COVID-19 Coronavirus Update (International) – Friday/Saturday, April 10/11

12Comments

1. 1.

   Amir Khalid

   April 11, 2020 at 8:20 am

   I was going to post a link to Malaysia’s daily numbers as usual, but I see you already have them. I notice the dig at Malaysia from the Singapore-based Straits Times*. Remember that Singapore hasn’t much more to deal with than a city, and that Indonesia and Thailand have not been testing anywhere near as many people as they need to.

   I can say that the Malaysia’s confirmed case number is high because its testing is focused on those who have likely had contact with other confirmed cases. The Health Ministry here defends this approach as the best use of its resources and I have not seen an argument that it’s inadequate.

   *Not to be confused wth the KL-based New Straits Times.

2. 2.

   Sloane Ranger

   April 11, 2020 at 8:21 am

   Sarah Gilbert, professor of vaccinology at Oxford University, told The Times on Saturday that she is “80% confident” the vaccine would work, and could be ready by September. “it’s not just a hunch, and as every week goes by we have more data to look at.”

   That’s a hell of a lot of confidence. I just hope the human trials bear it out.

   Even if it works, there will be a delay in manufacturing the vaccine and distributing it so a year to 18 months still looks likely.

3. 3.

   Sloane Ranger

   April 11, 2020 at 8:28 am

   @Amir Khalid: 

   Not to be confused wth the KL-based New Straits Times.

   Ye Gods, that’s almost as bad as the Bank of Scotland versus the Royal Bank of Scotland!

   Also, I forgot in my previous post but the vacationers turned back at Marseilles Airport should embarrass even other super rich, arrogant, entitled white men!

4. 4.

   debbie

   April 11, 2020 at 8:30 am

   @Sloane Ranger:

   She’s obviously read Art of the Deal. Lie three times and it becomes a fact. //

5. 5.

   Amir Khalid

   April 11, 2020 at 8:38 am

   @Sloane Ranger:

   There used to be just The Straits Times in Singapore. Then in 1965 Singapore was expelled from the Federation of Malaysia. The New Straits Times was subsequently set up in KL by former Straits Times people because one newspaper could not serve two different political masters — their PM and our PM — who hated each other’s guts.

6. 6.

   YY_Sima Qian

   April 11, 2020 at 8:47 am

   More Chinese data on importation of COVID-19 cases from Russia: 22 more confirm cases at Suifenhe border crossing yesterday, plus 27 at the Manzhouli border crossing in Inner Mongolia. 25 confirmed cases two days on a single flight from Moscow that landed at Taiyuan, in Shanxi Province in northern China. The flight was originally schedule to fly into Beijing, but many flights have been diverted to Inner Mongolia or Shanxi to reduce the screening and quarantine burden in Beijing, and reduce the risk of a second wave in the capital. Note that the date of confirmation does not necessarily mean the date of entry, most of the cases are of people already under the mandatory 14 day quarantine. All in all, there have been 248 imported confirmed cases from Russia, second only to 282 from the UK, and more than the 152 from the US. I have not seen the asymptomatic cases compiled, but likely similar in number to the confirmed cases. There are a lot more Chinese expatriates and students in the US and the UK, and a lot more returnees. Looking at these numbers, I am not surprised to hear that Russia may be in fact executing the Swedish strategy by default, for all of the public showing of tough measures.

   In the meantime, there has been a string of domestic confirmed and asymptomatic cases (< 20 total, I think) in Guangzhou in recent days, most connected to four confirmed cases among the influx of African immigrants in the city (two Nigerian nationals, one Chinese national married to one of the Nigerians, and a Liberian national). Guangzhou has always had a substantial population of Africans traders (numbering in the tens of thousands, some illegally overstaying their visas). Racism and discrimination against the African community has always bubbled beneath the surface for a segment of the Chinese population, and not just in Guangzhou. The recent COVID-19 cases has awakened an upsurge of xenophobia, both online and in the streets of Guangzhou. Africans (and Americans and Europeans of African descent) are sometimes refused service in bars and restaurants, and refused lodging in hotels.

   For background, racism and stereotyping against Africans in China is somewhat different than that in Europe or North America, as it is not influenced by baggage associated with colonialism and slavery, more born out of ignorance and fear of the other; it many ways it is similar to the nativism shown against people from other provinces in China, or ethnic minority groups in China (such as Uighurs), or shown by some people in Hong Kong and Taiwan against Mainlanders. However, it can still be ugly. Fortunately, such sentiments has not led to violence or physical harassment against Africans to date, and the Chinese government has generally taken pains not to fan the nativist flames. Even as the CCP regime has instituted draconian measures against Uighurs and Tibetans it deems threatening or suspicious, the propaganda and bureaucratic machinery have never painted these minority groups as the “Other”, to be feared and ostracized. I think the regime is fully cognizant of the volatility and destructiveness of such forces, if unleashed.

7. 7.

   Amir Khalid

   April 11, 2020 at 8:55 am

   This year the world’s Muslims are going to see Ramadhan without Ramadhan bazaars or communal tarawikh prayers, and without Eid visits to friends and family. And a few months later, no Haj and no Eid al-Adha celebrations either, because it’s for damn sure the pandemic will not be over by then.

8. 8.

   YY_Sima Qian

   April 11, 2020 at 9:12 am

   @Amir Khalid: All mass gatherings and mass movement can be expected to be cancelled, until vaccines are widely available and widely used. Mainland Chinese have already had Chinese New Year and Tomb Sweeping Festival essentially cancelled. Mid-Autumn Festival in early September is typically a time for family reunions. I suspect it will also be heavily curtailed.

9. 9.

   artem1s

   April 11, 2020 at 10:09 am

   Gilbert said she’s in discussions with the British government about funding, and starting production before the final results are in, allowing the public to access the vaccine immediately if it proves to work.

   “the public” as in the highest bidder.  How much you wanna bet Dumbass was on the phone with her this morning trying to strong arm the lab into US only access.  This administration will absolutely impede any progress on the production of a vaccine no matter what.

   Third law of stupidity applies and always will with this maladministration:

   A stupid person is a person who causes losses to another person or to a group of persons while himself deriving no gain and even possibly incurring losses.

10. 10.

    J R in WV

    April 11, 2020 at 12:45 pm

    @artem1s:

    How much you wanna bet Dumbass was on the phone with her this morning trying to strong arm the lab into US only access.

    I actually suspect Trump and his minions don’t care about being uniquely able to use a new medication or vaccine… I believe they want exclusive rights to American use of the new drugs or vaccines, so as to be able to profit maximally from their captive market.

    Imagine what well to do people would pay to get access to a vaccine that would allow them to resume their party-heavy schedule weeks before the peons and wage-earners can gob ack to work. Of course, I remember the first polio vaccinations, back in the mid-1950s, which were provided free of charge to everyone.

    People stood in line for hours to receive their injections of Salk vaccine. At the family business Health Department nurses came to the offices and set up a nursing station where all employees, all their family and the neighbors could come to town for polio vaccinations. I remember it in color, as if it happened yesterday.

    Then in just a couple of years, everyone stood in line to get a tiny paper cup with their sugar cube with a tiny dot of pink Sabin refrigerated oral vaccine.  That was at the elementary school on the neighborhood, and IIRC both sets of vaccinations were repeated later on. But I’m not sure about that. Maybe not as if it happened yesterday, it did happen something like 65 years ago…

    Trump sees nothing but a chance to profit by billions of dollars if some medication/vaccination becomes available before the election. Also to lock in his re-election by posing as the savior of the world from the dread Wuhan Flu pandemic… as opposed to his current position as chief cause of the Trump Pandemic of the USA.

11. 11.

    Calouste

    April 11, 2020 at 1:07 pm

    @Sloane Ranger: Bill Gates plans on funding the construction of factories for the 7 most promising vaccines candidates (to the tune of billions of dollars), even though he knows that only one or two of them will work and the others will be wasted. Just so that when a vaccine is proven to be effective it can immediately be produced and distributed at scale instead of having to wait months.

12. 12.

    Emma

    April 11, 2020 at 4:07 pm

    @Amir Khalid: I apologize on their behalf. “Malaysia boleh” jokes are unfortunately the great unifier for Singaporeans. You gotta admit, outside of COVID-19, Najib and Mahathir alone have given us tons to poke fun at.