First Corona Virus case confirmed in SA.

Something else to ponder @Silver is the preparedness of our medical professionals and people out and about.

I have seen it in the US as well as the photos of our police force and military. The masks and equipment they are using to “avoid” infection is in fact not fit for purpose.
Cotton masks are not effective and I see our police using dust masks which are designed for dust and not for bacteria/ virus particles.
The shortages in the UK and the US have people making makeshift masks and using substandard equipment for some sort of mental comfort that they will be ok when in fact the equipment used in hospitals doesn’t even meet the WHO minimum requirements.

I don’t think any country took China seriously when they told the world what was happening and asked them to prepare adequately.

Agree - and the Chinese government didn't take the doctor who first warned them about the virus seriously. He was arrested for social disturbance or something to that effect. Sadly, he too died of the virus.
 
What is really scary is if one needs to go to a hospital for any reason now. A friend of mine paid an emergency visit to a hospital on Sunday night (the reason had nothing to do with the virus or respiratory distress).

Her husband was not allowed to even be in the waiting room with her, which was good. However, the waiting room was full. There was no such thing as social distancing. A child who was there was coughing phlegm all over the place. And she had to sit there for 2 hours, waiting for a doctor to see her.

EDIT
When she got home her husband stripped her outside (she's a quadruplegic so unable to do anything for herself), threw all her clothes in the washing machine, disinfected her shoes, then disinfected her from head to toe.
 
What is really scary is if one needs to go to a hospital for any reason now. A friend of mine paid an emergency visit to a hospital on Sunday night (the reason had nothing to do with the virus or respiratory distress).

Her husband was not allowed to even be in the waiting room with her, which was good. However, the waiting room was full. There was no such thing as social distancing. A child who was there was coughing phlegm all over the place. And she had to sit there for 2 hours, waiting for a doctor to see her.

EDIT
When she got home her husband stripped her outside (she's a quadruplegic so unable to do anything for herself), threw all her clothes in the washing machine, disinfected her shoes, then disinfected her from head to toe.
We are not allowed to go to the hospital unless life threatening, in fact all operations including those that were already scheduled were all cancelled a couple of weeks ago so our hospitals pretty much are for the virus only at the moment and even then only if the virus is bad so help with breathing is needed etc.
 
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latest UK figures announced, 209 deaths in the last 24hr period, that's now 1,220 UK deaths!
 
We are not allowed to go to the hospital unless life threatening, in fact all operations including those that were already scheduled were all cancelled a couple of weeks ago so our hospitals pretty much are for the virus only at the moment and even then only if the virus is bad help with breathing is needed etc.

@Timwis What happens if you absolutely must get medical attention then? My friend was in that situation. She wouldn't have gone to Casualties on a Sunday night if it were unnecessary.
 
@Timwis What happens if you absolutely must get medical attention then? My friend was in that situation. She wouldn't have gone to Casualties on a Sunday night if it were unnecessary.

The attitude in the UK is if it's not life threatening then it's not necessary, whether their are exceptions to the rules i'm not sure but that's the message that's been given out!
 
I do not know what to expect from these unfortunate people. Most of them have no regular income and survive on a day to day basis. They live packed in small shacks where basic sanitation is unavailable. Wait for a few days, when they start starving...
If the government does not mobilize funds to provide these people with basic necessities at least during the lockdown then no one must expect anything from them.
What's worse is if anything should happen and these people end up in hospital. The normal lead time/or should I rather say waiting period to see the Dr. In a public hospital was about 4-8 hrs under normal conditions.
(Actually more like 8-12 hrs in reality).
Imagine sitting there with a broken leg or something for all that time.
I wonder if this virus issue has gotten things to work faster in our hospitals.
 
All hospitals are supposed to put up screening mechanisms in place in order to pick suspect cases and isolate them from the rest of the patients. But, with time and seen that local transmission has started, screening will probably become less and less effective.
In any case. People should be called upon to refrain from going to casualty with minor ailments and the usual nonsense... priority should be given to life threatening and limb threatening conditions.
 
On a side note...how many of us out here now are reading up or have seen "some" media/talk about the controversy behind it all. Questions posed by a few governments but from the US especially as to how long did the Chinese know about this virus?
Was it really reported/discovered only December 2019 or how long before that did the Chinese government know about it?
How were they able to build an entire hospital in days yet other first world countries are struggling to keep up with what they have, leave alone the added pressure of new cases.
A lab in China something along the lines of Geo.... something was ordered to destroy certain blood samples long before Dec 2019.
Documentary already out (60 Minutes Australia) about a nurse/s (included was a nurse named Ai Fen) that have gone missing due to them willing to expose vital info.
If you guys have Netflix...search for series called My Secret Terrius. Go to Season 1 Episode 10...and around 53 minutes in. Watch them talk about the Corona virus. This series was made in 2018. :eek:
Some are starting to speak of man-made virus, and how major shares around the globe are being bought by the Chinese etc etc...We might know none of that ever but what I do question is how long did the Chinese know about the first few cases and have a strong feeling vital info was withheld from the world that could have helped us all prepare much much better for this pandemic.
 
On a side note...how many of us out here now are reading up or have seen "some" media/talk about the controversy behind it all. Questions posed by a few governments but from the US especially as to how long did the Chinese know about this virus?
Was it really reported/discovered only December 2019 or how long before that did the Chinese government know about it?
How were they able to build an entire hospital in days yet other first world countries are struggling to keep up with what they have, leave alone the added pressure of new cases.
A lab in China something along the lines of Geo.... something was ordered to destroy certain blood samples long before Dec 2019.
Documentary already out (60 Minutes Australia) about a nurse/s (included was a nurse named Ai Fen) that have gone missing due to them willing to expose vital info.
If you guys have Netflix...search for series called My Secret Terrius. Go to Season 1 Episode 10...and around 53 minutes in. Watch them talk about the Corona virus. This series was made in 2018. :eek:
Some are starting to speak of man-made virus, and how major shares around the globe are being bought by the Chinese etc etc...We might know none of that ever but what I do question is how long did the Chinese know about the first few cases and have a strong feeling vital info was withheld from the world that could have helped us all prepare much much better for this pandemic.

The Chinese govt. did know, because a doctor warned them and he posted on some kind of social media platform. When the govt. found out they arrested him for disturbing the social order - something that is taboo in China. There was a huge outcry in China when he was arrested and he was subsequently released. Unfortunately he died of the virus ... or so they say.
 
These conspiracy theories are starting to irritate me.

Do people really think China would create a bioweapon that will firstly kill thousands of their own people and force them into a lockdown and then let it spread across the globe that will be seen as an act of war by every single nation on the globe (except Antarctica).

I don't think any leadership is as stupid as that.

People watch way too much tv.
 
The first cases were documented towards mid November @Ruwaid. I don’t have any comments on the conspiracy theories but Baron Rothschild said something like “when the blood is shed on the streets, it is time to buy”.
 
Hi guys
Is it just me or do the new cases the last few days since lockdown started seem very low?
It was growing at 30% per day, now it’s very slow
Is it the lockdown taking effect so soon ? Or not enough testing being done?

Great news but I a, just trying to understand why
 
Hi guys
Is it just me or do the new cases the last few days since lockdown started seem very low?
It was growing at 30% per day, now it’s very slow
Is it the lockdown taking effect so soon ? Or not enough testing being done?

Great news but I a, just trying to understand why
The impact of the lockdown can only be felt in 2 weeks time @Silver (the average time of incubation of the disease).
 
Hi guys
Is it just me or do the new cases the last few days since lockdown started seem very low?
It was growing at 30% per day, now it’s very slow
Is it the lockdown taking effect so soon ? Or not enough testing being done?

Great news but I a, just trying to understand why

I've also heard from people who are at labs. The backlog in just one of the labs is around 5000.

I think we will only see a more accurate representation of the quantity and spread of the infection in about 2 weeks time.

--edit. That figure of 5000 is hearsay at best. Maybe I shouldn't have said that
 
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I've also heard from people who are at labs. The backlog in just one of the labs is around 5000.

I think we will only see a more accurate representation of the quantity and spread of the infection in about 2 weeks time.

I can confirm there is zero backlog in the private labs. The main delays are logistical due to current transport restrictions.

How things looks at the public labs however I cannot say.
 
I can confirm there is zero backlog in the private labs. The main delays are logistical due to current transport restrictions.

How things looks at the public labs however I cannot say.

Noted. And updated my post as well.
I think we sometimes forget to that we should be careful to not regurgitate info without verifying raw sources etc.
 
Noted. And updated my post as well.
I think we sometimes forget to that we should be careful to not regurgitate info without verifying raw sources etc.

No, no worries. Was not aimed at you.

I know the minister has been saying the delay in results are due to private laboratories. And also mentioned the figure of 5000 samples.

But that simply is not true.
 
No, no worries. Was not aimed at you.

I know the minister has been saying the delay in results are due to private laboratories. And also mentioned the figure of 5000 samples.

But that simply is not true.

They gave a figure of about 30,000 tests done a day or two ago, I didn’t see what that number was on today’s stats. Didn’t read the same document. Would be good if they always showed how many tests were done versus the confirmed cases. A small increase in confirmed cases can give the impression the virus is slowing down but it might not be valid if there were not many additional tests done
 
There is no backlog in NHLS (public) labs either. The current turnaround times is 24h.
Edit: we are hoping to receive more performant test kits in the next few days whi will reduce the turnaround times to 2-3 hours.
 
They gave a figure of about 30,000 tests done a day or two ago, I didn’t see what that number was on today’s stats. Didn’t read the same document. Would be good if they always showed how many tests were done versus the confirmed cases. A small increase in confirmed cases can give the impression the virus is slowing down but it might not be valid if there were not many additional tests done
We are still in the very early stages of the epidemic so treat the numbers with a lot of caution. There will be some fluctuations (weekends, public holidays, lockdown may have affected the screening and testing processes). The next few days/weeks we may see a drastic change in the picture.
 
My daily UK update, a further 195 deaths taking the total to 1,415 deaths. To show how dangerous this is and how easily it spreads one new death it's reported is of a women that it's suspected caught the virus attending a funeral of a previous victim even though certain distancing was maintained at the funeral, death is leading to death. Don't let your only 2 deaths make you complacent else in a couple of weeks time your figures will be what we have in the UK, then you will really know what fear is! I try to keep a sense of humour which i will continue to try and maintain but when the situation gets as bad as it is in the UK even going to get food shopping brings a real sense of fear i can only think could compare to going over the top on the front line (not trying to make light of those that have fought in combat on behalf of us all but just can't think of another comparison) and the 7 day clock needs resetting so spend the whole of life at the moment wondering if symptoms are going to break out at any moment!
 
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