For weeks, staff at public hospitals across Mexico have been protesting a shortage of basic protective supplies, including masks, gloves and even hand soap.

Now some of them are getting sick. At least 329 doctors and nurses in the country’s public medical system have tested positive for COVID-19, according to health officials.

Some doctors on the front lines say the true number of infections may be higher and blame politicians who have slashed hospital budgets in recent years for leaving them unprepared to fight the virus.

While early cases in Mexico were generally confined to those wealthy enough to travel outside the country and receive treatment in private hospitals, outbreaks have been erupting in the chronically underfunded hospitals and clinics where most Mexicans receive care.

In the tourist resort of Cabo San Lucas, 42 workers at a public hospital recently tested positive for the disease.

In the city of Monclova, near the border with Texas, a truck driver who had been in the United States spread the infection to several dozen health workers, at least three of whom have died, authorities say.

In recent days, attention has been focused on Regional General Hospital No. 72 in Tlalnepantla de Baz, a community just north of Mexico City. Federal authorities say 19 medical workers there have tested positive, and staff say at least 10 others have symptoms and are awaiting test results.

“This didn’t have to happen,” said a medical resident who came down with a fever and a headache on Sunday, two weeks after she treated a patient who was suspected of having COVID-19 and later died.

The resident said she worked without a mask, goggles and scrubs, because none were available. The doctor, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because she was not authorized to give interviews, said she is resting at home and awaiting her own test results for COVID-19.

Two other doctors who work at the same hospital confirmed that health workers lack basic protective gear.

Story continues

“We’re all terrified that we’re going to be the next to get sick,” said another medical resident, who said she was recently forced to intubate a patient presumed to have COVID-19 but was not provided with a mask.

“I’m afraid that I might die, or that I could carry the disease home to my family, and they could die,” the doctor said.

Workers convert the gym of the steel company Ternium into a field hospital for COVID-19 patients in Monterrey, Mexico. (AFP via Getty Images)

Supply shortages in Mexico’s overburdened public hospitals predate the coronavirus crisis.

Sometimes, doctors and nurses have had to ask patients to buy them surgical masks, gowns and other basic supplies. At the hospital in Tlalnepantla, shortages of soap and other cleaning supplies have led to outbreaks of colitis and other infectious disease.

But the severity of the issue has come into focus in recent months as the coronavirus has spread from the industrial city of Wuhan, China, to other regions in the world.

Mexico has confirmed 233 COVID-19 deaths and 3,844 cases, but experts believe those numbers reflect low levels of testing and that the real number of infections could be eight times the official total.

In the hospital in Tlalnepantla, doctors have petitioned their supervisors to provide more widespread testing of both patients and medical personnel.

Since the first case arrived in Mexico in late February, hospital workers throughout the country have been protesting, calling on authorities to provide more protective gear.

Mexican officials have promised that more supplies are on the way, citing a recent shipment from China that included large numbers of gloves, masks and other equipment.

“Our teams are already starting their distribution, so we think it won’t take long for them to arrive,” said Deputy Health Secretary Hugo Lopez-Gatell.

A statement from Mexico’s Social Security Institute, which operates public hospitals and clinics, said officials were working to improve conditions in the nation’s healthcare centers, including the hospital in Tlalnepantla.

“Actions are being strengthened to minimize medical and operating risks, including sanitation throughout the hospital, constant provision of personal protective equipment and permanent communication with workers and union representation,” the statement said.

Cecilia Sanchez in The Times’ Mexico City bureau contributed to this report.

Source link

Newest video release regarding Coronavirus. Have a look at this “Japan asks for Olympics postponement – BBC News” video below:

Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has asked for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics to be postponed by a year because of the coronavirus pandemic. Abe said he has …..(read more)

Newest video release related to Coronavirus. Watch this “Spanish soldiers discover abandoned retirement homes +++ China to ease restrictions | Corona Update” video below:

In Spain, the defence ministry says soldiers helping to fight the Coronavirus pandemic have found elderly patients in retirement homes abandoned and, in some …..(read more)

A 26-year-old Israeli mother of four suffering from the coronavirus has given birth to a healthy boy via emergency C-section while hooked up to a ventilator, hospital officials told The Post.

The woman — who lives in Bnei Brak just east of Tel Aviv – walked into the maternity center of Sheba Medical Center at Tel HaShomer late last month, while suffering from nausea and vomiting, hospital spokeswoman Jodie Singer said.

The young woman was unaware that she was suffering from COVID-19, but soon tested positive and her contractions began.

“The delivery began in a special coronavirus-dedicated delivery room, but when the mother went into respiratory distress, she was transferred quickly into a specially prepared operating room,” Singer said in an email.

“While the mother was intubated and hooked up to a lifesaving ventilator, doctors performed a successful emergency C-section and delivered a healthy baby boy,” she said, adding that the baby weighed just under 6 pounds.

The newborn has tested negative for COVID-19, but the mom has not yet been able to hold him as she fights the disease after spending a week on ventilation at the hospital’s coronavirus critical care unit.

“The reunion is expected to take place within the next week, when the mother is discharged,” Singer said.

The delivery room is designed with negative pressure and a minimal amount of equipment, which ensures that the medical staff can move around more easily in their protective gear.

“Since this delivery, the coronavirus delivery room has been put to use several more times. Each baby has been born healthy and has tested negative for the virus,” she said.

Prof. Eldad Katorza, senior physician at Sheba’s Gynecology and Maternity Center, told The Post in a statement: “Thankfully, at Sheba we are always thinking two steps ahead and we had both the delivery room and operating room fully prepared to handle coronavirus patients.”

He added: “We were able to move quickly to perform an emergency caesarean section and deliver a healthy and happy baby boy.”

On Friday morning, the number of coronavirus patients in Israel surged past 10,000, leaving 95 people dead, according to the Jerusalem Post.

Meanwhile, Jerusalem and Bnei Brak have the highest number of cases in the country — 1,780 and 1,681, respectively, according to the Israeli Health Ministry, the news outlet reported.

Source link

Latest video release about Coronavirus. Have a look at this “Coronavirus: Death toll in the UK reaches 422 – BBC News” video below:

In the UK, as of 9am on 24 March, a total of 90436 have been tested: 82359 negative. 8077 positive. As of 1pm, 422 patients who tested positive for coronavirus …..(read more)

Newest video updates regarding Coronavirus. Watch this “How the Coronavirus is changing the future of work | Covid-19 Special” video below:

The coronavirus has forced millions of people into quarantine and self-isolation. Lots are working from home, some for the first time. Others have to keep going …..(read more)

Bulent Kilic / AFP / Getty

Turkey, a nation of 80 million, had the fastest growing number of coronavirus cases in the world.

Less than a month ago, it didn’t have a single case. As of April 10, it had 42,282 confirmed cases with 908 deaths.

Here’s what happened in between.

Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

Turkey’s novel coronavirus cases came late, but once they started, they rose quicker than anywhere else in the world. 

Less than a month ago, the nation of 80 million people didn’t have a single reported case. As of April 10, Turkey has 42,282 confirmed cases of COVID-19 — the disease caused by the novel coronavirus — with 908 deaths. Some fear that it could be the next pandemic hotspot.

While it has a relatively low death count, the infections have been increasing by 3,000 every day, according to The Guardian.

Turkey has imposed restrictions like closing schools, universities, and cafes, and stopping prayers, and halting flights to particular countries. But the restrictions have been incremental, and even with cases continuing to rise, a nationwide lockdown has not been imposed. 

Here’s what it has been like in Turkey. 

In Turkey — a nation of 80 million, which has the largest refugee population in the world, as well as a booming tourism industry with about 50 million visitors in 2019 — the coronavirus came late, but when it did arrive, it struck hard.

Crowds of pedestrians and tourists enjoy a sunny day on Istiklal street, a historic commercial and shopping area and public urban space of Istanbul on February 17.

Diego Cupolo/NurPhoto / Getty

Source: The Guardian

The country’s economic situation made the threat of a pandemic worrying. Turkey already had high unemployment, inflation, and the looming possibility of a recession due to a massive fall in its currency in 2018.

A Turkish man supporting the ‘NO’ vote for an upcoming referendum, holds a Turkish flag and a placard, reading in Turkish: ‘No to unemployment’, in Istanbul, in 2017.

Lefteris Pitarakis / AP

Source: The Guardian

The country also had a weakened healthcare sector. After a failed coup in 2016, Turkey’s government blacklisted about 15,000 health care workers, as well as a coronavirus expert named Mustafa Ulasli, who was allegedly linked to the coup.

Turkish citizens, taking to the streets to react against a failed military coup attempt in 2016.

Yasin Aras/Anadolu Agency/Getty

Story continues

Source: Foreign Policy

Still, Emrah Altindis, a professor at Boston College who studied the epidemic in Turkey, told The New Yorker that more than two weeks before Turkey’s first coronavirus case there was a good sign. On February 24 Turkey’s health minister Fahrettin Koca publicly said that Wuhan and Italy did a great job by locking down.

Turkey’s Health Minister Fahrettin Koca speaks to journalists after a coronavirus meeting, in Ankara, on March 18.

Burhan Ozbilici / AP

Koca also spoke about how he called the health minister of Iran, and his peer in Iran admitted that they hadn’t locked down the city, which was why it spread.

These two statements were important, according to Altindis, because it showed he was aware that locking down streets helped to stop the infection.

Source: The New Yorker

Altindis then told The New Yorker despite Koca’s statement, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was the only person who made decisions about a lockdown, and he could not be convinced.

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks after a coronavirus meeting with his ministers, in Ankara on March 18.

Burhan Ozbilici / AP

According to the Financial Times, Erdogan is typically criticised by his opponents for being too heavy-handed, but during the coronavirus pandemic he has been “accused of being too laissez-faire.”

 Sources: The New Yorker, Financial Times

Caghan Kizil, a professor of neuroscience and genetics at the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres later told Al Jazeera, Turkey’s rapid acceleration was because “social mobility wasn’t prevented,” unlike in Wuhan.

A single person walks in Wuhan.

Darley Shen/Reuters

Source: Al Jazeera

Turkey’s first coronavirus case was detected on March 11. In less than three weeks, the country would witness one of the steepest rises of cases in the world.

An 83-year-old Ayse Polat, who tested positive for coronavirus is discharged from hospital with applause after she recovered from in Antalya, Turkey on April 7.

Ayse Yildiz/Anadolu Agency / Getty

Sources: The New Yorker, The New York Times

On March 11, after the first case was announced, Koca told state media: “If there is an infection in the country, it is very limited. The coronavirus is not stronger than the measures we will take.”

Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca attends Turkeyâs Coronavirus Science Board meeting via video conference, in Ankara, Turkey on April 7.

Aytug Can Sencar/Anadolu Agency / Getty

Source: The Guardian

The measures Turkey has since taken have been mixed. While it promptly closed its borders to travelers from China and Iran — both countries that had a high number of cases — it also tried to keep its borders otherwise open and tourism going steady.

A health official measures the body temperature of a passenger on a bus at a check point in Istanbul, on March 29.

Emrah Gurel / AP

Source: The New York Times

The second major failure, according to Al Jazeera, was the low number of tests it carried out early on in the outbreak. Turkey focused its testing on people coming into the country from abroad, but by that point, it was too late, and the coronavirus had likely spread.

Foreign passengers, including Algerian, Jordanian and Tunisian, who have been waiting at Istanbul Airport, are transported to a dormitory to stay as air spaces were shut down in their countries due to a coronavirus outbreak in Karabuk, Turkey on March 26.

Ahmet Ozler/Anadolu Agency via Getty

Sources: Al Jazeera, Bloomberg

Another factor was domestic coverage of the coronavirus. According to a Washington Post op-ed, religious scholars “dominated coverage” and focused on talking about the role of “extramarital relations, adultery, homosexuality, and anal relations” and how that related to the virus spreading.

A stray cat stands in front of a closed mosque in Turkey.

Rasid Necati Aslim/Anadolu Agency / Getty

Source: Washington Post

By March 12, there were 47 confirmed cases in Turkey.

A municipality worker wearing a protective suit is surrounded by pigeons as he cleans the Ortakoy square in Istanbul on March 23.

Emrah Gurel

Source: Bloomberg

That same day, public prayers at mosques, of which there are about 80,000 in Turkey, were suspended. But according to the op-ed in the Washington Post, it was already too late, as 16 million people took part in weekly prayers, and were doing so while the coronavirus was in the country.

Imam of Eyup Sultan Mosque, Hasan Tok and Imam Metin Cakar hold a prayer for coronavirus in Istanbul, Friday, April 3.

Emrah Gurel / AP

In comparison, Iran stopped prayers on February 27, and Kuwait stopped them on March 13.

Sources: Bloomberg, Washington Post

The government also placed about 10,000 people who had returned from a religious pilgrimage to Mecca under quarantine, after tracing a coronavirus patient to that same trip.

Muslim pilgrims on seen worshipping at the Grand Mosque in Mecca, Saudi Arabia in 2012.

Hassan Ammar/AP

Source: Bloomberg

On March 17, the first death was reported. Erdogan had not made a public appearance since the first case and, according to Foreign Policy, his lack of appearances and Koca’s prominent role communicating updates with the public could be setting the stage for Koca to take the fall.

Officers and relatives prepare to bury a person who died from the coronavirus on March 27.

Bulent Kilic / AFP / Getty

Sources: Washington Post, Washington Post, Foreign Policy

Then, on March 18, Erdogan made an appearance. He said Turkey was in a better condition than England or France and it would overcome the coronavirus with “patience” and “prayers,” according to The Washington Post. He said if it was managed well enough, for a week or two, Turkey would have a “good picture before us.”

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, waves to supporters in Istanbul, in 2017.

AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis

Sources: Washington Post, Washington Post

By March 19, the country had 200 cases and two deaths. Shops and universities were closing up, but builders and construction workers continued to work.

Most retail stores, cafes, restaurants and bars have closed in Istanbul, Turkey. Here, workers hang a tarp over the entrance of a popular tourist fast food destination.

Diego Cupolo/NurPhoto / Getty

Sources: NPR, The New York Times

By March 20, the number of cases reached 670. That same day, Bloomberg reported Turkey could “dramatically increase” as a 15-minute diagnosis kit from China was due, while the government had also more than doubled its labs testing from 16 to 36.

Municipality workers wearing face masks and protective suits disinfect Kugulu public garden amid the coronavirus outbreak, in Ankara, Turkey, on March 17.

Burhan Ozbilici / AP

Source: Bloomberg

On March 22, people older than 65 were told not to go outside.

A man wearing face mask feeds seagulls from nearly empty Galata Bridge as people are staying home due to the coronavirus pandemic in Istanbul, Turkey on April 7.

Elif Ozturk/Anadolu Agency / Getty

Source: Bloomberg

On March 23, Turkey’s main opposition leader, Kemal Kilicdaroglu called for blacklisted health care workers to be reinstated, as well as reopening military hospitals Erdogan closed after the 2016 coup.

Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) Kemal Kilicdaroglu, casts his ballot in 2018.

Mustafa Kirazli/Getty

Source: Foreign Policy

Hospitals were important. In late March, Koca said when there were 6,000 cases that 63% of intensive-care units were full, meaning hospitals could be at capacity by the time there were 12,000 cases. By April 7, there were 34,019 confirmed cases.

Turkish health workers join in a moment of silence in front of a hospital building in Istanbul on April 2.

Sources: The New Yorker, Johns Hopkins

To get an idea of the strain, Italy has 2.5 times more medical doctors and nurses per thousand people compared to Turkey, according to The New Yorker. Although Turkey has universal health coverage, which provides reasonable access for patients and is better than most of its neighbors, according to Foreign Policy.

Health workers mourn outside Istanbul University Faculty of Medicine during a commemoration for professor Cemil Tascooglu, the country’s first medical professional to pass away from COVID-19, on April 2.

Bulent Kilic / AFP / Getty

Instead of reinstating former health workers, authorities tried to clamp down on information. By March 25, Turkish authorities had arrested at least 400 people for their social media posts about the coronavirus for “attempting to stir unrest,” according to Foreign Policy.

Turkish anti riot police officers guard the entrance to a mosque.

Ozan Kose / AFP / Getty

Source: Foreign Policy

On March 30, Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, as well as Izmir’s mayor, urged Erdogan to put in even stricter policies around movement. Imamoglu told the BBC, the authorities had counted 1.1 million people using public transport on a workday, as well as people in private cars.

Ekrem Imamoglu, the Mayor of Istanbul, speaks in Ankara earlier this year.

Burhan Ozbilici / AP

Sources: BBC, Financial Times

But that same evening, Erdogan dismissed the mayors’ calls for greater restrictions. He told the nation: “Turkey is a country where production must continue and the cogs must keep turning under every circumstance and every condition.”

People wearing mask walk in front of empty Melike Hatun Mosque as people are staying home within measures taken against the coronavirus pandemic in Ankara, Turkey on April 6.

Ozge Elif Kizil/Anadolu Agency / Getty

Source: Financial Times

On April 1, following on from what Mayor Imamoglu had said, Koca announced that 60% of the country’s cases were in Istanbul.

A man feeds street dogs at Eminonu Square in central Istanbul, deserted due to the novel coronavirus outbreak on March 26.

Bulent Kilic / AFP / Getty

Source: Al Jazeera

On April 3, Erdogan announced 31 cities would be quarantined, no one could enter or exit Turkey’s major cities for 15 days, and people younger than 20 could not leave their homes anywhere in the country. But it wasn’t a nationwide lockdown, and cases continued to rise.

Cats are seen in an empty park located near coastline amid coronavirus pandemic precautions in Iskenderun district of Hatay, Turkey on April 5.

Burak Milli/Anadolu Agency / Getty

Source: Bloomberg

On April 6, Koca said the numbers had risen because testing had increased to more than 20,000 per day. The government also ordered everyone to wear masks when they went out and said it would deliver the masks free to all.

An empty tramway is seen at Istiklal Avenue just before their services are stopped within the coronavirus pandemic precautions in Istanbul, Turkey on April 5.

Mehmet Eser/Anadolu Agency / Getty

Sources: BBC, The New York Times

Al Jazeera reported on April 3 that Mehmet Ceyhan, chairman of Turkey’s Infectious Diseases Association, said if things continued cases would reach 300,000 by April 13. It’s not that high yet. As of April 10, Turkey has 42,282 confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 908 deaths.

People put masks on their faces and shop their needs from the popular market on April 8 in Istanbul.

Amer AlMohipany/NurPhoto / Getty

Sources: Arcgis.com, Al Jazeera

Altindis told The New Yorker there were two theories why Erdogan hadn’t done enough. The first was that Turkey’s economy could not handle a shutdown. The second theory was exploring herd immunity, although that was never publicly mentioned. He said: “This is a one-man regime right now. He decides.”

Turkish President Erdogan.

Reuters

Sources: The New York Times, The New Yorker,

Regardless of why, precautions have been taken too late, according to former Turkish politician Baris Yarkadas. He told The New York Times Turkey had missed the chance to stop the spreading. “Turkey could have been like South Korea but we are like Italy and the United States,” he said.

Turkish Members of Parliament wear protective face masks and share disinfectant gel, as a precaution against the novel coronavirus, during a general assembly meeting on April 7.

Adem Altan / AFP / Getty

Source: The New York Times

Read the original article on Insider

Source link

Newest video release regarding Coronavirus. Check out this “Coronavirus: UK to open temporary hospital with military help – BBC News” video below:

A new hospital is to be established in the ExCeL centre, an exhibition centre in east London, Mr Hancock says.

The new NHS Nightingale Hospital will consist of two wards and hold up to 4,000 patients, Mr Hancock says.

In response to the UK’s call for retired medics to return to the NHS, Mr Hancock says more than 11,500 have come forward, including 2,660 doctors and 6,147 nurses.

He adds…..(read more)

WASHINGTON — US researchers have opened another safety test of an experimental COVID-19 vaccine, this one using a skin-deep shot instead of the usual deeper jab.

The pinch should feel like a simple skin test, a researcher told the volunteer lying on an exam table in Kansas City, Missouri, on Wednesday.

“It’s the most important trial that we’ve ever done,” Dr. John Ervin of the Center for Pharmaceutical Research told The Associated Press afterward. “People are beating down the door to get into this trial.”

The experiment, using a vaccine candidate developed by Inovio Pharmaceuticals, is part of a global hunt for much-needed protection against a virus that has triggered an economic shutdown and forced people indoors as countries try to stem the spread.

A different vaccine candidate began safety testing in people last month in Seattle, one developed by the US National Institutes of Health. About two-thirds of that study’s participants have gotten the first of two needed doses.

Inovio’s study is set to test two doses of its vaccine, code-named INO-4800, in 40 healthy volunteers at the Kansas City research lab and the University of Pennsylvania. Inovio is working with Chinese researchers to also begin a similar study in that country soon.

These early-stage studies are a first step to see if a vaccine appears safe enough for larger tests needed to prove whether it will protect. Even if the research goes well, it is expected to take more than a year before any vaccine could be widely available.

A participant in a COVID-19 coronavirus vaccine trial receives an injection in Kansas City, Mo.Center for Pharmaceutical Research via AP

Dozens of potential vaccines are being designed in labs around the world, expected to begin this testing process over the next several months.

“The good thing is we’ve got a bunch of candidates,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, the NIH’s infectious diseases chief, said during a podcast for the Journal of the American Medical Association Wednesday.

Most of the vaccines under development have the same target: A spike protein that studs the surface of the virus and helps it invade human cells. Yet many work in quite different ways, making it crucial to test different options.

Inovio researchers packaged a section of the virus’ genetic code inside a piece of synthetic DNA. Injected as a vaccine, the cells act as a mini-factory to produce harmless protein copies. The immune system makes protective antibodies against them — primed if the real virus ever comes along.

Inovio research and development chief Kate Broderick likens it to giving the body an FBI wanted poster so it can recognize the enemy.

But after the skin-deep injection, researchers must hold a device over the spot that gives a little electrical zap. The synthetic DNA is large when it comes to penetrating human cells, and the pulse helps the vaccine more easily penetrate and get to work, Broderick said.

DNA vaccines are a new technology. But Inovio has experimental vaccines against other diseases that are made the same way that have passed initial safety testing.

And at least one showed hints that going skin-deep somehow sped the immune system’s development of protective antibodies, University of Pennsylvania’s Dr. Pablo Tebas told The AP. Tebas leads this latest new COVID-19 study.

The NIH’s vaccine candidate, manufactured by Moderna Inc., works similarly, except it uses a type of genetic code called messenger RNA and is injected deeper — into the muscle.

Neither NIH’s nor Inovio’s potential vaccines are made using the actual virus, meaning there’s no chance of getting infected from the vaccines — and it’s possible to make far more quickly than traditional shots.

Source link

Latest video release regarding Coronavirus. Watch this “Coronavirus: Italy virus deaths rise but infections slow again – BBC News” video below:

Italy is currently the worst-affected nation, with 6820 now reported dead from coronavirus, according to the latest figures. But the rate of infection has seemingly …..(read more)