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China extends Lunar New Year holiday as new virus toll rises

18 Comments
By JOE McDONALD

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18 Comments
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I hope the world is able to work together to knock this on the head quickly.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

This is what holds China back from being a world power. Their reactions are re-active and not pro-active. Their regulatory agencies are nothing like the U.S.'s USDA, FDA, CDC, etc who have preventing this kind of nonsense in the U.S. for a century.  If China had functioning equivalents, this outbreak and so many others would have never occurred.

China banned the trade in wild animals on Sunday until the coronavirus epidemic has been eliminated across the country,....

What, then it's back to business as usual?

10 ( +12 / -2 )

If you offered me a free trip to china, I STILL wouldn’t go.

Now Taiwan, we got a deal.

5 ( +6 / -1 )

I wouldn't buy any of those vegetables if they haven't been pre-wrapped to keep customers' hands off of them. You have to wonder if the guy in the photo holding his nose hasn't been touching some of those veggies.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

What I don't get is how can you ban someone from the province if they've traveled there in the past few weeks? It's not like people carry transportation journals around, if they want to enter the country and are selfish they will just lie.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

From what I have read, only the weak and those with compromised health issues can die from this. It is no different than the flu. And by the way it is not even as strong as a flu virus. It is similar to the common cold of which many people die of as well.

-8 ( +0 / -8 )

TomToday 10:43 am JST

From what I have read, only the weak and those with compromised health issues can die from this. It is no different than the flu. And by the way it is not even as strong as a flu virus. It is similar to the common cold of which many people die of as well.

And so protecting the old or the weak is not a good idea? People with health issues deserve to be treated properly too, this disease is more than a common cold though.

This a an animal disease

5 ( +6 / -1 )

The exotic animals trade in Wuhan for herbal medicines, food and pets seem to be cause of this human outbreak. Like I have been saying on the last few articles, the Chinese people will turn on the government and flee from China causing it spread to others.

1) Individual human selfishness

2) Lack of trust in the communist party (Their willingness to do anything to maintain power and control the masses.)

Chinese people are turning on the government as the coronavirus outbreak spirals into the Lunar New Year

https://www.yahoo.com/news/chinese-people-turning-government-coronavirus-060456602.html

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Humans are also animals. I read that coronaviruses appear in all mammals, including humans and generally cause mild symptoms, much like the common flu. And the cause of this virus as originating from snakes is apparently pure speculation.

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

Humans are also animals. I read that coronaviruses appear in all mammals, including humans and generally cause mild symptoms, much like the common flu. And the cause of this virus as originating from snakes is apparently pure speculation.

Yeah, and viruses are living things that evolve to survive like humans. The misuse (and abuse) of antibiotics, migration (usually through tourism), and global warming seem to be the main reasons why viruses and bacteria are getting stronger.

You put exotic animals from all over the world with lots of humans in unsanitary conditions living together then viruses will get stronger to invade hosts and spread.

The same reason that the Black Plague (Black Death) ravaged Europe and also originating in East Asia spreading along the Silk Road was lots of unsanitary animals living closely around large populations of humans.

And the cause of this virus as originating from snakes is apparently pure speculation.

If it appears in all mammals then why would someone suspect snakes. Snakes are not mammals. That makes no sense.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Yeah, and viruses are living things that evolve to survive like humans. The misuse (and abuse) of antibiotics, migration (usually through tourism), and global warming seem to be the main reasons why viruses and bacteria are getting stronger.

This is a misconception, abuse of antibiotic only makes the antibiotics ineffective, the bacterial pathogenicity is the same as before. Traveling and global warming also exposes more people to the infection, but the pathogen remains the same.

It is important to know de difference between having more cases because more people are exposed and having them because the pathogen can cause disease more easily.

Zoonosis is the same case, the pathogens do not get "stronger", they simply become more able to infect a different species, but that is not related to their capacity to cause disease, almost every single infection on humans came originally from animals, that include perfectly benign ones.

If it appears in all mammals then why would someone suspect snakes. Snakes are not mammals. That makes no sense

Coronavirus appear in all mammals, but that is very different from saying that they can only infect mammals, viruses from the Coronavirus family can infect not only mammals but also birds, reptiles and fish. Theoretically humans infections can be originated from any of those animals, but realistically speaking the only possibility considered are other mammals.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Regarding the spread of such diseases from animals to people, one Japanese doctor who specialized in blood diseases (leukemia was his specialty) told me that in the case of AIDS, he believed that HIV jumped from monkeys to people because people were eating them. At first there wasn't a problem, but gradually the viruses mutated and were then able to jump the species' boundary line. Especially in the case of monkeys, their DNA is a lot like ours, so eventually the HIV virus was able to make the jump, especially if the people who had been eating the monkey meat liked it cooked rare. Monkey meat being cooked rare means more blood, thus, consuming more monkey blood meant more opportunities for the monkey blood to mingle with (and get to know so to speak) human blood.

Anyway, viruses are always mutating and finding cures (It sounds nice, doesn't it?) for a virus may push it below the surface for now, but it'll only be sleeping and mutating. When it comes back again, it might come back with a new built in immunity to the cure which had stopped it before. Viruses are always adapting and mutating.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

"Given what’s known about the pace at which viral genomes mutate, if nCoV had been circulating in humans since significantly before the first case was reported on Dec. 8, the 24 genomes would differ more. Applying ballpark rates of viral evolution, Rambaut estimates that the Adam (or Eve) virus from which all others are descended first appeared no earlier than Oct. 30, 2019, and no later than Nov. 29."

from https://www.statnews.com/2020/01/24/dna-sleuths-read-coronavirus-genome-tracing-origins-and-mutations/

There's more easily-digestible info in the article, btw.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Looks like the virius help more people to enjoy the lunar New Years holidays at home.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

The trend in China these days are full of irony:

The CCP forced Uyghur muslims to eat pork, then China got swine flue.

The CCP used its own population as leverage against countries that rely on tourism economy, now nobody wants Chinese tourists.

The CCP banned Hong Kongers from wearing masks, now masks are in short supply in China.

Oh the irony. Keep it up CCP, keep it up...

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Unfortunately, Japan missed the golden opportunity to attract more tourists because the disastrous handling of the situation.

The so called virus is much less lethal than natural death, and the Abe govt cries like a baby.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

Japan missed the golden opportunity to attract more tourists because the disastrous handling of the situation.

Yeah, what is Japan thinking, trying to prevent an epidemic. The fools.

The so called virus is much less lethal than natural death

Pretty sure if you die from either one, that makes them pretty much equally lethal.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

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