Coronavirus Sars-CoV-2/Covid-19 Megathread

[Tamas]

I wonder if my Hungarian passport would allow me to fly out of the UK?

[Sheilbh]

In the UK you're only allowed to leave the country for a good reason - which can include work, volunteering, education, medical treatment, funerals (there's guidance). It doesn't include holidays and you have to fill in a "Declaration to Travel" form and if that's untrue or you travel without a good reason you can be fined up to £5,000. (I have researched this in-depth )

In terms of domestic travel - you're allowed to travel for good reasons (as above). For amusement you can basically do day trips as overnight accommodation for non-essential purposes is banned, including Airbnbs - again I've been looking into this. I think AirBnBs or self-catering can re-open in April and, if things work out, other accommodation opens in May so you can start to travel for them from April then May. And I think in May you're also allowed to stay overnight with people outside your bubble - I've checked on this to work out when I can visit family.

[Tamas]

If only I had one of my family's properties on my name, I could leave the country to prepare it to be sold. 

[Richard Hakluyt]

Aye, a useful get-out clause for the wealthy that 

[Sheilbh]

Yep - yet again jealous of people with a second home. And weirdly I don't think it applies to UK second homes so I feel like the expectation is you don't come back....

[Tamas]

Yep - yet again jealous of people with a second home. And weirdly I don't think it applies to UK second homes so I feel like the expectation is you don't come back....

I think the expectation is that if you have money for a foreign home you can skip the travel restriction.

[The Larch]

In Spain at the moment domestic travel is only allowed within your region until after the Easter holidays, when it'll be reviewed. Ironically international travel is allowed so a certain amount of foreign tourism is arriving, creating the paradox of Spaniards not being allowed to travel within the country but tourists being allowed to come from abroad, which rubs some people the wrong way (there's some major controversy about Madrid at the moment, as plenty of French people have been travelling there for partying out, because the Madrid region refuses to enforce strict measures just to spite the central government).

Regarding international travel for Spaniards, it is not restricted per se, but it's not just about us being able to leave the country, but also what we can do once we're in our destination. In our case the amount of restrictions in Austria during this year didn't really allow for much of a trip.

[Duque de Bragança]

My dad usually spends part of the year in Portugal but has been stuck there due to Covid, with a plane flight cancelled in May of last year.
Tests cost 100 € there and he has to get one to enter France.

French press gave another angle on the French invasion controversy in Spain.

https://www.lefigaro.fr/international/a-madrid-la-fausse-ruee-des-francais-alimente-une-vraie-colere-des-espagnols-20210329

False rush fueling some true Spanish anger

https://www.rtl.fr/actu/international/coronavirus-l-espagne-fait-elle-vraiment-face-a-un-afflux-de-touristes-francais-7900013743

En revanche, face aux 50.000 Allemands ou 22.000 Italiens, ce sont de loin les plus nombreux. Mais à Madrid, plus précisément, où 45.000 visiteurs étrangers ont été accueillis au mois de janvier (– 90 %), les Français auraient été à peine 7.000, selon l'INE. Et, même si l'on tient compte des données de la société aéroportuaire espagnole AENA, selon lesquelles 30.000 voyageurs sont arrivés en provenance de France en avion aussi bien en janvier qu'en février, c'est cinq fois moins que durant les deux premiers mois de l'année 2020, explique le journal Le Monde.

OTOH, a negative PCR test will soon be required for those entering Spain by road, according to the article.

[Tamas]

One good statistic (official so grain of salt is always warranted) coming out of the nightmare in Hungary is that infection numbers at care homes are down 92% compared to November. Both residents and staff have been vaccinated (with Pfizer) during the winter and it seems to be showing a big way.

The bad statistic is that now a person dies of covid in Hungary every 4 minutes 48 seconds.

[Syt]

Vienna will make masks mandatory in several outdoor spaces that tend to draw a lot of foot traffic or crowds.

[Syt]

Also, Belgium has been ordered by a court to cancel all current anti-Covid measures within 30 days as they are without legal basis. The government can appeal but the appeal will not suspend the 30 day deadline.

[Syt]

Vienna will make masks mandatory in several outdoor spaces that tend to draw a lot of foot traffic or crowds.

Addendum: masks in all companies, office spaces etc. have been canceled instead. The health city council who announced the news was also asked if there would be mandatory home office instead. "No, because supermarket cashiers can't work from home." Err ...

[Sheilbh]

This isn't covid per se but super exciting:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/covid-19-scientist-mrna-cancer-1.5956150?utm_source=pocket-newtab-global-en-GB

Similarly I understand the Oxford team are working on vaccines for malaria and drug-resistant gonnorhea.

It makes me think of the "war on cancer" when the US government just pumped money into cancer research in the 70s and 80s. In the long run it did lead to a serious reduction in the mortality rates in a lot of cancers, but it also unleashed a huge amount of innovation in biomedical research in the 80s as research from one context became relevant in another.

From everything I've read (and I know someone who is working on a malaria vaccine) vaccines have kind of been quite a sleepy not very exciting area of research for a while and they've now had a wall of money, plus real impact in the world. It feels like there may be a lot of unexpected and unintended innovations that can come out of this - it's why I keep thinking how applicable the lessons are to spending big on climate.

[Berkut]

This isn't covid per se but super exciting:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/covid-19-scientist-mrna-cancer-1.5956150?utm_source=pocket-newtab-global-en-GB

Similarly I understand the Oxford team are working on vaccines for malaria and drug-resistant gonnorhea.

It makes me think of the "war on cancer" when the US government just pumped money into cancer research in the 70s and 80s. In the long run it did lead to a serious reduction in the mortality rates in a lot of cancers, but it also unleashed a huge amount of innovation in biomedical research in the 80s as research from one context became relevant in another.

From everything I've read (and I know someone who is working on a malaria vaccine) vaccines have kind of been quite a sleepy not very exciting area of research for a while and they've now had a wall of money, plus real impact in the world. It feels like there may be a lot of unexpected and unintended innovations that can come out of this - it's why I keep thinking how applicable the lessons are to spending big on climate.

Ridiculous waste of stolen tax money! The free market would handle this if government would just get out of the way!

[Zanza]

In the UK you're only allowed to leave the country for a good reason - which can include work, volunteering, education, medical treatment, funerals (there's guidance). It doesn't include holidays and you have to fill in a "Declaration to Travel" form and if that's untrue or you travel without a good reason you can be fined up to £5,000. (I have researched this in-depth )

That's too close to East Germany for it to become policy here.

In terms of domestic travel - you're allowed to travel for good reasons (as above). For amusement you can basically do day trips as overnight accommodation for non-essential purposes is banned, including Airbnbs - again I've been looking into this. I think AirBnBs or self-catering can re-open in April and, if things work out, other accommodation opens in May so you can start to travel for them from April then May. And I think in May you're also allowed to stay overnight with people outside your bubble - I've checked on this to work out when I can visit family.

I will visit my parents over Easter. That's allowed here. You are just limited to meeting with one other household - at a time. So this "bubble" concept only exists here informally.