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Live BlogLAST UPDATE | 5 Mar 2020
THE THIRTY-THIRD DÁIL reconvened today – the second time since the general election result – and the new TDs discussed the threat that the new coronavirus Covid-19 poses to Ireland and abroad.
After four new confirmed cases were announced last night, Health Minister Simon Harris said that schools will be impacted in different ways by confirmed cases, but added that it was important that schools did not act unilaterally, and that people shouldn’t panic.
Here is the latest update on where we are on Covid-19:
If you want more information, you can visit the HSE’s page on the coronavirus, or the WHO page where updates are also available.
If you want more specific information, you can search for your question on our Q&A article, in which we answer our readers’ questions with expert advice.
You can catch up on today developments below.
Meanwhile in Qatar, the country’s Ministry of Public Health has indefinitely banned serving shisha at coffee shops and restaurants to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
The Gulf state took other measures, including the suspension of classes at schools and universities.
The Qatar News Agency tweeted that the suspension will start on 10 March and will continue until further notice.
Meanwhile in Qatar, the country’s Ministry of Public Health has indefinitely banned serving shisha pipes at coffee shops and restaurants to prevent the spread of coronavirus,
The Gulf state took other measures, including the suspension of classes at schools and universities.
The QNA tweeted that the suspension will start on 10 March and will continue until further notice.
That’s all from our liveblog this evening.
As noted below, the media will be briefed on the latest Covid-19 developments in Ireland at 8.30pm this evening.
Stick with TheJournal.ie for all the latest updates from the briefing.
The Department of Health will be briefing the media on the latest Covid-19 updates at 8.30pm.
Giving some advice on what to tell children in relation to Covid-19, McDonald, having had her own experience, says: “Don’t dismiss their concerns and fears, be honest.”
On large gatherings, McDonald said the medical experts should decide that.
McDonald’s two children attend Scoil Chaitríona, a school that has closed for two weeks after a pupil tested positive for Covid-19.
“My own family has been affected … my son and daughter are now self isolating at home,” she tells the Dáil.
McDonald says her children’s “delight at two weeks off has well and truly passed”.
She said there is no sport, no hanging out with friends, “no craic whatsoever”.
She said the “reality has dawned on them very quickly”.
McDonald thanked those that have sent good wishes to her and her family.
“There is a great deal of anxiety and uncertainty” out there, she says.
Mary Lou McDonald says advice and protection for workers must be guaranteed.
Workers need assurances that they can come forward and will be protected, she says, adding that special attention must be paid to low-pay workers.
She says those that live week-to-week will fear losing out on pay if they are required to self-isolate.
Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald says a meeting of the north-south ministerial council should be convened as a matter of urgency.
“We need to increase capacity rapidly,” she says, adding that no bed should close.
The beds as part of the winter initiative which are due to close on 31 March should not close, says McDonald.
The Sinn Féin leader says beds need to be freed up by discharging those that are well.
This will require more home help hours, she says.
Fianna Fáil’s Paul McAuliffe says the HSE helpline should be open longer and he says test results for people should come back sooner as people who are tested are very stressed.
“If we are in a war, we need a war Cabinet,” he says, urging the government talks to progress.
As regards travel restrictions, Stephen Donnelly asks if flights from the restricted areas should be allowed, stating that people from Italy and the areas affected will be travelling to Dublin this weekend.
He says it is a question that needs to be asked.
Donnelly says the Department of Foreign Affairs website could also be more clear.
Schools have also not been directed to not travel through the hot zones, and Donnelly asks why schools aren’t being asked not to go there.
Fianna Fáil health spokesperson Stephen Donnelly says a lot of people are worried right now, particularly those that are susceptible.
Children are increasingly concerned too as they are getting some false information on social media.
He commends communication from HSE, but he says HSE Facebook messaging has been poor.
He says some information is not being shared, and says when it came to the first case, he saw no reason why the mode of transport used was not revealed.
He says as much information that can be shared should be shared.
Education Minister Joe McHugh is up next.
His department has been in touch with schools that have been forced to close.
All schools have been provided with information, as well as child-friendly posters and videos.
“There is no need for any school to close unless advised to by the HSE,” says the minister.
Earlier today Harris said schools must not act unilaterally.
Coveney urges people to take out travel insurance if they are travelling overseas.
Travel advice will be constantly reviewed, he says.
Tánaiste and Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney is speaking now.
He says his department has been dealing with citizens in areas affected overseas for some weeks.
He urges people to register on the website so they can provide assistance to those impacted.
Ireland remains in the containment phase, says Simon Harris.
“I understand just how anxious people are about this outbreak,” he says, adding that the risk is low for people who have not travelled to the impacted areas or who have not come in contact with an infected case.
He says health workers are working flat out and should be commended.
Harris says airports and seaports are directly liaising with health authorities in relation to Covid-19.
The Department of Transport has been in touch with all public transport operators, he says.
Proposals on social protection supports and sick pay will be considered in Monday’s sub-committee meeting on Covid-19, Harris adds.
Harris is briefing the Dáil on the confirmed cases to date, along with the number of tests that have been carried out.
Health Minister Simon Harris is now addressing the Dáil regarding Covid-19.
“This is neither a time for panic or a time for complacency. Our approach will remain both vigilant and proportionate,” he says.
The patient who has died in the UK had been “in an out of hospital” for other reasons but was admitted on Wednesday evening to the Royal Berkshire NHS Trust and tested positive.
The news comes as cases of coronavirus in the UK have more than doubled in 48 hours as the country moves towards the delay phase of tackling the virus.
Some 116 people have tested positive, including 105 in England, three in Wales, six in Scotland and three in Northern Ireland.
Just two days ago there were 51 UK cases.
A number of NUIG students studying on Erasmus programmes in Italy have been asked to return home following the announcement that Italian authorities have closed all schools and colleges in the country.
Ten students who were studying in Northern regions – the centre of the outbreak – have been asked to return to Ireland and to follow the advice of the HSE and Department of Foreign Affairs.
A further nine students have not been asked to return from Italy as they are not studying in the Northern region, a spokesperson said.
Other universities, including UCD which has around 30 students on Erasmus in Italy and Trinity College Dublin, which has 22 students on Erasmus, said they are not requesting their students return but are asking them to inform them if they intend on travelling back to Ireland.
A statement from the Royal Berkshire NHS Trust said: “Sadly, we can confirm that an older patient with underlying health conditions has died.
“The patient has previously been in and out of hospital for non-coronavirus reasons, but on this occasion was admitted and last night tested positive for coronavirus.
“The family has been informed and our thoughts are with them at this difficult time.
“We will not be commenting further and ask that everybody respects the family’s privacy.”
Authorities have confirmed the first coronavirus-related death in the UK.
One patient with underlying health conditions has died after testing positive for coronavirus, the Royal Berkshire NHS Trust said.
Primark has confirmed that it is asking the majority of staff in its Dublin headquarters to work from home tomorrow.
In a statement this evening, the company said:
“In order to test our operational readiness and IT capability should a situation arise where we need to temporarily close one of our offices, we have asked the majority of our employees in our Dublin headquarters and Reading office to work remotely on Friday 6 March.
“We have not had any cases of Covid-19 among our employees.”
Dr Ghebreyesus said WHO is “concerned that in some countries the level of political commitment and the actions that demonstrate that commitment do not match the level of the threat we all face”.
He said:
“This is not a drill. This is not the time to give up, This is not the time for excuses. This is a time for pulling out all the stops.
“Countries have been planning for scenarios like this for decades. Now is the time to act on those plans.”
He called on governments to educate their public in knowing what the symptoms are and how they can protect themselves.
He also called on governments to increase their testing capacity, get hospitals ready and ensure essential supplies are available.
“If countries act aggressively to find, isolate and treat cases, and to trace every contact, they can change the trajectory of this epidemic.
“If we take the approach that there’s nothing we can do, that will quickly become a self-fulfilling prophecy. It’s in our hands.”
Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus of WHO told the briefing that that the Covid-19 epidemic is “a threat for every country, rich and poor”.
He said WHO is “concerned that some countries have either not taken this seriously enough or have decided there is nothing they can do”.
In a press briefing this afternoon, the World Health Organization confirmed that there is now a total of 95,265 reported cases of Covid-19 globally, and 3,281 deaths.
Police in Northern Ireland may face 12-hour shifts and cancelled rest days if coronavirus has a serious impact on staffing levels, the PSNI has said.
This afternoon, PSNI Chief Constable Simon Byrne stressed the potential impact of Covid-19 is very much unknown at this stage.
However, he revealed contingency plans are in place if high numbers of his officers are struck down by the disease.
Speaking of the possibility of 12-hour shifts and cancelled rest days, he said: “It’s not a long-term solution but we can use it to boost the number of people available.
“At the moment we are not complacent, and we can use a lot of experience from operating at pace at different times, whether it is dealing with complex investigations or serious disorder to keep officers and staff available to work.”
Byrne said that the PSNI also has to look at “how we will support all our staff through this difficult time because we are dealing with uncertainty, see how we can get them back to work quickly when they fall ill”.
The Chief Constable also revealed he is in discussions with Stormont’s Justice Department about securing bolstered powers to enable officers to detain affected people who might be unwilling to quarantine themselves.
He said he hoped powers handed to police in England could be replicated in Northern Ireland.
Asked if he was concerned about the risk to law and order, he responded: “It’s easy to speculate some sort of scenes of a horror film where we are dealing with pandemic and virus, but at the moment our assumption is actually that as people fall ill, that will quieten down the calls for service from us.”
A second case of coronavirus has been confirmed in Wales, the country’s chief medical officer has announced.
Dr Frank Atherton said: “We have identified yesterday evening the second Welsh case. It’s a patient who has travel history to Italy, a Cardiff resident who has been assessed by infectious disease experts, and who is being managed in a setting in Wales.”
He said the patient, who he said he could not identify but was not thought to have a connection to the first patient who tested positive for the disease, was being treated in the Welsh NHS.
He said the patient was identified from community testing at their home.
Hello, Hayley Halpin here now.
I’ll be taking you through all the latest Covid-19 updates this evening.
Eight of the new confirmed patients contracted the virus in the UK and it is not clear yet whether they contracted it directly or indirectly from an individual who had recently returned from abroad.
So the numbers in the Republic of Ireland haven’t changed today (so far), but in England, the Department of Health has said there are 25 further confirmed cases of the Covid-19 virus.
Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty said 17 were diagnosed after recently travelling from recognised countries or who were from recognised clusters under investigation.
Our reporter Nicky Ryan has been speaking to Richard Grogan, employment law specialist, who explained workers’ current entitlements if they have to self-isolate:
RTÉ’s Health Correspondent Fergal Bowers reports a final year exam for RCSI students has been moved forward by seven weeks:
Thoughts and prayers with all 300 of them.
The government said people should not be de-incentivised to disclose symptoms or to inform their employer of exposure to Covid-19.
The Workplace Relations Commission has issued a guidance note on Covid-19 for employers and employees, asking employers to be as flexible as possible and explore options as the need might arise.
“The government recognises that the State itself is the largest employer in the country, and guidance will be issued today in respect of the arrangements that will apply to all Civil and Public Service employees
“The government acknowledges that there are a wide range of scenarios where businesses and employees will be potentially affected by the impacts of Covid-19.”
The Taoiseach has asked officials to meet with employer and trade union representatives to discuss how assistance can be best provided.
The government has just issued a statement on income support for employees who are required to self-isolate.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said workers “should receive income support” if they have to self-isolate in accordance with medical advice.
“This will require flexibility and responsiveness by employers and in government social protection schemes,” he said.
Varadkar said proposals will be considered by the Cabinet subcommittee on Monday.
HSE chief Paul Reid told reporters at today’s briefing that the HSE will be taking up the issue of misinformation with social media platforms:
“For us in terms of social media, we’ve had good support today from all the social media platforms. There have been occasions where somebody may post a video, something of a test being carried out on an area.”
He said this is “not good for the public and not good for us”.
Our reporter Christina Finn has an update from the Dáil:
In the Dáil, on a discussion about Europe, People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barrett that if Ireland has to fall foul of intellectual property rules relating to vaccines or rules governing medicine its distribution, that should be done.
He says private hospitals, if needed, must also be used, even if that is against health policy. “If rules or fiscal rules or state aid rules need to be broken then that should be done,” he says.
Boyd Barrett also states that if there is any profiteering on the back of this virus, people and companies should face serious consequences.
If there is an attempt to raise prices or medicine, equipment, hand sanitisers, “it should be severely punished”.
“Severe sanctions should be imposed if there are any signs of that across Europe,” he said.
In international news: NATO has said that it has confirmed three cases of the novel coronavirus linked to its military headquarters in Belgium – a civilian employee and two family members.
The employee had recently travelled to Italy. NATO said the employee and family members had not visited its Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) facility in Mons, southern Belgium, since returning from Italy.
“There are three confirmed COVID-19 cases within our wider SHAPE community,” NATO said in a statement.
Our reporter Rónán Duffy has been looking at public transport challenges:
The use of public transport is one that has been raised in reference to Ireland’s response to the coronavirus.
The National Bus and Rail Union has been raising concern about its members’ interactions with the public. General Secretary Dermot O’Leary told TheJournal.ie that the union has a number of concerns:
“Bus Éireann coaches don’t have protective screens for example. So the drivers feel they are vulnerable, there is a lot of interaction with passengers across the country, north, south, east and west.”
“The other issue is the capacity issue on public transport these days, anyone who uses public transport these days be it trains, Darts, commuter services , Dublin Bus or buses in other cities. Some of these voices you read are saying to keep outside three feet from people with allergies or sneezing or anything like that, well you wouldn’t find three inches on packed public transport.”
In a statement, the National Transport Authority responded to a number of queries and to anecdotal observations that passenger numbers have decline on some services:
“NTA and the transport operators have been engaging with the health authorities. The cleaning practices of transport operators are in line with advice provided by the health authorities. We have no data to suggest that passenger numbers are down.”
This long-read from Vox explains what connection they think bats have with the Covid-19 outbreak:
“Bats are hunted and eaten in China, and in fact were brought into the markets in the case of SARS, and that is how other animals, including people, were infected.”
Some useful resources on the most common symptoms of Covid-19 and mythbusters:
In other good news, coronavirus recovery cases have been overtaking the number of new cases for the past few days:
Dr Doyle said that there are some positives for Ireland in tackling Covid-19:
“It has emerged elsewhere so that has given us some time to gather some information to find out about it, and also to prepare. We do have previous knowledge of other Coronaviruses and other infectious diseases. So the principles of management will remain the same, whether that’s from a public health perspective, or a clinical perspective.
“Investigating each of the cases, implementing prevention measures their public health measures and control also control public health measures. And we do know that many of these things work.
“We do have previous experience with pandemic influenza and SARS. We are in a developed world health healthcare system.
“And the other thing is, and I think it’s really important to emphasise at this point is that I think the Irish people are a nation who have solidarity. And we have come through previous crises.”
Cormican also adds this fun fact: “It’s called Corona because some people think that the pictures of it looked like a crown. I can’t see it myself but that’s why it’s called coronavirus.”
Parents of children at the Glasnevin school raised a number of questions at a townhall-style meeting this week, and one was “why don’t you just test everybody?”
Professor Martin Cormican, National lead for infection control and antimicrobial resistance, HSE says that testing contacts too early, before they get sick, can give a false reassurance, and is not the best use of lab testing capacity.
In a Claire Byrne poll, a panel of over 1,000 adults were asked whether they were “concerned about Covid-19 in Ireland”.
The results showed that most people were:
The results showed that the group who were most concerned were women (67%) and those aged 55 and over (66%), as well as those aged between 35-44 (63%).
People aged 18-24, and men were the groups who were least worried (57% of each of these groups).
59% of the ABC1 groups were concerned, versus 64% of the C2DEF group.
Dr Sarah Doyle, a HSE Consultant in Public Health Medicine, said that there were “a number of reasons” why Ireland is concerned about the virus:
“It’s new. So we’re still learning about it. There can be considerable individual and family impact.
“There’s no vaccine for prevention, and to no treatment. Because it’s new everybody is susceptible.
“It will have considerable impact on health services, we know that from experience elsewhere. And if there are health care staff infected that will also have an impact on healthcare services.
“It will also have considerable social and economic impacts,” she said.
Our reporter Adam Daly is at a weekly HSE briefing on the Covid-19 coronavirus.
Commenting at a briefing this afternoon, HSE chief executive Paul Reid said about the four new cases in the west of Ireland:
All those cases have been placed in infection control environments have been treated for that matter.
Reid says contact tracing of this cluster of cases is a “significant challenge”.
On the Glasnevin case, he said:
We took a very proactive engagement with the relevant areas involved and decisions that were made very promptly with the communities involved for the public representatives for the area were briefed in detail.
Reid says the HSE will follow that same line of contact in all cases as was done in Glasnevin, ie, issuing letters and meeting with parents.
Our political correspondent Christina Finn is watching Dáil proceedings closely, here’s a quick note from her on what to expect:
“The Dáil is back today for the second time since the general election. There are two matters up for discussion – the European Council meeting held last month and the outbreak of Covid-19.
“It’s a six and a half hour sitting today – so we might not get to statements on the coronavirus until after 5pm.
“The FG parliamentary party meeting met at noon today to discuss Micheál Martin’s latest offer of government formation, but it is understood there was a big focus on Covid-19, where Minister Harris briefed TDs and senators on the latest.”
You can follow her tweets here: @christinafinn8.
This was enjoyable: it’s hard to keep politics out of any debate.
Over at the Dáil, it has gathered today for the second time since the general election.
All party leaders are in the middle of giving a statement on Covid-19.
Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald and Social Democrat Róisín Shortall have questioned the usefulness of a Cabinet subcommittee on the Covid-19 coronavirus, which is chaired by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar.
Elsewhere, the Central Bank confirmed that one if its employees is being tested for Covid-19. A spokesperson added that the HSE has advised them to continue business as normal, and so its premises remain open today.
Employees have been given the option to work from home.
The Central Bank had yesterday advised the firms that it regulates (banks and credit unions, for example) to have a protocol in place to tackle major operational events that might happen in relation to the new coronavirus Covid-19.
Some timing.
Harris also said that it’s important that the public healthcare protocol is followed where there are confirmed cases, and in the case of schools, that they do not act “unilaterally”.
He added that some information will be given to the public through the media about confirmed cases, without compromising patient confidentiality.
A quick recap on what we know about the most recent confirmed cases first:
Ebola, Isis beheadings, planes going missing or being shot down, hundreds of lives being lost for countless of underhand reasons both in this country and overseas. I think I’ll build an ark
All steaming from the spineless chickensh*t sitting in the Oval Office.
Blaming Obama for Ebola?!
No everything other than Ebola. Worst President in History. At least Bush had some cojones.
You said everything. You lied, just like Obama!
Seriously Darryl, Bush has balls??? Tiny little shrew balls maybe, at a stretch….
Balls? I have balls! Now watch this drive.
Sean
It will contravene EU health & safety regulations, never be allowed.
I think I might book a ticket on your ark, Sean!
2 of everything. Except of course the political species
Guide to Treating and Preventing Ebola…
http://www.arhf.nl/docs/Amma4Africa_Ebola_Manual_Aug_2014_en.pdf
Maybe if he had been treated the FIRST time he presented at the hospital with symptoms he may have had a better chance.
RIP.
And obviously RIP to the thousands of African citizens who have met their fate with this terrible disease…. lest anyone think i am concerned only with westerners.
I doubt anyone cares what Mary Carey cares about.
Jesse Jackson would turn up to the opening of an envelope
You mean African American envelopes
Start restriction air travel between infected countries and European countries only way to controll the situation ! You don’t need to be in government to realise what the best solutions are
Ireland has no air travel to or from Africa. The recent epidemiological studies show France has a 75% chance of Ebola spreading there, UK 50%, Ireland it’s 5% because of that lack of indirect flights. The US has already started exit and entry screenings by ICE border guards.
We can’t terminate air travel or sea travel to the countries because their economies would collapse without trade and aid, followed my political collapse, and the virus spreading exponentially. Stopping casual travels with non-essential business is just a band aid really. There are 600 people from Africa flying into the UK every day and most of that is NOT casual stuff it’s business, trade or aid related. Even shutting off nonessential travel there is still thousands of people moving back and forth.
The best way to be ready is to have entry and exit screening and have proper protocols in place for hospitals and isolation, and we have already got that set up. We’ve had a National Pandemic Plan for years, we have stockpiles of adult and pediatric preparations of all the antivirual drugs and stockpiles of protective suits.
Locking down an entire country is not possible.Look at the US border with Mexico for example.Do you honestly think that this guy wouldnt have gone to a neighboring country and caught a flight from there.Short of stopping all flights from Africa landing it’s not possible.The best that can be done is to try and detect it at the airport.
Ryan,that actually makes it worse. Because if someone is coming to Ireland from West Africa they have to take at least two flights and come in contact with a lot of people. Someone in an earlier article said it’s relatively easy to retrace the steps of someone who is infectious, but this assumes that the person has perfect recall of all those he/she has met over the past number of days and that they have no reason to hide details of their journey.
This is the link to an article I read in the Guardian today. It’s worth reading in its entirety:
http:// http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/04/ebola-zaire-peter-piot-outbreak
“Peter Piot was a researcher at a lab in Antwerp when a pilot brought him a blood sample from a Belgian nun who had fallen mysteriously ill in Zaire
‘In 1976 I discovered Ebola – now I fear an unimaginable tragedy’
‘In large cities – particularly in chaotic slums – it is virtually impossible to find those who had contact with patients, no matter how great the effort. That is why I am so worried about Nigeria as well. The country is home to mega-cities like Lagos and Port Harcourt, and if the Ebola virus lodges there and begins to spread, it would be an unimaginable catastrophe.’ ”
I agree with you Ryan that we should have rigorous screening of people coming in to the country, and not just those whose point of origin in West Africa.
Apologies for the length of this comment.
I’m not saying we should not take major precautions. I actually wish the govt would let the emergency managers do more, I’d terminate all travel to and from the region indirectly to Ireland, since it would leave no real footprint on them economically for us cos were so small, I’d ask the HSE and OEP to come up with an Ebola specific pandemic plan, I’d distribute the protective gear from the warehouses to the hospital basements so it’s ready to hand.
It’s easy to retrace someones steps through contact tracing if you know what major waypoints they’ve hit, they might not remember every single person they touched against but if you know they were at the airport you can run through the CCTV, its harder with pandemic flu but with Ebola they have to exchange body fluids and you do remember who you did that with, if someone bleeds or pukes on you you will remember it.
I’m not trying to say it’s not a threat, it’s a MAJOR threat, I’m just trying to keep the threat in proportion. The odds are 5percent of it getting here, that is TINY. People who shared a lift with the Spanish nurse were panicking in Spain, people in the UK were canceling school visits by a guest speaker from Africa because they were Afraid she might infect their kids, the hysteria is getting really out of hand and someone needs to be keeping the threat in proportion to counter all the people posting hype and conspiracy theories.
Hi Ryan. I’d hazard a guess that way more then 600 people from Africa fly into the UK every day. Maybe you meant 6000? There are several flights a day from Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban, on at least 3 airlines (BA, SAA, Virgin)….there is a daily flight from Harare, and Windhoek and more than one a day from Nairobi and Mombasa…regular flights from most countries every day…most of these long haul flights….I know that Ebola isn’t present in any of the places I mentioned but just felt it necessary to correct the 600 number. Thanks
Hi again Ryan…whereas Ireland would be in a very good position to treat any Ebola patient in isolation it isnt true that we have stockpiles of adult and pediatric preparations of all the antivirual drugs, one antiviral drug absent from the stockpile is a drug specific to Ebola. Thanks for your comments.
Hi Daniel – Just to correct you, mayybe you didn’t know that there are already restrictions in place which are working……most airlines that had flewn to the affected countries (Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone) stopped flying months ago…eg British Airways which extended the flight ban and cancelled all flights/bookings up to January 2015. …..in addition all departing (and arriving) passengers are screened at all airports in the countries affected (for the flights that still operate) …. also this is screening is happening in neighbouring countries where there is no infection (eg Accra, Abidjan)….The Ivory Coast closed it’s borders and closed all air and sea links with affected countries.
God help us when this hits Ireland.
Yeah. VPN in from home. Nobody needs to visit me, don’t even ring me. Texting could be dangerous too!! Whatsapp me ok?
Time to start buy your P100 compatible face masks before the panic.
It’s probably not going to hit Ireland Peter, the odds of it getting here are 5%. 80percent of the infections in Africa are a result of death rituals that are not practiced in the west, the other 20percent is the poor hospital set up and lack of proper containment protocols and finally the belief in conspiracy theories that WHO are spreading ebola or it’s not real, you have things like people breaking into quarantined hospitals and looting bloody sheets, no wonder it’s spreading so fast ffsake.
People need to stop listening to quacks and conspiracy theorists and start focusing on objective facts. It’s not airborne, it is hard to spread, and this outbreak has a lower fatality rate than previous ones, and were working on 4 separate vaccines.
People think but we can’t handle the Winter Vomiting Bus how could we handle this, the Norovirus is airborne and aerosolized, it can live on a flip-up bin top for hours and be whooshed into the air from a toilet flush then breathed in, Ebola does not work like that. Outside a human hosts body fluids it dies very quickly, it does not sit on surfaces or float in the air and while it’s theoretically possible to get it from saliva the concentration is not v high and your odds of surviving and inversly proportionate to how many virus particles you take in.
It’s quite simple, if you see sick Africans who are running a major fever and bleeding from the eyes, mouth or broken skin, call for help, short of that you have nothing to worry about.
What about the incubation period, when there are no symptoms, Ryan?
Someone infected with Ebola who is not showing symptoms is not contagious, the first symptoms are a burning fever (above 38.6′C), muscle pain, headaches and sore throat.
These are also the symptoms of many other conditions so the only way Ebola should be considered is if they have been in one of the hot zones (which now includes Spain and the US just to be on the safe side) within the last 21 days.
Ryan
15 year old refugee from liberia quarantined since monday in salzburg…his whole family died from it in liberia….that’s less than 2 hours drive from me.
If he made it over surely there are more in Europe but just not found yet…
God only knows if someone was to take a boat to Ireland and be sick with ebola….vomit in the bathrooms on the toilet for example…how do they trace anyone who has used the same toilets as this person. That person is hardly going to leave a note saying watch out I puked and have ebola.
Checking ports in Ireland is too late…they may have already had contact with Irish people en route and infected them.
Stats mean nothing….it only takes one case to prove them wrong. People need to be prepared and not take the attitude…it will never reach us we are ok.
Russia is making antiviral drug to treat Ebola.
Russia is beginning the production of an antiviral drug it has approved for the treatment of Ebola, a news report said, while a senior World Health Organization official urged stronger international efforts to contain the virus outbreak in West Africa.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/russia-making-antiviral-drug-to-treat-ebola/507286.html
# You better be nice to Valdimir Putin.
Why is Vlad not part of your big conspiracy theory then ? Like to get your villains clear in my head
Frank only believes in western villains.
Valdimir Putin Is certainly on the defensive in this day and age and his patients is very quickly running out with the West’s dirty lies, cheating and warmongering.
The West may criticize Putin on his prompt decision to annex Crimea, but if one digs a little deeper one can see a justification for this. NATO’s made a promise not to advance eastwards going back to the break up of the Berlin Wall, NATO has broken this promise and is now sh**ting on Russia’s doorstep. .
Russia is also wide awake to the fact that the West has been arming Jihad terrorists to the teeth right across the middle east in its effort to destabilize and overthrow governments. Libya, Iraq, and now Syria an Ally of Russia. We can already see the US and its allies futile attempt to attack these so terrorists who are also fighting the same cause (Joke in itself)
Barack Obama is pushing the limit too far and its only a matter of time before Russia will take so much.
If you like the east and detest the west so much Frank then why don’t to move there?
Ablitive
Not a chance in hell that a simple antiviral developed by the Russians for the treatment of influenza and simply a molecular twist on Relenza or Tamiflu is going to do anything against Ebola.
These drugs belong to a class known as neuraminidase inhibitors and are used in the treatment of both Influenza A and B.
I think you will find that this is a Russian boast that was influenced by that other favourite Russian drug called vodka!
David Ronan. What would be the point of moving to Iran or Russia if the Psychopaths in Western powers intend on bombing them to oblivion..
Richard Rodgers, Wait and see what the West comes up with, a damned if you do and damned if you don’t vaccine and may be a microchip implant to finish it off.
The Ebola Vaccine is here. Consult your doctor and get vaccinated today!
What’s ironic in all this is it was actually the Russians who had a real (not a conspiracy theory fantasy) bioweapons programme with BioPrePerat in the 60s-90s they made everything in weaponized form, Smallpox, Botulism, Anthrax the works.
Ryan Carroll .. The tables have turned 180°, its the West that are now playing about with biological weapons. Its all about population control for its rising empire.
George Orwell’s Animal Farm was written as a satire against the corrupt elite of Soviet communism.
The book could now be applied to the West.
Fox News are gonna have a field day with this. At least the Daily Show will be entertaining.
And any other mainstream US cable news station.
Fox asked the CDC administrator yesterday why we don’t just shut down and isolate the affected countries by closing their borders…he actually had to pause for a few seconds in amazement at the stupidity of that question before going on to explain how without open borders no food or medicine is coming in winch would = total anarchy and the virus spreading way more.
No need to shut the African borders just stop all US bound flights from Western Africa, seems like common sense to me. What fox host said this might I ask or did you just pick it up second hand?
Megan Kelly . If you stop all US bound flights from west Africa you also stop doctors, trade missions and businessmen without whom the countries would not function.
If you only stop casual travel that’s only a tiny % of the problem anyway
This guy lied about being in close contact with victims at an airport health screening.He is at least in someway to blame for what happened to him.
Allegedly.
No allegedly about it. Coming from West Africa he would have been asked if he had visited or stayed in an area where there had been cases of Ebola. Do you think they would have just waived him through if he had said yes ?
Its not that I’ve no sympathy, nobody DESERVES the ebola death, nobody DESERVES to have their organs liquify…but I don’t have A LOT of sympaty He lied during his exit screening saying he had not been in contact with ebola patients when he had, and his casual lies put the entire North American continent in danger.
He played with fire and got burned for it. If he had told the CDC/WHO people at the exit screening that he’d been in contact with EBola infected directly (he’d helped transport his landlords infected daughter to hospital) they would have done blood tests on him, found the virus and begun treatment much earlier, he might have got into one of the trials and survived.
So sick of the authorities they had the chance to contain this while it was in Africa they should have put those countries on lockdown nobody in nobody out they shouldnt have brought infected patients out and treated them there its not rocket science just common sense.
Putting entire countries on lock down is not only far from common sense, it’s not really possible.
Yes it is possible they has restricted travel to war torn countries before.
Ebola, not covered under Obamacare.
It seems that Ireland is in love with Obama. Why?
We are perhaps the only country in Europe with a shrine dedicated to him.
Because he is the messiah of course. Given to us to heal the masses and part the rising sea…..I hope you sense the sarcasm in my tone.
Nobody’s in love with him, we just don’t believe in either reactionary right wing nutcases who are so far to the right that Obama looks like the radical left, or conspiracy theorists who think he is a cartoon villain.
By “reactionary” you mean someone who actually reacts, takes action? Sounds like exactly what we need now. The Middle East is in far worse condition now than it was the day Bush left office.
No I mean people so far off the fringe that Obama who is a centrist at best (by Europes standards he’s very conservative) looks like a raving lefty. The middle east is in this condition as a DIRECT result of decisions Geroge Bush made in 2003-2007 period, disbanding the Iraqi armed forces and dumping thousands of weapons trained p___D off men onto the streets, invading without a post-war plan and with less than half the troops the military told him they needed.
This is all on him and history will recognize that.
Obama might be a bad president but Bush will definitely take the prize as the worst president in US history, his deregulation (and Clintons) caused the biggest crash since the great depression, his foreign policy has destabilized the entire middle east, and he destroyed the bill of rights creating a big brother state that is now out of control
And why are people voting down a genuine enquiry?
People are still flying out infected countries now an Australian nurse I been tested for Ebola will people ever learn to stay away from infected countries ,
Guide to Treating and Preventing Ebola… must get some of these…
http://www.arhf.nl/docs/Amma4Africa_Ebola_Manual_Aug_2014_en.pdf
have your say