The latest coronavirus news updated every day including coronavirus cases, the latest news, features and interviews from New Scientist and essential information about the covid-19 pandemic
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Fever is a pain, quite literally, but new evidence hints at its purpose. Here’s what you need to know
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Add some science to your lockdown living routine, as we make more than 50 incredible talks from our flagship science festival New Scientist Live available for free on YouTube over the coming weeks.
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Thanks to the expanding global workforce, heightened competition and the continued need to cut costs and drive productivity, companies today are facing myriad new challenges. Because sales and marketing are key to maximizing growth, productivity and profits, those organizations are facing mounting pressure to create efficient, customercentric processes that provide increased reach and revenue while keeping costs under
control ? all as markets become more competitive and brands less distinguishable. To compete, companies must equip their sales and marketing teams with technology that can dramatically enhance productivity and drive innovation by improving the way they interact with customers, partners, suppliers and other employees. Web collaboration is increasingly becoming an indispensable tool in accelerating sales and marketing processes while simultaneously reducing costs.
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http://www.associationofmarketing.org/whitepapers/view.php?whitepaper_id=67
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NEW YORK: One medical worker called it “insane”, another said it induces paranoia – the speed with which patients are dying from the novel coronavirus is shocking even veteran doctors and nurses as they scramble to determine how to stop such sudden deterioration.
Patients “look fine, feel fine, then you turn around and they’re unresponsive”, said Diana Torres, a nurse at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, the epicentre of the pandemic in the US where the virus has infected nearly 430,000 people and caused more than 14,700 deaths.
“I’m paranoid, scared to walk out of their rooms.”
It isn’t just the elderly or patients with underlying health conditions, who can be fine one minute, and at death’s door the next.
It can happen for the young and healthy, too, health professionals told Reuters.
A young woman died unexpectedly while nurse Laurie Douglas was on duty at Our Lady of the Lake Hospital in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
After 34 years on the job, Douglas said she normally has “an intuition of who is going to fade and who may improve”.
“But these people are throwing that out the window.
“Last week, she was planning her wedding.
“This week, her family is planning her funeral,“ she said, referring to the deceased patient.
Patients might enter the hospital with strong oxygen levels and be engaged in happy conversation, said a resident emergency doctor at New York-Presbyterian Hospital, only to be “gasping for breath” and intubated a few hours later.
“The scary thing is there are no rules to it,“ the resident said on condition of anonymity.
These scenes are playing out everywhere as Covid-19 has infected more than 1.4 million worldwide and killed more than 85,000 as of Wednesday.
The quick turns for the worse are likely products of an “overly exuberant” reaction by the immune system as it fights the virus, said Dr Otto Yang, an infectious disease specialist at the UCLA Medical Centre in Los Angeles.
Called a cytokine storm, it occurs when the body overproduces immune cells and their activating compounds – cytokines – causing dangerously high blood pressure, lung damage and organ failure.
Emily Muzyka, 25, a nurse in the New York suburbs, said she reached her breaking point last week, when a relatively healthy 44-year-old woman needed sudden intubation.
“I had a meltdown that night,“ she said.
“I cried to my boyfriend.”
Intubation refers to inserting a tube into the mouth and through the airway of a Covid-19 patient struggling to breathe, so they can be hooked to a mechanical ventilator.
Journalist Anick Jesdanun, who was in good health and had run 83 marathons, died last week from Covid-19, according to a post on Facebook by his cousin Prinda Mulpramook.
Jesdanun, who was 51, at first didn’t need hospitalisation, according to the post.
He had begun to recover and showed clear lungs and strong vital signs during a doctor’s visit in late March. But “a sudden setback” sent him to the emergency room on April 1, and “13 hours later we lost him”, Mulpramook wrote.
A nurse at Mount Sinai’s intensive care unit recalled watching patients’ kidneys quickly shut down, adding that many require intravenous drips of the blood thinner Heparin.
“It’s insane how sick they get, how quickly.
“We’re really trying hard to figure out how to treat them.”
Some of those hospitals are experimenting with unproven drugs in hopes of helping patients, including the anti-malaria medication hydroxychloroquine.
“We’re essentially throwing the kitchen sink at these patients,“ a doctor said.
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https://www.thesundaily.my/home/speed-of-covid-19-deaths-shock-doctors-and-nurses-AF2241516
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LOS ANGELES: A new episode of Netflix’s wildly popular “Tiger King” will air this weekend, the company said Thursday, bringing fans up-to-date with the lives of the smash hit zookeeper documentary’s surreal subjects.
The series about a gay, mullet-wearing private zoo owner who calls himself “Joe Exotic” — now in prison for murder-for-hire — has become a US cultural phenomenon, providing welcome relief to a nation under coronavirus lockdown.
Exotic and his menagerie of giant cats were watched a reported 34 million times in just 10 days following its release last month, and the show’s impact has even reached the White House.
President Donald Trump this week offered to “take a look” at granting a pardon to Exotic — real name Joseph Maldonado-Passage — following a light-hearted exchange with a reporter at a press briefing.
Netflix confirmed in a tweet Thursday that “The Tiger King and I”, billed as an “after show” hosted by Joel McHale (”Community”), will premiere Sunday.
“I talked to a lot of people involved in the project,“ said McHale in a video, naming Exotic’s ex-husband John Finlay, former zoo manager John Reinke, and Joshua Dial — who ran the zookeeper’s bizarre and ultimately doomed bids for political office.
The show will explore “what’s happened in their lives since the release of the series,“ said McHale. “It’s eye-opening and hopefully funny.”
There was no mention of whether the Tiger King himself will appear — Exotic is currently serving a 22-year sentence in federal prison.
But Netflix this month published clips of a video of Exotic speaking from prison, in which he said his confinement had made him ashamed of keeping animals in prolonged captivity.
“When I walk out of here, am I gonna be as crazy as I was before? That will never change,“ promised Exotic.
“No Joe Exotic no party,“ tweeted one fan. – AFP
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https://www.thesundaily.my/world/netflix-adds-an-extra-episode-of-tiger-king-NF2241197
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LOS ANGELES: The Ultimate Fighting Championship on Thursday scrapped controversial plans to stage a fight card later this month as the United States battles the coronavirus pandemic.
The mixed martial arts organisation had planned to hold UFC 249 without fans at an undisclosed location, reportedly an Indian tribal reservation in California.
However in an abrupt U-turn on Thursday, UFC said it had postponed the event at the request of broadcasters ESPN.
“While the organisation was fully prepared to proceed with UFC 249, ESPN has requested the postponement of the event and subsequent bouts until further notice in light of the COVID-19 pandemic,“ a UFC statement said.
“UFC looks forward to resuming the full live events schedule as soon as possible.”
The New York Times reported on Wednesday that UFC chief Dana White planned to hold the event at the Tachi Palace Resort Casino in central California on April 18.
By staging the event on tribal land, the UFC could have sidestepped state guidelines aimed at halting the spread of COVID-19 infections that have brought sports to a standstill.
However the move met with resistance from California Senator Dianne Feinstein, who urged the UFC to postpone.
“This event would involve dozens of individuals flying to California and driving to a casino for a purpose no one can honestly claim is essential,“ Feinstein said in a statement.
“Going ahead with this event is not the right move.”
The Ultimate Fighting Championship has already postponed three events after officials were unable to find venues to stage fights amid restrictions put in place to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. – AFP
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https://www.thesundaily.my/sport/ufc-249-postponed-again-EF2241152
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SAN FRANCISCO: WhatsApp on Tuesday placed new limits on message forwarding as part of an effort to curb the spread of misinformation about the coronavirus pandemic.
The new policy limits users to forwarding certain messages to one “chat” at a time, aiming to limit the rapid propagation of content that is provocative but likely to be false.
The Facebook-owned messaging platform said it took the action to enable people to concentrate on personal and private communications during the health crisis.
In recent weeks, “we’ve seen a significant increase in the amount of forwarding which users have told us can feel overwhelming and can contribute to the spread of misinformation,“ WhatsApp said in a blog post.
“We believe it’s important to slow the spread of these messages down to keep WhatsApp a place for personal conversation.”
Last year, WhatsApp set limits on forwarded messages to five chats at a time, “to constrain virality,“ responding to events in India where the rapid proliferation of unverified information led to mob violence.
The new policy applies to messages forwarded “many times” and marked with a double-arrow, indicating that it did not originate from a close contact, according to WhatsApp.
“In effect, these messages are less personal compared to typical messages sent on WhatsApp,“ the blog said.
“We are now introducing a limit so that these messages can only be forwarded to one chat at a time.”
Damian Collins, a British member of parliament and co-founder of the Infotagion fact-check blog, called the move “a timely intervention,“ noting that WhatsApp was being used to spread recent hoaxes that 5G wireless networks were spreading the virus.
“The online conspiracy theories about #5G exposed last week, and their real-life consequences, are a clear call to fight disinformation about #COVID19,“ Collins tweeted.
“A lot of the false content sent to us at @infotagion came from @WhatsApp.”
Scrambling to stop hoaxes
WhatsApp along with its parent Facebook have been scrambling to curb an explosion of rumors and hoaxes about the coronavirus and at the same time seeking to promote verified content.
With more than a billion users worldwide, WhatsApp has become a key source of information and communication during the pandemic.
Facebook said last month it has nearly doubled server capacity to power WhatsApp as people in isolation place more voice and video calls using the popular messaging service.
But WhatsApp has also been used to spread inaccurate information about the Covid-19 outbreak including about untested treatments.
Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar last month warned people against sharing unverified coronavirus information on the messaging platform.
“These messages are scaring and confusing people and causing real damage. Please get your info from official, trusted sources,“ the leader tweeted.
One problem faced by the messaging service is that the encrypted information is seen only by the sender and recipient, making it harder for fact-checkers to debunk.
WhatsApp said that as part of its efforts to fight the spread of false information, it was working with the World Health Organization and some 20 national health ministries, “to help connect people with accurate information.”
The platform has been funding fact checking organizations and created a Coronavirus Information Hub within the app. – AFP
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This Medical Product Alert relates to a number of confirmed falsified chloroquine products circulating in the WHO region of Africa. Please note that this Medical Product Alert n°4/2020 will be updated as new reports of falsified chloroquine are received and validated by WHO.
Between 31 March and 2 April 2020, the WHO global surveillance and monitoring system on substandard and falsified (SF) medical products received nine reports of confirmed falsified chloroquine products from three countries. All reported products were identified at patient level and all have been confirmed as falsified.
This WHO medical product alert N°4/2020 refers to nine different falsified chloroquine products, with different presentations (see Table 1). It is important to note that widespread vigilance is required from all countries, regardless of where the product was originally identified.
Table 1: List of identified falsified chloroquine products, subject of WHO Alert N°4/2020
All the products listed in Table 1 are confirmed as falsified, on the basis that they deliberately/fraudulently misrepresent their identity, composition or source. Indeed, it can be noted that:
Chloroquine phosphate or sulfate is referenced on the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines for the treatment of Plasmodium vivax infection (malaria). Large clinical trials are under way to generate the robust data needed to establish the efficacy and safety of chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine in the treatment of COVID-19. These medicines are currently authorized for malaria and certain autoimmune diseases and it is important that patients do not face shortages caused by stockpiling or use outside the authorized indications.
Both chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine can have serious side effects, especially at high doses or when combined with other medicines.
The SOLIDARITY trial, led by WHO, is reviewing potential treatments for COVID-19. Please refer to WHO medical product alert n°3/2020 for general information on falsified medical products in relation to the management
of COVID-19.
For photographs of products listed in Table 1, please refer to the WHO Medical Product Alert website, and
to the annex of this medical product alert n°4/2020 (see pages 3-7).
WHO requests increased vigilance within the supply chains of countries likely to be affected by these falsified products. Increased vigilance should include hospitals, clinics, health centres, wholesalers, distributors, pharmacies and any other suppliers of medical products.
If you are in possession of the above products, please do not use. If you have used these falsified products, or if you suffer an adverse reaction/event having used these products, you are advised to seek immediate medical advice from a qualified healthcare professional, and to report the incident to the National Regulatory Authorities/National Pharmacovigilance Centre.
All medical products must be obtained from licensed, authentic and reliable sources. Their authenticity and condition should be carefully checked. Seek advice from a healthcare professional in case of doubt.
National regulatory/health authorities are advised to immediately notify WHO if these falsified products are discovered in their country. If you have any information concerning the manufacture, distribution, or supply of these products, please contact: rapidalert@who.int.
WHO Global Surveillance and Monitoring System for Substandard and Falsified Medical Products
For more information, please visit: www.who.int/medicines/regulation/ssffc/en/
CAMEROON
Photographs of confirmed falsified Chloroquine Phosphate (100mg)
Photographs of confirmed falsified Chloroquine Phosphate (250mg)
Photographs of confirmed falsified Chloroquine Phosphate 250mg
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO
Photographs of confirmed falsified CLOROQUINE 250MG
Photographs of confirmed falsified Chloroquine Phosphate 250mg
NIGER
Photographs of confirmed falsified Samquine 100 (100mg)
Photographs of confirmed falsified Chloroquine phosphate tablets B.P 100mg
Photographs of confirmed falsified Niruquine (100mg)
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https://www.who.int/news-room/detail/09-04-2020-medical-product-alert-n4-2020
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Tuberculosis (TB) is a major yet preventable global health problem, with an estimated 10 million new cases worldwide in 2018, resulting in more than 1.5 million deaths, making it the leading infectious disease cause of death worldwide. An estimated one fourth of the world’s population is infected with the TB bacterium, of whom 5–10% advance to active TB disease in their lifetime.
Prevention of TB is a crucial component of the World Health Organization (WHO) End TB Strategy that calls for 90% coverage of TB preventive treatment (TPT) among persons living with HIV (PLHIV) and household contacts of infectious TB cases by 2035. The UN high-level meeting on TB, in September 2018, further emphasized the need to strengthen implementation of TPT and called for 30 million people, including 4 million children under 5 years of age to receive TPT by 2022.
However, uptake and scale-up of TPT have been slow, mainly due to the limitations of both diagnostic assays and available regimens (long duration, cost, toxicity, adherence issues, and operational aspects), indicating the need for new short, safe, efficacious and easy-to-take regimens for the treatment of TB infection and prevention of TB disease. The WHO has developed draft Target Product Profiles (TPPs) for TPT to align developers’ performance and operational targets for new TPT regimens with the needs of end-users.
The draft TPPs are now available online for comment.
WHO invites comments or feedback from all stakeholders by 27 April 2020 via this link:
Based on the comments received on this draft, WHO will prepare the final non-draft TPP (version 1.0), which will be posted on WHO’s website and uploaded into the (WHO) Product Profile Directory by October 2020.
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https://www.who.int/news-room/detail/31-03-2020-who-public-consultation-on-draft-target-product-profiles-for-tuberculosis-preventive-treatment
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