Coronavirus News

Written by rjs, MarketWatch 666

If you’ve been paying attention to the news at all, you should know that the World Health Organization declared a global health emergency due to the new coronavirus that been spreading out of Wuhan, China and the surrounding area the past couple of weeks, with the US and other countries imposing travel restrictions and quarantines

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Over the two week period ending 01 February, the number of cases has exploded from 41 to over 12,000, and the death toll rose from 3 to over 300, while global stock and commodity markets have taken a hit as pandemic panic spread, with oil prices falling the most in any January in 29 years.

With a dynamic situation like this, the news has changed every day, and as a result the coronavirus news I’ve collected over the past week overwhelmed my other environmental news, and hence I made a decision to separate this batch of articles into a seoparate post, presented in chronological order.

Chinese market at center of coronavirus outbreak sold wolves, rats to eat -The Chinese market at the center of the deadly coronavirus outbreak sold live animals – including wolf pups, foxes, rats and peacocks – to eat, according to a new report.The wild animals were among 112 items that were peddled at the Huanan Seafood Market in thecentral city of Wuhan, Agence France-Press reported.Other wildlife sold at the market, which has since been shuttered, included crocodiles, giant salamanders, snakes, porcupines and camel meat.“Freshly slaughtered, frozen and delivered to your door,” said the price list for the vendor, “Wild Game Animal Husbandry for the Masses.”The disturbing list circulated widely on China’s internet but could not be independently verified by AFP.Chinese health officials believe the mysterious virus – which has so far killed at least 17 people and sickened hundreds more – originated from “wild animals at the seafood market.”It has since been confirmed to spread via human-to-human contact, as fears mount that it could become a global pandemic.The coronavirus, which causes flu-like symptoms, has spread to four other countries, including the US, where a case was detected in Washington state. Previous deadly epidemics, such as severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), have been linked to Chinese consumption of civet meat.

Chinese Government Forces TV Host Who Popularized Eating Bats To Apologize – – The Chinese government forced the host of a TV show which popularized eating bats to apologize in the aftermath of the coronavirus outbreak, which scientists have linked to the consumption of wild animals. Bat soup is a delicacy in some areas of China and was known to be sold at the illegal animal market in Wuhan blamed for being the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak.A show called Beauty Eats Bats which originally launched in 2016 was blamed for re-invigorating the trend of eating bats across the country, prompting the Chinese Communist Party to demand that its female host discourage the consumption of bats.The woman featured in the clip took to social media to profusely apologize for her role in encouraging the consumption of bats and encouraged everyone to start washing their hands more. The video shows the woman breaking apart the corpse of a boiled bat, dipping its wing in sauce and eating it.

Lockdown: As Deadly Virus Spreads, Chinese Hospitals Overwhelmed With Patients – China’s National Health Commission reported on Friday that 26 people have now died from the deadly coronavirus and at least 870 people have become infected, including a child only 10 years old.In an unprecedented move, Chinese officials have locked down at least 13 cities in central China with a combined population of about 40 million in a desperate effort to contain the outbreak. Transport in and out of these cities have either ceased or been severely restricted.The Finance Ministry has pledged 1 billion yuan ($144 million) to fight the deadly coronavirus. Other major cities across China have canceled public events linked to weeklong Lunar New Year celebration. Beijing’s Forbidden City, Shanghai Disneyland and other tourist attractions have closed. Cinemas across the nation have canceled screenings. “This is unprecedented in China, and maybe even in the history of modern health,” said Yanzhong Huang, director of the center for Global Health Studies at Seton Hall University, New Jersey, of the travel restrictions. “It’s a tremendous legal, institutional, not to mention logistical challenge.”Health officials suspect the new coronavirus was transferred to the human population by an infected animal in Wuhan in central China, the epicenter of the crisis. Local authorities in Wuhan said Friday they will quickly build a 1,000-bed hospital to treat the coronavirus. The facility is planned for a 270,000-square-foot lot and is expected to be finished in early February.

Doctor at hospital in Wuhan dies after treating patients with coronavirus – A doctor working at a hospital in Wuhan, China – treating patients stricken with the coronavirus – died Saturday morning.Liang Wudong, 62, died after he was infected with Wuhan coronavirus.Wudong retired last year from his position as the head of the ear, nose and throat department at one of Wuhan’s top hospitals, the Hubei Provincial Hospital of Integrated Chinese & Western Medicine, The Wall Street Journal reported.The doctor fell ill last week and was transferred to the Wuhan Medical Treatment Center, also known as Jinyintan Hospital.The Communist Party’s flagship newspaper, the People’s Daily, portrayed him as a hero for having been “at the front line fighting against” the coronavirus in a post on Twitter.The coronavirus, which causes pneumonia, has so far claimed the lives of at least 41 people while infecting at least 1,355, according to the Global Times, an English language paper in China. Most of the cases are in and around Wuhan, in central China, but at least 19 others have been found as far away as Australia, France and the US. Three people are under observation in New York State, Gov. Cuomo said Friday.

China Stiffens Defences Against Epidemic As Death Toll Hits 56 – China expanded drastic travel restrictions Monday and prolonged a public holiday to contain an epidemic that has killed 56 people and infected nearly 2,000, as several countries prepared to evacuate their citizens from a quarantined city at the outbreak’s epicentre. China has locked down the hard-hit province of Hubei in the country’s centre, an unprecedented operation affecting tens of millions of people and intended to slow transmission of the respiratory virus. Its ability to spread appears to be “getting stronger” though it is “not as powerful as SARS”, top Chinese health officials said at a press conference. A working group chaired by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang to tackle the epidemic decided to extend the Spring Festival holiday originally scheduled to end on January 30 “to reduce population flows,” alongside unspecified changes to the starting dates of schools, state news agency Xinhua reported The previously unknown virus has caused global concern because of its similarity to the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) pathogen, which killed hundreds across mainland China and Hong Kong in 2002-2003. Outside the epicentre, Shandong province and four cities — Beijing, Shanghai, Xi’an and Tianjin — announced bans on long-distance buses entering or leaving, a move that will affect millions of people travelling over the Lunar New Year holiday. The populous southern province of Guangdong, Jiangxi in the centre, and three cities made it mandatory for residents to wear face masks in public. The US State Department said Sunday it was arranging a flight from Wuhan to San Francisco for consulate staff and other Americans in the city. France’s government and the French carmaker PSA also said they planned to evacuate staff and families, who will be quarantined in a city in a neighbouring province. Japan is coordinating with Beijing to swiftly evacuate its citizens, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said.

Hong Kong declares emergency alert over coronavirus – President Xi Jinping warned that mainland China was facing a “grave situation” while Hong Kong declared a state of “emergency” on Saturday as the Wuhan virus epidemic continued to spread. Nearly 2,000 people have been infected as the death toll climbed to 56 at the weekend with new cases reported from Australia to France. The virus is also appearing to be more contagious than previously thought. Research from the Imperial College of London suggests the virus can be transmitted at a rate of 2.6 to one, meaning each infected person will infect 2.6 other people. “Faced with the grave situation of an accelerating spread of the new coronavirus … it is necessary to strengthen the centralized and unified leadership of the Party Central Committee,” Xi said as reported by the official state-owned news agency Xinhua. “[But] as long as we have steadfast confidence, work together, scientific prevention and cures, and precise policies, we will definitely be able to win the battle,” he added. His comments were released as Hong Kong raised its response level from “serious” to “emergency” – the highest level after cases of infection in the city jumped to five. “We haven’t seen serious and widespread infections, but we are taking this seriously and we hope to be ahead of the epidemic,” Chief Executive Carrie Lam said in a press conference on Saturday after holding meetings with officials and experts that lasted for hours. All flights and rail service with Wuhan will remain suspended indefinitely, Lam said. However, the government was criticized for launching this measure too late as the Hubei province had already shut down the public transport systems in eight cities, including Wuhan, and prohibited people from leaving the cities on Thursday. At least 300,000 people had left Wuhan by trains on Wednesday.

The Wuhan coronavirus has hit Xinjiang, where China has imprisoned at least 1 million Uighur Muslims. Its filthy detention camps will make inmates sitting ducks. – The Wuhan coronavirus has reached Xinjiang in western China, prompting fears that the million Uighur Muslims detained in prison camps across the region are helpless to infection. Authorities reported two cases in the autonomous southwestern region on Thursday, Radio Free Asia (RFA) and The Wall Street Journal reported, citing local health authorities. Conditions at the prison camps are dire, with poor sanitation, hygiene, and cramped living conditions, according to former inmates. There are at least 465 scattered across the region. Dolkun Isa, president of the World Uyghur Congress exile group, told RFA “the lives of millions of people will be at stake.”

Wuhan, China, is scrambling to build a hospital in just 6 days to treat coronavirus patients as its health system gets overwhelmed – The Chinese city of Wuhan is rushing to build a new hospital in just six days to treat patients of the deadly coronavirus. Excavation has started at a site in Wuhan, where the outbreak started, and where doctors describe an overwhelmed medical system.The city, and at least nine others, have had their public-transport links shut off, leaving a combined 30 million people quarantined in a bid to stop the virus from spreading further. Wuhan’s strategy mirrors Beijing’s efforts to control the deadly SARS coronavirus outbreak in 2003, when it built a hospital in just seven days that treated one-seventh of the country’s patients.Doctors in Wuhan have said that people seeking medical attention have waited hours in line, that screening the disease is difficult, that there is not enough protective gear, and that some doctors have been told at times not to go to work over fears they could catch the virus. Video footage has captured people packed in small hallways waiting for treatment.

Wuhan leaders blamed for spread of China coronavirus as hospitals beg for supplies, death toll rises – Pressure is mounting for local leaders to be held accountable for their response to the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak, in the central Chinese province of Hubei, which has so far killed 56 and infected more than 1,900 people in the country. Doctors in Wuhan have been among those calling for health officials to be held to account and, in an unusually blunt statement on social media platform Weibo, a senior reporter from the province’s official Communist Party newspaper, Hubei Daily, said the city’s leaders should be removed “immediately”. “Like many people, I used to believe that a temporary decision to replace leaders with those less familiar with the situation would not be good for pushing through the [antivirus] work, but based on the worsening situation that is getting increasingly severe, those currently in the role have no capability of leadership,” reporter Zhang Ouya wrote on Friday. “For Wuhan, please change the leadership immediately,” he said in the post, which was later removed.Hours after the post was published, Hubei Daily released a statement, apologising to the city government and leaders for “making negative publicity” and confirming it had ordered Zhang to remove the post. The statement, which was widely circulated online, urged local reporters to “spread positive spirit” and said Zhang’s comments did not represent the newspaper “but still made a negative impact”. In a public letter to China’s top health authority, the National Health Commission, a doctor who claimed to be from a top hospital in Wuhan laid the blame for the serious nature of the coronavirus outbreak on the slow response by local health officials. The doctor, who did not give his name, said the numbers of patients infected with the disease had been growing since January 12 but the local health authority had failed to report new cases. “These patients were not given proper quarantine nor medical treatment and they could travel in every corner of the city,” he wrote.

China Warns of Faster Virus Spread as It Bans Wildlife Trade – China banned wildlife trade across the country as President Xi Jinping’s government comes under pressure to arrest a rising death toll from the mysterious coronavirus that authorities said is spreading more quickly. Officials told reporters Sunday that information on the new virus is limited even though the pathogen was identified relatively quickly, and its transmission is increasing. The shipping and sale of wild animals won’t be allowed, and breeding sites will be quarantined, the government said in a separate statement, warning against the consumption of wild animals. The fast-spreading virus has reached more than a dozen countries and territories outside mainland China, with more than 2,000 infections confirmed worldwide. China accounts for 98% of those, and deaths there climbed to at least 56 from only two a week ago. Chinese authorities on Sunday said the virus isn’t yet under control despite aggressive steps by authorities to limit movement for millions of people who live in cities near the center of the outbreak. The restrictions come during the Lunar New Year, the country’s biggest celebration during which billions of trips are typically taken for vacation and visiting of family. The Chinese government is banning all outgoing overseas group tours as of Monday after suspending domestic group tours on Friday. Scientists around the globe have been working to understand the virus better, how contagious it is and where it comes from. First detected in Wuhan last month, it has sparked fears that the disease could rival SARS, the pandemic that claimed almost 800 lives 17 years ago. The Lunar New Year break is the critical period to prevent the spread of the virus, authorities said at a press conference Sunday. More than 1,600 people will be sent to Wuhan, epicenter of the outbreak, over the next two days to assist in efforts to contain the spread.

Inside the horrific, inhumane animal markets behind pandemics like coronavirus – You can usually smell the markets before you see them. Especially if you’re downwind. It’s a sickly, almost sweet and nauseating smell of death. Once inside, the fetid stench – made worse by blistering temperatures and zero refrigeration – is overwhelming, and it is places like this where the deadly coronavirus originated. In stall after stall, a mix of live and dead animals, which run the gamut from the known (pig, ox, duck, chicken) to the rare or unknown due to the condition of the carcass – stare back at you. In the wet areas of the market – usually reserved for fish and sea creatures and where the ground is slick with water and often blood – the stink is worse. The animals that have not yet been dispatched by the butcher’s knife make desperate bids to escape by climbing on top of each other and flopping or jumping out of their containers (to no avail). At least in the wet areas, the animals don’t make a sound. The screams from mammals and fowl are unbearable and heartbreaking. These unregulated and usually filthy markets are found all over Asia and Africa. In Laos, I came across a section of the local (i.e. not for tourist) market full of dead bats as well as live creatures like birds, turtles, fish and other unfortunate critters. In North Vietnam, on market days, hundreds of (live and dead) dogs were being sold for supper alongside other land and sea creatures. In Myanmar and Cambodia, fish and animals I never even knew existed were being bartered for alive and dead. Some looked so odd it was hard to believe they weren’t alien – and in colors that were stunning and strange. In South Africa, Congo and Mali there were monkeys and chimpanzee parts being sold for medicine as well as meat. Presumably, none of these animals or their carcasses from these markets are screened for rabies, anthrax, salmonella or other animal-borne diseases. And China is also full of similar markets – where live animals wait for their fresh slaughter. The market at the center of the deadly coronavirus outbreak sold live animals – including wolf pups, foxes, rats and peacocks, as well as crocodiles, giant salamanders, snakes, porcupines, and camel meat. The coronavirus is a series of viruses that include a range from the common cold to pneumonia that causes respiratory infections, which are often mild, but in rare cases are potentially lethal. Symptoms of the virus include fever, coughing and difficulty breathing. It is in these markets where the deadliest outbreaks can start.

Chinese health officials: Coronavirus ‘more contagious’ than previously thought – Chinese officials on Sunday revealed that patients infected with the coronavirus can spread the deadly illness before experiencing any symptoms – prompting fears about how to contain the disease. China’s National Health Commissioner Ma Xiaowei said the flu-like virus is infectious during its incubation period of one to 14 days. He cautioned that authorities’ knowledge of the new virus was limited and they are unclear on the risks posed by any possible mutations of the virus. Dr. William Schaffner, a longtime adviser to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said the new development “means the infection is much more contagious than we originally thought,” CNN reported. Schaffner warned that current preventative methods won’t be enough to battle the growing epidemic since it’s difficult to track down the contacts that a patient had before they even began experiencing symptoms. “Assuming that Ma is correct, we’re going to have to re-evaluate our strategy, that’s for sure,” Schaffner said. Meanwhile, China said it has banned wildlife animal trade until the “epidemic situation is lifted nationwide.” The mystery virus is believed to have originated from wild animals at markets in the Chinese city of Wuhan. There have been 56 deaths and more than 2,000 cases diagnosed in the country, including a 9-month-old baby in Beijing, CNN reported.

UK Researcher Predicts Over 250,000 Chinese Will Have Coronavirus In Ten Days – When it comes to estimating the human capital and potential fallout from a highly contagious epidemic, arguably the most important variable is the R0 (“R-naught”) value of the disease, which represents the average number of secondary cases arising from an average primary case in a entirely susceptible population. The higher this number, the more dangerous the disease, the more lethal the outcome. Some indicative R0s are 0.9 – 2.1 for the common flu while the 1918-1919 pandemic-causing Spanish flu was estimated to have ranged from 1.4 – 2.8, with a mean of 2. Some other notable R0s are shown below, and note that SARS was between 2 and 5: So what about the R0 of 2019-nCoV, also known as the coronavirus that has claimed over three dozen lives in China and infected (at least) 1,000 people? Naturally, since the disease is most active in China which is notoriously opaque especially when it comes to matters that can cause a mass panic, the best one can do is guess, and that’s what the World Health Organization did yesterday when it issued a statement on the coronavirus epidemic with the following projection: Human-to-human transmission is occurring and a preliminary R0 estimate of 1.4-2.5 was presented. Needless to say, while 2.5 is quite high, and in line with that of the Spanish flu epidemic which infected about half a billion people back in 1918, killing as many as 100 million before it eventually fizzled out, the real coronavirus R0 number may end up being far higher. That is the working hypothesis of Jonathan Read, a UK expert on the transmission and evolutionary dynamics of infectious diseases, who has published a paper with four colleagues that estimates transmission parameters for the Wuhan coronavirus, calculates that the R0 of 2019-nCoV to be between 3.6-4.0 or roughly the same as SARS, and reaches a conclusion about spread of the coronavirus epidemic that is frankly terrifying. Read wastes no time to get to his terrifying conclusion which is that if no change in control or transmission happens, then further outbreaks will occur in other Chinese cities, “and that infections will continue to be exported to international destinations at an increasing rate.” As a result, in 10 days time, or by February 4, 2020, Read’s model predicts the number of infected people in Wuhan to be greater than 250 thousand (with an prediction interval, 164,602 to 351,396);

Cruise Lines Act on Coronavirus Risk – Major cruise lines operating in Asia are banning tourists who have been in the city of Wuhan or come from Hebei Province in a bid to prevent an outbreak of coronavirus at sea. The virus has now infected over 2,000 people in China and killed 56. No fatalities have been reported outside China, but cases have now emerged in Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Australia, France, Japan, Malaysia, Nepal, Singapore, Thailand, South Korea, the U.S. and Vietnam. Costa Cruises, Royal Caribbean Cruises, MSC Cruises, Norwegian Cruise Line, Dream Cruises and Star Cruises have implemented policies which also include temperature checks for boarding passengers, banning people who have a fever. Some ports have also implemented temperature checks including cruise terminals in Singapore, Hong Kong and Shanghai. People from Hubei province will be banned from entering Hong Kong from Monday. The virus is believed to have originated in a seafood market in Wuhan that was illegally selling wildlife, and the Chinese government has announced a temporary ban on the sale of wildlife in markets, restaurants and on e-commerce platforms. The U.S.-based Wildlife Conservation Society says the ban should be permanent. Dr. Christian Walzer, chief global veterinarian at for the Wildlife Conservation Society, said: “The banning of such sales will help end the possibility of future outbreaks of zoonotic diseases, such as the Wuhan coronavirus. We learned this lesson with the outbreak of another zoonotic disease, SARS, in 2002. The pattern will keep repeating itself until we ban, not only in China, but in other countries, the sale of wildlife, specifically for food and in food markets. “Poorly regulated, live animal markets mixed with illegal wildlife trade offer a unique opportunity for viruses to spillover from wildlife hosts into the human population and for viruses to exchange viral components amongst the multiple species being traded creating new viruses with new host spectrums.” The Society says there are three solutions to what is a complex global challenge: close live animal markets that sell wildlife; strengthen efforts to combat trafficking of wild animals within countries and across borders; and work to change dangerous wildlife consumption behaviors, especially in cities. “This may sound daunting,” says Walzer. “However, not only is this now a global health priority that cannot be ignored, but for China’s concerned populace and government, the time is right.

China Deaths Jump as Measures Fail to Slow Spread of Virus – China’s death toll from the coronavirus climbed to at least 80 as the country extended the Lunar New Year holiday in an effort to contain an infection whose spread accelerated around the globe. Premier Li Keqiang visited Wuhan, the city at the epicenter of the disease, on Monday as the government faces pressure to combat the epidemic.World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he’s heading to Beijing to meet with the government and assess the response. Chinese authorities said the virus isn’t yet under control despite aggressive steps to limit movement for millions of people who live in cities near the center of the outbreak.mDeaths in China climbed to 80, the National Health Commission said on Monday. That’s up from only two just over a week ago. There are 2,744 confirmed cases on China’s mainland, and more than 30,000 people are under observation. Asian stocks, crude oil and China’s yuantumbled. Futures on Chinese shares fell more than 5% and 10-year Treasury yields hit their lowest since October on haven buying. Stock and futures trading in China, closed for the longer Lunar New Year holiday, will resume on Feb. 3, according to people familiar with the matter. Trading had been expected to resume this coming Friday.Shares of European luxury-goods companies whose growth has been driven by Chinese consumers, including LVMH, Kering SA andBurberry Group Plc, also traded lower, while U.S. stock futures pointed to further declines. Anxiety is growing amid evidence that the disease has an incubation period of as long as two weeks before those infected start to show signs of the illness. That raises the possibility that people who are carrying the virus but don’t show symptoms could infect others. “The virus can be contagious during the incubation period, which is about 10 days, with the shortest being one day and longest being 14 days,” Ma Xiaowei, Minister of National Health Commission, told a press conference on Sunday. “This is very different from SARS.”

China New Year Holiday Extended as Virus Death Toll Climbs to 80 — China’s death toll from the coronavirus climbed as the country extended the Lunar New Year holiday amid government reports that the infection’s spread was accelerating and a surge of new cases emerged around the globe. President Xi Jinping’s government is under pressure to combat an epidemic that shows little sign of slowing down. There are 2,744 confirmed cases on the mainland, the National Health Commission said Monday. Deaths in the country climbed to 80 from just two a week ago, as Hubei province announce 24 additional fatalities. Anxiety is growing amid evidence that the disease has an incubation period of about two weeks before infected people start to show symptoms. That raises the possibility that people carrying the virus but don’t show symptoms could infect others. The sell-off that dominated U.S. equity markets on Friday continued Monday in Asia. Japanese shares tumbled along with U.S. futures and crude oil, while the yen jumped in early trading. Chinese authorities on Sunday said the virus isn’t yet under control despite aggressive steps by authorities to limit movement for millions of people who live in cities near the center of the outbreak. China extended the Lunar New Year break until Feb. 2 from Jan. 30 originally. Government officials are delaying the end of the year’s biggest holiday, when hundreds of millions of Chinese leave cities to return to their hometowns, to avoid having travelers contribute to the spread. Mainland China accounts for 98% of confirmed global infections, while more than a dozen countries and territories reported the illness within their borders. The World Health Organization said of 29 patients with infections outside China, 26 traveled through Wuhan, epicenter of the outbreak.

Rising concerns over spread of the Wuhan coronavirus – There are now 2,744 confirmed cases and at least 80 reported deaths from the Wuhan coronavirus, including one physician treating patients – 61-year-old Dr. Lian Wudong. To date, all but some 44 of the confirmed cases and all the deaths have occurred in mainland China, predominately at the center of the epidemic, Wuhan. Other cases of the infection, formally known as 2019-nCoV, or novel coronavirus, have been found in Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, Singapore, Australia, Thailand, Nepal, France and the United States. Residents in Fanling district of Hong Kong took the streets on Sunday night to oppose the plan to house quarantined patients or medical workers in their neighborhood, that is far from Hong Kong’s business center. (Photo Credit: Vincent Yu/AP) The virus so far remains uncontained, fueling confusion, panic and rising social tensions across China, where the government has partially or fully locked down 13 major population centers, encompassing nearly 60 million people. In Wuhan, citizens are calling for their local leaders to be held accountable. Doctors on the front line of treating victims of the coronavirus infection are leading this call by bluntly declaring, “The city’s leaders should be removed immediately.” These tensions have begun to spread to Shanghai, one of China’s major commercial centers and one of its most populous cities, where an 88-year-old man died as a result of the virus, sparking concerns about the complex spread of the disease and its ramifications on an international scale. In response, Chinese President Xi Jinping was forced to state, “Confronted with the grave situation of this accelerating spread of pneumonia from infections with the novel coronavirus, we must step up the centralized and united leadership under the party central.” Initial efforts to combat the epidemic include a promised 1,230 medical experts from China’s National Health Commission to assist with efforts on the ground in Wuhan. The military is also sending additional medical personnel, while the city has promised to build two new hospitals in 15 days to treat patients with coronavirus infections. The United States, French, Japanese and Russian consulates have ordered the removal of their people and are coordinating with Chinese authorities for their safe and efficient transfer out of the city. US private citizens are being offered seats on planes departing Wuhan. There are also six confirmed and 100 suspected cases in Hong Kong. The city has taken emergency measures by restricting celebration of the Lunar New Year, limiting the gathering of groups, requiring the use of face masks and shutting schools until at least mid-February. These measures have been met with resistance by demonstrators, who set fire in the lobbies of two buildings designated as quarantine sites for the developing epidemic.

Clinical features of patients infected with 2019 novel coronavirus in Wuhan, China – The Lancet — By Jan 2, 2020, 41 admitted hospital patients had been identified as having laboratory-confirmed 2019-nCoV infection. Most of the infected patients were men (30 [73%] of 41); less than half had underlying diseases (13 [32%]), including diabetes (eight [20%]), hypertension (six [15%]), and cardiovascular disease (six [15%]). Median age was 49·0 years (IQR 41·0 – 58·0). 27 (66%) of 41 patients had been exposed to Huanan seafood market. One family cluster was found. Common symptoms at onset of illness were fever (40 [98%] of 41 patients), cough (31 [76%]), and myalgia or fatigue (18 [44%]); less common symptoms were sputum production (11 [28%] of 39), headache (three [8%] of 38), haemoptysis (two [5%] of 39), and diarrhoea (one [3%] of 38). Dyspnoea developed in 22 (55%) of 40 patients (median time from illness onset to dyspnoea 8·0 days [IQR 5·0 – 13·0]). 26 (63%) of 41 patients had lymphopenia. All 41 patients had pneumonia with abnormal findings on chest CT. Complications included acute respiratory distress syndrome (12 [29%]), RNAaemia (six [15%]), acute cardiac injury (five [12%]) and secondary infection (four [10%]). 13 (32%) patients were admitted to an ICU and six (15%) died. Compared with non-ICU patients, ICU patients had higher plasma levels of IL2, IL7, IL10, GSCF, IP10, MCP1, MIP1A, and TNFα. The 2019-nCoV infection caused clusters of severe respiratory illness similar to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus and was associated with ICU admission and high mortality. Major gaps in our knowledge of the origin, epidemiology, duration of human transmission, and clinical spectrum of disease need fulfilment by future studies.

The Coronavirus Questions that Scientists are Racing to Answer -The outbreak of a novel coronavirus in China and its spread to more than a dozen countries has presented health experts with a rapidly evolving and complex challenge. That means there are a lot of unknowns. Here are some of the outstanding questions that doctors, scientists, and health agencies are rushing to answer. (And a reminder that, already, they’ve learned quite a lot.) One of the luckiest breaks the world got with the SARS outbreak of 2002-2003 was that people weren’t contagious until they developed symptoms. The same is true of MERS. As a result, it became easier for health officials to try to limit spread once they identified a new case. Public health experts watching this outbreak unfold have been hoping 2019-nCoV, which is a member of the same virus family, would follow that pattern. Now they’re not so sure. Chinese health authorities said over the weekend they’ve recorded cases where transmission occurred before the transmitting person showed symptoms. If that’s a common feature of this infection, it’s going to cause serious problems. With some viral illnesses – like influenza for example – people can actually start infecting the people around them a day or two before they start to feel sick. That’s insidious, because it means infected people can go to work, take the subway, go to church or to the movies – unaware that they are emitting viruses that can infect others. In the past few days several papers from China describing the illness have been published or posted on preprint websites (sites that share papers before they have been peer-reviewed or published in journals). In a paper posted to bioRxiv, scientists from Guangdong province estimated the incubation period – the time from infection to symptoms – to average between four and five days, which was also the case with SARS. There is clearly a range, though; on Monday, the WHO said the information to date suggests two to 10 days. Another paper, published last Friday in The Lancet, estimated the incubation period in a cluster of six family members to be three to six days. These estimates are compatible and suggest it takes a few days for people to start feeling ill – which explains how a number of travelers who have brought the virus to other countries only realized they were sick a day or two after getting home. Most diseases have a spectrum of illness, ranging sometimes from asymptomatic infection – symptom free – to very severe disease and death. But some diseases tend to tilt toward one end of the spectrum. With SARS, most of the cases were seriously ill. While that was bad for anyone infected, it made detecting where the virus was spreading easier. In this outbreak, it’s starting to look like there are mild and even asymptomatic cases. The reports emerging suggest a pretty significant portion of cases are seriously ill. For instance, in a report China’s national health authorities posted Monday, about 17% of total cases were severely ill. And about 3% of confirmed cases had died.

Chinese Nurse Says 90,000 Already Infected In Emotional Plea For Help – 26 -A viral video, reposted on Twitter 48 hours ago, has more than 800k views and reveals an urgent message from a Wuhan nurse, who claims more than 90,000 people in China have been infected with the fast-spreading coronavirus. An unverified translation of the nurse, posted by @purplelovehime, has been retweeted more than 13.7k times since Saturday, states: “I am Jin Wei. I am currently inside the Wuhan outbreak region, Han Hou area. I would like to describe the condition inside the Hubei province, as well as the outbreak situation in the entire China. Currently, there are already 90,000 cases of pneumonia contraction.” “What is the rate of contraction? If one person contracted this disease and is not properly quarantined and treated, this I individual will infect 14 people that came in contact with him. That is a significant multiplier. During the spring festival, in our culture, families like to get together, dine together. But this is unlike any other years. I hope that people can stay home, do not gather, and do not visit families. There is a spring festival every year. If everyone can stay safe, you can always get together later,” the unverified translation of the nurse said. The translation went on to say that medical supplies from bio suits, medical masks, goggles, and gloves “are in great shortages.”

CDC is monitoring 110 possible coronavirus cases across 26 states in US – U.S. health officials are currently monitoring 110 people across 26 states for the coronavirus, including the five patients who contracted the deadly infection in China and brought it back to America. The disease, which has killed at least 81 people in China and sickened more than 2,800 worldwide, isn’t spreading within the community in the U.S. and the risk to the public right now is still considered low, Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, told reporters on a conference call Monday. “We understand that many people in the United States are worried about this virus and how it will affect Americans,” Messonnier said. “Every day we learn more, every day we assess to see if our guidance or our response can be improved.” The number of “patients under investigation” in the U.S. has almost doubled from the 63 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said were under surveillance on Thursday. The CDC says 32 people have tested negative for the virus. “While that number is 110, we are certainly prioritizing based on [patients under investigation] that might be at higher risk,” Messonnier said. The CDC confirmed Sunday a fifth U.S. case of the virus – a patient in Maricopa County, Arizona, who recently traveled to Wuhan, China, the epicenter of the disease’s outbreak and where the majority of cases have been reported. Messonnier said the CDC has screened roughly 2,400 people flying from Wuhan to five major U.S. airports and is considering expanding its screening. The agency increased its travel warning for all of China, asking people traveling to practice “enhanced precautions.” “This outbreak is unfolding rapidly and we are rapidly looking at how that impacts our posture at the border. We’re certainly considering broadening of that screening,” she said.

N95 Virus Masks Sell Out Across The U.S – We noted last week how worldwide and U.S. internet searches for “virus mask” and “n95 masks” have exponentially increased as the deadly coronavirus spreads across the world. Our report from Friday confirmed virus masks and hand sanitizers were in short supply across China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Macao, Japan, South Korea, and other regional countries.A Japanese seller on Amazon marked up a pack of 50 N95 Disposable Respirators to $638, a 16x price increase from a suggested retail price of around $40.Short supplies aren’t just across Asia. New reports suggest a run on virus masks has already begun across the U.S. Search trends for “N95 mask” started to pick up around January 13, and have soared since January 20, as the spread of coronavirus has become uncontrollable across the world. Americans in nearly every state are googling where to buy N95 masks, including search-related queries for “n95 mask walmart” and “n95 mask home depot.”With three confirmed cases in California, Washington state, and Illinois, along with dozens of suspected cases, masks have been selling out across the country since Thursday.A simple google search of your local Home Depot or Lowe’s will reveal the N95 mask hoarding has begun.

Coronavirus prompts automakers to evacuate workers, weigh production delays at Chinese factories – Automakers are withdrawing employees from China and weighing whether to suspend manufacturing in the country as the virus that emerged in Wuhan less than a month ago ravages the mainland. Most major automakers have restricted or banned travel to the country due to the fast-spreading disease, which as of Monday had taken the lives of at least 82 people in China and sickened 2,900 worldwide. Manufacturing in China was temporarily halted in honor of the Lunar New Year – which kicked off this weekend – but normal operations were due to resume this week. Automakers across the globe with operations in China could keep those plants closed even longer, people familiar with the matter said. Some automakers such as Honda Motor and PSA Group have taken additional actions. Both are withdrawing employees working around the city of Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak. Nissan also has plans to withdrawal a majority of its employees and their families members from the Wuhan area back to Japan, a person familiar with the company’s plans told CNBC on Monday. “We take the health and safety of our employees and their families seriously,” a Nissan spokesman said in an emailed statement, declining to comment directly on the withdrawal plans. “We are carefully evaluating the epidemic situation in Wuhan and the country and keep our employees informed and provided with all necessary support and precautionary tools.” PSA Group said in an email to CNBC that the decision to repatriate its employees in Wuhan will be done “according the proposition of the French authorities in complete cooperation with Chinese authorities.” A Honda spokesman on Monday confirmed 30 “associates and their families” who work at the nearby plant were being sent home to Japan. In Shanghai, local officials are prohibiting companies in the city from resuming operations before Feb. 9, Reuters reported. Electric car maker Tesla, which just opened its first factory in China just outside of Shanghai, didn’t return multiple requests for comment. Others automakers such as General Motors and Fiat Chrysler have expanded travel restrictions for employees to the country.

Escaping the Coronavirus in Wuhan Der Spiegel – The bad news came at a quarter to eight on Thursday morning. I had just woken up in the hotel when the phone started ringing. “We have a problem,” said my colleague, Wu Dandan, who works in Beijing’s DER SPIEGEL office and had accompanied me to Wuhan. “The authorities are shutting down the city. Nobody will be allowed out after 10 a.m.” That sort of news has a way of waking you up pretty quickly. Wuhan, a city of 11 million people, is considered to be where the new coronavirus originated. Most infections and deaths have been registered here, and the numbers keep rising. The virus is thought to have an incubation period of up to 12 days. If we don’t get out, I thought, we’ll be stuck at ground zero of the outbreak for days, perhaps even weeks. In quarantine. We had arrived on Wednesday from Beijing to take a first-hand look at the situation in Wuhan’s hospitals, in the market, at the train station and at the airport. Because even as the virus was spreading here, hundreds of millions of people across China were preparing to celebrate Lunar New Year with their families. The event would set off a wave of travelers similar to the one at Christmas in Europe. And Wuhan is one of the country’s travel hubs. What happens to a city when it is forced to prepare for an epidemic – and maybe even catastrophe? Like most people in the city, we were wearing large medical masks covering our mouths and noses. That was the virus’ first minor victory: robbing Wuhan inhabitants of their faces. The rubber straps dug into our ears and our skin grew clammy under the fabric. Still, we only took our masks off to eat. When we touched a door handle, we would immediately cleanse our hands with disinfectant. And during the entirety of those 24 hours, we didn’t shake anyone’s hand. It was the virus’ second small victory: isolating people, making us paranoid.

Some Practical Questions About The Coronavirus Epidemic — Like everyone else, I’ve been reading the mainstream media reports on the Coronavirus epidemic. I haven’t found any information about the practicalities that immediately occur to me, such as:

• 1. When public transportation is halted and commerce grinds to a halt as people avoid public places and gatherings, thousands of employees no longer go to work. Who pays their wages while the city is locked down? The employers? Then who compensates the employers, since their income has also gone to zero?Does China have a universal unemployment insurance system that can quickly issue payments to all people who are no longer going to work and getting a paycheck from an employer?What about the thousands of migrant workers who don’t have regular employers? Who pays them? If they’re technically not officially sanctioned residents of the city, they don’t exist in government records.
• 2. If people idled by the lockdown are supposed to live off savings, what about all the marginal workers with few resources? What are they going to live on once their meager savings are gone?
• 3. Given the choice of obeying the lockdown rules and starving or slipping out of the city to find paid work somewhere else, how many migrant workers will choose to slip away?
• 4. Unlike the developed West, many people in China still have ancestral villages to return to, rural towns where their grandparents or or other close relatives live. If work has dried up and you’re fearful of catching a potentially lethal virus, wouldn’t it make sense to slip out of the city and make your way back to the village where you can hunker down until the epidemic blows over?Since people who caught the virus may not know they’re a carrier, how will this migration not spread the disease to rural areas with few medical resources?
• 5. The typical city has about a week’s supply of food, fuel, etc. at best. If the lockdown runs longer than a few days, scarcities of essentials will ignite hoarding, and remaining supplies will be snapped up.Since the city’s residents need food, fuel, etc., it must be brought in regardless of the lockdown. This brings outside workers into the city and provides residents desperate to flee avenues to escape the lockdown. Every individual involved in this system is potentially exposed to the virus or is a potential asymptomatic carrier of the virus leaving the city.These realities leave officials with an impossible choice: either truly isolate the city, which isn’t possible for more than a few days, or allow the stupendous flow of goods required to sustain millions of city residents, thereby creating uncontrollable avenues for the virus to spread beyond the city as transport workers and those fleeing the lockdown travel to other cities.

Wuhan Mayor Says 5 Million People Escaped Quarantine During Coronavirus Outbreak – According to Wuhan Mayor Zhou Xianwang, 5 million people were able to leave the city before a recent quarantine was imposed to limit the spread of the coronavirus. There are currently about 9 million people who remain in the city under lockdown, according to the mayor.This is not the only indication that the spread of the illness could be far worse than imagined. Over the weekend, China’s President Xi Jinping finally admitted that the country is facing a “grave” situation,Due to the Chinese Lunar New Year and the #WuhanCoronavirus, more than 5 million people left Wuhan and 9 million people remain in the city which is under lockdown: Wuhan mayorpic.twitter.com/hi2NwsHmou – Global Times (@globaltimesnews) January 26, 2020In an unconfirmed video that has been widely reported in the global media this week, a masked woman claiming to be a nurse working in a Wuhan hospital says that the number of people infected is likely closer to 90,000, and that the official numbers are being under-reported. The low estimations from official government sources in China have been a subject of suspicion since the outbreak began, but few estimations have been as high as 90,000. There have been a variety of different hoax videos and articles related to this issue in recent days, and it is not clear if this video is one of them, but the number of people infected is likely far higher than the figure of just over 1,000 that authorities are willing to admit.

Coronavirus: Not Looking Good – Yves Smith – The aggressive and increasingly stringent measures taken in China to contain the “novel coronavirus” sure look like the officialdom is worried, if not panicked about the disease.Although we and they are suffering from bad data (for instance, shortages of tests and even in places personnel to confirm that suspected cases are the coronavirus and not something else), the facts at hand are not pretty. This coronavirus is very contagious. The estimates of the reproduction are between 2.6 and 2.9. By contrast, from a 2014 paper in BMC Infectious Diseases: We conducted a systematic review to summarize published estimates of R for pandemic or seasonal influenza and for novel influenza viruses (e.g. H5N1). We retained and summarized papers that estimated R for pandemic or seasonal influenza or for human infections with novel influenza viruses. The search yielded 567 papers. Ninety-one papers were retained, and an additional twenty papers were identified from the references of the retained papers. Twenty-four studies reported 51 R values for the 1918 pandemic. The median R value for 1918 was 1.80 (interquartile range [IQR]: 1.47 – 2.27). Six studies reported seven 1957 pandemic R values. The median R value for 1957 was 1.65 (IQR: 1.53 – 1.70). Four studies reported seven 1968 pandemic R values. The median R value for 1968 was 1.80 (IQR: 1.56 – 1.85). Fifty-seven studies reported 78 2009 pandemic R values. The median R value for 2009 was 1.46 (IQR: 1.30 – 1.70) and was similar across the two waves of illness: 1.46 for the first wave and 1.48 for the second wave. Twenty-four studies reported 47 seasonal epidemic R values. The median R value for seasonal influenza was 1.28 (IQR: 1.19 – 1.37). Four studies reported six novel influenza R values. Four out of six R values were <1. In other words, the reproduction rate is now reported to be meaningfully worse than for the Spanish flu and later flus deemed to reach pandemic levels. This is the reason for the freakout. The reproduction rate is, however, lower than for measles, as the Wall Street Journal cheerily points out. China’s health minister has said he believes the disease can be transmitted during the incubation period and has reaffirmed the one to fourteen day estimate. That means screening people for fever would only be partially effective in containing its spread. The Hill confirms our concerns:A longtime adviser to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. William Schaffner, told CNN the new development means “the infection is much more contagious than we originally thought.”Schaffner called it a game changer and warned current preventative methods won’t be enough to fight off the outbreak since tracking down the contacts a patient had before experience symptoms complicates the situation. So far, this coronavirus looks pretty lethal. The latest data is 4524 confirmed cases, with 106 deaths, for a mortality rate of 2.2% But according to the Financial Times:

Martenson- The Risk Of A True Pandemic Is Higher Than We’re Being Told – OK, there’s a LOT of uncertainty and confusing/conflicting information currently circulating right now about the new coronavirus outbreak that has suddenly erupted out of Wuhan, China. What’s really going on? What exactly is the ‘coronavirus’? And most important: How worried do we need to be? Given the poor communication so far by government health organizations and the media, the severity of the situation and the risk to public health, Chris Martenson filmed this important explanatory video hours ago. Dr. Martenson’s PhD is in the field of pathogenic biology, so he understands the nature of this virus more than your average scientist. In the video below, Chris explains the virus in layman’s terms, why the contagion we’re seeing is likely to spread substantially from here, and why the actions being taken so far by public health officials to contain the threat are woefully insufficient. It’s important, maybe soon critical, to be well-informed on this outbreak. The ten minutes you spend watching this video may be the most important thing you do today: After viewing, be sure to take prudent steps to secure the safety of your family’s health. Most measures are straightforward and inexpensive – there’s a huge upside to preparing now and a huge downside to delaying, so get busy. Those interested can continue to follow our updated coverage on the coronavirus here. Hopefully, authorities manage to contain this outbreak faster than it currently appears they will. But don’t bet your life on it.

This Is How China Is Hiding The True Number Of Coronavirus Deaths — As the world’s cortisol and stomach acid levels rise every hour in parallel with the number of officially reported Coronavirus infections (and deaths), which as of Saturday morning was roughly 1,400…… the world has an unpleasant flashback to 2003 when for weeks Beijing would lie and hide the full extent of the SARS epidemic to avoid risking a social panic. To be sure, this time China has done its best to pretend it has learned from the past and it is so transparent, even President Xi Jinping warned that the country is facing a “grave situation”, and that the spread of the deadly virus is accelerating after holding a special government meeting on the Lunar New Year public holiday.After staying largely silent in public about the outbreak since it first emerged in central China last month, Xi on Saturday convened a special meeting of the seven-member Politburo Standing Committee, calling for a more centralized response to the epidemic and asserting personal responsibility in addressing the crisis.”When an epidemic breaks out, a command is issued. It is our responsibility to prevent and control it,” Xi said, according to the state-run Xinhua News Agency. He called for the new high-level committee to “address concerns within and outside the country,” indirectly referencing mounting global concern about the epidemic, which Mr. Xi described as a “grave situation” that was accelerating. “We definitely can win the battle to contain the epidemic,” he vowed. That remains to be seen: as reported earlier, in China – which has put over 56 million people on lockdown quarantine – the coronavirus has killed at least 41 people and infected over 1,400 in China. Ominously, a UK researcher predicted that the Coronavirus would infect over 250,000 people in China in under two weeks, which has sparked a renewed fear that China will once again try to underrepresent the true severity of the diseases until it is too late.

Chinese people are using “Chernobyl” to channel their anger about the coronavirus outbreak — One of the most popular TV shows of 2019, HBOs’s Chernobyl, is striking a chord in disease-stricken China. A core theme of the show – which was based on the nuclear explosion that happened in 1986 in northern Ukraine, then part of the Soviet Union – was the ineptitude of the communist government in handling the disaster, particularly in the way that it tried to suppress information about the disaster. Some people in China, are drawing parallels with how Soviet authorities managed the nuclear disaster to how the Chinese government is handling the current coronavirus outbreak. For example, Chinese authorities only reported on Jan. 20 that the disease had spread to cities outside of Wuhan in Hubei province, where the outbreak has been traced to. However, days before China reported its first cases outside the central Chinese city, Thailand and Japan both reported infections, prompting some Chinese to joke at the time that the virus was “patriotic” as it only seemed to infect foreigners. Some people were also detained last month for spreading rumors after they posted about the virus on social media. Wuhan mayor Zhou Xianwang admitted in an interview (link in Chinese) today on TV that the disclosure of information about the virus outbreak wasn’t timely, but said that people need to understand that the reason for that was because he needed authorization in order to reveal relevant information in the time of an epidemic. Some 2,700 people have contracted the illness and 80 people have been killed at the latest count. Cases have also been confirmed in Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, and the United States. More than a dozen Chinese cities have been put on lockdown, while outbound tour groups have been banned by the Chinese government.

Two Nasty Traits Of This Coronavirus, Typically Not Seen Together – 27 – Dr. Dena Grayson, who has years of training developing Ebola treatments, shares her concerns about this coronavirus. I compiled what follows from a Series of Thirteen Tweets by physician (MD) and scientist (PhD) Dr. Dena Grayson. Having YEARS of experience developing an Ebola treatment, I was concerned about this Coronavirus Outbreak from the outset, because this coronavirus strain is very contagious, causes severe illness, and NO treatments or vaccines are available. Unlike H5N1 “bird flu” (which does not spread easily between people) or SARS (which was spread by only a handful of “super spreaders”), this coronavirus DOES appear to spread easily between people, even after making the jump from an animal (this is not common). In addition to being highly contagious, this novel coronavirus can cause a SEVERE infection that can kill even healthy people. It’s rare to see BOTH of these (bad) attributes in the same novel virus. Usually, it’s one or the other. One way experts judge how deadly a pathogen (virus, bacteria, etc) is by the “case-fatality rate,” which is the # of deaths / # infected people. It’s WAY too early to know what this is, because it takes time for patients to succumb to the infection. Thus far, the case-fatality rate appears to be ~4%…but its’ WAY too early to know what it really is, due to spotty reporting (both of deaths and cases), and because patients are still sick and could die tomorrow, next week, etc., even if no new infections occur. Per @CDCgov, “Although there are no specific treatments (medicines to combat the coronavirus) or vaccines, excellent supportive care, such as IV fluids, intubation (on a “breathing machine”), can help support patients while their immune system battles (and hopefully, defeats) the infection.”

China Closes Foxconn, Johnson & Johnson, And Samsung Factories Amid Virus Outbreak – As the numbers of infected and dead soar exponentially, China has been forced to lock down cities and shutdown factories for the next several weeks. The outbreak of the coronavirus will likely damage first-quarter economic figures for the country, reported the Financial Times. As of Monday, China’s coronavirus outbreak has so far infected about 3,000 people, where the death toll has climbed to 80 – giving the virus a roughly 5% mortality rate. China has ordered several manufacturing hubs and other centers of the industry to remain closed for the next one to two weeks. One of those manufacturing hubs is Suzhou, a city west of Shanghai has told millions of workers not to return for at least one week. The industrial region is home to the world’s largest factories, including iPhone contractor Foxconn, Johnson & Johnson, and Samsung Electronics. The virus outbreak is occurring as an industrial slowdown has sparked one of the slowest growth rates in nearly three decades. This will be a significant challenge for President Xi Jinping amid fears of a hard landing.Julian Evans-Pritchard, a senior China economist at Capital Economics, has suggested that “coronavirus makes a pronounced slowdown even more likely and if the disease is not brought under control quickly, then even our downbeat forecasts may turn out to be too high.” Michael Pettis, a finance professor at Peking University and senior fellow at Carnegie-Tsinghua Center, said the economic impact depends on how coronavirus spreads throughout China. Pettis said consumption is now under pressure as “people are not going out to restaurants and bars.”A much larger problem in China is the shutdown of major parts of its economy, and those impacts will soon be felt globally. China is the growth engine for many economies of the world — this is a shock that could tilt the world into a prolonged slowdown.

Canada Says Wife Of First nCoV Patient Also Has Virus – Another alarming development in the global coronavirus outbreak has been confirmed: Public health officials in Ontario are preparing to announce that the wife of Canada’s first coronavirus patient has also been stricken with the virus. The significance of this news may be lost on some casual observers, as it was no doubt lost on the reporters from the Canadian Press News who got the scoop: But this might constitutes evidence of human-to-human transmission outside of China – a sign that the virus has reached a new stage of contagion that some epidemiologists and researchers dismissed as extremely improbable just last week. It’s unclear whether the woman traveled to China with her husband, so it’s still not certain whether she contracted the disease from the same source as her husband, or whether he actually passed it to him. The CPN reported that she has been in self-imposed isolation with her husband since arriving in Toronto (presumably for him to get treatment) last week. On Thursday, the WHO declined to designate the outbreak as a global pandemic, arguing that China had the resources to contain the virus, and that it had not yet become a global problem. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said they needed more information to reach a consensus on whether to declare a PHEIC (Public Health Emergency of International Concern). Specifically, the organization wanted to see evidence of human-to-human transmission outside of China before declaring a global emergency.

Confusion and lost time: how testing woes slowed China’s coronavirus response (Reuters) – Yang Zhongyi was still waiting on Monday for a coronavirus test in the Chinese city of Wuhan two weeks after she started to show signs of a fever, even though doctors privately told her family that she almost certainly has been infected, her son Zhang Changchun told Reuters. Yang, 53, is just one of many Wuhan inhabitants finding it difficult to get tested or receive treatment for the new form of coronavirus, which authorities say has infected 2,800 people and killed at least 80 in China, a situation that may be contributing to the spread of the disease. Yang has been unable to gain full-time admission to a hospital, her son said. She has been put on drips in unquarantined areas at four separate hospitals in the city to treat her deteriorating lungs, he said, while he is doing what he can to get her tested or admitted full-time. “Every time the responses are the same: ‘There’s no bed, wait for the government to give a notice, and follow the news to see what’s going on.’ The doctors are all very frustrated too.” Officially known as 2019-nCoV, the new form of coronavirus was first identified as the cause of death of a 61-year-old man in Wuhan on Jan. 10, when China shared gene information on the virus with other countries. Some, such as Japan and Thailand, started testing travelers from China for the virus within three days. However, testing kits for the disease were not distributed to some of Wuhan’s hospitals until about Jan. 20, an official at the Hubei Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Hubei CDC) told Reuters. Before then, samples had to be sent to a laboratory in Beijing for testing, a process that took three to five days to get results, according to Wuhan health authorities. During that gap, hospitals in the city reduced the number of people under medical observation from 739 to just 82, according to data compiled by Reuters from Wuhan health authorities, and no new cases were reported inside China. Despite the lack of reliable data and testing capacity in Wuhan, Chinese authorities assured citizens in the days after the virus had been identified that it was not widely transmissible. In previous weeks, it had censored negative online commentary about the situation, and arrested eight people it accused of being “rumor spreaders.”

Furious Chinese Defy Censors To Mock Local Leaders Over Bungled Virus Response -A few hours ago, the New York Times published an interesting story about how China’s population, known for assiduously self-censoring their speech online, is refusing to be silent in the face of the rapidly accelerating novel coronavirus. The deluge of critical posts, along with clever tricks to dodge censors, are making it nearly impossible for Beijing to control the narrative on the mainland.Earlier, we mentioned how doctors, nurses and residents in Wuhan have demanded that their “useless” mayor follow through on an offer to resign for sluggishness in confronting the outbreak. But that’s not all: though reports claimed Beijing made an effort to remove horrifying videos of the situation on the ground in Wuhan (videos that showed what appeared to be dead bodies lying in hospital hallways), according to NYT, the censors have now been completely overwhelmed. Some posters evade censors by referred to President Xi as “Trump”, or by comparing the outbreak to the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. Public anger over the handling of the outbreak has been compounded by the cancellation of the LNY holiday. Internet critics posted scathing criticisms of public officials over often minor slights, like when officials in Wuhan wore their face masks incorrectly during a press conference. After Wuhan Mayor Zhou Xianwang offered to resign over his handling of the outbreak, a commenter replied: “If the virus is fair, then please don’t spare this useless person,” according to the NYT.

Coronavirus: China death toll climbs to 106 with first fatality in Beijing – live updates – Chinese state media is reporting the new figures for deaths and those infected by the coronavirus. The People’s Daily says: 106 deaths, 4,193 cases confirmed in China. Just to put those figures into context … yesterday the toll was 82, so today’s figures of 106 is an increase of 23%. Infections are up from 2,887 to 4,193, an increase of 31%. But it’s worth remembering these are still relatively small numbers of people affected relative to the population size. Wuhan – where most deaths have occurred – has a population of 11 million people. In Australia, there’s been conflicting advice between public and private schools about when to send children back for the start of the school year after the long summer break.Australia’s federal education minister, Dan Tehan, weighed into the debate today, chastising schools for forcing healthy students returning from China to stay away.Some private schools are telling children to stay away from school for 14 days if they have recently travelled to any part of China. Publicly funded state schools say only students who have been in contact with known cases of coronavirus should be excluded until medically cleared.“Individual schools make their own decisions but the advice from the Australian government is to follow our medical advice,” Tehan told ABC radio.“I would say to all schools that they should be following the advice of the health department, that is the clear position of the Australian government. “Obviously in the end they will have to answer to their parents, but also they will have to answer to state and territory governments, who have responsibility for schools.”

WHO corrects China virus global risk level to ‘high’ – The World Health Organization on Monday admitted an error in its assessment of the global risk of a deadly virus in China, saying it was “high” and not “moderate”. The Geneva-based UN health agency said in a situation report published late Sunday that the risk was “very high in China, high at the regional level and high at the global level.” In a footnote, the WHO explained that it had stated “incorrectly” in its previous reports on Thursday, Friday and Saturday that the global risk was “moderate”. The correction of the global risk assessment does not mean that an international health emergency has been declared. WHO spokeswoman Fadela Chaib said only that there had been “an error in the wording”. Asked what the risk categorisation meant, the WHO said it was “a global evaluation of risk, covering severity, spread and capacity to cope”. The WHO on Thursday had stopped short of declaring the novel coronavirus a public health emergency of international concern — a rare designation used only for the most severe outbreaks that could trigger more concerted global action. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who is visiting China this week to discuss how to contain the outbreak, on Thursday said: “This is an emergency in China, but it has not yet become a global health emergency”. WHO’s cautious approach can be seen in the context of past criticism over its slow or too hasty use of the term, first used for the deadly 2009 H1N1 swine flu pandemic. During that outbreak, the UN health agency was criticised for sparking panic-buying of vaccines with its announcement that year that the outbreak had reached pandemic proportions, and then anger when it turned out the virus was not nearly as dangerous as first thought. But in 2014, the WHO met harsh criticism for dragging its feet and downplaying the severity of the Ebola epidemic that ravaged three West Africa countries, claiming more than 11,300 lives by the time it ended in 2016.

Wuhan seafood market may not be source of novel virus spreading globally – As confirmed cases of a novel virus surge around the world with worrisome speed, all eyes have so far focused on a seafood market in Wuhan, China, as the origin of the outbreak. But a description of the first clinical cases published in The Lancet on Friday challenges that hypothesis.The paper, written by a large group of Chinese researchers from several institutions, offers details about the first 41 hospitalized patients who had confirmed infections with what has been dubbed 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV). In the earliest case, the patient became ill on 1 December 2019 and had no reported link to the seafood market, the authors report. “No epidemiological link was found between the first patient and later cases,” they state. Their data also show that, in total, 13 of the 41 cases had no link to the marketplace. “That’s a big number, 13, with no link,” says Daniel Lucey, an infectious disease specialist at Georgetown University.Earlier reports from Chinese health authorities and the World Health Organization had said the first patient had onset of symptoms on 8 December 2019 – and those reports simply said “most” cases had links to the seafood market, which was closed on 1 January. Lucey says if the new data are accurate, the first human infections must have occurred in November 2019 – if not earlier – because there is an incubation time between infection and symptoms surfacing. If so, the virus possibly spread silently between people in Wuhan – and perhaps elsewhere – before the cluster of cases from the city’s now-infamous Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market was discovered in late December. “The virus came into that marketplace before it came out of that marketplace,” Lucey asserts. The Lancet paper’s data also raise questions about the accuracy of the initial information China provided, Lucey says…

25 More Coronavirus Deaths in China, Hong Kong Restricts Travel – Governments tightened international travel and border crossings with China to try to stop the spread of a coronavirus outbreak that has sickened thousands, and Germany said it had identified a cluster of local patients infected by a woman from Shanghai who had been visiting Europe. The German cases, which are being closely monitored, appear to be one of the first clusters of transmission outside of China. It’s a worrying sign for public health authorities who have taken aggressive steps to stop what for now has been mostly a Chinese outbreak from becoming an international one. The U.S. and U.K. on Tuesday said that residents should avoid all non-essential travel to China, and United Airlines Holdings Inc., the biggest U.S. carrier to the Asian nation, said it would cut flight service after a drop in demand. Hong Kong announced restrictions on travel from mainland China. It will close some border checkpoints and restrict flights, trains and ferries from the mainland, Chief Executive Carrie Lam said Tuesday. The Chinese government is also suspending visas for visitors to the territory, she said. The outbreak has rattled global markets and prompted concerns that there could be economic fallout as travel declines and Chinese business is slowed. More than 4,500 people have been infected in China, and at least 125 have died, including 25 deaths announced Wednesday morning. In Vietnam, a 65-year-old man from Wuhan became sick with the coronavirus four days after arriving in the country and subsequently infected his 27-year-old son who lived there, according to a report in the New England Journal of Medicine. The family had traveled to four cities across Vietnam in planes, trains and taxis, raising concern about human-to-human transmission outside China, according to the report published Tuesday. And in Germany, three patients were infected by a female Chinese employee of the auto-parts supplier Webasto AG who had been visiting the company’s offices and realized she was sick on her flight back to China on Jan. 23. The patients are being watched under isolation, according to a statement Tuesday night from the Bavarian Ministry of Health.

Coronavirus Human To Human Transmission Confirmed In Europe — A line has now been crossed in the transmission of the Wuhan coronavirus, with multiple people who have not recently traveled to China having confirmed cases of the illness. This is unwelcome news considering that experts were still attempting to understand how transmittable this illness is between humans, and this confirms that the infection is more viral than initially believed. At first, researchers were hoping that most of the infections were caused by animal to human transmission, but with new cases being reported in patients who had not recently traveled to China, the situation appears to be more complex. Cases of human to human transmission have now been confirmed in Germany, Vietnam, Taiwan, and Japan. In each case, the patient who contracted the virus had recently come into contact with someone who had traveled from China, even though they themselves had gone nowhere near the epicenter of the virus. The number of infected and number of lives lost continue to climb as authorities attempt to get a handle on the situation. Over 100 people are said to have lost their lives from the virus, all of them in China. The virus is said to have infected at least 4,500 people, and the vast majority of them are in China as well, but the numbers outside the borders of the country are steadily climbing. Precautions are being taken all over the world, with US President Donald Trump announcing the rollout of travel restrictions and new screening measures at airports. Hong Kong has also announced similar travel bans, and will stop all high speed trains and ferries from the mainland.

Coronavirus live updates: Coronavirus outbreak tops 6,000 cases in China, exceeding SARS epidemic — The total number of cases of the coronavirus reached more than 6,100 worldwide with 132 deaths in China, Chinese and international health authorities said Wednesday. Since the first patient was identified in Wuhan on Dec. 31, the number of coronavirus cases in China has mushroomed to more than 6,060, exceeding the total number of SARS cases in that country during the 2002-2003 epidemic. There were 5,327 SARS cases in China and 8,000 across the world between Nov. 1, 2002, and July 31, 2003, according to the World Health Organization. British Airways has stopped all direct flights to and from mainland China because of the coronavirus outbreak. The airline said the suspension would be implemented “with immediate effect” following the viral outbreak that has caused 132 deaths and infected more than 6,000 people. The chief executive of Novartis believes it will take at least 12 months to find a new vaccine to treat the coronavirus, with the fast-spreading nature of the outbreak a threat that must be taken “really seriously.” General Motors, the largest U.S. automaker in China, told employees there that it will keep its Chinese factories shut down through Feb. 9, a company spokesman said in an email to CNBC. China’s factories have been closed as part of a nationwide manufacturing break to celebrate the Lunar New Year, but were originally due to reopen this week. Chinese officials have extended the plant shutdown to Feb. 9 as the nation tries to contain the coronavirus outbreak. GM’s decision follows on Honda’s announcement late Tuesday that it was keep motorcycle factories in China closed to Feb. 9. Automakers across the globe have been evacuating employees and restricting travel to China.

10-Year-Old Boy Raises Fears Wuhan Virus Could Spread Undetected – The case of a 10-year-old boy who was diagnosed with the Wuhan coronavirus even though he showed no symptoms is raising concern that people may be spreading the virus undetected by the front-line screening methods implemented to contain the epidemic. The boy was part of a family who visited relatives in the central Chinese city over the New Year. While his parents and grandparents fell ill and were treated after they returned to their hometown, the 10-year-old appeared healthy and was only diagnosed with the virus after his parents insisted he too was tested, his doctors said, adding that he “was shedding virus without symptoms.” “You may have mild disease spreaders that would be feeding sort of a community outbreak and they don’t go to hospital because they don’t feel that bad,” said Ralph Baric, professor of microbiology and immunology at the Gillings School of Global Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, who has studied coronaviruses for decades and warned about their threat before the 2003 SARS outbreak. The boy’s case, published Jan. 24 in the Lancet medical journal, was the first to demonstrate person-to-person and health-care associated spread of the newly identified virus, dubbed 2019-nCoV. The asymptomatic infection has fueled concern the pathogen, which has already spread to 15 countries and infected close to 6,000 people, may turn out to be harder to detect and contain than SARS, the similar pneumonia-like illness that erupted into a global epidemic. While both the boy’s parents were infected, each had a normal body temperature when they sought treatment. Later, the virus spread to a sixth relative who hadn’t traveled. Similar patterns are appearing outside China. Four cases in Germany were linked to a company training event that was attended by a colleague visiting from China who had no symptoms of disease during her stay.

Citizen Journalist Exposes The Brutal Truth- China Is Losing The Battle In Wuhan – Over the past week, millions of Chinese have been worrying about the safety of friends and relatives trapped in Hubei and Wuhan. Most suspect that Chinese censors have been blocking some of the more dispiriting details of the crisis, and many believe the real number of deaths and confirmed cases is higher than the government has disclosed. And as the US, UK, Japan and other governments work to evacuate their citizens from the city, fewer reporters are daring to venture out to the hospitals in Wuhan where teams of overwhelmed healthcare workers are fighting along the front lines of the virus. Amid the media blackout, the government in Beijing has enlisted the WHO to help assuage the worries of a skeptical public that has already been exposed to videos depicting what appear to be bodies piled up in hospital corridors. Recently, one self-styled ‘citizen journalist’ traveled to Wuhan to try and document the situation on the ground. What he discovered was even more alarming than he had feared: By quarantining the city, the government in Beijing had basically condemned the people of Wuhan to battle the virus on their own. Hospitals are so overwhelmed, that people with obvious symptoms of the virus are still being turned away. Some severely ill people have been forced to visit five or six hospitals before being accepted for testing and treatment. Residents who don’t live within walking distance of a hospital treating virus victims have few options. Each district reportedly only has four volunteer taxis picking up patients and bringing them to the hospital to be tested. Streets are closed, and public transportation has been shuttered. So if patients cant’ get a taxi, they might be stuck walking many miles to a hospital. Even more alarming: Hospitals in Wuhan have struggled with dire shortages of testing kits. Some only have ~100 kits per day, dramatically slowing the process of confirming new cases of the virus. It’s just the latest sign that the true number of infections in China is much higher than the numbers that have been released by the government.

Thai Government Admits Unable To Stop Spread Of Coronavirus – At least one establishment government is finally admitting that the ruling class of the world is going to be unable to stop the spread of the coronavirus. While globalists desperately attempt to craft a vaccine and save the day, other rulers think it could be too late. According to the Daily Mail, Thailand’s government admits it’s “unable to stop” the spread of the coronavirus. The virus has already proven deadly and could be spreading much more rapidly than mainstream media and establishment ruling classes are willing to admit. Health minister Anutin Charnvirakul said there are too many Chinese visitors to stop the virus from spreading. At least 22,000 people from Wuhan are believed to have visited Thailand in January alone. With 14 confirmed cases of the disease, Thailand is the worst-affected nation outside of China. According to the Daily Mail‘s numbers, almost 4,600 people have caught the Wuhan coronavirus around the world so far, and 106 have died in China. “Our target is we will be able to detect all carriers entering Thailand and we will apply necessary measures as the situation develops,” said Charnvirakul. “Of course, we expect more people to get sick but we aren’t able to identify all of them.”

American Airlines cancels some China service for more than a month as coronavirus spreads – American Airlines on Wednesday joined rival United in suspending some of its service to China as the coronavirus spreads and demand for those routes drop sharply. The Fort Worth-based carrier is canceling its flights from Los Angeles to Shanghai and to Beijing from Feb. 9 through March 27. American will continue to operate its China service from Dallas-Fort Worth and from Los Angeles to Hong Kong in that period. American’s reservations agents “will contact affected customers directly by email or telephone,” the airline said. “We will continue to review our flight schedules to ensure we can accommodate the needs of our customers and will make updates as needed.” American’s Pacific-region revenue had been falling before the outbreak of coronavirus and the area is a small part of the airline’s sales overall. The company last week reported Pacific-region revenues dropped 9% last year to $1.5 billion, which equaled less than 4% of total passenger revenue. Airlines, including American and United, have said they’ve seen a sharp drop in demand for China routes and are scrambling to adjust their schedules as the number of infections grows. Cathay Pacific and Air Canada have also said they would reduce service to mainland China due to the virus. British Airways earlier Wednesday said it canceled its service to Shanghai and Beijing from London.

U.S., Japan pull nationals from China, big virus economic hit forecast – (Reuters) – The United States and Japan evacuated their nationals from a quarantined city on Wednesday while British Airways suspended flights to mainland China where deaths from a virus leapt to 133 and major economic impact was predicted. Beijing’s plans to slay the “devil” coronavirus may have won the trust of the World Health Organization (WHO), but confirmation of another 1,459 cases – taking the total to 5,974 in China – only fueled global public alarm. Deaths from the flu-like virus also rose by 27 to 133. Almost all have been in the central province of Hubei, the capital of which is Wuhan, where the virus emerged last month in a live wild animal market. The situation remained “grim and complex”, Chinese President Xi Jinping acknowledged. In many Chinese cities, streets were largely deserted with the few who ventured out wearing masks. Starbucks coffee shops required people to have temperatures taken and masks on. “It’s my first time here in Asia, I feel very unlucky,” said Brazilian tourist Amanda Lee, 23, cutting short a trip. “I couldn’t even see the places I wanted, like the Great Wall.” There was relief, however, among those evacuated from Hubei province, home to about 60 million people and under virtual lockdown. “I was extremely worried that I was stuck there,” said Takeo Aoyama, who arrived in Tokyo on a chartered plane carrying 206 Japanese out of Wuhan, with more flights planned.

Hong Kong unions threaten strikes in push for border closure to curb virus (Reuters) – Trade unions in Hong Kong, including hospital and rail workers, are threatening to go on strike unless the government closes the border with mainland China to stop the spread of a new coronavirus that has sent jitters around the world. While Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam has ordered the suspension of the high-speed rail service between the city and mainland China from midnight on Thursday and all cross-border ferry services, the unions said it was not enough. “Front-line colleagues are in a panic as they are exposed to high risk of getting the virus while at work,” said Railway Power, which represents about 500 workers from metro operator MTR Corp. The Hospital Authority Employees Alliance (HAEA) said it welcomed the steps the government had taken but wanted it to close the entire border and would meet on Saturday to discuss what more action it could take. “There is still a considerable distance from our goal of full-scale preventive measures of infection control,” the union said in a statement. Chris Cheung, treasurer of the HAEA, which has more than 18,000 members, said many of them planned to begin phased strike action next week unless their demands were met. The former British colony has confirmed 10 cases of the coronavirus, with one person in critical condition. The epicentre of the outbreak is the central Chinese city of Wuhan, where it is believed to have jumped to humans from an animal in an illegal wildlife market.

Australians will need to pay $1000 to be evacuated from Wuhan – Australians trapped at the heart of the coronavirus outbreak will have to pay up to $1000 to be evacuated from the Chinese city of Wuhan to be quarantined on Christmas Island. The Morrison government is in high-level negotiations with Beijing to dispatch a Qantas jet to rescue hundreds of Australian nationals from Wuhan. The death toll from the virus surged by 28 per cent on Thursday, up to 170 victims from 132. There are now 7000 confirmed cases, mostly in China. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has begun contacting Australians stuck in Hubei province to inform them what they will need to do to get on the emergency flight, expected to arrive in Wuhan within days. According to evacuees, they will have to pay $1000 and sign a waiver allowing them to be quarantined at the Christmas Island detention centre for up to 14 days. After their stay on Christmas Island, they will be dropped off in Perth and have to pay their own way to their city of residence. As fears escalated for the more than 600 Australians trapped in Hubei province, Qantas and the government were on Thursday locked in talks on how to execute the evacuation plan. The design of the Christmas Island runway means the biggest Qantas plane available – the Boeing 747 – cannot land on the island with a full passenger load. As of Thursday afternoon, the government was considering the option of transporting the evacuees to the Australian mainland – possibly Darwin – before transferring them to a military aircraft and then to Christmas Island. “That’s all been rehearsed – the Army and Border Force have gone through all of that detail,” Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton said. Mr Dutton defended the plan to send the Australian citizens to the detention centre. “I can’t clear out a hospital in Sydney or Melbourne to isolate people,” he said. The deliberations come after three Japanese citizens who returned from Wuhan on a government-chartered flight on Wednesday were confirmed to be infected with the coronavirus. The US has also expatriated citizens and will quarantine them at a military base in California for three days. Australia has yet to receive any official clearance from China for the evacuation after Foreign Minister Marise Payne and China’s Foreign Minister, Wang Yi, discussed the operation on Wednesday.

Australia to quarantine coronavirus evacuees on Christmas Island – Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison told a news conference Wednesday the country’s national airline Qantas would evacuate “isolated and vulnerable” Australians at risk from coronavirus in China and quarantine them on Christmas Island. Authorities would prioritize evacuating children and elderly people in the virus-hit city of Wuhan to the island, an Australian territory some 870 miles from Indonesia notorious for its now-closed refugee detention center. Citizens would also be evacuated from China’s Hubei province, Morrison said. It’s a joint evacuation with New Zealand, which has about 50 affected citizens. Australia has 600.

“We see people getting sick around us”: foreigners trapped in Wuhan – US citizens were preparing to escape from Wuhan on Tuesday evening during the first evacuation flight to leave the center of the coronavirus epidemic in China. But thousands of foreigners from other countries remain trapped in the stricken city. They include football coaches, airline pilots, teachers and students who had found a home in central China while its economy was booming. Divyank Parekh, a 20-year-old student, said he was one of 50 Indian students who stayed in dormitories at Wuhan University Medical School. “We are very concerned because we see people getting sick around us,” said Parekh. “We called the Indian consulate hotline several times, but they told us to wait. We don’t know how long it will take them to help us. ” I just want to share our story so that I can try to safely take my wife, son and unborn child out According to official statistics, Wuhan and the surrounding Hubei province are home to tens of thousands of long-time foreign workers and students. Many were unable to leave after the local government closed the airport, public transport and road links last week in an attempt to contain the virus. The authorities have given no indication of when the measures will be lifted. There are now 5,974 cases in China, of which 1,239 are seriously ill, state media reported on Wednesday. China also reported 26 new overnight deaths, including 25 in Hubei, bringing the death toll to 132. So far, the United States, Japan, France and South Korea are the only countries that have confirmed flight schedules to evacuate citizens by air. The EU has confirmed the evacuation of “more than 100” citizens. France has declared that its citizens will be kept in quarantine after their repatriation. Japanese citizens will be examined medically before boarding the evacuation flight and will be asked to monitor their health for two weeks after their return. Other countries, including Britain, Australia, Germany and Italy, said they were planning evacuations, but did not provide details. The expatriates called their embassies and consulates for information but were frustrated with the response. “We did not have specific information about the evacuation. It was a very difficult time, “said Giuseppe, an Italian national who works in a ceramic company in Wuhan.

White House tells airlines it may suspend all China-US flights amid coronavirus outbreak– White House officials have told U.S. airlines the Trump administration is considering suspending flights from China to the U.S. amid an escalating outbreak of a new coronavirus that has infected thousands of people across the world, people familiar with the matter said.The Trump administration is looking at a variety of measures to contain the fast-spreading virus, U.S. health officials told reporters on a conference call Tuesday. White House officials called executives at major U.S. carriers on Tuesday, telling them that a temporary ban on China flights is on the table, according to people familiar with those conversations.As of Tuesday evening, the Trump administration had not taken that step and there was no guarantee that it would do so.Two of the people said the White House told them it doesn’t immediately plan to ban China air travel, but administration officials are constantly evaluating the situation. United Airlines, which has the most service of the U.S. airlines to Hong Kong and mainland China with about a dozen daily flights, on Tuesday announced it would cancel dozens of flights next month to Hong Kong and mainland China as the outbreak worsens. The Chicago-based airline said it has experienced a “significant decline in demand for travel to China.” United and its rivals Deltaand American are waiving cancellation and change fees for travelers booked to China.The restrictions could affect flights into and out of China, as well as airports across the United States, administration officials said. They declined to be named because no final decision has been made.

White House holds off on suspending China-U.S. flights amid virus outbreak (Reuters) – The White House on Tuesday opted not to suspend flights from China to the United States as it discussed ways to deal with the coronavirus outbreak, sources briefed on the matter told Reuters. The Trump administration told U.S. airlines after a meeting that it was not taking the step of canceling flights, airline and government officials told Reuters. The administration is holding daily meetings on the coronavirus and has considered a wide range of potential options. Two U.S. officials said the administration had not taken any options off the table, including a temporary ban on flights, if public health data supported the move. On Monday, Republican Senator Tom Cotton urged the administration to immediately halt commercial flights from China to the United States. Airlines including United Airlines Holdings Inc have said they are canceling some flights to China as demand has fallen sharply, and global companies have told their employees not to travel on deepening fears over the spread of the flu-like virus. The coronavirus that originated in the city of Wuhan has killed 132 people in China and spread across the world, rattling financial markets.

5 People in U.S. Test Positive for Deadly Coronavirus and Trump Admin Could Be Unprepared to Fight It -As a new coronavirus continues to spread across the globe, concerns have emerged that Trump administration cuts to science and health agencies have hampered the U.S. ability to respond. The virus, which emerged in Wuhan, China at the end of last year, has killed 132 people as of Wednesday morning’s reporting by The New York Times. China has confirmed 5,974 cases and the disease has spread to 16 other countries and Hong Kong. There have been five confirmed cases in the U.S., and people who had not traveled to China have fallen sick in Taiwan, Germany, Japan and Vietnam. Yet the outbreak comes after a decade of funding cuts has left the U.S. with 50,000 fewer public health employees than it had in 2008, The Nation pointed out. And some have argued that President Donald Trump is uniquely unqualified to handle the emerging disease. “Trump’s demonstrated failures of judgment and his repeated rejection of science make him the worst possible person to lead our country through a global health challenge,” former Vice President and current presidential candidate Joe Biden wrote in an opinion piece for USA Today. Biden pointed to Trump’s proposal to cut funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Agency for International Development. While CNN pointed outthat the final budget Trump signed in December actually increased NIH funding by billions of dollars, the administration has overseen several cuts to public health funding during its tenure.It slashed the Prevention and Public Health Fund (PPHF), which funds state and local health agencies, two times, Common Dreams reported. Its 2017 tax cuts deducted $750 million from the fund and the final 2018 budget set in motion plans to reduce the fund by $1 billion over ten years. The administration also diverted millions from the CDC and NIH in 2018. However, the attacks on the PPHF began before Trump: President Barack Obama signed a bill in 2012 that siphoned more than $6 billion from its budget to pay Medicare physicians.

CDC Confirms First Case of Human To Human Transmission Of Coronavirus in The United States – The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has confirmed the first case of human to human transmission of the deadly coronavirus in the United States. Reports have indicated that the illness was carried by a woman who returned from China earlier this month after caring for her sick father in the city of Wuhan during late December when widespread reports of the illness were beginning to pop up in the region. The woman is in her 60s and she returned from China to her home in Chicago on January 13th where she transmitted the virus to her husband. This is the first case of human to human transmission reported in the United States, but health officials are also concerned about the other people who she may have come into contact with throughout the month, according to the Chicago Tribune. This is the second case that has been confirmed in Illinois, and the sixth case in the United States. Cases of human to human transmission have also been reported in Germany, Vietnam, Taiwan, and Japan. Both the woman and her husband are currently hospitalized and in stable condition, but their age leaves them at very high risk. Dr. Jennifer Layden, chief medical officer and state epidemiologist at the Illinois Department of Public Health said that the woman is doing well but is still being hospitalized “primarily for isolation.”

2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV), Wuhan, China – CDC Resource page.

WHO to reconsider declaring global emergency as China virus evacuations begin – (Reuters) – Foreign governments flew their citizens out of the epicentre of China’s coronavirus outbreak on Wednesday, as the number of deaths jumped to 133 and the World Health Organization voiced “grave concern” about person-to-person spread in three other countries. The WHO said its Emergency Committee would reconvene behind closed doors on Thursday to decide whether the rapid spread of the new virus from China now constitutes a global emergency. “In the last few days the progress of the virus especially in some countries, especially human-to-human transmission, worries us,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a news conference in Geneva, naming Germany, Vietnam and Japan. “Although the numbers outside China are still relatively small, they hold the potential for a much larger outbreak.” There have been 6,065 cases of the flu-like virus in 15 countries worldwide – all but around 70 in China – according to the latest WHO figures. All the deaths so far have been in China, where the National Health Commission said there had been 132 fatalities as of end-Tuesday. Another death was reported in Sichuan province on Wednesday. The situation remained “grim and complex”, said Chinese President Xi Jinping, who on Tuesday had vowed to defeat the “devil” virus. U.S. President Donald Trump said he had spoken to Xi and his administration was working closely with China on containing the outbreak.

Wuhan coronavirus accelerates while concerns over limited resources may prove catastrophic – According to China’s CDC, over 30,000 people are being observed for possible Coronavirus infection. As of this writing, there have been 5,974 confirmed infections and 132 deaths in mainland China, predominately at the epicenter of the epidemic, in Hubei Province. In all, 6,053 people have been infected worldwide, with Germany confirming their first case and France three. In the US, though there are only five confirmed cases, more than 100 individuals across 22 states are being monitored. There is one confirmed case in Canada. Chinese authorities’ revelations drove the market’s panic and sell-off on Monday when they disclosed that approximately 5 million residents left Wuhan before the citywide lockdown was enforced. Health officials and epidemiologists predict that there may be one infected individual for every 500 to 600 people. In other words, possibly close to 9,000 people who left Wuhan may be harboring the virus without knowing it. Epidemiologic models constructed by MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis indicate that, on average, each case has infected 2.6 other people, meaning that control measures need to block over 60 percent of transmissions to be effective in containing the outbreak. In a press conference on Sunday, the mayor of Wuhan city, Zhou Xianwang, said that health officials have warned that the virus’s ability to spread was getting stronger. Ma Xiaowei, the minister in charge of China’s National Health Commission (NHC), endorsed these speculations at a press conference on Monday: “Signs are showing the virus is becoming more transmissible. These walking ‘contagious agents’ [asymptomatic carriers of the virus] make controlling the outbreak a lot more difficult.” In another statement, Minister Xiaowei said, “The epidemic is now entering a more serious and complex period. It looks like it will continue for some time, and the number of cases may increase.” In less than one month, the present epidemic has affected more than 5,500 people and will certainly surpass those affected by the SARS coronavirus, highlighting the rapid spread and contagious aspect of this epidemic. The fatality case in the present epidemic stands at 2.35 percent. There are more than 13 cities in essential lockdown in China, affecting more than 56 million people. Infectious diseases specialist and director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security told the New York Times, “If you continue to quarantine more and more places in China, you’re going to start to break normal societal interaction, normal movement of goods and people and medical supplies and food and medicine. At a macro level, it seems to me that it’s more likely to be harmful than helpful in controlling the epidemic.”

WHO declares global emergency as China virus death toll reaches 170 (Reuters) – The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday it was declaring the coronavirus outbreak that has killed 170 people in China a global emergency, as cases spread to at least 18 countries. The vast majority of the more than 7,800 cases detected globally, according to the latest WHO data, have been in China, where the virus originated in an illegal wildlife market in the city of Wuhan. But nearly 100 cases have emerged in other countries, spurring cuts to travel, outbreaks of anti-China sentiment in some places and a surge in demand for protective face masks. In Hubei province – of which Wuhan is the capital – some 60 million people are living under virtual lockdown as China seeks to contain the epidemic. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director-general, praised China’s response in a news conference in Geneva but said the WHO was concerned about the virus spreading to countries that did not have the resources to deal with it. “The main reason for this declaration is not because of what is happening in China but because of what is happening in other countries. Our greatest concern is the potential for the virus to spread to countries with weaker health systems,” he said. The move will trigger tighter containment and information-sharing guidelines to all countries, but may disappoint Beijing, which had expressed confidence it can beat the “devil” virus. Experts are particularly concerned about person-to-person transmission cases outside China, which suggest greater potential for the virus to spread further. The United States became the fourth country to report such a case on Thursday. Officials from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the flu-like virus was confirmed in a man in Illinois, bringing the total number of U.S. cases to six. The man’s wife, who was also infected, had previously travelled to China, but he had not. “The vast majority of cases outside China have a history of travel to Wuhan or history of contact with someone with a travel history to Wuhan,” said Teros.

WHO Declares Emergency; Cruise Passengers Cleared: Virus Update – The World Health Organization called the outbreak of coronavirus in China a global health emergency, citing the risk that the sometimes-deadly virus could expand to other countries beyond the smattering of cases outside China so far. The declaration comes hours after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported the first case of human-to-human transmission of the coronavirus in the U.S., in a woman who traveled to China and then infected her husband. As confirmed cases in China have topped 8,000, nations are taking drastic measures to stop the virus’s spread. Key Developments:

• Recap Bloomberg’s live blog of the WHO press conference here
• Automakers to likely cut China production by 15%, supplier says
• Italian cruise ship will stay in port for now, despite negative diagnosis
• What a WHO Global Health Emergency Means: QuickTake
• Bloomberg is tracking the outlook here | Click here to view on terminal

Cruise Passengers Can Depart After Negative Test (4:21 p.m. NY): Passengers will be allowed to leave a cruise ship that was quarantined in Italy, after a woman with coronavirus symptoms tested negative for the disease. The Costa Smeralda and the 7,000 people on board had been barred from leaving an Italian port while the case was investigated. Cruise operator Carnival Corp. said Italian health authorities had diagnosed the 54-year-old passenger with the flu. Passengers will be allowed to disembark if they like, or can carry on with the ship as it continues its voyage, the company said.

Martenson Fumes- The W.H.O. Just Prioritized Money Over Human Life — Yesterday, the World Health Organization (W.H.O.) declared that the Wuhan coronavirus is indeed now a pandemic. Scary news, right? Well…not if you kept listening. The W.H.O. then proceeded to downplay the risk to public health and took pains to make it clear it doesn’t recommend placing restrictions on global trade & travel at this time.What?!? When we may be in dealing with a viral outbreak as (or more!) virulent than the Spanish Flu? (aka The Great Influenza)Folks, this is nothing less than a political decision to keep business/commerce flowing without regard to public health.The W.H.O. has chosen money over people’s lives:As an aside, this is not the first time that WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has potentially not told the ‘whole truth’. As The NY Times reports, he was accused in 2017 of covering up three cholera epidemics in his home country, Ethiopia, when he was health minister.

Cripes. Coronavirus number rockets again – And it is getting worse faster. From China: At 04:00 on January 29, 31 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps reported 1737 new confirmed cases (the first confirmed case in Tibet), 131 new severe cases, and 38 new deaths. (37 cases in Hubei and 1 in Sichuan), 21 new cases were cured and discharged, and 4148 suspected cases were added. As of 24:00 on January 29, the National Health and Health Commission has received a cumulative report of 7711 confirmed cases, 31 cases of severe cases, 170 death cases, and a total of 170 patients who have been cured and discharged. There were 124 cases with 12,167 suspected cases. At present, 88,693 close contacts have been tracked. Of the 2,364 people who were released from medical observation on the same day, a total of 81,947 people are receiving medical observation. A total of 25 confirmed cases were reported in Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan: 10 in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, 7 in the Macao Special Administrative Region, and 8 in Taiwan. Mortality rate holding above 2%. Tomorrow it will surpass SARS in aggregate infections. It is out of control and very soon so will be the economic fallout.

Coronavirus Is No Ebola, and That Presents a Different Problem – Ebola kills half of the people who get it. China’s last worrying viral outbreak, SARS, killed 10%. The new coronavirus that originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan appears far less fatal, with about 2% of the 6,000 confirmed cases dying. For many, the illness is about as serious as a cold or flu. That seems like good news, but it’s exactly what worries the scientists and public health experts who study infectious disease ranging from the terrifying to the mundane. “These hot viruses are very scary and very deadly, but unless they land in the middle of Heathrow Airport or another densely populated place, they aren’t likely to be long-lasting,” said Jennifer Rohn, head of the center for urological biology at the University College London and an expert in pandemics. “They burn fast, and burn through the population. A virus needs a host to survive.” In an epidemiological twist of fate, the coronavirus’s mildness may help it spread undetected until it hits the most vulnerable people. Experts are concerned that it could find a devastating “sweet spot” – mild enough that some patients will go about their normal routines and spread the virus far and wide, triggering an increase in deaths. And if some patients may spread the virus when they have mild or no symptoms at all, as Chinese officials have asserted, that would undercut efforts to halt transmission. The coronavirus has been compared to the flu, which every year infects 10 million to 50 million people in the U.S., leaving tens of thousands of people dead, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It’s a mild-mannered serial killer. The aggressive response to the coronavirus is meant to stop the new pathogen from becoming a deadlier copycat. “A relatively mild virus can cause a lot of damage if a lot of people get it,” Michael Ryan, director of the World Health Organization’s Emergencies Programme, said at a briefing Wednesday.

China reports 9,692 confirmed cases of new virus, death toll rises to 213 – The World Health Organization has declared the outbreak sparked by a new virus in China that has spread to more than a dozen countries a global emergency after the number of cases spiked more than tenfold in a week, including the record number of deaths in 24 hours reported Friday. China counted 9,692 confirmed cases with a death toll of 213, including 43 new fatalities. The vast majority of the cases have been in Hubei province and its provincial capital, Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak. No deaths have been reported outside China. The U.N. health agency defines an international emergency as an “extraordinary event” that constitutes a risk to other countries and requires a coordinated international response.

This photo of a man lying dead in a Wuhan street shows the reality of the coronavirus outbreak -A grey-haired man wearing a face mask lies dead on the pavement at ground zero of China’s coronavirus epidemic, a plastic shopping bag in one hand. On what would typically be a crowded street in Wuhan, an industrial city of 11 million under quarantine, there are only a few passersby and they dare not go near him. Agence France-Presse (AFP) journalists saw the body on Friday, not long before an emergency vehicle arrived carrying police and medical staff in full-body protective suits. The man lay straight on his back in front of a closed furniture store. Medical staff in blue overalls gently shrouded his body with a blue blanket. The ambulance left, and police stacked supermarket cardboard boxes to hide the scene. AFP could not determine how the man, who appeared to be aged in his 60s, had died. AFP contacted police and local health officials afterwards but could not get details on his case. But the reaction of the police and medical staff in hazmat suits, as well as some of the bystanders, highlighted the fear pervading the city. A woman standing near the man, wearing pink pyjamas and a Mao cap, said she believed he had died from the virus. “It’s terrible,” she said. “These days many people have died.” The virus, which emerged late last year, has claimed at least 213 lives and infected almost 10,000 people in China, with at least 159 deaths in Wuhan alone.

100,000 Chinese “Under Observation” As Coronavirus Deaths Soar; State Dept Issues “Do Not Travel” To China” Advisory – Summary:

• First human-to-human transmission confirmed in US
• 9,821 confirmed cases worldwide, 213 fatalities
• South Korea confirms first human-to-human transmission
• China reported largest one-day jump in fatalities on Wednesday with
• Hong Kong warns of surgical mask shortage
• Russia closes border
• 6,000 quarantined aboard Italian cruise ship
• Thailand leads with most cases outside China (14)
• Chinese national hospitalized and quarantined in York
• Virus arrives in India, Philippines
• Air France suspends flights to/from mainland
• IMF now monitoring crisis as economic fears grow
• State Department authorizes personnel to evacuate China
• WHO declares global pandemic
• American Airlines pilots union files lawsuit to end travel to China
• First 2 cases confirmed in Italy
• Germany confirms 5th case
• Turkish Airlines suspends China routes

Update (2100ET): Nearly two weeks since the start of the Coronavirus epidemic, which has now resulted in over 100,000 Chinese being placed under observation, and over 210 people dead, the US finally did the right thing when late on Thursday the U.S. State Department warned Americans not to travel to China because of the spreading coronavirus outbreak.”Do not travel to China due to novel coronavirus first identified in Wuhan, China. On January 30, the World Health Organization has determined the rapidly spreading outbreak constitutes a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. Travelers should be prepared for travel restrictions to be put into effect with little or no advance notice. Commercial carriers have reduced or suspended routes to and from China.” The new travel advisory was issued hours after the World Health Organization declared the outbreak a global health emergency. “Those currently in China should consider departing using commercial means,” the department said in the advisory.

US advises against travel to China; virus declared emergency (AP) – The U.S. advised against all travel to China on Friday after the World Health Organization declared the outbreak of a new virus that has spread to more than a dozen countries a global emergency. The number of cases spiked more than tenfold in a week, including the highest death toll in a 24-hour period reported Friday. The State Department’s travel advisory told Americans currently in China to consider departing using commercial means, and requested that all non-essential U.S. government personnel defer travel “in light of the novel coronavirus.” China counted 9,692 confirmed cases with a death toll of 213, including 43 new fatalities. The vast majority of the cases have been in Hubei province and its provincial capital, Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak. No deaths have been reported outside China. Meanwhile, China’s foreign ministry said it will send charter flights to bring home residents of Hubei from overseas. The one-sentence statement gave few details, but said those from Hubei and especially Wuhan would be sent directly back to Wuhan as soon as possible in light of the “practical difficulties” they were encountering. China has placed more than 50 million people in the region under virtual quarantine, while foreign countries have cut back severely on travel to the country and quarantined those who recently passed through Wuhan. The virus is believed to have a two-week incubation period, during which those infected can pass on the illness even if they show no symptoms such as fever and cough. In the seven days ending at midnight Thursday, the National Health Commission reported 596 cases have been “cured and discharged from hospital.”

Coronavirus Death Toll Hits 257 As Confirmed Cases Top 10,000 — Summary:

• New York Post reports first Coronavirus case in Queen, but NYC health spokesman denies.
• Confirmed cases top 10k from 7,700 a day earlier, with 257 fatalities.
• UK Researchers suggests 75,800 infected in Wuhan
• Impact of virus “not fully reflected” in rigged China PMI number
• Goldman disagrees with Ross, says virus blowback will wipe 0.4% off US GDP growth
• ‘The U.K. health department confirmed two cases of coronavirus in England on Friday, while the U.S. and Japan advised citizens to avoid traveling to China.
• UK confirms first two coronavirus cases after multiple scares
• Hong Kong schools shuttered until March 2
• Singapore closes borders to Chinese travelers, first southeast Asian nation to do so.
• More than 43 airlines cancel flights to China
• France successfully evacuates citizens
• 1,000 suspected virus cases ‘under observation’ in India
• Confirmed cases near 10,000 as Russia confirms 2
• JPM cuts global growth forecast
• United and Delta allow pilots to decline trips
• Delta expands China cancellations through April; American also suspends flights
• CDC quarantines Americans
• Canada announces fourth case
• CDC confirms 6th case in US was human to human transmission

* * *Update (1720ET): It’s Saturday morning in Beijing, and that means another wave of updates from Hubei and the rest of China’s virus-stricken provinces.In a major milestone, the number of cases around the world has topped 10k, 2k more than SARS infected during its nearly year-long run, as Hubei reports 1,347 new cases. The death toll in China (also the global death toll) has risen to 257, according to China’s NHC. At present, 6738 cases are still being treated in the hospital (among them: 956 cases of severe illness and 338 cases of critical illness), all of them are receiving isolation treatment at designated medical institutions. A total of 41,075 close contacts have been tracked, and 36,838 people are still undergoing medical observation.

US bans foreign nationals from entry over coronavirus – The Trump administration’s Health and Human Services Secretary, Alex Azar, announced yesterday that he had declared the Wuhan Coronavirus a public health emergency in the United States. The order will go into effect beginning at 5:00 p.m. on February 2. It means that any American citizen who had been in China’s Hubei province in the past 14 days will be placed under a mandatory 14 days quarantine if they travel back to the US. Additionally, Azar declared: “Foreign nationals, other than the immediate family of US citizens and permanent residents, who have traveled in China in the last 14 days will be denied entry into the United States.” Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of the National Center for Immunizations and Respiratory Diseases, told reporters at Center for Disease Control and Prevention conference: “The CDC under the statutory authority of the HHS secretary has issued federal quarantine orders for all 195 passengers” who were evacuated from Wuhan. “While we recognize this is an unprecedented action, we are facing an unprecedented public health threat.” The people are presently being held at the March Air Reserve Base in Riverside County, California. The last time the US health officials issued a mandatory quarantine was for a smallpox outbreak that occurred in the 1960s. On Thursday, the first person-to-person transmission was confirmed, the husband of the Chicago woman who acquired the infection when she was visiting Wuhan. Public health officials reported that they are monitoring 21 patients in Illinois. Hospitals and medical centers are being briefed on protocols for handling and reporting of respiratory infections. A person who returned from Wuhan on January 24 has been diagnosed as infected with the virus in Santa Clara County, California. The number infected globally has surpassed 10,000 individuals. This is an increase of 2,000 over 24 hours, with an additional 45 deaths, all in Hubei province, bringing the number fatalities across China to 258 thus far. Currently, more than 20 countries and territories outside of mainland China have confirmed cases. Every province in China has been affected. The United Kingdom has now confirmed two individuals infected with the novel coronavirus. Though it remains to be determined, some economists have predicted that the outbreak will cause China’s growth rate to drop by two percentage points this quarter. In real economic terms, this means an expected loss of $62 billion. The People’s Bank of China has ensured that there is sufficient liquidity in the financial markets when they reopen after the Lunar New Year holiday period. To place this in context, the World Bank estimated that the 2003 SARS epidemic cost some $54 billion.

CDC issues mandatory quarantine for first time in more than 50 years to Wuhan passengers in California – U.S. health officials have quarantined 195 Americans evacuated from Wuhan, China, taking the rare step of issuing a mandatory order for the first time in more than 50 years to help contain an outbreak of a new coronavirus that’s spread to roughly 10,000 people across the globe.”CDC under statutory authority of the HHS secretary has issued federal quarantine orders for all 195 passengers,” Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said on a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention conference call with reporters Friday. “While we recognize this is an unprecedented action, we are facing an unprecedented public health threat.”VIDEO21:36President Trump’s coronavirus task force holds briefing on the outbreakTrump administration officials later said they were and issuing mandatory quarantines for any U.S. citizens who have visited Hubei province, where Wuhan is located, in the last 14 days. Travel restrictions were also being issued for anyone who visited elsewhere in mainland China over the previous two weeks. The administration plans to deny entry to foreign nationals who “pose a risk of transmitting” the virus in the U.S., administration officials said at a news conference a few hours after the CDC’s call.”Any U.S. citizen returning to the United States who has been in the Hubei province in the previous 14 days will be subject to up to 14 days of mandatory quarantine to ensure they’re provided proper medical care and health screening,” Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said.The new coronavirus, which was discovered about a month ago, can spread before symptoms show, Messonnier said, citing a new report from the New England Journal of Medicine. The illness has quickly spread throughout mainland China, with 7,000 new cases confirmed over the last week and at least 213 deaths. World health officials previously said the virus is transmitted through human contact, in droplets released by coughing or sneezing and even by touching surfaces with germs.The last time U.S. health officials issued a mandatory quarantine was in the 1960s during a smallpox outbreak, they said.

US will keep tariffs on China even if coronavirus starts hurting growth, Trump advisor Peter Navarro says – White House trade advisor Peter Navarro pushed back Wednesday against the idea that the U.S. would remove tariffs on Chinese imports if the deadly coronavirus begins to weigh on China’s economy.”That’s a spin that’s coming right out of Wall Street, and it really, I think, it does a disservice to this whole crisis to bring that into the discussion,” Navarro said on CNBC’s “Closing Bell.”Navarro was responding to a question from CNBC’s Carl Quintanilla, who asked whether a tariff rollback was on the table if China was abiding by the terms of the “phase one” trade deal but started to see its economy hurt by the coronavirus.The flu-like coronavirus has now killed at least 132 people and infected more than 6,150 people worldwide, but China is the epicenter of the outbreak.Companies in China have shut down stores, factories and closed offices as the country works to contain the spread of the virus. Some have warned of severe disruption to supply chains in China, with at least American CEO predictingthe impact could last up to six months.Navarro’s comments on CNBC come hours after President Donald Trump signed into law the new version of the North American Free Trade Agreement, making Canada the final country that needs to ratify it.The U.S. Senate approved the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement on Jan. 16, one day after Trump formally signed a “phase one” agreement with China.The U.S. and China have been engaging in a long-running trade war in which each side has placed billions of dollars’ worth of tariffs on each other’s goods.The “phase one” deal was considered the first step in larger negotiations to reach a trade détente.While it contained measures on issues such as intellectual property theft and Chinese market access, it did not include a whole-scale rolling back of tariffs, which segments of the business community want to see.”We’re leaving tariffs on, but I will agree to take those tariffs off if we are able to do ‘phase two,'” Trump said at the time.

Coronavirus Could Hinder Beijing’s Ability To Fulfill Phase One Trade Deal – China’s next dilemma will be fulfilling the phase one trade deal, which states they must buy $200 billion in additional products from the U.S. over two years on top of pre-trade war levels, reported the South China Morning Post (SCMP).The outbreak of the deadly virus has dramatically slowed China’s economy, with nearly 57 million people in 15 cities on lockdown for the next several weeks. Factories and transportation networks across much of the country are shut down, which means goods across domestic and international supply chains are not free-flowing in the country. Cases of the deadly virus continue to exponentially rise, as government numbers on Tuesday night show more than 6,000 infected and 132 confirmed deaths. Comparing the deadly virus with the 2003 SARS outbreak – it’s important to note that coronavirus has already surpassed the number of infected by SARS in a few weeks, compared to the nine-month ordeal almost two decades ago. Traders who spoke with SCMP had their doubts that China could hit hard targets of an additional $32 billion agriculture and $52 billion energy pledge over the next two years, mostly because the demand for the goods has collapsed. Also, countries like Brazil and Argentina have eroded U.S. market share in China over the last year with cheaper products. “There are some cities and villages essentially in lockdown, and this will completely hamper the movements of not only people, but also agricultural goods. So hogs that are supposed to be going to the slaughterhouse, will just not be transported,” said Andrei Agapi, associate pricing director for agriculture at S&P Global Platts in Singapore. Large swaths of the country’s industrial complex have been shut down, expected to last for the next several weeks. Currently, there’s no cure, and the spread of the virus is becoming uncontrollable, this could lead to extended shutdowns.

Wilbur Ross Says China’s Coronavirus Outbreak Will Help Bring Jobs Back To America – Anxieties about the knock-on impact to the global economy from the coronavirus outbreak, which appears on track to shave whole percentage points off China’s GDP, have pushed stock futures back into the red Thursday morning. But during an interview with Maria Bartiromo, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross argued that the North American economy may stand to benefit from the outbreak as companies “reevaluate their supply chains” to dial back their reliance on mainland factories, along with the broader region. While Ross insisted that he d idn’t want to appear insensitive, it’s pretty clear to him that the outbreak could help “accelerate the return of jobs to North America.”“First of all, every American’s heart has to go out to the victims of the coronavirus. I don’t want to talk about a victory lap over a very unfortunate very malignant disease. But the fact is, it does give business another thing to consider when they go through their review of their supply chain. On top of all the other things – you had SARS, you had the African swine virus there, now you have this – it’s another risk factor that people need to take into account.”“I think it will help to accelerate the return of jobs to North America, some to the US and some to Mexico as well,” Ross said.Watch the clip below:Secretary Wilbur Ross says coronavirus will be good for [checks notes] American jobs: “I think it will help to accelerate the return of jobs to North America.” pic.twitter.com/Y4SbDIcTi4 – Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 30, 2020Bartiromo conceded that Ross might be on to something. “Ah, that’s a good point,” she responded. While it might sound callous, we’ve heard this argument before: Remember when all the sell-side research departments advised that Hurricane Harvey would help boost GDP in the ensuing quarters?

State Department urges Americans not to travel to China amid coronavirus outbreak – The State Department is urging Americans not to travel to China amid the coronavirus outbreak, which has killed 170 people in China and infected thousands worldwide. The State Department announced Thursday evening that it had elevated its travel advisory to the highest level after the World Health Organization declared the viral outbreak an international public health emergency earlier Thursday. The advisory instructs those in China to consider leaving by commercial travel, adding that the department “has requested that all non-essential U.S. government personnel defer travel to China in light of the novel coronavirus.” The department warns in the advisory that travelers on commercial carriers may face restrictions with little to no notice, noting that several commercial carriers have limited or suspended travel to and from China. The State Department ordered all non-emergency U.S. government personnel and their family members to evacuate from Wuhan, the city at the center of the outbreak, last week. It said it has limited ability to provide services to U.S. citizens in the Hubei province where Wuhan is located. A majority of the 7,834 confirmed coronavirus cases are in China, and the disease has caused nearly 200 deaths thus far. The coronavirus has spread to 18 other countries through 98 other cases, including incidents of human-to-human contraction in Germany, Japan, Vietnam and the U.S. The U.S. reported its its sixth case but first human-to-human transmission Thursday in Chicago, with a patient contracting the virus from his spouse. Airlines like Delta, United and American Airlines have all been decreasing the number of flights between U.S. and China throughout the week. The first congressional hearing on the virus is scheduled for next week in a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee.

Trump imposes travel restrictions, mandatory quarantines over coronavirus outbreak – The Trump administration on Friday declared the coronavirus a public health emergency in the United States, and announced that people who pose a risk of transmitting the disease will temporarily be suspended entry into the U.S. The risk to the American public is “low” at this time, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a Friday briefing at the White House. Yet, officials said they wanted to ensure it would remain a low risk to Americans. The briefing came as markets fell on fears about the fast-spreading virus’ potential economic impact. The briefing included members of President Donald Trump’s coronavirus task force, which includes national security advisor Robert O’Brien, Health Secretary Alex Azar and other leading officials. Earlier Friday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention quarantined 195 Americans who have been evacuated from Wuhan, China. As of Friday afternoon, the coronavirus had infected roughly 10,000 people across the globe. In China, the virus is responsible for at least 213 deaths. Also Friday, U.S. airlines including Delta, United and American announced they would suspend all remaining service to mainland China after a State Department warning put a damper on demand for flights there. Airlines have said ticket sales for China have dropped sharply, a trend that will likely dent their first-quarter revenues. Dozens of other large U.S. corporations, including Apple, Ford and Kraft Heinz, have already restricted their employees’ China business travel or scaled back operations because of the outbreak.

U.S. ramps up anti-coronavirus measures at border as impact spreads – (Reuters) – The United States ramped up its response to the coronavirus epidemic on Friday, declaring a public health emergency and saying it would halt entry to foreign nationals who had been to China within the 14-day incubation period. That measure followed on from an earlier travel advisory that warned Americans not to travel to China and angered Beijing. Originating in the Chinese city of Wuhan, the flu-like virus first identified earlier in January has resulted in 213 deaths in China, according to local health authorities. Wuhan and the surrounding region of Hubei are in virtual quarantine. More than 9,800 people have been infected in China and more than 130 cases reported in at least 25 other countries and regions, with Russia, Britain, Sweden and Italy all reporting their first cases on Thursday or Friday. The World Health Organization said on Thursday that the epidemic constituted a public health emergency of international concern, a designation that triggers tighter global containment measures and coordination. “Following the World Health Organization’s decision… I have today declared that the coronavirus presents a public health emergency in the United States,” U.S. Health Secretary Alex Azar said at a public briefing on Friday afternoon. As of Sunday, U.S. citizens who had been in Hubei would be subject to compulsory quarantine, he said. Foreign nationals – aside from the immediate family of citizens and residents – who had traveled in China in the last 14 days would be denied entry, said Azar.

Trump’s expanded travel ban will hit nearly a fifth of Africa’s population, a continent that he once said is home to ‘s—hole’ countries The Department of Homeland Security announced six new countries that will be added to President Donald Trump’s controversial travel ban, bringing the number of total countries to 13 – including Nigeria, Africa’s largest nation with more than 203 million people, and roughly 16% of Africa’s overall population. The policy means the US will suspend issuing visas that could lead to permanent residence for Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar, Nigeria, and Eritrea, but visas for certain temporary workers, those with special skills, and students would not be affected. Nonimmigrant visas would also not be impacted. “Diversity visas” will be suspended for Tanzania and Sudan. Four of the six new countries are African including Nigeria, Tanzania, Sudan, and Eritrea. Trump reportedly once referred to some African nations, along with Haiti, and El Salvador, as “s—hole” countries, while in a 2018 meeting, The Washington Post reported at the time. “Trump’s comments about African nations being sh*thole countries were not just words. He was foreshadowing actual policy direction,” Karen Attiah, The Post’s Global Opinions Editor tweeted on Friday. Myanmar, which has seen a genocide against the native Rohingya Muslim minority, and Kyrgyzstan also have restrictions. Lawmakers, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi have already voiced their opposition to the ban and called it discriminatory. “The Trump Administration’s expansion of its outrageous, un-American travel ban threatens our security, our values and the rule of law,” Pelosi said in a statement. “The sweeping rule, barring more than 350 million individuals from predominantly African nations from traveling to the United States, is discrimination disguised as policy.” In a press release, DHS said the countries were added to the ban after they failed to meet security criteria, and that they’ve updated the “methodology” used to determine compliance with the security criteria.

Coronavirus Lurking in Feces May Reveal Hidden Risk of Spread – While doctors have focused on respiratory samples from pneumonia cases to identify coronavirus patients, they might have ignored a less apparent and hidden source of the spread: diarrhea. The novel coronavirus was detected in the loose stool of the first U.S. case — a finding that hasn’t featured among case reports from Wuhan, China, the epicenter of the outbreak. However, that doesn’t surprise scientists who have studied coronaviruses, nor doctors familiar with the bug that caused SARS. Diarrhea occurred in about 10-20% of patients afflicted with severe acute respiratory syndrome about 17 years ago and was the source of an explosive SARS outbreak in the Amoy Gardens residential complex in Hong Kong. SARS and Wuhan viruses bind to the same distinctly shaped protein receptors in the body that are expressed in the lungs and intestines, making these organs the primary targets for both viruses, said Fang Li, an associate professor of veterinary and biomedical sciences at the University of Minnesota. The discovery of the Wuhan virus, dubbed 2019-nCoV, in the fecal material of the 35-year-old man treated at the Providence Regional Medical Center Everett in Washington is “interesting,” said Scott Lindquist, the state epidemiologist for infectious disease at Washington’s Department of Health. “That adds to the knowledge about this,” he told reporters on a conference call Friday. “It’s not only excreted in your respiratory secretions, it’s also secreted in your stool.” Researchers don’t yet know how exactly 2019-nCoV spreads from person to person, but suspect it’s most likely from coming into contact with virus-containing droplets that could be emitted by an infected person’s cough and transferred to their hands or surfaces and objects. That’s led to a run on face masks. But those may be of limited benefit in the event the virus is being transmitted via the fecal-oral route, said John Nicholls, a clinical professor of pathology at the University of Hong Kong. Squat latrines, common in China, lacking covers and hands that aren’t washed thoroughly with soap and water after visiting the bathroom could be a source of virus transmission, said Nicholls, who was part of the research team that isolated and characterized the SARS virus.

Pilots, flight attendants demand flights to China stop as virus fear mounts worldwide (Reuters) – Pilots and flight attendants are demanding airlines stop flights to China as health officials declare a global emergency over the rapidly spreading coronavirus, with American Airlines’ pilots filing a lawsuit seeking an immediate halt. China has reported nearly 10,000 cases and 213 deaths, but the virus has spread to 18 countries, mostly, presumably, by airline passengers. The United States has advised its citizens not to travel to China, raising its warning to the same level as those for Iraq and Afghanistan. U.S. airlines, which have been reducing flights to China this week, were reassessing flying plans as a result, according to people familiar with the matter. It is possible the White House could opt to take further action to bar flights to China in coming days, but officials stressed that no decision has been made. The Allied Pilots Association (APA), which represents American Airlines pilots, cited “serious, and in many ways still unknown, health threats posed by the coronavirus” in a lawsuit filed in Texas, where the airline is based. American said it was taking precautions against the virus but had no immediate comment on the lawsuit. On Wednesday, it announced flight cancellations from Los Angeles to Beijing and Shanghai, but is continuing flights from Dallas.

Hong Kong Medical Worker to Strike, Cases Approach 12,000: Virus Update – Apple Inc. said it will close all stores and offices on the Chinese mainland for a week as the number of patients infected with a lethal coronavirus cases jumped by more than 2,000 in a day.More countries restricted travel to China, the U.S. declared a public health emergency in response to the outbreak. Hong Kong medical workers voted to go on strike, demanding more curbs on travel from the mainland. The United Arab Emirates confirmed its fifth case.North Korean leader Kim Jong Un sent a letter to President Xi Jinping of China to express sympathy, the New York Times reported.Chinese regulators unveiled a slew of measures to ensure stability of its $45 trillion financial system ahead of markets re-opening Monday. The country’s confirmed infections topped 11,700, while millions of workers poised to leave their hometowns to return to work in bigger cities after the extended Lunar New Year holiday. China recorded 2,102 new cases for Jan. 31, with 268 new severe cases. There have been 259 deaths so far.

Is This The Man Behind The Global Coronavirus Pandemic-– In light of growing speculation, most of it within less than official circles, that the official theory for the spread of the Coronavirus epidemic, namely because someone ate bat soup at a Wuhan seafood and animal market… … is a fabricated farce, and that the real reason behind the viral spread is because a weaponized version of the coronavirus (one which may have originally been obtained from Canada), was released by Wuhan’s Institute of Virology (accidentally or not), a top, level-4 biohazard lab which was studying “the world’s most dangerous pathogens“, perhaps it would be a good idea for the same Wuhan Institute of Virology to remove the following “help wanted” notice, posted on November 18, 2019, according to which the institute is seeking to hire one or two post-doc fellows, who will use “bats to research the molecular mechanism that allows Ebola and SARS-associated coronaviruses to lie dormant for a long time without causing diseases.” The full job posting, which can still be found on the Wuhan Institute of Virology website can be found here (and screengrabbed below as it will be gone within a few hours). Why is this notable? Because as it turns out, this is a job posting for the lab of Dr. Peng Zhou (周鹏), Ph.D., a researcher at the Wuhan Institute of Virology and Leader of the Bat Virus Infection and Immunization Group. Some more on Zhou’s background from the Institute (google translated): He received his PhD in Wuhan Virus Research Institute in 2010 and has worked on bat virus and immunology in Australia and Singapore. In 2009 , he took the lead in starting the research on the immune mechanism of bat long-term carrying and transmitting virus in the world. So far, he has published more than 30 SCI articles, including the first and corresponding author’s Nature , Cell Host Microbe and PNAS . At present, research on bat virus and immunology is continuing, and it has received support from the National “You Qing” Fund, the pilot project of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the major project of the Ministry of Science and Technology. Which brings us to the punchline: courtesy of the Wuhan institute of virology, here is a press release from Dr. Zhou’s lab titled “How bats carry viruses without getting sick”:Bats are known to harbor highly pathogenic viruses like Ebola, Marburg, Hendra, Nipah, and SARS-CoV, and yet they do not show clinical signs of disease. In a paper published in the journal Cell Hos t & Microbe on February 22, scientists at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China find that in bats, an antiviral immune pathway called the STING-interferon pathway is dampened, and bats can maintain just enough defense against illness without triggering a heightened immune reaction. “We believe there is a balance between bats and the pathogens they carry,” says senior author Peng Zhou. “This work demonstrated that in order to maintain a balance with viruses, bats may have evolved to dampen certain pathways.” “In human history, we have been chasing infectious diseases one after another,” says Zhou, “but bats appear to be a ‘super-mammal’ to these deadly viruses.” By identifying a weakened but not defunct STING pathway, researchers have some new insight into how bats fine-tune antiviral defenses to balance an effective, but not an overt, response against viruses.

Coronavirus Contains HIV Insertions , Stoking Fears Over Artificially Created Bioweapon – Over the past few days, the mainstream press has vigorously pushed back against a theory about the origins of the coronavirus that has now infected as many as 70,000+ people in Wuhan alone (depending on whom you believe). The theory is that China obtained the coronavirus via a Canadian research program, and started molding it into a bioweapon at the Institute of Virology in Wuhan. Politifact pointed the finger at Zero Hedge, in particular, though the story was widely shared across independent-leaning media.The theory is that the virus, which was developed by infectious disease experts to function as a bio-weapon, originated in the Wuhan-based lab of Dr. Peng Zhou, China’s preeminent researcher of bat immune systems, specifically in how their immune systems adapt to the presence of viruses like coronavirus and other destructive viruses. Somehow, the virus escaped from the lab, and the Hunan fish market where the virus supposedly originated is merely a ruse. Now, a respected epidemiologist who recently caught flack for claiming in a twitter threat that the virus appeared to be much more contagious than initially believed is pointing out irregularities in the virus’s genome that suggests it might have been genetically engineered for the purposes of a weapon, and not just any weapon but the deadliest one of all. Dr. Feigl-Ding insists that he’s not trying to promote any ‘conspiracies’ about the virus being a bioweapon developed by the Chinese, although it is difficult to find a proper name for what appears to be an artificial, weaponized virus. TO BE CLEAR: I am absolutely not saying it’s bioengineering, nor am I supporting any conspiracy theories with no evidence. I’m simply saying scientists need to do more research + get more data. And finding the origin of the virus is an important research priority. Goodnight pic.twitter.com/N4Yp2H8Tst – Dr. Eric Feigl-Ding (@DrEricDing) January 28, 2020 Another doctor chimed in with what he thought was a solid explanation for the virus’s irregularities…Dr. @ARanganathan72 might explain. https://t.co/zfOynizRJ6 – Shankara (@fondoflinux) January 31, 2020Sure. 2019-nCoV is a +ve strand RNA virus that enters human cell and first encodes its RNA-replicase to make -ve stranded RNA that serves a template to make +ve strand RNA that is then translated for daughter nCoV. Drugs Lopinavir and Remdesivir target its protease and replicase. – Anand Ranganathan (@ARanganathan72) January 31, 2020 …Until he realized something disturbing. Oh my god. Indian scientists have just found HIV (AIDS) virus-like insertions in the 2019-nCov virus that are not found in any other coronavirus. They hint at the possibility that this Chinese virus was designed [“not fortuitous’]. Scary if true. https://t.co/h6xPX1gYvj pic.twitter.com/kCpd1I00uE – Anand Ranganathan (@ARanganathan72) January 31, 2020 “Scary”… but relax, it’s just another ridiculous “conspiracy.”

Coronavirus Misinformation Is Spreading All Over Social Media – The new coronavirus roiling financial markets and prompting travel bans is taking on a life of its own on the internet, once again putting U.S.-based social media companies on the defensive about their efforts to curb the spread of false or dangerous information. Researchers and journalists have documented a growing number of cases of misinformation about the virus, ranging from racist explanations for the disease’s origin to false claims about miracle cures. Conspiracy theorists, trolls and cynics hoping to use the panic to boost traffic to their own accounts have all contributed to the cloud of bad information. Deadly Wuhan Coronavirus Spreads To Hong Kong Workers clean gates at a Hong Kong High Speed Rail Station on Jan. 29.Photographer: Anthony Kwan/Getty Images “It’s the perfect intersection of fear, racism and distrust of the government and Big Pharma,” said Maarten Schenk, co-founder of the fact-checking site Lead Stories. “People don’t trust the official narrative.” The novel coronavirus, which originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan, has killed 132 people and infected over 6,000, with cases in 19 countries. One set of tweets and Facebook posts from U.S. conspiracy theory accounts said drinking bleach could protect against the virus or even cure it. On YouTube, a series of videos accusing media organizations of suppressing information had hundreds of thousands of views. Fact-checkers, medical experts and academics reviewing coronavirus-related misinformation said some of the most viral hoaxes have concerned vaccines that claim to prevent or cure the disease and that would soon be commercially accessible to the public. Though medical authorities and biotechnology companies have begun researching and developing vaccines, they’re far from being stocked on pharmacy shelves. “Rumors can travel more quickly and more widely than they could” in an era before social media, said Thomas Rid, a professor of strategic studies at Johns Hopkins University, who has a forthcoming book on the history of disinformation. “That of course lends itself to conspiracies spreading more quickly. They spread more widely and they are more persistent in the sense that you can’t undo them.” Mapping the Coronavirus Outbreak Some of the internet traffic and misinformation has been outright racist against Chinese people and Asians in general. Posts attributing the coronavirus to Chinese culinary practices have blown up, and a review of a new Chinese restaurant in Toronto was swarmed by racist trolls. “There’s a lot of misinformation out there, and some of that can be quite dangerous,” Maria Van Kerkhove, head of the World Health Organization’s emerging diseases unit, said at a Wednesday press conference in Geneva.

CNN Is Angry That Too Many White People Are Trying To Stop The Coronavirus Spreading — According to CNN, the real concern about the coronavirus is not the potential for a global pandemic, it’s the fact there are too many white people trying to stop it. That was the message sent by an article posted on the news network’s website entitled ‘Coronavirus task force another example of Trump administration’s lack of diversity’. The two images illustrating the article showed Barack Obama’s circle of advisers during the 2017 Ebola outbreak and President Trump’s advisers during a recent meeting about the coronavirus outbreak. In the photograph showing Trump’s advisers, most of them are, God forbid, white men.Coronavirus task force another example of Trump administration’s lack of diversity | Analysis https://t.co/bs7L1rUZzc pic.twitter.com/MzzoslqZpT – CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) January 30, 2020“Who are these experts?” whined CNN’s Brandon Tensley. “They’re largely the same sorts of white men (and a couple women on the sidelines) who’ve dominated the Trump administration from the very beginning.”Tensley called the image, “a statement that’s as predictable as it is infuriating: President Donald Trump’s administration lacks diversity.”He concludes by complaining about how “Trump values the opinions of: mostly white men who are mirror images of the President himself.”Apparently, wanting to not appear racist is more important than stopping a rapidly spreading global pandemic which has now reached at least 23 countries.This is yet another example of how “diversity” just means ‘less white people’. At its heart is the flagrantly racist premise that people should not be judged on the content of their character but on the color of their skin and that people with white skin should be discriminated against. Respondents on Twitter were incredulous. “When I lay dying of bat soup fever, I want to be able to say that the task force may not have been the most qualified, but goddamn they were a diverse bunch,”

Coronavirus Vaccine Will Take Over A Year To Develop, Warns Big Pharma Exec — Markets soared on Tuesday after the Trump administration pumped out overly optimistic headlines of an early-stage trial for a coronavirus vaccine could start within the next three months. It appears “trade optimism” to save the stock market has turned to “coronavirus cure optimism.” The CEO of Novartis added some color on timelines of a potential vaccine for the deadly virus, which has infected over 6,000 people, with 132 deaths across China. Vas Narasimhan, CEO of Novartis, told CNBC on Wednesday that it could take upwards of one year to find a new vaccine, which he called the outbreak across the world “very serious.” “The reality is, it will take over a year in my expectation to really find a new vaccine for this so, we need to really use epidemiological controls to really get this situation in a better place,” Narasimhan told CNBC’s Julianna Tatelbaum. Already, scientists in Australia have attempted to create a lab-grown version of coronavirus, and it could be studied to develop virus detection tests and vaccines eventually, Reuters reported. Investors appear less optimistic about the Trump administration’s short timeline of the creation of a new vaccine and are listening to experts, like Narasimhan, who gives a rather gloomy view that the world could be without a proven vaccine for one year while the virus spreads across the globe. We noted on Tuesday how a commercially available vaccine for the virus could “take months” to develop, but here’s the catch: it would take over a year to test on animals before the drug was fit for humans. Maybe it’s time to buy some more N95 masks…

Hong Kong Researchers Have Developed A Coronavirus Vaccine, There Is Just One Catch — With scientists from around the world scrambling to be the first to market with a vaccine for the Chinese coronavirus pandemic, Hong Kong researchers said today they have already developed a vaccine for the deadly Wuhan diseases, although there is a catch: the vaccine will not be commercially available for months, if not a year, as it would “take months” to test the vaccine on animals and at least another year to conduct clinical trials on humans before it was fit for use. That’s a problem, because at the current exponential rate of propagation, the virus may have infected several billion people by then. According to SCMP, as scientists in mainland China and the United States were racing to produce a vaccine for the new coronavirus, infectious diseases expert Professor Yuen Kwok-yung, chair of infectious diseases at the University of Hong Kong, revealed that his team was working on the vaccine and had isolated the previously unknown virus from the city’s first imported case.“We have already produced the vaccine, but it will take a long time to test on animals,” Yuen said, without giving a specific time frame on when it would be ready for patients. Meanwhile, with the virus having already mutated once becoming “more easily spreadable” among humans according to Chinese officials, by the time the virus is finally tested, the prevalent phenotype will likely be vastly different from the one the HK researcher is currently operating on.How did the HK team come up with such a quick vaccine? HKU researchers based it on a nasal spray influenza vaccine previously invented by Yuen’s team. Researchers modified the flu vaccine with part of the surface antigen of the coronavirus, meaning it could prevent influenza viruses as well as the new coronavirus, which causes pneumonia.

Men More Prone To Coronavirus Infection Than Women, Study Finds – The medical journal ‘The Lancet’ has published several pieces of cutting-edge research about the coronavirus, including the first reports that infected individuals can become contagious before symptoms appear. Now, the journal is one-upping itself by publishing research showing that men are more susceptible to the coronavirus than women. According to a study of 99 patients treated in Wuhan’s Jinyintan Hospital, along with researchers from Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Ruijin Hospital in Shanghai, men – particularly those with preexisting health problems – are more prone to the virus. It confirmed a similar finding from an earlier study. The study also warned – somewhat unnecessarily – that early identification and treatment of the pneumonia-like illness was important, since complications like organ failure are common. So far, the virus has killed more than 170 people, all of them in China. Of the patients studied by the researchers, more than half were infected in “clusters”, a sign of just how rapidly the virus can jump from an infected person to a non-infected person.”We observed a greater number of men than women in the 99 cases of 2019-nCoV infection. Mers-CoV and Sars-CoV have also been found to infect more males than females,” the study said, referring to Middle East respiratory syndrome and severe acute respiratory syndrome, which are also coronaviruses. “The reduced susceptibility of females to viral infections could be attributed to the protection from X chromosome and sex hormones, which play an important role in innate and adaptive immunity,” it said.Another alarming finding from the study: The mortality rate among the group studied was 11%. While that number is well above the 2%-3% official death toll, other epidemiologists have suggested that the true death toll for the virus is closer to 11%. The study also offered a glimpse of the virus’s more serious symptoms. One-third of the patients studied developed organ failure and other complications. Some 17% developed acute respiratory distress syndrome.Given the potential consequences should the virus be left untreated, seeking care early after symptoms emerge is crucial, the researchers said. Of course, that doesn’t bode well for people in Wuhan who have reportedly been turned away from overcrowded hospitals.

Millions Could Die – Bill Gates Warned In 2018 That The World Needs To Prepare For Pandemics Like War – Should a deadly pandemic comparable to the 1918 influenza outbreak reach the US in the relatively near future, the US government would be powerless to stop it. And in all likelihood, hundreds of thousands – if not, millions – of Americans will die.That was the message Microsoft founder Bill Gates sent to the world before the Massachusetts Medical Society in April 2018. If a highly contagious and lethal airborne pathogen like the 1918 influenza were to take hold today, nearly 33 million people worldwide would die in just six months, Gates noted in his prepared remarks, citing a simulation done by the Institute for Disease Modeling, a research organization in Bellevue, Wash. Specifically, Gates said the U.S. government is falling short in preparing the nation and the world for the “significant probability of a large and lethal modern-day pandemic occurring in our lifetimes.” Gates discussed his efforts to convince the Trump administration to set aside more funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and to prioritize the creation of a national response plan that would govern how resources are deployed during a pandemic or biological weapons attack. Gates said he believed “the world needs to prepare for pandemics in the same serious way it prepares for war.” He added, That was not the first time the billionaire had warned the world. At the 2017 Munich Security Conference, Gates asked world leaders to “imagine that somewhere in the world a new weapon exists or could emerge that is capable of killing millions of people, bringing economies to a standstill, and casting nations into chaos. If it were a military weapon, the response would be to do everything possible to develop countermeasures,” he said at the NEJM event, adding that a “sense of urgency is lacking” when it comes to biologic threats. This should concern everyone said Gates, “because history has taught us there will be another deadly global pandemic. “The Ebola epidemic in West Africa four years ago was another wake-up call, as the number of confirmed cases climbed, the death toll mounted, and local health systems collapsed. Again, the world was much too slow to respond,” Gates said of the 2014-2016 epidemic, which killed 11,000 and infected more than 28,000. Eleven people were treated for Ebola in the United States during that epidemic, according to the CDC. Gates also compared future deadly global pandemics to a new type of “military weapon.”

Coronavirus Could Shock World Into Recession, Stephen Roach Warns – Former Morgan Stanley Asia chairman Stephen Roach published an op-ed on Monday (Jan. 27) via Project Syndicate and also appeared on CNBC’s “Trading Nation” to warn about how the global economy could already be in a period of vulnerability, where an exogenous shock, such as the coronavirus, could be the trigger for the next worldwide recession. Roach reminds us that a shock of some sort is usually the cause of most recessions that propagates through the economy. For several years, the Federal Reserve’s tightening, which started in late 2017 and ended in the summer of 2019, slowed the global economy. Then the trade war blew up complex supply chains and weakened developed and emerging economies even more, from 1Q18 through 3Q19. These two forces opened a cycle of vulnerability for the global economy that would make it susceptible to a shock. However, it was anyone’s guess what that shock would be until now. “With the world economy operating dangerously close to stall speed, the confluence of ever-present shocks and a sharply diminished trade cushion raises serious questions about financial markets’ increasingly optimistic view of global economic prospects,” Roach said via his op-ed in Project Syndicate.On Trading Nation, Roach said, “big shocks for weak economies” could trigger a recession.He cautioned that coronavirus could remain a problem in the months ahead.“It’s a frightening outbreak, especially when it spreads this rapidly,” he said. So far, more than a dozen Chinese cities are locked down, tens of millions of people are confined to their homes, and factories and businesses are closed, as the world’s second-largest economy grinds to a halt. And perhaps Roach has found the root cause of the next global recession: coronavirus. As he ominously concludes, it won’t take much to knock this over the edge: Historically, the rapid expansion of cross-border trade has been an important part of the global growth cushion that shields the world economy from all-too-frequent shocks. . Now, however, reflecting the unusually sharp post-crisis slowdown in global trade growth, this cushion has shrunk dramatically, to just 13% over the 2010-19 period. With the world economy operating dangerously close to stall speed, the confluence of ever-present shocks and a sharply diminished trade cushion raises serious questions about financial markets’ increasingly optimistic view of global economic prospects.

Outbreaks of lethal diseases like Ebola and the Wuhan coronavirus happen regularly. The US government just cut funding for the hospitals that deal with them – Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists – When a Liberian man named Thomas Duncan first showed up at a Dallas hospital in September 2014 with a fever and abdominal pain, he was sent home with some antibiotics. Days later, Duncan was dead from Ebola. Outbreaks of dangerous diseases like Ebola or the new respiratory coronavirus that’s killing people in Wuhan, China – cases of the latter now have appeared in other countries, including the United States – are a feature of modern life, not a bug. And it’s only a matter of time before a patient shows up at a doctor’s office somewhere in the United States suffering from what could be the next epidemic disease. Hospital practices can expose healthcare workers and others to infection. The type of failures that resulted in two of Duncan’s nurses becoming infected with Ebola were prolific in the US healthcare system, even beforethe 2014 crisis. According to Nina Pham, one of the nurses who contracted Ebola, her preparation for caring for an Ebola patent “consisted of what her manager ‘Googled’ and printed out from the internet.”After Duncan died, US health officials put in place a strategy to prepare hospitals to deal with patients who had diseases like Ebola, caused by so-called special pathogens. This tiered response system consists of frontline and assessment hospitals that determine whether or not patients have a serious infectious disease and higher-level hospitals that can treat patients with these dire infections. The tiered approach has significant flaws, but it’s a whole lot better than the haphazard structure that was previously in place. Unfortunately, federal funding for the program is set to expire this year, and save for a small number of specialized treatment facilities and an Ebola education center, Congress did not include funding for the program in the 2020 budget.

Something Far Deadlier Than The Wuhan Virus Lurks Near You –There’s a deadly virus spreading from state to state. It preys on the most vulnerable, striking the sick and the old without mercy. In just the past few months, it has claimed the lives of at least 39 children.The virus is influenza, and it poses a far greater threat to Americans than the coronavirus from China that has made headlines around the world.“When we think about the relative danger of this new coronavirus and influenza, there’s just no comparison,” said Dr. William Schaffner, a professor of preventive medicine and health policy at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. “Coronavirus will be a blip on the horizon in comparison. The risk is trivial.”To be sure, the coronavirus outbreak, which originated last month in the Chinese city of Wuhan, should be taken seriously. The virus can cause pneumonia and is blamed for more than 800 illnesses and 26 deaths.British researchers estimate the virus has infected 4,000 people. Influenza has already sickened at least 13 million Americans this winter, hospitalizing 120,000 and killing 6,600, according to the CDC. And flu season hasn’t even peaked. In a bad year, the flu kills up to 61,000 Americans.Worldwide, the flu causes up to 5 million cases of severe illness worldwide and kills up to 650,000 people every year, according to the World Health Organization. And yet, Americans aren’t particularly concerned. Fewer than half of adults got a flu shot last season, according to the CDC. Even among children, who can be especially vulnerable to respiratory illnesses, only 62% received the vaccine. “Familiarity breeds indifference,” Schaffner said. “Because it’s new, it’s mysterious and comes from an exotic place, the coronavirus creates anxiety.”

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