Overseas Report Wednesday 30th December 2020
“♩♪♫ Every man (and woman) should be born again on the first day of January. Start with a fresh page ♫♪♩” – Henry Ward Beecher
I hope you all had a good Christmas holiday. Across the world Covid-19 has played a massive part in making this year so different from any other year.
The news from around the world has shown that cases are still increasing with a number of new mutant strains showing up in different parts of the world. The one with the biggest publicity was the new mutant virus announced by the NHS in the United Kingdom. This caused more than 40 countries to ban travellers arriving from the UK unless they had proof of a negative test result. The resultant chaos for freight businesses was huge and meant many drivers spent Christmas in their cabs along the motorways of Kent. This new strain is seen to be more contagious although not as severe. In the week since my last posting, the UK has had 289,583 new cases.
Elsewhere in the world cases, seem to be rising again compared to the first wave back in March, although the seven day moving average has fallen since the 24th December from a high of 644,949 to 562,712 cases worldwide.
So what do we know about these mutant strains of Covid-19? Researchers have watched SARS-CoV-2 evolve in real time more closely than any other virus in history. So far, it has accumulated mutations at a rate of about one to two changes per month. That means many of the genomes sequenced today differ at about 20 points from the earliest genomes sequenced in China in January. It is not just in the UK that there is this new mutant.
In South Africa, scientists have sequenced genomes in three provinces where cases are soaring: Eastern Cape, Western Cape, and KwaZulu Natal. They identified a lineage separate from the UK variant that also has a N501Y mutation in the spike gene. In the case of N501Y, more young people may be getting sick because many more are getting infected; Latest figures from South Africa show that they now have recorded over 1 million cases and over 27,000 deaths. In the whole of the continent, according to the Worldometer website, the total cases reported are just under 2.7 million, with deaths currently at 63,449. At first glance it may seem that South Africa is suffering more than other countries in the continent but the figures are only as good as the numbers provided and in many cases the recording of figures is sporadic.
Whilst the UK has been the country in the news across the world, scientists say the new strain may already be much more widespread. Researchers in the Netherlands have found it in a sample from one patient taken in early December.
Other countries may have the variant as well, says epidemiologist William Hanage of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health; the United Kingdom may have just picked it up first because it has the most sophisticated SARS-CoV-2 genomic monitoring in the world. Many countries have little or no sequencing.
One aspect of this pandemic which is starting to affect people who do not have the virus is the idea of “Lockdown fatigue”.
Living through a global health crisis takes its toll on your physical and mental well-being. As the weeks go on under quarantine, lots of people have experienced a rollercoaster of emotions and feelings – from sadness and anger to tiredness and feeling ‘groggy’.
“One of the key reasons why being under lockdown during a health pandemic is draining is because we’re experiencing a lot of mental strain”, says Dr Sarita Robinson, principal lecturer in psychology at the University of Central Lancashire.
“We expect to feel tired when we have been on a run or have completed an exercise class. However, high levels of mental effort and increased anxiety can also make us tired too,” she says.
“This is because when we face psychological stressors our bodies still mount a physiological response – we can enter fight or flight mode – and this takes up energy. So our heart rate increases and we start to feel more alert and energised. However, keeping the body in this high state of alert really takes its toll on our energy levels.”
This is why we feel tired when we are facing financial or health concerns. It also happens when we have to adapt to an unfamiliar way of doing things, such as life under lockdown. We are now having to work out new ways of doing pretty much everything from entertaining the children, remote working, to socialising with friends. So what do we do to make life feel better? It’s easy to feel ‘groggy’ and unmotivated when you’re not on your usual schedule, so it’s important to create a routine for your sleep and mealtimes, work and rest. It’s also important to factor in more time to rest. If you’re working from home, take time off and schedule in regular breaks to get fresh air and unwind. Make sure you have a cut-off point, so you have enough downtime to relax. We need to keep to a regular exercise routine in order to remain physically healthy. However, exercise also has a good influence on our mental health and can lower anxiety levels.It’s also important to be kind to yourself. You may not be as productive or motivated as usual – and that’s OK.
Give yourself credit for any little achievement in this time of heightened anxiety and uncertainty. Stay well and stay safe until the next time.
Total number of cases worldwide – 82,394,792
Total number of deaths worldwide – 1,798,097
Total number of recovered cases worldwide – 58,402,310
Active cases – 22,194,385
Closed cases – 60,200,407
Information and statistics from:
www.worldometers.info
www.sciencemag.org
https://patient.info/

Overseas Report Monday 21st December 2020
“My idea of Christmas, whether old-fashioned or modern, is very simple: loving others. Come to think of it, why do we have to wait for Christmas to do that?” – Bob Hope
With the news of even greater lockdowns for many countries around the world due to an increase in Covid-19 cases, we take a look at how countries are handling the rolling out of the various vaccines which are now starting to be given to citizens across the world. We also look at the situations in Japan and Sweden and take note of what a French Philosopher said about time, and how it seems to drag when people are in lockdown situations.
In the USA, where last week they had the highest death toll in a single day at 3,611 since the start of the Pandemic, the vaccine was administered to over 211,000 across 38 states by yesterday (20th Dec). As with most countries, the vulnerable and health workers are the first to receive the vaccine. Elsewhere in the world, according to Bloomberg news, the first Covid-19 shots have been given to more than 1.6 million people in four countries. It’s the start of the biggest vaccination campaign in history and one of the largest logistical challenges ever undertaken.
Canada and the U.K. are among those countries that have started to vaccinate their citizens with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, and this vaccine is expected to get emergency clearance in the EU as soon as next week. The Pfizer-BioTech vaccine, and the shot from Moderna, were both found to reduce coronavirus infections by 95% in trials of tens of thousands of volunteers. In both China and Russia, people have been receiving their own manufactured vaccine which is still in its testing phase.
One of the most striking things about the Covid-19 pandemic is just how dramatically different the responses have been from country to country. In early 2020, when little was known about the virus, this difference was unsurprising. Today, with tens of thousands of research articles and cases of best practice to learn from, one would expect to see more convergence. And yet some countries continue to resist popular strategies, such as lockdowns, and insist on going their own way – with varying degrees of success.
Two such countries are Sweden and Japan, which in 2020 have forged a different path to their neighbours on coronavirus and attributed their early successes to the assumed advantages of an inherent national character. But today, both seem to be paying the price. Leaders in both countries have emphasised that their constitutions prevent violations of civil liberties, such as lockdowns and fines. Instead, both governments have based their strategies on voluntarism, self-responsibility, and perhaps most importantly, the exceptional nature of their populations.
Sweden, famously, has left bars, restaurants and gyms open throughout the pandemic, as well as not requiring masks in any public settings. In fact, the official position in Sweden is still that masks may do more to increase the spread of Covid-19, rather than reduce it. This view was common in many European countries at the start of the pandemic, but other governments quickly changed their minds and mandated mask-wearing in public places.
In Sweden, rather than implement any mandatory restrictions, Prime Minister Stefan Lofven called on the populace to use their folkvett – a blend of good manners, morality, and common sense that is supposed to be innate to all good Swedes – to follow the voluntary recommendations.With a number of public officials calling lockdowns in other countries as “mad” and “ridiculous”, there was also some who announced that Covid 19 was no worse that seasonal flu and that herd immunity would see the disease eradicated. Time has shown that this was not the case and they have started putting in place similar measures to either countries to try and stem the increase in cases.
Like Sweden, Japan took the “no lockdown” route and refrained from imposing mandatory restrictions – though it closed its borders earlier this year. Unlike Sweden, however, virtually everyone in Japan voluntarily wears a mask, and the government engages in aggressive contact-tracing.
Japan implemented a domestic tourism campaign, “Go To Travel”, to encourage people to spend money and boost the economy. It’s now feared that this campaign, which saw the government subsidise people’s domestic tourist trips, could be responsible for driving the country’s third wave.
Another aspect of lockdowns and curfews is the feeling that time is dragging and everything seems to go at a slower pace. The French philosopher Henri Bergson (1859-1941), who was a bit of a celebrity in his time, came up with an idea that can help us understand why time has felt so strange in the year of the pandemic, ‘la durée’.
Bergson argued that time has two faces. The first face of time is “objective time”: the time of watches, calendars, and train timetables. The second, la durée (“duration”), is “lived time,” the time of our inner subjective experience. This is time felt, lived, and acted. He argues that we mostly don’t pay attention to la durée. We don’t need to — “objective time” is far more useful. But we can get a glimpse of the difference between them when they come apart.The stretch of objective time between 3pm and 4pm is the same as that between 8pm and 9pm. But this does not have to be so with la durée. If the first interval is spent waiting at the dentist’s office and the second at a party, we know the first hour drags and the second just passes by too quickly.
To put this into the perspective of the pandemic, It’s not just that that for many la durée slowed down during lockdown and sped up towards the relatively restriction-free summer.People who were lucky enough to not have to cope with the negative effects of the pandemic might have felt a sense of “novelty” about the first lockdown: the sales of exercise equipment rose sharply, some started learning Welsh, others began making bread. The reason why we often struggle to get into the same mindset now is that the memory of the first lockdown “flavours,” as Bergson would say, the current one. Countless yoga-mats will end up behind cabinets as we recall how fed up we got having to stay inside the first time around.
The pandemic has distorted both our ideas of the past and the future in ways that “objective time” cannot capture. If we now look into the past, we realise that trying to remember exactly how many months ago the Australian bushfires were raging is quite hard but that it was this year and before the pandemic. Similarly, if we look forward to the future, our feelings about stretches of time between now and the future are distorted. When will we go on holiday? How long will it be before we see our loved ones? Without signposts in objective time, we feel that time passes – but because nothing happens it passes much more slowly and we’re stuck in the present.
Let’s all hope as we come to the end of this year that we can start the New Year with a sense of a new beginning.
Merry Christmas.
Stay safe.
Total number of cases worldwide – 76,897,690
Total number of deaths worldwide – 1,696,352
Total number of recovered cases worldwide – 53,935,251
Active cases – 21,266,087
Closed cases – 55,631,603
Information and statistics from:
www.worldometers.info
www.who.int
theconversation.com
www.bloomberg.com/news

Overseas Report Friday 18th December 2020
“Wherever there is a human being, there is an opportunity for a kindness.” – Seneca
As we come towards the last weekend before the Christmas holidays, it may be the right time to look at how Europe is faring, especially as many people will be travelling to countries over the next week or two to visit families.
By the end of week 50 (ending Sunday 13th December 2020), most countries have started or continued to observe a stabilisation or reductions in case notification rates, test positivity and new hospital/ICU admissions. Absolute values of these indicators remain high, even where they are stable or decreasing, suggesting that transmission is still widespread. Furthermore, case rates among older age groups continue to increase in nine countries and death rates in seven countries. Twelve countries continue to observe increases in hospital or ICU admissions and/or occupancy due to Covid-19.
By the end of week 50, (13th December) the infection rates in Europe, based on data collected from 31 countries, was 375 cases per 100,000 people.This figure has remained the same for three consecutive days.
Among 30 countries with high case notification rates (at least 60 per 100 000), sustained increases (for at least seven days) were observed in three countries (Cyprus, Denmark and Estonia). Four countries (Czechia, Lithuania, the Netherlands and Slovakia) had increases of less than seven days duration. Stable or decreasing trends in case rates of 1–28 days’ duration were observed in 23 countries (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the UK.
All of these figures are highly dependent on several factors, one of which is the testing rate. Weekly testing rates for week 50, available for 29 countries, varied from 678 to 13 000 tests per 100 000 population. Luxembourg had the highest testing rate for week 50, followed by Denmark, Cyprus, Malta and the UK.
The 14-day Covid-19 death rate for the EU/EEA and the UK, based on data collected by ECDC from official national sources from 31 countries, was 102.1 (country range: 5.6–268.1) per million population. The rate has been stable for 15 days.
Among 30 countries with high 14-day Covid-19 death rates (at least 10 per million), sustained increases (for at least seven days) were observed in seven countries (Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Hungary and Latvia). Two countries (Lithuania and Norway) had increases of less than seven days duration. Stable or decreasing trends in death rates of 1–21 days’ duration were observed in 21 countries (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechia, Estonia, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the UK).
During the early stages of the Pandemic it was the older age people who were contracting the virus in greater numbers. What has happened more recently is that a younger age group are becoming infected. Take Portugal as an example, and we see that during April and May the number of people infected in the age range up to 24 years was never above 40 people in 100,000. Looking at the latest figures we see that this number is now over 900 cases per 100,000 people. Many who contract the virus at this age are recovering without having to be in hospital.
However there is another issue surrounding the young getting the virus.
While there has been good news in recent weeks about the arrival of vaccines that proved successful in trials, the global pandemic has already fundamentally altered the health, economic, educational, and political landscape of our world. Moreover, it will be a daunting process for countries worldwide to approve, distribute, and administer the vaccines to billions of people.
According to the World Health Organization, as of 15th December, the world had more than 71 million confirmed cases of Covid-19, with more than 1.6 million deaths attributed to the virus. In addition, the World Bank estimates the pandemic will push as many as 115 million additional people into extreme poverty this year, and school closures are affecting hundreds of millions of children. For many of the world’s most vulnerable populations, the growing economic uncertainty of the past several months has resulted in numerous negative impacts on children. The crisis has increased threats of violence against children, the risk of child labour, child marriage and child trafficking. Furthermore, at least a third of the world’s children are unable to access remote learning with so many schools closed to in-person learning.
With more and more schools having to close due to staff and pupils contracting Covid-19 there are many education authorities who are increasingly concerned about the long term impact on the students. In the UK the government education office, Offsted, have carried out nearly 2,000 visits to education and social care providers during the autumn term. Today’s reports reflect on the experiences of leaders working in schools, further education and skills, early years and SEND.
Inspectors heard that repeated absences due to COVID-19 outbreaks have resulted in pupils losing more learning. Many children are thought to be at least 6 months behind where they should be. And for a significant number of pupils, repeated periods of self-isolation have chipped away at the progress they have been able to make since September.
The reports find that in just over half of the schools visited, pupils in bubbles were sent home to self-isolate at some point during the term. More children were sent home in bubbles from secondary schools than primaries. Some schools were extensively affected by COVID-19-related absence. And a few school leaders said that a significant proportion of their pupils had to self-isolate on 2 or 3 separate occasions.
Inspectors found schools were having to provide meaningful remote education under two distinct circumstances: bubble isolation and individual isolation. Many schools were making real progress with remote provision for bubbles, which often included live or pre-recorded online lessons. However, pupils who were self-isolating individually for a fortnight at a time often had a poorer experience. Whole bubbles can more easily be kept up to speed with the planned curriculum while they work from home. But isolating individuals often miss out on the new content being taught to peers in class, instead doing revision at home. For these children, the loss of learning they experienced in the summer is being repeated.
As we look towards the start of a new decade we must all hope that these issues are confronted and that the next generation are not affected long term by the pandemic.
Stay safe.
Total number of cases worldwide – 75,307,233
Total number of deaths worldwide – 1,668,818
Total number of recovered cases worldwide – 52,873,981
Active cases – 20,764,434
Closed cases – 54,542,799
Information and statistics from:
www.who.int
www.worldometers.com
www.ecdc.europa.eu
www.gov.uk

Overseas Report Wednesday 16th December 2020
“There’s not much point to being alive if you don’t do what you can to make life better for someone else, is there?” ― Michael Thomas Ford
As the USA death toll from Covid-19 reaches 300,000 and the first people in the States are given the vaccine, we are going to take a look at what the world is experiencing regarding other forms of disease and disability.
Just released from the World Health Organisation are the statistics showing the top 10 killers in the world. With so much emphasis on Covid-19 for the past 12 months, it is a fact that 7 of the top 10 causes of deaths in the world are from non communicable ailments. Pandemics are rare occurrences and, as such, when there is one that impacts the world’s population, it does tend to get more publicity than those causes of death that have been around for a while.
I am sure it will not surprise too many people to know that heart disease is still the number 1 killer throughout the world. Heart disease has remained the leading cause of death at the global level for the last 20 years. However, it is now killing more people than ever before. The number of deaths from heart disease has increased by more than 2 million since 2000, to nearly 9 million in 2019. Heart disease now represents 16% of total deaths from all causes. More than half of the 2 million additional deaths were in the WHO Western Pacific region. From the European perspective, there was some good news in that the number of deaths from this cause dropped by 15%.
Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia are now among the top 10 causes of death worldwide, ranking 3rd in both the Americas and Europe in 2019. Women are disproportionately affected: globally, 65% of deaths from Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia are women.
Deaths from diabetes increased by 70% globally between 2000 and 2019, with an 80% rise in deaths among males. In the Eastern Mediterranean, deaths from diabetes have more than doubled and represent the greatest percentage increase of all WHO regions. In 2019, pneumonia and other lower respiratory infections were the deadliest group of communicable diseases and together ranked as the fourth leading cause of death. However, compared to 2000, lower respiratory infections were claiming fewer lives than in the past, with the global number of deaths decreasing by nearly half a million. Two of the communicable diseases that have seen drops in the past decade are HIV/Aids and Tuberculosis. Worldwide these two diseases have seen numbers fall. Tuberculosis is also no longer in the global top 10, falling from 7th place in 2000 to thirteenth in 2019, with a 30% reduction in global deaths. Yet, it remains among the top 10 causes of deaths in the African and South-East Asian regions, However, as with a lot of diseases it does depend on how wealthy a country or area is as to whether the authorities can keep the disease under control. Africa saw an increase in tuberculosis mortality after 2000, though this has started to decline in the last few years.
With the advancement of medicines and technology, many countries have in the past 20 years seen their citizens living longer. In 2019, people were living more than 6 years longer than in 2000, with a global average of more than 73 years in 2019 compared to nearly 67 in 2000. But on average, only 5 of those additional years were spent in good health. disability is on the rise. To a large extent, the diseases and health conditions that are causing the most deaths are those that are responsible for the greatest number of healthy life-years lost. Heart disease, diabetes, stroke, lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease were collectively responsible for nearly 100 million additional healthy life-years lost in 2019 compared to 2000.
As societies become more healthy from better living conditions and higher wages we see that this can also have an effect on people’s health. More people are able to own a car with the result of increased injuries. These are another major cause of disability and death: there has been a significant rise in road traffic injuries in the African region since 2000, with an almost 50% increase in both death and healthy life-years lost. Similar but slightly smaller increases (at around 40%) were also observed for the Eastern Mediterranean region. Globally, deaths from road traffic injuries are 75% male. Death and disablement are not all by accident. In the Americas, drug use has emerged as a significant contributor to both disability and death. There was a nearly threefold increase in deaths from drug use disorders in the Americas between 2000 and 2019. This region is also the only one for which drug use disorder is a top 10 contributor to healthy life-years lost due to premature deaths and disability.
As of today, Covid-19 has tragically claimed more than 1.5 million lives. People living with pre-existing health conditions (such as heart disease, diabetes and respiratory conditions) are at higher risk of complications and death due to Covid-19 so whilst the pandemic is still around these different causes of death do have a link.
Although all of these statistics do make somewhat gloomy reading for a Wednesday morning, hopefully it does help us to put this challenging pandemic into some sort of perspective and we hope that, as we learn more about Covid-19, we all follow the guidelines that are provided to keep us and others healthy, and vaccines become more available, we will soon start to see numbers concerning Covid cases and fatalities fall.
Stay Safe.
Total number of cases worldwide – 73,841,836
Total number of deaths worldwide – 1,642,418
Total number of recovered cases worldwide – 51,844,949
Active cases – 20,354,469
Closed cases – 53,487,367
Information and statistics from:
www.who.int
www.worldometers.com

Overseas Report Monday 14th December 2020
“Your success will shine as a light of hope and inspire numbers you cannot total” – Mary Anne Radmacher
In this report we take a look at countries around the world and what their latest situation is regarding the virus, and how countries are handling the second wave of the virus.
Latest figures from the Worldometer website show that yesterday (Saturday) the number of new cases reported across the world was 638,030 and the number of new deaths reported for the previous 24 hours was 10,432. Compared to the previous 24 hour period this was a drop of around 10% in cases reported and around a 20% drop in deaths. Although these figures are encouraging, the trend for both cases and deaths is still on an upward curve albeit levelling out as we get towards the end of the year and the hoped for vaccine being rolled out early in the New Year.
In the USA, the total number of new cases reported was 220,298. The state of California continues to be the hardest hit state with new cases recorded on Saturday at 29,216. Since the beginning of December the number of reported cases has risen dramatically from 16,893 on the 1st December to a high on Friday 11th of 37,114. Many have put this down to the Thanksgiving holiday period which saw many people travelling across the country to visit family. Regretfully deaths from the virus are moving in the same direction, with California’s death toll reaching just under 21,000. Although California has a case rate per 1 million people of 39,355 the state is now rated 40th out of 51 states. The state with the highest cases per 1 million is North Dakota with a rate of 114,938. The state the least affected by the virus is Vermont. Their rate of infection is at 9,016 cases per 1 million and deaths are 152 per 1 million people.
Across the border in Canada, they have reported a total of 454,852 cases since the start of the pandemic. In terms of cases per 1 million people, they are relatively low at a rate of 12,004. The number of people who have died from Covid-19 in Canada is also relatively low at 13,350. In terms of deaths per 1 million people, again, their numbers are fairly low at 352. Putting this into context the country with the highest ratio of deaths to its citizens is Belgium with 1,532. Portugal stands at 536 and the UK at 914.
In South America, the virus has hit some countries worse than others. Brazil has the highest recorded number of cases at 6,880,595. Whilst it has also recorded the highest death toll in South America, they are not the country with the highest death toll per 1 million people. Peru has a figure of 1,103 deaths per 1 million people, and Argentina has the highest case numbers per 1 million people at 32,934.
Across the world the number of people recovering from Covid 19 is increasing daily. However when you compare the number of cases recorded against the number of active cases, it shows that different parts of the world are recovering at different speeds and that some parts of the world are seeing longer recovery periods than others.
In total across the world, out of all the recorded cases, around 28% are still active although different continents are at different stages of recovery. In Europe the statistics show that 49% of the cases recorded are still active, meaning people are still feeling the effects of the virus. Compare this with Asia and South America where only 8 and 8.6% respectively are currently active. What this means is that the cycle of the virus is at a different point in Europe compared to some of the other parts of the world.
Although Asia has far fewer active cases than some other parts of the world. Some of the countries in this region are seeing big increases in new cases.
Japan has recorded 3,030 new Covid-19 cases on Saturday, its highest single-day rise in infections since the pandemic began, the country’s Ministry of Health has reported. Among the new cases, 621 were in the capital Tokyo, the highest number ever recorded in the city. Japan has now recorded 177,999 cases and 2,575 deaths, including 28 on Saturday. The ministry said that 23,990 Covid-19 patients are currently receiving medical care in hospitals, while 578 of them are in critical condition.
South Korea reported 1,030 new cases of Covid-19 on Saturday, its highest number since the pandemic began, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). Over 1,000 of the cases were locally transmitted and 28 were imported. More than 780 cases were in the Seoul Metropolitan area. South Korea has now reported 42,766 cases in total and 580 deaths, including two from Saturday. There are 10,372 people in quarantine in the country, according to KDCA.
Whilst statistics can give us an idea of how things are we must always remember that they are only as good as the people who provide them and there has been a lot of discussion about how accurate many of these figures are. Maybe that is for another day.
In the meantime Stay Safe.
Total number of cases worldwide – 72,367,770
Total number of deaths worldwide – 1,615,640
Total number of recovered cases worldwide – 50,710,977
Active cases – 20,041,153
Closed cases – 52,326,617
Information and statistics (from Sunday 13th December) from:
www.worldometers.info
https://edition.cnn.com
https://www.who.com

Overseas Report Friday 11th December 2020
“There is no stress in the world, only people thinking stressful thoughts and then acting on them.” Dr. Wayne Dyer
With so much doom and gloom around there is lots to be thankful for as we head towards a very different Christmas for us all. All over the world, in spite of the Covid crisis we hear of great stories that lift us all. For this edition of the world report l have picked a few and will continue to show the statistics for the virus.
One aspect of the Covid virus is the shut down of many countries’ manufacturing plants. The Himalayas are now visible from certain parts of India for the first time in “decades”.
The unexpected side effect of reduced air pollution has meant that locals in the northern Indian state of Punjab, along with other surrounding areas, can now enjoy views of the famous mountain range, which is some 160km away.
The clearer views are thought to be courtesy of a dramatic improvement in air quality, made possible by the Covid-19 lockdowns across India.
According to India’s pollution authority, Delhi saw a 44% reduction in PM10 air pollution levels on just the first day of restrictions. Another 84 other cities across India are reporting similar reductions in pollution levels.
India currently has reported over 9.7 million cases of Covid-19 with deaths at just under 142,000. On a daily basis they have reported 13,420 new cases.
Finland was named the world’s happiest country in 2019, and now Visit Finland has launched a virtual travel initiative inviting housebound travellers and those feeling blue in lockdown to Rent a Finn.
The new Rent a Finn social media campaign lets people from around the world experience the Finns’ natural way of life, via livestream sessions and one-on-one chats, where they’ll be sharing some of the daily routines and closely guarded secrets that make everyone in Finland so ‘gosh darn’ cheerful. Some of the reasons that the Finnish way of life is known to boost happiness include: taking time to connect with nature regularly, which boosts happiness hormones; and simply appreciating the small things in their daily lives. Finland has fared well in combating Covid-19 with one of the lowest rates of infection and deaths in the world, although there has been an increase in cases during the second wave.
In New Zealand, where they were one of the first countries to lockdown, they are now through the second wave and trying to get back to some form of normality. Known as a country with a love of the outdoors and extreme sports it is no surprise that The Mayor of Queenstown Lakes, Jim Boult, has celebrated the easing of coronavirus travel restrictions across New Zealand in the most fitting way possible: by bungee jumping!
The Queenstown Lakes Mayor made the leap at Kawarau Bridge Bungy Centre as a celebration, signifying the end of the seven-week lockdown for the region. According to TVNZ, Mr Boult said he was delighted to be marking the reopening of the Kawarau Bridge (often considered the home of bungee jumping) even if he had to jump off a bridge first thing in the morning to do it. With just 2088 cases since the start of the pandemic and 26 deaths, New Zealand are at the forefront of the curve. In fact the latest figures for confirmed cases show that have recorded just 3 new cases on the 9th December 2020.
In a tribute to medical workers, Rio De Janeiro’s iconic Christ the Redeemer statue was illuminated in a doctor’s uniform over the Easter long weekend during the coronavirus pandemic.
The 38-metre-tall statue was lit up wearing hospital scrubs, a white lab coat, and stethoscope offering thanks to healthcare workers on the front line of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The statue bore the word Obrigado (the Portugeuse word for ‘thank you’) and the hashtag “#FiqueEmCasa” (meaning ‘stay at home’) at the bottom of the illumination.
Rio de Janeiro’s Archbishop, Dom Orani Tempesta, also performed a special mass atop Corcovado mountain to honour those risking their lives to help others during the Covid-19 outbreak.
Rio’s iconic statue was also lit up with flags of nations around the world and videos of medics and doctors during the tribute. According to the latest data from the WHO, Brazil has reached 6.73 million cases since the start of the pandemic and has lost over 179,000 of its citizens. The latest figures for new cases shows they had 54,203 in the 24 hour period up to the 9th December 2020.
With no visitors around to enjoy Holland’s famous blooms, Dutch tulip farmers have been inspired to get creative with their flower beds; they’re using them as a way to share uplifting messages with the world.
We’re often told to gaze towards the heavens for comfort, but for those who prefer to seek solace a little closer to home, Holland’s tulip farmers have teamed up to brighten your quarantine.
Dutch Daffodils and Tulips in Holland joined forces to write “see you next year” in large letters alongside a giant heart in their otherwise unappreciated flower beds.
The image was shared to their Facebook page with a message that read: “We headed the tulips a bit earlier to write this message, from our families to yours… We hope that this brightens your day… and we hope to see you next year!” The Netherlands recorded 6,528 new cases of Covid-19 in the paast 24 hours. Since the start of the pandemic they have seen 576,965 cases with deaths at 9,841.
Stay safe.
Total number of cases worldwide – 69,597,651
Total number of deaths worldwide – 1,582,651
Total number of recovered cases worldwide – 48,256,651
Active cases – 19,758,604
Closed cases – 49,839,367
Information and statistics from:
www.worldometers.info
www.reuters.com
https://www.delicious.com.au/

Overseas Report Wednesday 9th December 2020
Two gentlemen to consider today – William Shakespeare from Warwickshire (died in 1616, aged 52) famous for many works of literature, poems and plays, including “The Taming of the Shrew”.
William (Bill) Shakespeare, aged 81, also from Warwickshire – the second patient in the UK to receive the new coronavirus vaccine yesterday – centre stage in “The Taming of the Flu!”
On 8th December the roll out of the new coronavirus vaccine began in the UK. About 70 hospital hubs in Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland are gearing up to give the Pfizer/BioNTech jab.
As we move closer to the Christmas holiday period we are hearing more and more from airlines and their call to governments across the world to lift the quarantine restrictions imposed on travellers in most countries. The latest call comes from the European Travel Commission in response to guidance from the European Centre for Disease Control (ECDC) and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).The document confirms that air travellers account for less than 1% of all detected cases of the virus and do not increase the rate of transmission.
It also states that imported cases of Covid-19 account for a “very small proportion” of all detected cases and are “unlikely to significantly increase” the rate of transmission.
As we know here in the Algarve, the economy of the region depends so much on visitors throughout the year and it is estimated that in 2020 the Algarve has lost almost 90% of its annual tourist revenue. The ETC argues that the European tourism sector is at a “precipice” and cannot survive another round of “unco-ordinated ineffective” restrictions.
ETC president Luís Araujo said: “The importance of restarting mobility in Europe cannot be understated in terms of the role it will play in the recovery of tourism and the wider European economy over the coming months.
“Millions of livelihoods depending on the tourism sector are on the brink of collapse now and we simply cannot afford wasting more time on these unjustified restrictions”.
In the UK, travellers will be able to cut the length of quarantine by half, but at a price. Travellers who arrive in England from high-risk countries will soon be able to reduce their quarantine period by more than half if they pay for a Covid test after five days – and of course, if that test is negative. The new system will begin on 15th December and will cost between £65 and £120 per person. The travel industry welcomed the policy but described it as long overdue. The Transport Secretary said it would allow people to see loved ones and give a boost to business.
In Brazil, the spread of the virus has moved in a different way to many other countries. From a fairly low start in March they have seen a steady increase in cases right through with no let up like other countries and they continue to show increases with over 6.6 million cases since the start and almost 177,000 deaths. On a daily basis they are recording over 26,000 new cases.
There seems to be no let up for the USA with the number of new cases being reported each day over 175,000 and deaths reported as still above 1000 in a 24 hour period. Since the start of the pandemic, the USA has lost over 290,000 of its citizens to the virus and has reported over 15 million cases.
One of the traditional activities for children has always been the visit to Santa Claus. This year things will be very different throughout the world with many countries taking to the internet with virtual visits from Santa. Others are offering Zoom meetings with children.
In New York the famous store Macy’s is moving Santa online with a virtual experience that includes walks through Santa’s village and workshop with interactive games, ending with a chance to “meet” the man himself.
Chatbooks’ experience will include a 10-minute Zoom chat with Kris Kringle, where kids can discuss all things Christmas related, including whether they’re on the “nice list” or what they’re wishing for on Christmas Day. Parents can choose one of three Santas that will be available to chat and book them through an online form. At the end of the chat, you’ll also get a photo to remember the occasion. The best part? It’s free.
Stay safe.
Total number of cases worldwide – 68.266,536
Total number of deaths worldwide – 1,556,925
Total number of recovered cases worldwide – 47,256,030
Active cases – 19,453,581
Closed cases – 48,812,995
Information and statistics from:
www.ecdc.europa.eu
www.bbc.com/news
www.worldometers.info

Overseas Report Monday 7th December 2020
“Hope is like the sun, which, as we journey toward it, casts the shadow of our burden behind us.” Samuel Smiles
This weekend in the UK was a momentous occasion for many thousands of football supporters. For the first time since March, football and rugby fans were allowed into their clubs’ stadium to support their team. A limited number of just 2000 were allowed at each venue, where the tier level for their particular area was not of the highest level, but it is hoped that this is the start of some sort of normality.
For months sports fans have been questioning the merit of the rule which allows people to go into shopping centres but not into sports stadiums. But, as clubs in certain areas of England prepare to open their turnstiles for the first time in almost nine months, a BBC Sport poll suggests fans are divided over whether they should be allowed to return before a Covid-19 vaccine is rolled out. In a Savanta ComRes poll of 2,100 football fans, 52% said they should be allowed to return to watch matches in person before a vaccine is available, while 45% said they should not.
At the same time in the UK, an area in one city where the tier level is at its highest, Nottingham, opened their Christmas market in the city centre and saw thousands of people converge on the city square.With very little sign of social distancing it was not surprising that, after just one day the city council, made the decision to shut down the market. Across the UK cases are slowly receding and from a peak in November of 34,000 cases the figures are now around 15,000 in the last 24 hours.
Meanwhile across the world in Australia a full house crowd of 40,000 people watched the Australian cricket team take on India at the Sydney cricket ground. This is because the whole country have reported just 7 new cases of Covid-19 in the last 24 hours.
With much of sport being played behind closed doors in many countries, there are still issues surrounding the players catching the virus. In Capetown, South Africa, the England cricket team are currently touring but have had to abandon one of their matches due to hotel staff, where they are staying in isolation, testing positive. Currently South Africa is going through a resurgence of the virus with a so called ‘second wave’. In the past 24 hours the country has reported 4,932 new cases and this is the highest daily total since the peak in July.
Looking closer to home in Europe, many EU/EEA countries have started to observe a stabilisation or reductions in case notification rates. This may be evidence that some countries may have peaked.
It could be an effect of strict non-pharmaceutical interventions implemented in those countries. However, we are still in the midst of this pandemic, and the case notification rates remain generally high. A combination of non-pharmaceutical interventions adapted to the local epidemiological situation, accompanied by clear, targeted communication messages to the public, remain the fundamental elements of the public health approach to controlling transmission.
Among the 32 countries reporting increases (for at least seven days) were five countries (Croatia, Estonia, Finland, Latvia and Lithuania). Two countries (Cyprus and Denmark) had increases of less than seven days’ duration. Stable or decreasing trends in case rates of 1–24 days duration were observed in 23 countries including Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, and Italy. Among 30 countries with high case notification rates (at least 60 per 100 000), were Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the UK.
Of the 24 countries in which weekly test positivity was high (at least 3%), four countries (Croatia, Latvia, Lithuania and Sweden) had positivity that had increased compared to the previous week. Test positivity remained stable or had decreased in 20 countries (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechia, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and the UK)
With the run up to the Christmas holidays, countries across the world are implementing actions to make sure the virus remains under control, while at the same time allowing citizens to meet with family and friends over Christmas.
Some, like Italy, have made it illegal to move around the country during the Christmas period. The Italian government on Wednesday night separately approved a decree law prohibiting non-essential travel between regions from December 21st-January 7th.
The rules will be even stricter on Christmas Day itself, with a ban on travelling between towns and communes in place on December 25-26th and on New Year’s Day, as the government seeks to avoid a third wave of coronavirus infections being triggered by socialising over the festive period.
“From December 21st 2020 to January 6th 2021, travel between different regions (including those to or from the autonomous provinces of Trento and Bolzano) will be prohibited, with the exception of travel for proven work reasons, situations of necessity or health reasons,”.
This has not gone down well with the citizens of Italy according to The Guardian newspaper of the UK. According to the newspaper- “The Italian government’s move to ban people travelling around the country during the Christmas period has been described as a “slap in the face” to families and their deeply rooted traditions.”“Christmas is very important for Italians,” Riccardo Ciogli said outside Gatsby Cafe in Rome’s Esquilino district. “This is what we do – we get together with family, with friends, and we eat.” His friend Erica Salvatore, who works at the nearby federation of architects, is from the southern region of Molise, where she usually spends Christmas with her parents added “I will go and see them for a few days this weekend but I don’t know if I’ll be able to travel before 20 December,” she said. “In Italy our traditions are very important, you can’t just take them away.”
Time will tell if they decide to follow the rules.
Stay safe.
Total number of cases worldwide – 67,147,969
Total number of deaths worldwide – 1,538,689
Total number of recovered cases worldwide – 46,453,353
Active cases – 19,155,927
Closed cases – 47,992,042
Information and statistics from:
www.ecdc.europa.eu
www.bbc.com/news
www.worldometers.info