COVID CORNER
Bomb plots, striking sex workers and a dead Norwegian conspiracy theorist
ANTI-VAX BOMBER
Netherlands police arrested a 37-year-old man on suspicion of plotting to bomb a Covid vaccination centre. The man was arrested on 18 March after police learned that he planned to attack a former town hall now repurposed as a vaccination centre in the northern port of Den Helder, 90km (55 miles) north of Amsterdam. Police are now investigating whether the suspect had any accomplices. In early March, a blast caused by what police described as a “homemade device” smashed windows at a Covid testing centre in a small Dutch town. And in January, rioters torched another testing facility in the fishing village of Urk on the first night of the nationwide curfew imposed as part of the government’s latest coronavirus lockdown. Prosecutors are treating the alleged plot as a terrorist act because it “aimed to instil serious fear among the population and to disrupt the economic and social structures of the country”. Their statement added: “This also affects public health: The fewer people can be vaccinated, the more victims the virus will claim.” The Netherlands is currently in a months-long lockdown while infection figures are still high. Restaurants, bars, museums and other public places remain closed, although the government is considering a relaxation of some restrictions for people who can prove they have been vaccinated or have tested negative. apnews.com, 8 Apr 2021.
BRAZILIAN VAX: PROSTITUTES DOWN TOOLS
Sex workers in Belo Horizonte in southeastern Brazil have gone on strike for a week, demanding they be included in the frontline workers category, those who will be offered the Covid vaccine as a priority.
Thousands of sex workers in the city say that closure of hotels due to the lockdown has forced them to solicit for clients on the street. “We are in the front line, moving the economy and we are at risk,” said Cida Vieira, president of the Association of Prostitutes of Minas Gerais state. “We need to get vaccinated.” Ms Vieira and other women held a protest on a street lined with shuttered hotels where they used to work, waving placards saying: “Sex workers are professionals” and “Sex work and health”. Lucimara Costa, one of the protesting women, said: “We are part of the priority group because we deal with various types of people and our lives are at risk.” Ms Vieira added: “We are a priority group, we are health educators, peer educators. We form part of that group, since we give information about STIs for men, distribute condoms.”
The government has prioritised health workers, elderly citizens, those with underlying health conditions, teachers, and indigenous peoples. They hope to vaccinate this group, comprising 77 million people, during the first half of 2021, but experts fear that a shortage of doses may mean this programme may continue into September. 332,000 people have died from Covid in Brazil, a pro capita death toll second only to the USA. [AFP], 7 Apr 2021.
DENIER’S DEMISE
A prominent Norwegian Covid denier and conspiracy theorist has died after hosting two illegal events in a barn at his property in Gran, 40 miles (64km) north of Oslo. Hans Kristian Gaarder, 60, died on 6 April; the post mortem revealed he had died from
coronavirus. At least 12 guests at Gaarder’s events, held on 26 and 27 March, are reported to have also contracted the virus and infected others. Gatherings had been banned in the area since 16 March, because of the rising infection rate, and police are now trying to establish and trace the other attendees.
It is thought that Gaarder may have been ill for several weeks without informing anyone. He appeared on television as well as editing an online magazine, and frequently posted messages on Facebook claiming Covid to be no worse than the common cold, posts that were marked as ‘false information’. In 2009, he rose to prominence as one of three people who reported Norway’s National Institute of Public Health to the police for “engaging in extreme fear propaganda and lies regarding swine flu”. As well as disseminating anti-vaxxer views, Gaarder also posted theories about the Illuminati and claims that President Biden’s election victory had been illegitimate. His 26 March event was advertised as “Trump, Biden and the way forward for the USA and the world”. D.Mail, 15 Apr 2021.
PREHISTORIC COVID
A new study indicates that an ancient coronavirus, or a closely related pathogen, triggered an epidemic among ancestors of present-day East Asians around 25,000 years ago.
DNA analysis of over 2,000 people showed genetic changes in response to this ancient epidemic accumulated over the next 20,000 years or so. The finding raises the possibility that some East Asian people today may have inherited biological adaptations to coronaviruses. Genes with ancient viral histories might also provide clues to researchers searching for better antiviral drugs.
The study used a publicly available DNA database of 2,504 individuals from 26 ethnic populations on five continents, which included Chinese Dai, Vietnamese Kinh and African Yoruba people, initially focusing on 420 proteins known to interact with coronaviruses, including 332 that interact with SARSCoV-2. Substantially increased production of all 420 proteins, a sign of past exposures to coronavirus-like epidemics, was found only in East Asians. The findings are consistent with an initially vigorous genetic response to a virus that waned over time. This may either have been because East Asians adapted to the virus, or the virus lost its ability to cause disease, but if the former, may provide an explanation for reduced Covid infection and death rates reported in East Asian nations. However, other factors, such as fast and strict lockdowns and widespread mask use, may have deterred infections in some of these countries. The study’s findings follow related evidence that a set of inherited Neanderthal gene variants raise the risk of developing severe Covid in some South Asian and European people, while other variants may provide some level of protection. sciencenews.org,14 Apr 2021.
VACCINATION NO-SHOW
When pensioner Christina Malley failed to turn up for her Covid vaccination, nurses visited her home in Cove, Aberdeen. The remains of Mrs Malley, who would have been in her 80s, were later found inside the property, leading to a police investigation. Exactly how and when she died has not yet been established, but it is understood that her death occurred at least 10 and possibly 12 years ago. D.Mirror, 10 Mar 2021.
ON A TIGHT LEASH
A Canadian husband and wife were each issued with $1,500 fines by Quebec police for violating the lockdown curfew, despite the wife’s protests that she was walking her dog. The couple were caught walking in the southern Quebecois city of Sherbrooke at 9pm one Saturday night in February, with the woman leading her husband who was wearing a leash. Quebec’s current lockdown regulations state that people may walk their dogs after the 8pm curfew, as long as they stay within one kilometre of their house. Police said the two were walking towards the downtown area of Sherbrooke and refused to cooperate with officers. montreal. ctvnews.ca, 12 Jan 2021.
BILLY GOAT BONANZA
In the first lockdown of last year, the Kashmiri goats living on the Great Orme in North Wales made headlines when they left the rocky headland they usually call home and laid claim to the streets of nearby Llandudno ( FT392:7). The brazen billy goats – it appears to be the bolder males that made the journey – now appear to have spread beyond the town centre, where they may be in danger from increased traffic as Wales comes out of lockdown. Sally Pidcock, warden of the Great Orme Country Park, said: “They have become very confident because so few people have been around again during lockdown. We’re asking motorists to keep an eye out for them.” What’s more, over the last year there has been a population explosion among the herd after the Covid crisis forced countryside wardens to abandon a planned contraceptive injection campaign. There are now thought to be some 30 male goats at large in the town and 150 less adventurous ones, plus females and kids, on the Orme. Guardian, 17 Mar 2021.