Coronavirus - Global Health Emergency, 2019-nCoV #3

[margarita25]

China's massive security state is being used to crack down on the Wuhan virus - CNN

“Speaking at a meeting of top officials Wednesday, Chinese President Xi Jinping called for "greater legislative, law enforcement, judicial and law observance efforts to strengthen the capacity to carry out law-based infection prevention and control."
Laws around epidemic control "must be strictly enforced," Xi said, as police around the country began cracking down on people accused of concealing their travel history to get around stringent quarantine measures.”

[...]

“Laws around epidemic control "must be strictly enforced," Xi said, as police around the country began cracking down on people accused of concealing their travel history to get around stringent quarantine measures.”

[...]

“Similar cases have been reported in at least four other provinces, and last week China's top prosecutor issued a notice warning that anyone deemed to have deliberately transmitted the coronavirus, or who refuses to accept quarantine or treatment, will be "severely punished."

Authorities in the northeastern province of Heilongjiang went even further. According to the state-backed Beijing News, they put out an announcement warning that the highest sentence for endangering public safety by intentionally transmitting the coronavirus "is the death penalty.

The central government followed suit Saturday, announcing that a raft of medical crimes would carry severe punishment, including potential execution.“

 

[Hatfield]

Beginning some research this morning as related to Guangdong:

Chinese cities try to flush out coronavirus patients by stopping cough medicine sales
February 9, 2020

“At least three Chinese cities announced in the past week that they would stop the sale of medicines for fever and cough, two of the major symptoms for the new virus, so that people will go to hospitals for treatment instead of self-medicating and staying home. Other symptoms of the virus include muscle ache and shortness of breath, which can then progress to more severe respiratory distress.

Hangzhou, an eastern city of almost 10 million that is home to Alibaba and many other Chinese tech giants, announced on Friday(Feb. 7, link in Chinese) that on the advice of its coronavirus management team, all pharmacies in the city would stop selling fever and cough medications (link in Chinese) effective the next day. The measure will apply as long as the city remains at the highest level of public health alert level. “Citizens with these symptoms should go to the hospital as soon as possible,” the notice said.

Following Hangzhou, Ningbo and Sanya (link in Chinese), two southern Chinese cities with a combined population of nearly 8.6 million, also announced over the weekend they would halt the sale of the two medicines, to better track and treat the coronavirus. Southern Guangdong province, home to the tech hub Shenzhen that borders Hong Kong, has asked residents (link in Chinese) to register with their real names at medicine stores when they purchase the two drugs, so officials can follow up with them.”

Oh my. IMO I think that is another really bad thing for their Government to do. If people are afraid to go to hospitals then by not allowing them to buy cough medicines and other medicines is only going to make them suffer more as I doubt that will be enough to make them go to the hospital.

A simple solution that does not make people suffer like that. How about just limiting the places where people can buy those medicines and then have someone there that can test any people buying them if they want to test them.

 

[margarita25]

“Surveillance state
Police in China are far better equipped for a crackdown in 2020 than they would have been in previous years, thanks to a vast surveillance panopticon that the state has built up nationwide, but previously not used to tackle something of this scale.
The most extreme example of this 21st century surveillance state is in the far western region of Xinjiang, where ubiquitous CCTV cameras and police checkpoints have been used to tightly control the movement and behavior of members of the Uyghur ethnic minority, hundreds of thousands of whom have been placed in "reeducation camps."
Chinese companies have made millions building advanced facial recognition and AI-driven surveillance technology for police forces and local governments across the country. While the use of these tools nationwide is not as extreme as in Xinjiang, its rollout has been rapid, boosted by positive stories in state media about how AI cameras have been used to catch offenders or crack down on jaywalkers and other petty criminals.
Facial recognition, in particular, has become a normal part of many people's lives, used in subways, office buildings, schools and even safari parks to check season-ticket holders.”
-more at link

China's massive security state is being used to crack down on the Wuhan virus - CNN

 

[JerseyGirl]

There should be 0 flights in or out of China from the UK for the foreseeable future IMO.

They did, they are "extending" the date.

Coronavirus: British Airways extends Beijing and Shanghai route suspensions – Business Traveller

British Airways has suspended all flights to Beijing and Shanghai until March 31, saying it was following the Foreign Office’s continued advice against all but essential travel to mainland China.

All the carrier’s flights from Beijing and Shanghai have been suspended until April 1.

Flights to and from Hong Kong are set to continue, though passengers flying to or from Hong Kong before April 1 can rebook onto another BA-operated flight at a later date, or request a refund.

BA said it would “continue to review” flights to the mainland beyond April 1.

Last week Virgin Atlantic announced it would extend its Heathrow-Shanghai flight suspension until March 28.

Cathay Pacific has suspended nine international routes from Hong Kong until March 28 – to London Gatwick, Rome, Washington DC, Newark, Male, Davao, Clark, Jeju and Taichung.

Its routes to all cities in mainland China, excluding Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu and Xiamen, will also be suspended.

The South China Morning Post reports that Hong Kong International Airport has begun segregating all mainland China flights from other international services.

Aircraft will arrive and depart at remote parking stands, from which passengers will be taken for a medical screening followed by 14 days of quarantine, enforced by spot checks. Those refusing quarantine, excluding aircraft crew, will be sent back to the mainland.

 

[dixiegirl1035]

Guys, how do we disinfect our iPads and smart phones when products like alcohol can damage them? I’m sick, as you know, and I’m freaking out about my touch-screens getting germs. This isn’t the first time I’ve failed at finding an answer online for this question. I once read that doctors’ phones are germs as all get out.

Shark Tank had an episode on this. They put them in a UV case. CErtain Ultraviolet rays can kill Moo

 

[IceIce9]

I'm with you I have 6 dogs the oldest being 20 yo chi and There is nowhere I would go without them , exactly why we have a large SUV, if anyone doesn't get to eat it will be me !

This is why many people died in Katrina, they refused to evacuate without their pets.

I have always had an SUV rather than a car because I figure if I ever lose my job and my home I can live with my pets in my SUV.

 

[margarita25]

China's Xi Jinping has not been to Wuhan since the coronavirus outbreak. Why he may be keeping his distance
MON, FEB 10 2020

—-

Daletech is 5,000 miles from Wuhan. It's still at risk from coronavirus - CNN
Mon February 10, 2020

“European supply chains are less dependent on China than those in Asia, according to Simon MacAdam, a global economist at Capital Economics. But even one missing component can stop a manufacturer in its tracks.
"Supply chains are only as strong as their weakest link. A shock can reverberate around the world," said MacAdam.”

—-

Wuhan coronavirus death toll tops 900 as China cautiously returns to work - CNN
Mon February 10, 2020

“Hong Kong (CNN)Millions of people across China are heading back to work after the Lunar New Year break turned into an extended quarantine due to the Wuhan coronavirus.

Many will be working from their homes, however, with strict quarantine guidelines in place in many cities and most businesses urging people to work remotely if possible to reduce the chances of transmission.
Some semblance of normality may have returned, but the outbreak shows no signs of slowing, with the number of confirmed cases now at over 40,000 worldwide and the death toll at 910.”

—-

Wuhan Evacuees Hunker Down for Weeks in Quarantine
Feb. 10, 2020

“It has been over 60 years since we issued a federal quarantine like this. The last one was during the smallpox era,” said Jennifer McQuiston, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention deputy director of high consequence pathogens and pathology, speaking from San Antonio after a plane of evacuees landed there Friday afternoon.

At least five military bases in California, Colorado, Texas and Nebraska have prepared to receive passengers evacuated from Wuhan. Evacuees are housed in on-base hotels, separated from the rest of the base by fencing and U.S. Marshals, Dr. McQuiston said. Those quarantined pass their time watching television, playing games or working remotely. Their temperatures are monitored throughout the day and anyone showing symptoms, like Mr. Mayes, is whisked quickly to a local hospital.”

—-

Millions left Wuhan, China before coronavirus quarantine
Sunday, February 9, 2020

“Where did they go?

An Associated Press analysis of domestic travel patterns using map location data from Chinese tech giant Baidu shows that in the two weeks before Wuhan’s lockdown, nearly 70% of trips out of the central Chinese city were within Hubei province. Baidu has a map app that is similar to Google Maps, which is blocked in China.

Another 14% of the trips went to the neighboring provinces of Henan, Hunan, Anhui and Jiangxi. Nearly 2% slipped down to Guangdong province, the coastal manufacturing powerhouse across from Hong Kong, and the rest fanned out across China. The cities outside Hubei province that were top destinations for trips from Wuhanbetween Jan. 10 and Jan. 24 were Chongqing, a municipality next to Hubei province, Beijing and Shanghai.

The travel patterns broadly track with the early spread of the virus. The majority of confirmed cases and deaths have occurred in China, within Hubei province, followed by high numbers of cases in central China, with pockets of infections in Chongqing, Shanghai and Beijing as well.

“It’s definitely too late,” said Jin Dong-Yan, a molecular virologist at Hong Kong University’s School of Biomedical Sciences. “Five million out. That’s a big challenge. Many of them may not come back to Wuhanbut hang around somewhere else. To control this outbreak, we have to deal with this. On one hand, we need to identify them. On the other hand, we need to address the issue of stigma and discrimination.””

 

[JerseyGirl]

There are now 42 confirmed coronavirus cases in Hong Kong

The latest case and the twelfth case lived in the same building.

"We noticed that it’s the Hong-mei Building Unit 7, which is the same building and same unit as a previous case, but they lived on different floors of the building," he said.

There are 10 floors between these two apartments.

Hong Kong officials are currently holding a late-night press conference on the coronavirus.

Coronavirus news and live updates: Virus kills 97 people in China in one day, while cruise ship cases almost double - CNN

 

[margarita25]

There are now 42 confirmed coronavirus cases in Hong Kong

The latest case and the twelfth case lived in the same building.

"We noticed that it’s the Hong-mei Building Unit 7, which is the same building and same unit as a previous case, but they lived on different floors of the building," he said.

There are 10 floors between these two apartments.

Hong Kong officials are currently holding a late-night press conference on the coronavirus.

Coronavirus news and live updates: Virus kills 97 people in China in one day, while cruise ship cases almost double - CNN

Man, Ms. Lam dropped the ball MOO leaving the borders open for so long JMO.

 

[dotr]

China's Xi Jinping has not been to Wuhan since the coronavirus outbreak. Why he may be keeping his distance
MON, FEB 10 2020

—-

Daletech is 5,000 miles from Wuhan. It's still at risk from coronavirus - CNN
Mon February 10, 2020

“European supply chains are less dependent on China than those in Asia, according to Simon MacAdam, a global economist at Capital Economics. But even one missing component can stop a manufacturer in its tracks.
"Supply chains are only as strong as their weakest link. A shock can reverberate around the world," said MacAdam.”

—-

Wuhan coronavirus death toll tops 900 as China cautiously returns to work - CNN
Mon February 10, 2020

“Hong Kong (CNN)Millions of people across China are heading back to work after the Lunar New Year break turned into an extended quarantine due to the Wuhan coronavirus.

Many will be working from their homes, however, with strict quarantine guidelines in place in many cities and most businesses urging people to work remotely if possible to reduce the chances of transmission.
Some semblance of normality may have returned, but the outbreak shows no signs of slowing, with the number of confirmed cases now at over 40,000 worldwide and the death toll at 910.”

—-

Wuhan Evacuees Hunker Down for Weeks in Quarantine
Feb. 10, 2020

“It has been over 60 years since we issued a federal quarantine like this. The last one was during the smallpox era,” said Jennifer McQuiston, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention deputy director of high consequence pathogens and pathology, speaking from San Antonio after a plane of evacuees landed there Friday afternoon.

At least five military bases in California, Colorado, Texas and Nebraska have prepared to receive passengers evacuated from Wuhan. Evacuees are housed in on-base hotels, separated from the rest of the base by fencing and U.S. Marshals, Dr. McQuiston said. Those quarantined pass their time watching television, playing games or working remotely. Their temperatures are monitored throughout the day and anyone showing symptoms, like Mr. Mayes, is whisked quickly to a local hospital.”

—-

Millions left Wuhan, China before coronavirus quarantine
Sunday, February 9, 2020

“Where did they go?

An Associated Press analysis of domestic travel patterns using map location data from Chinese tech giant Baidu shows that in the two weeks before Wuhan’s lockdown, nearly 70% of trips out of the central Chinese city were within Hubei province. Baidu has a map app that is similar to Google Maps, which is blocked in China.

Another 14% of the trips went to the neighboring provinces of Henan, Hunan, Anhui and Jiangxi. Nearly 2% slipped down to Guangdong province, the coastal manufacturing powerhouse across from Hong Kong, and the rest fanned out across China. The cities outside Hubei province that were top destinations for trips from Wuhanbetween Jan. 10 and Jan. 24 were Chongqing, a municipality next to Hubei province, Beijing and Shanghai.

The travel patterns broadly track with the early spread of the virus. The majority of confirmed cases and deaths have occurred in China, within Hubei province, followed by high numbers of cases in central China, with pockets of infections in Chongqing, Shanghai and Beijing as well.

“It’s definitely too late,” said Jin Dong-Yan, a molecular virologist at Hong Kong University’s School of Biomedical Sciences. “Five million out. That’s a big challenge. Many of them may not come back to Wuhanbut hang around somewhere else. To control this outbreak, we have to deal with this. On one hand, we need to identify them. On the other hand, we need to address the issue of stigma and discrimination.””

If many will be working from home, wondering if those annoying scam phone calls will increase or decrease?
imo, speculation.

 

[margarita25]

There are now 42 confirmed coronavirus cases in Hong Kong

The latest case and the twelfth case lived in the same building.

"We noticed that it’s the Hong-mei Building Unit 7, which is the same building and same unit as a previous case, but they lived on different floors of the building," he said.

There are 10 floors between these two apartments.

Hong Kong officials are currently holding a late-night press conference on the coronavirus.

Coronavirus news and live updates: Virus kills 97 people in China in one day, while cruise ship cases almost double - CNN

This same thing happened in Hong Kong via SARS, iirc. Many, many people were infected in the same building, which brings the discussion back to the possibility of air vents. Maybe the contamination is via the elevators and/or stairwells also?

 

[MJPeony]

China's massive security state is being used to crack down on the Wuhan virus - CNN

“Speaking at a meeting of top officials Wednesday, Chinese President Xi Jinping called for "greater legislative, law enforcement, judicial and law observance efforts to strengthen the capacity to carry out law-based infection prevention and control."
Laws around epidemic control "must be strictly enforced," Xi said, as police around the country began cracking down on people accused of concealing their travel history to get around stringent quarantine measures.”

[...]

“Laws around epidemic control "must be strictly enforced," Xi said, as police around the country began cracking down on people accused of concealing their travel history to get around stringent quarantine measures.”

[...]

“Similar cases have been reported in at least four other provinces, and last week China's top prosecutor issued a notice warning that anyone deemed to have deliberately transmitted the coronavirus, or who refuses to accept quarantine or treatment, will be "severely punished."

Authorities in the northeastern province of Heilongjiang went even further. According to the state-backed Beijing News, they put out an announcement warning that the highest sentence for endangering public safety by intentionally transmitting the coronavirus "is the death penalty.

The central government followed suit Saturday, announcing that a raft of medical crimes would carry severe punishment, including potential execution.“

BBM

Oh my.

Following this CV situation has truly been eye-opening to me. I didn’t think I was living under a rock before it, but apparently I was. I’ve been so disturbed by what I’ve read and seen in the recent weeks. It has really affected me emotionally.

 

[margarita25]

BBM

Oh my.

Following this CV situation has truly been eye-opening to me. I didn’t think I was living under a rock before it, but apparently I was. I’ve been so disturbed by what I’ve read and seen in the recent weeks. It has really affected me emotionally.

I’ve also thought a lot about TS during all this. They’re not even allowed to talk about that over there, I don’t think, moo:

https://www.history.com/topics/china/tiananmen-square

Memories of Tiananmen Square

—-

ETA / BBM:
It seems this is mentioned in an article about Dr.LW:

“In the country where political dissent is often stifled and punished, the clamorous calls from citizens demanding accountability and change from the Chinese government amounts to an online revolt. One Chinese citizen compared the online dissent to the demonstrations made by Chinese students in the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, Gan reported.

"The last time so many people had been awakened was 1989. I want freedom of speech," a user wrote in a now-deleted post under the censored "I want freedom of speech" hashtag.

Despite attempts by authorities to quiet the political dissent, other Chinese citizens are encouraging each other to continue speaking up online.”

The next Tiananmen Square? Chinese citizens are demanding increased free speech after the death of a coronavirus whistleblower doctor. China is censoring their calls.
Feb. 7, 2020

 

[JerseyGirl]

Olympic qualifying events in soccer, boxing, basketball and badminton that were scheduled in China in February have been moved to Australia and Serbia.

China's women's soccer team was placed in quarantine upon arriving in Brisbane. None tested positive for the virus.

The Asian Olympic Wrestling Qualifying event, scheduled for March 27-29 in Xi'an, will be rescheduled for later this year. Wuhan was to be the site for Olympic boxing qualifiers in early February, but they have been moved to March and will now take place in Jordan.

The women's basketball qualifying tournament, scheduled for Foshan in southern China, is now set for Belgrade.

The international ski federation (FIS) and the Chinese Ski Association jointly decided to cancel a two-race weekend at the mountain venue where the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics will be held. A men's downhill had been scheduled for Feb. 15 in Yanqing.

Jose Ramirez saw his mandatory defense of the junior welterweight world title against Viktor Postol, scheduled for Feb. 1 in Haikou, China, postponed. Top Rank promoter Bob Arum, who has promoted boxing events for more than 50 years, said, "First time I remember canceling a fight for a reason like this."

The LPGA said its Blue Bay tournament due to be held on Hainan island from March 5-8 has been canceled.

The World Indoor Athletics Championships in Nanjing have been postponed by a year to March 2021.

Formula One management has already discussed the idea of postponing the April 19 Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai.

Formula E's race in Sanya, scheduled for March 21, already has been postponed.

The Chinese Super League, the country's domestic soccer league, has postponed the start of its season, originally scheduled for Feb. 22. And the Chinese Basketball Association has postponed games indefinitely.

The PGA Tour China has had similar discussions about the first two events in the 2020 calendar, in the cities of Sanya and Haikou, both in the province of Hainan, scheduled in late March.

Coronavirus FAQ: What does this mean for the 2020 Summer Olympics?

UFC strawweight champ Zhang Weili, scheduled to defend her title at UFC 248 on March 7 in Las Vegas, left China earlier this week and landed in Thailand. According to her manager, Brian Butler, she and two other Chinese UFC fighters -- Li Jingliang and Xiaonan Yan -- spent two weeks there in quarantine before traveling to compete in events in the U.S. and Auckland, New Zealand. Weili, who trains in Beijing, originally planned to finish all of her training in China, but she is now planning to relocate to Las Vegas when her 14 days are up.

China's rugby team was due to return from a scheduled winter training camp in New Zealand on Jan. 27, but it is still at its hotel in Tauranga. Plans now call for the squad to stay in New Zealand for at least another month, before traveling to South Africa -- if it is permitted -- for another qualifying event.

The country's badminton team was able to return from a qualifying event in Bangkok but was placed in a two-week quarantine upon arrival in China.

China's Olympic archery team has been sent to train in isolation at an academy in Sichuan, while the rifle team began a training camp in Beijing on Jan. 27. A sports psychologist was brought in to work with the archery team and help it deal with the crisis.

 

[JerseyGirl]

2 newly infected people in the UK are health workers

Two of the latest four coronavirus infections in the UK are healthcare workers, and British authorities are now “working urgently to identify all patients and other healthcare workers who may have come into close contact” with them.

Here's the full statement:

“As a result of our contact tracing we now know the new cases announced today are all closely linked to one another. Our priority has been to speak to those who have close and sustained contact with confirmed cases, so we can advise them on what they can do to limit the spread of the virus. Two of these new cases are healthcare workers and as soon as they were identified, we advised them to self-isolate in order to keep patient contact to a minimum. We are now working urgently to identify all patients and other healthcare workers who may have come into close contact, and at this stage we believe this to be a relatively small number. ...”

Coronavirus news and live updates: Virus kills 97 people in China in one day, while cruise ship cases almost double - CNN

 

[Henry2326]

This one puts in out there....not complimentary of China's efforts.

__________________

A study published on January 24 in The Lancet showed that in the first days of the outbreak, by January 2, more than a third of patients had no connection with the Wuhan food market, including the outbreak’s index (or first) case. What’s more, that person became ill on December 1, nearly two weeks earlier than Wuhan health authorities had said of the first case.

This means the virus could have been moving through Wuhan as early as October, Daniel Lucey, an infectious diseases physician and adjunct professor of infectious diseases at Georgetown University Medical Center, told Vox.

The Lancet paper also reported that the first person who died from the virus, on January 9, passed it along to his wife a week prior. Similarly, another recent report in the New England Journal of Medicine also shows there were already seven health care workers infected by January 11.

“This is the smoking-gun evidence of human-to-human transmission,” Yanzhong Huang, a China expert and senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations, told Vox. “But the public was not kept informed about this situation until January 18,” said Huang. Instead, “People were still told there was no strong evidence of human-to-human transmission.”

China hid the severity of its coronavirus outbreak and muzzled whistleblowers — because it can

 

[JerseyGirl]

This same thing happened in Hong Kong via SARS, iirc. Many, many people were infected in the same building, which brings the discussion back to the possibility of air vents. Maybe the contamination is via the elevators and/or stairwells also?

I noticed in many videos from China recently, people are using the tip of a key or not pressing the floor buttons at all in elevators.

 

[Henry2326]

This article gives the scoop on why people think they are falsifying numbers. The big reason is from numbers posted on Tencent. You can see the actual screenshots in the article.
_______________________

There Is Something Very Strange In The Latest Chinese Official Coronavirus Numbers - www.HNewsWire.com

But the biggest hit to the narrative and China’s officially reported epidemic numbers came overnight, when a slip up in China’s Tencent may have revealed the true extent of the coronavirus epidemic on the mainland. And it is nothing short than terrifying.

As the Taiwan Times reports, over the weekend, “Tencent seems to have inadvertently released what is potentially the actual number of infections and deaths, which were astronomically higher than official figures“, and were far closer to the catastrophic epidemic projections made by Jonathan Read.

According to the report, late on Saturday evening, Tencent, on its webpage titled “Epidemic Situation Tracker”, showed confirmed cases of novel coronavirus (2019nCoV) in China as standing at 154,023, 10 times the official figure at the time. It listed the number of suspected cases as 79,808, four times the official figure.

And while the number of cured cases was only 269, well below the official number that day of 300, most ominously, the death toll listed was 24,589, vastly higher than the 300 officially listed that day.

 

[JerseyGirl]

There are now 42 confirmed coronavirus cases in Hong Kong

The latest case and the twelfth case lived in the same building.

"We noticed that it’s the Hong-mei Building Unit 7, which is the same building and same unit as a previous case, but they lived on different floors of the building," he said.

There are 10 floors between these two apartments.

Hong Kong officials are currently holding a late-night press conference on the coronavirus.

Coronavirus news and live updates: Virus kills 97 people in China in one day, while cruise ship cases almost double - CNN

A Hong Kong apartment building was partially evacuated due to possibility virus was transmitted through pipes

Health officials in Hong Kong are conducting a partial evacuation of residents from an apartment block following possibility that the coronavirus may have been transmitted via the building piping system..

Health officials have traced at least two confirmed cases of the coronavirus to the specific residential building called Hong Mei House in the Tsing Yi area of Hong Kong.

Parts of the building were evacuated as a precaution while health officials and engineers carried out emergency checks.

Coronavirus news and live updates: Virus kills 97 people in China in one day, while cruise ship cases almost double - CNN

Professor Yuen said that the transmission route is not clear yet, so the evacuation was taken to protect the residents of the building.

 

[Tadpole12]

Guys, how do we disinfect our iPads and smart phones when products like alcohol can damage them? I’m sick, as you know, and I’m freaking out about my touch-screens getting germs. This isn’t the first time I’ve failed at finding an answer online for this question. I once read that doctors’ phones are germs as all get out.

Google how to sterilize you iphone
Solution = 60 %water, 40% alcohol