<p><strong>Corona cases update: </strong>India continues to witness over 40,000 daily surges in Coronavirus cases as the country clocked 42,766 new cases in the last 24 hours, according to the Health Ministry.</p> <p>The active caseload now stands at 4,10,048 and the recovery rate is currently at 97.42%.</p> <p>The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare also informed that over 66.89 crore vaccine doses were provided to States/UTs so far, with more than 1.56 crore doses in the pipeline. More than 4.37 Cr vaccine doses are still available with the States/UTs. </p> <h3><strong>Kerala</strong></h3> <p class="artconfp">Kerala on Saturday recorded 29,682 new coronavirus cases, taking the tally of COVID-19 cases in the state to 41,81,137. The death toll increased to 21,422 with 142 new fatalities, while the Total Positivity Rate (TPR) saw a slight dip. The TPR stood at 17.54 per cent, as compared to 17.91 on Friday. </p> <p>The state has been consistently posting high numbers over the past few days, accounting for a bulk of the infections reported nationwide. Among the districts, Thrissur reported the highest number of cases-- 3,474, followed by Ernakulam with 3,456 and Malappuram with 3,166. Meanwhile, 25,910 people recuperated from the disease on Saturday, taking the total cured in the state to 39,09,096. </p> <p>Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan told reporters that 1,69,237 samples were tested in the last 24 hours, taking the total to 3,22,34,770 and that the TPR was 17.54 per cent.</p> <h3><strong>Maharashtra</strong></h3> <p>Maharashtra on Saturday reported 4,130 new coronavirus cases and 64 fatalities, the state health department said.</p> <p>The infection tally in the state thus rose to 64,82,117 while the death toll reached 1,37,707.</p> <p>The number of recoveries rose to 62,88,851, with 2,506 patients discharged during the day. The state now has 52,025 active cases.</p> <p>Maharashtra's case recovery rate stands at 97.02 per cent while the fatality rate is 2.12 per cent.</p> <p>Hingoli as well as rural parts of Chandrapur, Nanded, Akola and Nagpur districts and municipal corporations of Parbhani, Jalgaon, and Dhule did not report any fresh Covid-19 case.</p> <p>Ahmednagar district reported the highest 730 new cases, followed by rural parts of Pune with 506 infections.</p>
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Saturday, September 4, 2021
Alex Jones appears to take ivermectin during a bizarre COVID-19 rant in which he defended Joe Rogan and called Fauci a 'murderer'
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- Alex Jones went on an impassioned rant during an episode of his show InfoWars on Friday.
- Jones appeared to take ivermectin, a controversial and unproven treatment for COVID-19.
- The FDA has warned against treating COVID-19 with the drug, especially with versions intended for animals.
- See more stories on Insider's business page.
Far-right radio show host Alex Jones went on an impassioned tirade during an episode of his show Infowars on Friday, during which he appeared to take multiple pills of ivermectin, an antiparasitic drug that some are using to treat COVID-19 despite a lack of evidence showing its effectiveness against the disease.
In a video of the rant, which is sporadic and at times hard to follow, Jones presents two boxes of ivermectin and appears to take two of the tablets while railing against Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and billionaire Bill Gates, calling them "murderers."
"You want to suppress me, you want to kill me," he said. "You think I'm easy to kill?"
-Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) September 4, 2021
He goes on to shout "Nobel Prize-winning for humans" five times into the camera.
Ivermectin has been described in some media reports as a horse dewormer, but it's also used to treat some conditions in humans and is on the World Health Organization's list of essential medicines. Two scientists won a Nobel Prize in 2015 for discovering the drug.
However, it is not a proven treatment for COVID-19, and some people have been taking highly concentrated versions of ivermectin that are intended to treat parasites in horses and cows. Poison control centers have received a surge in calls related to overdoses of the drug, NPR reported.
The Food and Drug Administration has warned people against taking ivermectin to treat COVID-19, especially the versions intended for animals, but also the tablets intended for humans.
Jones defended podcast host Joe Rogan, who announced this week he was taking ivermectin, along with a host of other treatments, after testing positive for COVID-19.
He also shouted about how ivermectin has helped him and his family but that Fauci "doesn't want you to know because he wants the planet for himself and he wants you dead."
Last week, Fauci warned people against taking ivermectin to treat or prevent COVID-19 and said there was no clinical evidence indicating it works.
"Don't do it," Fauci told CNN. "There's no evidence whatsoever that that works and it could potentially have toxicity."
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Some Trump Tower tenants didn't pay their rent, including the company behind Ivanka Trump's shoe line, report says
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- Multiple tenants became behind on rent at Trump Tower, according to a Washington Post report.
- The Trump Organization sued the maker of Ivanka Trump's shoe line earlier this year for $1.5 million in unpaid rent.
- One tenant that consistently pays its bill is a PAC for Donald Trump, according to The Post.
- See more stories on Insider's business page.
Marc Fisher Footwear, the former manufacturer of Ivanka Trump's shoe line, fell behind nearly $1.5 million in unpaid rent at Trump Tower in New York City, according to a lawsuit filed by the Trump Organization earlier this year.
The lawsuit, which was filed in March and first reported by Bloomberg, alleges the company owed rent for a lease that started in 2015 for the entire 21st floor and parts of the 22nd floor at Trump Tower. The suit said Marc Fisher had not made a rent payment since November 1, 2020.
The shoemaker manufactured Ivanka Trump's shoes before she shut down her fashion line in 2018.
A Washington Post report published Friday said the suit was settled in April for an undisclosed about. According to the report, the company wasn't the only tenant to miss rent payments at the Manhattan skyscraper.
Court documents reviewed by The Post said suit maker Marcraft Clothes, which rented the 18th floor of Trump Tower, was behind $644,000 in rent before going out of business last year. Another company once owned by Kris Jenner owed $198,000 in rent as of October 2020, the court documents said.
Insider's Grace Panetta reported that Trump Tower has experienced similar financial woes as other commercial real estate properties in New York City during the COVID-19 pandemic. Low tourism rates and a decline in foot traffic on Fifth Avenue, known for its luxury shopping, played a role.
However, a political action committee for Donald Trump has been a consistent source of income for the Trump Organization's flagship building. The Post reported that the PAC is paying nearly $40,000 in rent for office space on the 15th floor.
The outlet reported that the PAC staffers rarely use the space, as most work from home or from Trump's other properties in Florida and New Jersey.
"We are paying market rate for leased office space used to help President Trump build a financial juggernaut to help elect America First conservatives and flip both the House and Senate to the Republicans in the midterm elections," Trump spokeswoman Liz Harrington told The Post.
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A Tennessee judge blocked Gov. Bill Lee's order allowing students to opt-out of mask mandates after 2 students sued
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- A federal judge struck down Gov. Bill Lee's executive order allowing students to opt-out of mask mandates in schools.
- Two students with medical conditions sued over the order, claiming they were unfairly excluded from activities because of the risk of COVID-19.
- The judge ruled their rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act were violated.
- See more stories on Insider's business page.
A federal judge in Tennessee on Friday struck down Gov. Bill Lee's executive order allowing students to opt-out of mask mandates imposed at their schools.
The judge ruled in favor of two students who brought the case against Lee's executive order. The students argued they were more vulnerable to COVID-19 due to medical conditions and were being excluded from school activities as a result of the order.
"Plaintiffs have identified ways that they have been excluded from participating in school programs and activities, including from physical education classes, and socializing with their peers when within the school buildings and at lunch," US District Judge Sheryl H. Lipman wrote in the ruling, per The Hill.
The judge ruled that the students' had their rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act violated as a result of Lee's order, The Hill reported.
Lee on August 16 signed an executive order that allowed parents to opt their children out of mask mandates imposed by schools to stem the spread of the disease, according to The Tennessean.
"Districts will make the decision they believe are best for their schools, but parents will have the ultimate decision-making for their individual child's health and well-being," Lee said at the time of the signing.
On Thursday, despite a surge in COVID-19 cases in the state and an increase in cases among children, Lee defended the order.
"I still believe that a parent is the best decider of what is appropriate for their child," Lee, a Republican, said during a press conference Thursday, The Tennessean reported.
"We believe that masks work, and that if you want to protect your kid against (COVID-19), one tool that you would have is to send your kid to school with a mask," he added, per the outlet.
Infections between children aged 5 and 18 are at the highest level since the pandemic began, The Tennessean noted. Over 154,000 children have tested positive for the disease since the pandemic began. The Tennessee Department of Health this week said 40% of all new cases of COVID-19 were in children, Local24 reported.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in late July recommended that students and faculty at schools wear face masks regardless of their vaccination status amid spread of the more transmissible Delta variant of the disease. But face masks in school have become a political debate, with GOP governors in several states attempting to ban mask mandates in schools.
According to The Tennessean, at least 19 school districts in the state have closed due to COVID-19 related staffing shortages.
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Taliban spokesman says that China will maintain Afghan embassy and 'beef up' relationship
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- The Taliban on Friday said that China has pledged to keep its embassy in Afghanistan open.
- Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid this week called China the country's "most important partner."
- China has slammed the US troop withdrawal from Afghanistan as "hurried."
- See more stories on Insider's business page.
The Taliban on Friday said that China has pledged to keep its embassy in Afghanistan open and "beef up" relations in the war-torn country, which this week saw US troops depart after a nearly 20-year military presence, according to a Guardian report.
Suhail Shaheen, a spokesman for the Islamist militia, said that a senior member of the Taliban's political office in Qatar was informed by Chinese deputy foreign minister Wu Jianghao that Beijing sought to increase humanitarian aid in Afghanistan.
"The Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister said that they would maintain their embassy in Kabul, adding our relations would beef up as compared to the past," Shaheen said. "Afghanistan can play an important role in security and development of the region."
He added: "China will also continue and increase its humanitarian assistance especially for treatment of COVID-19."
Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid on Thursday spoke of potential Chinese investment in Afghanistan.
"China is our most important partner and represents a fundamental and extraordinary opportunity for us, because it is ready to invest [in] and rebuild our country," according to the South China Morning Post.
After the capital city of Kabul fell to the Taliban on Aug. 15, the Islamist militia is now tasked with shifting from an insurgency to a governing power.
China last month criticized the "hurried withdrawal" of the US from Afghanistan but said that the country would be open to communicating with the leaders in Washington to help fend off a humanitarian crisis.
According to China's state broadcaster CCTV, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told US Secretary of State Antony Blinken that "using force and military means to resolve problems will just increase them."
He added: "The lessons of this deserve serious reflection. ... The United States cannot on one hand actively seek to contain and suppress China and harm China's legitimate rights and interests, and on the other hand hope for China's cooperation."
The Chinese embassy in Kabul remains open, but the country evacuated Chinese citizens from Afghanistan as conditions in the country changed several months ago.
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Trump is in advanced talks to sell the leasing rights to his hotel in Washington, DC: report
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- Former President Trump is in talks with hotel companies to sell the rights to his DC hotel, sources told Axios.
- The hotel is located in the historic Old Post Office building, which Trump leases from the federal government.
- In 2017, the GSA said that the Trump Organization was paying $250,000 monthly in base rent.
- See more stories on Insider's business page.
Former President Donald Trump is in talks with hotel companies to sell the leasing rights to his hotel in Washington, DC, sources told Axios.
The hotel is located on Pennsylvania Avenue just blocks from the White House in the 122-year-old Old Post Office building, which Trump leases from the federal government.
The former president would sell the leasing rights to the Trump International Hotel to a real estate developer, who would then negotiate with hotel companies that would manage the property and overhaul it, according to the Axios report.
The full details of the deal are still unknown, but Axios reported that "Trump's representatives have been in talks with major hotel chains and investors."
The former president sought to sell the leased federal property in 2019, while he was still in office, and sources told Axios that he was likely to receive less than the $500 million that he reportedly sought that year.
Trump leases the Old Post Office property from the General Services Administration (GSA) under a 60-year agreement put into place in 2013, according to Axios. In 2017, the GSA said that the Trump Organization was paying $250,000 monthly in base rent, which was slated to rise with inflation costs.
During Trump's tenure in office from 2017 to 2021, the hotel became a focal gathering place for Republican lobbyists and prominent figures within the former president's orbit - from attorney Rudy Giuliani to MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell.
However, after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, along with Trump's election loss and his subsequent move to Florida - the hotel's profits plummeted in 2020.
According to CNN, sales at the DC hotel declined by 63 percent last year compared with 2019, when the Trump Organization was looking into a possible sale.
Trump, who has continued to hold campaign-style rallies across the country as a private citizen, is still eyeing a 2024 presidential bid - this week, GOP Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio said on video that the former president is "ready to announce" a run, but a spokesperson for the lawmaker denied that he made the statement.
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Mumbai Crosses 1 Crore Covid Vaccination Mark, Becomes Nation's First District To Achieve Feat
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Covid Vaccination:</strong> The nation is achieving new global records<span class="s1"> when it comes to COVID-19 vaccination. Mumbai District has made </span>one such <span class="s1"> new record. Mumbai district becomes first in nation to cross 10 million vaccination mark According to data provided on CoWIN portal, 1,00,63,497 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in Mumbai so far. Of these, 72,75,134 people have been given a single dose of the vaccine while 27,88,363 people have been fully vaccinated. </span></p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><span class="s1">The vaccination drive is being carried out at 507 centres spread all over Mumbai district, according to CoWIN. Out of these, 325 are government centres while 182 centres are being run by private hospitals. </span></p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Highest number of doses administered on August 27: </strong></p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><span class="s1">According to CoWIN, </span>the highest number of doses in Mumbai District in the past 30 days were administered on August 27. A total of 1,77,017 people were vaccinated on the day. In addition, 1,63,775 people were administered vaccine doses on August 21, while 1,53,881 people were administered vaccine doses on August 23. </p> <p style="text-align: justify;">On the other hand, 422 new COVID-19 cases have been reported in Mumbai on Friday. This is the third consecutive day that more than 400 new cases have been reported here. Three people lost their lives to the infection on Friday. According to the BMC, the total number of COVID-19 cases in Mumbai has reached 7,45,434 while the number of people killed so far has reached 15,987. According to a BMC official, Mumbai currently has 3,532 active COVID-19 cases. </p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Also Read: </strong></p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><strong><a href="https://ift.tt/3tcQsVu Bengal-Odisha Bypolls: State Assembly Bypolls to be held in Bengal and Odisha on September 30, results to be announced on October 3</a></strong></p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><strong><a href="https://ift.tt/3BBnLVg bans gatherings, internet services also to be stopped</a></strong></p>
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Former and current cruise staff reveal how the pandemic affected their work. Some describe unpleasant experiences but others say it helped them bond with colleagues.
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- The cruise industry has changed in many ways since the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
- Insider spoke with former and current cruise employees about how their roles have been disrupted.
- They explained how they dealt with suspended shore leave, mandatory quarantines, and loneliness.
- See more stories on Insider's business page.
After nearly 18 months of halted operations due to the COVID-19 pandemic, cruises are finally returning to the seas.
So what has it been like working in the cruise industry during the pandemic? We asked former and current cruise ship staff to explain how the unprecedented disruption has affected them.
A 'difficult and sad' experience
Ioanna Tzovara
For crew members who remained on board during the pandemic, it was a "difficult and sad" time, said Eva Pavlou, a bridge officer for Celebrity Cruises.
"Seeing the Celebrity Edge ship empty for so many months was devastating," she said. "We were wandering around the empty ship and it was devastating seeing all these venues being empty with lights off and sheets on top like an abandoned house."
Ioanna Tzovara, also a bridge officer for Celebrity, agreed that working on an empty ship was unpleasant at times.
Self-service suspended
Monica Humphries/Insider
Buffets have long been a tradition on cruise ships. But in an age where social distancing and hygiene take precedence, where do they stand?
Buffets are still available on Celebrity's ships, said Tzovara, "but guests are being served by the crew members so they won't touch any surface that can potentially be infected by COVID."
The number of people on each table does not exceed six people in an effort to maintain social-distancing rules, Tzovara added.
Meanwhile, Carnival recently announced it would only serve bacon to guests on alternate days as it's struggling with a shortage of the breakfast-buffet staple.
Mandatory quarantine for cruise ship workers
Staff were obliged to stay in quarantine for 14 days before they performed any working duties at the start of the pandemic, Tzovara said.
For her, this was an enjoyable experience. "In my point of view, quarantine gave me time and space to think, read, and complete all my training. So, I spent quality time with myself."
Ioanna Tzovara
This was also the case for Pavlou, who listed some benefits of quarantining onboard a cruise ship. "In these 14 days, you have the opportunity to enjoy a guest stateroom with a balcony or a veranda. You get three meals every day, and [can] relax until these 14 days pass."
Only essential crew members were allowed to work during this time, including the deck-engine department, Tzovara said.
But a former cruise ship staffer who worked aboard Carnival Cruise Line told Insider that his friends who still work on ships found quarantine experiences frustrating.
"My friends that still work on ships were stuck aboard with no money for many, many months. They were confined to their cabins, which is literally like jail," said Brian David Bruns.
They were able to walk the ship for a single two-hour period throughout the day, he added. Otherwise, food was delivered to their cabins.
In a statement to Insider, Carnival said: "We are very proud of our efforts to take care of our team last year during unprecedented times. We safely repatriated more than 30,000 crew members during a time when borders were closed and travel options were limited or non-existent."
Suspended shore leaves
"Before the pandemic, all crew were allowed to enjoy a shore leave, something that these days has been suspended due to COVID," said Tzovara.
In its statement to Insider, Carnival said: "We took guidance from public health experts to keep our crew safe, which required sacrifice at times. If there are a few team members that were unhappy, we are sorry to hear that, but the health and safety of our guests and crew is always front and center in everything we do."
Building close relationships
Ioanna Tzovara
While living and working on a cruise ship during a pandemic can undoubtedly be difficult, there are also some silver linings for staffers. These include building tighter friendships with other crew members.
"I definitely did bond with my colleagues because we spend such long contracts together and we have to deal with all these difficulties in our daily lives, away from our families," said Tzovara.
"I gained great friends for life during this pandemic," she added.
This was similarly the case for Bruns. Despite the hardships, a lot of crew members love ship life, he said.
"The whole world is below decks - in the form of people. This is why we love it." He said the pressure-cooker environment, due to all the experiences he previously mentioned, "makes us brothers-in-arms."
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Psychiatrists have discovered that patients with tics have 'caught' a 'Tourette's-like' illness from social media
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- Psychiatrists in Germany have seen an increase in patients with tics.
- They say this is being "caught" through social media.
- The term "mass social media-induced illness" has been developed to describe this phenomenon.
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Psychiatrists have identified a new "Tourette-like" illness being spread through social media.
The "mass social media-induced illness" (MSMI) - more traditionally called a mass sociogenic illness, but with a new term being created to fit the new condition - is causing people to develop tics "caught" from social media videos of people ticcing.
A spike in patients presenting with functional tics has been attributed to the rise in social media content showing people ticcing, a group of psychiatrists in Germany have found.
The recent study from experts at the Hanover Medical School, Germany, explains that an increase in patients struggling with tics is positively correlated to a proliferation of videos on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube of people presenting with Tourette's syndrome.
The paper, published by the Oxford University Press, discusses the German internet fame of Jan Zimmermann, a YouTuber with 2.23 million subscribers on his channel Gewitter im Komf (Thunderstorm in Brain), who states he has Tourette's syndrome.
The clue that this illness was being "caught" from social media was that the tics were identical to Zimmermann's.
The mostly verbal tics included people saying "heil Hitler," "Du bist häßlich" (you are ugly) and "pommes" (chips).
The study states that "a remarkably high number of young patients has been referred to our specialized Tourette outpatient clinic presenting with symptoms closely resembling the ones Jan Zimmermann shows in his videos."
Crucially, however, the presented condition is not of Tourette's but functional tics, also known as Functional Movement Disorder.
The primary difference between this "Tourette's-like" MSMI and Tourette's is the MSMI comes on very suddenly and often later in life (whereas Tourette's syndrome often onsets in early childhood), present as a countless range of tics - rather than a few specific ones - the study explains.
The tics are prone to be mimicked and can be "caught" from one person to another - even in the traditional form of the condition. This is why social media is posing a new-age problem.
The study notes that whilst this is a sociogenic illness - and recommendations from psychiatrists do state you should seek medical support for this should it become difficult to manage - it could also be exacerbated by a "culture-bound stress reaction" to COVID-19 and eco-anxiety.
The study raises concern for how this may put health services under strain from the pandemic and long waiting lists for treatment.
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