Since I am positively tested on Corona and I have to be quarantined, I'd like to share a story from a few years ago just to pass the time. Note that the things that where said are all roughly translated from Japanese unless otherwise stated.
I'm originally from the Netherlands, but I moved to Japan 18 years ago and all I can say, Japan is a really nice place if you know where to find work. I don't look Japanese but I'm well mannered, follow Japanese traditions and etiquettes well and I toke the surname of my Japanese wife (since my surname is unpronounceable in Japanese, and I didn't want to bother my wife, my kids and the Japanese people with a unpronounceable name). So basically I'm as Japanese as a foreigner can be I guess (tough I still do some Dutch things together with others like baking oil balls during new year and treat my staff pepernoten on sinterklaas)
So after I had a business meeting in Tokyo, and after that was concluded I decided to eat some Ramen at a local Ramen shop (I just like the more low-key food stands). It was a small scale ramen shop which had a note ''no foreigners allowed''. (you see these signs more than you think on these smaller shops and stands, but in most cases, the owners put these posters on the stand because the owners can't speak English, so a lot of times, if you speak Japanese, you're allowed) I went in anyway since I (kinda) know the owner and it was empty with only one other guy sitting there. I greeted the owner and orders my bowl of Ramen when the Entitle Japanese salesman (I will call him ES) in a snobby voice said:
ES: ''excuse me, but what is this... gaijin (a foul word for ''foreigner'') doing here in this shop.
ME: Uhm, I'm just ordering a bowl of Ramen. They are the best in town.
**ES: (**in bad ''Engrish'') I not talking to you filth (in Japanese) I was asking the shop owner, you had a note on your door stating you do not allow foreigner
At this point I started to secretly film this since I wasn't sure that if things would go out of hand, the shop owner would be on my side. And the Japanese police tends to believe natives before foreigners (idk if filming is even allowed, but hey proof is proof)
ME: eehm, I can hear what you say, I speak Japanese to you know....
ES: SHUT UP you filth, do you know how important I am, I work at *great Japanese department store office* and I work as a salesman there, every day I make sure people got what they need. I'm responsible for 18 million people to get goods, something YOU can never do.
Me: OK (in a manner like One Punch Man)
Shop owner: Please calm down, I have no problem with people who speak Japanese, I just can't deal with foreigners who can't speak Japanese during rush hours, they sadly lose me money
ES: A foreigner is a foreigner. It doesn't matter if a Neanderthal knows how to speak our beautiful language, he is still a gaijin.
ME: Well, I'm actually a Japanese citizen, I relinquished my Dutch citizenship years ago to become a Japanese citizen, I'm Japanese now if you like it or not.
ES: You are not Japanese, and you will never be, our race will stay clean.
At this point, I decided to stop being polite and just troll the fuck out of him.
ME: Oh I have a Japanese wife you know. I have 7 kids (I actually have 2, but whatever) My oldest daughter is president of the archer club (this was true, but I can't remember if she was at the time this happend) and my third son wanted to become a monk (this was a lie, I don't even have a sun anyway).
ES: You filthy foreigners steal all of our wife, it's your fault I don't have a wife and family
ME: *hysterical laughter* Maybe cuz you're a dick
ES: Excuse me you rude ass gaijin
ME: what, Never hard to take the truth, you know how I got her, by being polite, being supportive and let her live the life she wants. Dicks like you only tell woman to stay home, take care of the children and shut up.
ES: THIS IS WHAT I MEAN, you gaijins disgrace our traditions
ME: Are you serious?
ES: What? it is the role of woman to birth children and stay at home, you Americans taught our woman otherwise and now we have a low birthrate.
ME: Funny, I don't remember the Netherlands being in the US, but I can speak like a American redneck if you want.
ES: America, Netherlands, Germany, Sweden. It doesn't matter. You whites destroy everything beautiful in this world.
ME: in yank voice: I ain't know, but ya gonna relax. Hey ever shot a cold pyton before? The best gun ya can shoot, tough at a distance of 12 gallons i prefer a Deagle, recently bought a M&P15 with scope, great to use against enemies of the free world!
ES: SHUT UP
Me: in yank voice: You're going to see the superbowl tonight motherfucker? I have 10 inches of diet coke and 6 feet of McDonalds, hey did you know my Nascar drove 200.000 yards and our proud president Donald J Trump gave me the medal of patriotic freedom (idk I was just using random American terms at this point)
ES: ARRRHRHHHH YOU FUCKING GAIJINS SHOULD ALL BE GASSED TO DEAD, YOU SHOULD ALL BE COLLECTED AND GO IN A GAS CHAMBER, YOUR BONES WILL BE USED TO STRENGTHEN OUR ROAD AND WE WILL EXTERMINATE ALL FILTH IN OUR COUNTRY.
Honestly I was shocked, I didn't expect him being this extreme. I just hoped he would walk out like the loser he was, oh well, this guy wanted to fight, but I honestly didn't want to. The shop owner at this point was calling the cops and removed his ''no foreigners allowed'' sign (cuz it's technically illegal). But somehow we didn't throw punches. He was still shouting racists things and he still acted entitled. But the cops came in and of course:
ES: I was assaulted by that man, arrest him please.
Luckily the shop owner vowed for me and the cops took him away, but not without the cherry on top:
When the cops asked his name, he said his name, but the funny thing is......
I HAVE THE SAME SURNAME AS HIM!
And not only that, my wife's surname is kinda a hystorical name derived from samurai. So when I heard his name I said
''oh hey, my name is also *my surname''
This is when the guy flipped even more, and he said racist things again and wished me again in the gas chamber...... But in his rage he somehow forgot there was...... actual police next to him..... So yeah, this guy was taken to the police office and got a fine. Later I heard he was fired from his job.
Out of gratitude for helping me out (and I guess as apology for letting this thing get out of hand), I translated the shop owner menu into English and suggested some sort of system that if foreigners order stuff, it will go smoothly. Nowadays the shop owner makes a small extra buck thanks to it.
Oh well, all's well ends well right. Tough do note, some things are rough to translate, and it happened 3 years ago, so I might have missed some details/some things might sound weird and unbelievable.
Edit: I mean 18 years, not 8 years lol.
Edit 2: Well, I guess this got popular for my first post...... Well thanks for the support guys, but also thanks for the criticism. Some of the criticism helped me to remember a few details about this whole thing, and for that I'm honestly grateful. As a thank you I cleaned this post a little bit. Yeah English is my third language so I might make a mistake here and there, also writing while being sick doesn't help either 0/10 can't recommand.

Greetings.
From what I gathered about the current corona measures, upon arrival in the Netherlands there is a mandatory 10 day quarantine period (5 days if you get tested and get negative results), and starting soon the quarantine will also be checked and violating quarantine will result in a 95€ fine.
This is all fine and well, however my girlfriend's accommodation is not exactly suited for self-quarantine (no personal toilet, sink or kitchen), so her question is whether it's "legal" for her to quarantine at my place?
Thanks in advance

Microsoft filed a patent 2020-060606 on June 20, 2019 for the link between the human body and the crypto payment system. It is a cryptocurrency mining system that uses human pulses such as brain waves and body heat to perform online tasks such as using search engines, chatbots, and reading ads. "A user can solve the arithmetically difficult problem unconsciously," says the patent.
In fact, this is a very brief description of a brain computer interface, which can read and write electromagnetic signals from the brain at such a finely meshed level that the brain literally becomes a biocomputer in a network. To understand that, please watch the video below and read on below. This is necessary so that you understand the current technological state of affairs.
Steve Hoffman - Brain Hacking & MindTech - Produced by DingDingTV
How cryptocurrency works The aim is that we are collectively hung in a hyve mind and it seems that what with crpyo-currency like Bitcoin still had to be done on energy-guzzling mining servers, can now be filled in by the “human bio-computer”.
The unique thing about blockchain payment systems was that as soon as you took a so-called wallet into the network, your computer formed a block in the network, where your computer receives a kind of calculation program that calculates the security key of a coin. All computers on the network must then come up with the same key as confirmation. If the entire network sees a transaction of a coin, all those keys are checked and if one is different, the transaction is illegal and rejected. That would create unhackable security.
The problem, however, is that Bitcoin mining requires a lot of computing power and that requires electricity. That's why Bitcoin mining ended up being one of the most energy-guzzling industries in the world. The Microsoft patent seems to aim at making this blockchain principle, which is not only very energy-guzzling, but also puts a heavy burden on the internet in terms of bandwidth (after all, all computers in the chain must always be checked for positive encryption), superfluous to make.
Simply put: Microsoft wants to use the human brain as a block in the blockchain. The 5G network will provide sufficient bandwidth to realize this.
Link digital ID, vaccination ID and social credit system:
The coronavirus pandemic provides the perfect alibi for the introduction of such a system. In concrete terms, this means that a score of your behavior (expressed in points) will initially be kept in the cloud. If you stick to the rules, you can take public transport or plane. If you don't follow the rules, your score will go down. The upcoming social distancing apps are a precursor to such a behavioral scoring system. After all, if you do not keep enough distance from potential infections, you have to quarantine at home. We also see China taking the lead there. Watch the video below and then read on.
Wuhan coronavirus covid-19 totalitarian UN propaganda?
Although Bill Gates officially retired from Microsoft's board this year, we can guess who the big driving force behind patent 2020-060606 is.
Of course, I need not point out to the attentive reader that we recognize here the Biblical number of the mark of the beast from the Bible book of Revelation: 666. It states that the time will come when no one will be able to buy or sell without to bear 'the beast'. This under the statement that this number is six hundred and sixty-six.
The same Bill Gates is behind the ID2020 initiative that wants to develop a digital ID for vaccination registration. If you combine such a digital ID hallmark with a digital passport (ID) and with patent 2020-060606, then you have completely enslaved people.
Revelation 13: 16-18
16: And it causes it to give a mark to all, small and great, and rich and poor, and free and servants, on their right hand or on their foreheads;
17: And that no one should buy or sell except he who has that mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18: Here is wisdom: let him that have understanding count the number of the beast; for the number of a man is, and his number is six hundred sixty and six.
The "Official Gazette of the Kingdom of the Netherlands" announced on March 31, 2020 (“coincidentally”) change in law that allows a digital ID. Translated:
Kingdom Act of 6 March 2020 amending the Passport Act in connection with the introduction of electronic identification with a public identification means and the expansion of the basic register of travel documents.
We Willem-Alexander, by the grace of God, King of the Netherlands, Prince of Oranje-Nassau, etc. etc. etc.
All who will see or hear it read, salute! do to know:
Thus We have considered that it is desirable to amend the Passport Act in connection with the introduction of electronic identification with a public means and the extension of the basic register of travel documents;
The consequences:
So if we don't wake up in masses now and discover that we are witnessing a Psychological Operation that fully complies with the master script, then there is no escape. Then we cannot buy or sell anything if we do not meet all the requirements of the state. And to all, it really means all. Making a minor offense once has immediate consequences. Not cooperating with the vaccination obligation (think Bill Gates) will definitely mean the end of being able to travel and participate in society at all. You should consider the most basic things such as being able to buy food and drink.
We must step out of our programming and know that we are sovereign. Please read the article from the official journal above again. In it you see that you can fully rely on your consciousness sovereignty. You are sovereign by nature and no law can bind you to anything. It says "We Willem-Alexander, by the grace of God". Now let him prove "that grace of God".
Every law is signed by the king by the grace of God. There is no evidence whatsoever of this and so the law does not apply. The only problem is the fact that social systems have built up around that grace of God, to which many swear allegiance.
Do we sit back and relax until we are swallowed up by the system of "the internet of things" by the grace of God, or do we activate ourselves to concrete things? Concrete matters means that we have to switch from passive to active and discover who we are in potential and in essence.

I (19,m) study in London. Gf (18,f) is in the Netherlands. We've been together 3.5 years and we love eachother as much as ever. I came home for christmas and spent the last week with her. After the 10 day quarantine I wanted to spend some time with friends, which my gf is completely fine with. One of my friends invited me to do shrooms (legal in The Netherlands, never tried them). My gf (who has anxiety) started to freak out and wasn't comfortable with me doing it. She's afraid something will happen to me, she started crying. We've done weed together before, but when I do it without her, she's always a bit nervous. We looked it up and shrooms are relatively harmless compared to other drugs. She's still really scared, but told me she didn't want to hold me back, but it's very clearly causing her extreme amounts of distress.
I still want to do it. I want to have tried it. I don't want her to get nervous, if I tell her I'll do it she'll probably panick all night and nearly have a breakdown. I doubt that she'll want to come with to babysit some high dudes for 5 hours. AITA for wanting to go behind her back, not tell her, and still do it?

------------------------------------------------------- Hello everyone, im new to reddit , so please my apologies if i dont follow certain Reddit culture or perhaps posted this in the wrong section ? My friends advised me to ask Reddit for help so here it goes... Never know if this actually works.
Every year around my birthday i post on my facebook a post asking people for help , that i have a condition and i explain the symptoms and ask if anyone is the wiser this year, but alas, every year has been dissapointing. This year ,someone told me to post on Reddit, so lets give it a try , who knows what i might read here .
All my life, i have been having issues with my body. in fact, my little brother had some of it too, he died last year after a gruesome unwinnable battle against a special kind of 'Glioblastoma ' [ Brain cancer ] . I will put the symptoms in BOLD letters to make it easier . Note that some symptoms might be unrelated to my condition, i dont know which are related and which are not. -------------------------------------------------------
Since we were little, we have had Migraine attacks that sometimes led us to the emergency rooms to get a needle shot to make the pain stop, both me and my little brother had this pain on the sides of our heads, it would beat so much that we would put our fingers there to try and stop it, and we would use ice and other cold things to lessen the pain. Nothing triggered it, we were quite healthily raised, it would just randomly start without any triggerfoods or anything. Its also not dehydration, we drank a lot of water as kids. Best to explain it , is that it starts usually when we start trying to think a lot, its weird, i know, but thats what i believe, because, during the years, i discovered i could avoid these migraine attacks if i didnt go past a certain 'point' of thinking. Its really annoying because not going past this point, makes me forget a lot of things and i can't ponder too much on math or anything, even though i absolutely love math, math is my favorite hobby but now i cant do it anymore, to avoid those migraine attacks. They are a horrible pain.
I have at all times over 30.000 WBC [ white blood cell count ] , it is apparantly a very high white blood cell count. In Japan they once kept me in a hospital for 3 days because of it, they made me eat only white rice for 3 days, even though i kept telling them, that i always had that many white blood cells, they wanted to be sure, so they kept me for 3 days, then saw nothing changed and let me go.
I am always tired, even after waking up . I feel like im almost always on the background watching me do things, like its not really me. Last time i felt awake and completely conscious was on 18 March around noon, i log them and for the short time that i feel like that, usually a few minutes , i try to enjoy it to the fullest, i usually enjoy viewing everything around me during that time, taking it all in, everything that is going around me, its really enjoyable, i wish i felt like that all the time and this is the main reason i want to find a way to a cure , because i want to feel like you guys, awake 100% . It is amazing and enjoyable.
I am ALWAYS cold. Always, even when my skin starts to be unable to resist the heat of the shower water, im cold. my Skin will look red but im cold. Even in saunas, i feel like im receiving some heat, but still not enough. but the breathing gets annoying in saunas so i leave eventually.
I get bruised very easily, i often wake up with bruises even though i usually lay completely still in bed . Ex boyfriends often checked if i was still alive, thats how still i am in bed, once one freaked out because i was laying dead still in bed with my hands on my chest clasped together, he jumped out of bed yelling my name .
I pass out when i start to move around a lot or when i start doing something physically , like helping someone clean , or fixing a car, or doing sports, or even as simple as unloading a car from its groceries, first i start to lose my vision , a lot of black dots start to appear in front of my eyes, then i know i have to instantly sit on the floor because the next thing that happens is that my legs give up on me, i suddenly feel like they are not there and i will fall on the floor. I think im still conscious at all times, but i dont know how else to describe it. It also happens partly when i jump out of bed too quickly but a weaker version that i can ignore and fight. Most doctors dont know where to even start with figuring out what i have, When i was 2 , my mom went for the first time to a doctor because i would start crying a lot, and i would sometimes fall on the floor [ probably already passing out ] When i was 8 , my mom went to a hospital with me and my little brother , but they send her outside after a short conversation, after that she visited about 3 more hospitals in other areas trying to find a way to 'fix us ' . When i was 12 i took a bus to school , i would get ready, i would wait outside for the bus, and at the moment i step in the bus , i pass out, always, always when i enter the bus. The kids on the bus would laugh, they knew i was gonna pass out when i entered the bus, it never happened that scheduled anywhere else, only when entering that bus, the first 2 times i thought it was coincidence, but the third time i knew it was going to be something that was going to happen when i entered the bus.
When i was 13, i made friends finally and i wasnt going to scare them away so i tried to attend every party i could, but my parents wouldnt allow me to go to parties so i would sneak out. Eventually finding out i was a disobedient teenager, and then the next time i passed out in front of their eyes when helping with the groceries in the car, they send me to a hospital and demanded of the doctors to get my stomach pumped to see why im passing out and if it was maybe drugs or other things, They were mad and probably just wanted me to learn a lesson or maybe they wanted to see if i perhaps was being drugged by a family member. [ we have a family member that my mom is scared of, and that family member would too often be around me , i now know why , but back then i didnt, he is a pedo]
Nothing was found in my stomach, and the doctors advised my mom to try a psycholist or a psych ward since they couldnt find anything wrong. 2 guys in white coats came to my hospital room introducing themselves in a way too kind and sly way, i instantly knew something was wrong and i begged my mom for another chance, that i was going to change, etc. She took me home after a lot of convincing of my side, and ever since then i tried to hide my symptoms from her and from the family. But my grandma was babysitting often and saw right trough it. She drove me one day to another country over the border, the netherlands, to a 'specialist' she once visited with her sister back years ago and he was amazing she claimed.
He did some tests on me, we had to wait in the waiting room for a while, we went back in and he brought the most scary news ever, but i was kind of relieved that someone finally 'saw something' and finally told a family member that it was not imaginary. He said i had a scary amount of white blood cells and they needed to do urgently more tests because everything was leading to Leukemia.
I knew Leukemia wasnt good, but even then, i was happy , i was relieved, they found what was wrong. Even though my grandmother was crying like a baby, i was just in a 'finally' mood. i thanked him and we scheduled another appointment, my grandmother told everyone in the family, they finally took it serious, i was allowed to sleep longer , there were days i would just sleep trough, because nobody woke me up, the next tests came and it was NOT leukemia.
The Specialist instantly gave up on me when finding that out.
Eventually i had to quit school because it was getting too dangerous with all the mechanical equipment in school.
In the years that past, i have tried all kinds of things to try and fix it, mostly wanting that 'awake' feeling of me being in the front row of consciousness all day, i dont care about the other symptoms, they can stay, but i dont want to be in the backseat of my own consciousness. I feel constantly like im not awake, like im in a dream , sometimes having to tell myself that this is real and not a dream . Often when something bad happens, i have to double check that its a dream or reality , i hate this feeling so much, i love the short moments in my life that im on the front row, that im conscious completely and can feel im awake and in reality.
Some might not take me serious and that is fine, please say what you want to say, im alright with it, to me, all your comments are in the background anyways, everything feels unreal, so if you say something mean to me, i dont register it completely anyways. So please go ahead, Ill be your punching bag in your bad days.
Its my birthday in 2 days, and it would be great if i could be fully conscious for it, I know that is probably impossible to ask for, but who knows, im ready to do anything for it.
i also want children in the future but i know i can not raise them when being like this. Oh yeah, almost forgot, I seem to be immune or asymptomic [ or how do you call it? ] for Coronavirus.
I hanged out with a guy on 4 November and he was coughing and stuff saying the weather is being annoying. We even drank of the same redbull can while watching a movie together. He was talking about staying home because he didnt want corona and only stayed in touch with 3 people and me. We played minecraft all night. Few days later he texted me, saying he was tested positive for Corona because one of his 3 friends went to a Halloween party and that his coughing was not because of the weather but because of corona. so i was in close contact with him while we shared a redbull together and he coughed once in my face even. So i was instantly convinced i was going to get corona. I quarantined myself for 14 days also checking my temperature every day . My normal temperature is 36.6 , only 1 of the days it was 36.7 , and then it went down to 36.5 for a few days and then i was again at 36.6 , i slept a LOT in those 14 days, even skipping some days , sleeping straight trough them. in the meantime the guy was texting me telling me his experience, how he was suffering, and how all his friends were tested positive. Im so confused how i didnt experience anything of symptoms . Might be related to my high WBC ? Thank you for taking your time reading this, Thank you for all your efforts in reddit , Please be safe and take good care of yourself and your family, especially now during this horrid time.

As many here are interested in it, the new flight ban list is out. It changed, now there is no flight ban with some exceptions, but generally international flights are fine, except to the countries listed. There are 44 countries on the flight ban list, where no commercial services can happen except some well defined charters (repatriation flights).
Most of the countries on the list never had any flights to Poland anyway.
Flights are banned to/from:
Andorra
Argentina
Armenia
Bahamas
Bahrain
Bolivia
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Brazil
Cape Verde
Chile
China (PRC)
Colombia
Costa Rica
Dominican Republic
Ecuador
El Salvador
Eswatini (Swaziland)
Gabon
Guatemala
Honduras
Iraq
Israel
Kazakhstan
Kirgistan
Kosovo
Kuwait
Luxembourg
Maldives
Mexico
Moldova
Montenegro
North Macedonia
Oman
Panama
Peru
Qatar
Russia
Sao Tome and Principe
Saudi Arabia
Serbia
Singapore
South Africa
Suriname
United States of America
Edit: as this was added by the mods as a sticky announcement, I would like to add, that Poland was NOT put on the UK quarantine list, for some surprisingly. They stopped at France, Netherlands and Malta. I know a lot of Poles and expats in Poland also wondered about this list.

Microsoft filed a patent 2020-060606 on June 20, 2019 for the link between the human body and the crypto payment system. It is a cryptocurrency mining system that uses human pulses such as brain waves and body heat to perform online tasks such as using search engines, chatbots, and reading ads. "A user can solve the arithmetically difficult problem unconsciously," says the patent.
In fact, this is a very brief description of a brain computer interface, which can read and write electromagnetic signals from the brain at such a finely meshed level that the brain literally becomes a biocomputer in a network. To understand that, please watch the video below and read on below. This is necessary so that you understand the current technological state of affairs.
Steve Hoffman - Brain Hacking & MindTech - Produced by DingDingTV
How cryptocurrency works The aim is that we are collectively hung in a hyve mind and it seems that what with crpyo-currency like Bitcoin still had to be done on energy-guzzling mining servers, can now be filled in by the “human bio-computer”.
The unique thing about blockchain payment systems was that as soon as you took a so-called wallet into the network, your computer formed a block in the network, where your computer receives a kind of calculation program that calculates the security key of a coin. All computers on the network must then come up with the same key as confirmation. If the entire network sees a transaction of a coin, all those keys are checked and if one is different, the transaction is illegal and rejected. That would create unhackable security.
The problem, however, is that Bitcoin mining requires a lot of computing power and that requires electricity. That's why Bitcoin mining ended up being one of the most energy-guzzling industries in the world. The Microsoft patent seems to aim at making this blockchain principle, which is not only very energy-guzzling, but also puts a heavy burden on the internet in terms of bandwidth (after all, all computers in the chain must always be checked for positive encryption), superfluous to make.
Simply put: Microsoft wants to use the human brain as a block in the blockchain. The 5G network will provide sufficient bandwidth to realize this.
​
Link digital ID, vaccination ID and social credit system:
The coronavirus pandemic provides the perfect alibi for the introduction of such a system. In concrete terms, this means that a score of your behavior (expressed in points) will initially be kept in the cloud. If you stick to the rules, you can take public transport or plane. If you don't follow the rules, your score will go down. The upcoming social distancing apps are a precursor to such a behavioral scoring system. After all, if you do not keep enough distance from potential infections, you have to quarantine at home. We also see China taking the lead there. Watch the video below and then read on.
Wuhan coronavirus covid-19 totalitarian UN propaganda?
Although Bill Gates officially retired from Microsoft's board this year, we can guess who the big driving force behind patent 2020-060606 is.
Of course, I need not point out to the attentive reader that we recognize here the Biblical number of the mark of the beast from the Bible book of Revelation: 666. It states that the time will come when no one will be able to buy or sell without to bear 'the beast'. This under the statement that this number is six hundred and sixty-six.
The same Bill Gates is behind the ID2020 initiative that wants to develop a digital ID for vaccination registration. If you combine such a digital ID hallmark with a digital passport (ID) and with patent 2020-060606, then you have completely enslaved people.
​
Revelation 13: 16-18
16: And it causes it to give a mark to all, small and great, and rich and poor, and free and servants, on their right hand or on their foreheads;
17: And that no one should buy or sell except he who has that mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18: Here is wisdom: let him that have understanding count the number of the beast; for the number of a man is, and his number is six hundred sixty and six.
​
The "Official Gazette of the Kingdom of the Netherlands" announced on March 31, 2020 (“coincidentally”) change in law that allows a digital ID. Translated:
Kingdom Act of 6 March 2020 amending the Passport Act in connection with the introduction of electronic identification with a public identification means and the expansion of the basic register of travel documents.
We Willem-Alexander, by the grace of God, King of the Netherlands, Prince of Oranje-Nassau, etc. etc. etc.
All who will see or hear it read, salute! do to know:
Thus We have considered that it is desirable to amend the Passport Act in connection with the introduction of electronic identification with a public means and the extension of the basic register of travel documents;
​
​
The consequences:
So if we don't wake up in masses now and discover that we are witnessing a Psychological Operation that fully complies with the master script, then there is no escape. Then we cannot buy or sell anything if we do not meet all the requirements of the state. And to all, it really means all. Making a minor offense once has immediate consequences. Not cooperating with the vaccination obligation (think Bill Gates) will definitely mean the end of being able to travel and participate in society at all. You should consider the most basic things such as being able to buy food and drink.
​
We must step out of our programming and know that we are sovereign. Please read the article from the official journal above again. In it you see that you can fully rely on your consciousness sovereignty. You are sovereign by nature and no law can bind you to anything. It says "We Willem-Alexander, by the grace of God". Now let him prove "that grace of God".
Every law is signed by the king by the grace of God. There is no evidence whatsoever of this and so the law does not apply. The only problem is the fact that social systems have built up around that grace of God, to which many swear allegiance.
Do we sit back and relax until we are swallowed up by the system of "the internet of things" by the grace of God, or do we activate ourselves to concrete things? Concrete matters means that we have to switch from passive to active and discover who we are in potential and in essence.

STEAM HALLOWEEN SALE THREAD - Reddit
|RELEASES|

Games	Platform
Watch Dogs Legion	PS4 XBOX EPIC UbiStore
Ghostrunner	Steam PS4 XBOX
The Dark Pictures Anthology: Little Hope	Steam PS4 XBOX
The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV	PS4

• Blair Witch and Ghostbusters Remastered are free on Epic Store.

|SURPRISES|

• CD Projekt’s CEO: Cyberpunk 2077 is ready on PC, delay [December 10th] due to current-gen consoles - DSOgaming
• Former CDPR Employee Reportedly Earned $430 Per Month During Witcher 3 Development - thegamer
• Demon’s Souls Gameplay Trailer #2 - YouTube | New Details
• Microsoft’s New Halo Game Loses Top Director After Project Delay - Bloomberg
• Another Microsoft Game, Everwild, Loses Its Director - Kotaku
• The Latest Patch For The Last of Us Remastered Reduced Loading Times By Over 70% On PS4 - Kotaku
• Path of Exile Delays 3.13 Launch Because of Cyberpunk 2077 - IGN
• Alien: Isolation’s Pitch Was Developed In Secret After Sega Said No - Kotaku | Noclip Documentary
• Gears 5's Next Update Lets You Recast Marcus Fenix As Dave Bautista - Kotaku
• Electronic Arts faces €10 million fine over FIFA loot boxes in the Netherlands - PCG

|GENERAL|

• Far Cry 6 and Rainbow Six Quarantine have been delayed - PCGamer
• Xbox head suggests future tech could include streaming sticks, TV controllers for xCloud access - gamesindustry
• Phil Spencer confirms all first-party Xbox Series X games are 'coming to PC' - PCGamer
• Steam Regional Pricing Helps ‘Grow Sales Internationally’: Xseed Games - themakoreactor
• Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice gets player recordings, boss rush mode and new skins in free update this week - VG247 | YouTube
• First 12 hours of PS5 preorders match first 12 weeks of PS4 - gamesindustry
• Genshin Impact made $245m in its first month on mobile alone - gamesindustry
• There's Growing Concern Over the PS4 Version of Cyberpunk 2077 Following Delay [OPINION] - pushsquare
• Cyberpunk 2077 dev defends decisions to remove features - PCGamer
• Destruction AllStars coming to PlayStation Plus in February - IGN
• Third-Party Company Already Selling Custom PS5 Faceplates - IGN

|PC|

• AMD Unveils Big Navi: RX 6900 XT, RX 6800 XT and RX 6800 Take On Ampere - tomshardware
• AMD’s RX 6000 GPUs to Boost Performance With Ryzen 5000 CPUs via Smart Memory Access - tomshardware
• It's Still a Terrible Time to Buy a Graphics Card [OPINION] - tomshardware
• Corsair Releases Affordable Watercooling for CPUs - tomshardware
• Nvidia may be planning two Ti variants in the RTX 30-series to combat AMD's RX 6000 GPUs - PCG
• Microsoft releases a Windows tool to permanently remove Adobe Flash from your PC - PCGamer

|OTHERS|

• The Witcher's wrinkly testicle armor is being smoothed out for season two - PCGamer
• Assassin's Creed to Become Live-Action Netflix Show, Multiple Projects Being Planned - IGN
• Tomb Raider 2 movie Delayed Indefinitely - IGN
• Mark Wahlberg first look as Sully from Uncharted film
• Halo Movie: Guillermo del Toro Apparently Wanted Master Chief to Have an Evil Twin - IGN

So during the quarantine I finally had a lot of time to bond my rabbits. It took about three weeks of multiple hours of dates per day. I thought I had completed their bonding and they’ve been living together for a couple of months now. I have a five-year-old spayed female Holland lop (Clover) and a two-year-old neutered male Netherland dwarf (Peter). The first month they lived together, things were fine, but for the last month here, Clover repeatedly mounts and humps Peter multiple times a day. She never did this during any bonding date sessions. I just caught her doing it again and when I pulled Clover off of Peter, she ripped out a chunk of his fur. Clover is never really affectionate with Peter. Peter will groom her frequently, but when he asks for grooming, she ignores him and then hops away. Lately, Peter seems to be avoiding her instead of sitting next to her like he used to. He tries to run away from her when she goes after him but eventually he’ll just take the mounting and hop away afterward. Now Clover has never been an affectionate rabbit pretty much ever, not even with us. She’s just got this personality. Since it didn’t seem to cause any issues when I “bonded” them, I just figured that’s just how their relationship is going to be, but now I’m wondering if they really are bonded or not. Is there some way to make Clover stop bothering Peter and be affectionate with him? Are they bonded? Should I separate them? I really need some help and advice here.

Hi, a few weeks ago I made a post asking for advice on whether I’d be fine when it comes to my reason for travel. To sum that up, I’m traveling from England to the Netherlands for a month as a result of several job interviews. Some have asked/require a physical meeting in order for me to properly follow the recruitment program (I’m going to work there for a period of time next year).
I spoke to the Dutch government directly, and according to the employee I spoke to, I am welcome under a quarantine period of 10 days and a health screening form. Which I surely don’t mind.
I do want to make sure there are no additional documents I need to prepare when it comes to the English regulations. I’ve got the health screening form that the Netherlands requires, but is there anything I need to show at the airport in England? As they’re against all travel unless absolutely necessary with the current situation.
Just a quick addition, I’ll be traveling from a tier 3 (very high) city, being Bristol, just in case it makes a difference to the matter.
I’m sorry if this sounds as if I’m repeating myself, I’m just rather anxious as I put a lot of time, effort, and sum of my own money into this trip. I’d hate to see it all be for nothing.

COVID-19 has made its way to The Netherlands, with infections being reported in Tilburg and Diemen. This thread will serve as a way of centralising information and discussions. We also recommend taking a look at the /theNetherlands megathread.
For up to date news articles, you can take a look at this NOS collection of articles. Also take a look at this FAQ from the RIVM. The NOS also has an FAQ here.

Related threads

Some related (past) threads that may be worth looking into:

• https://www.telegraaf.nl/nieuws/1579453912/met-corona-besmette-vrouw-uit-diemen-werkt-in-amc
• https://www.reddit.com/Amsterdam/comments/fasidm/coronavirus_in_amsterdam/

FAQ

How dangerous is the virus?

NOS has a video on the subject here.
The symptoms are similar to a regular virus. If you suspect you may have the virus, contact your GP (by phone). Depending on the severity, you may be put in isolation in the hospital or at home.

How do I reduce the risk of getting the virus

• Source 1
• Source 2

Wash your hands, keep your distance from other people if possible (at least two meters), sneeze into the inside of your elbow instead of the neck of the person next to you, and maybe avoid taking the walking tour of Diemen.

Will buying a mask help?

• Source 1
• Source 2
• Source 3

This depends on the type of mask. Without wearing protective glasses of some sort you may still contract the virus through your eyes. In both cases, the masks are meant for medical personnel, and wearing the proper masks for longer periods of time is not convenient for most people.

Will there be a quarantine?

• Source under "Vragen over thuisquarantaine en isolatie"

Individuals may be placed in quarantine, either at home or in a hospital.
It's a bit difficult to find information about large scale quarantines (e.g. entire cities), but to the best of our knowledge this has never been applied in recent history in The Netherlands. If anybody has any good information on this, please let us know and we'll update this FAQ.
luravi mentioned:

An article in NRC from February 25th mentioned this scenario. Paraphrasing what's said in that article:

• A quarantine is not a measure we'd quickly consider in the Netherlands;
• However, due to the size of the outbreak in Italy, arguments in favour of a quarantine can be made;
• The chain of infection isn't clear in Italy (who introduced the virus to Italy), so whether the quarantine will be effective at containing the spread of the virus remains to be seen;
• Epidemic control focuses on quarantining infected persons and those who've been in contact with them. Quarantining towns and cities is not part of a 'draaiboek' (scenario, plan of action).

There's more in there but the article is four days old and news develops fast so I'm not sure if any of the information has already become outdated.

Should I stock up on food, ammunition, Donald Ducks, etc?

It's hard to find facts on this matter from official organisations. Since large scale quarantines (certainly those of the size as applied in China) are unlikely to happen, chances are you will be just fine. Even under quarantine, the government is not going to let you starve.

How likely am I to die from the virus?

• Source 1 (based on data from https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/coronavirus-age-sex-demographics/, but the website is down)
• Source 2

This differs a bit per age and how healthy you are, but in general the risk of death is very low. People with a reduced immune system will be at a greater risk.

I have a trip scheduled to Amsterdam. Should I reschedule or cancel?

That's probably a good idea. Many places are closed, or will close earlier. Fligths may also end up getting cancelled, and several countries have already started closing their borders.

Where can I see the number of known infections per region?

You can find a world-wide map here, and a map that focuses on The Netherlands here. Data for The Netherlands is provided by the RIVM.

How many known infections are there in The Netherlands?

As of March 15, 2020 the number of known infections is 1135. Keep in mind that the real number is likely far higher, as many people haven't been (and likely won't be) tested.
As of March 15, 2020 the number of people in The Netherlands that have died from COVID-19 is 20. According to the RIVM most of these are elderly people who were already at risk (e.g. they were already suffering from a serious illness).

Parliament resumes the sessions after a lengthy break.

155-fold increase in electric vehicles / No VAT import tax

Nature Ministry wants you to drive electric, so they canceled import taxes on electric passenger cars last year.
Now they have a bill to waive taxes on 5-tons electric trucks. It's aimed at eliminating cargo trucks that leave a taste of gasoline in your mouth when they drive nearby. You know you felt it...
Imports of electric cars have gone from 12 in 2018, to 668 in 2H19, to 1863 in 1H20.
https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1026915.html

Armenia prepares to sign a deportee readmission agreement with EU

Parliament gave preliminary approval to sign an immigration agreement with Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Bulgaria, and Luxemburg. It states that the Armenian govt will aid the process of accepting back illegal immigrants from those countries.
There is already such agreement with France, Estonia, and Czechia.
 
2020 became the first year when the govt agreed to aid the returning deportees with a $125/mo housing subsidy for 6 months.
97% of Armenian migrants don't get refugee status in the EU because the experts conclude they aren't persecuted in Armenia.
https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1026863.html
https://news.am/arm/news/600836.html

A warning before a ticket?

BHK party drafted a bill to issue a warning before giving a ticket to residents who violate COVID safety rules.
https://www.civilnet.am/news/2020/09/07/Նախազգուշացում-իսկ-կրկնվելու-դեպքում-տուգանք․-առաջարկվում-է-փոխել-տուգանելու-մեխանիզմը/394269

Armenia prepares to criminalize incitement of genocide

Parliament gave preliminary approval to proceed with a law that would imprison people between 8 years to life imprisonment if they publicly encourage a genocide.
The severity of punishment depends on whether the perpetrators are a group of officials who used mass-media, or an individual who used lesser tools.
https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1026876.html

Defamation penalties could increase

Parliament gave preliminary approval to a QP bill that could increase the penalty for insult and defamation five-fold, making it $10k and $20k.
The author of the bill says the purpose is to reduce instances of people registering fake online accounts/outlets to spread slander and insults. It'll be discussed with other parties before a vote.
 
The union of journalists criticized the bill and said the excessively-high penalties could violate free speech by forcing to shut down media outlets.
The government also found the proposed penalties too harsh and suggested a $4k and $6k penalty instead.
https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1026904.html
https://factor.am/281693.html

Fake food production could become a crime

QP party drafted a bill to prohibit the production of "fake" food. There is already a law against dangerous fake alcohol, but the food is currently "unprotected".
Producers could face between a $415 fine to 5 years in prison (if someone dies).
https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1026901.html

10km tourist promenade across Lake Sevan shores / Who owns the lands?

On April we learned that the govt is working on a new 10km pedestrian boulevard across the shores of Lake Sevan, to attract tourists. Pashinyan created a group tasked with examining suitable lands and legal issues.
Hetq media outlet has also examined the high-profile owners of the lands near the area of the proposed promenade. Some of the buildings are illegal because they were built too close to the lake.
Nature Ministry sent noticed to thousands of property owners and urged them to remove their properties.
https://hetq.am/hy/article/121171

ex-Deputy Minister is arrested on corruption charges

The report says: // HHK Vahan Poghosyan served as Tuberculosis Center director and was earlier charged for a 2019 embezzlement, and released on $10k bail.
Later, more corruption was found during his 2015-2016 activities. A decision was made to arrest him.
 
Being the chief coordinator of the anti-tuberculosis and HIV fight in Armenia, including the manager of the aid received by the U.S., he colluded with other officials to embezzle $163,000.
He also registered fake employees and stole their salaries, and appropriated state property.
12 people are charged in a felony case. //
https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1026947.html

2018 Constitutional Court (CC) hijacking trial

Context: HHK hijacked CC in 2018. They convinced CC's chief judge to resign by giving him a new job. With the CC chief's position being vacant, HHK decided to appoint their fellow MP Hrayr Tovmasyan as a judge.
The problem was, the new Constitution was supposed to activate soon and HHK wouldn't have enough time to appoint and approve.
To make it work, two HHK officials allegedly falsified documents and dates to fit the deadlines. The two officials are Ara Babloyan and Arsen Babayan. They were charged with a felony in 2019.
 
Today was their trial. The court deliberated on the level of personal movement restrictions on defendants.
The prosecutors agreed to allow Ara Babloyan to travel abroad, citing his good behavior and his new job.
As for Arsen Babayan, prosecutors wanted the restrictions to remain in place, but the court struck them down.
 
P.S. Arsen Babayan is the HHK official who recently joined ex-NSS chief Arthur Vanetsyan to form the Hayreniq Party.
https://factor.am/281631.html
https://factor.am/281668.html

Corruption bust / Yerevan's Green department

The report says: officials working at the capital's Green department were busted with negligently allowing, and in some instances purposely aiding, a $23k embezzlement involving a company that was hired to work for the city a few months ago.
A felony case is launched. https://factor.am/281656.html

անճոռնի գորտը

Residents of Gyumri raised the alarm after discovering a construction in a historic-cultural building. Someone decided to build a tasteless 2nd floor on top of the historic building.
The municipality says the construction was unauthorized and suspended it. They summoned the builder for questioning.
The owner of the building claims it's not illegal because the law allows "light construction", and that they need to build the extra floor "to have a roof".
Photos: https://factor.am/281581.html

March 1st, 2008 victims & their lawyers won't attend court trials

March 1st victims: Now that the preliminary stage is over and the court has entered a lengthy beurocratic process, during which the judge chooses to only exercise powers against victims and not Robik and Co-defendants, we see no purpose to attend these sessions that are accompanied with human rights violations.
(Prosecutors will continue their case against Robik & Co)
https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1026888.html

March 1st memorial statue is being crafted

At the request of Yerevan municipality, sculptor Albert Vardanyan from Gyumri has been working on a bronze monument to commemorate the victims of the 2008 murders.
The initial model is made out of clay which will be further treated before being sent to a Yekaterinburg foundry for metal coating.
The location of the new monument will be decided soon. Its proposed location and design received some criticism.
Video: https://youtu.be/G1mUbWszrts
Video: https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1026894.html

Amulsar miner accuses LHK of helping hooligans

Lydian gold miner released footage showing how presumably environmental activists threw rocks at their cars and properties during the night. They claim LHK MPs met the activists earlier that day, which was followed by the attack.
https://news.am/arm/news/600873.html

COVID vs economy

Fewer sales receipts were printed in August YoY, while the trade turnover -12%.
For the January-August period, the trade turnover -10%.
https://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/195200

Largest-ever COVID-compliance audit in Yerevan

Inspectors sent 24 groups across the capital to check businesses for safety compliance. 7% of businesses failed the test and were temporarily shut down. That's down from a typical 60% fail-rate that occurred at the beginning of the pandemic.
https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1026877.html

Ukraine upgrades Armenia's COVID-safety score

Due to the falling infection rates, Ukraine placed Armenia in the "green" zone. Those who visit Ukraine will no longer have to quarantine themselves as long as they spent the past 2 weeks exclusively in Armenia or other similar "green" countries.
Visitors still need a COVID health insurance.
https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1026878.html

364 people were flown to Russia with special flights

They join the list of 8,000 people who managed to travel from Armenia to Russia during the pandemic.
https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1026887.html

the British Science Association

... will be led by Lord Ara Darzi this year. Darzi, a professor at Denham, is the son of Armenian genocide survivors who fled to Iraq. His medical department is specialized in robotic surgeries.
https://www.britishscienceassociation.org/news/professor-ara-darzi-announced-as-incoming-president-of-the-british-science-association
http://www.panarmenian.net/arm/news/284838/

Armenian fortress is revealed after Van lake levels drop

Old Archesh (Turkish "Chelebibag") fortress was built during the Van kingdom. It went underwater in the 1800s due to the rise of lake levels. A recent drought caused the lake to drop by 2 meters and exposed the fortress again.
A Turkish archaeologist wants to renovate it and turn it into a tourist site.
http://www.panarmenian.net/arm/news/284863/

Armenia ratifies Lanzarote Convention

Armenia becomes the 47th state to approve the Lanzarote convention aimed at protecting children from sexual exploitation and abuse. It'll go into effect on June 1, 2021.
https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1026931.html

Forbes writes about Gucci's Armenian model

"Who Is Armine Harutyunyan And How Did She Become A Victim of Body-Shaming In Italy?"
https://www.forbes.com/sites/rebeccahughes/2020/09/05/who-is-armine-harutyunyan-and-how-did-she-become-a-victim-of-body-shaming-in-italy/

Middle Eastern Armenians Add Some “Nefes” to Yerevan’s Culture

A documentary about the diasporans' restaurants in Yerevan.
https://youtu.be/7aDJpy_nsfc

Border villages in Tavush

Pashinyan visited Chinari village where he thanked the residents of Tavush province for bringing victories during July battles by "standing firmly behind our soldiers."
12 Chinari houses have been renovated after sustaining Azeri fire in July.
The PM reminded residents about a new law that doubled the monthly aid to $105/mo for working mothers in villages, and introduced a $55/mo aid for unemployed mothers.
Another border city Berd will have a newly renovated Handicraftsman College soon.
https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1026938.html , https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1026933.html

Corruption bust / ex-soccer chief Nemets Rubo's company

The report says: between 2013-2019, the director of HFF's Technical Center department colluded with HFF chief HHK MP Nemets Rubo's "Noralusin" company to embezzle funds.
The officials claimed they cooperated with Rubo's company to send kids to its summer camp. No camping services were provided but the company charged $205,000.
A felony case is launched against the directors of HFF Technical Center and Rubo's Noralusin company.
https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1026902.html

Telecom industry news / 5G / 4G+

UCOM ISP doesn't have plans to implement 5G any time soon. They don't see a need or a clear advantage for the consumers, yet.
UCOM criticized the new startup ISP "TEAMS" for poaching 400 of its employees, 90% of whom were highly skilled techies and managers. (it happened after UCOM founder left the company over a dispute and others followed him)
 
Beeline ISP has modernized dozens of towers in Yerevan to boost 4G speeds from ~150 to 450mbps.
http://arka.am/en/news/technology/ucom_is_not_considering_yet_introduction_of_5g_technology_/

New rules to catch fish in Lake Sevan

Nature Ministry is tweaking the restrictions on Sevan fishing, which are meant to protect baby fish and general population count.
Fishing will be allowed in the Small Sevan section, too. That adds an additional 8 locations to the current 17.
The smallest fish can weigh 400g instead of 500g.
The overall limit was raised to 300 tons.
Fishers are given 2 more weeks to obtain a seasonal permit. Dozens of lake rangers will monitor fishers for compliance.
https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1026899.html

PostEuropa stamp competition

Armenia has entered the "Ancient Postal Routes" European competition for the best postal stamp. It presents a stamp depicting Old Gyumri which used to be Armenia's number-one political and cultural hub in the 1⁹th century.
You can vote for your favorite by Wednesday here: https://www.posteurop.org/europa2020
https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1026885.html

Byurakan International Summer School

The observatory is hosting online classes this week about astronomy and data science. There will be lectures and demonstrations.
The first school session was organized by Viktor Hambardzumyan in 1987. In 2006 the observatory resumed the practices and holds it every two years.
https://www.bao.am//meetings/meetings/SS2020/index.html
https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1026898.html

New website lets you find the right doctor

Healthcare Ministry launched a new free tool that allows you to browse all the available doctors in your area, read their biographies, read reviews left by other patients, learn the strengths and weaknesses, and schedule an appointment online.
There are also Android and iOS apps. https://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/195207

In case you missed the Sunday report

You can skip the Kardashian part, per popular demand ;)
https://www.reddit.com/armenia/comments/insv2e/sep62020_news_gyumri_day_new_transport_parks/
 
You've read 1948 words.

Disclaimer & Terminology

1) The accused are innocent until proven guilty in the court of law, even if they sound guilty.
2) Currency in Armenian ֏ unless specified otherwise.
3) NSS/SIS/SOC = law enforcement agencies. QP = Civil Contract Party. LHK = Bright Armenia Party. BHK = Prosperous Armenia Party. HHK = Republican Party. ARF = Armenian Revolutionary Federation Party
4) ARCHIVE of older posts by Idontknowmuch: PART 1 ; PART 2 ; PART 3 ; PART 4 ; PART 5.
5) ARCHIVE of older posts by Armeniapedia.

Good morning from the UK. It’s Wednesday 15th April.
​
The fire that severely damaged Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris caught fire 1 year ago today on April 15 2019, Holy Monday and by the time it was finally put out it had destroyed the building’s spire and most of the roof. The stone vaults survived mostly intact, as did most of the cathedral’s artwork and relics. Covid-19 has delayed reconstruction efforts at Notre-Dame de Paris because removal of the melted scaffolding on the cathedral’s roof (scheduled to begin March 23) cannot take place whilst the country remains under coronavirus measures.
​
On Good Friday Archbishop Michel Aupetit of Paris venerated Notre Dame Cathedral’s relic of Christ’s crown of thorns from inside the badly damaged cathedral. The archbishop prayed: “Lord Jesus, a year ago, this cathedral in which we are, was burning, causing astonishment and a worldwide impetus for it to be rebuilt, restored. Today we are in this half-collapsed cathedral to say that life is still there. The whole world is struck down by a pandemic that spreads death and paralyzes us. This crown of thorns was saved on the evening of the fire by the firefighters. It is the sign of what you suffered from the derision of men. But it is also the magnificent sign that tells us that you are joining us at the height of our suffering, that we are not alone and that you are with us always,” Aupetit said.
​
Tonight though the Cathedral’s 339 year old 13 tonne bourdon bell (which is called Emmanuel and tuned to F#) will ring out to applaud the hard work of France’s medical workers engaged in the fight against Covid-19 (Source Liberation, in French and the Catholic News Agency).
​
How much our lives can change in just one year.
​

Virus news in depth

​
Trump suspends funding of the world health organisation - the biggest Covid-19 story this morning is the decision by US President Donald Trump to suspend funding of the World Health Organisation pending a review. "Had the WHO done its job to get medical experts into China to objectively assess the situation on the ground and to call out China's lack of transparency, the outbreak could have been contained at its source with very little death," Trump said. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo stated that the WHO "declined to call this a pandemic for an awfully long time because frankly the Chinese Communist Party didn't want that to happen." CNN reports that the US funds $400 million to $500 million to the WHO each year, Trump said, noting that China "contributes roughly $40 million." Another article from CNN points out that the UK announced an additional £65 million contribution to the WHO only a few days ago.
Reaction to Trump's decision has been swift. Al Jazeera quotes Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian during a daily briefing on the situation with the pandemic saying that the pandemic was at a critical stage and that the US' decision would affect all countries of the world. The news agency also quotes Dr Patrice Harris, president of the American Medical Association, who called it "a dangerous step in the wrong direction that will not make defeating COVID-19 easier". Bill Gates has tweeted “Halting funding for the World Health Organization during a world health crisis is as dangerous as it sounds. Their work is slowing the spread of COVID-19 and if that work is stopped no other organization can replace them. The world needs u/WHO now more than ever”. The Irish foreign minister Simon Coveney tweeted “This is indefensible decision, in midst of global pandemic. So many vulnerable populations rely on ⁦@WHO⁩ - deliberately undermining funding & trust now is shocking. Now is a time for global leadership & unity to save lives, not division and blame!” whilst Richard Horton, the editor-in-chief of the influential Lancet medical journal, wrote that Trump’s decision was “a crime against humanity … Every scientist, every health worker, every citizen must resist and rebel against this appalling betrayal of global solidarity”.
​
Chile counts those who died of coronavirus as recovered because they're 'no longer contagious,' health minister says - News Week reports that cases of the novel coronavirus in Chile have climbed past 7,500, including 82 deaths, while over 2,300 have recovered from infection as of Tuesday, according to data from Johns Hopkins University but coronavirus patients in Chile who have died are being counted among the country's recovered population because they are "no longer contagious," Chile's Health Minister Jaime Mañalich said this week. "We have 898 patients who are no longer contagious, who are not a source of contagion for others and we include them as recovered. These are the people who have completed 14 days of diagnosis or who unfortunately have passed away," Mañalich announced at a press conference. It is unknown when Chile began including the dead among the number of people who have recovered. But the calculation has reportedly been adopted following validation by international health experts, the government claims. (Personal note: I just checked, as of 9am UK time Johns Hopkins has Chile down as 7912 cases with 92 deaths. Hat tip to chomponthebit for this rather odd story).
​

Virus news in brief

​
Source; Today’s Guardian live blog unless otherwise stated

• Australia has jailed its first person for breaching isolation laws. The 35-year-old man will spend one month in jail after he repeatedly snuck out of a quarantine hotel to visit his girlfriend.

​

• Japan also has PPE shortage problems; the Japanese city of Osaka has issued an urgent plea for citizens to donate plastic raincoats to hospitals running short of protective gear for staff treating coronavirus patients, with some doctors already having to resort to wearing garbage bags. Japanese medical workers have been warning for weeks that the medical system could soon be pushed to the brink, with nurses telling Reuters they were unsure whether their hospitals had enough advanced PPE such as N95 masks and plastic gowns. Some in Tokyo said they had been told to reuse masks.

​

• Kandahar province has gone into full lockdown on Wednesday morning as Afghanistan reported its second biggest daily rise of new coronavirus cases in a week, triggered by a surge of infections in Kabul. The total number of identified infections is nearing 800.

​

• India will allow industries located in the countryside to reopen next week, as well as resuming farm activities, to reduce the pain for millions of people hit by a lengthy shutdown in its coronavirus battle, the government said on Wednesday. Millions of people have been thrown out of work across south Asia since the lockdowns began last month, and growing anger in some areas was reflected in the commercial capital of Mumbai on Tuesday, when hundreds mobbed a train station demanding transport home.

​

• Crowds and long lines have formed in the Moscow metro today as the city’s new electronic permission system may have backfired by trapping thousands of people at bottlenecks on public transport. Here’s a picture of the situation this morning.

​

• In a first step towards easing coronavirus-related restrictions, Finland will lift roadblocks in the region around Helsinki on Wednesday, the prime minister, Sanna Marin, said. Travel restrictions to and from Uusimaa, the capital region, to the rest of the country began on 28 March, to prevent people from spreading the virus to other parts of the country. Marin said the government no longer had legal grounds to continue the lockdown, considering it an extreme measure to restrict people’s freedom of movement so strictly.

​

• Germany’s government will extend restrictions on movement introduced last month to slow the spread of the coronavirus until at least 3 May, Handelsblatt business daily reported on Wednesday, citing the dpa news agency.

​

• A German zoo has said it may have to feed some of its animals to others as it runs low on funds amid the coronavirus lockdown. Neumünster Zoo’s Verena Kaspari told Die Welt: If it comes to it, I’ll have to euthanise animals, rather than let them starve. At the worst, we would have to feed some of the animals to others. Kaspari said it would be an “unpleasant” last resort, but the zoo is not covered by the state emergency fund for small businesses and the zoo’s loss of income this spring is estimated at about €175,000 (£152,400).

​

• Police in Berlin broke up a large birthday gathering in the early hours of Monday that violated Germany's social distancing restrictions. A 16-year-old girl was celebrating with 31 other people at an apartment in the German capital's central Mitte neighborhood. The girl's mother had apparently rented the property especially for the occasion. (Deutsche World link)

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• Denmark began reopening schools on Wednesday after a month-long closure over the coronavirus, becoming the first country in Europe to do so. Nurseries, kindergartens and primary schools are reopening in about half of the municipalities and about 35% of Copenhagen’s schools. Some parents have opposed the reopening of schools, citing health concerns. A petition titled “My child is not a guinea pig” has garnered some 18,000 signatures.

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• The world will need more than one Covid-19 vaccine so drug companies must partner in the race to develop the weapons to fight the coronavirus, the GlaxoSmithKline chief executive officer, Emma Walmsley, said on Wednesday. GlaxoSmithKline Plc and Sanofi SA said on Tuesday they would develop a vaccine to fight the fast-spreading coronavirus. The drugmakers said they expect to start clinical trials for the vaccine in the second half of this year. If successful, the vaccine would be available in the second half of 2021.

​

Supply chain news in depth

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Heathrow cargo flights rise 500% as airport restyles itself as ‘vital airbridge’ - The Guardian says that the number of cargo-only flights at Heathrow has surged to five times normal levels, with the airport now saying it is prioritising medical supplies as passenger travel grinds to a halt. Britain’s biggest airport expects passenger traffic expected to plunge by 90% in April, with remaining flights mainly limited to repatriating citizens stranded abroad during the coronavirus outbreak. Instead, the hub airport is restyling itself as a “vital airbridge” for supplies and medical essentials during the coronavirus crisis. The number of cargo-only flights has jumped significantly; Heathrow’s busiest day for cargo so far was on 31 March, when it handled 38 cargo flights in only one day (the airport usually deals with 47 cargo flights per week). In a related article, the Independent reports that whilst the UK’s East Midlands airport has experienced “only” a 54% drop in total air movements, it’s nevertheless experienced a 7.4% rise in cargo flights with the result that it’s now the tenth busiest airport in Europe putting it ahead of major hubs such as Rome, Munich and Madrid. (Personal note: I live close to East Midlands airport and have definitely noticed there’s still a fair bit of traffic coming and going; it helps that DHL Express have a decent presence there too).
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Global Airline Traffic Will Nearly Halve in 2020 - The Wall Street Journal reports that global airline traffic is expected to almost halve this year because of travel restrictions, with no recovery expected until the third quarter, according to an industry trade group. The International Air Transport Association forecast airlines would lose $314 billion in revenue this year, 25% more than its previous estimate as it incorporated more pessimistic assumptions about the hit to the global economy and the relaxation of travel restrictions. (Personal note: for contrast the drop in revenue for the global aviation industry after the 9/11 attacks was about $23bn according to an article in the Guardian; disruption in the industry from that event caused the bankruptcy of Swissair, Belgium's Sabena and Australia's Ansett whilst he American airlines United, US Airways, Northwest and Delta all filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection from creditors).
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Amazon faces having its operations reduced to a bare minimum in France - a court has ruled the e-commerce giant can deliver only essential goods while the company evaluates its workers’ risk of coronavirus exposure says today’s Guardian live blog (link above). The court in Nanterre, outside Paris, said Amazon France had “failed to recognise its obligations regarding the security and health of its workers,” according to a ruling seen by AFP. While carrying out the health evaluation, Amazon can prepare and deliver only “food, hygiene and medical products,” the court said. The injunction must be carried out within 24 hours, or Amazon France could face fines of €1m (£873,500) per day. Amazon has one month to carry out the evaluation. Concern has grown over the safety precautions taken by the company; dozens of workers protested in the United States last month.
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Pandemic breaks Vietnam supply chains; loss of exports may be permanent - The Loadstar reports that Freight forwarders in Vietnam have seen cargo volumes down by up to 70% on pre-coronavirus levels, as their key markets remain under lockdown. According to Ho Chi Minh City-based supply chain consultant CEL, the world has entered a consumer demand crisis which could permanently alter its supply chains. “As we speak, the American consumer is currently already reducing expenditure on shoes, phones, appliances, clothes, cars and tools, for example,” said CEL managing partner Julien Brun. “Most of which are made in Asia, and a large portion in Vietnam.” When the coronavirus pandemic started in Wuhan in January, the crisis was seen as a China-specific problem from a supply chain perspective, and prompted a frantic search for alternative production and transport capacity in Vietnam, Mr Brun explained. Vietnam’s own reliance on China for raw materials and components quickly materialised, however, resulting in the start of delays and production challenges. “In a survey conducted by CEL at the end of March, 83% of companies in the physical value chain in Vietnam, including retailers, transporters, traders and manufacturers, had suffered supply issues over the past two months,” he said. “And 47% of them had issues specifically with Chinese suppliers, a large majority of which was over missing raw materials.” Mr Brun said manufacturers and retailers’ current sales volumes were too low to absorb fixed costs, leaving thousands of businesses with negative margins and thinning cash reserves.
​

Supply chain news in brief

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• The US Treasury has ordered Donald Trump’s name be printed on cheques to be sent to tens of millions of Americans affected by the coronavirus outbreak, a decision that will slow their delivery by several days, according to the Washington Post (link, not behind a paywall). Citing unnamed senior officials at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the Post reported the $1,200 cheques – being sent by the as part of a $2.3tn package enacted last month to cushion the economic blow from the pandemic – will “bear Trump’s name in the memo line, below a line that reads, ‘Economic Impact Payment’.” The Post said the “unprecedented decision” to include Trump’s name was announced to the IRS information technology team on Tuesday.

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• Share trading of Virgin Australia has been suspended at the airline’s request whilst it reviews financial restructuring options in a bid to avoid collapse. The halt comes after a previous halt last week where the airline announced it had requested a $1.4 billion loan from the Australian government. The airline also announced it was cutting all flights except for a single SYD-MEL (Sydney to Melbourne) return flight 6 days a week. Options that may be considered include existing creditors swapping debt for equity (i.e. creditors write off debt and are given shares instead), priority debt to new creditors (to encourage badly needed additional funds to come in from investors), restructuring or entering voluntary administration. (Source: Airlive.net)

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• Air Cargo News reports that Spice Jet (my favourite airline name of them all) is ramping up its cargo operation following the virus outbreak. On April 7, India-based SpiceJet operated the country’s first cargo-only passenger aircraft flight carrying vital medical supplies in the cabin. Since then, the airline has regularly used its Boeing 737 aircraft for cargo-only flights. SpiceJet has also recently operated special cargo flights to Abu Dhabi, Kuwait and other countries, to export local fresh fruits and vegetables and maintain supply chains. On April 9, SpiceXpress — SpiceJet’s dedicated cargo arm — operated a freighter flight on the Chennai-Singapore-Chennai route carrying critical medical equipment and other Covid-19 related medical supplies.

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• The LoadStar has reported that Air Canada has removed the seats on 3 of its 777’s to make more room for cargo. The aircraft are being converted by aircraft maintenance and cabin integration specialist Avianor, which will remove 422 passenger seats and designate cargo loading zones for lightweight boxes containing medical equipment, restrained with cargo nets.

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• U.S. carriers are asking the FAA to allow shipments in passenger cabins says Freightwaves. With a global shortage of air cargo space and extraordinary demand to move emergency medical supplies, some overseas passenger airlines are taking out the seats on aircraft to make more room for freight and U.S. airlines are asking the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for permission to fly cargo in the main deck where passengers normally sit, including the option of removing seats, an industry source familiar with the regulatory situation said. A decision on basic main-deck loading is expected very soon. FAA sign-off for more complex modifications could take a couple weeks longer, the person said, adding “the exact framework for seat loading under U.S. regulations is not yet fully elaborated.” Almost every domestic airline is interested in using the cabin for cargo in some form, according to the source.

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• Prologis Inc (which is one of the world’s largest logistics real estate investment trusts and has a lot of warehouses) has said 24% of its customers have inquired about rent releases and deferring payments in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has stunted demand for goods in many industries. On a business update call with analysts and investors earlier this week, the company said the release requests total 69 days of rent relief on 16.6% of the company’s portfolio. Prologis expects to grant deferrals in the form of a repayable loan to roughly one quarter of those that have sought relief. Management estimates the deferral loan amounts will equal 1% of the company’s gross annual rent. Of note, management said some of the inquiries have come from large, “financially sound” clients that are looking to take advantage of the current market in which some landlords are offering accommodative rent payment solutions. Freightwaves has more.

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• Amazon is going to start accepting all non-essential products to its warehouses again this week, a month after pausing those shipments says Business Insider. Amazon's spokesperson confirmed in an email to Business Insider that third-party sellers who use Amazon's warehouses to store their products will be able to resume sending in all non-essential items later this week. There will be limits to how many products per item the sellers can ship in, but the idea is to lift the restrictions imposed last month, the spokesperson said. "Later this week, we will allow more products into our fulfillment centers," Amazon's spokesperson said. "Products will be limited by quantity to enable us to continue prioritizing products and protecting employees, while also ensuring most selling partners can ship goods into our facilities." The change signals easing pressure on Amazon's supply chain that were caused by surging demand for essential products, like face masks and toilet paper, amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Good news section

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99 year old world war 2 veteran Capt. Tom Moore has so far managed to raise £5m ($6.25m USD, €5.72m EUR) in donations to the NHS - the BBC says that Capt. Tom Moore is currently in the middle of completing 100 laps of his garden (25 metres in length) before his 100th birthday at the end of April. Mr Moore was born in Keighley, West Yorkshire and trained as a civil engineer before enlisting in the army for World War Two, rising to captain and serving in India and Burma. NHS Charities Together, which will benefit from the funds, said it was "truly inspired and humbled". Nearly 170,000 people from around the world have donated money to his fundraising page since it was set up last week. Mr Moore began raising funds to thank the "magnificent" NHS staff who helped him with treatment for cancer and a broken hip. If you’re interested in supporting him his fundraising page is here.
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Donations

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Several asked if they can send me $/£/€ via Patreon (in some cases because I've saved them time or money, others for no reason at all). I don't need the cash (that's lovely though) but food bank charities are getting really hit hard with all this panic buying. Please consider giving whatever you'd have given me to a foodbank charity instead:
UK: https://www.trusselltrust.org/
France: https://www.banquealimentaire.org/
Germany: https://www.tafel.de/
Netherlands: https://www.voedselbankennederland.nl/steun-ons/steun-voedselbank-donatie/
Italy: https://www.bancoalimentare.it/it/node/1
Spain: https://www.fesbal.org/
Australia: https://www.foodbank.org.au/
Canada: https://www.foodbankscanada.ca/
USA: https://www.feedingamerica.org/
Thanks in advance for any donations you give. If there's foodbank charities in your country and it's not listed above, please suggest it and I will include it going forward.

Good morning from the UK. I feel fine. Late post today (a colleague came in talked to me for 10 minutes then wandered off to tour our building (3 floors) meeting lots of people before starting to cough and sneeze - then he mentions to our testing team on the top floor that he felt tired and had a slight fever whereupon the department head threw him out and told him to go home immediately. Fortunately he only got max within 1.5 metres of me but I've had to run around the building (3 floors) liberally squirting disinfectant in all sorts of directions. My colleague is an idiot. I gave him strict instructions to not divert to the supermarket on his way home either!
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Virus statistics

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Active cases

Region	Sun 22nd Mar	Sat 21st Mar	Sun 15th Mar	% daily change	% weekly change
Global	173,611	147,987	77,651	17.3%	123.6%
Italy	46638	42681	20603	9.3%	126.4%
US	32855	25182	3424	30.5%	859.6%
Germany	24513	21896	5738	12.0%	327.2%
Spain	24421	21874	6992	11.6%	249.3%
France	13296	13857	4420	-4.0%	200.8%
Iran	12022	11419	8624	5.3%	39.4%
Switzerland	7016	6485	2182	8.2%	221.5%
Korea, South	5884	7157	7577	-17.8%	-22.3%
China	5770	6189	10783	-6.8%	-46.5%
United Kingdom	5392	4766	1105	13.1%	388.0%
Netherlands	4034	3501	1116	15.2%	261.5%
Austria	3219	2797	853	15.1%	277.4%
Belgium	3063	2485	881	23.3%	247.7%
Norway	2375	2110	1217	12.6%	95.2%
Sweden	1897	1727	1018	9.8%	86.3%
Portugal	1581	1263	243	25.2%	550.6%
Brazil	1566	1004	162	56.0%	866.7%
Denmark	1500	1406	872	6.7%	72.0%
Canada	1436	1246	244	15.2%	488.5%
Australia	1219	1038	271	17.4%	349.8%
Turkey	1206	661	6	82.5%	20000.0%
Malaysia	1157	1065	386	8.6%	199.7%
Czechia	1113	989	253	12.5%	339.9%
Israel	1033	846	247	22.1%	318.2%
Selected others*
Ireland	897	777	127	15.4%	606.3%
Luxembourg	784	662	58	18.4%	1251.7%
Ecuador	772	496	26	55.6%	2869.2%
Pakistan	766	714	51	7.3%	1402.0%
Thailand	554	368	78	50.5%	610.3%
Indonesia	437	397	104	10.1%	320.2%
Russia	351	293	55	19.8%	538.2%
Mexico	245	197	37	24.4%	562.2%
Bangladesh	22	20	5	10.0%	340.0%

*Selected others = countries either with rapidly increasing infection counts or large populations.
​
Total cases (including those recovered or since passed away)

Region	Sun 22nd Mar	Sat 21st Mar	Sun 15th Mar	% daily change	% weekly change
Global	335,955	304,524	167,446	10.3%	100.6%
China	81397	81305	81003	0.1%	0.5%
Italy	59138	53578	24747	10.4%	139.0%
US	33272	25489	3499	30.5%	850.9%
Spain	28768	25374	7798	13.4%	268.9%
Germany	24873	22213	5795	12.0%	329.2%
Iran	21638	20610	13938	5.0%	55.2%
France	16176	14431	4523	12.1%	257.6%
Korea, South	8897	8799	8162	1.1%	9.0%
Switzerland	7245	6575	2200	10.2%	229.3%
United Kingdom	5741	5067	1145	13.3%	401.4%
Belgium	3401	2815	886	20.8%	283.9%
Austria	3244	2814	860	15.3%	277.2%
Norway	2383	2118	1221	12.5%	95.2%
Sweden	1934	1763	1022	9.7%	89.2%
Denmark	1514	1420	875	6.6%	73.0%
Portugal	1600	1280	245	25.0%	553.1%
Canada	1465	1278	252	14.6%	481.3%
Malaysia	1306	1183	428	10.4%	205.1%
Australia	1314	1071	297	22.7%	342.4%
Brazil	1593	1021	162	56.0%	883.3%
Japan	1086	1007	839	7.8%	29.4%
Czechia	1120	995	253	12.6%	342.7%
Israel	1071	883	251	21.3%	326.7%

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Virus news in brief

Source: CNN and Guardian live blogs
- Japan's PM has admitted for the first time that postponing the Olympics is a possibility. Separately, Canada has said it won't be sending a team and Australia is making similar noises that it'll soon follow Canada's lead (Multiple sources reporting this)
- Retired South African swimmer Cameron van der Burgh, the 2012 Olympic 100-meter breaststroke champion, says he has coronavirus. In a series of tweets on Sunday, the 31-year-old discussed dealing with the illness, calling it "by far the worst virus I have ever endured." Link to his tweets
- Washington DC; the local mayor has said she will use the national guard to stop people flocking to see the Cherry blossom trees in full bloom (CNN)
- Delaware Gov. John Carney issued a statewide "stay-at-home" order that will go into effect at 8 a.m. Tuesday and will remain in effect until May 15 (yes, May) or until the "public health threat is eliminated." The order advises residents to stay at home whenever possible and closing all nonessential businesses due to coronavirus concerns (CNN).
- Italy has appealed to the US for help from US troops stationed in the country, specifically asking for masks and ventilators (CNN).
- The capital New Delhi is among 75 districts in the country that will go into lockdown until March 31 in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Several districts are now enforcing a pre-existing law that makes it a punishable offence for four or more people to gather. Major cities such as Mumbai, Bangalore, Pune, Hyderabad and Kolkata are included which means millions of workers in the technology and financial sectors will be forced to work from home for the rest of the month (Multiple sources).
- McDonald's has announced its closing all stores in the UK and Ireland as of tonight 7pm local time after saying that takeaway and drive thru only services were not working from a social distancing perspective. The company employs 135,000 workers in the two countries. A reopening date was not provided (Multiple sources).
- New Zealand will issue its highest alert level and close all non-essential businesses across the country amid the coronavirus pandemic, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said in a news briefing on Monday. All non-essential businesses, such as bars, gyms, and cinemas, will be required to close. All schools will be closed from Tuesday, while supermarkets and service stations will remain open, she added. "Act now, or risk the virus taking hold as it has elsewhere. We currently have 102 cases. But so did Italy once. Now the virus has overwhelmed their health system and hundreds of people are dying every day. The situation here is moving at pace, and so must we." she concluded (Multiple sources).
- The UAE has suspended all inbound and outbound flights for two weeks, directly impacting Dubai airport, the busiest international airport in the world (Multiple sources).
- Stock markets are being hit once again. Dow Jones futures hit the maximum allowed 5% drop before trading was suspended, currently it and the S&P and NASDAQ futures are at time of writing all around -3.0% down. Australia has since closed (-5.6%), Hang Seng (HK) is down 4.8%, European exchanges are down around 2-3%.
- In Germany, there were signs that the exponential upwards curve in new coronavirus infections is levelling off for the first time due to the strict social distancing measures in force, the head of the country’s public health institute said on Monday.
- The French council of state is under pressure from medical unions to tighten up restrictions on the general population (already all non essential businesses are closed) and travel is heavily restricted. The council rejected the call on the grounds that it was impossible to organise home food deliveries nation wide but said it's open to further restrictions eg stopping people out to exercise individually or to walk dogs.
- Health authorities in Spain are distributing almost 650,000 rapid testing kits as the number of confirmed cases of the coronavirus in the country approaches 30,000. The first to receive the kits will be frontline hospital staff and those in the regions most affected by the spread of the virus.
- Britain’s health secretary has accused those still socialising of putting the lives of NHS workers and others at risk, as he promised the army would help deliver more protective equipment for medical staff. Matt Hancock said stricter rules such as curfews or constraints on movement could come into place “very soon” and urged people still socialising or going to holiday locations to “stop it, and if you don’t stop it then we’re going to have to take more measures”. (Personal note: It's slightly terrifying just how many Brits decided the lovely weather would be a great opportunity to go out and mix - BBC article on it).
- Hong Kong has banned the sale of alcohol because "people get intimate when they get drunk" to quote the Chief Executive of Hong Kong herself.
- Kroger (major US supemarket chain) is introducing bonuses to staff who work throughout the pandemic (link)
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Supply chain specifics

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Top manager takes aim at unfair coronavirus stance on (shipping) crew - Splash247 reports (Link) that one of the world’s top shipmanagers has hit out at the unfair treatment of stranded crew thanks to the coronavirus. Thousands of seafarers around the world are having to adjust to longer time away from home as signing on and off ships has become far trickier thanks to the spread of the illness. Bjorn Hojgaard, the CEO of Anglo-Eastern, one of the world’s largest shipmanagement companies, has questioned why crew are being targeted and not their airline counterparts. Taking to Twitter today, Hojgaard mused: “With all the travel restrictions/quarantine requirements, how do airline crew manage? Well, they are exempt… which poses the question: Why are the world’s merchant marine crew not also exempt? Supply chains are vital to the world; we must allow seafarers to sign on/off freely.”
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Most of the world’s airlines could be bankrupt by the end of May - Airlive.net reports (Link) that according to aviation industry experts most of the world’s airlines will be bankrupt by the end of May due to the ongoing effects of coronavirus. CAPA Centre for Aviation made the dramatic prediction as countries lock down their borders in light of the spread of COVID-19 which has caused more than 170,000 infections and 6,500 deaths around the world. They said that the impact of the virus could wipe out the aviation industry entirely unless governments act quickly in a co-ordinated effort.
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We Should Be Closer To Panic Than To Calm - 09:37 podcast from Bloomberg: Andy Slavitt (Former Acting Administrator for Medicare and Medicaid Services) calls for Americans to stay at home amid a severe uptick in strain on the US hospital system (Link).
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Global Harvests at Risk With Travel Limits Squeezing Labor - Bloomberg reports (Link)that American produce growers preparing to harvest crops are warning of a devastating impact on fruit and vegetables after the U.S. Embassy in Mexico announced a halt to visa interviews for seasonal farm workers. Slaughterhouses also may face labor shortages. The same applies in Australia; growers say that country may face shortages of some fruits and vegetables because of travel curbs, with the nation traditionally using overseas workers for one-third of seasonal farming jobs. Kiwifruit pickers are in short supply in New Zealand. And in Canada, travel limits threaten meat processors that rely on temporary foreign workers to fill chronic labor shortages. “There won’t be anyone to harvest the crops,” said Robert Guenther, senior vice president for public policy for the United Fresh Produce Association, which represents U.S. growers, distributors, wholesalers and retailers. “It will be devastating to growers and ultimately to the supply chain and consumers. They won’t have the food.”
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Flightradar 24 has statistics on the declining-by-the-day amount of aviation activity - see Link if that's your thing
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BBC: - Coronavirus: How easy it for the UK to make more ventilators? - Not very it turns out; the BBC hears from experts who think the supply chain cannot react fast enough, even on a war-time footing style basis. LinkThe Modern Supply Chain Is Snapping - The Atlantic has an easy to understand explanation of why our supply chains are failing (e.g. why you're seeing holes on shelves in your local supermarket). If you're not a supply chain professional, this article is worth a read. Link
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Virus crisis offers Turkey chance to reposition in global supply chain - The daily Sabah has an opinion piece (similar to those I've seen in the past month in various Asian major newspapers) arguing that the virus will lead supply chains to decentralise away from having all their eggs in one Chinese basket and the situation presents a great opportunity for Turkish industry. Turkey has a geostrategic position that stands out with a growing and freely spending population. “Turkey remains an attractive market and investment target for German small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The pragmatic and flexible structure in Turkey is completed in harmony with corporate professionalism in Germany. The result is impressive: more than 7,000 German companies employ 140,000 people, including SMEs." said German-Turkish Chamber of Commerce and Industry (AHK) Secretary-General and board member Thilo Pahl.
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3D firms step up to fill supply chain shortages - Plastic news reports that as the coronavirus outbreak spreads globally, 3D printing firms have been stepping in to help fill the need for everything from respirator parts to touch-free door handles. The moves come as governments call on companies to shut down most non-essential manufacturing, automakers shutter assembly lines and more cancellations pile up. Silicon Valley 3D printing specialist Carbon Inc. said it's seeing the need for even more production and is asking companies, governments and others to reach out with requests for the company to fulfill urgent production needs for polymer parts.
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Some IT managers resorting to buying computers from costco with schools potentially at risk of missing out on laptops for the new year starting in September - CRN (tech specialist online news website) reports difficulties in suddenly buying computers for workers who need to work from home but don't have suitable company issued equipment. “We’re down to buying computers from Costco,” said Mark Essayian, president KME Systems Inc., a Lake Forest, Calif.-based MSP. “A customer called me in a panic on Friday, saying ‘I have to have my accounting people work from home.’ He was at Best Buy … he couldn’t find anything. We found a couple at Costco and I put them on my card. And said, here it is, and we had them delivered today.” Allen Falcon, founder and CEO of Cumulus Global, a born-in-the-cloud Google and Microsoft solution provider based in Westborough, Mass., said the coronavirus supply chain crises has put “huge delivery delays” on Chromebooks. “We are seeing right now on the most common Chromebook models a current backlog of almost 70 days which means if you order a Chromebook today the earliest you would get it would be June,” he said. “If schools are not moving quickly to order now, there is a good chance they will have trouble getting devices in time for September.”

Humour / good news section

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Bit of humour: They Went Off the Grid. They Came Back to the Coronavirus - The NY Times reports (soft paywall, link) that over a dozen people went off for a rafting trip on February 19th in the grand canyon. With no access to news or phone signal, they were cut off for 25 days, their only means of communication being periodic one-way satellite text messages to their family to let them know they were OK. "Every time Zach Edler sets out on a rafting trip — out on the water for days, away from phones, an internet connection and the rest of the world — the question comes up. 'Somebody would always joke and say, ‘What if we come back to a world where nothing is the same?’ Mr. Edler told me recently. 'Of course, it never happens. Except for this time. This time it did.'"

Donations

Several asked if they can send me $/£/€ via Patreon (in some cases because I've saved them time or money, others for no reason at all). I don't need the cash (that's lovely though) but food bank charities are getting really hit hard with all this panic buying. Please consider giving whatever you'd have given me to a foodbank charity instead:
UK: https://www.trusselltrust.org/
France: https://www.banquealimentaire.org/
Germany: https://www.tafel.de/
Netherlands: https://www.voedselbankennederland.nl/steun-ons/steun-voedselbank-donatie/
Spain: https://www.fesbal.org/
Australia: https://www.foodbank.org.au/
Canada: https://www.foodbankscanada.ca/
USA: https://www.feedingamerica.org/
Thanks in advance for any donations you give. If there's foodbank charities in your country and it's not listed above, please suggest it and I will include it going forward.
​
EDIT: Minor formatting
EDIT 2: Table headers were wrong, thanks oswaldcopperpot and RustDragon, I've adjusted my home made RPA (Robotic Process Automation) script.

A belated good morning from the UK. Everyone here is feeling just fine. Hopefully all of you guys are too.

Virus statistics

Identified cases (threshold = 5k)
​

Region	29th Mar	28th Mar	22nd Mar	% 24 hr change	% 1 week change
US	140886	121478	33276	16.0%	323.4%
Italy	97689	92472	59138	5.6%	65.2%
China	82122	81999	81435	0.2%	0.8%
Spain	80110	73235	28768	9.4%	178.5%
Germany	62095	57695	24873	7.6%	149.6%
France	40708	38105	16243	6.8%	150.6%
Iran	38309	35408	21638	8.2%	77.0%
United Kingdom	19780	17312	5745	14.3%	244.3%
Switzerland	14829	14076	7474	5.3%	98.4%
Netherlands	10930	9819	4217	11.3%	159.2%
Belgium	10836	9134	3401	18.6%	218.6%
Korea, South	9583	9478	8961	1.1%	6.9%
Turkey	9217	7402	1236	24.5%	645.7%
Austria	8788	8271	3582	6.3%	145.3%
Canada	6280	5576	1469	12.6%	327.5%
Portugal	5962	5170	1600	15.3%	272.6%

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Deaths (threshold = 500)
​

Region	29th Mar	28th Mar	22nd Mar	% 24 hr change	% 1 week change
Italy	10779	10023	5476	7.5%	96.8%
Spain	6803	5982	1772	13.7%	283.9%
China	3304	3299	3274	0.2%	0.9%
Iran	2640	2517	1685	4.9%	56.7%
France	2611	2317	676	12.7%	286.2%
US	2467	2026	417	21.8%	491.6%
United Kingdom	1231	1021	282	20.6%	336.5%
Netherlands	772	640	180	20.6%	328.9%
Germany	533	433	94	23.1%	467.0%

​

Virus news in depth

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Civil liberties in the time of coronavirus - CNN says that as the number of deaths caused by coronavirus climbs in America, new civil liberties dilemmas have emerged for governments trying to protect public health without unconstitutionally limiting individual rights. The controversy that erupted Saturday when President Donald Trump threatened state quarantines was only the latest dispute over how the country balances individual liberties with community interests during a national crisis like no other. Civil libertarians say governments have the power to take extraordinary measures to stop the pandemic, but the power is not without limits. Trump declared on Saturday he was considering quarantines over New York, New Jersey and Connecticut but pulled back after New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and other officials questioned the lawfulness of such a move. Trump opted for a "travel advisory" instead, under which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have urged people from the three states to refrain from nonessential travel for 14 days. Lawsuits already have been filed over whether abortion clinics or gun stores, for example, can be regarded as nonessential services. Similar constitutional legal debates are starting to pick up pace in South Africa also (Link).
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Economics - What to expect from the Covid-19 financial fall out - Agriculture.com reports on comments from Nouriel Roubini, professor of economics at New York University (NYU) Stern School of Business. (Link). The TLDR; This recession will be more severe than the global financial crisis in 2007-09. If we don’t get a handle on COVID-19 in the U.S., we could be looking at a depression similar to the 1930s. Real economic activity is falling about 10% in the first quarter that ends in a few days. The second quarter could fall 30%; this is a free fall. It will be at least October before we see a gradual return to positive economic growth; this would be the best scenario. Keeping the food supply chain unblocked is key; there have to be enough workers in California to harvest fruit and vegetables for example. (Personal note - this last point is likely to become a real problem; I flagged up multiple food producing countries are going to have problems with planting and harvesting if they cannot get in their usual migrant workers).
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What’s essential in a pandemic world? - It depends on where you live explains a CBS report (https://wwmt.com/news/coronavirus/whats-essential-in-france-pastry-wine-in-us-golf-guns). In some U.S. states, golf, guns and ganja have been ruled essential and are thus staying open. In France, shops specializing in pastry, wine and cheese have been declared essential businesses whilst in the UK, fish and chip shops can stay open (so long as it’s takeaway only). Meanwhile, in New Hampshire, Gov. Chris Sununu said flower shops are among the essentials. Asked why, spokesman Ben Vihstadt said they provide essential services for funeral homes.
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Virus news in brief

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Source: Today’s Guardian live blog (Link) or the CNN live blog (Link) unless stated otherwise.
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• The Taliban is ramping up efforts to stop the spread of the virus in the areas of Afghanistan that it controls including handing out masks and soap

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• Tokyo and IOC authorities are still talking about the most appropriate dates for rescheduling the Olympics

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• Multiple UK newspapers are reporting the lockdown that’s now in effect in the UK could be in place for six months

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• In the UK, a breathing aid that should help keep coronavirus-19 patients out of intensive care has reportedly been developed by a group including University College London researchers and the Mercedes Formula One team. University College engineers, medical clinicians, and technicians from Mercedes hope to distribute the machine through NHS hospitals pending successful trials this week, the BBC has reported. Mercedes said that they can distribute up to 1,000 a day of the trials are successful. (Personal note: there’s a picture of it on the CNN live blog, it looks about the size of a smartphone albeit roughly 4-5 times as thick).

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• The chair of the British Medical Association says that medical PPE shortages remain a significant issue in UK hospitals (Sky News Tweet)

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• Wimbledon is likely to be cancelled later this week whilst the French Open (which rescheduled to September) is under fire from organisers of other tennis tournaments that now face a diary clash more on that here: Guardian link

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• As shown above, the death toll in the US is continuing to rise rapidly; New York City alone has now recorded 1,000 deaths whilst Dr Anthony Fauci, the leading US government infectious disease expert, said the final coronavirus toll could be between 100,000 and 200,000 Americans.

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• A LA teen who died of Covid-19 was denied treatment because he didn't have health insurance reports Gizmodo (Link)

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• President Trump has formally abandoned the idea of things being back to normal by Easter and said social distancing guidelines will need to remain in place until at least the end of April.

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• Vox news has an op-ed piece criticising US authorities for failing to prepare for a pandemic. Simulation exercises were carried out and supply chain vulnerabilities were identified but not addressed it says. More on that here (Vox Link)

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• Yahoo news is quoting Democrat Senator Chris Murphy alleging that Trump administration officials declined an offer of early congressional funding assistance that he and other senators made on Feb. 5 during a meeting to discuss the coronavirus. The officials, including Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, said they “didn’t need emergency funding, that they would be able to handle it within existing appropriations”. Link

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• Maybe we should be making reusable PPE instead says the Toronto Star, arguing that it doesn’t take any longer to manufacture. A company specialising in reusable PPE says that in the last 10 days, it has sold more than 300,000 gowns — almost as many as it has in the last eight years. The emergency stockpile of between 75,000 and 100,000 gowns was sold out within a few days. Reusable PPE can be washed, sterilized and reused 75 to 100 times. (Link)

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• Fanatics (the official provider of MLB jerseys) says it’s switching to making medical PPE (Tweet from the fanatics chairman)

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• Australian prime minister Scott Morrison has announced a AU$1,500 ($923 USD / €833 / £746) per fortnight “job keeper” payment to businesses. The payment, made per employee, will last for at least six months.
• A man has been sentenced to three months in prison for falsifying his name and home address in an attempt to evade Hong Kong's mandatory home self-isolation measures, according to the city's Department of Justice.
• The world’s biggest maker of condoms warned of a global shortage as supply falls by almost 50% while its stockpile is set to last for just another two months. Malaysia-based Karex Bhd., which makes one out of every five condoms worldwide, only restarted its factories on Friday after a week-long closure, working with just half its workforce to comply with a lockdown that the country imposed to contain the spread of the coronavirus. The company said condoms are mainly made in China and India, which are both heavily impacted by the pandemic. More on that here: https://www.portandterminal.com/supply-chain-first-toilet-paper-sanitizer-now-were-running-out-of-condoms/
• The Canadian province of British Colombia says that it is banning the resale of food, medical supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) and will work with retailers to enforce quantity restrictions on certain essential products.
• Multiple reports around the world are reporting that testing kits that China has donated have very poor accuracy (https://twitter.com/sfrantzman/status/1243986501203111937?s=20)

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Supply chain news in depth

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Surge capacity: How 3M Plans to Make More Than a Billion Masks By End of Year - Bloomberg explains the supply chain concept of surge manufacturing - essentially having spare manufacturing capacity in the supply chain in case you suddenly need to ramp up manufacturing for some reason. 3M (a major medical products manufacturer) decided to start full surge manufacturing on January 21st in a good demonstration of risk analysis within a supply chain. The company built its capability after learning lessons from the SARS epidemic in 2002/3 when it realised it did not have the ability to increase manufacturing capabilities in an emergency. If you’re interested in the concept of surge manufacturing and how agile supply chains can rapidly flex in the event of a rapid rise in demand, this article is worth reading (especially for the supply chain students that lurk here).
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India: Farm-To-Fork Logistics On The Edge As Covid-19 Disrupts Supply Chain - The Business Standard reports that disruptions in India such as labour shortages, vehicle shortages and overzealous police blockades are causing difficulties in transporting feed, fertiliser and ready-to-sell crops from moving around the country with some areas reporting food price increases of 30-40%. Link
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Coronavirus Is Expediting iPhone Makers' Plans to Move Beyond China - Bloomberg says (Link) that the Asian assemblers that keep the world supplied with iPhones and other gadgets are shifting to a higher gear after the coronavirus showed the folly of staking everything on one country. The move in production out of China has been underway since the trade war between Washington and Beijing reached its zenith last year. Now, Covid-19 is expediting that. Decisions by companies like Wistron and other Apple Inc. partners including Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Inventec Corp. and Pegatron Corp., could re-shape tech supply chains. Taipei-listed Wistron is targeting India -- where it’s already making some iPhones -- along with Vietnam and Mexico, setting aside $1 billion to fund the expansion this year and next. “We understand from a lot of messages from our customers that they believe this is something we have to do,” Chairman Simon Lin said on an earnings call. “They’re happy and appreciate that we can continue to make such a move and they will continue to work with us.” IPhone assembler Pegatron is also diversifying manufacturing sites, including by adding capacity back home in Taiwan. Chief Executive Officer Liao Syh-jang said Thursday the company hopes to kick-start manufacturing operations in Vietnam in 2021 after setting up a new plant in Indonesia last year, and it’s further looking at India as a location for new facilities. It said on Friday it had agreed to purchase land and a plant in northern Taiwan.
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Supply chain news in brief

• JCB says that it has begun manufacturing metal casings for ventilators (Official tweet) (Personal note: this is part of a government coordinated push for UK manufacturing to ramp up ventilator manufacturing as much as possible).

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• Easyjet (a major UK budget airline) has grounded its entire fleet of planes (says airlivenet on twitter). I looked it up, airfleets.net says Easyjet, Easyjet Europe and Easyjet Switzerland between them currently have 335 planes, a mix of A319/20/21’s.

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• Talking of Airbus planes, the manufacturer announced that it too is temporarily joining the air cargo fray; an A330 undergoing conversion to a Multi-Role Tanker Transport (MRTT), took off from Madrid for Tianjin in China on 26th March returning two days later with more than 4 million face masks. (Airlive.net link).

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• The US aviation industry is still flying a lot more than the rest of the world as this image from flightradar24 makes clear (Tweet)

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• Thousands of migrant workers in India have been seeing fleeing cities for their rural homes out of fear of the virus and also out of fear for what the 21 day lockdown by the Indian government will mean for their livelihoods. Twitter has more on that here: (Twitter coverage)

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• The Japan news reports that the government plans ¥200 bil. ($1.85bn USD) in subsidies to reduce firms’ dependence on China (Link). The finances will be made available for companies that plan to move production bases from China to Japan and Southeast Asian countries as part of efforts to encourage Japanese firms to reduce their dependence on China. The move comes as major automakers and other manufacturers have been forced to temporarily halt production in China due to supply disruptions caused by the spread of the new coronavirus.

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• Caterpillar announced this week that the continued spread of covid-19 is starting to impact its supply chain. Caterpillar said it is continuing to run the majority of its US domestic operations and plans to continue operations in other parts of the world but is temporarily suspending operations at some facilities in affected areas.

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• As a large chunk of the US population works from home, Walmart reports increased sales for tops but not pants. Millions of workers, typically bound to business or business-casual attire in the office, are now free to lounge around their homes in hoodies and sweatpants. But tops still play an important role as many employees will get semi-dressed for video conference calls says CBS. More on that here (Link)

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Donations

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Several asked if they can send me $/£/€ via Patreon (in some cases because I've saved them time or money, others for no reason at all). I don't need the cash (that's lovely though) but food bank charities are getting really hit hard with all this panic buying. Please consider giving whatever you'd have given me to a foodbank charity instead:
UK: https://www.trusselltrust.org/
France: https://www.banquealimentaire.org/
Germany: https://www.tafel.de/
Netherlands: https://www.voedselbankennederland.nl/steun-ons/steun-voedselbank-donatie/
Italy: https://www.bancoalimentare.it/it/node/1
Spain: https://www.fesbal.org/
Australia: https://www.foodbank.org.au/
Canada: https://www.foodbankscanada.ca/
USA: https://www.feedingamerica.org/
Thanks in advance for any donations you give. If there's foodbank charities in your country and it's not listed above, please suggest it and I will include it going forward.
EDIT 15:45: added the foodbank charity for Italy.

Age : 27 Weight : 80kgs
Ethnicity : South Asian /Light Brown / Pakistani
Underlying condition : Psoriasis, Chronic stress, Anxiety
Ex heavy cigarette smoker for 5 years (quit 4 years ago)
Quit smoking weed a week ago after smoking everyday for over 6 months.
Recently had chicken pox (1 year ago)
Tested covid negative on the 11th September.
11th to 17th September was spent either in airports, hotel rooms or flying (Netherlands, Dubai and Pakistan). I first got these outbreaks the day after I landed for good and slept in my personal room in Pakistan (17th morning). Know that at this point I hadn't eaten Pakistani food yet until the next day after my symptoms.
I had also switched my diet from bland European food to traditional South Asian spicy food after 8 months. Tiny itchy bumps formed slow at the back of my wrists and forearms like bed bug bites but then progressed to my hands and each one of my fingers over the course of two days. I also ate something a little too spicy leading in indigestion and bloating resulting in diarrhea and puking (stomach's fine now).
Yesterday it progressed to my neck, lower and upper back. I even have a tiny bump on my lower lip and both my ears. I took zyrtec but it didn't help.
The itchiness in fingers went away yesterday morning but came back stronger in the afternoon and now continues to persist. It's spreading fast.
I've kept myself in quarantine ever since.
Ps: I don't show classical covid symptoms but can't help but think I've got it. Mainly because I shared a closed space with over 50 people in breathing distance on one instance and over 200 people in two other instances (flights). I was one of the many few people who actually wore masks. Also read reports of immune system kicking in overdrive resulting in similar symptoms.
I also don't think it's cause of bed bugs since I've yet to find a single one and my bumps keep appearing even when I'm out of my room.
Attached images: http://imgur.com/gallery/4iaxrKp
Edit : the last two pictures were taken yesterday (21st September) while the rest were taken today. The dates and description are all messed up in imgur and I can't edit them for some reason.

Armenian cult leader who ruled the world

Avag, also known as Armenian Kashpirovsky, was a guru who claimed he knew how to cure health problems.
In the 1940s the news broke out across the world about this mysterious man living in Iran.
U.S. winemaker Gevorg Arakelyan helped Avag to visit the U.S. to cure his son's epilepsy. The 20yo guru went there with a 6-month visa but decided to stay forever. His fight against the immigration services reached the Congress, which at some point heard a bill to allow Avag to stay longer.
 
Hundreds have claimed to have been cured by Avag. At one point he was accepting 60 people with diverse backgrounds every day. His sessions became so popular that the LA had to dispatch more police units to guard the area.
Tom Kardashyan, a relative of Kim Kardashyan, expressed willingness to built a temple dedicated to Avag.
Nobody knows if the winemaker's kid's epilepsy was ever cured.
 
Avag then took a vacation and moved to the mountains. Eventually, after a lenghy battle with ICE, he left the U.S. to Cuba, before returning and settling in New York.
Video of him arriving in Los Angeles: https://youtu.be/YCFOOn9II-c
http://www.panarmenian.net/arm/details/282854/

Flashback 1999

Prime Minister Vazgen Sargsyan, months before the assassination, gives a report about Armenia's massive debt and calls for Armenians to change their "Soviet-inherited mentality" about "stealing and bribing".
https://youtu.be/2fe98agLhvw?t=515

Land embezzlement busted in Goris

Prosecutors and SOC say: in 2007, the Economy Ministry leased a 7530m² land in Goris for $620/mo for 1 year.
The tenant wasn't allowed to sub-lease it to someone else, but they gave part of it to a telecom company for $100/mo until 2027.
Officials at Economy and Finance Ministries have since pocketed $15,000. A felony case is launched.
https://armtimes.com/hy/article/192285

COVID stats

+2050 tested. +557 infected. +709 healed. 18 deaths.
131,216 tested. 11,471 active. 18,709 healed. 546 deaths.
 
Artsakh: +4 infected. +3 healed. All-time 146 infected. 116 healed. 0 deaths.
https://armtimes.com/hy/article/192260 , https://armtimes.com/hy/article/192257

COVID safety enforcement

84,000 tickets have been issued since the beginning of the Emergency.
Today numerous businesses were shut down for 2 days for violating safety. Overcrowded buses and taxis were caught and fined.
https://armtimes.com/hy/article/192299 , https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1021252.html , https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1021299.html

COVID quarantine enforcement / High tech method

Thousands of people are required to self-quarantine themselves for weeks. Not everyone complies. Hundreds of people, and more recently a taxi driver, broke the rules and endangered the public.
To ensure they don't leave the area, the govt occasionally sends police officers to check on them.
 
There is also an app called StayHome. The quarantined person takes a geo-tagged photo and sends it to the police, after being asked to do so at random times throughout the day.
"The data is handled by a computer and will be purged after the emergency ends."
https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1021298.html

COVID aid

Germany will send a group of doctors to fight COVID in Armenia.
https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1021286.html
 
The Netherlands will give Armenia $200,000 to purchase 3 COVID testing and hundreds of monitoring devices from Armenian companies.
https://armtimes.com/hy/article/192262

Tech expert Karen Vardanyan dies

The chief of Union of Leading Technology Enterprises and the popular ArMat school-lab program Karen Vardanyan has passed away from undisclosed causes.
High Tech Minister and other officials expressed condolences, noting that Vardanyan made a great contribution towards Armenian tech.
Civil Aviation chief Revazyan described Vardanyan as her inspirational mentor.
Pashinyan formed a commission tasked with handling his funeral and costs.
https://armtimes.com/hy/article/192256 , https://armtimes.com/hy/article/192276 , https://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/192323

The use of high-tech in agriculture

Kotayk government and an agriculture company are using drones to fly over crops and scan their health with high precision. It'll be used to map the environment, too.
https://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/192326

High Tech Minister met U.S. ambassador...

... to discuss topics related to US tech giants' (PayPal, Google, etc.) possible entry to the Armenian market, Armenia's latest program to send students to Silicone Valley, and other topics.
https://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/192302

Foreign affairs

U.S. Rep TJ Cox called for the resumption of de-mining aid to Artsakh, during a speech about a bill that will decide America's 2021 foreign aid budget.
Meanwhile, several bipartisan U.S. Senators urged the govt to sanction NATO-member Turkey for purchasing S-400 missiles from Russia.
https://armtimes.com/hy/article/192252 , https://armtimes.com/hy/article/192249

Cyber-crime reports increase

Prosecutors investigated 118 cyber-crimes in the entire 2019, while 94 in 2020H1 alone.
Investigator says the rise is due to more people willing to come forward and report such crimes as a result of being better informed and having higher trust towards the police. "Don't try to solve cyber-crime yourself. Report it."
https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1021246.html

Car chase at night

Yerevan became Tokyo last night. 3 cars were towed for organizing a car race. One of the drivers was drunk.
https://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/192318

Preferred gender of your child?

A decade ago 54% of families said they want a boy, while 34% said it doesn't matter. Today it's reversed.
Armenia has "caught up" with Georgia.
https://www.civilnet.am/news/2020/07/10/For-the-First-Time-Majority-of-Armenians-Report-Their-Child’s-Gender-“Does-Not-Matter”/389572

Real estate prices / Yerevan rent and purchase

-22% property transactions in H1 YoY, says the govt's stats agency. As one would expect, the transactions grew pre-COVID but plummeted afterward.
 
One private realtor said: the prices have also declined, sometimes by 20%.
The prices of newly built houses won't decline by much, but the secondary market will be -20% cheaper by 2021.
A $330/mo apartment in Arabkir can be rented for $250/mo nowadays.
Yerevan's avg rent for 1bd is $185/mo in not-so-distant districts. You can find one between $100-$850/mo. These will also get cheaper.
https://factor.am/267700.html

Fewer wildfires this year

թու-թու-թու, but the Emergency Ministry warns it's still dangerous. "Don't accidentally light it up."
2020H1 vs 2019H1: 1469 fires vs 2104, Yerevan fire incidents cut in half, the affected territory is 3x smaller.
https://armtimes.com/hy/article/192264

Lightning strike kills a shepherd

A shepherd, his son, and grandson were herding the animals. They formed a triangle to trap the herd when a lightning struck the elder. He didn't make it.
A decade earlier another man died in the same area from the same cause.
https://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/192325

Caucasus Nature Fund...

...gave Armenia $0.5mln to protect several national parks and forests.
https://armtimes.com/hy/article/192287

Public regulator authorizes TEAM-Beeline ISP merger

UCOM tried to unsuccessfully purchase the financially troubled Beeline.
UCOM's founder got fired (for other reasons) and founded a new TEAM ISP.
TEAM has been authorized to purchase Beeline for an undisclosed sum.
 
Some Beeline workers aren't happy, they fear mass layoffs so they gathered in front of the Regulator's office to protest.
TEAM said there won't be mass layoffs because they need Beeline's tech experts. "Beeline itself has been laying off their workers for years due to financial problems."
The Regulator ordered TEAM not to do mass layoffs (10% of workforce) for at least 6 months.
TEAM founder Yesayan says they'll merge their 400 workers with Beeline's staff "to have even more resources, there is always a shortage of tech experts."
https://armtimes.com/hy/article/192288 , https://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/192312 , https://youtu.be/Kvhqdv9szTM

Dalma Gardens residential district construction begins

Over a decade ago, plans were drafted to build a new modern apartment complex district near Hamalir with business and hotel buildings, parks, pools. Some work was done.
In 2019 Mayor Marutyan gave a green light to build the buildings. The company got an environmental permit from the Nature Ministry, under the condition that if an archeological sight is discovered while digging, the process will be halted until experts decide what to do with the findings.
The works have begun.
Video of the proposed district: https://youtu.be/463X4UacOKs
https://hetq.am/hy/article/118922

Infrastructure upgrades across Armenia & Artsakh

Vanadzor drivers no longer have to fill the holes themselves. The city finally found a suitable contractor after 4 auctions.
https://armtimes.com/hy/article/192277
 
Dzoragyugh's irrigation system is being renovated by Armenians who couldn't travel to Russia for seasonal work.
https://youtu.be/jFJwHWOb0Kw
 
Meghri suburbs will get a gas network, as promised by govt earlier. The works began today and will finish next year. 500 businesses will get it immediately, with another 1500 later.
https://armtimes.com/hy/article/192286
 
5 schools in Kotayk are being built or renovated with a seismic retrofit. They'll withstand a 6.9M (Richter) or 9-degree (Marcelli) earthquake.
https://armtimes.com/hy/article/192292
 
Bagratahen-Yervandashat road is being repaired.
https://armtimes.com/hy/article/192279
 
Artsakh will spend $52,000 (25mln) to buy materials to fix a drinking water problem in Shushi. 10 veterans' families will get housing.
https://armtimes.com/hy/article/192242
 
Gegharquniq's Gegharquniq village will have 12 of its roads equipped with new street lighting and poles.
Geghovit village will have 6km-long new street lighting.
https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1021262.html , https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1021264.html
 
Yerevan is renovating 11 kindergartens now, and 12 more soon. New bathrooms, water system, wiring, furniture.
https://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/192315

Prospective wrestler will be drafted

For young lads to delay their military service, they must score high marks during sports competitions.
74KG wrestler Davit Gevorgyan got very close but couldn't cross the barrier. He'll go to the army, despite the coaches' best efforts to convince the Ministry to make an exception. He had one last chance in an international competition, but it was canceled due to COVID.
https://armtimes.com/hy/article/192281

Henrikh Mkhitaryan in Roma

He scored 8 goals in 22 matches in Roma, while 9 goals in 59 matches in Arsenal. You do the math.
His performance in the past two matches might have saved Roma coach's career; it was widely believed that the coach would be fired unless they got a victory after 3 consecutive losses.
Heno won't be able to save the coach in the next match, however, because he got the 5th Yellow Card and will skip the game.
Roma doesn't have a chance to finish 4th in the league. That means Champions League is out of reach, but they could qualify for the less prestigious Europa League.
https://armtimes.com/hy/article/192268

Greenification of Yerevan

In the past 3 months, the Capital's Green Department has planted 18k bushes, 300k flowers, 145 garden trees (Sakura, maple, catalpa, etc.), and 20k m² lawns.
The city should be green year-round because one type of plant blossoms when another one stops.
https://www.armtimes.com/hy/article/192313

It's that time of the week, folks / Top-5 books

What books, written by Armenians, have the Yerevan basement dwellers been reading in June?
5) Վերջին ուսուցիչը, by Վարդգես Պետրոսյան (plot: teacher walks into a class and sees something strange...)
4) Ծովից ծով դատաստանը, by Վահրամ Սահակյան (plot: thoughts, ideas, predictions by the author)
3) Ստախոսը, by Levon Nes (plot: a liar travels through Europe for new adventures)
2) Balzak the dog', by Levon Nes.
1) Կախվածություն, by Սյունե Սևադա.
https://armenpress.am/arm/news/1021070.html
 
You've read 1722 words.

Disclaimer & Terminology

1) The accused are innocent until proven guilty in the court of law, even if they sound guilty.
2) Currency in Armenian ֏ unless specified otherwise.
3) NSS/SIS/SOC = law enforcement agencies. QP = Civil Contract Party. LHK = Bright Armenia Party. BHK = Prosperous Armenia Party. HHK = Republican Party.
4) ARCHIVE of older posts by Idontknowmuch: PART 1 ; PART 2 ; PART 3 ; PART 4 ; PART 5.
4) ARCHIVE of older posts by Armeniapedia.