Coronavirus Updates: As COVID Spreads Through NYC, De Blasio Recommends Full Shutdown…After Christmas – Gothamist ( I am beyond understanding why “leaders” keep gambling with our lives!)

Source: Coronavirus Updates: As COVID Spreads Through NYC, De Blasio Recommends Full Shutdown…After Christmas – Gothamist

FDA approves genetically engineered pigs – The Verge

(Let’s hope and pray that they have really done their homework… why? Pigs-swine are a major vector for diseases that transmit to humans – The diseases associated with swine include ringworm, erysipelas, leptospirosis, streptococcosis, campylobacterosis, salmonellosis, cryptosporidiosis, giardiasis, balantidiasis, influenza and infection with pathogenic E. coli  to name a few.)

Source: FDA approves genetically engineered pigs – The Verge

Broken societies put people and planet on collision course, says UNDP – Petchary’s Blog

The report lays out a stark choice for world leaders – take bold steps to reduce the immense pressure that is being exerted on the environment and the natural world, or humanity’s progress will stall.

“Humans wield more power over the planet than ever before. In the wake of COVID-19, record-breaking temperatures and spiraling inequality, it is time to use that power to redefine what we mean by progress, where our carbon and consumption footprints are no longer hidden,” said Achim Steiner, UNDP Administrator.

Source: Broken societies put people and planet on collision course, says UNDP – Petchary’s Blog

Update on new SARS-CoV-2 variant and how COG-UK tracks emerging mutations – COG-UK Consortium

The variant described today in the House of Commons contains a novel set of mutations associated with a lineage spreading rapidly in the South East of England (and more widely) that is the subject of ongoing investigations by the UK Public Health Agencies, coordinated by Public Health England and supported by COG-UK. This variant carries a set of mutations including an N501Y mutation in the receptor binding motif of the Spike protein that the virus uses to bind to the human ACE2 receptor.

Source: Update on new SARS-CoV-2 variant and how COG-UK tracks emerging mutations – COG-UK Consortium

V-safe After Vaccination Health Checker | CDC

V-safe is a smartphone-based tool that uses text messaging and web surveys to provide personalized health check-ins after you receive a COVID-19 vaccination. Through v-safe, you can quickly tell CDC if you have any side effects after getting the COVID-19 vaccine. Depending on your answers, someone from CDC may call to check on you and get more information. And v-safe will remind you to get your second COVID-19 vaccine dose if you need one. Source: V-safe After Vaccination Health Checker | CDC

What to Expect after Getting a COVID-19 Vaccine | CDC

COVID-19 vaccination will help protect you from getting COVID-19. You may have some side effects, which are normal signs that your body is building protection. These side effects may affect your ability to do daily activities, but they should go away in a few days.

Common side effects

On the arm where you got the shot:

  • Pain
  • Swelling

Throughout the rest of your body:

  • Fever
  • Chills
  • Tiredness
  • Headache

Source: What to Expect after Getting a COVID-19 Vaccine | CDC

Effect of Arbidol (Umifenovir) on COVID-19: a randomized controlled trial | BMC Infectious Diseases | Full Text

We have shown that ARB, compared to KALETRA, significantly contributes to clinical and laboratory improvements, including peripheral oxygen saturation, requiring ICU admissions, duration of hospitalization, chest CT involvements, WBC, and ESR. Source: Effect of Arbidol (Umifenovir) on COVID-19: a randomized controlled trial | BMC Infectious Diseases | Full Text

Minimum 30 percent The Russian authorities have set a coronavirus vaccination target, but will they have enough doses? — Meduza

Russia began a large-scale vaccination campaign on Monday, December 7. In Moscow and the Moscow region, the roll out happened two days earlier, on December 5. So far, the results look modest: Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin reported that 6,000 people had been immunized in the capital as of December 10, whereas the regions are, at best, reporting that they have received doses of the “Sputnik V” vaccine. At the same time, the authorities are calling on the regions to vaccinate at least 30 percent of the population by the end of the first half of 2021, government sources tell Meduza. And it has been made clear that 60 percent vaccination would be “optimal.” That said, whether or not Russian manufacturers are up to the task of producing the millions of required doses of Sputnik V remains to be seen.

Source: Minimum 30 percent The Russian authorities have set a coronavirus vaccination target, but will they have enough doses? — Meduza

As if none of it ever happened The story of Alexander Vasilevich, a Belarusian businessman and gallery owner who became an enemy of the state before Lukashenko visited him in a KGB jail — Meduza

Nadezhda Zelenkova told Meduza that the businessman’s lawyers are trying to challenge his arrest, and Vasilevich’s colleagues are attempting to explain to the prosecution how his business operated, providing additional documents to rule out any suspicion of tax evasion.

“It’s rhetorical to ask why someone charged with an economic crime ought to be jailed for four months. I think no one knows how to deal with politically driven (allegedly economic) criminal cases while the country’s legal system is failing completely. Quite simply: Sasha is being held hostage,” says the businessman’s wife.

On December 2, Nadezhda gave birth to a baby girl named Urszula. That same day, Viktor Babarika’s headquarters launched a new initiative called “Politzekme,” created to raise awareness about political prisoners in Belarus. The website allows visitors to “become friends” with one of the country’s 147 political prisoners, for example, by writing letters to them in jail. Alexander Vasilevich is one of these 147 people.

Source: As if none of it ever happened The story of Alexander Vasilevich, a Belarusian businessman and gallery owner who became an enemy of the state before Lukashenko visited him in a KGB jail — Meduza