Thread: Corona Virus

Some news from around the World.

“My urgent request: Do not meet anybody,” said Austria’s chancellor, Sebastian Kurz. “Every social contact is one too many.”Credit...Christian Bruna/EPA, via Shutterstock

Chancellor Sebastian Kurz of Austria said on Saturday that the country would go into a full lockdown after an existing partial shutdown failed to stem rising infections.
“If we do not react massively, there is a great risk that the numbers will continue to rise or remain at a high level and overstretch the health system,” Mr. Kurz said during a news conference announcing the measures.
Starting on Tuesday and going until at least Dec. 6, schools and most stores will close and people will be required to work from home unless their physical presence at a job site is critical. People will be able to leave their homes only for essential reasons, such as grocery shopping.
“My urgent request: Do not meet anybody,” Mr. Kurz said. “Every social contact is one too many.”
The new measures represent the kind of emergency lockdown Mr. Kurz had hoped to avoid. Similar restrictions in the spring led to a drop in new infections, but they also significantly damaged the national economy.
The recent, lighter shutdown, which went into effect on Nov. 3, allowed stores, schools and other services to stay open, but closed cultural sites, bars and restaurants.
On Friday, Austria recorded 9,586 cases in a single day, a record, and about nine times more than during the country’s peak in March, according to health ministry figures.

In other news from around the world:

• The authorities in Greece announced on Saturday the closure of all schools as the country faces a spike in coronavirus infections and deaths. Health officials announced 3,038 new infections on Friday. A nationwide public curfew is now also in effect from 9 p.m. until 5 a.m., with exceptions made for people who need to go out for work, to visit a doctor or to walk a pet. Greece’s total caseload since the start of the pandemic is 69,675
• The five-day average of coronavirus cases in Ireland rose nearly 10 percent this week, despite strict lockdown measures that had led to a sharp decrease in cases since mid-October, the health department said on Saturday. “We have seen higher numbers in recent days than we expected based on the encouraging trends of the last three weeks,” Chief Medical Officer Tony Holohan said in a statement. Ireland has had 67,526 cases and 1,978 deaths in total.
• Tuscany and Campania are the latest Italian regions to lock down. Starting on Sunday, residents will be allowed to leave their homes only for essentials and travel outside their own municipalities only for work and health reasons. On Saturday, Italy registered 37,255 new cases and 544 deaths.
• Driving will be banned on Sundays throughout Lebanon after the country went into a two-week lockdown that forced nonessential business to close. Vehicles can be driven for three days each week based on even- and odd-numbered license plates, and a sunset to sunrise curfew was extended.
• A party in the suburbs of Paris with 300 attendees was dispersed, the police said on Saturday. The gathering was in violation of virus restrictions, and the police said bottles were thrown at them.
• The police in Germany used a water cannon on Saturday to break up a group of about 600 protesters that had gathered in Frankfurt to criticize lockdown measures. In Lisbon, hundreds of bar and restaurant workers protested a partial weekend and nighttime lockdown across most of Portugal.
• ​

• At least 10 people died in Piatra Neamt, a town in northeastern Romania, on Saturday after a fire broke out in an intensive care unit being used for 16 Covid-19 patients, all of them on ventilators, according to The Associated Press. The fire spread rapidly, most likely fed by the oxygen being used to treat the intubated patients, local media reports said. The national health minister, Nelu Tataru, told the local news media that the fire had probably been caused by an electrical short circuit. Ten other people were injured in the incident, seven of them critically, including the doctor on duty, who had rushed to help the patients.

Originally Posted by 4bee

She'll be jake, bob. They'll ring Dan & his crew & ask their advice on the way forward.
No probs.

Nah,better off ringing HER and Co, in Qld,then SA should have the borders shut for months, destroying many businesses and not helping with much else

Originally Posted by vnx205

The government is not acting because there is a pandemic in Australia.

The government is acting to prevent a pandemic in Australia.

thanks for taking the bait.

if thats the case, why isnt the govt's doing more?

Originally Posted by Eevo

thanks for taking the bait.

if thats the case, why isnt the govt's doing more?

What do you suggest the government should be doing?

Originally Posted by vnx205

What do you suggest the government should be doing?

daily testing of the whole population, all diseases, not just covid.
lockdown 24/7/365, no leaving the house.
close all forms of social interaction. both business and other. no longer required as not allowed to leave the house
banning cash as form of payment


all of this and more to continue on a permanent basis.

Originally Posted by Eevo

why is the govt acting like there is a pandemic in australia?

The way the West Australian government has reacted to this virus is the very reason why there Isn't a pandemic in WA at the moment.
IF WA lets it's guard and borders down too soon and before an effective vaccine is available there is Every chance that WA Will have a pandemic on it's hands.

I am dumbfounded that the exact same thing that caused all the misery and death in VIC has now occurred in SA, When will people learn that this virus is a killer and the "she'll be right" attitude I'll just continue to go to work when I am crook mentality is Totally irresponsible and completely unacceptable (bordering on Criminal) and simply get tested if they are crook and DON"T go into work until they are Certain that they wont infect others.

Originally Posted by trout1105

The way the West Australian government has reacted to this virus is the very reason why there Isn't a pandemic in WA at the moment.
IF WA lets it's guard and borders down too soon and before an effective vaccine is available there is Every chance that WA Will have a pandemic on it's hands.

I am dumbfounded that the exact same thing that caused all the misery and death in VIC has now occurred in SA, When will people learn that this virus is a killer and the "she'll be right" attitude I'll just continue to go to work when I am crook mentality is Totally irresponsible and completely unacceptable (bordering on Criminal) and simply get tested if they are crook and DON"T go into work until they are Certain that they wont infect others.

is WA going to keep itself locked for all eternity? cause thats what needs to happen.


for many people, no work = no pay.


imho, the best way forward is not elimination, as thats impossible. its to make this thing endemic.

Originally Posted by Eevo

is WA going to keep itself locked for all eternity? cause thats what needs to happen.


for many people, no work = no pay.


imho, the best way forward is not elimination, as thats impossible. its to make this thing endemic.

WA has managed to keep its economy in the black even with its borders closed simply because the virus Has been eliminated in WA and life/work has returned pretty much to normal now.
Elimination IS possible, Just look at what Victoria has achieved.

Using your insane idea of making COV19 "endemic" in the past would see us still loosing countless thousands of people to polio, tetanus, measles and the countless other diseases that we have so far been able to eradicate in this country.

COV19 CAN be beaten But only IF Everyone does the utmost to prevent its spread until a vaccine is available, It's as simple as that.