contaminated Thousands of contaminated test kits delivered to New Brunswick Health Minister Ted Flemming told reporters that 5,000 test kits were received from the federal government, which relieved some of the pressure on testing. The province confirmed in an email to CBC News on Thursday that it was that shipment that had the contaminated test kits. obese Covid 19 and the elephant in the room But the elephant in the room is that the baseline general health in many western populations were already in a horrendous state to begin with. In the UK and USA more than 60% of adults are overweight or obese. How is this relevant to COVID-19? OBESITY, THE REAL KILLER BEHIND COVID It is well known in the medical literature that excess body fat induces immune dysregulation and chronic inflammation which is directly linked to the cytokine storm that is responsible for Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome seen in influenza and other respiratory viruses. (4) For example, in 2009 61% of patients admitted to hospital in California that died from H1N1 Influenza A were obese, which was 2.2 times more than the prevalence of obesity within the state population. Multivariate analysis suggested obesity was a novel risk factor for mortality from the virus. (5) Furthermore, obese adults shed influenza A virus 42% longer than non-obese individuals suggesting an additional role in transmission. (6) Data from the first 2204 patients admitted to 286 NHS ICU’s with COVID- 19 reveal that 72.7% of them were overweight or obese. (7) Several years ago, a senior advisor personally expressed major concern to me about then-Mayor Boris Johnson. “I’m worried about his health Aseem. He’s significantly overweight and doesn’t look well.” This is despite the fact that Boris would regularly cycle to his office at City Hall. There’s no such thing as being fat and fit. (8) We shouldn’t ignore the fact that 50-60% % of the 1.4 million NHS workforce are themselves overweight or obese too, not surprising when more than half of the British Diet is ultra-processed food (9) and three quarters of food purchased in hospitals is unhealthy. (10) South Korea which has one of the lowest prevalence of obesity in the world could in part explain it’s low mortality rate form the virus. But more clinically important than BMI, tied to waist circumference is the prevalence of chronic metabolic disease which can affect many of “normal” weight. Furthermore, sarcopenic obesity may misclassify many elderly patients to having a normal BMI on hospital admission with COVID-19. Only 12.2 % of American adults are considered metabolically healthy, with less than a third of normal weight people also in this category (11). It’s likely the statistics are not dissimilar in the UK. In addition, normal weight metabolically unhealthy have a more than three-fold risk of all-cause mortality and cardiovascular events than those who are normal weight and metabolically healthy. There’s no such thing as a healthy weight, only a healthy person.

sweden Sweden grapples with high death toll after controversially refusing to lock down Sweden’s controversial decision to refuse coronavirus lockdown measures is taking its toll — with the number of deaths up to 17 times higher than its Nordic neighbors, according to reports. Fatalities in the Scandinavian nation topped 1,300 on Thursday — far worse than Denmark, Norway and Finland, which all implemented containment measures, according to the latest figures from Johns Hopkins University. By comparison, Denmark has reported 321 COVID-19 deaths, Norway has reported 150 deaths and Finland has reported just 75, the data shows. As the pathogen spread, Denmark and Norway reacted quickly to close borders and shut schools, while Finland closed most schools and contained its main urban region. singapore Singapore Has Worst Day in Outbreak as Cases Double Over a Week Singapore -- seen as a success model in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic -- is reporting its biggest number of new cases in a single day, doubling its infection count over the past week as an outbreak at dormitories housing foreign workers intensifies. A record 728 new infections were reported late Thursday, bringing the total in the past seven days to 2,517. The island has a total of 4,427 cases since the infections broke out earlier this year, according to data from the Ministry of Health. Of those affected by Covid-19 so far, six in 10 lived in dorms, the data showed. That ratio is expected to change quickly, with these tightly packed living facilities housing thousands of foreign workers becoming Singapore’s latest challenge in its fight to contain the spread.