Russia’s key space scientist dies of coronavirus

2020/05/05

Academician Yevgeny Mikrin, general designer of Russian Space Corporation Energia, who was earlier diagnosed with coronavirus, died in Moscow. The scientist died at Kommunarka hospital near Moscow, which specializes on the treatment of Covid-positive patients. 

"He was 64 years old. He was a very bright person who devoted his whole life to the development of the domestic space program. He was the general designer of NPO Energia, and was in charge of the manned program. In fact, we lost a key scientist, who served as a connection between fundamental science and practical space," Alexander Sergeev, Chair of the Russian Academy of Sciences said.

Vladimir Fortov, an academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, added that Mikrin was an outstanding specialists who could feel the work of technical devices. He was responsible for launching, supervising and docking processes in the manned space program.

“This is a huge loss,” he said.

The press service of the Russian Federal Space Agency Roscosmos confirmed the sad news and set out condolences to all his relatives and friends. The date and the place of the scientist’s funeral has not been reported yet. 

As the general designer of manned space programs, Mikrin was in charge of all promising developments in the field of manned space exploration. On April 9, he attended a manned launch from Baikonur Cosmodrome, when a new crew set off for the ISS.

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Covid-19 will change tourism unrecognizably

2020/05/04

Tourism is to undergo major transformations after the crisis associated with the coronavirus pandemic.

Against the backdrop of the pandemic, many countries of the world, including EU states, have introduced large-scale restrictions on social and economic life, including restrictions on trade. Cafes and restaurants were closed, borders were closed as well, but some day they will reopen. The tourist industry will start a new life when it happens, and it will be a whole new life. Tourism is not going to be the way it was. 

Mass tourist destinations are not going to reopen soon. This will be a gradual process, depending on successes in the fight against the coronavirus of each individual country.

The countries whose GDP directly depends on summer beach tourism will be the first to declare their "openness" to the maximum. For example, Egypt, Turkey, Greece, Italy will try to do this as soon as possible. In Egypt, the tourism sector accounts for up to 15% of the country's gross domestic product (GDP). Due to its closure as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, the country is losing at least $1 billion a month.

Beach tourism will have to be forgotten

Starting from May 3, Egyptian hotels will be allowed to accept domestic tourists, albeit under a number of conditions. For example, hotels should be booked only to a quarter of their capacity. To resume work, hotels must have a clinic with a resident doctor, checking body temperature of tourists and staff, and installing disinfection equipment will be mandatory. Hotels are required to provide part of the premises for quarantine zones for Covid-positive patients or for those potentially infected with coronavirus.

The EU will open its before only when the pandemic in all countries enters the calm phase. Germany, for example, has extended restrictions on inbound tourism until mid-June.

It goes without saying that the travel industry will suffer from coronavirus more than other industries. It will extricate from the crisis later than others too

Hotels will introduce new restrictions, refuse from buffets and public events. Sun loungers on beaches will most likely be screened off by protective fences and it will not be allowed to move them. All the pools will most likely remain closed. Blood tests and disinfection hours will be mandatory at hotels as well.

The complete list of restrictive measures for tourists is not known yet. Representatives of the tourist industry and governments have just begun to develop them.

Immune passports for tourists

Many airports in the world have already introduced new flight rules. The rules of social distancing are becoming a new standard. Sanitizers, electronic kiosks for self-registration are already being installed in many airports across the world to avoid queues and reduce the interaction of people with each other. Passenger traffic will be evenly distributed between terminals.

Travelers may have to obtain "immune passports." In particular, such documents are planned to be issued in Russia.

It remains unclear how passengers are going to be seated on board airplanes, though. Social distancing rules will automatically cut the number of passenger seats, which means an automatic increase in ticket prices. But it is already clear that wearing masks will be a prerequisite for flights.

In the future, the majority of people will most likely be spending their vacations at home. 
Traveling such a huge country as Russia can provide impressions for years to come. In addition to domestic tourism, the pandemic will revive the traditional “summer vacation” for Russians, when people spend summer living in their summer cottages (dachas) and working in their gardens. 

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Ten highly unpleasant questions that China wants to ask the USA

2020/05/04

US officials persistently accuse China of concealing the true extent of the outbreak of coronavirus disease to stock up on medical supplies. According to the USA, there is sufficient evidence to indicate that COVID-19 began to spread worldwide from a laboratory in Wuhan.

Supposedly, Beijing did not inform the WHO of the degree of contagiousness of the infection and hid data on an increase in imports of medical goods (face masks, surgical gowns, gloves, etc) and a decrease in their exports.

US President Donald Trump says that the Chinese authorities made a huge mistake at the early stage of the fight against the spread of coronavirus and misled the international community in trying to hide the infection. 

China believes USA is hiding the truth

The Chinese authorities reject all allegations claiming that China, from the very beginning of the epidemic, took an open and responsible position in informing the world community about the spread of the infection. The PRC also refers to numerous scientific confirmations and the WHO that say that the virus could not be created artificially.

In this regard, the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, People's Daily, has formulated ten questions, which the world wants the United States to answer. 

According to the publication, it has been more than 100 days since the discovery of the first case of COVID-19 in the United States. Since January 20, the number of confirmed cases in the United States has exceeded one million, which made the USA the leader in the number of confirmed cases and deaths.

As long as the epidemiological situation continues to worsen, US politicians spread false information and blame others, the People’s Daily says.

Such a position, the newspaper says, gives US officials an opportunity shift responsibility. In addition, it reveals dubious moments in the prevention and control of the epidemic in the United States.

The US government should answer ten questions, provide explanations to the world, the Chinese newspaper concludes. 

  1. Why doesn’t the U.S. government provide comprehensive protection for medical workers? Why were those reporting facts fired?
  2. There are over 20,000 deaths from the seasonal flu in America starting last September, how many of those cases were the novel coronavirus undetected?
  3. Why did Washington suddenly shut down its bioweapons lab in Fort Detrick, Maryland last July?
  4. Some senators offloaded shares while playing down the threats of the disease. Why aren’t they being held accountable?
  5. Why did the U.S. downplay the pandemic when it knew the disease would develop into one?
  6. When did the earliest COVID-19 infection happen in the U.S.? Why doesn’t Washington get experts to trace it?
  7. What secret research is being carried out at the biolabs established by the U.S. in former Soviet states? 
  8. Why was Brett Crozier relieved of his command after saving the lives of thousands of soldiers on board?
  9. Will the U.S. disclose its pandemic control timeline to the world?
  10. What effective measures have the U.S. adopted in the last two months other than the restrictions on travel with China?

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Under Bolsonaro, Brazilian indigenous peoples face severe and imminent threat

2020/05/04

Under Bolsonaro, Brazilian indigenous peoples face severe and imminent threat

The director of IBAMA has recently been fired as a move against protection of Indigenous Territories

 

By Karin Vivanco, Combate RA

Last Tuesday, Jair Bolsonaro's Minister of Environmental Affairs, Ricardo Salles,  fired Olivaldi Azevedo, the director of the Environmental Protection Department of IBAMA (Instituto Brasileiro do Meio Ambiente e dos Recursos Naturais Renováveis - 'Brazilian Institute of Environmental Affairs and natural Renewable resources'), which is the branch of the government responsible for inspection of protected lands. This move was a retaliation against Olivaldi's allegedly inaptitude to do what was expected from him: Refrain from environmental inspection in indigenous lands, so that land raiders and illegal miners and loggers could explore them without any interference.

Raiding, illegal mining and logging

Land raiding, mining and logging have always been a problem for indigenous peoples, but there was a fear that these activities could be intensified under Bolsonaro's government. Bolsonaro's position has always been for the reduction of the size of indigenous territories, and since its first day, he has been doing everything in his power to attack indigenous rights,  such as transferring the Secretary of Indigenous Affairs (FUNAI - Fundação Nacional do Índio) to the farmer-controlled Ministry of Agriculture or authorizing mining activities in protected lands. But now that the whole world is exposed to the dangers of the new coronavirus, indigenous peoples are much more under threat than before.

Deforestation is rising in Brazil

The World Health Organization's recommendation is to practice social distancing as much as possible, and indigenous peoples have been following it strictly. Entrance in indigenous lands are temporarily forbidden as a way to avoid contact and subsequent spread of COVID-19 among indigenous populations. Nonetheless, these efforts could be severely endangered by the lack of inspection against illegal activities in protected territories. There is clear evidence that invasions of indigenous lands have intensified during the pandemic. Despite the spread of COVID-19, deforestation in Amazonia is rising: During the first trimester of 2020, invasion alerts increased 51,45% in comparison to the first trimester of last year. Hugo Loss, the inspection coordinator of IBAMA, said that "[deforestation] rose, maybe in the expectancy that environmental inspection would not be so intense during the process of expansion of coronavirus, and because of that, indigenous peoples have been exposed to these invaders". The TV show Fantástico interviewed one land raider on April 12, who explicitly said that he had invaded the indigenous land of Yanomami after Jair Bolsonaro's promise to reduce the size of indigenous lands in Brazil. Recently, one young Yanomami died due to COVID-19, and the introduction and spread of the disease among the Yanomami might be connected to the presence of illegal miners next to their village.

Cover-up

Olivaldi Azevedo's dismissal occurred right after the TV show aired on Sunday. Fantástico showed that IBAMA has been trying to protect indigenous territories by driving out raiders and setting fire to their logging machinery, such as tractors and excavators. Nonetheless, internal sources in IBAMA claim that Olivaldi's role was to weaken the inspection of protected lands, and Fantástico's show proved that he was unable to fulfill it properly.

This dismissal is another proof that indigenous peoples of Brazil are severely endangered under Bolsonaro's government. The new coronavirus is present in all Brazilian states and spreading quickly, but the Brazilian government is repeatedly showing its inefficiency to protect indigenous populations. So far three indigenous people died of COVID-19, and without governmental assistance, this number will only rise in the next weeks.

Fonte: Combate ao Racismo Ambiental

Source: Fight against Environmental Racism

Sent by Amyra El-Khalili

Portuguese version

Pravda.ru

Photo: By Gleilson Miranda / Governo do Acre - https://ift.tt/3dgbd9C, CC BY 2.0, https://ift.tt/3b3udH9

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Russian scientists study immunity to COVID-19

2020/05/04

Russian scientists have launched a study, the purpose of which is to analyze the immunity that is formed in COVID-19-positive against. The key question that scientists have to answer is how the immune system works to protect the body against the novel virus, and whether it is possible to contract the infection repeatedly. 

The problem with the current virus is that it appeared only a short while ago, and scientists have not been able to study it thoroughly. For the time being, they can only suggest that as long as this is a SARS virus, immunity to COVID-19 will be retained for about two years. However, there is no confirmed data as per the preservation of immunity.

According to Anton Ershov, Doctor of Medical Sciences, Professor of pathophysiology at the Moscow State Medical University, the optimal scenario for stable immunity to form against COVID-19 is the mild course of the disease without the excessive use of medications. In this case, the human body builds maximum immunity to the novel coronavirus.

An infected individual may not form immunity to the novel virus in two cases: if the course of the disease was either very mild or extremely severe. In the first case, the human body will not have the necessary amount of virus to take the infection seriously to start producing antibodies to it. In the second case, when the immune system does not form, - if a person is too ill. According to the professor, in severe cases of the disease, the body will be so stressed out that all of its compensatory forces will be spent on supporting life, rather than defense to provide protection against infection in the future. The body will not have enough strength, namely, proteins for the formation of antibodies, the scientist said. 

Vaccine against COVID-19 can be very dangerous

"If we fail to cope with the problem by autumn, if we do not suppress the emergence of new cases and the spread of the coronavirus, the second wave will arrive. This is a seasonal virus that will be active in autumn and winter time,” the professor said. 

As for the imminent creation of the vaccine against the coronavirus, it is not going to appear in the near future.

“Even if the whole world now starts working on the new vaccine to the detriment of other vaccines, the production of the necessary number of doses will take up to two years. That’s a long process," the professor said. 

“Before one can start the serial production of the new vaccine, one must go through a very important stage of testing, which should also take at least another two, sometimes 3-4 years. Very few experts are optimistic about the rapid emergence of the new vaccine. Cutting the terms of clinical trials is wrong. We don’t know what consequences the new vaccient may lead to in the long term. Maybe it will cause oncology or fetal genetic disorders? There were cases in the past a poorly tested cure had caused severe consequences," the professor said. 

Antibiotics and sedentary lifestyle ruin immunity

Olga Pashchenko, assistant professor of immunology at the Russian National Research Medical University named after N.I. Pirogov, believes that one of the main reasons for the human immunity to deteriorate under current conditions is the uncontrollable use of antibiotics. Antibiotics do not destroy viruses - they treat bacterial infections that arise as complications from viral diseases.

In case of uncontrollable administration of antibiotics, pathogens' immunity to them increases due to multiple mutations of the genome of viruses and bacteria. 

Self-treatment with the use of antibiotic drugs makes us less susceptible to a new, unknown virus. The immunity of the human population has deteriorated very much over the years: adults and children become sick at a greater frequency, infections becoming more severe, causing more and more complications.

A person can ruin their immunity easily. During the current self-isolation regime against the backdrop of the coronavirus pandemic, many have developed extremely harmful habits, such as overeating, drinking and a sedentary lifestyle.

The biggest mistake that people make is nightly overeating. Under the pressure of negative news, many people eat more junk food and drink more carbonated drinks. Such a lifestyle may lead to obesity, diabetes and heart diseases. It also worsens the hormonal background and raises the risk for developing atherosclerosis and dementia. Sitting in front of the computer for too long can be very dangerous. In self-isolation, many people spend whole days at their computers, working, playing games or watching entertaining shows. Sedentary lifestyle increases the risks of heart attacks, strokes and cancer. Doctors recommend sweating from physical activities five times a week.

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