Category:

Disaster & Management

BA, Ryanair, easyJet protest over ‘wholly unjustified’ UK quarantine plan

With planes around the world grounded since late March, airlines had hoped to start flying from July, but bosses say quarantine measures will hamper that recovery.

From June 8, almost everyone arriving in Britain will be required to self-isolate for 14 days and to fill in a contact form with details of their accommodation.

Describing itself as a “pre-action protocol letter,” meaning it could be followed by legal action, the letter from British Airways, Ryanair and easyJet said the government had failed to justify the blanket nature of the regulations.

read more

China denies Covid cover-up charges, says virus was first noticed on Dec 27

Researchers from a high-level expert team organised by the National Health Commission (NHC) confirmed that the virus was transmissible among humans for the first time on January 19, hours before they notified the public, and less than a month before the experts were alerted by the newly-discovered disease, it said.According to Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center, the coronavirus has infected over 68,00,000 people and killed nearly 4,00,000 across the world. The US is the worst affected country with over 1.9 million cases and more than 1,09,000 deaths, while the total number of cases in China stand at 84,177.

read more

COVID-19 epidemics in India, South Asia growing but not exploding – WHO

“In South Asia, not just in India, but in Bangladesh and… Pakistan and other countries of South Asia with large dense populations, the disease has not exploded, but there is always the risk of that happening,” Dr. Mike Ryan, WHO’s top emergency expert, told a news conference.

Soumya Swaminathan, WHO’s chief scientist, noting India has a population of 1.3 billion, said that the 200,000 reported cases, “look big but for a country of this size it’s still modest”.

read more

Gargling with bleach? Americans misusing disinfectants to prevent coronavirus, survey finds

In late April, Trump asked scientists during one of his coronavirus task force briefings whether inserting disinfectant into the bodies of people infected with the virus might help clear the disease, horrifying health experts. Makers of household cleaners were compelled to urge people not to drink or inject their products.

Some 39% of people surveyed reported intentionally engaging in at least one high-risk practice not recommended by the CDC to prevent coronavirus infection, including using bleach to clean food or misting the body with a disinfectant spray. Four percent drank or gargled with diluted bleach solutions, soapy water or disinfectants.

read more