World Coronavirus News II with Updates

[TomSea]

Coronavirus: Six months before UK 'returns to normal' - deputy chief medical officer
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-52084517

See you in September or even October...that's no fun

Home | News | China
Estimates Show Wuhan Death Toll Far Higher Than Official Figure
2020-03-27

As authorities lifted a two-month coronavirus lockdown in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, residents said they were growing increasingly skeptical that the figure of some 2,500 deaths in the city to date was accurate.

Since the start of the week, seven large funeral homes in Wuhan have been handing out the cremated remains of around 500 people to their families every day, suggesting that far more people died than ever made the official statistics.

"It can't be right ... because the incinerators have been working round the clock, so how can so few people have died?" an Wuhan resident surnamed Zhang told RFA on Friday.

Read more at:  https://www.rfa.org/english/news/china/wuhan-deaths-03272020182846.html

Good article, I believe Mike Doran tweeted this.

[DB]

"That's not a bug, that's a feature!"

Chinese fortune cookie test...

[mountaineer]

I just found out, we have those kinds of letters too for "essential personnel".

My b-i-l has one for his job in Pennsylvania at some sort of laboratory.

[TomSea]

I know CDC cutbacks have been debunked but here's a story of a week ago that I believe is different. If not different, please post the debunking info. Apparently some time in 2019, we did cut a job in the CDC in China.

US axed CDC expert job in China months before outbreak: Reuters
Al Jazeera English
3/23/2020

Several months before the coronavirus pandemic began, the administration of US President Donald Trump eliminated a key American public health position in Beijing that was intended to help detect disease outbreaks in China, Reuters news agency has learned.

The American disease expert Dr Linda Quick, a medical epidemiologist embedded in China's disease control agency, left her post in July, according to four sources with knowledge of the issue.

The first cases of the new coronavirus may have emerged as early as November, and as cases mounted, the Trump administration in February chastised China for censoring information about the outbreak and keeping experts from the United States from entering the country to help.

More:  https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/us-axed-cdc-expert-job-in-china-months-before-outbreak-reuters/ar-BB11yK2v

Just posting, I do not see info debunking this. I do understand, the need to cut government and besides that, there is nothing that confirms the CDC worker would have caught on to what was happening as well. But maybe there is more to the whole story too, so I withhold judgement. Linda Quick?

The article goes on to say, Trump said this CDC story like the other CDC stories is "100% wrong". So, there's that... still, kind of interesting.

[catfish1957]

My b-i-l has one for his job in Pennsylvania at some sort of laboratory.

When I had one back in the day, it was a holographic sticker, stuck on the lanyard holder of my work badge.  (Texas)

[TomSea]

Fernando Amandi Sr.
Flag of United States
@FernandoAmandi
I suspect there are hundreds of thousands dead in China but the world does not know yet

(Video, Steve Bannon on panel for wherever this video came from)

https://twitter.com/FernandoAmandi/status/1244607472234618881

👇🏻

[Neverdul]

My b-i-l has one for his job in Pennsylvania at some sort of laboratory.

My roommate works the night shift at an Amazon distribution center and they gave her and other employees a letter. FWIW I went out yesterday to make a grocery store run, little traffic but I didn't see any cops stopping anyone.

[mystery-ak]

How Wuhan Residents Are Estimating the True Death Toll...And It's Much Higher Than the Official Number

Leah Barkoukis

Posted: Mar 30, 2020 7:30 AM

Residents of Wuhan, China, even know the government is lying about the death toll from COVID-19, and they’ve figured out as much based on the number of urns funeral homes have been returned to families.

The city has seven large funeral homes, and each has been returning the cremated remains of approximately 500 people to their families every day, and yet, the official government figures put the total death count around 2,500.

Eileen Guo
✔
@eileenguo

#Wuhan residents estimate, based on calculations of cremations and urns now being returned to families, that between 42k-46k (!!) died in city + surrounding areas in the 2.5 months of lockdown. Far more than official figure of 2535 deaths.

more
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/leahbarkoukis/2020/03/30/how-wuhan-residents-are-estimating-true-death-countand-its-much-higher-than-official-figure-n2565953

[Elderberry]

South China Morning Post by Stuart Lau 3/29/2020

The Netherlands Recalls 600,000 Chinese Face Masks - Comes After Turkey, Spain, Ukraine, Czech Republic Return Faulty Chinese COVID-19 Test Kits   

• Top-of-the-line N95 masks did not fit well and filters did not function properly, Dutch government says
• It comes after Spain asked for Covid-19 rapid test kits imported from China to be replaced because they were unreliable

   
Dutch officials have recalled 600,000 face masks manufactured in China because they did not meet quality standards, the government’s health ministry said on Saturday.

The news shocked frontline medical staff in the Netherlands, who rely on high-quality products to protect them from contracting Covid-19, Dutch public broadcaster NOS said.

Half of the shipment of 1.3 million supposedly top-of-the-line face masks – known as N95 in the United States and Hong Kong – had already been distributed to doctors and nurses treating the most critical Covid-19 patients, the government said.

More: https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3077428/netherlands-recalls-600000-face-masks-china-due-low-quality

[TomSea]

Here is an important story, I almost put in the main forum but I will post it here. After a few days, stories in the main "World News" forum will be merged to this thread unless, they appear to be active and very popular. Anyway, I think this is important.

Chinese 'wet markets' reportedly open back up, selling bats and dogs for human consumption
by Emma Colton  | March 30, 2020 11:51 AM

Chinese “wet markets” have reportedly reopened, selling cats, bats, and dogs for human consumption.

A Mail on Sunday correspondent reported seeing meat markets open back up for business after the Chinese government ordered a ban on the sale of wild animals such as bats following reports they may have contributed to the spread of the coronavirus.

“The markets have gone back to operating in exactly the same way as they did before coronavirus,” said a correspondent in Dongguan. “The only difference is that security guards try to stop anyone taking pictures which would never have happened before.”

More at: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/chinese-wet-markets-reportedly-open-back-up-selling-bats-and-dogs-for-human-consumption 

Even if I don't like the idea of eating these animals IF it was in the time of the GREAT FAMINES CHINA did have under at least Mao, and yes, they did have them and the people ate grass, that is understandable.

But if otherwise, this is just an exotic meal, I'm solidly against this.

[PeteS in CA]

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-52088167

Why Taiwan has become a problem for WHO

Taiwan is seen as one of the few places in the world which has successfully stemmed the spread of the coronavirus without resorting to draconian measures.

But despite its efforts, it is still effectively locked out of membership in the World Health Organization (WHO) due to its complex relationship with China.

This all exploded over the weekend when a top WHO official appeared to avoid questions about Taiwan in a TV interview that has gone viral, attracting criticism and even accusations of bias.
...
... Earlier this month, Taiwan accused the WHO of ignoring it when the government asked about person-to-person transmission at the very start of the outbreak in China, which it said put lives at risk.
...
... The island has been praised for its swift and decisive handling of its epidemic, which has been relatively controlled and has seen few deaths.

The measures included drastically cutting inbound flights from China and imposing quarantines on travellers early on, which experts say was key in stopping the spread in the community, as well as strict surveillance measures on those in quarantine.

This BBC article soft-pedals the story a bit. On 12/31/2019 China told the world they had an outbreak. On 12/31/2019 Taiwan told WHO that human-human transmission was very likely, and started screening passengers arriving from China on the airplanes. WHO ignored Taiwan's warning until at least 1/20/2020, when China admitted one case human-human transmission. While China misled WHO, pooed the screwch by not heeding Taiwan's warning and thereby misled the world, for three weeks!

[TomSea]

How British Researchers are Using the Web to Track COVID-19 in Syria
Nicholas Pritchard    Published March 30th, 2020

Syrian city of Aleppo / AFP
The pressures on public health services the world-over are immense. There are a limited number of healthcare workers, a limited number of ventilators and ICU beds, but an ever-increasing number of patients in need of critical care.

Websites and apps have been developed across the world to fight the virus and identify the most at-risk. In Northwest Syria, one of the most ill-prepared areas on earth, an Arabic website has been launched which hopes to stem the spread of the virus and give relief to an already damaged healthcare system. Syria’s medical response capabilities have been all-but destroyed in the last nine years of war.

    Targeted attacks on hospitals and at least 6 million peoples internally displaced (on top of 5 million who have left the country) mean that the ability to stem the spread of COVID-19 and treat patients is extremely limited.

Read more at: https://www.albawaba.com/news/how-british-researchers-are-using-web-track-covid-19-inside-syria-1347768

Potentially, real disaster on top of the present one could occur somewhere on earth, it could be one of the prisons or somewhere else.

The New Arab & agencies
Three Muslim doctors become first physicians in UK to die of coronavirus
Date of publication: 30 March, 2020
https://english.alaraby.co.uk/english/news/2020/3/30/british-muslim-doctors-become-first-to-die-of-coronavirus

[libertybele]

More Evidence That the ChiComs Knew They Had a Virus Problem Early in January (and Kept It Under Wraps)

The ChiComs have been putting on a big charm offensive lately, offering masks, medical equipment, and medical personnel to 89 countries who are attempting to cope with CCP virus infections. And of course, they trumpet that assistance via CCP-controlled media and useful idiots in the Western press. They falsely convey their magnanimity and altruism while masking their lies and prevarications about the virus that has cost thousands of lives outside Communist China.

Now, we have even more evidence that the cynical Chinese knew they had a serious virus problem well before informing the world with the paltry bits of data and information about the virus that they allowed to be dribbled out in mid- to late-January. To set the timeline context first, here are a couple of cherry-picked data points from an excellent CCP virus timeline posted by Jim Geraghty of The National Review last week:

    January 14: Wuhan city health authorities release another statement declaring, “Among the close contacts, no related cases were found.” Wuhan doctors have known this was false since early December, from the first victim and his wife, who did not visit the market............

................This is five or six weeks after the first evidence of human-to-human transmission in Wuhan.

January 19: The Chinese National Health Commission declares the virus “still preventable and controllable.” The World Health Organization updates its statement, declaring, “Not enough is known to draw definitive conclusions about how it is transmitted, the clinical features of the disease, the extent to which it has spread, or its source, which remains unknown.”

January 21: The CDC announced the first U.S. case of a the coronavirus in a Snohomish County, Wash., resident who returning from China six days earlier.

By this point, millions of people have left Wuhan, carrying the virus all around China and into other countries.

January 23: Chinese authorities announce their first steps for a quarantine of Wuhan. By this point, millions have already visited the city and left it during the Lunar New Year celebrations. Singapore and Vietnam report their first cases, and by now an unknown but significant number of Chinese citizens have traveled abroad as asymptomatic, oblivious carriers.............

https://www.redstate.com/stu-in-sd/2020/03/30/more-evidence-that-the-chicoms-knew-they-had-a-virus-problem-early-in-january-and-kept-it-under-wraps/

[sneakypete]

The US is about to surpass Spain for third on the number of cases identified.  I don't know what happened in New York, but they seem to be driving our numbers.

@cato potatoe

NYC is a virtual cess pool of diseases,and drives the numbers for the rest of the state.

[TomSea]

More on the reopening of the wet markets in China:

On-scene British reporters say Chinese markets again selling bats, likely source of deadly pandemic

 By Rowan Scarborough - The Washington Times - Monday, March 30, 2020

China is permitting wild animal markets to resume selling bats, believed to be the source for the deadly coronavirus now killing people across the globe, including over 2,500 Americans to date, British reporters say.

Chinese authorities in January closed down the Wuhan city “wet” market after five of its workers were among the first diagnosed with what would become COVID-19.

A number of scientists say it is likely that bats either infected other market animals or humans directly. Bats carry a variety of coronaviruses and are blamed on for the 2002 SARS coronavirus epidemic that also originated in a Chinese market.

Read more at:   https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2020/mar/30/-scene-british-reporters-say-chinese-markets-again/?utm_source=onesignal&utm_campaign=pushnotify&utm_medium=push

[GrouchoTex]

I just found out, we have those kinds of letters too for "essential personnel".

I have one from my company.
I don't know if I will need it, since I am working from home right now.
If I do have to go in, it's 20 miles away, so just in case....

[PeteS in CA]

Dems and the MSM keep parroting the meme that Trump should listen to "the scientists". That he has been is obvious from the actions of his administration, but Trump should be asking "the scientists" why they listened so trustfully to WHO!

[Cyber Liberty]

I have one from my company.
I don't know if I will need it, since I am working from home right now.
If I do have to go in, it's 20 miles away, so just in case....

I wrote one for myself.  I'm retired...lol

[PeteS in CA]

FWIW, I'm slogging through several timelines to collate the data, with links, but one BIG data point is that the Chinese denied human-human transmission until January 20th. Whether the blame attached to Wuhan, Hubei Province, or the national government, the bottom line is that for three weeks the nations of the world had geared their response strategies to false information.

[TomSea]

Hungary's Orban gets sweeping new powers in virus fight
Peter MURPHY   ,AFP•March 30, 2020

Budapest (AFP) - Hungary's parliament endorsed a bill on Monday giving nationalist premier Viktor Orban the sweeping new powers he says he needs to fight the new coronavirus pandemic.

Critics at home and abroad have condemned the "anti-coronavirus defence law", saying it gives Orban unnecessary and unlimited power and is a means of cementing his position rather than battling the virus.

After declaring a state of emergency on March 11, the new law gives Orban the power to indefinitely rule by decree until the government decides the emergency is over.

Read more at: https://news.yahoo.com/hungarys-orban-seeks-sweeping-powers-virus-fight-022138638.html

Trending on twitter now.

[TomSea]

I agree with this wholeheartedly, WHO is not to be trusted,  CDC is probably to be heavily questioned. The WH meaning White House seems to be in the right direction.

And, maybe this won't happen again to this extent but if we don't listen to voices like Taiwan, surely, we will run into trouble again.

[TomSea]

If the liberal media has idiotic opinions, that's one thing. For the media to intentionally deceive, lie, that is much worse for me.

A lot of people such as Candace Owen I am fairly sure,  have commented on this, I am not sure it was posted here yet:

CBS News Caught Using Footage from an Italian Hospital to Describe Conditions in New York City (VIDEO)
by Jim Hoft March 29, 2020
    86.2KShare Tweet Email

Emergency Room Footage on CBS Matches Footage from Italian Hospital!

This is footage from SKY News on March 22 from Italy.


And here is footage from CBS News during their New York City report on March 25.


Read more at:    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/03/cbs-news-caught-using-footage-from-an-italian-hospital-to-describe-conditions-in-new-york-city-video/

Lots of shares on this article.  I haven't seen this posted here unless somebody did just post it.

It looks a bit like CBS was using this a bit like a "stock photo" so maybe that lowers the "intentionally misleading" responsibility slightly if I read this correctly, still.  I'd have to watch the whole report.

[TomSea]

Everything is very sad about this... but it does make me wonder a bit, what if there was an honest-to-gosh biowar weapon attack on us?  Or other nations? It shows that maybe it can be done and what if the virus was even more severe? More of a killer?

[dfwgator]

FWIW, I'm slogging through several timelines to collate the data, with links, but one BIG data point is that the Chinese denied human-human transmission until January 20th. Whether the blame attached to Wuhan, Hubei Province, or the national government, the bottom line is that for three weeks the nations of the world had geared their response strategies to false information.

Never Trust a Commie

[TomSea]

Bizpacreview:

Don Jr's 'must-read thread' - we're all waiting for apologies

Donald Trump Jr. touted a “Must read thread” on social media that slammed the liberal media for “regurgitating” the narrative being pushed by the Chinese Communist Party about coronavirus.

The president’s son shared a link to a Twitter thread from a communications strategist and author who is demanding an apology from the press for pushing Chinese propaganda.

    Must read thread on how the mainstream media has been shamelessly regurgitating Chinese Communist Party lies and propaganda! RT! https://t.co/EAW61x0jNh

    — Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) March 29, 2020

Read more at:  https://www.bizpacreview.com/2020/03/30/don-jrs-must-read-thread-were-all-waiting-for-apologies-903101?utm_source=Push%20Notifications&utm_medium=BPR