Neurological disorders, cardiothoracic disorders, smell and taste disorders… It is now estimated that 15% of people who have contracted the coronavirus are likely to see certain symptoms persist over time. If what is now called “Covid long” is still poorly understood, more and more research is being carried out to understand the mechanisms behind this evolution of symptoms. The latest, published in the journal eClinicalMedicine and relayed by The Guardian, reveals the deleterious effects of Covid on the brains of patients hospitalized as a result of this virus. Indeed, the researchers observed persistent cognitive decline in many of them, depending on the severity of their case.
To reach this conclusion, David Menon, a professor at the University of Cambridge and lead author of the study, and his colleagues examined the results of cognitive tests taken by 46 patients, an average of six months following their admission to the hospital. ‘Addenbrooke in Cambridge between March and July 2020. Of these, 16 had been placed on ventilators. The results were then compared with those of nearly 66,000 people from the general British population.
The scientists found that the hospitalized patients performed significantly worse ‘on tests of verbal analogical reasoning, which assess an individual’s ability to recognize relationships between ideas and to think methodically’. Their study also shed light on slower information processing in said patients. According to their conclusions, the deficit observed six months following a severe form was equivalent to the cognitive loss generally observed in a person between their 50s and their 70s, i.e. 20 years of aging. This corresponds to a loss of 10 IQ points.
But how to explain such significant cognitive damage? According to the research team, the reasons are multiple. A severe infection due to Covid-19 would first reduce the blood supply to the brain. “A blockage of blood vessels and microscopic bleeding caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, as well as damage triggered by an overactive immune system” might also be the cause of this cognitive decline.
Added to this are the conclusions of previous studies on the long Covid which suggest that following a severe infection, glucose is used less efficiently “in the part of the brain responsible for attention, complex problem solving and memory,” according to science magazine New Scientist, reported by Slate.
This research needs to be deepened in order to know if this deficit is maintained over time or if it is only a phase of convalescence. Nevertheless, the potential occurrence of these disorders needs to be known to health professionals for better management. “The trials we can conduct will allow us to understand the underlying mechanisms and produce effective treatments to prevent this from happening and perhaps treat it later,” says the study’s lead author, David Menon, who also specifies, in the columns of the Guardian, that “if a person is completely vaccinated, the disease will be less trying and all of its symptoms will be reduced”.
In Morocco, the number of first-timers reached 24,809,721, that of people who received two doses amounted to 23,288,828, while 6,277,583 people had three injections of the vaccine.
A total of 41 new cases of infection with the new coronavirus (Covid-19) and 22 recoveries have also been recorded in Morocco in the last 24 hours, according to the Ministry of Health and Social Protection. The new infection toll brings the total number of contaminations since the first case reported in Morocco on March 02, 2020 to 1,165,247, while the number of recovered people has increased to 1,148,878, i.e. a recovery rate of 98, 6%.
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The net result group share of the National Ports Agency (ANP) amounted to -16 million dirhams (MDH) during the year 2021, once morest 64 MDH in 2020.
The consolidated net result stood at -56 MDH for the past financial year, indicates the Agency in a financial press release, noting that the consolidated operating result, meanwhile, amounted to 53 MDH, down 51% compared to 2020. This decrease is mainly due to the drop in turnover of SGPTV (Management company of the port of Tangier City) by 14.8% and the increase in expenses of operating income retired from the ANP by 13.2%, points out the same source.
At the same time, the ANP reports that its consolidated turnover achieved in 2021, compared to that of 2020, increased by 6.2% to more than 2.18 billion dirhams (MMDH), reports MAP.
This increase is mainly due to the combined effect of the 6.5% increase in ANP turnover, the 8.6% increase in Portnet SA turnover and the decrease of SGPTV’s turnover by 14.8%, under the effect of the cessation of its activity following the health situation relating to the Covid-19 pandemic.
With regard to the social accounts, they report a level of activity of the ports managed by the ANP of 91.04 million tonnes (MT) in 2021, i.e. a slight decrease of 1.6%.
This decline is mainly due to the decline in fertilizer traffic (-8% to 11.7 MT), phosphate (-5.6% to 9.5 MT), cereals (-24.1% to 7 .1 MT) and Sulfur (-5.1% to 6.9 MT).
Conversely, other traffic compared to 2020 has increased, particularly that of containers (+1.4%), coal (+7.8%), phosphoric acid (+9.1%) and hydrocarbons (+8.5%).
In addition, the ANP indicates that the turnover continues to increase by recording in 2021 an amount of 2.06 billion dirhams, an increase of 6.5%.
Operating expenses amounted to 2 billion dirhams, up by 8.3% under the combined effect of the 7% increase in purchases, the drop in other external expenses by 8.5% and the increase allocations to depreciation and provisions of 31%.
The added value reached more than 1.34 billion dirhams in 2021, up 12.8% compared to 2020, which allows for an integration rate of nearly 65%.
Operating income increased by nearly 20% to 186.1 million dirhams in 2021. Without depreciation and provisions, this result increased by 28% compared to 2020.
The net result stood at 46.1 MDH, once morest 66.3 MDH in 2020. Excluding financial provisions and market delay surcharges applied by the ANP in 2020, the net result would increase by 23% compared to to 2020.
As for the self-financing capacity, it amounted to 561.6 MDH in 2021, up by almost 1% compared to 2020.
Brussels proposes a phased embargo on Russian oil and the exclusion of Swift’s main bank
written by Alexandra Hartman Editor-in-Chief
Brussels proposes to stop European imports of Russian oil within six months and to exclude the largest Russian bank, Sberbank, from the international financial system Swift, announced Wednesday the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen. “We will phase out Russian deliveries of crude oil within six months and of refined products by the end of the year,” as part of a sixth sanctions package once morest Moscow aimed at cutting off funding for war once morest Ukraine, she told MEPs in Strasbourg. “It will be a complete ban on imports of all Russian oil, transported by sea or by pipeline, crude and refined … in an orderly fashion, in a way that will allow us to put in place ‘other routes of supply,’ she explained. Russian oil accounts for around a quarter of EU oil imports. According to several European officials and diplomats, the Commission’s draft – submitted overnight to the Member States – provides for an exemption for Hungary and Slovakia. These two countries, landlocked and totally dependent on deliveries by the Druzhba pipeline, will be able to continue their purchases from Russia in 2023, said one of these officials. “It will not be easy. Some states are heavily dependent on Russian oil. But we simply have to work on it,” pleaded Ursula von der Leyen before the European Parliament. “We will thus exert maximum pressure on Russia, while minimizing collateral damage for us and our partners,” she said. Brussels is also proposing to exclude three additional Russian banks, including Sberbank, by far the largest institution in the country (regarding a third of the banking sector), from the Swift international financial system. As part of the EU sanctions, seven Russian institutions have been deprived of access to Swift, a secure messaging platform allowing crucial operations such as the transit of payment orders and funds transfer orders between banks. “We are hitting systemically important banks critical to the Russian financial system and Putin’s capacity for destruction. This will reinforce the total isolation of the Russian financial sector,” von der Leyen stressed. The Commission is also proposing to block access to the European airwaves to three major Russian state broadcasters, which would be prohibited from distributing their content in the EU by cable, satellite, internet or smartphone applications. “We have identified the role of propaganda organs of these TV channels, which aggressively amplify Putin’s lies. We must no longer give them free rein to spread them,” von der Leyen said. without further details.
Nador-El Aroui Airport welcomed 95,370 passengers between February 7 and March 31
written by Alexandra Hartman Editor-in-Chief
Nador-El Aroui airport welcomed a total of 95,370 passengers during the period from February 7 (1st day of resumption of international flights) to March 31, 2022, indicates the National Airports Office (ONDA).
This volume of passenger traffic represents a recovery rate of 105% compared to the same period of 2019 (91,108 passengers), underlines the ONDA in a press release.
The same airport recorded, between February 7 and March 31, 2022, a total of 1,006 airport movements, compared to 735 movements during the similar period of 2019, representing a recovery rate of 137%, reports MAP.
For the month of March alone, this airport welcomed 61,843 passengers through 642 flights. This volume of commercial traffic represents a recovery rate of 116% for passengers and 152% for airport movements, compared to the same month of 2019.
Nador-El Aroui Airport ranks 7th nationally in terms of passenger air traffic volume and airport movements.
The Kingdom’s airports welcomed 2,228,723 passengers through 21,330 air flights, during the period from February 7 to March 31, 2022.
During the month of March, Moroccan airports recorded a commercial traffic volume of 1,452,030 passengers and 13,543 flights, representing a recovery rate compared to the same period of 2019 of 70% for passengers and 80 % for airport movements.
Of the 26 airports open to air traffic, only 17 airports have been served since the reopening of national airspace, says ONDA.
It should be noted that airports in the North and East regions experienced the strongest growth, with recovery rates exceeding 100%.