Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Viral Video From Russia Suggests COVID Toll May Be Worse Than Reported
CNN: Russia Covid Crisis: Packed Morgues And Excess Deaths Tell A Darker Story Than Official Numbers Suggest
The limbs of a lifeless body hang off a stretcher in a hospital ward as coronavirus patients battle for their lives just a few feet away. An elderly woman gasps for breath, her desperate panting a grim soundtrack to one of many disturbing cell-phone videos emerging from hospitals across Russia. "This is how our nights look: horrifying," says a male voice narrating the footage, given to CNN by a prominent opposition-linked Russian doctors' union, "Doctors' Alliance," which says it was recorded in mid-October by a hospital staff member in Ulyanovsk, a city around 500 miles east of Moscow. This grisly video is just one of several obtained by CNN that reveal appalling conditions inside overcrowded facilities. (Chance, Ullah and Ilyushina, 11/17)
AP: Greece: Bishop's Death Revives Debate On Communion Safety
A senior clergyman in Greece’s Orthodox Church was buried Monday after dying of COVID-19, reviving a debate over the safety of receiving communion before the Christmas season. Metropolitan Bishop Ioannis of Lagadas, 62, was an outspoken advocate of maintaining communion ceremonies — at which worshippers are given bread and wine with a shared spoon — during the pandemic, arguing that there was no risk of transmission. His stance was backed by other church officials. (Kantouris and Gatopoulos, 11/16)
The Washington Post: Boris Johnson, In Self-Quarantine, Says He’s ‘Bursting With Antibodies’
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson boasted that he was "fit as a butcher's dog" and "bursting with antibodies" as he began two weeks of self-quarantine after having close contact with a lawmaker who contracted the coronavirus. (Adam and Booth, 11/6)
AP: Internal Email Reveals 65 Virus Cases Among WHO Geneva Staff
The World Health Organization has recorded 65 cases of the coronavirus among staff based at its headquarters, including five people who worked on the premises and were in contact with one another, an internal email obtained by The Associated Press shows. The U.N. health agency said it is investigating how and where the five people became infected — and that it has not determined whether transmission happened at its offices. WHO’s confirmation Monday of the figures in the email was the first time it has publicly provided such a count. (Cheng and Keaten, 11/17)
