While the tech mogul admitted he didn’t want to sound “doom and gloom”, he said there was a risk that an “even more transmissive and even more fatal” variant could be generated.“We’re still at risk of this pandemic generating a variant that would be even more transmissive and even more fatal,” he told the Financial Times.“It’s not likely, I don’t want to be a voice of doom and gloom, but it’s way above a 5 per cent risk that this pandemic, we haven’t even seen the worst of it.”It is not the first time Mr Gates has made such a prediction.He has been a prominent figure in the pandemic, having warned of a global outbreak back in 2015. And in December 2021, he warned his millions of Twitter followers to brace themselves for the worst part of the pandemic.More than six million people have been killed worldwide from Covid-19 since March 2020, but case numbers and deaths have been dropping in recent weeks.The 58-year-old is now calling for the development of longer-lasting vaccines while urging world leaders to put funding into preparing the world for future health threats.Gates is releasing his new book How to Prevent the Next Pandemic on Tuesday. OPRAH WINFREY STILL FEARS COVID, SLAMS MASK RULEOprah Winfrey has slammed a court ruling that lifted the mask mandate for public transportation, saying “it’s too soon” to remove Covid-19 restrictions.Discussing her new documentary “The Color of Care with the Los Angeles Times, the veteran talk show host also revealed she spent 332 days in her home without leaving during the peak of the pandemic.The 68-year-old, who quarantined at her $40 million mansion in Santa Barbara, California, told the outlet she is not quite ready just yet to let go of precautions. “I personally think it’s too soon to be removing masks from planes. But that’s what people choose to do. And if I were on a commercial plane, I would be one of the people who would still be wearing my mask,” she said.“And I would be one of the people still wearing my masks in an enclosed building with people who I didn’t know if they were or were not vaccinated. “But that is just me. And I certainly accept that there are other people who disagree. I’m OK with that as long as I can wear mine.”Several airlines dropped mask mandates after US District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle in Tampa, an appointee of former President Donald Trump, struck down the Biden policy on April 18.In Judge Mizelle’s 59-page ruling, she suggested that the mandate – in which non-complying travellers are ’forcibly removed from their aeroplane seats, denied board at the bus steps, and turned away at the train station doors’ – was akin to ’detention and quarantine,’ CNN reported. However, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has since requested the Justice Department to appeal the ruling and reinstate the mask mandate after a recent spike in the BA. 2 Omicron variant cases. Oprah — whose film airs on Sunday — said she is aware of the “immense privilege” her fame and wealth have granted her throughout the pandemic. “One of the reasons I read all of those stories is because I am appalled, I am stunned. I don’t recognise a country where you’ve lost nearly a million people and there hasn’t been some form of remembering that is significant,” she said. “ … There hasn’t been a communal gathering where there is acknowledgment that this has happened to us. Who are we that there is no acknowledgment, profoundly, in our society that we have lost our loved ones? And at times, we’re not even able to bury our dead.COVID OUTBREAK BRINGS BEIJING TO STANDSTILLMajor Beijing tourist venues were virtually deserted on Sunday, local time, and restaurant traffic ground to a standstill, as a typically bustling public holiday was overshadowed by a Covid outbreak that has shunted millions under lockdown nationwide.China’s staunch zero-Covid policy has kept the virus at bay for more than two years but it is currently facing its worst outbreak since the start of the pandemic thanks to an Omicron-fuelled wave.Millions across the country – particularly in economic engine Shanghai – have been pushed to stay at home for weeks, as the lockdowns have dampened economic growth and investor sentiment in the world’s second-largest economy.Beijing so far has reported over 300 cases under the current wave, and authorities on Saturday banned citywide dining services starting Sunday to May 4 — an attempt to kerb infections during a holiday that is typically an annual peak consumption period.“It will have a definite impact on sales,” a restaurant employee surnamed An told AFP, as she scanned for customers around Beijing’s Dongcheng district — home to historic attractions like the Forbidden City.Eateries nearby were shuttered, with some only allowing customers to order takeaway if they have a negative Covid test.This restriction is the latest measure ordered by Beijing authorities, who say all visitors to public spaces must have a negative test result within the past 48 hours.The Temple of Heaven — one of China’s biggest historical attractions — is usually heaving with tens of thousands of visitors a day elbowing each other. But on Sunday, masked families could snap selfies without any interruptions along the imperial complex.Instead of entering the Forbidden City, lines of people waited outside the palace complex to get a swab test — a new normal for Beijing residents.About 30 kilometres east of the palace on the city’s outskirts, Universal Studios — Beijing’s largest Western theme park boasting a Jurassic World and Harry Potter-themed zones — announced its indefinite closure Sunday.It was launched in September and has seen more than two million visitors in five months.The Labour Day holiday was supposed to be a massive commercial coup for the park — which earlier this week had initially required a negative Covid test within 24 hours of visiting.The capital reported 59 new infections Sunday, as officials announced the reopening of a Covid quarantine hospital that has not been mobilised since the pandemic’s first wave in 2020.All indoor fitness activities — like public gyms and pools — were suspended starting Sunday until May 4, while authorities say about 4,000 makeshift hospital beds had been prepared and larger quarantine centres were being constructed.“There still exists a small number of hidden infected (patients) found through community screening,” Beijing health official Pang Xinghuo said at a Sunday briefing.“The epidemic is overall at a high plateau period.” Meanwhile in Shanghai, officials declared Sunday that “community transmission risk has been effectively curbed” and that daily infections are trending downwards.The financial hub of 25 million has been locked down for almost a month, with residents complaining of food shortages and lack of timely medical care.TAIWAN SAYS NO TO ‘CRUEL’ LOCKDOWNTaiwan will not act “as cruelly as China” in imposing lockdowns, its premier said Sunday, despite surging coronavirus infection numbers.The self-governing island recorded more than 10,000 new cases for the first time on Thursday, as the government moves from its zero-Covid strategy and begins living with the virus.That figure hit 16,936 on Sunday.Taiwan’s shift leaves neighbouring China — including its financial hub Hong Kong — as the only major economy still sticking to a zero-tolerance policy even as Omicron breaks through defences and forces painful lockdowns.“We will not lock down the country and cities as cruelly as China,” Premier Su Tseng-chang told reporters before a top government meeting on pandemic prevention.“Countries all over the world have been opening up to live with the virus. Taiwan … will continue to move towards living normal lives and gradually head to a new phase in epidemic prevention,” he said at the meeting.The barbed comment from Su — whose ruling party leans towards Taiwanese independence — comes after years of heightened tension between China and the island, which Beijing views as part of its territory.Taiwan has largely closed its borders and implemented strict quarantine rules throughout the pandemic, keeping infection numbers low.An outbreak last year prompted the temporary reimposition of economically painful social distancing measures until it was brought under control.Infections are once again rising but the island’s leaders have signalled they will follow other former zero-Covid economies such as Singapore, Australia and New Zealand by opening up.Health Minister Chen Shih-chung warned last week that Taiwan’s daily case count could more than double to 37,000 in a week.Around 80 per cent of the population are double vaccinated, while nearly 60 per cent have taken a third shot.Since the pandemic began Taiwan has reported 132,955 cases and 868 related deaths.UK: CABINET OFFICE WAS WARNED PARTIES WERE BREAKING LAWA report into lockdown-breaking parties will expose emails revealing widespread “premeditation” by civil servants and Downing Street staff who knew they were breaking the law, according to the Times of London.A senior official familiar with the contents said the findings would be “difficult for everyone”, according to the Times.One source has suggested the report will leave Mr Johnson, who has already been fined for attending an event to mark his 56th birthday, with no option but to resign.Shockingly, the report cites a series of emails that “expose the extent to which the parties were premeditated and the rules were being wilfully broken.”There is also a “lack of contrition shown by those who have been found to have broken the rules.”A June 18, 2020, party of 20 people gathering in a room close to the cabinet secretary’s office was described by officials as “raucous”.Staff were warned by officials that it might be a breach of the rules.The report cites copies of another email, which shows that a senior official warned a key staffer against inviting 100 staff to a “bring your own booze” party in the No 10 garden on May 20, 2020. Police have started issuing fines for the party, which Mr Johnson attended with Carrie Symonds, then his fiancee, and more than 50 Downing Street staff.
Powered by WPeMatico
