Japan hopefully has time to build virus defenses before Olympics: professor

he hoped that there was enough time to build defenses.

The only way to defend against this virus is to adequately quarantine people. Hopefully they can get this virus under control before the Tokyo Olympics. If not, it will be known as, the coronavirus Olympics.

This situation has to be under control until mid April at least, because by the end of that month until the beginning of May is the Golden Week period, 1 week holiday where many people will travel around Japan and gather at many events held through the country during this period.

Look, people are looking at this all wrong. Think about it; if the Olympics are held as is, after a winter with record-breaking warm spells and so little snow most ski-resorts have remained closed and Yuki Matsuri is still in question, I have no doubt we'll see people drop dead -- athletes as well as spectators -- and it will be an unprecedented disaster. This gives Japan the perfect out to delay the Games until a "later period in the year", like when heatstroke is not guaranteed.

Now, if it spreads much further due to Japan sitting on their hands and just suggesting people who contract it "be vigilant", it won't matter. Next country on the tourism chopping block is this island nation we sit on. But, if they start acting tourism won't suffer much more (Osaka businesses are already hurting from the massive drop in Chinese customers) and they can use it as a reason to delay the 2020 Games. They won't, but I think you see my twist on it. :)

"Australian Lab First to Grow New Virus Outside China"

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/australian-lab-first-to-grow-new-virus-outside-china/

Researchers in Melbourne, Australia, are the first outside China to announce that they’ve grown the new coronavirus in cell culture. The group at the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity says it isolated the virus from the first person diagnosed with the infection in Australia, on 25 January.

The team will now share the virus with research labs around the world recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) to help the development of more accurate diagnostic tests and vaccines

Catton says having samples of the virus will enable scientists to create tests that can detect specific immune cells — antibodies — that indicate whether a person has been infected with the new virus. Such tests are especially useful for people with mild or no symptoms. Making a test for antibodies is difficult without samples of the virus, he says.

Although scientists in China say they’ve been able to grow the virus in the lab, they have not yet shared samples with international researchers — they have shared only the virus’s genetic sequence