Some are calling it a pandemic within a pandemic. Addiction is a global problem a pandemic is led to a rise in fatal drug overdoses in canada amuses blame the temptation of the governments sudden public cash infusion with few questions asked demand for help a sword in the u. S. As Addiction Treatment budgets are slashed and the u. K. Is reporting long waiting lists for reopened addictions that is social distancing has slashed capacity south africa has reimposed the ban on alcohol sales and announced the return of a National Coach few to tackle a spiking coronavirus cases and addiction is now decided that the sale the dispensing and the distribution of alcohol will be suspended with immediate effect. There is. Now clear evidence that the resumption of. Of course. Has resulted in some pressure being put on hospitals. Including trauma an i. C. U. Unit in south africa already banned the sales of alcohol in the early stages of the lockdown but the industry pushed for reopening warning of massive job loss this what happened after wards the hospital admissions went up significantly about 17000 alcohol related trauma admissions in hospitals were recorded every week thats why for now the Liquor Stores throughout the country remain closed again and i cannot change to me i mean going to be straightforward im not going to be rude i think its terrible i think is a realistic lead because in the leaking industry is not only the people working in the bottle store theres about a 1000000 people now then all have to be at home now i dont call it that most dangerous thing that is why people are always fighting people like ladies who are a woman who are violated every time just because of article so i support the president to put it was very good hes done perfect the president also announced tonight curfew and stricter controls to enforce the airing of face masks but many here feel that this might not be enough to weather the storm off corona virus theres still a massive leg off intensive care units testing kits and a shortage of about 12000. 00 health care workers. Dr Monica Ballard from the Royal Melbourne Institute of technology and a straight there joins us now how difficult has this crisis been for people with addictions. Process has so many. People had access he who he is who they tried once and there have been some opportunities for example people who access seeing methadone and think some of you know how to get that in logic. Because youre trying to avoid people having lots of contact me pharmacies for example. Is this increase in drug and Alcohol Consumption addicts becoming even more addicted or while people becoming addicted well what were saying is increases and decreases sarina drugs so by no interim findings weve seen no substances like alcohol and cannabis people among we increasingly so those of those with the opposite transitory for india and i encourage coming where the majority of people cite a decrease in the sorry a lot of this relates to the Different Reasons why people use these products. Whose especially at risk would you say when we have a look at i doubt it we saw that people who were reporting Serious Mental Health problems were much more lax and decided that they had increased their use of the whole drugs and sorry obviously for those people that are having trouble coping with the unusual situation we find ourselves seem to be especially at risk so this is not just. A problem for addicts its also a Mental Health problem is that what youre saying yeah its certainly from el data looks much more cross the population so it really only it ranges a small proportion of people that actually have problems but what you find of course is that alcohol cannabis and other drugs if used by a large number of people will die and one of the cells you know that seeking treatment but they too are increasing their use and that sort of thing can sneak up on people so we have to really watch out for this population little changes in drug and alcohol abuse so whats the best treatment when Addiction Centers are already full due to social distancing or treatment budgets are being slashed in the u. S. Or youre basically told to go cold turkey in south africa. Thats a real concern because like as an example where i am going to strike. Out the whole body shops are actually does ignited. An official notice ignited by a service the compilers so on like in south africa they went back and and that was because it was understood that it will that drink die early if i were to suddenly stop drinking or being much more problems in withdrawal than continuing to train so its a real problem he says kiper why the supply thats well actually been so the issue how do you prevent the risk of addiction in the 1st place that well thats thats the 1000000 dollar question that i think anyone really has. To how to prevent addiction in the 1st place but whats really important is to i guess that the antidote to addiction is to connect to be able to have elections weve paper with our friends with our partners and of course thats the issue with the quote 19 lockdowns is that for many of us we have a brain how to connect with their friends we have the added fuel that sense of belonging and so that in itself can actually pulls people have to drinking and taking drugs more than they did before well i know its so because of the outbreak but its governments that have disconnected us how can governments reconnect us that. Well i think its interesting that in some countries its called physical distancing not social distancing because we have to acknowledge is that can help keep us connected. That arent necessarily. You know it works as well as just a proper hug or a proper peace and i think you know proper talking side by side its really hard to replace that sense of connectedness i guess what governments might want to do is to obviously help get us through this process as quickly as we can so we can get to the others saw it all of us ally ssion and start to reconnect to our physical level now hopefully those effects saying that would obviously help but this is something that globally were in full hole that we have to try and get through and stay connected with each other in the meantime have a lot of people listening and connecting without hope today dont the barracks are mighty australia thank you very much. And now your chance to ask the questions is our science correspondent Gary Williams with some of the issues you guys have been raising with us. Can you tell us about the vaccine russia claims it has produced. Over 150. 00 vaccine candidates are under Development Worldwide at the moment and 4 of them are currently in whats called phase 3 testing thats when a candidate has been proven safe so it can be given to thousands of people in wide scale trials to see how effective it is at preventing them from contracting kovac 19 now last week the director of a Russian Institute announced that after positive results from small scale trials it would also go into wide scale testing with its candidate sometime in mid august that candidate is whats known as an ad no viral based vaccine thats a platform thats been around for decades the method works by modifying another virus called an ad no virus to deliver the genes that in code for proteins found in the spikes that dot the surface of sars cove 2 that its hoped will train the body to recognise and fight off the new corona virus in the future without having to be infected with it in the 1st place. What are the chances of recovery for a patient receiving blood plasma from someone who has already recovered. Convalescent plasma is isolated from the blood of patients who have recovered from the disease and it contains antibodies that help fight off a recurrence and that person now this plasma has been used as a treatment for others who are still ill with more or less success in different diseases. I work for around a 100 years now and for the last few months its also been used on an unprecedented scale as a stopgap measure to try to fight cope with 19 thats allowing larger scale studies but the researchers trying to carry them out have hit a couple of big speed bumps 1st if someone is sick with kobe at 19 and theyre getting sicker they dont want to end up in the control group in a randomised trial and be given a placebo of course they want the convalescent plasma and 2nd its very difficult to standardize results because convalescent plasma isnt a drug thats made in the factory a particular doses its made in someones body so no 2 doses of it will be the same thats why although a few smaller studies have claimed benefit and the treatment seems to be for the most part safe the scientific jury is really still out on whether or or how much it actually helps. And you can post your questions to derek on our you tube channel if youd like to keep up with the latest developments in the coronavirus subscribe to our news letter or to detail we dont come slash corona dash usually. Finally what about kids stuck at home under lockdown a school playing outside an architect has come up with an idea to brighten up their day using a powerful speaker a microphone and some books passer by garcia tells stories to children who waste no time gathering to listen if idea came after he heard a boy crying with boredom a series of stories by mexican authors giving children and adults alike a few minutes break the book down bloops. Im bad as well and see you next time. Kick off. This season was certainly different and yet like any other it was a story of highs and lows. Tend the most. And times when victory and defeat were just most part. The 2nd part of our riveting. Spondee w. Providing for transplants. Was about 3 d. Printing. 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