Japan: Expert Panel Warns of Collapse of Medical Services

Posted: April 3, 2020 | Author: Pundit Planet | Filed under: Breaking News, Health and Social Issues, Japan, Think Tank | Tags: Coronavirus, Health, Medical, Pandemic, Tokyo | Leave a comment

The Yomiuri Shimbun – Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in a protective mask speaks at a task force meeting on Wednesday.

The Yomiuri Shimbun reports: With the number of people infected with the new coronavirus increasing in Tokyo and four prefectures, a government panel of experts on Wednesday expressed concern over the possible collapse of medical services.

The panel to consider measures against the virus, which is chaired by Takaji Wakita, director general of the National Institute of Infectious Diseases, also called on the government to consider closing all schools at once even after the new academic term starts in alert areas where the number of infections rose sharply in the past week.

In its proposal to the government on Wednesday, the panel cited Tokyo and the four prefectures of Osaka, Kanagawa, Aichi and Hyogo and said, “Drastic measures need to be taken today or tomorrow as these areas have densely populated cities and their medical systems are becoming strained.”

In light of this, the panel called for not only designated medical institutions for infectious diseases but also local university hospitals and other medical facilities to accept patients, saying, “The utmost efforts are necessary to provide medical services in accordance with the role of each hospital.” It also pointed to the need to prepare an option for patients with mild or moderate symptoms to stay in accommodation facilities rather than at home.

The panel also urged the government to provide support for evaluating the effectiveness and safety of existing drugs and accelerate the domestic development of new vaccines.

As public fatigue over exercising self-restraint can be seen, the panel stated its concern that the sense of alert is fading more than expected among some people. On the other hand, it gave some leeway for playing outdoor sports and watching sports games in areas where no infections have been confirmed in the past week, on the assumption that appropriate measures against the virus are taken … (read more)

Source: The Japan News

Communist China’s Viral Propaganda Campaign

Posted: March 26, 2020 | Author: Pundit Planet | Filed under: Asia, China, Diplomacy, Global, Health and Social Issues, War Room | Tags: CCP, Pandemic, propaganda, WHO | Leave a comment

Austin Bay writes: According to the World Health Organization’s March 23 update, 196 countries, territories and areas have confirmed cases of the COVID-19/Wuhan virus.

Yes, Wuhan. When identifying the virus’ nom de guerre, it is geographically and factually correct, as well as medically imprimatur, to include Wuhan, the name of the mainland China city of 11 million (located in the Hubei province) where the globe-threatening novel coronavirus first came to the attention of qualified MDs.

Our global pandemic originated in Wuhan, but don’t blame the town or its heroic doctors and nurses for the plague’s Planet Earth killing spree. Put the blame where it belongs: on the Chinese Communist Party, or the CCP.

In late December 2019, doctors and other medical practitioners in Wuhan identified the pathogen and warned that it presented a threat to human life.

China is a face culture, but the CCP’s face culture has Mafia rules. The CCP suffers from systemic ineptitude and authoritarian narcissism, but it doesn’t want the world to know. So CCP apparatchik police treated Wuhan’s conscientious doctors as criminals and suppressed their warnings. CCP thuggery and brutality halted local efforts to confine the virus and prevented responsible medical efforts from disseminating information that might help global researchers find cures and vaccines.

My last paragraph sketches an alternative history that isn’t our gritty, deadly reality. We confront hard fact history: Beijing’s communists decided to let Chinese citizens die rather than confront the epidemic.

More facts: Between late December and mid-January, an estimated 5 million people left, entered or passed through Wuhan. Hard consequence: The virus went from local Wuhan to global hell. Read the rest of this entry »

FORBIDDEN: Leading Hong Kong Microbiologist Retracts Op-Ed Claiming Pandemic Began in Wuhan

Posted: March 22, 2020 | Author: Pundit Planet | Filed under: Breaking News, Censorship, China, Health and Social Issues, Hong Kong | Tags: Beijing, Chinese Academy of Engineering, Coronavirus, Dr David Lung, Microbiology, Pandemic, propaganda, Wuhan Virus, Yuen Kwok-yung | Leave a comment

Professor Yuen Kwok-yung apologises for writing that ‘inferior Chinese culture’ is to blame. But the controversy has already triggered a reaction on the mainland.

Gary Cheung and Elizabeth Cheung report: A world-renowned microbiologist has stepped into a political minefield by writing an op-ed about the origin and naming of the coronavirus sweeping the world, expressing views that aligned with the Trump administration’s rhetoric over the pandemic and left him in the cross hairs of mainland Chinese.

Professor Yuen Kwok-yung, an infectious diseases specialist at the University of Hong Kong, retracted late Wednesday night the piece he co-wrote and which Chinese-language Ming Pao newspaper had published and ran online earlier that day.

The authors also apologised for the misunderstanding caused by the piece, titled: “The pandemic originated from Wuhan and the lessons from 17 years ago have been forgotten.”

They argued that the idea the novel coronavirus Sars-CoV-2 originated in the United States is “unsubstantiated”.

“It amounts to self-deceit and please don’t spread it recklessly. It would only invite ridicule,” they wrote.

Yuen, who is also an academician at the Chinese Academy of Engineering, visited Wuhan with other doctors at the invitation of the central government in mid-January as part of an expert group that later confirmed the coronavirus was spreading between people.

Quarantine personnel in protective gear collect samples at the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan on January 22. Photo: Simon Song

The other author was Yuen’s protégé, Dr David Lung, an honorary assistant professor with the department of microbiology of the University of Hong Kong, who is also a clinical microbiologist specialising in paediatric infectious diseases at the Hong Kong Children’s Hospital.

They wrote that epidemiological studies indicated the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan, Hubei province, was where the virus spread.

The article went on to defend the media’s early references to the “Wuhan virus”, despite the World Health Organisation labelling the disease Covid-19 and the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses naming the virus Sars-Cov-2.

Yuen and Lung argued “Wuhan virus” was a layman’s term established through convention and usage, one that was easy to understand and communicate to people.

But perhaps the most inflammatory claim was contained in their criticism of China for failing to shut wildlife markets in the aftermath of the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome in 2003. They said the trade and consumption of wild animals was a manifestation of the “inferior culture” of Chinese people.

The op-ed also noted Singapore, Hong Kong, Macau and the Republic of China – the title Taiwan officially uses – had been spared the worst of the outbreak, which is now raging throughout Europe and sweeping across the United States. Read the rest of this entry »

OH YES HE DID: Senate Intel Chair Unloaded Stocks in Mid-February Before Coronavirus Rocked Markets

Posted: March 20, 2020 | Author: Pundit Planet | Filed under: Crime & Corruption, Health and Social Issues, Law & Justice, U.S. News | Tags: Coronavirus, Pandemic, Richard Burr, Senate Intel committee | Leave a comment

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr unloaded stocks in major companies, including hotel chains, in February before the coronavirus pandemic.

UNITED STATES – FEBRUARY 04: Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., walks through Statuary Hall to the House chamber before the start of President Donald Trumps State of the Union address on Tuesday, February 4, 2020. (Photo By Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

Karl Evers-Hillstrom reports: As the coronavirus outbreak began to spread across the U.S. in mid-February, Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr (R-N.C.) unloaded his holdings in dozens of stocks that would lose much of their market value over the coming weeks.

Burr and his wife Brooke sold between $628,000 and $1.7 million in publicly traded stocks on Feb. 13 and didn’t buy any new positions, according to a recent financial disclosure filed with the Senate.

Around the time that Burr sold his shares of major corporations, including several hard hit hotel companies, he publicly expressed confidence about the U.S. government’s ability to fight the virus. However in late February, Burr privately warned that the virus is “much more aggressive in its transmission than anything that we have seen in recent history,” according to a recording obtained by NPR.

Between the Burrs’ two accounts, they sold up to $150,000 worth of stock in Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, which lost almost two-thirds of its market value since Feb. 13. They sold up to $150,000 in Extended Stay America, another hotel company that lost half its value over the last month. Burr also sold up to $65,000 of stock in Park Hotels & Resorts, which saw its stock price drop from nearly $24 to under $5. The hotel industry is asking President Donald Trump for a bailout as Americans increasingly avoid travel.

Congressional financial disclosures display investment amounts in wide ranges. In total, the Burrs sold seven positions worth between $50,001 and $100,000, including shares of major companies AbbVie, Centurylink and Constellation Brands.

“Senator Burr filed a financial disclosure form for personal transactions made several weeks before the U.S. and financial markets showed signs of volatility due to the growing coronavirus outbreak,” a Burr spokesperson told OpenSecrets. “As the situation continues to evolve daily, he has been deeply concerned by the steep and sudden toll this pandemic is taking on our economy. He supported Congress’ immediate efforts to provide $7.8 billion for response efforts and this week’s bipartisan bill to provide relief for American business and small families.” Read the rest of this entry »