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Look at the News #3 – Coronavirus News Roundup and Conspiracy Against Alex Salmond?

UK and other Coronavirus News

More Countries Added to the Red-List

  • United Arab Emirates, Burundi and Rwanda have been added to the Red-List meaning travel from them are now banned, with direct passanger flights from UAE to UK halted.
  • This also means UK nationals returning from those countries will have to be quarantined for 10-days at home, including all in their household, without option to reduce this length even with a negative test.
  • Soon such people returning from Red-List countries will have to quarantine in government-provided accomodation for 10-days instead of returning to households, they will also have to pay for this.
  • Transport Secretary also stressed people still need a negative test before arrival in the UK and also to have completed a Passanger Locator Form or face a fine.
  • The list was updated due to concerns that the new South Africa variant of the virus is now loose in UAE, Burundi and Rwanda.

Wales Lockdown Extended

  • Wales coronavirus lockdown is going to be extended by another three weeks.
  • It is also expected the Welsh First Minister Mark Drakeford will confirm that primary school students could begin returning after half-term if infection rates go down.
  • Wales is currently under the highest Level 4 lockdown, since Wales has a devolved government and parliament they have control over healthcare and in-turn coronavirus restrictions in their country, just as Scotland and N.Ireland does.
  • Although infection rates in Wales have been improving since the lockdown, the reason for the extension relates to NHS pressures that need to reduce.
  • Welsh authorities will review the lockdown rules again in three weeks time and decide whether to extend or begin easing restrictions. It is said easing of restrictions in Wales is unlikely until at least the end of February.

New Novavax Vaccine

  • UK phase three trials of Novavax show it is 89.3% effective against COVID-19.
  • Trials on Novavax also showed it was 95.6% effective against the original strain and 85.6% effective against the new UK strain. Meanwhile early trials on the South Africa variant suggest 60% efficacy.
  • The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency will now assess the vaccination for approval.
  • UK Government has already ordered 60 million vials of the Novavax vaccine in anticipation of approval, they will be produced at the Fujifilm plant in Stockton-on-Tees.
  • Storage, distribution and supply chain management is the same as the AstraZeneca vaccine, making it easier than some other produced vaccines. The vaccine is given via two doses, the 2nd three weeks after the first.
  • Novavax vaccine costs more than AstraZeneca but less than Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.

Blair says UK should lead with immunity passports

  • Former UK Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair has called for the UK to lead the global push for immunity passports
  • The passports would show each persons COVID-19 status and would play an instrumental role in travel to various countries during the pandemic.
  • Spain, Italy, Greece, Cyprus and Malta have also called for immunity passports.
  • The Tony Blair Institute says it’s the only way to allow people to safely travel internationally again. It also said it should be a key agenda of the G7 summit in Cornwall later this Summer.
  • The report also said the UK should lead developing a single global COVID pass to avoid complications of multiple passes.
  • The idea has been brought up previously but was rejected by Micheal Gove last month who said he didn’t know anyone else in government who would accept it.
  • Despite the above it was reported (paywall alert) by the Telegraph that the Government is funding 8 different vaccine passport schemes, although this does not 100% mean they are guaranteed to be implemented.
My view

During the pandemic I am in support of a form of immunity passports just as long as they are retired after the pandemic is officially declared over, as it can be seen as certainly an encrouching control move. I can understand the perspectives of both the freedom argument and saving lives argument and I stand on the side of the saving lives argument while those vulnerable during the pandemic are at great risk, but there after that point and dependant on how effectively vaccines have worked, such immunity passport schemes should then on begin to be scaled down. In my view it should like all COVID restrictions and measures be temporary until it is safe to scale them down and eventually remove them entirely. I still 100% believe that people should take the vaccine.

Cambodian Bats carried almost identical virus in 2010

  • Bats living in a Cambodian cave in 2010 were found to have carried a pathogen that is almost identical to the virus that causes COVID-19.
  • The samples had been freezer stored since December 2010 at the Pasteur Institute in Cambodia’s capital related to a previous study by the Paris Natural History Museum which was mandated by UNESCO.
  • Samples from 430 bats were sequenced, leading to the discovery of the lamost identical virus in two Rhinolophus shameli/Shemal’s horseshoe bats. Such bats are native to Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Myanmar and Vietnam.
  • Scientists say the findings could be crucial to discovering the true origin of COVID-19 and could also help to prepare for possible future pandemics.
  • This comes after scientists last year discovered another virus from two horseshoe bats from 2013 and 2019 in Yunnan, China and two viruses in Malayan Sunda pangolins that were also closely related, although not as close as this recent finding.

EU-AstraZeneca Vaccine Delivery Row

  • Delays in AstraZeneca vaccines to the EU has caused a deepening row related to constracts not being met.
  • EU Council President, Charles Michel, penned a letter to four EU leaders saying that they should consider legal action and the blocking of exports over shortfall in AstraZeneca and other drug companies, if dialogue and negotiations fail.
  • Problems relate to a production plant in Belgium making the AstraZeneca vaccine where problems have caused a large shortfall in supply. The European Commission has asked the plant to be inspected.
  • The problem also relates to AstraZeneca saying it will have to cut jabs delievered to the EU’s 27 member states before end of March from 80 million to just 31 million, due to European factories production issues.
  • But Brussels believe that they will likely get less than even what is promised and accused AstraZeneca of breaching its contract.
  • One senior EU official believes the UK should share some of the AstraZeneca vaccines produced there, while the Brussels health commissioner said AstraZeneca should use its plants in Britain to produce for the EU if European factories are having problems.
My view

I hope that this problem for the EU will eventually get sorted out as it is peoples lives we are talking about, it is a very unfortunate situation. If the UK does have any AstraZeneca vaccines to spare then I think it is only humane that such is done, just as long as it does not sacrifice any of our own, of course. I hope that if it is possible to share some of our own vaccine supply/production with the EU that the UK Government does not try to exploit it to get one up over on the EU, this is people’s lives we are talking about and such should not be made into political games – this also goes for the EU on the reverse side.

Germany report says not to give Oxford/AstraZeneca Jab to Over-65s

  • Germany has said that the AstraZeneca jab should not be offered to people over the age of 65.
  • Germany’s vaccine committee made this recommendation due to lack of data on how effective it is on older people and not because of safety concerns.
  • Boris Johnson says he is not concerned as Britain’s medicines regulator has said it is effective across all age groups, and Johnson said he doesn’t agree with Germany’s assessement.
  • Spokesperson for AstraZeneca has also said its own research findings support efficacy in over-65s group.
  • Public Health England has said the immune response data is thus far very reassuring, although more cases in older peoples trials were needed to judge precise levels of protection in over-65s.
  • The European Medicines Agency on the other hand has recommended the vaccine for all age groups, despite the German report.
My view

I think that any immunity for those vulnerable is good and to me makes little sense to hold it back due to possible lesser immunity and it is good that the European Medicines Agency also seems to agree with this, as well as Public Health England and UK medicine regulators. Sure there is a degree of caution among the regulators and health/government bodies related to the vaccines efficacy, but it is little reason to not implement it.

Other News

Conspiracy Against Alex Salmond?

  • There have been claims for a while that a conspiracy against Alex Salmond, former SNP leader and former First Minister of Scotland, has been going on orchestrated by high-ranking SNP members, related to the sexual allegations trial against Salmond.
  • The latest fresh claims related to a possible conspiracy come from an MP within the SNP – Kenny MacAskill – who has claimed high-ranking members of the SNP shared dozens of messages about Salmond in a social media group named the “Vietnam chat” as well as other text messages.
  • The name of the group stems from the name of the police operation against Salmond called Diem, which means “day” in Latin, but that someone misunderstood it as a former Vietnamese president.
  • It is claimed this group discussed reluctance of an alledged victim to give evidence and discussion of possible efforts to encourage said person, taking place before last year’s criminal trial against Salmond, which later led to his acquittal.
  • Apparently the messages involve SNP staffers as well as members of Government, including close colleagues of First Minister Nicola Sturgeon herself, although she was not a member of the social media group.
  • The MP also said the content of such digital communications has been a subject of discussion in SNP circles, and that they have backed calls for Scotland’s Crown Office to release the messages as written proof.
  • The MP said there is much more to come out and that it has nothing to do with witnesses or alledged victims, but was everything to do with internal SNP machinations.
  • A Scottish Parliamentary Inquiry is ongoing into the government’s handling of harassment complaints against Salmond and they have requested records of the digital communications. The inquiry also demanded the Crown Office to release text messages, as well as other documents, including using legal powers under the Scotland Act to do so.
  • More specifically members of the inquiry are seeking messages (text or Whatsapp) between Susan Ruddick – chief operating officer of the SNP – and members of Scottish government, civil servants, and special advisors between August 2018 and January 2019.
  • The MP Kenny MacAskill had also obtained two messages that were sent by Peter Murrell (the SNP’s chief executive and husband of First Minister Nicola Sturgeon) to Ruddick, where he alledgedly encouraged prosecution of Salmond. Murrel later admitted existence of these messages to the inquiry but claimed the messages had been misrepresented.
My view

This is certainly all very interesting and it is ever more interesting to see this now entering into the mainstream media. Long before this I had been following about allegations of conspiracy against Alex Salmond on a couple of blogs, namely one of them is Craig Murray’s blog.

It certainly seems like some oddities have been going on and they should be fully investigated and chased to wherever any such corruption sits, even if it does lead all the way to Sturgeon herself. I will be keeping an eager eye on this as it becomes ever more interesting. It is certainly possible we are seeing the kindling that leads to the collapse of the current SNP administration, although it is quite too early to say anything more on that possibility.

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