the government was actually proactive and did anything extraordinary! I hardly see people on the street being careful, following norms, etc. I hardly see any massive preparations by the agencies on ground.

In fact, I see this as a massive vindication that lock downs didn't really work, other than the initial 4 weeks (to prepare the infrastructure, whatever that meant). Because, so many other places with long and super strict controls have done much worse. As of today.

[am1m]

A state-level para-athlete I knew pretty well for the past 5 years passed away during the lockdown, about 4 months ago, not directly because of covid the virus, but because of covid the panic. Only today when I ran into a colleague of his in Cubbon Park did I find out the circumstances. Apparently he had a heart condition and when the signs showed, his family tried to get him to a hospital. 2 hospitals refused to admit him because of the whole covid panic back then. He passed away while they were taking him to a third hospital.

Originally Posted by paragsachania

But by publishing such list I wonder what they want to convey anyway?

Oh they're getting ready to blame Bangaloreans for the rise in cases. First they were busy congratulating Bangalore adminstration for a great job done when the 'official' case load was low (anyway the sero surveys have shown how close to reality the 'official' numbers are!) We've tried blaming China, air travellers, inter-state travel, inter-district travel, lifting of lockdown too early(!), now what is left, blame everyone else! Except the media and the government of course.

[DigitalOne]

Chinese Virologist Claims She Has Proof the Covid-19 Virus Was Made in Wuhan Laboratory

'Anyone, even if you have no biology knowledge, will be able to read it, and check and identify and verify it yourself,' says Dr Li in the video.

Now, a Chinese virologist who has allegedly fled China, claims that she has proof that the SARS-Covid-2 virus is in fact man-made in a Wuhan lab.

Speaking on ITV's Loose Women, Dr. Li-Meng Yan who is described as "a scientist who was working at the Hong Kong School of Public Health when she turned whistleblower on the Chinese Government, after she alleged they knew about the spread of the coronavirus before publicly acknowledging the outbreak."

The description also adds that "a result, Dr Li claims she had to flee to the US for her own safety and is now determined to spread her findings to the world.

Link to news

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Lq3_rsBJ9w&t=53s

[Zen2001]

Originally Posted by DigitalOne

Chinese Virologist Claims She Has Proof the Covid-19 Virus Was Made in Wuhan Laboratory

Link to news

https://www.Youtube.com/watch?v=7Lq3_rsBJ9w&t=53s

The virus has been isolated and it's genome sequenced practically EVERYWHERE in the world by now. Would you think so many (some govt affiliated, some private, some autonomous research) virology centres all across the globe wouldn't have unearthed that by now?
The next news to follow might be that China already had reverse engineered a vaccine right from ground zero, but will not disclose to the world grovels at its feet, or gives up it's nuclear armamentarium!

Originally Posted by PearlJam

In fact, I see this as a massive vindication that lock downs didn't really work, other than the initial 4 weeks (to prepare the infrastructure, whatever that meant). Because, so many other places with long and super strict controls have done much worse. As of today.

When a few "true to their salt" epidemiologists were shouting themselves hoarse about the futility of even a "vacuum sealed lockdown", both in India and abroad, (as early as mid April) what were people here watching and believing? Rather than reason or seek the truth from those who are experts (community medicine specialists) they trusted politicians who wanted them to chant "go corona go", light lamps on a mass scale (or extinguish them, I don't remember), and all those taalis and banging thaalis. And then remain locked up in their houses, trusting these very same snakes to "ramp up" a non existent public healthcare. system!! The joke's squarely on you, people. At least realise that NOW.

[Zen2001]

Call him a maniac or whatever, but this is a reflection of the people's frustration with the governement's complete lack of control and clarity over the ongoing Covid19 pandemic (in the UK), and I daresay it's Indian counterpart has fared half as good.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/metro.c...-13273566/amp/

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by Zen2001

Call him a maniac or whatever ...

Heck, I'm British and I can't work out whether the people quoted in this article are being serious or not. Leaving aside (ahem) the danger of spreading a dangerous disease, there are two standard British ways of dealing with this:

1. Laugh.

2. (especially in London) Ignore it, act as if it isn't happening.

[DigitalOne]

Vaccine updates:

Russia To Sell 100 Million Doses Of Sputnik-V Vaccine To Dr Reddy's Lab

Russia's sovereign wealth fund has agreed to supply 100 million doses of its coronavirus vaccine, Sputnik-V, to Indian drug company Dr Reddy's Laboratories, the fund said on Wednesday, as Moscow speeds up plans to distribute its shot abroad.

The deal comes after the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) reached agreements with Indian manufacturers to produce 300 million doses of the vaccine in India

Deliveries to India could begin in late 2020, it said, adding this was subject to the completion of trials and the vaccine's registration by regulatory authorities in India.

Source

Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine update | Candidate’s trial report finds no major safety issues

Pfizer’s internal COVID-19 vaccine trial report has found no major safety issues with the vaccine candidate, taking into account 12,000 individuals who received their second doses.

Pfizer’s chief scientific officer Mikael Dolsten told investors in a virtual meeting that there are “no safety signals reported so far,” Bloomberg reported.

The trail also reached its 30,000 subject mark and is now targeting total enrolment of 44,000

The company expects “conclusive data” by October-end and promised to make public all its safety and efficacy data in case of emergency authorisation for the vaccine.

Source

[Nalin1]

He sure knows how to safeguard himself and his money. For all you know the virus could be on his head-

[Thad E Ginathom]

"He dips the currencies in water and dries them on the boiler..."

Useless. I wouldn't like to accept change from that guy.