China

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Re: China

Post by blindpig » Wed Mar 25, 2020 12:50 pm

March 25

Outside China

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The latest figures reported by each government's health authority as of March 25, 2020.

- WHO: US could be new global epicenter of coronavirus outbreak (Read more)

- New Zealand PM declares national emergency to tackle COVID-19 (Read more)

- Indian PM Modi announces 21-day lockdown to fight COVID-19 (Read more)

- COVID-19 shrinks UN HQ staff but triggers innovation (Read more)

- Malaysia extends comprehensive restrictive measures to contain COVID-19 outbreak (Read more)

- UK parliament set to close for at least four weeks on Wednesday (Read more)

China

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Latest data released by National Health Commission by midnight, March 24, 2020.

- President Xi Jinping will attend a special Group of 20 leaders' summit on COVID-19 (Read more)

- Chinese mainland reports 47 new coronavirus infections on Tuesday, all imported cases; 4 new deaths (Read more)

- 17 train stations in Wuhan to resume operation for travellers (Read more)

- Risk level for COVID-19 outbreak in Wuhan downgraded from high to medium

- Hubei begins normal road operations (Read more)

- More than 800 people stranded in Hubei province arrived in Beijing this afternoon

- Wuhan will resume commercial flights on April 8, excluding international flights and flights to and from Beijing
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Re: China

Post by blindpig » Thu Mar 26, 2020 11:08 am

Why do Chinese follow strict control and prevention measures?
CIKD | Updated: 2020-03-26 09:52

It is important to note that the information provided in this Series is intended for your general knowledge only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice or treatment.

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A citizen in a sealed-off neighborhood in Wuhan takes her delivery. [Photo by Su Feng/chinadaily.com.cn]

First, strict control is the most basic and important measure to prevent infectious disease. Such policy proposal was recommended by China's most important and authoritative experts on infectious disease prevention and control including Mr. Zhong Nanshan. Strict control and prevention measures are considered scientific and necessary for helping control infection sources and protect the safety and health of all citizens. The public largely accept and support such measures.

Second, Chinese people highly trust their government, especially the central government. According to the latest edition of the Edelman Trust Barometer, more than 80% of Chinese citizens trust their government. China has also ranked first among all economies for three consecutive years. During the time of big disasters, Chinese people generally believe that the Chinese government is people-oriented, responsible for people and accountable. It has also been proved in the past decades that the Chinese government is the most important and reliable force in dealing with major disasters.

Third, Chinese people are strongly committed to collectivism. Although strict control measures damage the freedom of travel and business activities, most Chinese people show a good understanding of these measures and are willing to temporarily sacrifice individual freedom and rights for the sake of overall and long-term interests of the society.

Fourth, people's basic lives could be guaranteed under strict control. The social management and public service system is relatively complete in China's grassroots society. Most urban and rural citizens have a social tradition of helping each other. At the same time, there is a relatively developed e-commerce network and logistics system. In a strictly controlled social environment and with support from the government, the society and the market, people's daily lives have not been severely disturbed.

Fifth, group effect to some extent propels people to follow the strict prevention and control measures. Facing the complexity and uncertainty of COVID-19, many citizens suffered from panic and anxiety. The society as a whole has demanded strict control requirements of various levels, including government and community's control measures as well as residents' spontaneous mutual supervision and restraint. All the feelings and measures form group effect of strict control, which to some extent propels people to follow the strict measures.

http://global.chinadaily.com.cn/a/20200 ... 82203.html
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Re: China

Post by blindpig » Fri Mar 27, 2020 11:10 am

March 27

Outside China

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The latest figures reported by each government's health authority as of March 27, 2020.

- US becomes country with most COVID-19 cases (Read more)

- UN chief to G20: 'We are at war … and not winning' (Read more)

- Putin urges G20 to lift sanctions on essential goods due to COVID-19 (Read more)

- Erdogan urges world countries for joint efforts in combating COVID-19 (Read more)

- Coronavirus claims over 8,000 lives in Italy (Read more)

- Australia to quarantine all passengers from abroad from Sunday (Read more)

China


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Latest data released by National Health Commission by midnight, March 26, 2020.

- Chinese mainland reports 55 new COVID-19 infections on Thursday, with 54 being imported cases; 5 new deaths (Read more)

- China suspends entry by foreign nationals (Read more)

http://global.chinadaily.com.cn/a/20200 ... 7b4ba.html
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Re: China

Post by blindpig » Sat Mar 28, 2020 10:36 am

Coronavirus overwhelms America's hospitals
By BELINDA ROBINSON in New York | China Daily Global | Updated: 2020-03-27 11:00


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A hospital worker readies a nasal swab during drive-thru tests for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Indian Wells, California, US, March 26, 2020. [Photo/Agencies]

American hospitals are becoming stretched to capacity with coronavirus patients, deaths and a lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) for staff, according to the doctors and nurses on the front lines.

The number of people with the virus in the US surged above 84,000 on Thursday, with more than 1,200 dead, including Kious Kelly, 48, an assistant nursing manager at Mount Sinai West, a New York City hospital.

Nurses at the hospital took to Facebook to post a picture of themselves in trash bags showing their lack of PPE. "NO MORE GOWNS IN THE WHOLE HOSPITAL," they wrote.

"An outbreak, a pandemic like this could overwhelm any system in the world," warned Dr Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and an adviser to President Donald Trump's White House Coronavirus Task Force.

There are fewer than 100,000 intensive care unit (ICU) beds in the US, according to the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, forcing hospitals to create more.

In Louisiana, a COVID-19 hotspot with 2,305 cases and 83 deaths, the government is trying to secure hotels for makeshift hospitals. It also has converted three state parks into isolation sites for patients who can't go home.

Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, Washington, has turned a homeless shelter into a recovery center with 45 beds. Washington is one of the states due to get mobile military hospitals. And two US Navy hospital ships are set to dock in Los Angeles and New York.

In New York state, the epicenter of the country's outbreak with 37,258 cases and 281 deaths, Elmhurst Hospital, a public facility with 545 beds in the New York City borough of Queens, has become overwhelmed. Thirteen people died at the hospital in the past 24 hours, a spokesman for New York City's public hospital system said.

Dr Ashley Bray, a general medicine resident at Elmhurst, treated an 80-year-old woman, a 60-year-old man and a 38-year-old man diagnosed with COVID-19 on Tuesday — but all died. She described the scenes as "apocalyptic".

The hospital has transferred patients without coronavirus to other facilities and has redirected arriving ambulances to other facilities.

Colleen Smith, an emergency room doctor at Elmhurst, said that they have been relying on ventilators — mechanical breathing machines — donated from other hospitals and other less-effective breathing devices.

But some patients died in the emergency room while waiting for a bed. A large refrigerated truck has been stationed outside to store the bodies as the hospital's morgue becomes full. Many bereaved don't come to collect the bodies right away.

A recent survey by Premier, a hospital group purchasing organization, said 20 percent of American hospitals didn't have enough ventilators for patients, and 97 percent were reusing N95 masks, putting the users at risk.

Dr Rana Awdish, a pulmonary and critical care physician at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, Michigan, told CNN: "We just want to be protected … we have created rituals of decontamination when we go home so we don't contaminate our families. We are sleeping in garages and spare rooms just to protect our families."

Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago and several hospital systems — including Geisinger in Pennsylvania — are now weighing their policy of resuscitating dying patients against their need to protect medical staff in light of PPE shortages.

Dr Sylvie de Silva, head of the emergency department at the 175-year-old Brooklyn Hospital, where she trained, told The New York Times on Wednesday: "I have so many different fears."

If the patient load increases at the current pace, the doctor said that she is concerned the emergency room will be out of space by next week. If many patients are desperately ill and need life support, she worries about having to choose between them.

In New York state, at least 5,000 people are currently hospitalized, 1,290 are in ICUs on ventilators, and about 1,500 have been discharged after being hospitalized.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said his state needs 140,000 hospital beds. It has 53,000. He said that all hospitals have been asked to increase capacity by 50 to 100 percent.

Cuomo plans to increase capacity by converting hotels, empty college dormitories and Manhattan's Jacob Javits Convention Center. He is also asking the federal government for more help.

New York University medical students are being allowed to graduate three months early to help. Manhattan's Bellevue Hospital has created a massive makeshift morgue.

Cuomo said at his daily morning news conference Thursday that the state has procured 7,000 ventilators in addition to 4,000 on hand but is still "shopping" for more.

Ventilators at NewYork-Presbyterian's Columbia University Irving Medical Center are being set up to serve two patients at once, "but it's not ideal" and "there is not enough to meet the national need", he said.

Normal patients on ventilators use them for three to four days. But COVID-19 patients may need them for 11 to 21 days, Cuomo said.

"Almost any scenario that is realistic will overwhelm the capacity of the current healthcare system. … We are literally adding to the hospital capacity any way we can," Cuomo said.

New York City has 1,800 ICU beds. But they are expected to be full by Friday, according to a Federal Emergency Management Agency leadership briefing obtained by The New York Times.

"The number of deaths is increasing. People are dying. That is the worst news you can have," Cuomo said.

http://global.chinadaily.com.cn/a/20200 ... 827a7.html
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Re: China

Post by blindpig » Sun Mar 29, 2020 5:43 pm

Expert: Cases of asymptomatic patients low in China
By ZHENG CAIXIONG in Guangzhou | chinadaily.com.cn | Updated: 2020-03-29 15:30

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Zhong Nanshan, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, speaks during a news conference in Guangzhou, South China's Guangdong province on March 18, 2020. [Photo/Xinhua]

There aren't a large number of asymptomatic patients of COVID-19 pneumonia in China now, a renowned respiratory expert said during an interview with China Central Television on Sunday.

Asymptomatic COVID-19 patients refer to those who do not show any symptoms, including fever and cough, but their tests for the novel coronavirus are positive.

Zhong Nanshan, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said the infection rate is usually very high of those who have close contacts with asymptomatic novel coronavirus carriers.

"But the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases is reducing in the mainland, and that indicates China did not have many asymptomatic novel coronavirus carriers," Zhong said.

However, Zhong said he did not have any specific number on China's asymptomatic novel coronavirus carriers and more detailed and professional studies and research are needed in the following months.

At a symposium held in Shanghai on Friday, Zhang Wenhong, leader of the Shanghai team of experts in the treatment of COVID-19 cases, said asymptomatic coronavirus carriers might not show symptoms for more than three weeks and will not be detected if they don't go to hospital for virus tests.

"Those asymptomatic coronavirus carriers usually have strong immunity and show no symptoms for more than two weeks despite being infected. If they return home from abroad and are not isolated timely or released from the two-week quarantine, they will cause great risk of community infection," Zhang said.

"That's the tricky point of the novel coronavirus containment."

Wu Fan, director of the Shanghai Preventive Medicine Association, said the most effective way to prevent oneself from being infected by the asymptomatic coronavirus carriers is to strengthen personal protection.

http://global.chinadaily.com.cn/a/20200 ... 82c73.html
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Re: China

Post by blindpig » Mon Mar 30, 2020 11:27 am

March 30

Outside China

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The latest figures reported by each government's health authority as of March 30, 2020.

- COVID-19 pandemic kills over 30,000 people worldwide: WHO (Read more)

- Trump extends national social distancing guidelines to April 30 (Read more)

- Moscow introduces home isolation regime for all residents (Read more)

- Trudeau continues self-isolating after his wife's recovery from COVID-19 (Read more)

- First batch of Chinese medical equipment arrives in Croatia (Read more)

- Latvia toughens social distancing requirements (Read more)

- South Korea to provide 4-person household with $820 in emergency relief package (Read more)

China

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Data released by National Health Commission by midnight, March 29, 2020.

- Imported cases remain vast majority in new coronavirus infections. (Read more)

- A novel coronavirus patient who received medical treatment in Beijing's Xiaotangshan Hospital discharged (Read more)

- Middle, elementary schools in Beijing will begin online classes from April 13

http://global.chinadaily.com.cn/a/20200 ... 7b4ba.html
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Re: China

Post by blindpig » Wed Apr 01, 2020 1:04 pm

Poverty is not socialism: China’s poverty alleviation back on track in 2020
1 APRIL, 2020 ~ LEAVE A COMMENT
In 1980, Deng Xiaoping observed: ‘‘Poverty is not socialism, socialism means eliminating poverty’.

In 2013, Xi Jinping was visiting a poverty-stricken village – Shibadong – among the Miao minority in Hunan province and suggested that the approach to eradicating poverty was to ‘keep track of every household and individual in poverty to verify that their treatment is having the desired effect’.

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This led to the program of ‘targetted poverty alleviation‘, which tailors poverty alleviation to the specific conditions in each location. Indeed, it was this targetted approach that was also used in all the many parts of China to contain the COVID-19 epidemic. The outbreak entailed a pause in the poverty alleviation program, but the latter is now getting back on track.

I have written a few earlier posts on poverty alleviation, noting that in China more than 800 million people have been lifted out of poverty, or 7 out of 10 in the world. This achievement has been hailed as one of the greatest human rights achievements in history, in which the Chinese Marxist focus on the core human right to socio-economic wellbeing is paramount.

But let us go back to Deng Xiaoping, since I am completing a long chapter on his theory and practice. One of Deng’s major concerns was the heresy of ‘poor socialism’. We find this tradition in Western Europe with the idea of ascetic communism – lambasted already by Marx and Engels. In China, a localised version was promoted for a time during the Cultural Revolution, when some suggested that poor socialism was better than rich capitalism.

Deng Xiaoping would have nothing of this heresy. In 1980, he pointed out: ‘If the economy remains stagnant for a long period of time, it cannot be called socialism. If the people’s living standards remain at a very low level for a long period of time, it cannot be called socialism’.

One of the problems faced by communist revolutions is that they took place in poorer parts of the world, in places that suffered under Western imperialism and colonialism, and were thus held back from economic development. Was capitalism perhaps the answer?

Deng was very clear: ‘we do not want capitalism, but neither do we want to be poor under socialism [pinqiong de shehuizhuyi]’. Even more: ‘What we want is socialism in which the productive forces are developed and the country is prosperous and powerful’.

In fact, a capitalist system is unable to bring an end to poverty for the majority, so much so that those who have grown up under a capitalist system have come to assume that you will always have the poor with you.

In reply, Deng Xiaoping’s observation in 1984 is especially pertinent

This brings us back to the question of whether to continue on the socialist road or to stop and turn onto the capitalist road. Capitalism can only enrich less than 10 per cent of the Chinese population; it can never enrich the remaining more than 90 per cent … If we were to apply the capitalist principle of distribution, most of the people would remain mired in poverty and backwardness. But the socialist principle of distribution can enable all the people to lead a relatively comfortable life (xiaokang shenghuo). This is why we want to uphold socialism. Without socialism, China can never achieve that goal.

Or as Xi Jinping has stated on countless occasions, ‘no one will be left behind’.

There is plenty of information available on China’s targetted poverty alleviation project, which aims to remove the remaining few millions (about 1 percent) out of poverty by 2021 – with a current cost of 139 billion RMB. But I would recommend the following:

People’s Daily has a webpage devoted to overviews and specific accounts of poverty alleviation.

One feature of poverty alleviation, especially in the north-west, is re-afforestation of land that had become desert. This story about an 82 year old woman, Otgongerel, who has devoted her life to re-greening the Maowusu desert in Inner Mongolia, is worth a read.

And here is a video concerning another re-greening project in the same desert:


Here is a brief report not only only the world-leading role of China in reafforestation, but it also makes the explicit connection with poverty alleviation:



Finally, concerning Xi Jinping’s now fabled visit to Shibadong village, there are many accounts, but this one sums it up very well (see also here) and this is an excellent video:

(see link)

https://stalinsmoustache.org/

bolded for 'Dengism'...
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Re: China

Post by blindpig » Wed Apr 01, 2020 11:06 pm

China Did Not Deceive Us - Counting Death During An Epidemic Is Really Difficult
The anti-China campaign, which the Deputy National Security Advisor Matthew Pottinger is running, presented its first of April joke. It leaked to Bloomberg that a secret U.S. Intelligence Report claims that China concealed the real numbers of its Covid-19 cases:

China has concealed the extent of the coronavirus outbreak in its country, under-reporting both total cases and deaths it’s suffered from the disease, the U.S. intelligence community concluded in a classified report to the White House, according to three U.S. officials.
...
While China eventually imposed a strict lockdown beyond those of less autocratic nations, there has been considerable skepticism of China’s reported numbers, both outside and within the country. The Chinese government has repeatedly revised its methodology for counting cases, for weeks excluding people without symptoms entirely, and only on Tuesday added more than 1,500 asymptomatic cases to its total.
Stacks of thousands of urns outside funeral homes in Hubei province have driven public doubt in Beijing’s reporting.

China did not conceal its number of Covid-19 cases. Nor did it hold back any information.

Reporting numbers during an outbreak of a new disease is actually very difficult.

When does one start to count? China only knew that it had a new virus epidemic in early January. By then those who died during the month before were already cremated. How could it count them?

Does one include co-morbids or not in the count? What about casualties of a car accident that also test positive for Covid-19 when they die? What about those who died with Covid-19 symptoms but could not be tested for lack of test kits? Are the tests really working reliable? At one point China included all pneumonia cases into the Covid-19 case count even after they tested negative for Covid-19. The Chinese epidemiologists thought that their test had been wrong and only later found out that that was not the case.

What about asymptomatic cases that test positive. Are these false positives or do these people really have the virus? One can only know that by testing them a month later for antibodies. If they developed antibody cells against the virus they must have had it. That may well be the reason why China only now added the 1.500 asymptomatic cases to its total count.

The most important number during an outbreak is the one that lets one plan for resources and model for countermeasures. That number is the Case Fatality Rate.


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But that is the wrong number if one asks how likely one is to die of the disease:

You may have heard a term being used: the “case fatality rate”, or CFR. That is the number of deaths divided by the number of confirmed cases. When journalists talk about the “death rate”, that’s often what they are referring to. If a country has 10,000 confirmed cases and 100 deaths, then the CFR in that country is (100/10,000), or 1%.

That is not what we are looking for, and it is probably not even very close to what we are looking for.

Instead what we want is the “infection fatality rate”, or IFR. That is the number of deaths divided by the number of people who actually have the disease. The number of people who have tested positive for the disease is probably only a fraction of the total number who had it, because only a fraction of the population has actually been tested.

Obviously, the IFR is much harder to determine accurately. The only people getting tested will be the people who are most ill, so your IFR is probably much lower than your CFR, because your denominator — the number you’re dividing by — is probably much bigger.

So if your country has tested absolutely everyone and found all cases of the disease, then your IFR is the same as your CFR, or 1%. But if it has only found 10% of the people with the disease, then your 10,000 confirmed cases are just the tip of a 100,000-person iceberg. With those 100 deaths, your IFR would be (100/100,000) or 0.1%.

China, and everyone who followed its data, knew that the number of cases were different from the number of infections. But we did not know by how much. It was also clear that China was not counting all Covid-19 death. Italy shows how that problem arises:

As hospitals become overcrowded, patients are being asked to stay at home until they display the most serious symptoms. Many will die in their houses or nursing homes and may not even be counted as Covid-19 cases unless they’re tested post-mortem.
Last week, two researchers from northern Italy made this point forcefully when looking at Nembro, a small town near Bergamo that has been very severely hit by the outbreak. Writing in Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera they found there had been 158 deaths in the town in 2020 so far, as opposed to 35 on average in the previous five years. They noted that Nembro had only counted 31 deaths from Covid-19, which looks like an underestimate.

In other towns nearby, including Bergamo itself, the trend seemed identical. The researchers made the point that the only reliable indicator in the end will be “excess deaths” — namely, how many more people have died in total compared to a “normal” year.

Death per month in Bergamo over the last ten years*
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*The data refer to deaths until March 26th

The UK produces two different numbers. The Office for National Statistics says that it counts more Covid-19 death than the official GOV.UK site by the Department of Health and Social Care:

We include all deaths where COVID-19 was mentioned on the death certificate, even if only suspected: the GOV.UK figures are only those deaths where the patient had a positive test result
We include deaths that happened anywhere in England and Wales, for example some might be in care homes: the GOV.UK figures are only those that happened in hospital.
The definition who to count can change over time and not only in China:

[C]ountries may have good reasons to change the way they collect data as circumstances change, but it apparently happens often enough that the World Health Organisation feels that they have to ask countries to notify them when they do it. Famously, China did so earlier in the epidemic, but others do too: in complying with the WHO’s request, Australia has noted that it has changed its definition of a Covid-19 “case” (and therefore a Covid-19 “death”) at least 12 times since 23 January.
As for the number of urns delivered to funeral homes in Hubei after the quarantine was lifted one has also to consider the number of regular death. Hubei province has some sixty million inhabitants. The regular mortality rate in China is 726 per 100.000 inhabitants per year. The regular expected number of death from January 1 to March 31 in Hubei province without the epidemic was 108.900. In Wuhan, which has 14 million inhabitants, the expected number was 25.410. Photos that show the delivery of a few thousands of urns to large funeral homes in Wuhan are thereby not a sign for a higher Covid-19 death rate. To claim such is propaganda nonsense.

There is no reason to criticize China for publishing incomplete and a times confusing numbers. That is normal during any epidemic and the U.S. will certainly do likewise. The real problem with the various numbers flowing around lies elsewhere.

People do try to make predictions about how many will get infected and die from the virus. These models are needed to prepare ones resources. But prediction is extremely difficult to do as the various models react very sensitive to the input data. A model that works in country A may give the wrong results when it used for country B. Cities and towns are different. Local circumstances can make huge differences. With the real infection numbers and the real death rate unknown during an outbreak we can only hope that our epidemiologists, who are trained to make and interpret such models, get it right.

To claim that China deceived the U.S. and the world about its numbers or that China tried to make it look as if the epidemic was not as serious as it is makes no sense at all.

China took extreme and drastic measures at high economic costs to prevent a larger outbreak. It did not do that to deceive anyone but because it saw the seriousness of the problem. It acted in the global interest and to defeat the virus.

China gave the world time to prepare for the pandemic. Unfortunately that time was not used well. One reason that the U.S. will now experience a very large outbreak is that it is not willing to follow the Chinese example. If one declares that gun shops and shooting ranges are critical businesses that must stay open during a lockdown one is not serious about fighting the epidemic.

To blame China for that is simply nonsensical.

The real number of casualties the SARS-CoV-19 outbreak will cause will only be known when it is over and when we compare the new death statistics to those of previous years. One thing is assured. The "excess death" numbers will be lower in those countries that did use the time China gave them and prepared for what was coming at them.

Posted by b on April 1, 2020 at 18:45 UTC | Permalink

https://www.moonofalabama.org/2020/04/c ... .html#more
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Re: China

Post by blindpig » Fri Apr 03, 2020 11:25 am

Outside China

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The latest figures reported by each government's health authority as of April 3, 2020.

- Confirmed COVID-19 cases worldwide exceed 1 million - Johns Hopkins University (Read more)

- Spain's coronavirus deaths rose to 10,935 from 10,003 on the previous day, showing the first fall in a daily death toll since March 26 (Read more)

- US Democratic National Convention delayed until August

- Trump tested again for coronavirus, result was negative: White House (Read more)

- US Navy relieves aircraft carrier commander who wrote letter urging coronavirus action (Read more)

- COVID-19 death toll close to 14,000 in Italy

- Portuguese president announces 15-day extension of State of Emergency

China

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Data released by National Health Commission by midnight, April 2, 2020.

- Chinese mainland reports 31 new infections of COVID-19 and 60 new asymptomatic cases on Thursday (Read more)

http://global.chinadaily.com.cn/a/20200 ... 7b4ba.html

Beijing rebuts 'immoral' US accusations on data
By Mo Jingxi | China Daily | Updated: 2020-04-03 08:46


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Foreign Ministry spokeswomen Hua Chunying. [Photo/fmprc.gov.cn]

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said on Thursday that some US politicians are "being immoral and inhuman" for not putting people's lives and health above politics amid the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Rebutting the United States intelligence community's conclusion that Beijing underreported its epidemic data, Hua said that slander, smears and shifting the blame to others cannot make up for lost time, but will only cost more lost time and lives.

"The Chinese people understand very well, and sympathize with the American people for the pain they are suffering now," Hua said at a regular news conference in Beijing, adding that China is willing to provide them with help and support, within its ability, to combat the virus.

Politicizing public health issues should be denounced by people worldwide including those in the US, she said, urging US politicians to adjust their work priorities and direction and concentrate on saving the lives of people in the US.

On Thursday, the spokeswoman also further clarified previous media reports about the quality of masks purchased by the Netherlands from China.

According to an initial investigation by Chinese authorities, the reported shipment was of nonmedical masks purchased by a Dutch agent, Hua said, adding that the Chinese company had explicitly notified the Dutch before shipment that they were exported as nonmedical masks in the customs declaration.

"Now all countries urgently demand epidemic prevention materials. We kindly remind users to carefully check the purposes and use instructions of products, making sure the products meet their standards to avoid making mistakes in a hurry," she said.

Chinese authorities have adopted stricter measures to ensure the quality of medical supply exports since Wednesday, requiring exporters to provide extra documentation during customs clearance to prove that their products meet the quality standards of importing countries or regions.

Hua accused some media outlets of being irresponsible in hyping up a so-called quality issue with Chinese products before checking the facts.

"I hope they don't have ulterior motives because that will not help international cooperation in epidemic control," she said.

http://global.chinadaily.com.cn/a/20200 ... 8414c.html
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Re: China

Post by blindpig » Sat Apr 04, 2020 2:03 pm

US shirks responsibility with wild finger-pointing
By Ian Goodrum | chinadaily.com.cn | Updated: 2020-04-03 13:12

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US Vice President Mike Pence stands in front of a sign referring to the number of ventilators the administration hopes to supply to states during the daily coronavirus response briefing at the White House in Washington, US, April 2, 2020. [Photo/Agencies]

First China was doing too much to stop the coronavirus. Now United States media and government officials are saying it didn’t do enough.

I’d ask them to make up their minds, but that would require a degree of rationality I’m not sure they have — assuming they ever did.

The latest feint in the “blame China” crusade (a campaign with hundreds of incidents and a one-page playbook) is to claim China minimized the severity of the COVID-19 outbreak during its initial weeks in Wuhan, Hubei province. This, they assert with zero proof, left Western governments complacent and ill-equipped for the inevitable day the virus reached their borders.

As you might have come to expect by now, this is 100 percent bogus.

While it is true local officials could have done more in the outbreak’s infancy to curb the spread, such as banning large gatherings, the central government took decisive action the instant it became aware of the gravity of the situation.

Dr. Zhang Jixian at the Hubei Provincial Hospital of Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine informed hospital administration of common symptoms she was seeing in families on Dec 26, when cases numbered in the dozens.

This was then passed up the chain according to procedure. By Dec 31, the national-level Center for Disease Control and Prevention had notified the World Health Organization of the likely existence of a new coronavirus, and the US CDC was informed as early as Jan 3. The virus was fully sequenced by Jan 12, with the data immediately made public so the world would have as much information as possible. These are not the actions of a government conducting a devious cover-up.

Once human-to-human transmission was confirmed on Jan 21 — previously only limited human-to-human spread among close relations had been conclusively proven — drastic measures were taken in Wuhan, Hubei and soon the entire country. Cities and neighborhoods were put on lockdown, new hospitals were built to treat severe infections and facilities were seized for centralized quarantine of mild or asymptomatic cases. Movement tracking and widespread testing reined in everyone infected or potentially infected and determined who needed what level of care, if any.

That was over two months ago. Can anyone honestly say there was deliberate downplaying of the enormity of the outbreak when the government went to such extremes to contain it? Does anyone really believe this contradictory messaging, or are they desperately trying to save face as the virus ravages the US’ already broken for-profit healthcare system?

In reality, the people doing the downplaying were the US government and media. In the early days of China’s outbreak prevention, you couldn’t read an article in the Western press that wasn’t decrying it as “authoritarian” or “draconian”, or trotting out that old chestnut, “human rights violations”. All these accusations implied the danger of the virus did not warrant such an overwhelming clampdown.

There was a concerted effort to paint the epidemic as a “Chinese problem”, which they declared was exacerbated by the country’s political and economic system — no evidence of any kind to back this, of course. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross went so far as to say the virus would “accelerate the return of American jobs” from overseas. Leave it to the US to try and squeeze economic gain out of a deadly pandemic.

But in news to no one, they have all been proven cataclysmically wrong. China’s response worked, and countries facing outbreaks have modeled their own containment efforts after China’s — some more reluctantly than others. At present, new daily cases in China day number in the dozens, with the vast majority being imported from overseas. US-based Science Magazine called the scale of the anti-virus offensive “unprecedented” in a recent study, and calculated a 96 percent reduction of potential infections directly attributable to the actions of the Chinese government.

Meanwhile, things are looking dire in the US Millions of Americans have been laid off as businesses have been belatedly closed to prevent further infection — the only thing “accelerating”, to use Secretary Ross’ words, is applications for unemployment benefits. Had officials and the media taken warnings from China and elsewhere more seriously, they could have been better prepared. Instead, precious time bought with the blood, sweat and tears of the people of Wuhan has gone to waste, and the US death toll continues its precipitous rise. There shouldn’t be any doubt that this new round of finger-pointing is meant to give a scared, angry populace a foreign “other” to blame; a convenient scapegoat to deflect outrage from those actually responsible for the present calamity.

It didn’t have to be this way. Instead of waging informational warfare in the middle of a pandemic and denigrating China at every turn, the US could have put aside petty disagreements in the interest of public health. It could have lifted sanctions straining health systems in countries like Iran, Cuba and Venezuela, sanctions that cause thousands of deaths even in ordinary times. It could have pledged to share essential medical materials, technology and expertise with countries in need. It could have worked with China, site of the first major outbreak, to figure out best practices and adopt proven strategies to protect ordinary people and not just the wealthy and powerful. It could have made testing and treatment free, as China did, to find the infected and provide them the care they need to survive.

Unfortunately, this would require the United States to be a very different kind of country; one that prioritized human need over profits and didn’t build the biggest hoard in history through exploitation and plunder. Such a place would be completely unrecognizable to those living there now, and indeed to a world which has suffered under US hegemony for the better part of a century.

Disappointing as it is to see baseless accusations leveled during an unprecedented emergency — a moment when the planet should be united — it should not come as a surprise. There is no tragedy too great for the US to politicize, no disaster too horrific to be leveraged for selfish purposes. A cliché done to death in Western writing is pointing out the Chinese characters for “crisis” and “opportunity” are identical.

Irony of ironies: It’s the US, not China, who’s been treating them as one and the same.

http://global.chinadaily.com.cn/a/20200 ... 843bb.html
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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