COVID-19 update, worldwide

This 24 June 2020 video from the USA says about itself:

Outbreak at San Quentin: COVID Is Skyrocketing in CA Prisons. Why Haven’t More People Been Released?

As coronavirus rapidly spreads through California’s overcrowded prisons, 400 people have tested positive for the virus at San Quentin State Prison. Advocates and incarcerated people warn conditions behind bars make it nearly impossible to stop the virus once it enters. We speak with Adnan Khan, executive director of Re:Store Justice, an organization that advocates for policy and alternative responses to violence and life sentences. He links inhumane prison conditions to the mass uprising in the streets against systemic racism and state violence. “There are literally millions of people in prison based on the ‘credible testimony’ and written reports of the very police that we’re seeing brutalize protesters, brutalize and shoot at media and nurses during these peaceful protests,” he says.

The COVID-19 pandemic and the global plight of refugees and migrant workers. 24 June 2020. As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to tear through the global population, the disease is having an especially devastating impact on the tens of millions of displaced people throughout the world: here.

USA: As the pandemic spirals out of control, Trump attacks testing, holds indoor rally in Phoenix. By Barry Grey, 24 June 2020. The deadly back-to-work drive is bipartisan, with Democratic governors and mayors taking the lead in reopening businesses and forcing workers back on the job without any real protection.

This internet petition says about itself:

To: European Commission President Ursula Von Der Leyen

#Right2Cure: No profit on pandemics. Vaccine and treatment for all.

Faced with a pandemic, everyone has the right to a cure. A collective threat requires a collective response.

Researchers around the world are developing vaccines and treatments, often using huge sums of public money. Intellectual property rights, such as patents, should not be allowed to limit the rapid accessibility of vaccines and treatments for all. We want to ensure guaranteed access to Covid-19 related diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines.

Big pharmaceutical companies should not profit from this pandemic at the expense of people’s health. In the 1990s, multinational drug companies used patents for HIV treatments in order to charge exorbitant prices for their products. Millions of lives were lost.

The South African government, led by Nelson Mandela, overrode patents making use of compulsory licensing, and gave way to affordable and quality generic equivalents.

The EU too must put public health before private profit.

The European Commission must guarantee that anti-pandemic vaccines and treatments become a global public good, freely accessible to everyone.

From daily News Line in Britain today:

Removing 2-metre rule risks second wave, warn unions

DESPITE announcing yesterday a seven-day rolling average of 130 people a day dying from Covid-19, Tory PM Johnson announced measures to ‘safely ease the lockdown in England’.

Johnson said: ‘We can change the two-metre rule from the 4th July. This rule makes it impossible for large parts of the economy in particular hospitality. So we are reducing the two-metre rule to a one-metre rule. …

Before Johnson spoke, the Unite union warned that downgrading the two-metre social distancing rule risked causing ‘more outbreaks’ of coronavirus within the meat-processing sector.

The union said it was ‘inevitable’ that some low paid meat factory workers on ‘exploitative contracts’, who should be self-isolating, will continue working because they are only entitled to statutory sick pay (SSP) of £95.85 a week.

Unite national officer Bev Clarkson said: ‘Many employers are barely taking notice of the two-metre social distancing rule as it is. Any downgrade for the meat industry in the current environment will simply give irresponsible bosses the excuse they need to do away with social distancing entirely. Put simply, it will risk more outbreaks at factories across the country.’

General Secretary of USDAW the shop workers union, Paddy Lillis said: ‘The safety of our members and the public is our top priority, so USDAW worked with the British Retail Consortium on joint safety guidance for shops based on the 2-metre rule.

…

‘Reducing the 2-metre rule in stores could be disastrous for our members and send a message to the public that social distancing is over.

‘There is plenty of evidence to show that 2-metre separation is at least twice as safe as 1-metre. Independent SAGE warns that the risk of transmission is still too high to reduce social distancing rules indoors.

‘Covid-19 is still a killer disease that is at large in our communities. Retail has adapted well to the new circumstances. It is not necessary to change the 2-metre rule and it certainly shouldn’t be done without full discussion and agreement.’

All schools in England to open in September. By Tom Pearce, 24 June 2020. The government’s decision to return to the full opening of schools has been taken without any systematic review of the impact of the wider reopening of the economy.

More than 1,500 COVID-19 infections at pork processing plant in Germany. By Marianne Arens and Peter Schwarz, 24 June 2020. The Tönnies Group, Germany’s largest meat processing firm, has a long record of putting profits before the health and safety of its workforce.

Australia: Coronavirus infections spike in Melbourne’s working-class suburbs. By Patrick O’Connor, 24 June 2020. Victoria’s Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton declared that the state was at a “tipping point.”