The number of confirmed
COVID-19 cases worldwide has risen by 657,312 within the past 24 hours marking
the largest daily increase since the outbreak of the pandemic, the World Health
Organisation said on Saturday. According
to global data, the cases worldwide is 54083176 – USA tops with 10977635;
followed by India 8814579; Brazil 5848959; Russia 1887836; France 1867721 .. … the
cases apparently are coming down in India which reported 41100 new cases on a
single day, yesterday.
Alarm is
spreading across Europe as the number of coronavirus cases has more than
doubled in 10 days, with several southern European countries reporting their
highest daily case numbers this week. The entire continent reported more than
200,000 daily infections for the first time on Thursday, overtaking on that day
the number of daily cases in India, Brazil and the United States combined.
Belgium has dropped to
sixth place on the European list of countries with the highest number of
Covid-19 infections per inhabitants on Friday. After being at the top of the
list for several days at the end of October, Belgium is now in sixth place,
according to the most recent data from the European Centre for Disease
Prevention and Control (ECDC).
Puurs is a former
municipality located in the Belgian province of Antwerp. It is located in the
Flemish Region. The municipality comprises the towns of Breendonk, Liezele,
Kalfort, Ruisbroek and Puurs proper. Puurs
sits about 5 meters above mean sea level. Puurs is mainly rural, with some low intensity
industry development in the North alongside the N16 motorway. The internationally sold Duvel beer is brewed in
Breendonk, by the Duvel-Moortgat brewery. Each year in August, a 100 km (62 mi)
long foot march called the Dodentocht (Death March) passes by the brewery, and
participants and spectators can enjoy Duvel beer for free.
Asparagus is
a herbaceous, perennial plant growing to
100–150 cm (40–60 in) tall, with stout stems with much-branched, feathery
foliage. The "leaves" are in fact needle-like cladodes (modified
stems) in the axils of scale leaves. The
root system, often referred to as a "crown," is adventitious and the
root type is fasciculated. The flowers are bell-shaped, greenish-white to
yellowish, with six tepals partially
fused together at the base; they are produced singly or in clusters of two or
three in the junctions of the branchlets. The fruit is a small red berry which is toxic to humans. Asparagus, or garden
asparagus, folk name sparrow grass, scientific name Asparagus officinalis – its
young shoots are used as a spring
vegetable.
Asparagus was first grown
in Greece more than 2,500 years ago, and experts say ancient Romans enjoyed it,
too. It was commonly found growing in the wild. Early cultivated versions of
asparagus had thinner stalks and were darker in color than the asparagus we
find at the farmers market today. It also had a more bitter flavour. Most
vegetables are annuals, meaning they need to be planted every year. Asparagus
is one of only a few perennial vegetables, meaning they come back year after
year.
Each spring,
the Belgian town of Puurs holds a festival in honour of its bountiful asparagus
– or ‘white gold’ as it is called locally. But now it has a new
bumper crop, and it is hoping to export it very soon – a
miracle vaccine that could finally turn the tide on the coronavirus
pandemic. In anticipation of regulatory approval, hundreds of thousands of
doses are already rolling off the production line at Pfizer’s
hub in the sleepy town of Puurs which lies midway between Brussels and
Antwerp. Its mayor, Koen Van den Heuvel, joked that residents have been asking
him to put in a good word with the pharmaceutical giant so they get the first
doses.
Puurs is little more than
an intersection of two roads with a church, school, chemist and delicatessen.
Asparagus grows in the surrounding fields, thanks to the soil’s high sand
content. Until last week, Puurs was best known as the home of Dina Tersago, a former Miss Belgium who hosts a reality TV
show matchmaking women with single Flemish farmers. For years, Puurs has also been home to the
Moortgat brewery which produces the strong Duvel beer. But its fortunes changed
in the 1960s when tax breaks began to lure major US multinational firms to
Belgium. They included Pfizer’s predecessor
Upjohn, which established a base which now employs 3,000 people. Now the talk
of the town is the announcement by Pfizer and Bio‑NTech
that their vaccine is more than 90 per cent effective in preventing people from
getting Covid. Optimism is, however, cautious in Puurs.
A recent job advert on
Pfizer’s Puurs plant website was seeking ‘a vaccine maker.’ With more than a
billion doses planned by the end of next year, it may not be the last.
Interesting and the World
is looking forward to the vaccine irrespective of whichever place it could come
from ..
15.11.2020
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