Seasoned actor #DelnaazIrani says the #Coronavirus pandemic has made her realise to find happiness, peace and value everything that she has in life. Last year when the coronavirus pandemic hit India, Delnaaz says at a time when a lot of people were badly hit due to it she was thankful to God for many things she had in life. “I have realized there were so many people suffering, financially or emotionally. So we must be grateful for everything and be peaceful with what we have in our own life,” Delnaaz says.

London: British and US spies have been urged to probe wild claims that China purposefully tricked the world into lockdown to trigger an economic crash.

An open letter appealing to the intelligence services has been signed off by a number of lockdown sceptics including lawyers, human rights activists, and a former US Air Force general.

China has returned to some sort of normality amid the pandemic Credit: Getty Images – Getty

American lawyer Michael Senger, from Georgia, has led the charge as he last year revealed the theory that the Communist Party promoted nationwide shutdowns in a bid to actively cripple rival economies.

He and the co-signees of the 11,000 word document allege lockdown policies may have been a “fraud of unprecedented proportions” perpetuated by China.

The letter urges security agencies to “commence or expedite” investigations into whether China peddled faulty data to push the world towards lockdown.

Scientists however have estimated that lockdowns have saved millions of lives worldwide and helped contain the pandemic.

Lockdowns remain government policy and are supported by scientific advisors the world over after first being used in China.

“We are writing this letter to request that a federal investigation be commenced and/or expedited regarding the scientific debate on major policy decisions during the Covid-19 crisis,” the letter reads.

“In the course of our work, we have identified issues of a potentially criminal nature and believe this investigation necessary to ensure the interests of the public have been properly represented by those promoting certain pandemic policies.”

China continues to face questions over its handling of the pandemic as evidence mounts that it covered-up the initial outbreak and may have hampered the global response.

It has however vigorously defended itself from any allegations of improper behaviour over Covid.

Some 2million have been killed by the virus, while more than 91million have been infected since it first emerged in Wuhan.

“The public supports lockdowns because the alternative is a possibility too evil for most to contemplate”

The coronavirus pandemic has triggered the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression – with the global economy contracting by 5 per cent in 2020.

It is estimated around 400-million full times jobs have been wiped out by the pandemic as businesses were forced to close, according to the International Labour Organisation.

China is however forecast to enjoy one of the of the most significant economic growths in 2021 – with an expansion of 7.9 per cent forecast by the World Bank, following growth of 2.0 per cent in 2020.

The United States is forecast to have growth of 3.5 per cent, while Europe will have 3.6 per cent following respective dips of 3.6 per cent and 7.4 per cent in 2020.

The open letter has been sent to five nations’ intelligence agencies

Senger and his colleagues’ letter – titled The Chinese Communist Party’s Global Lockdown Fraud – has been addressed to the FBI and MI5 along with security services in Canada, Germany and Australia.

It has been signed off by figures such as retired US Brigadier General Robert Spalding, Brit human rights activist Maajid Nawaz, former Australia government economist Sanjeev Sabhlok, and Canadian lawmaker Randy Hillier.

It reads: “Given the gravity of the decisions being made, we cannot ignore the possibility that the entire ‘science’ of Covid-19 lockdowns has been a fraud of unprecedented proportion, deliberately promulgated by the Chinese Communist Party and its collaborators to impoverish the nations who implemented it.”

The letter adds: “For the general public, the idea that anyone might accept some outside incentive to support such devastating policies while knowing them to be ineffective — needlessly bankrupting millions of families and depriving millions of children of education and food — is, quite simply, too dark.

“Thus, the public supports lockdowns because the alternative — that they might have been implemented without good cause — is a possibility too evil for most to contemplate.”

The lengthy document breaks down the signees criticism of lockdown into 11 sections – all of which claim allegedly faulty lockdown modelling can be traced back to China.

It controversially alleges lockdowns are based on totalitarian policies of the Communist Party and Chinese president Xi Jinping rather than science.

President Xi Jinping imposed the first lockdowns in China Credit: Getty Images – Getty

It claims China orchestrated an effort to push nations towards lockdown through a “global propaganda campaign”.

The letter details how apocalyptic videos from Wuhan went viral early in the pandemic, such as showing people collapsing in the street, but these scenes were never repeated elsewhere.

China then placed several cities into lockdown and appeared to get the virus under control – with it never experiencing another wave on the scale that has been seen in the Europe and the United States.

Thousands of posts then started being circulating online from accounts linked to the China which praised the regime’s response.

Twitter is known to have taken action to crackdown on disinformation apparently being used to boost China’s message and praise the Communist Party’s response.

It is claimed much of this effort was focused on Italy, the first Western nation to go into lockdown – which sparked many others to follow.

WHO described the lockdown of Wuhan as “unprecedented” in January, before actively encouraging other nations to follow China’s lead just one month later.

China was the first nation to suffer during the outbreak Credit: AFP or licensors

China has denied any improper behavour over its handling of the pandemic Credit: AFP or licensors

Lockdowns however have been credited with saving millions of lives and some suggested they may actually help economies in the long term.

A study by Imperial College London assessed the impact of restrictions in 11 European countries – Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK up to the start of May.

It estimated some 3.2million people would have died if not for measures telling people to stay home and closing businesses in the first wave.

The study included estimations Boris Johnson’s decision to go with lockdown saved 470,000 lives in the UK.

US scientists also published a study in the journal Nature claiming that lockdowns in China, South Korea, Italy, Iran, France and the United States had prevented or delayed around 530 million Covid-19 cases.

Solomon Hsiang, who co-led the second study at the University of California, said: “Without these policies, we would have lived through a very different April and May.”

WHO have admitted however that the lockdowns can have a “profound negative impact on individuals, communities and societies by bringing social and economic life to a near stop”.

The International Monetary Fund has also said while lockdowns may “impose short-term costs” they may lead to “faster economic recovery” by “bringing infections under control”.

It added: “Lifting lockdowns is unlikely to lead to a decisive and sustained economic boost if infections are still elevated, as voluntary social distancing will likely persist.”

China is facing renewed international scrutiny as a team of scientists from WHO arrive to begin investigating the origins of Covid.

Cover up fears rage as China deleted 300 studies carried out by its famous “Batwoman” virologist, and MPs called on the UK government to probe renewed allegations of a “lab leak”.

Britain faces potentially even tougher lockdown rules as infections continue to surge as cops have been urged to be tougher than ever on flouters.

The number of excess deaths recorded in the UK since the start of the coronavirus pandemic has now passed 88,000.

It has been warned the NHS is now being stretched to its limits after weeks of spread leading up to Christmas.

China has recorded 87,591 cases and 4,634 deaths, while the UK has suffered 3.1million infections and 83,203 fatalities.

One image shows a normal healthy pair of lungs, another the lungs of a smoker, and the third the lungs of a coronavirus patient.The normal lungs are dark and see-through, the smoker’s are partly whited by scarring, while the coronavirus patient’s are in parts almost opaque.

Writing on twitter, Dr Bankhead-Kendall said: “I don’t know who needs to hear this, but ‘post-Covid’ lungs look worse than any type of terrible smoker’s lungs we’ve ever seen.

“And they collapse. And they clot off. And the shortness of breath lingers on… & on… & on.”

Doctors have previously warned about the effects of long Covid, a set of symptoms experienced by many who have otherwise recovered from coronavirus.

They include fatigue, breathlessness, palpitations, joint and muscle pain, and brain fog.

Speaking later to CBS 11, Dr Bankhead-Kendall said: “After I shared this on twitter, I cannot tell you how many responses I received about people experiencing this exact thing.

“Everyone’s just so worried about the mortality thing and that’s terrible and it’s awful. But man, and all the survivors and the people who have tested positive this is, it’s going to be a problem.”

She said that, of the people she’s treated, all of those who had experienced symptoms had a poor chest x-ray.

She said even people who had not experienced symptoms had poor x-rays around three quarters of the time.

“There are still people who say, ‘I’m fine, I don’t have any issues’.”And you pull up their chest X-ray and they absolutely have a bad chest X-ray,” she said.

She added that’s it’s not yet known whether any scarring caused by coronavirus would heal, but that anyone experiencing lasting shortness of breath should speak with their doctor.

Vaccine produced by parsi firm Serum Institute owned by Cyrus and Adar Poonawalla which are stored in glass vials produced by a parsi firm Schott Kaisha owned by Rishad Dadachanji.

Vaccines batches transported by Go Air owned by Jeh Wadia.

The Beginning To End The Pandemic.

Proud and emotional moment for India and Parsis;

Tata trucks headed for the airport, carrying the first vials of Covishield vaccine rolling out of Adar Poonewalla’s Serum Institute of India in the pre dawn darkness amidst cheering, after a small Puja, underlining once again the pledge made to King Jadi Rana that the Parsi community would be like sugar in a full cup of milk, adding sweetness but not making it overflow.

Jai Hind !

The Serum Institute of India has signed a contract with the Centre to supply 11 million doses of its coronavirus vaccine at a price of Rs 200 each on Monday.The firm is the local maker of Covishield, the vaccine developed by the Oxford University and pharmaceuticals company AstraZeneca. The vaccine was given emergency-use approval earlier this month, along with Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin.

Cyrus Poonawalla, the chairperson of the Poonawalla group, told the newspaper that the company was expecting a bigger order for vaccines next week.

Poonawalla said that the private sector should also be allowed to simultaneously roll out the vaccine. “Why should the private market and vulnerable groups – mainly elderly people – be deprived till the government starts distributing in their priority areas?” he told thenews agency.

Poonawalla added that the Serum Institute had a stock of 50 million [5 crore] doses for immediate distribution.

The Serum Institute is likely to begin dispatching vaccine doses from Tuesday. It needs to cover more than 20 locations across several states. The vaccines will be transported via air and road.

An unidentified official from the Serum Institute told the news agency that the company will supply the initial 100 million doses to the government at Rs 200 per dose. The vaccine will, however, cost Rs 1,000 when it is made available in the market by June.The Centre is planning to inoculate 300 million people in the first phase of the massive vaccination drive, which is set to begin on January 16. This would require 600 million vaccine doses.Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said that the Centre will bear the cost of vaccinating about 30 million healthcare and frontline workers against the coronavirus in the first phase of India’s massive inoculation drive. He added that people above the age of 50 and those with comorbidities will get the vaccine next.

To assess the preparedness at all levels before the actual rollout of the vaccine, a third dry run on January 8 covered 4,895 sites across 615 districts in 33 states and Union Territories. Experts have said that vaccinating a billion people, including hundreds of millions of adults for the first time, against Covid-19 will be a daunting task in the first tranche.

India has so far registered 1,04,66,595 coronavirus cases and 1,51,160 deaths. As of Monday morning, the country’s active cases stood at 2,22,526 and the number of recoveries reached, 1,00,92,909. Meanwhile, the number of cases of the United Kingdom mutant virus strain rose to 96.

London: Boris Johnson today warned to tighten the lockdown rules yet again – as he revealed today that 2.4million Covid jabs have been given out so far.

The PM gave a stark warning that further action may be needed – just a week after England’s new national lockdown began.

Hundreds of thousands more people have got the Covid vaccine, the PM has said todayCredit: Eddie_Mulholland@hotmail.com

The PM said as he visited a vaccination centre in the South West today: “We are going to keep the rules under constant review. Where we have to tighten them, we will.

“But we have rules in place which, if properly followed, we believe can make a huge, huge difference.”

He urged everyone to stay at home as much as possible to protect the NHS and save lives – and he urged everyone to consider their actions as it was such a “perilous time” for the nation.

Although he stopped short of telling Brits they shouldn’t enjoy a take-away coffee in a park, he added: “It’s now that people need to focus – whether they are out shopping, whether they are buying coffee in the park or wherever it happens to be, they need to think about spreading the disease.

“Because as Chris said, one contact that you have can be a chain of transmission for this disease.

“Now is the moment of maximum vigilance, maximum observation and observance of the rules, and of course if we think things are not being properly observed then we may have to do more.”

The news comes after two women were fined £200 by Derbyshire police for having a walk with a cup of tea last weekend – accusing them of having a picnic.

After repeatedly refusing to clarify the issue, Downing Street finally admitted this lunchtime it was within the rules.

The PM’s spokesperson said: “Takeaways are permitted, cafes and restaurants are permitted to allow takeaways. People are permitted to exercise once a day… It shouldn’t be used for socialising.”

Brits have been told only to leave their home to exercise, get food or a small list of other reasons as part of the national lockdown to save lives and cut the number of Covid cases down.

But parks have been rammed over the weekend as Brits flock to beauty spots to take their exercise.

There is no rule or law which states how far people are allowed to travel, but the advice is to stay local if people can.

It Came As:

● Boris Johnson also said today that 2 million have had at least one jab, and 400,000 got their top-up second vaccine.

● The Health secretary will give a press conference tonight on how the vaccine will be rolled out.

● Wales said people should wear masks in all public places – including outside.

Around one million people have got the jab in the last week alone – and hundreds of thousands more are set to get it every day.

Matt Hancock said on Sunday the figure stood at around 2million.

It comes as seven super vaccination centres opened across Britain today – to fulfil the PM’s aim of doing 200,000 a day by Friday.

50 will open by the end of the week.

Boris has promised that 13million vulnerable Brits will be offered their first jabs by the middle of February.

More mass-scale vaccination centres will open in the coming days and weeks.

The PM visited one in Bristol to see how the rollout was working.

600,000 Brits who live less than a 45 minute drive away will be written to, asking them to book a slot.

The locations are:

● Robertson House in Stevenage
● ExCel Centre in London
● Centre for Life in Newcastle
● Etihad Tennis Centre in Manchester
● Epsom Downs Racecourse in Surrey
● Ashton Gate Stadium in Bristol
● Millennium Point in Birmingham

The PM has promised to inoculate 13.5 million people in just five weeks, and ministers are gearing up for a marathon task.

A fuller plan will be published at tonight’s press conference, which will be led by Matt Hancock.

He will also give an update on how and when everyone can expect to get vaccinated.

The PM visiting a vaccine centre in Bristol todayCredit: Eddie_Mulholland@hotmail.com

The Queen, 94, and the Duke of Edinburgh, 99, both meet the Government age guidelines for those who should be given the vaccine.

The Queen’s Covid jab is a shot in the arm for the whole nation. With one swift action, she has done more to reassure Brits that the vaccine is safe than any number of expert pronouncements.

The Queen and Philip have been spending the lockdown in England sheltering at their Windsor Castle home after deciding to have a quiet Christmas at their Berkshire residence, and forgo the traditional royal family gathering at Sandringham.

It is not known which vaccine the Queen and duke were given but it is likely they will receive their second dose up to 12 weeks later.

The Queen and Prince Phillip were given their first Covid jabs Credit: Alamy

It is not the first time the 94-year-old monarch has been called upon to lead the way in times of trouble. Like her “we will meet again” speech, the personal gesture comes as the country faces one of its bleakest moments. But it also points to our escape route from the pandemic’s clutches.

And fittingly it is believed she was given the Oxford-developed AstraZeneca vaccine, which the PM has hailed as “a triumph of British science”.
We can only hope that officials follow the Queen’s shining example.

NHS pen-pushers are failing to match her pioneering spirit and are bogged down in red tape. While volunteers keen to help give jabs fill in lengthy questionnaires to meet Whitehall’s tick-box culture, the virus runs amok.

The UK’s huge death toll must wake them up to the fact lives depend on vaccinations more than diversity quotas.

Fittingly, it’s believed Her Majesty was given the Oxford-developed AstraZeneca vaccine Credit: AP: Associated Press

Our hospitals are at breaking point and reports from the front line are harrowing.

PROTECT THE VULNERABLE

The Government is pinning its hopes on three measures: rolling out vaccinations at speed, regular tests for key workers and enforcing the lockdown.

But the whole establishment needs to work faster to protect the vulnerable and then those who have to go out to work. So we welcome new efforts to protect key workers by giving them free tests when they clock on. It is these lower-paid staff, from hospital porters to supermarket stackers and bus drivers, who keep the country going.

Keeping them healthy must be a higher priority than slapping fines on people who drive a couple of miles for a walk.

Her Majesty’s self-sacrifice and sense of duty should be an example to us all.

Now the rest of them need to follow her example – and get on with the jab.

Ploddy Ridiculous

It sometimes seems like the police forces of this country have lost the plot.

Once they devoted resources to solving crime. Now they are obsessed with politically-correct box-ticking.

Priti Patel needs to get a grip of our PC police forces Credit: PA:Press Association

West Midlands cops have been named as among the worst in the UK for failing to record or crack down on offences.

Home Secretary Priti Patel must get a grip on these forces — before this farce leaves criminals laughing at us.

London: England will enter its toughest nationwide lockdown since March, with schools closed until mid-February, as Boris Johnson warned that the weeks ahead “will be the hardest yet”.

As new figures put the UK on course to exceed 100,000 Covid-related deaths before the end of the month without urgent action, the prime minister said once again that people must stay at home, with exercise limited to once a day. All non-essential shops were told to close from Monday night.

The lockdown will last for at least seven weeks, with measures to be reviewed during half-term week. Any relaxation would not come into effect before 22 February.

Just a day after urging millions of pupils to return to the classroom, Johnson announced all schools would switch to remote learning until the February half-term, and GCSE and A-level exams were unlikely to go ahead as planned.

The prime minister said parents would “reasonably ask why we did not make this decision sooner”, adding: “I completely understand the inconvenience and distress this late change will cause millions of parents and pupils up and down the country.”

In an 8pm address to the nation, the prime minister said he hoped that 12.2 million of the most vulnerable in society – care home residents and staff, frontline health and social care workers, all over-70s and the clinically extremely vulnerable – would get their first vaccinations by mid-February. The vaccines minister, Nadhim Zahawi, later said these four groups added up to 13.9 million people in England.

 

The UK was entering “the last phase of the struggle”, Johnson said, adding: “With every jab that goes into our arms, we are tilting the odds against Covid and in favour of the British people.”

The crackdown comes amid catastrophic figures for hospital admissions in England and warnings of a grim death toll by the end of the month. Johnson said:

 

On 4 January, there were 26,626 Covid patients in hospital in England, up 30% on a week earlier. The peak of admissions in the first wave was 18,374 on 12 April; the country is now 40% above that level. Across the UK, there were 80,664 positive tests on 29 December, with the case rate three times higher than at the start of December.

 

According to the analysis, there have been 91,453 deaths in the UK with Covid-19 on the death certificate or within 28 days of a positive test. Given the current trajectory, the UK could reach the grim milestone of 100,000 deaths before the end of the month, experts warned.

 

On Monday, the UK’s chief medical officers recommended that the Covid alert move to its highest level, from 4 to 5, meaning there is a “material risk of healthcare services being overwhelmed” and necessitating extremely strict social distancing.

 

“We are not confident that the NHS can handle a further sustained rise in cases and without further action there is a material risk of the NHS in several areas being overwhelmed over the next 21 days,” the chief medical officers of the four nations said, while urging those who still need emergency care for other illnesses to seek treatment.

 

Other UK leaders also announced new restrictions. All schools in Wales will be closed until at least 18 January, while mainland Scotland will be placed in full lockdown from midnight on Monday for the duration of January. The first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, said it was “no exaggeration to say that I am more concerned about the situation we face now than I have been at any time since March last year”.

Northern Ireland also looks set for new curbs, with Arlene Foster, the first minister of Northern Ireland, saying the region faces a “very dire situation”.

 

In his address to the nation, Johnson laid the blame for a third national lockdown squarely on a new, faster-spreading variant of the virus – despite widespread ongoing criticism of the government’s slowness to act.

 

“There is no doubt that in fighting the old variant of the virus, our collective efforts were working and would have continued to work,” Johnson said. “But we now have a new variant of the virus. It has been both frustrating and alarming to see the speed with which the new variant is spreading.”

 

Even in the past 36 hours, the prime minister had insisted schools were safe to open in most areas of the country. “There is no doubt in my mind that schools are safe,” he told the BBC’s Andrew Marr on Sunday.

 

However, the prime minister was unable to identify what he believed had changed since the preceding days, when most schools had been told to remain open – only saying in his address that schools were likely to act “as vectors for transmission, causing the virus to spread between households”.

 

Under the new lockdown, people in England will be ordered to stay at home from Tuesday and advised to leave only once a day for exercise. MPs are expected to vote the tough new measures into law from Wednesday, although businesses were advised to close from Monday night.

Across the country, people must now leave home only for work – and only if it is impossible to work from home – and for essential food and medicine. Exercise with one other person from a different household is permitted but the advice is to stay local and limit activity to once a day.

 

Other reasons to leave home will be limited to seeking medical care, fleeing the threat of harm and providing essential care.

 

All primary schools, secondary schools and colleges will be closed apart from for the children of key workers and vulnerable children. “We recognise that this will mean it is not possible or fair for all exams to go ahead this summer as normal,” Johnson said. “The education secretary will work with Ofqual [the regulator] to put in place alternative arrangements.”

 

Nurseries, alternative provision and special schools will remain open and existing rules for childcare support bubbles will continue, but students will not be able to return to university and will be expected to study online from their current residence until mid-February. In-person teaching can take place for a limited number of critical courses, such as medicine.

 

All non-essential retail and hospitality must close or remain closed. Restaurants and other premises can continue to offer deliveries or takeaways, but alcohol will no longer be permitted for takeaway or click and collect amid concerns about people congregating around pubs and bars.

 

Places of worship can remain open and offer communal worship – subject to social distancing – as can playgrounds, but outdoor sports venues, tennis courts and golf courses must close. Outdoor team sports will not be permitted, but professional sports, including the Premier League, may continue.

Those who are clinically extremely vulnerable will be advised to shield themselves as much as possible and should not go to work even if they cannot work from home, the government will advise.

 

The lockdown is set to come into effect in law as soon as possible, with regulations to be laid out on Tuesday and voted through parliament on Wednesday – although MPs have been warned not to attend parliament and told to participate remotely.

 

However, Johnson said the new rules should be followed from this evening, and businesses and the public should not wait for regulations to be passed.