🧵There are several unexplained facts and unanswered questions about the IDF drone strike which killed seven @WCKitchen workers in Gaza last week.
Here's quick thread summarising our investigation over the past week... 1/x
telegraph.co.uk/global-health/… First, the most senior IDF commander dismissed for his role in the strike is a settler who signed an open letter in January calling for the territory to be deprived of aid, The Telegraph can reveal...

You may or may not remember this man, but on or around 16 Aug 2020 he vanished.
Or to put it correctly, he *was* vanished by operatives of the DHSC.
Imagine then my surprise when he appeared at the #CovidInquiry on Wednesday alive and well - and hungry for revenge ... You may not recognise him on account of the comedy mustachio he's borrowed from Mr Spud, but his name is Selbie, Duncan Selbie.
He's the former CEO of Public Health England and is viewed by DHSC as one of the most dangerous men ever to have walked the corridors of Whitehall.

The #CovidInquiry is dry but hugely important.

In a bid to make it accessible, while keeping it accurate, I've been penning daily Twitter threads.

You'll meet Good Chap Letwin, Ballroom Hunt, The Brain and The Eviscerator...

In publication order: First blood, Sir Chris Wormald...

https://twitter.com/PaulNuki/status/1670906630257483779?s=20

It's hard to exaggerate the power of Prof Chris Whitty's brain.
It's like the Brain of Morbius (Dr Who '76) but dedicated to good rather than evil.
So when he was wheeled into the #CovidInquiry today I was well excited, init... And The Brain did not disappoint.
It spoke at 453 words a second, causing the Inquiry stenographer to combust, but was perfectly clear on slow-mo rewind.
There was no bluster, only a tincy bit of equivocation and plenty of new, very precise, thinking...

Poor old George. He styles himself a man of vision but, as he was led from the dock at the #CovidInquiry yesterday, he left a behind a transcript that makes plain he abdicated his responsibilities in protecting Britain while Chancellor from 2010 to 2016.
covid19.public-inquiry.uk/wp-content/upl… As he took the stand, the blood drained from his face and he seemed ready for a headline diverting scrap.
Attack was realistically going to be his only form of defence and, for an instant, I thought it was his warmer half, Dominic Raab, who was sitting there, coiled and prone

Before we get to not so gorgeous George Osborne, it's worth a brief reflection on Oliver Letwin's evidence of this morning.

It might be summed up as the *good chap* theory of disaster planning.... Now Oliver is a fine sort of fellow, astute and reflective, and it would be unfair to twat him about the head too hard, even when he's made a right Horlicks of things, as appears to be the case with getting the nation ready for Covid 19.

The #CovidInquiry came roaring to life today and claimed its first victim.

The sad unfortunate was tortured over several hours before being chopped into little pieces.

But the victim in question was NOT David Cameron. Now read on.... Dave did appear but the KC was, rightly, not going to waste her energy.

He's done more to damage Britain than any other PM and everyone knows that.

He said he gave us austerity so there was money "in the pot" for things like Covid.

Shortly after, he was quietly ushered out.

Thread: 1/x

I've spent much of the past month talking to people about GISAID and the stonking great row surrounding it.

It's a tad esoteric but I guarantee you it's important - something that could impact us all.

It's also an amazing story...

telegraph.co.uk/global-health/… First up, and for the puerile among you (JB), it's pronounced GIS-AID, not JIZ-AID.

Second, it's a crucial component of health security. If you believe good surveillance is our first line of defence against a new pathogen of pandemic potential, then GISAID is our shield.

Widespread condemnation as Uganda proposes death penalty for ‘aggravated homosexuality’

The bill passed by Uganda's parliament is denounced by the UN as ‘probably among the worst of its kind in the world’
@benfarmerDT reports - thread 🧵

telegraph.co.uk/global-health/… America, the United Nations and the UK have all condemned a new anti-gay bill passed in Uganda, with Washington suggesting it could trigger sanctions.

Mouse apocalypse on the horizon for island of rare seabirds

The largest ever mouse eradication project on Marion Island hopes to protect wandering albatross and other species

@benfarmerDT reports - no paywall 👇
telegraph.co.uk/global-health/… Marion Island is home to a quarter of the world’s wandering albatrosses, as well as millions of other seabirds and seals.

Thread 1/5

Pandemics kill people directly but many more can die in the political and economic strife that follow.

There are several examples (measles etc) but perhaps the most obvious is the sudden rash of *Cholera* outbreaks across the world.

telegraph.co.uk/global-health/… 2/5 Cholera becomes a risk when economies and sanitation systems go to pot.

23 countries are currently reporting outbreaks, 30 have been hit in the last year & 40 are at risk, says @annegulland

It's the worst its been in 20 yrs.

See Lebanon, for eg
telegraph.co.uk/global-health/…

Thread 1/6

The H5N1 bird flu pandemic continues to rage around the world, documented today by the excellent @ECDC_EU

It is not there yet (and may never be), but some worrying mutations have been recorded taking it closer to us humans.

Here is the spread in birds: 2/5
Dead birds provided easy food (and infection) for an array of mammals - everything from foxes and cats to mink and ferrets, even sealions.

Mink to mink spread seems likely and perhaps sealion to sealion.

BUT most mammalian infections caused by contact with infected birds.

What is driving Bolivia’s worst dengue crisis in 25 years?

Field hospitals open in Santa Cruz to help ease the burden engulfing its medical centres

thread 🧵

telegraph.co.uk/global-health/… Bolivia’s Ministry of Health has reported more than 11,000 cases of the disease, while 33 people have died, mostly children. Multiple regions, including Santa Cruz and La Paz, are now under a red epidemiological alert.

On the road with the armed ‘motorbike midwives’ delivering Bangkok’s babies.

A specialist team of traffic police are bringing vital healthcare to the gridlocked streets of Thailand’s capital.

thread 🧵

@sneweyy
telegraph.co.uk/global-health/… Police lieutenant Jokoksung in the Royal Thai Police’s traffic unit spends much of his time directing vehicles and dealing with the aftermath of collisions on some of Bangkok's most chaotic – and gridlocked – junctions.

The country with the world’s highest cervical cancer rate – and why its women are needlessly dying

Malawi reports around 51.5 cervical cancer deaths per 100,000 people each year, seven times the global rate.

Thread 🧵

@benfarmerDT telegraph.co.uk/global-health/… Malawi has the highest cervical cancer mortality rate in the world, with thousands of women dying every year, estimates suggest. They are deaths that are entirely avoidable if girls are vaccinated at a young age.

1/ Quick thread on this report of a cluster of 12 human H5N1 bird flu cases following the death of a child in Cambodia - and why we should NOT panic quite yet

khmertimeskh.com/501244375/afte… 2/ The report is contradictory in part. It says the cases are "confirmed", then says they are awaiting lab results.

Also, the cases have not been reported yet into international systems run by the WHO etc

They could still turn out to be nothing or something else entirely

Brilliant report looking at excess deaths in Oz - a place that had few #COVID19 deaths in 20/21 due to NPIs.

Here are the pos causes for today's excess deaths in Oz. I've added 🇬🇧 flags as an indicator to how important they are likely to be here: 1/9

actuaries.digital/2022/12/07/cov… 2/ Covid19 did lasting damage to some of those who caught it early making them more vulnerable today
🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧

China's citizens rose up and demanded change. The CCP, smelling trouble, gave way. So far so good!

Now China is revelling in newfound Covid freedoms – but liberty may come at a cost. Here's why ⬇️⬇️⬇️
#Thread 1/7

telegraph.co.uk/global-health/… @Telegraph 2/ In China, restrictions have now largely been lifted. But there's a problem: the government failed to make the most of its early success in fighting Covid by getting its elderly population fully vaccinated.

1/5 Huge congratulation to @Samaanlateef on winning this prestigious UNCA award in journalism.

Make sure to read his excellent work at @TelGlobalHealth and @Telegraph .... examples below... 2/ Monsoon ‘superfloods’ kill at least 900 and sweep buildings away in Pakistan…telegraph.co.uk/global-health/…

1/4 Great read by @christinalamb a year on from the Tump/Johnson/Raab/Wallace 'clusterf***' of a withdrawal from Afghanistan ... thetimes.co.uk/article/7e24fb… 2/4 It's important to remember the die was cast 18mths before when Trump (and everyone else) waived through the Doha Agreement which effectively handed over the country to the Taliban on an agreed schedule ...

I'm now 45 mins into trying to figure out how to book an appointment online with my GP of 20 yrs plus. The tragic story so far:

1/9 The website can not be read on mobile so I traipse upstairs to find a laptop. Everyone has one, right? 2/ Now on the laptop, I find a tiny booking link at the bottom of a very long webpage. I wouldn't have spotted it without my glasses but - Hooray!!! - I'm almost there....