Category: Breaking News

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Anti-lockdown protests across Australia as Covid cases surge to record levels in Sydney

Anti-lockdown protesters have marched in major Australian cities, as Covid cases spiked to record numbers in Sydney and authorities warned of a “continuing and growing problem”. Thousands of angry, unmasked people marched through the Sydney central business district on Saturday afternoon demanding an end to the city’s lockdown, which is entering its fifth week. After protesters were dispersed, the New South Wales police minister, David Elliott, announced the formation of a strike force to identify each of the 3,500 protesters at the “super spreader” event. Elliott said 57 people were arrested and several police officers had been assaulted. “If we don’t see a [Covid] spike in the areas these protesters came from in the next week I’ll be very, very surprised,” Elliott said. “It was just a whole lot of halfwits.” Demonstrators broke through barriers in the Sydney CBD and threw plastic bottles at police. Similar scenes unfolded in Melbourne and Adelaide, which are both in lockdown, and Brisbane, which is not. As demonstrators were gathering in Sydney, the New South Wales health minister, Brad Hazzard, revealed a record number of new coronavirus cases had been detected – 163 in the previous 24 hours – and pleaded with people to stay at home. “We really need our community, particularly in south-western and western Sydney, to stay at home, to hear the message and stay at home,” Hazzard said. The NSW police said officers from across central metropolitan region, assisted by specialist resources, were deployed in response to the unauthorised Sydney protest. “The NSW police force recognises and supports the rights of individuals and groups to exercise their rights of free speech and peaceful assembly, however, today’s protest is in breach of the current Covid-19 public health orders,” it said. “The priority for NSW police is always the safety of the wider community.” Hazzard condemned the planned protests as “really silly” on Saturday morning. “We live in a democracy and normally I am certainly one who supports people’s rights to protest … but at the present time we’ve got cases going through the roof and we have people thinking that’s OK to get out there and possibly be close to each other at a demonstration.” NSW police deputy commissioner Gary Worboys said police wanted to work with the organisers to make sure people were complying with public health orders and that it did not turn into a “disastrous” mass spreading event. In Melbourne, thousands of protesters turned out in the central business district chanting “freedom”.An AAP photographer on scene described the rally as initially “eerie” with the crowd maskless and verbally aggressive, but said the atmosphere later mellowed. Some protesters lit flares as they gathered outside Victoria’s Parliament House. Protesters held banners, including one that read: “This is not about a virus it’s about total government control of the people.” The protest was brought to a violent end by police. An AAP photographer wearing visible press accreditation was pepper sprayed as police cleared the rally, as were other photographers.

The Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, had labelled the idea of protesting against the lockdown as “ridiculous”.

“Protest against this virus by staying at home, following the rules and getting out of lockdown,” he said. Victoria recorded 12 new locally acquired Covid-19 infections on Saturday, 10 of which were in quarantine throughout their entire infectious period. All infections are linked to current outbreaks. Victoria has been in lockdown since 16 July. A car rally is also planned for locked-down Adelaide, the state capital of South Australia, with police warning they will make arrests over unlawful activity. On Saturday, the South Australian premier, Steven Marshall, has reported one new case of Covid-19, linked to the Tenafeate winery cluster. The state is in the middle of a seven-day lockdown, which Marshall says is on track to be lifted on Tuesday. The slow rate of Australia’s Covid vaccine rollout has been heavily criticised, with only 12.4% of the population fully vaccinated so far. Australia’s deputy chief medical officer, Michael Kidd, said the protests were putting lives at risk. “I’m very concerned if people are not following those restrictions … When that happens, there is the risk that we’ll get spread of Covid-19,” he said on Saturday. “This is even more imperative during this outbreak with the Delta variant than it was during the times last year when we saw similar protests.”

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Police, health measures protesters clash in Paris

https://youtu.be/WPgipKxq4d0

PARIS, July 24 (Reuters) – French anti-riot police fired teargas on Saturday as clashes erupted during protests in central Paris against COVID-19 restrictions and a vaccination campaign, television reported. Police sought to push back demonstrators near the capital’s Gare Saint-Lazare railway station after protesters had knocked over a police motorbike ridden by two officers, television pictures showed. Images showed a heavy police presence on the capital’s streets. Scuffles between police and demonstrators also broke out the Champs-Elysees thoroughfare, where teargas was fired and traffic was halted, the pictures showed. At another protest called by far-right politicians in west Paris, demonstrators opposed to anti-coronavirus measures carried banners reading “Stop the dictatorship”. Across France, protests were planned in cities including Marseille, Montpellier, Nantes and Toulouse. An official with France’s interior ministry said 161,000 people had demonstrated across the country on Saturday, up from 114,000 a week earlier.French lawmakers are due to vote this weekend on a bill drafted by the government aimed at setting up a health pass and mandatory vaccination for health workers.

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Israel, waning transmission protection… I urge you to read every word of this story

As Israel struggles with a new surge of coronavirus cases, its health ministry reported on Thursday that the effectiveness of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine protection against infection by the coronavirus may have diminished significantly compared with this winter and early spring. Analyzing the government’s national health statistics, researchers estimated that the Pfizer shot was just 39 percent effective against preventing infection in the country in late June and early July, compared with 95 percent from January to early April. In both time periods, however, the shot was more than 90 percent effective in preventing severe disease. Israeli scientists cautioned that the new study is much smaller than the first and that it measured cases in a narrower window of time. As a result, a much larger range of uncertainties flank their estimates, which could also be skewed by a variety of other factors. Dr. Ran Balicer, the chairman of Israel’s Covid-19 National Expert Advisory Panel, said that the challenges of making accurate estimates of vaccine effectiveness were “immense.” He said that more careful analysis of the raw data was needed to understand what is going on.“I think that data should be taken very cautiously because of small numbers,” said Eran Segal, a biologist at the Weizmann Institute of Science who is a consultant to the Israeli government on vaccines. Nevertheless, the new estimates are raising concern both in Israel and elsewhere, including the United States, that the vaccine might be losing some of its effectiveness. Possible reasons include the rise of the highly contagious Delta variant or a waning of protection from the shots over time. Israel launched an aggressive campaign with the Pfizer vaccine in January and the country has achieved one of the highest vaccination rates in the world, with 58 percent of the population fully vaccinated. At the start of the campaign, government researchers began estimating how much the shot reduced people’s risk of getting Covid-19.They published their results in May, based on records from Jan. 24 to April 3: They estimated that the vaccine was 95 percent effective in preventing infection from the coronavirus in the country. In other words, the risk of getting Covid-19 was nearly 100 percent reduced in vaccinated people compared to unvaccinated ones. The researchers also estimated that the vaccine was 97.5 percent effective against severe disease.From a peak of over 8,600 cases a day in January, cases plummeted in the following months until only a few dozen people were testing positive on a daily basis across Israel. The vaccine most likely played a part in that drop, along with the tight restrictions that the government imposed on travel and meetings.Israel began relaxing its restrictions in the spring. In late June, the cases surged again. Now, over a thousand people are testing positive each day, leading Israel to restore some restrictions this week.Updated July 23, 2021, 2:47 p.m. ETSome of the people that tested positive for the coronavirus in the new surge were fully vaccinated. Epidemiologists had expected such breakthrough infections, as they do with all vaccines. Researchers at the Ministry of Health took another look at the effectiveness of the vaccine, limiting their analysis to the surge from June 6 to July 3. In that period, they estimated, the effectiveness of the vaccine at preventing infections was down to 64 percent. More recently, they ran another analysis. This time, they looked at cases between June 20 and July 17. In that period, they estimated, the vaccine’s effectiveness was even lower: just 39 percent against infection. Still, they estimated that the vaccine’s effectiveness against serious disease remained high, at 91.4 percent. If a vaccine has an effectiveness of 39 percent that does not mean that 61 percent of people who got vaccinated were infected by the coronavirus. Instead, it means the risk of getting infected is 39 percent less among vaccinated people compared to unvaccinated. So even at that lower percentage, the data shows that vaccinated people have significantly less risk of getting infected than unvaccinated people.The small number of people in the latest study means that the true effectiveness might be lower or higher. Making the numbers even more uncertain is the fact that the new surge has not yet spread evenly across the whole country. Travelers who have picked up the highly contagious Delta variant have brought it back to neighborhoods where vaccination rates are relatively high. Understand the State of Vaccine Mandates in the U.S. The new outbreaks have yet to swamp communities of Orthodox Jews or Arab Israelis, where vaccination rates are lower. That imbalance may make the vaccine seem less effective than it really is. Also, the ages of people vaccinated vary significantly during the different time periods studied. For example, the people who got their vaccines in January were different than those who got them in April in one major respect: They were over 60. If more people who got vaccinated in January are now getting infected, it may not have to do with the vaccine itself, but with their advanced age — or some other factor that researchers have yet to take into consideration. Still, the new estimates have prompted some researchers to ponder what might be happening to the vaccines. The Delta variant grew more common in Israel in June, raising the possibility that it might be good at evading the vaccine. In Britain, where Delta began surging earlier in the year, researchers estimated the effectiveness of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine against the variant, based on a review of everyone in the United Kingdom who got vaccinated up till May 16. On Wednesday, they reported in the New England Journal of Medicine that it is 88 percent effective against symptomatic Covid-19 .Another possibility is that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is gradually becoming less potent. The Ministry of Health researchers found that people who were inoculated in January were having breakthrough infections at a greater rate than people vaccinated in April. If the vaccine is indeed waning after six months, the implications can be enormous. It can influence the Israeli government’s current deliberations about whether to give people a third shot. Dr. Segal says that if the vaccines are indeed losing some of their potency, then it might be wise to roll out boosters to fight the Delta-driven outbreak.“If a third booster is safe and if it seems that it really would give a benefit, I think this is something we should definitely do as quickly as possible,” he said.Dr. Balicer, who is also the chief innovation officer at Clalit Health Services, said that he and his colleagues are working on their own study on the effectiveness of the vaccine in Israel, using Clalit’s health care records to take into account such confounding factors.“I think there is definitely some waning, but not as much as hypothesized based on the crude data, and it’s not just waning to blame,” Dr. Balicer said. “We are now trying to figure it out in a clean way.”

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tokyo-olympics-covid-cases-top-100-before-opening

(Bloomberg) — Japan’s Olympics organizers reported a record number of new daily coronavirus infections linked to the Games, including three athletes, bringing the total to 110 just hours before the opening ceremony is scheduled to start in a nearly empty stadium in Tokyo. Nineteen new Covid-19 cases connected to the event were reported on Friday, the highest daily figure since organizers start

Earlier this month, U.S. tennis star Coco Gauff withdrew from the Games because she contracted Covid-19, and two South African footballers tested positive at the athletes’ village. Toyota Motor Corp. has said it won’t air television advertisements in Japan during the Olympics and its president won’t attend the opening ceremony as concerns about holding the Games amid the pandemic mount. The Games, which will be the first to be held without spectators, have triggered fierce public opposition in Japan, where vaccination rates lag other developed countries. Tokyo is grappling with a surge in coronavirus cases, which prompted the government to declare a fourth state of emergency in the capital earlier this month. Tokyo reported 1,359 new daily infections on Friday, surpassing 1,000.
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Spain may administer third vaccine dose – minister

Spanish Health Minister Carolina Darias stated on Friday that “everything indicates” the authorities will need to administer a third “booster” dose of vaccines against COVID-19 to combat the further spread of the disease in the future. Darias told Onda Cero her department is still discussing the move and when it will start distributing additional shots. She added healthcare workers will use the vaccines made by Moderna Inc., and Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE as booster doses. Darias also noted the Spaniards might need to vaccinate every year and urged them to “keep on” getting jabs until 100% of the population is inoculated, if possible. Earlier this month, the Spanish Health Ministry described the health situation in the country as “very delicate.” Meanwhile, Darias noted the number of infections from COVID-19 registered daily has been declining in the past few days. The head of Pfizer said that people will “likely” need a third dose of his company’s COVID-19 vaccine — among the priciest on the market — within a year of being fully vaccinated. CEO Albert Bourla also said annual vaccinations against the coronavirus may well be required. “We need to see what would be the sequence, and for how often we need to do that, that remains to be seen,” Bourla told CNBC in an interview recorded on April 1. “A likely scenario is that there will be likely a need for a third dose, somewhere between six and 12 months and then from there, there will be an annual revaccination, but all of that needs to be confirmed,” he said, adding that variants will play a “key role.” “It is extremely important to suppress the pool of people that can be susceptible to the virus,” he said. Researchers currently don’t know how long vaccines provide protection against the coronavirus. Researchers say more data is needed to determine whether protection lasts after six months.

David Kessler, the head of US President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 response team, warned a congressional committee on Thursday that Americans should expect to receive booster shots to defend against coronavirus variants.

“We don’t know everything at this moment,” he told the House Coronavirus Crisis Subcommittee. “We are studying the durability of the antibody response. “It seems strong but there is some waning of that and no doubt the variants challenge,” he said. “I think for planning purposes, planning purposes only, I think we should expect that we may have to boost.” The Pfizer vaccine, developed in partnership with German firm BioNTech, currently plays a leading role in American and European vaccination campaigns. The pharmaceutical giant announced in February that it was testing a third dose of its vaccine to better combat the emerging variants. The head of Pfizer said the company’s vaccine is no more expensive than the cost of a meal and will not be sold to poor countries for a profit. The head of the US-based company defended the cost of the jabs, which he said are saving lives and can help countries emerge from the pandemic. “Vaccines are very expensive,” Mr Bourla said in an interview with several media. “They save human lives, they allow economies to reopen, but we sell them at the price of a meal,” he said in the interview with Les Echos in France, Germany’s Handelsblatt, Italy’s Corriere Della Sera and El Mundo in Spain. Developed jointly with Germany-based BioNTech, the Pfizer vaccine is, along with Moderna, the vaccine that has cost the European Union the most, according to data released several months ago by a member of the Belgian government.

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Covid-19 in France: ‘Health pass’ to be required for cinemas, bars, restaurants

The French government adjusted its new plan to fight Covid-19 slashing planned fines and postponing them to an unspecified date, spokesman Gabriel Attal said. The measures, which include requiring a health pass in a wide array of venues from the start of August and making vaccination mandatory for health workers, will still account for some of the toughest in Europe.

Hundreds of people protested in Paris on Wednesday against the introduction of a health pass for some activities and against compulsory vaccinations for health workers as the government seeks to curb a fourth wave of COVID-19 infections in France. From Wednesday visitors heading to museums, cinemas or swimming pools in France will be denied entry if they cannot produce the health pass showing that they have been vaccinated against COVID-19 or have had a recent negative test. Some of the protesters waved banners that read “Freedom to choose” and “Hands off my natural immunity!” “They want to force us to be vaccinated at any price. No, no, no”, Nathalie Labedade, a care home worker, told Reuters. The health pass, previously only required for large-scale festivals or to go clubbing, will also be needed from the start of August to enter restaurants and bars and for long-distance train and plane journeys. At the Louvre museum in Paris, the head of security, Servane de Landsheer, said the first morning of health pass checks had gone well, with most visitors having the document and those who did not agreeing to get a quick COVID test. “I was really angry… I had no idea,” said Nelly Breton, 51, after being turned away from the Louvre as not enough time had elapsed since her vaccination for her pass to become valid. “But then I calmed down and understood there were health reasons,” she said, adding that she would now look for a pharmacy to get a rapid COVID test.

With the highly contagious Delta variant now dominant in France, tougher measures are essential and new lockdowns cannot be ruled out, Prime Minister Jean Castex told TF1 television, adding that vaccination was the only way out of the crisis.

The introduction of the health pass – a QR code on your smartphone or on a piece of paper – is part of a wide-ranging bill which parliament will vote on this week. The bill introduces some of the toughest anti-COVID measures in Europe, including mandatory vaccination for health workers and 10 days of self-isolation for those who test positive. The sharp rise in infections makes the draft law necessary, the government says. Health Minister Olivier Veran said some 21,000 new COVID cases had been registered in the past 24 hours, up from around 4,000 new cases a day at the start of July. The new health pass, in particular, has proved hugely contentious. More than 100,000 people joined rallies across France last weekend against a pass they say infringes their liberties. More protests are expected in the coming days. Police sources fear the rallies could escalate into the kind of large-scale protests staged by the anti-government ‘yellow vest’ movement, which caused major disruption for about two years before being curbed by the COVID lockdowns. Holders of the health pass can remove their face masks once indoors – in a loosening of precautions criticised by epidemiologists – unless local authorities or the business itself decide otherwise. Businesses which fail to check that their clients have the health pass could eventually face fines totaling thousands of euros, but the government said there would be a grace period, to give everyone time to adapt to the new system. Regional prefects will be able to take further measures on a case-by-case basis, such as requiring businesses to shut earlier than usual or imposing the wearing of face masks outdoors – as has happened in recent days in areas with surging infections.

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Italy extends COVID state of emergency until end of 2021

The Italian government has signed off on an extension to the country’s state of emergency, keeping it in place until at the end of 2021. Here’s what that means in practice.
With a return to a steadily rising rate of coronavirus cases after weeks of decline, Italy has prolonged the national state of emergency once more. The latest extension was included in a new decree announced on Thursday evening, which also contains new risk parameters for Italy’s regions and amendments to the ‘green pass’ scheme. The state of emergency has already been in place for 18 months. It was first introduced on January 31st 2020, shortly after the first cases of coronavirus were detected in tourists visiting Rome. Initially, it had a timescale of six months but it has been rolled over several times in accordance with the continuing emergency Covid-19 situation. Known as the stato di emergenza in Italian, the declaration of emergency status gives moe power to the government and regional authorities to make changes rapidly in response to a constantly changing health situation. It’s not the same thing as an emergency decree, or DPCM (Decreto del Presidente del Consiglio dei Ministri, legislation issued directly by the prime minister) but rather the condition needed for these emergency laws to be passed. The Council of Ministers (Italy’s government cabinet), on the proposal of the Prime Minister, has the power to enforce it in agreement with the governors and presidents of autonomous provinces. Making face masks mandatory, for example, would have normally required a considerable parliamentary process. The state of emergency has a maximum time limit of validity until January 2022 – the date that marks the two-year limit permitted for this measure Italian law states that a national state of emergency cannot be declared for more than 12 months in one go, and can only be extended for a maximum of 12 months beyond that, making two years in total. So far, the state of emergency has been extended by between two and six months each time.Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi continues to favour a more cautious approach to easing restrictions, drawing on the advice of the Covid-19 emergency commission and scientific advisory panel (the Comitato tecnico scientifico or CTS) – which was set up under the state of emergency rules early on in the pandemic.
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CoronaVit Supplements – 8 Booster Vitamins, Minerals and Herbs

The CoronaVit supplement has 8 booster vitamins, minerals and herbs in one easy to swallow capsule.

They contain:

  • Vitamin D3 (as cholecalciferol)
  • Vitamin K2 MK7 (as menaquinone)
  • Zinc (as citrate)
  • Ceylon Cinnamon (Cinnamomum verum)
  • Green Tea (Camellia sinensis) (leaf)
  • Ginger (Zingiber ocinale) (root)
  • Tumeric Extract (Curcuma longa) (root)
  • Omega 3 DHA (Docosahexaenoic acid) from microalgea

To buy each one of these supplements in a quality product separately, would cost hundreds and hundreds of dollars. That is if you could even find them in the right form.

Vitamin D3* – The largest observational study of SARS-CoV-2 infection and dietary supplement use found that taking health supplements with multivitamins, Omega-3, probiotics, or Vitamin-D, may help reduce the risk of testing positive for the COVID-19 coronavirus among women – but not in men. “There is good evidence that if you have a low vitamin-D level, you have more of a propensity to get infected when there are infections around,” says Dr Fauci. The research also found that taking vitamin C, zinc, or garlic supplements did not increase immunity to infection. Another study found that having healthy levels of Vitamin-D could reduce the risk for adverse clinical outcomes in patients with COVID-19 infection. Vitamin-D deficiency has also been linked to decreased lung function and an increased risk of respiratory diseases. What this tells us is that healthy levels of Vitamin-D, which is known to be important for immune system health, might increase immunity and could protect against respiratory illnesses like COVID-19.

Vitamin K2 MK7* – A paper published in Biocatalysis and Agricultural Biotechnology explained the association between K2 and recovery rates in individuals with COVID-19. A press release explains that vitamin K2 menaquinone-7 (MK-7 is necessary for the activation of matrix Gla protein (MGP), a protein that inhibits the calcification of arteries. That calcification begins in elastin fibers, which keep tissues resilient. Elastin is present in lung tissue, where active MGP is expressed, indicating the importance of vitamin K2 MK-7. The researchers concluded: “MK-7 deficiency can be a risk factor for increasing the severity of the COVID-19 disease, and SARS-CoV-2 infected patients with co-morbid conditions tend to develop acute manifestations.” “Evidence continues to mount that MK-7’s mechanism of action has a considerable impact on protecting human health,” said NattoPharma Chief Medical Officer Dr. Hogne Vik in the press release. “Of course, a dietary supplement is NOT a cure or a treatment, but over time, MK-7 can fortify the body’s resilience to age-related conditions and viral infection. This is the second study that associates K2 status with outcomes in COVID-19 patients. More research in this area is warranted and necessary.”

Zinc* – Although the observational study mentioned above found that taking vitamin C, zinc, or garlic supplements was not associated with a lower risk of testing positive for the Sars-Cov-2 coronavirus in women, it is a well-known fact that taking a zinc supplement can help fight other cold viruses, such as the rhinovirus. Zinc can also lessen the symptoms of colds, such as nasal congestion, runny noses, sore throat, and cough and can improve immune system health by helping the body produce and activate T-lymphocyte immune cells. Zinc is an essential mineral that keeps the immune system strong, helps heal wounds, supports normal growth, and is a popular treatment for the common cold. You may be at risk for zinc deficiency if you’re a strict vegetarian, drink alcohol, or have a poor diet.

Ceylon Cinnamon* – “Cinnamon has been used as a medicine for thousands of years in traditional medical practices and its anti-inflammatory effects are well documented,” says Lucas and colleagues. “The inhibition of TLR4 dimerization, in particular, is an important anti-inflammatory mechanism.” Cinnamon is loaded with powerful antioxidants, such as polyphenols. In a study that compared the antioxidant activity of 26 spices, cinnamon wound up as the clear winner, even outranking “superfoods” like garlic and oregano. In fact, it is so powerful that cinnamon can be used as a natural food preservative. Cinnamaldehyde, one of the main active components of cinnamon, may help fight various kinds of infections.

Polyphenols (Green Tea)* – Polyphenols are found in foods such as apples, chocolate, red wine, olive oil, and turmeric. The highest levels of Polyphenols are in Green Tea. Like Omega-3 fatty acids, they help reduce inflammation, which is why researchers believe polyphenols may provide a protective effect against COVID-19 disease. In a recent study, researchers found that a high intake of polyphenols may have a protective effect and prevent disease progression in patients with COVID-19 and may help protect the body from the harmful effects of the disease. Green tea is a type of tea made solely from the leaves of Camellia sinensis that has undergone minimal oxidation during processing. Green tea originated in China and has now become associated with many cultures in Asia from Japan to the Middle East. Recently, it has become more widespread in the West, where black tea is traditionally consumed. Green tea is particularly rich in polyphenolic compounds and catechins. Catechin derivatives have shown pronounced antiviral activity, observed for derivatives carrying moderate chain length (7–9 carbons). The derivatives exerted inhibitory effects for all six influenza sub-types tested including three major types of currently circulating human influenza viruses (A/H1N1, A/H3N2, and B type), H2N2 and H9N2 avian influenza virus. The compounds strongly inhibited adsorption of the viruses on red blood cell. The possible disease preventive properties of green tea are mainly due to the presence of polyphenols like epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), epicatechin, epicatechin-3-gallate, and epigallocatechin (EGC). These polyphenols comprise about one-third of the weight of the dried leaf of the plant. These catechins have been reported to possess diverse pharmacological properties, including antioxidative, anti-inflammatory, anticarcinogenic, antimutagenic and antimicrobial effects. Green tea may have the ability to enhance humoral and cell-mediated immunity and therefore, it could be useful for preventing influenza by inhibiting flu replication, using potentially direct virucidal effect.

Ginger* – Ginger products, such as elixirs, teas, lozenges and powders are popular natural remedies — and for good reason. Ginger has been shown to have impressive antiviral activity thanks to its high concentration of potent plant compounds. Test-tube research demonstrates that ginger powder has antiviral effects against avian influenza, RSV, and feline calicivirus (FCV), which is comparable to human norovirus. Additionally, specific compounds in ginger, such as gingerols and zingerone, have been found to possibly inhibit viral replication and could prevent viruses from entering host cells.

Tumeric* – Turmeric is a bright orange/yellow-colored root, which contains the active component curcumin. This root has potent anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. Curcumin works by blocking a key compound involved in the inflammatory response, which means it could not only help protect the immune system, but might also help stimulate the recovery process. Curcumin’s antioxidant properties could help it neutralize free radicals and might even boost the activity of your body’s own antioxidant enzymes.

Omega-3 DHA* – Omega-3 is found in fish oil, flax seeds, algae and other food sources such as nuts. One of the most harmful effects of COVID-19 is the cytokine storm that causes inflammation. Omega-3 may decrease inflammation and could improve immune system health. Omega 3 might improve cardiovascular health, joint health, brain function, mental health, and could have many other benefits. In December 2020, nutrition experts from China advised that the intake of omega-3 could reduce fatality rates in severe COVID-19 patients. American researchers also published evidence showing that higher omega-3 blood levels may reduce the risk for death from COVID-19 infection. Other studies have also found that very long-chain omega 3 (EPA and DHA) have anti-inflammatory properties that may help reduce morbidity and mortality from COVID-19 infection.

*DISCLAIMER: No supplement will cure or prevent disease. Only physical or social distancing, wearing masks, vaccines and proper hygiene practices can protect you from COVID-19. The information contained on this website is presented to educate people. Nothing contained on this website should be construed nor is intended to be used for medical diagnosis or treatment. It should not be used in place of the advice of your physician or another qualified healthcare provider. Should you have any healthcare-related questions, please promptly call or see your physician or another qualified healthcare provider. Always consult with your physician or other qualified healthcare providers before embarking on a new treatment, diet, or fitness program. Information provided about this supplement on this website is for reference only and subject to change, or may be out-of-date. Actual products may vary. You should not rely on such information, and it is not a substitute for advice from a medical professional. Products and information cannot be used to treat, diagnose, cure or prevent any health condition. Always read labels and instructions before using any product. We assume no liability for inaccuracies or missing information. This does not affect your statutory rights.

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Israel Reports COVID Vaccine Effectiveness Against Infection Down to 40%

The Health Ministry said Thursday that the effectiveness of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine in preventing infection and mild symptoms has dropped to 40 percent, according to data collected over the past month as the delta variant spreads in Israel. Notably, the data might be skewed because a significant portion of the coronavirus tests in Israel were conducted in hot spots and among the elderly, while a small number of tests was carried out among the young and vaccinated population. One medical expert that is consulting the Health Ministry said that the data is still too distorted to make a reliable assessment of the effectiveness of the vaccine in preventing infection and mild symptoms. Earlier Thursday, the country’s coronavirus cabinet approved reinstating restrictions, which, pending government approval, will go into effect next Thursday. Events with over 100 participants – both indoors and outdoors – will only be allowed to include people who have been vaccinated, have recovered, or have a negative test result, if they are age 12 or older.

People will also be required to present a vaccination certificate at cultural or sports events, gyms, restaurants, conferences, tourist attractions, and houses of worship. Furthermore, beginning on August 8, unvaccinated people will have to pay for their own coronavirus tests, except for those who cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons. Those attending weddings and parties will have to present proof of immunity, even if they are younger than 12.

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CDC Sees ‘Pivotal Moment’

(Bloomberg) — The U.S. is “at another pivotal moment in this pandemic,” with Covid-19 cases once again climbing and beds at some hospitals filling up, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky said. In response to surging caseloads and hospitalizations, Texas is dispatching people to Walmarts around the state to encourage younger people to get vaccinations inside. German Chancellor Angela Merkel sounded the alarm on surging cases tied to the delta variant, saying numbers could double within two weeks. In the U.K., vaccine certificates could be required at business conferences, music festivals and sports events in England from September. China pushed back against the World Health Organization’s call for another probe into the coronavirus’s origins that includes examining whether it leaked from a lab. Global Tracker: Cases top 192.2 million; deaths exceed 4.1 million. Vaccine Tracker: More than 3.71 billion doses administered ‘Ridiculous’: Vaccine myths cripple U.S. uptake as delta surges. Study shows costs of vaccine inequity for low-income countries. Why the vaccinated are still at risk from the coronavirus. Tokyo’s fraught Olympics show glaring scar of Covid.