onthedarkside

Germany tightens fall COVID rules, including mandatory respirator mask wear for long-distance travel BERLIN -- German Chancellor Olaf Scholz's Cabinet approved legislation Wednesday that ensures basic protective measures against the coronavirus pandemic are continued during the fall and winter when more virus cases are expected. The presentation of the rules — which also include the new obligation to wear N95-type face masks during all long-distance travel by train and bus as well as on planes — coincided with the publication of photos showing the chancellor and German Economy Minister Robert Habeck flying to Canada earlier this week without wearing masks. The pictures triggered strong public criticism of an alleged double standard for politicians and regular people. Currently, medical face masks are mandatory on planes and public transport though N95-style masks are recommended. ... In addition to the mandatory use of N95-type masks during long-distance travel, the new measures, which will apply from Oct. 1 to April 7, will also include a nationwide obligation to wear masks in and test before accessing hospitals, nursing homes and similar institutions with vulnerable people. (more) https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/germany-tightens-covid-rules-travel-fall-winter-88790145

One million people have died from COVID-19 so far this year, the World Health Organization has revealed, describing it as a "tragic milestone". Since the pandemic began more than two and a half years ago, more than 6.4 million people have died from COVID-19 across the globe, according to WHO data. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Thursday the figures reached this week demonstrated the world was not "learning to live" with the virus. "This week, we crossed the tragic milestone of 1 million reported deaths so far this year," he told a press conference. (more) https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-26/covid-deaths-reach-1-million-worldwide-who-reveals/101375700

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Thai PM suspended from duty by Charter Court, Deputy Prawit becomes acting PM After a unanimous vote to accept a petition from the opposition bloc in Parliament, seeking a Constitutional Court ruling on Prayut’s eight-year term in office and on a 5-4 majority vote, Prayut Chan-o-cha has been instructed to suspend his duties as the prime minister from today (Wednesday) until the court finally decides his fate. It is expected that the Constitutional Court proceedings will be completed within one month, or by the end of September, during which time the cabinet will continue to perform its duties. Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan will serve as acting prime minister in the meantime. (more) https://www.thaipbsworld.com/thai-pm-suspended-from-duty-by-charter-court-deputy-prawit-becomes-acting-pm/

Constitutional Court Orders Prayut Suspended From Duties BANGKOK (AP) — The Constitutional Court ruled Wednesday that Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha must suspend his active duties while the court decides whether he has overstayed his legal term in office. It was not immediately announced who would assume his duties as acting prime minister. Under law, it would be Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan, who is ranked first among several deputies . He is a close political ally of Prayuth and part of the same military clique that that staged the 2014 coup that initially brought him to power. (more) https://www.khaosodenglish.com/politics/2022/08/24/constitutional-court-orders-prayut-suspended-from-duties/

As I understand it, the current "official" COVID case numbers the government now reports daily are only those requiring new hospitalization -- which is obviously a huge change from the past. The 30,000-60,000 per day estimates recently in the news are the government's estimates of the actual numbers of people coming down with the virus / testing positive for it on a daily basis -- numbers that they no longer publicly report day to day. But of course, many -- probably the majority of positive test results lately -- involve people taking ATK tests on their own and likely never reporting those to the government anywhere.... It's much easier to talk about declaring COVID "endemic" when your official case counts (new hospitalizations) are 2,000 per day -- as opposed to the 30K to 60K per day numbers, which probably are a significant undercount to reality.

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Several news trolling posts and comments have been removed. Per the forum's rule: 17. The ASEAN NOW news team gathers and disseminates news bulletins from Thai and international sources, and republishes them in the news forums for our members' information and enjoyment. Our news team works hard to bring quality content to the news forums and should be respected for their efforts. Comments such as "slow news day" or "clickbait headline" are disrespectful and unwelcome. Such comments will be sanctioned.

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More off-topic and trolling posts have been removed along with ensuing replies. Let's try to at least reasonably stick to the thread's topic: COVID infections on the rise in 44 provinces, over 30,000 new cases a day

Several COVID misinformation posts have been removed, along with ensuing replies, as well as a trolling post regarding the U.S. president.

Several posts and replies have been removed and/or edited for misinformation, trolling or personal comments, and one for using a disallowed social media source.

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From the actual study itself: Abstract https://www.preprints.org/manuscript/202208.0151/v1 Full text PDF https://www.preprints.org/manuscript/202208.0151/v1/download Cardiovascular Effects of the BNT162b2 mRNA COVID-19 Vaccine in Adolescents "our study found one case of myopericarditis, four cases of subclinical myocarditis, and two cases of pericarditis among 301 participants, but each case had mild symptoms." ... "By contrast, the incidence of COVID-19 [disease]-associated cardiac injury or myocarditis is much higher, estimated to be 100 times higher than mRNA [vaccine] COVID-19-related myocarditis." ... "The long-term outcomes of COVID-19 vaccine have not been described, but in our study nearly 100% of patients with symptoms had recovered within 1–2 weeks, concordant with another study." ... "one patient with myopericarditis in our study follow-up with cMRI at 5 months after vaccination showed complete recovery and no scar." ... "Overall, COVID-19 mRNA vaccination has an extremely favorable outcome and should be recommended for adolescents." "5. Conclusions Clinically suspected myocarditis is temporarily associated with the BNT162b2 mRNA COVID-19 vaccine in a small proportion of adolescent patients. Chest pain is an alarming symptom in patients receiving BNT162b2 mRNA COVID-19 vaccination, especially a second dose of BNT162b2. We found the risk of these symptoms to be not as low as reported elsewhere, but in all cases, symptoms were mild with full recovery within 14 days."

Reuters has done a fact-check report on the various social media reports circulating about the Thai study on youngster reactions to the Pfizer COVID vaccine, finding them inaccurate and misleading, as follows: Fact Check - Study of Thai teenagers did not find one third experienced heart effects after COVID vaccination "A study of 301 teens in Thailand found mild and temporary heart rhythm changes after a second dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine among one in six teenagers, not one-third as social media posts claim. The study also saw possible signs of heart inflammation in just seven of those teens with rhythm changes and confirmed myocarditis in only one of the seven. Social media users are circulating the study of post-vaccination heart effects in Thai teenagers with the claim that a third of participants experienced heart effects, and the suggestion that the results indicate a new danger level for children. These posts are missing context: the study’s authors concluded, “We found the risk of these symptoms to be not as low as reported elsewhere, but in all cases, symptoms were mild with full recovery within 14 days.” (more) https://www.reuters.com/article/factcheck-heart-teens-vaccine/fact-check-study-of-thai-teenagers-did-not-find-one-third-experienced-heart-effects-after-covid-vaccination-idUSL1N2ZT2B5

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