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You are here: Home / Healthcare / COVID-19 / COVID-19 Coronavirus Update (International) – Sunday/Monday, April 5/6

COVID-19 Coronavirus Update (International) – Sunday/Monday, April 5/6

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24Comments

  1. 1.

    Amir Khalid

    One painful thing we’re learning from the pandemic: too many of us on this planet can’t obey a stay-at-home order because they don’t have a home.

  3. 3.

    WereBear

    @Amir Khalid: That is a stark lesson. And of course, those of us saying we can’t mistreat giant swathes of the population and “get away with it” for long were right. Always, a realization too late, as these vulnerable populations are pandemic vectors.

    I guess it takes an unthinking, single-mission, bit of technical “life” to throw such lessons into stark relief. I don’t mean the virus: I mean the hideous creature currently in the White House.

  4. 4.

    Amir Khalid

    Today’s  numbers from Malaysia look rather encouraging: new cases are back down to 130 after reaching 217 a couple of days ago, only one death (running total 62). We haven’t got this licked yet, but it looks like we do have a handle on it.

  5. 5.

    Amir Khalid

    For my American friends, here is video of today’s media conference by the Malaysian Ministry of Health Director-General Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah. I know that with the Trump administration, one sight you don’t see often enough is a competent and knowledgeable official giving the facts straight up, without political spin or ignorant speculation.

    I’m sorry that the briefing part is all in Malay without English subtitles, but I think his calm manner and matter-of-fact answers to the questions in English convey precisely what people need from public officials at a time like this.

  6. 6.

    Geminid

    The Jerusalem Post and The Times of Israel provide good coverage of Covid-19 in Israel. One story: yesterday  the government rushed trucks to the port of Ashdod to unload a shipload of eggs from Spain. There is a pre-Passover egg shortage. Another: soldiers enforcing social distancing in ultra-orthodox towns like Bnai Brak are being issued Hebrew-Yiddish conversation pamphlets. Sadly, many of the other stories are like ours; pandemic planning and preparation were neglected in recent years, and the government was caught flat-footed by the outbreak.

  7. 7.

    La Nonna

    People here in the South of Italy are starting to get antsy, and the carabinieri have stepped up homestay enforcement, stationed at most entry/exit routes into and out of nearby villages and small cities.  Fines of up to 3000 eu and possible confiscation of the car are being used, and more careful follow-up to our self-certification travel papers.  Going to the store and post office every 10 days or so has become running the gauntlet, but the rate of death and infection seem to be flattening, so lockdown is working.  Somewhat encouraged that antibody testing is becoming a thing here, family doctor is saying before May, an attempt to blood test everyone in Italy.

  8. 8.

    YY_Sima Qian

    Today, the northeastern Chinese province of Heilongjiang recorded 20 new imported confirmed cases, all of them Chinese nationals fleeing Russia. They all took flights from Moscow to Vladivostok over the past week, then took the bus to the land border crossing with China. One might use this data as indirect indication how bad the epidemic might be in European Russia.

    Compiling such imported cases around the world is one good way to sanity check the severity of the COVID-19 epidemic at the sources of such imported cases. When two tourists from Wuhan were confirmed in Thailand and Japan in early to mi-Jan., that was an indication that there were far more infected cases in Wuhan than the 41 that were being reported by the local authorities.

    Looking at the overall number of cases imported from China to other Asian countries and regions also suggests that the total case count in China is probably not off by an order of magnitude. To date, 900+ Taiwanese expatriates have been evacuated from Hubei, only 1 confirmed case among them, back in early Feb. Half of that number only returned from Wuhan last week, having lived through the entire roller coaster ride, and they took high speed rail from Wuhan to Shanghai, before boarding chartered flights to Taipei, no infected case. Imports from China now account for < 3% of all imported cases for Singapore, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea, none since early Feb. The vast majority of imports have been people fleeing Europe and the US, and tourists who visited Middle East (and more recently Latin America). Travelers from China (whether Chinese nationals or expatriates) have been 100% screened and closely monitored. The health authorities at these places have no incentive to cover up imported cases from China.

  9. 9.

    Geminid

    @Amir Khalid: Governor Ralph Northam of Virginia has a calm manner similar to that of the Malaysian Prime Minister. A doctor and former Army surgeon, Northam was often criticized for his bland, unexciting style. But now people need work horses, not show horses, and he proved his work horse credentials two years ago when he put Medicaid expansion through a Republican majority General Assembly. His daily briefings are quite good.

  10. 10.

    Geminid

     

     

     

    @Geminid: correction. Mr. Khalid was describing briefings by the Director-General of the Malaysian Ministry of Health, not the Prime Minister.

  11. 11.

    Barbara

    @Geminid: Yeah, Northam is a good guy to have in charge right now. But other governors have risen to the challenge as well.

  12. 12.

    Amir Khalid

    @Geminid:

    Dr Noor Hisham is Director General of the Ministry of Health — a career civil servant, not a poltician. But yes, his lack of a politico’s slickness and his command of the facts add so much to his credibility.

  13. 13.

    Geminid

    @Barbara: Other governors have risen to the challenge, and Northam had the examples of Inslee and Newsome to follow. Reminds me that I haven’t checked out Governor Roy Cooper of North Carolina, and how he is doing with a Republican legislature in place.

  14. 14.

    tokyocali (formerly tokyo expat)

    Abe announced that he’ll declare a National Emergency starting as early as tomorrow and is to last from 3 weeks to a month. 6 prefectures are included under the order. It’s really not a shut down as restaurants are still allowed to remain open and if you go out and about there is not a lot they can do except ask you nicely to go home.

    This weekend everyone was asked to stay home. Today, Monday, my husband got on a train before 6:30am and said it was packed. What was the point of staying home over the weekend if everyone becomes a sardine come Monday? Even with the emergency declaration, there will be people who will go to work because their companies tell them to.

    At this rate, I think 3 weeks to a month is very optimistic.

  15. 15.

    Geminid

    One good thing  Va. Governor Northam did was to extend to June 10 the stricter measures he put in place last Monday. Again, learning from the examples of other states hit hard earlier in the epidemic.

  16. 16.

    Ohio Mom

    Geminid: I don’t know what Israeli Passover cuisine is like but here in North America a lot of traditional dishes require lots of eggs, such as sponge cakes and matzo brei, matzoh balls, etc.

  17. 17.

    Salty Sam

    The government of Puerto Rico has taken the virus very seriously since early March, beginning with urging residents to self-isolate, and posted measures and curfews have increased in severity.  This morning we received the strictest measures yet, with police enforcement of stay-at-home orders, mandatory face covering and gloves if out shopping (food only), and strict limits to numbers of persons at a time inside stores.  The DNR (marine natural resources enforcement, like game wardens) have stepped up patrols of harbors and marinas, and have turned away boaters arriving from offshore.

     

    As a live-aboard myself, I am really glad I got here back at Christmastime, and our tiny little community on the island of Culebra is still COVID free (that we know of).  My heart goes out to those boaters who are stuck in international limbo, seeking refuge but being turned away by authorities; it is happening all over the cruising world.

     

    ETA: Part of the Puerto Rican cultural identity (for centuries) is a sense of self-sufficiency, “we’re on our own in this”.  The response to Hurricane Maria only reinforced that identity.

  18. 18.

    Geminid

    @Ohio Mom: I am not Jewish but I’m guessing that Passover cuisine in Israel and the U.S. have a common origin in central Europe. I have heard that eggs are in short supply generally here, and that some stores limit purchases. It could be that people are tightening their belts, and substituting eggs for meat. I noticed that Kroger’s has brown rice again, after none the last three weeks.  Now, if people will actually cook and eat all the brown rice they bought, they could be a little healthier. At least, those who survived the epidemic.

  20. 20.

    Ohio Mom

    Geminid: the Israeli Jews whose families emigrated from Middle East and Arab countries have their own culinary traditions.

    But I could definitely see people substituting eggs for meat as a cause of the egg shortage as well. When I was in Israeli —okay it was twenty years ago — the standard of living wasn’t very impressive.

  21. 21.

    Geminid

    I know I am eating more eggs and less meat, and it is probably good for me, but shifting to plant based protein sources would be even healthier and more economical. I imagine the influence of the origins of different Jewish traditions on Israeli Passover food is an interesting area. I see food articles in the Jerusalem Post but I skip them, but I bet there is a lot of reporting on the subject.

  22. 22.

    ziggy

    Very interesting to hear the reports from all over the world! Our experiences are so similar, it is eerie.

  23. 23.

    Skepticat

    Here in the Bahamas, the 24-hour curfew with outside activities and no interisland travel except for a few exceptions (grocery and fuel deliveries and medical emergencies) is back in effect after this weekend’s extremely strict lockdown (only truly essential services, including police, hospitals, the defence force, and hotels were exempt; NO private businesses except gas stations could open or deliver), but we’re going into another complete lockdown for the Easter holiday, (8 p.m. Wednesday to 5 a.m. Tuesday). At the end of that lockdown, the 24-hour curfew and restrictions will resume, but the full lockdown will be on every weekend for the remainder of April, from 9 p.m. on Fridays to 5 a.m. on Mondays. The prime minister said there could be further full lockdowns for longer periods. As of Sunday, there were 29 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and five related deaths in the country, so it seems to be working. I cannot tell you how grateful I am to be able to work online and to be an antisocial introvert!

  24. 24.

    Origuy

    @Salty Sam: I pride myself on my geographical knowledge, but I never heard of Culebra before. Puerto Rico has been on my bucket list, so maybe when this is all over I’ll visit your island. It sounds nice. I hope it stays clean of the virus.

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