(2021-11-27). Omicron variant threatens to unleash new global surge of COVID-19 pandemic. wsws.org Initial indications are that an unusual constellation of mutations makes the variant far more infectious than the Delta variant and potentially vaccine-resistant.
(2021-11-27). COVID-19 must be eradicated to stop dangerous new variants. wsws.org The emergence of the Omicron strain of COVID-19 is a devastating exposure of the herd immunity policy implemented by capitalist governments, which oppose lockdowns and other critical public health measures necessary to stop the spread of the disease.
(2021-11-27). Several weeks needed to assess vaccines' efficacy against new COVID variant – WHO. tass.com Later today, the WHO will announce whether the variant will be classified as one of interest or of concern…
(2021-11-27). World Health Organization: PCR tests able to detect new SARS-CoV-2 variant 'Omicron'. tass.com Several labs have indicated that for one widely used PCR test, one of the three target genes is not detected, said in a statement…
(2021-11-27). Omicron: Indian Politicians Urge PM Modi to Ban Flights From Affected Countries Amid COVID Scare. sputniknews.com The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Friday named the new strain of coronavirus "B.1.1.529", Omicron. The latter has been classified as a "variant of concern", posing a greater risk than the globally dominant Delta variant.
(2021-11-27). US company Moderna begins work on vaccine against new SARS-CoV-2 variant 'Omicron'. tass.com Data is expected in the coming weeks, the statement noted…
(2021-11-27). Health Agency: New COVID Strain Poses 'High to Very High Risk' to Europe. sputniknews.com The new variant was initially reported in South Africa and Botswana, and in Europe, Belgium was the first to detect it.
(2021-11-27). [Perspectives] Pascale Ondoa: strengthening laboratory medicine in Africa. thelancet.com "Our core aim is to build laboratory systems to address the health agenda as defined by Africa", says Pascale Ondoa, who for the past 5 years has been Director of Science and New Initiatives at the African Society for Laboratory Medicine (ASLM). Part of this role is to direct technical advice and provide leadership to help shape health strategy and laboratory medicine improvement at the country level. "A lot of our work involves the coordination of partners and experts, so that investments from agencies like PEPFAR, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, the Fleming Fund, and others generate sub…
(2021-11-27). New B.1.1.529 COVID-19 variant causes no severe diseases – health minister. tass.com Joe Phaahla mentioned that it was too early to say how the new COVID-19 variant would behave…
(2021-11-27). [Correspondence] COVID-19 and myocardial infarction — Authors' reply. thelancet.com We thank Daniel Caldeira and Fausto Pinto for their comments regarding our study1 focusing on COVID-19 and myocardial infarction. We did acknowledge the difficulties in distinguishing between different types of myocardial injuries in the discussion. The International Classification of Diseases versions 9 and 10 unfortunately do not distinguish between ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) and non-ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI), which is a limitation of our study.
(2021-11-27). The WHO Recommends Genetic Manipulation and Gene Editing of Humans "To Promote Public Health" globalresearch.ca This article published by …
(2021-11-27). [Comment] Offline: The real meaning of decolonisation. thelancet.com The most dangerous threat to health and health equity today is anti-globalism—a denial of evidence pointing to the intrinsic interdependence of human beings; a refusal to accept the transnational nature of risks to our wellbeing; and an antipathy to institutions and individuals promoting cosmopolitan values. Anti-globalism lies behind the failure of governments to accelerate actions to address the climate crisis, is responsible for the failure of nations to coordinate their responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, and underlies the savage xenophobia directed towards those fleeing conflict and repression.
(2021-11-27). [Perspectives] A reproductive justice response to HIV/AIDS and COVID-19. thelancet.com Lana is a young Black woman living with HIV in Kingston, Jamaica. A mother of young children, she was concerned about what COVID-19 would mean for her pre-existing diagnosis. During the COVID-19 pandemic she has struggled to find psychosocial support groups, consistent access to antiretrovirals, and employment opportunities to maintain her health and support herself and her family. Pam, a middle-aged HIV-positive woman in Detroit, MI, USA, is a caregiver and local HIV organiser who provides emotional and social support to other newly diagnosed people.
(2021-11-27). Pandemic Response Report Denounces Leaving Global Health 'Hostage' to Big Pharma. zcomm.org "If this pandemic cannot catalyze real change, what will?"
(2021-11-27). Michigan COVID-19 wave escalates as Democrats reject measures to halt the spread. wsws.org The Democratic administration of Governor Whitmer has responded to unprecedented case numbers with a thoroughly inadequate public health advisory.
(2021-11-27). [Correspondence] Beyond COVID-19: scaling up and sustaining mobile health in Africa — Authors' reply. thelancet.com We thank Yap Boum for taking the time to respond to our Perspective.1…
(2021-11-27). Thanksgiving served on the picket line at Phoenix airport workers' strike. fightbacknews.org Phoenix, AZ – For many striking concessions workers, this is the first Thanksgiving they are not working. At Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport, HMS Host hospitality is the biggest concessions service, with hundreds of workers. Those workers are fed up with four years of failure from HMS to agree to a decent contract. Four days into their indefinite strike, Unite Here Local 11 HMS Host workers are fighting for a contract that includes raises, affordable health insurance, an employer-paid pension, protection for workers' tips, and strong contract language for equal opportunity and protection from discrimination. | It…
(2021-11-27). Cuba's Vaccine Could End Up Saving Millions of Lives. zcomm.org Thanks to its public biotech sector and its government's deep commitment to public health, Cuba is now the only low-income country to have made its own COVID vaccine, and it's poised to help millions around the world…
(2021-11-27). [World Report] Countries prepare for pandemic treaty decision. thelancet.com Health diplomats are negotiating over whether to craft a pandemic accord ahead of a Special Session of the World Health Assembly. John Zarocostas reports from Geneva, Switzerland.
(2021-11-27). [Correspondence] Pollution and the developing brain. thelancet.com The Editorial about the social determinants of brain health1 does a superb job of pointing out the powerful association between social disadvantage—poverty, childhood adversity, and violence—and mental disorders. It argues cogently that there is need for psychopharmacologically oriented psychiatric practitioners to join forces with epidemiologists and sociologists to seek holistic approaches to the prevention and treatment of mental illness. Well said!
(2021-11-27). [Correspondence] Quality assurance of remote clinical assessments in the NHS. thelancet.com COVID-19 has accelerated the proportion of digital patient consultations across community and hospital settings, bringing both challenge and opportunity to health-care organisations and their staff. Within our own work, one such opportunity was the increased ability to record and review consultation audio, benefiting not just organisational quality assurance and complaint and incident investigation but also providing meaningful feedback to support clinicians' continuous professional development.
(2021-11-27). [Correspondence] Beyond COVID-19: scaling up and sustaining mobile health in Africa. thelancet.com In their Perspective,1 N Hélène Sawadogo and colleagues highlight the challenges of mobile health care in Africa with the MOS@N project, which provided medical support to pregnant women but ran out of funding 3 years into operation. Securing longer-term funding to sustain mobile health is a challenge in Africa.2 Social innovations such as BIMA (Ghana), AccesAfya (Kenya), Idocta (Cameroon), and Healthforce (South Africa) use telemedicine to improve access to quality health care but have not managed to scale up.
(2021-11-27). 'Vaxxers': The inside story of AstraZeneca. greenleft.org.au Usually a vaccine takes 5—10 years from conception to production and injection into people's arms. Vaxxers, writes Coral Wynter, describes how a safe vaccine against COVID-19 was produced in only 10 months.
(2021-11-27). Ciencia falsa, datos no válidos: No existe un "caso confirmado de COVID-19". No hay pandemia. globalizacion.ca 
"El PCR es un proceso. No te dice que estás enfermo ". | El Dr. Kary Mullis , premio Nobel e inventor del RT- PCR, falleció en agosto de 2019. | "… Todos o una parte sustancial de estos positivos podrían deberse…
(2021-11-27). COVID-19 pandemic shines harsh light on privatisation & outsourcing. greenleft.org.au Australia's response to the COVID-19 pandemic has been shaped by the basic realities of contemporary capitalism and neoliberalism, argues Dave Holmes.
(2021-11-27). [Correspondence] COVID-19 and myocardial infarction. thelancet.com Ioannis Katsoularis and colleagues1 found that COVID-19 is a risk factor for myocardial infarction and stroke through self-controlled case series evaluation, a method that has been used to establish the risk of myocardial infarction associated with influenza infection.2,3 Regarding myocardial infarction, as the investigators recognised, one of the possible limitations of this research is the inaccurate diagnosis and codification of myocardial injury or myocarditis as myocardial infarction, particularly because the current myocardial infarction definition (and diagnostic methods) differ from the definition at the…
(2021-11-27). COVID-19 cases surge to record highs in South Korea. wsws.org As the number of new cases grows, inequality is also sharply escalating.
(2021-11-27). Cuba mantiene cero muertes por Covid-19 y amplía la vacunación. telesurtv.net Mientras avanza la campaña de vacunación, no se han reportado muertes en dos días consecutivos.
(2021-11-27). New York State Assembly releases Cuomo impeachment report. wsws.org The report fails even to mention the role that Cuomo played in legislation that protected the owners of nursing homes and hospitals from liability in COVID deaths.
(2021-11-27). Conferencia Iberoamericana: Canciller cubano agradece reclamo al cese del bloqueo. cubadebate.cu Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla agradeció la tradicional posición de los países miembros de la Conferencia Iberoamericana en el reclamo al cese del bloqueo económico, comercial y financiero impuesto por Estados Unidos. Recordó que esta política se ha recrudecido de manera deliberada y oportunista en el contexto de la pandemia de COVID-19.
(2021-11-27). [Perspectives] A history of US engagement in the HIV/AIDS response. thelancet.com >In late September, 2021, US President Joe Biden tapped John Nkengasong to lead the US President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). If approved for the role as Ambassador-at-Large and Coordinator of US Government Activities to Combat HIV/AIDS Globally, Nkengasong will inherit a programme at a point of inflection. PEPFAR has been leaderless since Deborah Birx decamped in February, 2020, to coordinate the White House's COVID-19 response under the administration of Donald Trump. She left PEPFAR ahead of the findings from UNAIDS in July, 2020, that highlighted uneven progress towards 2020 milestones in the…
(2021-11-27). Charité intensive—Station 43: An unsettling documentary about the reality of the coronavirus. wsws.org The true horror of the deadly pandemic is visible "on the faces of the patients, their children and life partners. And it is reflected in the eyes of the medical staff."
(2021-11-26). Not 'Nu': WHO officially names new Covid 'variant of concern' Omicron. rt.com 
The World Health Organization (WHO) has named the new Covid-19 variant first detected in southern Africa "Omicron", the UN health agency said after a meeting on Friday. | The global health agency met on Friday to name the B.1.1.529 strain and decided to classify it as a "variant of concern," rather than the less serious designation "variant of interest." | Following the meeting of the We call for increased surveillance and genetic testing & thank üá&…
(2021-11-26). The ABCs of Covid: What you need to know about each 'strain of concern'. rt.com 
Scientists warn that a new coronavirus variant, dubbed Omicron, has the makings of a "super-contagious" virus. Here's a quick look at how we got here, and how the new variant name came about. | Previous viral outbreaks in history ended up being called after the country where they were first detected — for example, the "Spanish flu" that decimated the world in the aftermath of the First World War, a century ago. From the very beginning of the current pandemic, however, the World Health Organization (WHO) has been cautious to avoid such labeling. The virus itself was designated SARS-CoV-2 (Severe Acute Resp…
(2021-11-26). Live updates: WHO officially designates new COVID-19 strain "variant of concern" wsws.org Scientists have detected a new variant of COVID-19, called B.1.1.529 (or Omicron), which appears to have originated in South Africa but has already been detected in several other countries.
(2021-11-26). Only matter of time before 'worst-ever' Covid strain hits UK — genomics chief. rt.com 
The UK's Covid genomics chief, Professor Sharon Peacock, has warned that it's only a matter of time before the newly mutated "worst-ever" strain reaches the country, but that officials can buy some time to prepare. | Speaking to reporters on Friday, Peacock highlighted how the 'Omicron' variant is "likely to be transmitted into the UK at some point" due to the virulent nature of the strain. | "I think buying time is important and it's worthwhile, because we can find out what we need to know about that particular variant," Peacock said, urging officials to brace for its arrival on British shores. | Read more…
(2021-11-26). New Covid variant: Israel detects case of strain first discovered in South Africa. middleeasteye.net 
New Covid variant: Israel detects case of strain first discovered in South Africa | The new variant found in South Africa has at least ten mutations, compared to two for Delta and three for Beta variants | Fri, 11/26/2021 – 10: 00 | Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett held an emergency meeting with public health officials to discuss the Covid-19 situation (AFP) | Israel has detected a c…
(2021-11-26). Imperial COVID-19 Response Team share new tool to assess threat of new variants. imperial.ac.uk Imperial's COVID-19 Response Team have developed a new tool to assess the threat of new variants in real-time.
(2021-11-26). Live updates: New COVID-19 variant detected in South Africa and internationally. wsws.org Scientists have detected a new variant of COVID-19, called B.1.1.529 (or Nu), which appears to have originated in South Africa but has already been detected in several other countries.
(2021-11-26). Russia Opposes Politicizing Beijing Winter Olympics. telesurenglish.net On Thursday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said her country opposes the politicization of the upcoming Winter Olympic Games in Beijing. | RELATED: | "We believe that sports should remain separate from politics. We have no doubt that China will be able to host the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics at the highest level in the context of existing anti-epidemic restrictions," Zakharova said, pointing out th…
(2021-11-26). Democrat In New York State Legislature: I'm Proposing Bill To Prevent Health Insurance Coverage For Unvaccinated Covid Patients. moguldom.com New York State Democrat Assemblyman Patrick Burke is proposing legislation that would allow health insurance companies to deny coverage to the unvaccinated for any covid-related treatments. "I know we're all tired of this pandemic, and it's largely being perpetuated by variants of covid that keep sprouting up, and they're mostly sprouting up in unvaccinated populations," …
(2021-11-26). The Thanksgiving holiday weekend threatens surge of COVID-19 infections across the US. wsws.org Federal advisers are reporting pre-pandemic levels of travelers during the Thanksgiving holidays. With COVID-19 infections rising across the US and all mitigation measures essentially lifted, health experts warn of a massive surge this winter.
(2021-11-26). French health minister rejects lockdown measures as COVID-19 cases skyrocket. wsws.org Health Minister Véran announced the government's response to the skyrocketing of COVID-19 cases, with over 33,000 cases reported in 24 hours.
(2021-11-26). Mandatory vaccination for care home workers not unlawful nor in breach of ECHR. ukhumanrightsblog.com 
Peters & Anor, R (On the application of) the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care & Anor [2021] EWHC 3182 (Admin), 2 November 2021 This was a renewed application by the claimants for permission to proceed with a judicial review challenge to the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) (Amendment) (Coronavirus) …
(2021-11-26). Health and Social Care Bill's naked onslaught on UK working class. wsws.org "If you own a £1m house in the home counties, over 90% of your assets are protected. If you've got a terraced house in Hartlepool (worth £70k) you can lose almost everything."
(2021-11-26). More revelations about the Kaiser Permanente tentative agreement. wsws.org Opposition is growing as healthcare workers at Kaiser Permanente prepare to vote December 8 on a concessions contract being promoted by the Alliance of Health Care Unions.
(2021-11-26). New Covid variant: Belgium flags first case in Europe in woman returning from Egypt. middleeasteye.net 
New Covid variant: Belgium flags first case in Europe in woman returning from Egypt | Health ministry says new B.1.1.529 variant was found in an unvaccinated woman who reportedly returned from Egypt via Turkey | Fri, 11/26/2021 – 13: 56 | A woman presented with Covid symptoms after flying from Egypt via Turkey back to Belgium on 11 November (AFP/File photo) | Belgium said on Friday it had…
(2021-11-26). The Right Is Hijacking Progressive Arguments to Undermine Public Health. truthout.org 
As COVID-19 has ravaged the U.S., many progressive health care activists and organizations such as National Nurses United
(2021-11-26). Give Covid-recovered same rights as vaccinated — Sputnik V distributor. rt.com 
People who have high levels of antibodies after recovering from Covid should have the same rights as those fully vaccinated, and the same indicator should apply to vaccines, the head of the fund backing Russia's Sputnik V told RT. | "The world needs to come to an understanding that it's not about vaccine brands — it's about the level of antibodies" a person has, Kirill Dmitriev, the head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), which bankrolled the development of Sputnik V vaccine and now oversees its distribution, told RT on Friday. | The international restrictions, based on the approval of specific…
(2021-11-26). "Herd Stupidity": The Manufactured Covid Crisis, the Gene-based mRNA "Vaccine" and "The Pinnacles of Wealth and Power" globalresearch.ca