Misconception about zero Covid strategy

There is a lot of misconception about about zero Covid strategy from some media outlets to politicians & scientists. 

So here’s my take on this topic. 

My take

As we are beginning to realise that we will acknowledge that Covid 19 is not going anywhere for the moment & that we have to live with it (which I do accept it) I don’t for however accept that we should treat Covid 19 like a flu. There is a clear difference between flu (influenza) and coronavirus despite both are respiratory illnesses. 

There is no such thing as long flu. Yet there is one called long Covid. 

Flu is caused by influenza virus while coronavirus (SARS-COVID-2) is caused by  novel coronavirus. Example 2003 SARS outbreak in Asia & 2012 MERs outbreak in the Middle East. 

We have been living with flu since the last century (20th century) so when I hear so many media critics say that the Zero Covid strategy cannot work in any country including here in the UK. Well I say they are wrong. https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/16/ardern-reveals-the-moment-she-c-covid-elimination-strategy  🇳🇿

Look up at New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern & the NZ govt have successfully handled the Covid situation well with their own strategy. Their strategy is Zero Covid strategy. Now there is no lockdown measures, life is back to normality despite Covid continue to be present threat & there is no big much of transmission in the country. 

https://www.icelandreview.com/ask-ir/whats-the-status-of-covid-19-in-iceland/

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-56412790 🇮🇸

Look up at Iceland. Like the UK, it’s a small island country, they (the Icelandic govt) successfully tackled Covid with strong measures: effective contact tracing & testing, quarantine of cases and preventing cases at borders. 

https://www.wired.co.uk/article/taiwan-coronavirus-covid-response 🇹🇼 

Look up at Taiwan. They handled Covid 19 successfully and yet, Patrick Vallance and Chris Witty & the Prime Minister Boris Johnson say they are totally against the idea of eliminating Covid 19 completely & that we should treat Covid like a flu. Well I say we should treat Covid like measles.

They (Witty, Vallance and Johnson) have missed the point about zero Covid strategy. Zero Covid means zero Covid infection. It doesn’t necessarily mean Covid is gone completely. They (UK govt and scientists) should look up of how countries like New Zealand handled the Covid situation instead of opposing the idea of zero Covid. Given already, there are misconceptions about the strategy itself of eliminating Covid. 

Zero Covid means zero Covid infections. Not the disease itself & that is why they have missed the point & have no Interest of wanting to eliminate Covid 19 in the UK which means more cases of infections & deaths & that it shouldn’t be so given the government have continued to mishandled the Covid situation. 

No wonder sadly today that the UK marked a year since the first national lockdown across the country. https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/uk-56491532 

Where will the country be in the next 12 months? More round of lockdowns with Covid 19 variants. The only out of the pain and misery socially, politically, mentally and economically is to continue following the rules and regulations, social distancing, wearing face mask and finding ways reasonably to completely eradicate Covid in the country. Like I said, zero Covid means zero infections. Not the disease itself. Eventually, we’ll be back living normally as if Covid is not around (but Covid is still in present. Not that much of causing an impact like AIDS/HIV endemic in the 1980s given it is still around to this day as we know HIV is not respiratory disease). 

That’s why that we would have to come to terms with Covid eventually but not have to keep on having more lockdowns. That’s only if the government stop mismanagement of the Covid situation & do something that the country doesn’t have to go into lockdown again (which unfortunately they’ll continue to make mistakes & have more round of lockdown). One of them is to adopt the zero Covid strategy like New Zealand & other countries did while tacking coronavirus. 

So that is my take on the misconception of the zero Covid strategy. 

Have you filled your Census yet?

Every 10 years, there is an census for every citizen to take part of it in every country. Which includes the United Kingdom. 

This year’s Census (Census 2021) is for England and Wales if you happen to live here like I do. 

Last night, I completed my census for first time in my life. Taking part of the census that happens once in a decade. 

In case if you haven’t already then I recommend that you do so. Plus tomorrow is the census day in England and Wales so what are you waiting for? census.gov.uk 

census.gov.uk 

There are plenty reasons why you should take part of filling in the census is that organisations: businesses, local authorities and charities can use the picture (this year’s one) to plan and fund the services that we do need in our societies: Transport, education, healthcare. It’s the same thing that we the taxpayers do pay taxes so that it can go to spend on transport, education, welfare/social security benefit and healthcare. 

So the 2021 Census shouldn’t take you long at least 10 minutes. After all, it’s a survey. 

So I recommend that anyone living in England and Wales to please sign the census. It is very important. Tomorrow is the deadline. The Census Day 2021 (Sunday 21st March 2021). 

So that is all I have to say about Census 2021. As for Scotland, Census will take part next year & Northern Ireland I believe have done already the Census or that it is on the same date as England and Wales. 

To my other readers who live aboard, do you have Census in your country this year, if so, tell me about it in the comment section. Thank you. 

Save Eurostar part 3

I come across this another interesting petition regarding the campaign to save Eurostar. It is on Change. Change.Org

change.org 

We all know about the financial situation of Eurostar & it would be shame if it is out of business. 

🚄🇬🇧🇫🇷🇧🇪🇳🇱🇪🇺

Please do sign other great petitions now there is four petitions. 

Parliament petition (for citizens and residents living in the UK only). “Work with the French government, to protect/save international rail travel”.

petition.parliament.uk 

RMT Union Petition (for everybody in the UK and overseas). “Save Eurostar”. 

megaphone.org.uk 

Possible Petition (for everybody in the UK only)“Tell the government to protect climate friendly travel”. 

action.wearepossible.org 

Save Eurostar. 

Check out my previous three blog posts about Eurostar. 

mrlimitless95.blogspot.com 

mrlimitless95.blogspot.com 

mrlimitless95.blogspot.com 

My St Patrick's Day message 2021

Hello Everybody 

I would like to wish you a Happy St Patrick’s Day as today is 17th March. 

Like last year, this year one is unusual. No social gatherings because obviously the pandemic. i hope by next year and beyond, there will be normal as it was before Covid. 

St Patrick’s Day is the day when everyone gets to celebrate it. Not just in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Also the whole world. 

Ireland is one of the countries that I would definitely love to go when it is all over (the pandemic, travel restrictions and all that). 

So a short blog post from me, wishing you a happy St Paddy’s Day. 🙂😀🇮🇪☘️

Don’t fall into tech/computer support scam

Hi everyone

In today’s blog post, I will talk about tech support scam. 

Tech support scam is a form of confidence trick. They (scammers) would maliciously pose themselves as IT technicians just to con the person, claiming there is a problem on PC (personal computer) despite there is nothing really wrong with your computer (& mine). 

That happened on my personal experience. Although I was not really scammed by tech support scam. It was my mother sadly. 

Few occasions, that happened to my mum three times 2018, 2019 & this year 2021. 

I said to my mother load of times before that if there is any problem with computer in terms of computer being slow or having too data/storage space (which we have that computer since December 2018) then she would ask me to clear it (remove folders especially that are not used & those are not supposed to be there. It’s just my younger brothers mostly my 15 years old brother were the ones to download). Downloading too many games & Anime photos. Some of it contain computer virus & inappropriate photos (which i keep saying to my 15 year old brother to stop looking at inappropriate photos from anime like nudity & porn/sex stuff). 

The point is that my mum shouldn’t had give computer access to those type of people. They are not proper IT technicians. & if they are then they should had know

Clearing megabytes (MB), gigabytes (GB) and terabytes (TB) is something everyone must do to not have many many files/folders & apps without the need of fraudulent scammers who knows no better & no one wants a empty stuff on computer or laptops or smart iPhones or tablet computers (which mostly it happens to many people on desk computer/PC).  Which unfortunately my mum doesn't seem to understand fully. At least now she understands. 

They (scammers) doesn’t know anything. 

With IT repair shop/clinic, amount of price can be expensive but not that expensive given I know some people who are genuinely proper IT professional. Technicians (IT technicians) who knows to fix any problems. Scammers as we know are lowlifes.

You see, before the Covid & lockdown in the past, if there is any issue with my computer (slow computer or too many space storage for files & folders), my mum would take it to IT repair clinic (shop/store/centre) where there are truly IT professionals (IT technicians & computer specialists) who knows how to deal with problems & that all. Scammers, they don't know s**t. They don't have a correct information (even some of scammers were IT professional) other than scamming anybody by false claiming there is something wrong with anything like computer (which it is not really true at all given it is all perfectly and normally okay).

Now everything is shut even including IT repair shops as we are in Covid 19 lockdown. So even if there is a problem, my mum shouldn’t had gone to those fraudulent people & give computer access to them who could potentially do anything horrible like removing almost everything like important stuff & possibly end up with nothing on computer. 

Now in previous weeks, I have said a lot on my previous blog posts about fraud and scams so this one is the latest blog post about fraud and scam. This time, technical scam/fraud like the one I just talked about. Tech support scam. 

Here are my previous blog posts about other scams.

mrlimitless95.blogspot.com 

mrlimitless95.blogspot.com 

Here are my tips 

Tip 1: If you received any phone call on your phone or telephone from fraudulent scammer claiming to be from IT/ICT tech support team of any company like Microsoft & that they say that there is something wrong with your computer, do not believe the word of it. Just don’t believe what the scammer say. They got nothing (no sufficient evidence to back it up) other than deceiving an potential innocent victim into the devastating situation. 

Tip 2: When the scammer call you, understand that the person (him or her) is not genuine & that his/her phone number is a phone that person who had been called would struggle to call him/her in a response. Spoofing a caller ID especially in this day and age is really problematic including when scammer took advantage of the organisations like Norton & Microsoft by trying to tarnish the reputation of the companies and to give them a bad name. Scammer can even claim to be someone different which we know that we people have to make sure that we do not fall for it. 

And tip 3: Be fraud smart. Take it from me (the person who have been victimised of fraud and scam on 5 occasions). It is never a good feeling to be humiliatingly taken advantage by criminals & fraudulent scammers who does not have shame of victimising innocent people to be victims of any sort of scam and fraud. 

So that is all I can say about Tech Support Scam. 

Here are the sources if you want to know of how to stay safe & making sure of not being victimised of tech support scam & all types of scam. 

support.microsoft.com 

us.norton.com 

tradingstandardsecrime.org.uk 

computing.which.co.uk 

google.co.uk 

google.co.uk 

met.police.uk 

I support Black Pound Day initiative

Hello everybody 

I want to tell you something. Black Pound Day & why do I support the initiative? 

Black Pound Day is all about supporting black owned businesses in the UK & as black Brit (with African roots: Nigerian and South African), I do support it. There are few people (& even racists) who doesn’t seem to understand what Black Pound Day is really about. There is nothing racist about it. The way I see, it’s black empowerment. Just look how the Jewish people do their own thing with their businesses which are kosher & the Chinese people do their own thing with their businesses as we all got plenty of Chinatowns in the world including Chinatown here in the UK with cities: London, Manchester, Birmingham, Newcastle & Liverpool. 

If the Jews & the Chinese can have their own businesses to thrive economically and successfully in order to do their thing, then why not black people? Racism & other forms of prejudice & discrimination should never be tolerated at all cost. Especially in financial & economic way. That’s how there are some people who could not seem to understand better. 

Black Pound Day is one annual day of the month on first Saturday of the month. First Saturday on every month. blackpoundday.uk 

Black Pound Day is the initiative that is used to promote black owned businesses in the UK. Owned by black people. The reason why it is created is because black owned businesses are underrepresented in Britain. 

So that’s how someone created the Black Pound Day initiative. It was Swiss from Hip Hop group So Solid. 

I didn’t know anything about Black Pound Day until Saturday 27th June 2020 last year when I looked up on Twitter. Plus, it is very good initiative to support British black owned businesses who are owned indeed by the blacks. It can drive the growth of the UK black economy.

it is a way in response to all forms of racism including systemic racism given this invitative was created after the awful incident in America (death of George Floyd which had sparked many protests in America, Britain & the rest of the world with Black Lives Matter message to strongly oppose & denounce anti black racism). 

I hope and pray that there should be similar initiatives (like Black Dollar Day in America & elsewhere in the world) like the one we have in the UK once a month annually on first Saturday of the month. 

That is why as black blogger, I support Black Pound Day Initiative. My blog is hereby supporting Black Pound Day too. In the lyrics of the song of James Brown. I am black and proud. I am proud that there is such an initiative like Black Pound Day every first Sunday of the month in the UK. 🙂👍🏾✊🏾

If you like to know more about Black Pound Day and that you are interested to buy anything from black owned business in the UK then you can check out the website that I have added. 🙂😀🇬🇧💷

blackpoundday.uk 

I visited three out of BBC 50 places to see before you die travel list

Few months ago I watched something interesting programme on demand (which is available on BBC Iplayer). It was on my TV. 

BBC 2002 programme. “50 places to see before you die”. youtu.be youtu.be youtu.be 

I haven’t seen it before until I watched in late last year 2020 in December. 

Here are the list of BBC’s own travel list of 50 places to see before you die based on the TV programme when it was broadcasted nearly 20 years ago in 2002. I selected any places that I have visited in bold. 

1. The Grand Canyon, USA 
   
2. Great Barrier Reef, east coast of Queensland, Australia 
   
3. Florida and Walt Disney, USA Been there in 2012 and 2013 with my mum & my brothers. Two times. I would love to visit Orlando, Florida, USA again.
4. South Island, New Zealand 
5. Cape Town and Table Mountain, South Africa
6. Golden Temple at Amritsar, Punjab, India
7. Las Vegas, Nevada
8. Sydney, Australia 
9. New York
10. Taj Mahal
11. Canadian Rockies
12. Uluru (Ayers Rock), Australia 
13. Chichen Itza, Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico
14. Machu Picchu, Peru 
15. Niagara Falls
16. Petra, Jordan
17. The Pyramids, Cairo
18. Venice 
19. Maldives, Indian Ocean, 450 miles SW of Sri Lanka
20. Great Wall of China
21. Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe
22. Hong Kong
23. Yosemite National Park
24. Hawaii
25. Auckland, New Zealand 
26. Iguassu Falls, Argentina and Brazil 
27. Paris Been there. I visited Paris, France in 2019 all by me independently. It was short days as I was there for three days. I wish that I could had stayed there that long. I would love to return to visit Paris again. Hopefully for more than 3 days. 
28. Alaska
29. Angkor Wat, Cambodia 
30. Nepal, Himalayas
31. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 
32. Masai Mara, Kenya
33. Galapagos Islands, Ecuador
34. Luxor, Egypt
35. Rome 
36. San Francisco
37. Barcelona Been there. My first solo holiday. I visited Barcelona, Spain in 2018 & I stayed there for a week. 7 days. I wish I could had stayed for another week which I originally wanted to stay for two weeks. My father persuaded me that since it’s my first ever holiday trip as an independent traveller & holidaymaker, it was not possible for me to stayed in Barcelona for 2 weeks so that’s how I enjoyed myself, sightseeing around Barcelona. I would definitely want to come back to Barcelona given i enjoyed eating a Spanish cuisine & Paella. 
38. Dubai, United Arab Emirates
39. Singapore 
40. La Digue, Seychelles, 1000 miles E of Kenya.
41. Sri Lanka, S of India
42. Bangkok, Thailand 
43. Barbados, 100 miles E of the Caribbean chain
44. Iceland
45. Terracotta Army, Xi’an, China
46. Zermatt, Switzerland
47. Angel Falls, Venezuela
48. Abu Simbel, Egypt
49. Bali, in the Indonesian archipelago
50. French Polynesia (Bora Bora), 165 miles NW of Tahiti

drbexl.co.uk 

Since it was aired on Television in 2002, BBC hadn’t done any updates which it could been a fantastic idea to do so as we are in the age of social media. The digital age. BBC used to have Holiday (UK long running TV programme) from 1969 to 2007. It was a travel review programme when it was broadcasted on BBC One & BBC Two.

Nowadays, BBC has a weekly show called The Travel Show & has been on air since 2014.

So I am happy to see that places (landmarks & tourist attractions), cities & countries have been listed on the BBC 2002 list of 50 places to see before you die. So basically, it is a bucket list for travel. 

Now at the present time, it is not really possible now under the pandemic (the coronavirus pandemic). I am hopeful and confident that once Covid is in low infection or has completely been eradicated in the future (marking the end of the pandemic) then everything is possible. Going on holiday/vacation like we used to (before Covid 19). Soon, there will be a vaccine passport (or health passport) for any travellers to visit country in the world for holiday (vacation), study, work or other purposes. It will be like yellow fever travel certificate. Let’s remember that it will be temporary. Not permanent. In fact, I will write a blog post regarding vaccine passport for another time. 

For me, even if Covid is going to cause more infections anywhere in the world, I wouldn’t bother to go anywhere aboard & that would be a risk to my safety so the only option is staycation (domestic travel). I haven’t yet decide whether I would go anywhere. The way, I see it, it will not be possible for go anywhere overseas. 

Lastly, as I visited 3 places out of BBC 2002 travel list “50 places to see before you die”. Barcelona, Florida and Paris. I guess I am left with 47 places to visit. 🙂✈️🛫🏝🗺

Although I do not have to visit all 47 places but it would be wonderful for me to do so if I have enough money & maybe a travel blog for me to do this as a full time. Working as an travel blogger/vlogger/content creator/digital nomand. 

I have a desire that I would love to visit travel destinations in terms of cities, countries, landmarks & tourist attractions. 

I would love to visit: New York, Singapore, Dubai, Rome, Hawaii, Rio, Hong Kong, Taj Mahal, Cairo, Bangkok, Sydney, Las Vegas, Cape Town, Ayers Rock, Great Wall of China and the Grand Canyon. 16 places listed on BBC “50 places to see before you die” travel list. These are my dream travel destinations that I would love to make it happen if opportunity does arise to see the world. Marvellous way to enjoy life. 

So yeah, I only visited Florida, Paris and Barcelona. I could had visited more when I was a kid. Although I didn’t had a opportunity to go anywhere outside the UK except South Africa only which unfortunately that would had been great if I had a UK passport, not just SA passport despite being born in the UK. I didn’t had a UK one until I was a teenager. Anyways that is for another time. 

So happy travels to any of my readers who are travellers. Either for pleasure or work. Either way, this blog post is an very interesting blog post about travel & the future of travel post Covid. 

Now I will listen to Frank Sinatra song “ Come fly with me”. 🎵🎶🙂🛫