Here’s your weekly update with everything you need to know about the COVID situation in BC and around the world.
Here’s your update with everything you need to know about the COVID situation in British Columbia and around the world for the week of December 15-21. This page will be updated daily throughout the week with the latest COVID news and related research developments, so be sure to check back often.
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• Hospitalized cases: 374 (up 15) • Intensive care: 31 (up 3) • New cases: 659 in the 7 days to December 10 (up 120) • Total number of confirmed cases: 391,285 • As of total deaths in 7 days in December. 10:27 (total 4760)
Men and women who exercised for at least 30 minutes most days were less likely to survive COVID-19 than those who didn’t exercise, four times more likely to experience the effects of exercise and coronavirus on nearly 200,000 adults in Southern California, according to an open study people. .
The study found that almost any level of physical activity reduces the risk of severe coronavirus infection in people. Even people who exercised just 11 minutes a week — yes, a week — had a lower risk of hospitalization or death from COVID-19 than those who were less active.
“It turns out exercise is more effective than we thought” in protecting people from severe new coronavirus infection.
The findings add to the growing body of evidence that any amount of exercise can help reduce the severity of coronavirus infection, and the message is especially relevant now that travel and vacation gatherings are on the rise and COVID cases continue to rise.
Although Canada has never kept a running count of seasonal illnesses, it is clear that the country is currently being hit hard by a wave of influenza and respiratory viruses.
After Halloween, children’s hospitals were overwhelmed, and one Montreal doctor called it an “explosive” flu season. The country’s critical shortage of children’s cold medicines also continues to grow rapidly, with Health Canada now saying the backlog won’t be fully closed until 2023.
There is strong evidence that the disease is largely a side effect of COVID restrictions, although there are still members of the medical community who insist otherwise.
The bottom line is that social distancing, mask-wearing, and school closures not only slow the spread of COVID-19, but also stop the spread of common illnesses such as the flu, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and the common cold. And now that civil society is reopening, all these seasonal viruses are playing a vicious game of catch-up.
As the COVID-19 tsunami in China raised fears that dangerous new variants could emerge for the first time in more than a year, genetic sequencing to detect the threat is being scaled back.
The situation in China is unique because of the path it has taken throughout the pandemic. While almost every other part of the world has fought the infection to some extent and received effective mRNA vaccines, China has largely avoided both. As a result, the immunocompromised population faces waves of disease caused by the most contagious strains that have not yet circulated.
With the government no longer releasing detailed data on COVID, the expected spike in infections and deaths is happening in China in a black box. This rise is causing medical experts and political leaders in the United States and elsewhere to worry about a new round of illnesses caused by a mutated virus. At the same time, the number of cases sequenced each month to detect these changes has dropped dramatically around the world.
“In the coming days, weeks and months, there will certainly be more Omicron sub-variants developed in China, but in order to recognize them early and act quickly, the world must expect completely new and disturbing variants to emerge,” said Daniel Lucy, researcher . . Researcher at the American Society of Infectious Diseases, Professor at the Geisel School of Medicine at the University of Dartmouth. “It may be more contagious, deadly, or undetectable with drugs, vaccines, and existing diagnostics.”
Citing an increase in COVID-19 cases in China and other parts of the world, the Indian government has asked the country’s states to closely monitor any new variants of the coronavirus and urged people to wear masks in public places.
On Wednesday, Health Minister Mansoukh Mandavia met with senior government officials to discuss the matter, and everyone in attendance wore masks, which have been optional in most of the country for months.
“COVID is not over yet. I have instructed all involved to remain vigilant and monitor the situation,” he tweeted. “We are ready for any situation.”
To date, India has identified at least three cases of the highly contagious BF.7 Omicron subvariant that caused a surge in COVID-19 infections in China in October, local media reported on Wednesday.
China’s staggeringly low coronavirus death rate has been the butt of ridicule and anger for many in the country, who say it doesn’t reflect the true extent of the grief and loss caused by the surge in infections.
Health authorities reported five deaths from COVID on Tuesday, up from two days earlier, both in Beijing. Both figures caused a wave of disbelief on Weibo. “Why are people only dying in Beijing? What about the rest of the country?” wrote one user.
Multiple models of the current outbreak, which began before the unexpected easing of coronavirus restrictions in early December, predict that a wave of infections could kill more than 1 million people, putting China on par with the US in terms of COVID-19 deaths. Of particular concern is the low vaccination coverage of the elderly: only 42% of people over 80 years of age receive revaccination.
Funeral homes in Beijing have been unusually busy in recent days, with some employees reporting COVID-19-related deaths, according to the Financial Times and the Associated Press. The administrator of a funeral home in Beijing’s Shunyi District, who did not want to be named, told The Post that all eight cremators are open around the clock, freezers are full, and there is a waiting list of 5-6 days.
BC Health Minister Adrian Dicks said the province’s latest surgical volume report “demonstrates” the strength of the surgical system.
Dicks made the comments when the Department of Health released its semi-annual report on the implementation of the NDP government’s commitment to revamping surgical operations.
According to the report, 99.9% of patients whose surgery was delayed during the first wave of COVID-19 have now completed surgery, and 99.2% of patients whose surgery was postponed during the second or third wave of the virus have also done so.
The Surgery Renewal Pledge also aims to book and manage surgeries that are not scheduled due to the pandemic and change the way surgeries are done across the province to treat patients faster.
He said the results of the Surgery Resumption Commitment Report showed that “when surgery is delayed, patients are quickly rewritten.”
U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price said on Monday that the U.S. is hopeful China can handle the current COVID-19 outbreak as the death toll from the virus is a global concern due to the size of the Chinese economy.
“Given the size of China’s GDP and the size of the Chinese economy, the death toll from the virus is of concern to the rest of the world,” Price said at the State Department’s daily briefing.
“It’s good not only for China that it is in a better position to fight COVID, but for the rest of the world,” Price said.
He added that while the virus is spreading, it can mutate and pose a threat anywhere. “We have seen it in many different forms of this virus and that is certainly another reason why we are so focused on helping countries around the world deal with COVID,” he said.
China reported its first COVID-related death on Monday, amid growing doubts about whether official statistics reflect all the toll from the disease that has gripped cities after the government eased strict antivirus controls.
Monday’s two deaths were the first reported by the National Health Commission (NHC) since Dec. 3, days after Beijing announced the lifting of restrictions that had largely contained the spread of the virus for three years but sparked widespread protests. last month.
However, on Saturday, Reuters reporters witnessed hearses queuing outside a COVID-19 crematorium in Beijing as workers in protective gear transported the dead inside the facility. Reuters was unable to immediately determine if the deaths were due to COVID.
On Monday, a hashtag about two COVID deaths quickly became a trending topic on Chinese Twitter-like platform Weibo.
University of British Columbia researchers have found a compound that promises to block coronavirus infections, including the common cold and the virus that causes COVID-19.
A study published this week in Molecular Biomedicine shows that the compound does not target viruses, but the human cellular processes that these viruses use to replicate in the body.
Yosef Av-Gay, professor of infectious diseases at the University of British Columbia School of Medicine and senior author of the study, said the study still requires clinical trials, but their research could lead to antivirals that target multiple viruses.
He said his team, which has been working on the study for a decade, has identified a protein in human lung cells that coronaviruses attack and hijack to allow them to grow and spread.
This question is critical for those who believe that public health measures, including the wearing of masks, play a key role in increasing the vulnerability of children, creating “immune debt” due to lack of exposure to the disease, as well as for those who see the consequences of COVID. -nineteen. 19 on the immune system Negative influence of the factor.
Not everyone agrees that the issue is black and white, but the debate is heated because some believe it could have implications for the use of pandemic response measures such as wearing masks.
Dr. Kieran Moore, Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer, added fuel to the fire this week by linking previous mask-wearing orders to high levels of childhood illness, which is sending a record number of young children into intensive care and harming children’s health. Medical System overloaded.
China’s sudden lifting of strict COVID-19 restrictions could lead to a spike in cases and more than 1 million deaths by 2023, according to new projections from the American Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME).
The group predicts that cases in China will peak on April 1, when the death toll will reach 322,000. About a third of China’s population will be infected by then, according to IHME director Christopher Murray.
China’s national health authorities have not reported any official deaths from COVID since COVID restrictions were lifted. The last official announcement of death was on 3 December.
The British Columbia Center for Disease Control reported in its weekly data report Thursday of 27 deaths of people who tested positive for COVID-19 in the 30 days before they died.
This brings the total number of COVID-19 deaths in the province during the pandemic to 4,760. The weekly data is preliminary and will be updated in the coming weeks as more complete data becomes available.
Post time: Jan-16-2023