China says tracking COVID cases now 'impossible' as infections soar

Yappari.

Huge numbers.

The next couple of months are going to be tough. Millions of people are going to get sick and there will be many deaths.

Questions are being asked.

Why didn't the government prepare for this earlier, with an expansion of hospital ICU capacity?

Why has it taken so long to make this switch when countries around the world had already done it?

Why did Xi Jinping's administration allow the Zero Covid approach to cause so much damage to the economy more broadly and people's livelihoods more specifically?

A renewed vaccination push has started but it too should have come before China reached this stage.

Well done China.

Here come the hoards of Chinese tourists. This will, of course ONLY result in a boost in the economy in Japan, and definitely NOT increase Covid numbers.

China's National Health Commission on Wednesday admitted its numbers no longer reflected reality.

So much for the conspiracy theory of fiddle numbers, eh?

Yeh lots of people will get sick but the overwhelming majority will be fine after a couple of days! Not due to vaccination but due to the current variants mildness. Sky isn’t falling and the sooner China wakes up the sooner the rest of Asia will too!

China should have had this policy in place when they were first informed by the Chinese doctor who tried to warn China and many other countries about the COVID but everyone ignored until it was too late. I don't believe COVID will ever be locked up and if it is not for many, many years down the road. Really, the life we once knew is gone and all we can do is appreciate the freedoms we did have.

The people have voted with their feet - they want to get on with their lives

The NHC said would roll out a second booster shot for high risk groups and people over the age of 60.

Boosters and vaccines don't work.., or do they? I wonder.

Elvis is hereToday  05:34 pm JST

The NHC said would roll out a second booster shot for high risk groups and people over the age of 60.

Boosters and vaccines don't work.., or do they? I wonder.

thankfully they are targeting those most at risk…still a waste of time, but better than vaccinating kiddies who aren’t at risk with a vaccine that has no long term side effect data!

The sad part is COVID is now a part of the worlds daily life and death we all need to realize and accept.

Nature takes care of life and also ends it also. The sad part there are more out there coming that we have no idea they are there. As the world warms and ice melts and the permafrost thaws, we are already seeing ancient viruses never seen before, sleeping in hybernation awaiting their time. We must all make our own choices and destiny. Listen to the Experts and proffessionals. Not the loudmouths whom are lacking common sense. Be smart Be wise, Be Safe Be healthy Stay alive

They did an incredibly good job but now we all know, such measures have to be managed internationally. On a nation by nation basis is useless.

Scientists revive ‘zombie virus’ from nearly 50,000 years ago

December 1, 2022Lorena

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

Vast portions of permafrost have thawed due to global warming, releasing ancient microbes that can potentially be infectious.

Scientists revived some of these “zombie viruses” to assess their risk to public health.

One virus, named Pandoravirus yedoma, is believed to be 48,500 years old.

Global warming has caused vast portions of permafrost to melt, releasing ancient microbes that have been trapped for millennia.

Scientists revived some of these so-called “zombie viruses” from the Siberian permafrost to better study them. One virus, believed to be about 50,000 years old, has reanimated to a state capable of infecting other organisms.

Microbiologist Jean-Marie Alempic of the French National Centre for Scientific Research led the research team behind the study.

The team noted that permafrost covered “one-quarter of the Northern Hemisphere.” As this frozen ground thaws, previously frozen organic matter is released. These would then “decompose into carbon dioxide and methane, further enhancing the greenhouse effect.”

Rising temperatures have previously released huge numbers of bacteria into the environment, although these are less threatening given the current antibiotics. But a new virus, such as SARS-CoV-2, will cause more problems, considering the growing population in the Arctic.

The team warned that “the revival of an ancient unknown virus” could pose a significant threat to public health, thereby necessitating further study to assess “the risk of ancient viral particles remaining infectious and getting back into circulation.”

As the permafrost thaws, many more viruses will be released, aside from those that only target amoebas. Most of these will be completely unknown to science, but it’s also unknown how infectious they are once exposed to light, heat, and oxygen. Further study can look into this.

The researchers detailed 13 viruses in their new study. Nine of them are believed to be tens of thousands of years old, with one amoeba virus believed to be 48,500 years old. They stated that each one’s genome was distinct from all other known viruses.

The record-breaking find was extracted beneath a lake. Other microbes were found on mammoth wool and in a Siberian wolf’s intestines, which were all buried underneath the permafrost.

The researchers used live single-cell amoeba cultures in proving that the viruses could still become infectious.

The new virus was assigned the name Pandoravirus yedoma, given its size and the type of permafrost soil it was found in. The researchers previously discovered a similar virus, believed to be about 30,000 years old, in Siberia. That was also a pandoravirus, which is big enough to be seen using light microscopy.

Virologist Eric Delwart of the University of California, San Francisco, who wasn’t involved in the study, also believes that these finds are just the beginning.

Having plenty of experience with reanimating ancient plant viruses, Delwart told New Scientist, “If the authors are indeed isolating live viruses from ancient permafrost, it is likely that the even smaller, simpler mammalian viruses would also survive frozen for eons.”

The new study, which has yet to be peer-reviewed, was published on bioRxiv.

Source: Science Alert

China's National Health Commission on Wednesday admitted its numbers no longer reflected reality.

It has never reflected reality, so there's no difference.

I hope they get better vaccines and more people get vaccinated. I really don't wish anything bad to happen to any Chinese caused by covid. They should follow the science and use any more effective tools to limit the impacts. Voluntary social distancing and asking people to stay home except for work and food shopping might surprise the govt there. People need the choice to decide for themselves.

China needs to learn to live with COVID and Flu as the rest of the world has.

Allow people in cities to return to their rural homes, where it is cheaper to live and they aren't part of the masses living closely together helping to spread the virus.

Obviously, have people self-quarantine at home too, with their families.

Thankfully studies in Hong Kong comparing the Chinese vaccine to mRNA vaccines show that the Chinese vaccine is quite effective protecting people from hospitalization and major illness after two doses (three is better). The major problem is the old folks, especially those over 70 years old who do not trust western style medicine so the vaccination rate is low in this most vulnerable group.

Start using Neem and Tulsi and forget about Covid-19 and common colds.

Gosh, if only they had access to a proven safe and effective vaccine....

Gosh, if only they had access to a proven safe and effective vaccine....

...and they do, but they refuse to use preferring to go it alone and only use CCP vax.

BTW, the WHO is saying the spike in case occurred well before the relaxation of covid rules, which means vaccination using effective vaccines is the only factor determining rate of infection, ie lockdown DIDN'T work.