Thread: The COVID-2019 Thread

Link for NPT story above.

China food prices spike 20.6% in January

Coronavirus live updates: 60 more cruise liner passengers diagnosed with virus – latest news | World news | The Guardian

Yes kit sorry. Actually the pork issue has been bubbling for 6 months or more.

Originally Posted by Bettyboo

^^ if the WHO had focused on health instead of politics and put measures in place to close/monitor/manage all Chinese borders two weeks ago then we wouldn't be in this situation now. The shockingly poor performance of the WHO as a health autority has just added to this clusterfuk...

To be fair, they are in a nearly impossible position. Jump on it immediately and they get accused of over reacting, and unnecessarily disrupting the world economy. I remember posts along those lines a few years back about, I think swine flu. Move on it too late and they get accused of a "poor performance".

And I think you are fairly off base if you think the WHO could move to close borders. The best they can do is advise countries to close borders - and you think somewhere like Thailand would listen and act immediately? Not a hope in hell.

But, as far as I see it - outside of China there is no real community transmission. The odd cases of people infected who have not been to China were generally people who had been in close contact with people who had been in China.

China slowly gets back to work as coronavirus toll hits daily record
10 Feb 2020

BEIJING (Reuters) - Workers began trickling back to offices and factories around China on Monday as the government eased some restrictions on working during a coronavirus epidemic that has killed more than 900 people, most of them on the mainland.

China slowly gets back to work as coronavirus toll hits daily record - Reuters

Originally Posted by Bettyboo

if the WHO had focused on health instead of politics and put measures in place to close/monitor/manage all Chinese borders two weeks ago then we wouldn't be in this situation now. The shockingly poor performance of the WHO as a health autority has just added to this clusterfuk...

Except they don't have the authority to do so - imagine the WHO ordering China, the US etc... to close its borders

Originally Posted by Bettyboo

None of these soft and hard recommendations can be put in place until the WHO declares a pandemic which is why I've repeatedly stated that in my opinion they are playing politics rather than foregrounding heathcare.

Re the politics playing thing, I'm sure you're right, pressure fro someone like China would be difficult to counter

Originally Posted by panama hat

Re the politics playing thing, I'm sure you're right, pressure fro someone like China would be difficult to counter

Yes, I'm sure you're right, and reading up on some WHO critical research, they've been heavily criticised for years about their weak management. But, it turns out that the WHO does have very strong mechanisms to enforce soft and hard measures if their management enforce them.

Not that anyone cares, but in my estimation, the situation is not yet a pandemic. As far as I can see, 99% of the cases in other countries are imports, and are not generally occurring through local transmission. Yes, there are a few scattered cases where it has occurred, but that is not enough. For a pandemic, broadly it has to be large numbers in several countries.

it seems pandemic in China though, hence why the full quarantine there

at least it seems to be contained for now, but without knowing the exact causes, this could lead for months before we can unblock the whole fooking situation

Originally Posted by Seekingasylum

Those outbreaks stem from the Singapore Grand Hyatt cluster when a British businessman representing a UK company attended a conference in which a delegate from Wuhan was also present. Several are now confirmed cases and the Brit who subsequently joined his family in the ski resort before returning home to Hove, Sussex transmitted it to the owner of the ski resort chalet and the Mallorcan resident tourist. He spent over two hours in a local pub in Hove and the staff are all in self-isolation awaiting .......

What happens with this could be tell tail as to how is is gonna develop in the short-term.


If no one else picked it up during his intercontinental jaunt, then great. If 30 others that he bumped into come up positive in the next week, that's it, we're fucked.

Originally Posted by Dragonfly

it seems pandemic in China though,

Fraid not. It is epidemic in China.

The UK has declared an "Imminent Threat" of coronavirus. Apparently this gives them the right to detain the stupid wanker who flew from Wuhan, is in quarantine and has been threatening to leave. And that's the only reason at this point.

The Pangolin Is Now a Potential Suspect in Spreading The Wuhan Coronavirus to Humans

CARD & BRIGITTE CASTELNAU, AFP 8 FEB 2020
Chinese researchers investigating the animal origin of the deadly coronavirus outbreak in China said Friday the endangered pangolin may be the "missing link" between bats and humans, but other scientists said the search may not be over.
An earlier study - since discredited - pointed to snakes, and there remain numerous candidate species in the Wuhan wildlife market thought to be ground zero of the epidemic.
The SARS outbreak of 2002-3, involving a different strain of coronavirus, was transferred to humans by the civet, a small mammal prized in China for its flesh.
Missing link: a pangolin?

Many animals are capable of transmitting viruses to other species, and nearly all strains of the coronavirus contagious to humans originated in wildlife.
Bats are known carriers of the latest strain of the disease, which has infected at least 31,000 people and killed more than 630 worldwide, mostly in China where the outbreak originated.
A recent genetic analysis showed that the strain of the virus currently spreading among humans was 96 percent identical to that found in bats.
But according to Arnaud Fontanet, from France's Pasteur Institute, the disease likely didn't jump straight from bats to humans.
"We think there's another animal that's an intermediary," he told AFP.
Several studies have shown that the bat-bourne virus lacks the necessary hardware to latch on to human cell receptors. But it's still not clear which animal is the missing link.

Fontanet believes the intermediary was "probably a mammal," possible belonging to the badger family.
After testing more than 1,000 samples from wild animals, scientists at the South China Agricultural University found the genome sequences of viruses in pangolins to be 99 percent identical to those on coronavirus patients, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
But other experts urged caution.
"This is not scientific evidence," said James Wood, head of the department of veterinary medicine at the University of Cambridge. "Investigations into animal reservoirs are extremely important, but results must be then be published for international scrutiny."
"Simply reporting detection of viral RNA with sequence similarity of 99+ percent is not sufficient," he added.
Wild goose chase?

To conclusively identify the culprit, researchers would need to test each species that was on sale at the market - a near impossibility given that it's now permanently closed.
Martine Peeters, a virologist at France's Institute for Research and Development (IRD), worked on the team that identified the host animal of the Ebola virus during recent epidemics.
They found that it was indeed a bat that passed the virus on to humans, and Peeters believes that's likely to be the case this time around.

During her Ebola research, "we collected thousands of bat droppings from several sites in Africa," Peeters told AFP.
Fontanet said that Chinese researchers were doing likewise now.
"They say they've analysed samples from a rubbish truck," he said. "They don't say which, but I think it's likely to have been excrement that was just lying around."
Why does it matter?

While it may be too late for this outbreak, identifying the carrier animal for the novel coronavirus could prove vital in preventing future flare ups.
China for example outlawed the sale of civet for food in the wake of the SARS epidemic.
Eric Leroy, a virologist and vet at the IRD said the search could well turn up a result quickly like in the case of SARS. Equally, it could take years.
"With Ebola, research started in 1976 and we didn't see the first results published until 2005," he told AFP.
One determining factor could be what percentage of the same species are infected.
"If that's low, less than one percent for example, that's obviously going to lower the chance you stumble upon an infected animal," said Leroy.

Prevent future outbreaks?

For Fontanet, coronavirus is just the latest example of the potentially disastrous consequence of humans consuming virus-carrying wild animals.
He said that China needed to "take pretty radical measures against the sale of wild animals in markets."
Beijing has prohibited the practice, but only moved to do so last month, when the outbreak was already out of control.
"Each time, we try to put out the fire, and once it's out we await the next one," said Francois Renaud, a researcher at the Paris-based National Centre for Scientific Research.
He recommended compiling a watch list of all animals that could potentially transmit viruses to humans.
"You need to see epidemics before they come, and therefore you need to be proactive," he said.

The Pangolin Is Now a Potential Suspect in Spreading The Wuhan Coronavirus to Humans

Well if the dopey cuntos stopped eating rare and exotic animals, perhaps this whole mess could have been avoided.

Fucking morons.

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

Well if the dopey cuntos stopped eating rare and exotic animals, perhaps this whole mess could have been avoided.

Fucking morons.

That, my friend, is the nail on the fucking head.

Looking at it statistically Africa should already have the virus on board.
Just wonder why their are no reports yet ?

Four new cases in Brighton, including a GP.

Coronavirus in Brighton: Live updates from four new cases | The Argus

This is a real horror!!



Officials continue to prevent passengers from disembarking but there is concern that:

• The ship’s ventilation system is not designed to prevent transmission of the coronavirus.
• The crew members (responsible for distributing meals to passengers in their quarters) are not trained in quarantine procedures and may also be incubating the virus.
• Lack of appropriate sanitation may create other issues onboard.

The number of coronavirus cases on the Diamond Princess cruise in Japan nearly doubles as passengers report going ’stir crazy‘ under quarantine

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship nearly doubled on Monday – from 70 cases to 130.

Originally Posted by nidhogg

Fraid not. It is epidemic in China.

I think given the return to work and the additional opportunity to stir the transmission pot it will get epic, think we are now setting up for phase 2 in China. Loads of people squeezing themselves back into the cities from the countryside, what could go wrong.

Originally Posted by HermantheGerman

This is a real horror!!



Officials continue to prevent passengers from disembarking but there is concern that:

• The ship’s ventilation system is not designed to prevent transmission of the coronavirus.
• The crew members (responsible for distributing meals to passengers in their quarters) are not trained in quarantine procedures and may also be incubating the virus.
• Lack of appropriate sanitation may create other issues onboard.

The number of coronavirus cases on the Diamond Princess cruise in Japan nearly doubles as passengers report going ’stir crazy‘ under quarantine


The number of confirmed coronavirus cases aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship nearly doubled on Monday – from 70 cases to 130.

I don't think the nips give a shit to be honest. They'll just wait it out until the last one is either dead or has survived infection.

^^That is horrific! I'm sure more and more will die from this onboard.


China has now reached up to a record 97 deaths in one day as Xi Jingping comes out of hiding and visits some hospitals in Beijing.


The coronavirus outbreak has sickened more than 40,500 people in Asia, according to statements from health officials. Many other cases are suspected but not confirmed. As of Monday morning, at least 910 people have died, all but two in mainland China.

Ok, this is scary.. Obviously a lot people still don't know about this virus.

Conflicting views on whether the coronavirus can be spread through the air underscore the confusion surrounding the outbreak.
Zeng Qun, the deputy head of Shanghai’s Civil Affairs Bureau, said at a news conference on Saturday that the novel coronavirus can be spread through the air, a disturbing revelation that suggested it can be transmitted more easily — even if people are not in proximity — than previously thought.
But Shen Yinzhong, the medical director of the Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center, discounted that claim. He told The Paper, a Shanghai newspaper, that although the coronavirus can spread through the air “in theory,” confirmation required further research.
There have been several coronavirus cases that appear to have occurred without direct contact with an infected person.
The Chinese government and the World Health Organization have said that most infections occurred among people in close physical contact.
Experts have suggested that a related virus in 2003 that caused an outbreak of SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, could be spread through the air under some circumstances. An outbreak in Hong Kong occurred, experts said, when the wind carried the virus from an apartment complex in which several people were infected.

Coronavirus: Live Updates and Coverage - The New York Times