Global roundup: virus stays on skin for 9 hours, study finds

The coronavirus remains active on human skin for nine hours, Japanese researchers found, in a discovery they said showed the need for frequent hand washing to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. By comparison, the pathogen that causes the flu survives on human skin for about 1.8 hours, according to the study published this month in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases. “The nine-hour survival of SARS-CoV-2 (the virus strain that causes COVID-19) in human skin may increase the risk of contact transmission compared to IAV (influenza A virus), thus accelerating the pandemic, “he said. . The research team examined skin obtained from autopsy samples about a day after death. Both the coronavirus and the flu virus are inactivated in 15 seconds by applying ethanol, which is used in hand sanitizers.

End of the party in Paris

Shortly before the clock struck 9 p.m. Saturday, restaurant shutters in Paris were lowered and people rushed home to beat a strict curfew to combat the coronavirus outbreak. Police patrolled streets that would normally be packed with partygoers to enforce the new anti-mixing measure, as the country posted a record of more than 32,000 positive COVID-19 tests in 24 hours, with 1,868 people in care. intensive. Densely populated Paris has been a hotbed of infection, with bars closed since October 6, although restaurants and other establishments serving food were allowed to remain open. The 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew for Paris and a dozen other French cities – some 20 million inhabitants in all – will remain in effect for at least four weeks.

Melbourne eases restrictions

Lockdown restrictions in Australia’s second-largest city were relaxed slightly on Sunday following a steady decline in new coronavirus cases, but officials fell short of ending a controversial “stay home” rule. More than 100 days after the lockdown was imposed on Melbourne’s five million residents to fight an uncontrolled increase in COVID-19 cases, authorities said that as of midnight they were lifting a two-hour limit on the time that people could spend outside. their homes for permitted activities. They also expanded the distance that people could travel from their homes for various activities, such as exercising, shopping for essentials, socializing and working in essential professions, from five to 25 kilometers.

China’s new biosafety law

China passed a new law to improve its handling of disease outbreaks, including whistleblower protection, following a cascade of criticism over its response to the coronavirus and accusations of an early cover-up. The new biosecurity law, approved by lawmakers on Saturday, outlines the right to report “acts that endanger biosecurity” and requires risk prevention systems, ranging from active monitoring to emergency plans. It comes into force as of April 15 of next year. “Any work unit or individual has the right to report acts that endanger biosecurity,” says the regulation. “When a report is required in accordance with the law, no individual or work unit should conceal it … or prevent others from making a report,” he added on infectious diseases and epidemics. China’s approval of the law comes in the face of Western criticism of the coronavirus, over accusations that it covered up the initial outbreak and silenced the first whistleblowers. But China has been trying to reshape this narrative, and authorities have instead sought to model the country as a vanguard in the fight against the pandemic.