Month: January 2021

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2……….> Wuhan Glory & Denial: No Answers

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Wuhan has long since recovered from the world’s first outbreak of Covid-19, remembered not as a disaster but as a victory, and with an unsupported claim that the virus came from somewhere – anywhere – but here, hence from the moment a new, pandemic coronavirus emerged in the same city as a laboratory dedicated to the study of new coronaviruses with pandemic potential, Professor Shi Zhengli has found herself the focus of one of the biggest scientific controversies of our time.

For much of the past year she has met the suggestion that Sars-Cov-2 might have escaped from the Wuhan Institute of Virology with angry denial.

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https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-55765875

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3…………> EU Vaccine Troubles: Raw Materials Shortages?

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UK drug-maker AstraZeneca said a production issue meant initial volumes would be lower than anticipated, the shocking statement coming on top of a halt to vaccinations in some parts of Europe due to a cut in deliveries of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, and AstraZeneca, which developed its vaccine with Oxford University, disclosed the situation in a statement, sneaking in few details:

“Initial volumes will be lower than originally anticipated due to reduced yields at a manufacturing site within our European supply chain,” it said, as an unnamed EU official saying that the company had told the EU that it would reduce to 31m – a cut of 60% – the number of doses it could deliver to the bloc in the first quarter of this year.
Unlike the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, Astra-Zeneca’s product is yet to be approved by the EU’s drug regulator, though this is expected at the end of this month.

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https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-55771223

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4…………> UK COVID More Deadly: Higher Mortality

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Early findings show that the new, faster-spreading coronavirus variant identified in the UK could also be more deadly, with British leaders cautioning that data remained sparse and margins narrow, as Prime Minister Boris Johnson discussed the latest findings at a press conference, following the realization that new B117 coronavirus mutation first detected in the United Kingdom could potentially be deadlier than the original, forcing him to issue the following warning:

“In addition to spreading more quickly, it also now appears that there is some evidence that the new variant identified in London and the South East may be associated with a higher degree of mortality.” 

The British government’s chief scientific adviser Patrick Vallance said that the new variant could be around 30% more deadly, but cautioned that the findings were based on an initial assessment of early data.

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https://www.dw.com/en/uk-covid-variant-could-be-slightly-deadlier-early-evidence-shows/a-56319288

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5…………> Putin’s Black Sea Palace: Report

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A video released by Navalny Life YouTube channel shows a drone view of an estate on Russia’s Black Sea, supposedly a long held secret, as President Vladimir Putin’s Black Sea presidential palace is linked to questionable money sources, according to Russian environmental activist and critic Dmitry Shevchenko who has offered DW elaborate details about President’s rumored palace by the sea, monitored for years, a building has 195,000 square feet of living space and cost 100 billion rubles (€1.12 billion/$1.4 billion) to build.

FBK reports that state-owned companies Rosneft and Transneft — respectively run by Putin allies Igor Sechin and Nikolay Tokarev — financed the vast construction project.

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https://www.dw.com/en/russian-activist-says-he-toured-putins-rumored-palace/a-56306908