Tag: Monitoring

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WHO says it’s monitoring a brand new Covid variant known as ‘mu’

WHO says it is monitoring a new Covid variant called 'mu'

World Health Organization (WHO) Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus speaks during a bilateral meeting with Swiss Interior and Health Minister Alain Berset on the sidelines of the opening of the 74th World Health Assembly at the WHO headquarters, in Geneva, Switzerland May 24, 2021.

Laurent Gillieron | Reuters

The World Health Organization is monitoring a new coronavirus variant called “mu,” which the agency says has mutations that have the potential to evade immunity provided by a previous Covid-19 infection or vaccination.

Mu — also known by scientists as B.1.621 — was added to the WHO’s list of variants “of interest” on Aug. 30, the international health organization said in its weekly Covid epidemiological report published late Tuesday.

The variant contains genetic mutations that indicate natural immunity, current vaccines or monoclonal antibody treatments may not work as well against it as they do against the original ancestral virus, the WHO said. The mu strain needs further study to confirm whether it will prove to be more contagious, more deadly or more resistant to current vaccines and treatments.

Mu “has a constellation of mutations that indicate potential properties of immune escape,” the WHO wrote in its report Tuesday.

“Preliminary data presented to the Virus Evolution Working Group show a reduction in neutralization capacity of convalescent and vaccine sera similar to that seen for the Beta variant, but this needs to be confirmed by further studies,” it added.

The agency is monitoring four variants “of concern,” including delta, which was first detected in India and is the most prevalent variant currently circulating in the U.S.; alpha, first detected in the U.K.; beta, first detected in South Africa, and gamma, first detected in Brazil. A variant of concern is generally defined as a mutated strain that’s either more contagious, more deadly or more resistant to current vaccines and treatments.

It’s also keeping a close watch on four other variants of interest — including lambda, first identified in Peru — that have caused outbreaks in multiple countries and have genetic changes that could make them more dangerous than other strains.

Delta was a variant of interest until the WHO reclassified it in early May after preliminary studies found it could spread more easily than other versions of the virus. That variant has since been blamed for a number of large outbreaks around the world, including in the United States.

The new variant, mu, was first identified in Colombia but has since been confirmed in at least 39 countries, according to the WHO. Although the global prevalence of the variant among sequenced cases has declined and is currently below 0.1%, its prevalence in Colombia and Ecuador has consistently increased, the agency warned.

The WHO said more studies are required to understand the clinical characteristics of the new variant.

“The epidemiology of the Mu variant in South America, particularly with the co-circulation of the Delta variant, will be monitored for changes,” the agency said.

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World News

Tesla begins utilizing cabin cameras for driver monitoring

Tesla starts using cabin cameras for driver monitoring

Tesla CEO Elon Musk speaks during the unveiling of the new Tesla Model Y in Hawthorne, California on March 14, 2019.

Frederic J. Brown | AFP | Getty Images

Tesla has started using cabin cameras in some Model 3 and Model Y vehicles to make sure drivers are paying attention to the road when they use driver assistance features, according to release notes obtained by CNBC.

Their Model 3 and Model Y cars already had driver-facing cabin cameras, but the company’s owners manuals said they were not used for driver monitoring. Instead, Tesla’s systems required drivers to “check in” by touching the steering wheel, which is equipped with sensors.

Now, Tesla is telling drivers their cabin cameras have been switched on for driver monitoring in new vehicles that lack radar sensors, according to Kevin Smith, a second-time Tesla buyer in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Smith says he took delivery of a 2021 Tesla Model Y crossover on Thursday.

The technical changes come amid regulatory scrutiny of Tesla vehicle safety in the U.S. and abroad. The company is facing dozens of federal probes into the underlying causes of Tesla-involved crashes in the U.S., some of which may have involved Autopilot.

Elon Musk’s auto business sells its driver assistance systems under the brand names Autopilot and Full-Self Driving, or FSD, an optional $10,000 upgrade. Tesla also offers some drivers who paid for FSD the option to try unfinished driver assistance features in its FSD Beta program, effectively turning them into beta testers.

Tesla’s owners manuals caution drivers that use of these systems requires “active supervision.” However, owners have repeatedly demonstrated over-confidence in the systems, sharing videos and accounts of driving while asleep at the wheel, driving without their hands on the wheel, or even driving while sitting in the passenger or back seat of the car.

A federal vehicle safety watchdog, the National Transportation Safety Board, has called on Tesla to stop beta-testing on public roads using customers in lieu of professionals, and to add robust driver monitoring to its vehicles.

It’s not clear whether Tesla’s new camera-based driver monitoring system and cars without radar meet the standards set forth by the NTSB or other safety standards.

One owner’s experience

Kevin Smith ordered his 2021 Model Y at the end of March and expected to get a vehicle with the sensor suite Tesla previously marketed, including radar.

But on Tuesday this week, Tesla announced it would exclude radar and downgrade the vehicles’ functionality in a blog post. The post also said Tesla will restore the missing features once Tesla transitions customers to a “pure vision” or camera-based version of its driver assistance and safety features.

Before he could get his new Model Y delivered, Smith was asked in an “Order Update” on the Tesla website to confirm that he would accept the modified car for the same price as the one he originally ordered.

The waiver noted that the company is transitioning to Tesla Vision, its camera-based Autopilot system, and that some new cars delivered beginning in May 2021 will not have radar. It also cautioned that Vision may be delivered with some features “temporarily limited or inactive” and said Tesla will restore those features with over-the-air software updates in the “weeks ahead.”

An Order Update for Tesla customers taking delivery of Model 3 or Model Y in May 2021.

Screenshot

When he took delivery of his all-wheel-drive 2021 Model Y, Smith saw a “release note” in the vehicle’s touchscreen display that informed him of a cabin camera update:

“The cabin camera above your rearview mirror can now detect and alert driver inattentiveness while Autopilot is engaged. Camera data does not leave the car itself, which means the system cannot save or transmit information unless data sharing is enabled. To change your data settings, tap Controls > Safety & Security > Data Sharing on your car’s touchscreen.”

Adding a camera-based driver monitoring system does not restore the driver assistance and safety features Tesla said it had turned off for now.

Consumer Reports and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety on Wednesday removed top-level safety endorsements for the Model 3 in the U.S. after the company announced it had excluded radar from these vehicles. Consumer Reports noted, “The government’s top vehicle safety rating agency says the vehicles may lack some key advanced safety features, including forward collision warning (FCW) and automatic emergency braking (AEB).”

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Health

WHO is carefully monitoring 10 Covid variants as virus mutates world wide

WHO is closely monitoring 10 Covid variants as virus mutates around the world

Mukesh Bhardwaj cries as he sits next to his wife, who is receiving free oxygen support for people with respiratory problems, outside a Gurudwara (Sikh temple) amid the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Ghaziabad, India. May 3, 2021.

Adnan Abidi | Reuters

The World Health Organization is tracking 10 variants of coronavirus “of concern” or “worrying” around the world, including two that were first discovered in the US and one triple mutant that is wreaking havoc in India as a potential global threat to the world public health.

New strains of Covid-19 emerge every day as the virus continues to mutate, but only a handful make the WHO official watch list an “variant of interest” or the more serious term “variant of concern” which is commonly defined as a mutated strain that is more contagious, more deadly, and more resistant to current vaccines and treatments.

The organization has identified three strains as variants of concern: B.1.1.7, which was first detected in the UK and is currently the most common strain in the US; B. 1.351, detected for the first time in South Africa, and the P.1 variant, detected for the first time in Brazil.

An interesting variant is the B.1617 variant or the triple mutated strain that was first found in India. However, WHO technical lead on Covid-19, Maria Van Kerkhove, said more studies are needed to fully understand its significance.

“There are actually a number of virus variants that are being discovered around the world and that we must all properly assess,” said Van Kerkhove. Scientists are studying how much each variant circulates in local areas, whether the mutations change the severity or transmission of the disease, and other factors, before being classified as a new public health threat.

“The information comes quickly and furiously,” she said. “There are new variants being identified and reported every day, not all of which are important.”

Other variants classified as variants of interest include B.1525, which was first detected in the UK and Nigeria; B.1427 / B.1429, recorded for the first time in the USA; P.2, first discovered in Brazil; P.3, first discovered in Japan and the Philippines; S477N, first detected in the USA, and B.1.616, first detected in France.

Van Kerkhove said the classifications are determined, at least in part, by sequencing capabilities, which vary from country to country. “It’s been really sketchy so far,” she said.

She said the agency is also viewing local epidemiologists as an extension of the agency’s “eyes and ears” to better understand the local situation and identify other potentially dangerous variants.

“It is important that we have the right discussions to determine which ones are important to the public health value. This means that doing so changes our ability to use public health social measures or any of our medical countermeasures.” , she said.

“We’re getting the right people together in the room to discuss what these mutations mean,” she said. “We need the global community to work together, and they are.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also have a list of four variants of interest and five variants of concern that is similar to the WHO list, although the CDC mainly focuses on variants that are causing new outbreaks in the United States.

Van Kerkhove said a number of countries “have some worrying trends, some worrying signs of rising case numbers, increasing hospitalization rates and increasing ICU rates in countries that do not yet have access to the vaccine and that have not achieved the required levels of coverage.” really having these effects on serious illness and death and transmission. “

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Health

As Hundreds of thousands Get Covid Vaccine Pictures, F.D.A. Struggles With Security Monitoring

As Millions Get Covid Vaccine Shots, F.D.A. Struggles With Safety Monitoring

“It’s great for routine activities, but when it comes to security surveillance, size is all,” said Dr. Daniel Salmon, director of the Institute for Vaccine Safety at Johns Hopkins University and former federal vaccine officer. “The bigger it is, the faster you get an answer. At some point the VSD is going to get a really good answer – probably one of the best answers out there because they are so good at it. But in a pandemic, time is not on our side. “

Few serious problems have been reported through these channels to date and no deaths have been clearly linked to the vaccines. The 30-year initiative, known as the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), relies on self-reported cases from patients and health care providers.

Health officials say the two vaccines already approved for use appear to be reasonably safe so far. There have been some serious allergic reactions, including anaphylaxis, but they are treatable and are considered rare. The rate at which anaphylaxis has occurred to date – 4.7 cases per million doses for the vaccine from Pfizer and BioNTech and 2.5 cases per million for the vaccine from Moderna – is in line with other widely used vaccines.

Bruising and bleeding caused by decreased platelet counts have also been reported, although it is not known whether they are vaccine-related or accidental. A total of 9,000 adverse events were reported, of which 979 were classified as serious and the remainder classified as non-serious according to the latest available CDC report.

In interviews, public health experts, including current and former FDA and CDC officials, expressed the need to improve on the old “passive” surveillance that relies on self-reporting. They said funding shortages, turf wars and bureaucratic hurdles had slowed BEST, officially known as the Biologics Evaluation Safety Initiative, in preparation for monitoring Covid vaccines.

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Health

Monitoring the Climate on the Fringe of the World

Monitoring the Weather at the Edge of the World

It all started with a single sentence in a blog post about Iceland: “A farmer is looking for support in a weather station and a sheep farm.”

It was 2012 and after studying photography in the German industrial city of Dortmund, I was ready for a change. I had long planned to visit Iceland and when I read about the remote farm it all came together. I answered the mail, got the job, sold most of my stuff, and booked my flight.

Marsibil Erlendsdottir, the farmer and weather watcher, picked me up at the small airport in Egilsstadir near the easternmost edge of Iceland.

The drive to the weather station took almost two hours – through snow-covered mountain passes, along waterfalls, past reindeer and empty summer houses. As we neared our destination, the road became narrow and rough. Finally we reached the end of a remote fjord where a small yellow lighthouse appeared in the distance.

“Welcome to the end of the world,” said Mrs. Erlendsdottir with a laugh.

The Icelandic Meteorological Office operates 71 manned weather stations across the country, 57 of which report precipitation, snow depth and land cover once a day. Ms. Erlendsdottir, who passes Billa, supervises one of the 14 stations, which also report on cloud cover, weather conditions and other meteorological phenomena.

Regardless of the weather, Billa checks the readings from the weather instruments at her station every three hours, day and night, and forwards them – temperatures, air pressure, wind conditions and others – to the office in Reykjavik.

Their reports are published online and broadcast on the radio along with those from the rest of the country. For farmers who rely on the forecasts, the information provided by Billa can help guide their daily work. For fishermen on the high seas, the information can mean the difference between life and death.

There has been a weather station in this area since 1938, always operated by real people. (Given the harsh conditions in the region, automation wouldn’t be possible, says Billa.)

The region is incredibly remote. In the coldest months of the year, the farm can only be reached by boat and can be cut off from the outside world for days during storms.

Billa grew up on the weather station with her brother and five sisters. She married one of the local fishermen and had a family of her own that raised two children – one of whom, her son, was born on a boat on the way to the hospital.

Billa’s husband died in recent years, leaving her to run the weather station and the farm on her own. Billa could have easily left the place, but she decided to stay.

“It never gets boring here,” she said.

I worked with Billa for 10 months at the beginning. Growing up on a farm in Poland, I found much of the job familiar: looking after the sheep, training Border Collies, repairing fences, collecting hay.

Billa doesn’t enjoy the limelight. It took over a year before she felt comfortable enough for me to take her portrait.

In the meantime, I began to document her life and work to the rhythm of her days – and the weather reports.

Like Billa, I like to spend time off the grid and keep coming back to the farm where there is no cell phone reception. In total, I spent about two and a half years there.

The area becomes inaccessible, especially in the winter months when daylight lasts only a few hours and the constantly rotating beam from the lighthouse cuts through the darkness.

For months the farm is covered in snow and the sounds are muffled – with the exception of the sounds of the surrounding sea. In winter the waves get wilder and wilder, the wind stronger and stronger and the weather conditions less predictable.

But even in the toughest snowstorm, Billa leaves her house to look after the animals and check the protection of the instruments.

Each season has its own chores. In spring, when the sheep give birth, the animals must be monitored 24 hours a day. In summer the hay has to be collected for the winter months. And in autumn the sheep are carried down from the mountains.

In addition to all the work on the farm, Billa also maintains the lighthouse, which was built in 1908. Your pantry must always be full, as the nearest supermarket is 80 km away.

In winter it takes an hour by boat to get to the nearest shops. A mail boat arrives every two weeks, but only if weather conditions permit.

The circumstances here are immensely demanding, but living in harmony with nature gives Billa a feeling of inner peace. She cannot sit still and spends as much time outside as possible.

A few years ago, Billa’s daughter Adalheidur, who passed Heida, finished her studies in Reykjavik and moved back to the farm to accompany and help her mother.

“If I ever moved away, my mother would definitely stay here alone,” said Heida.

“Here,” she added, “she feels free.”