Covid-19 News & Updates

[Spitfire]

Well, moving on. I'm sure I'm not the only one to notice this but no westerners or Caucasians have died yet and this death in France is an elderly Chinese dude. When this is all done it will be interesting to get the data on infections, deaths and recoveries regarding ethnicity. When it eventually comes round to a news report that a UK/French etc. citizen has died then we need to know the ethnic descent of that person.

It seems that east Asians are the most vulnerable to this infection and it's odd that there haven't been swathes of Indians and people of surrounding countries turning up on the casualty lists unless there is a massive suppression of figures in all these countries and some of them are no friends of China so would be unwilling to tow their narrative.

I can only speculate, but maybe (and read about it too) that this sort of virus is more infectious to certain races (by design or not) as the receptors in peoples' lungs are not the same due to racial make-up and these receptors are the pathways into the body. I would be surprised to hear of naturally occurring viruses like this that discriminate on racial make-up (but could be wrong) . As an aside, it is almost as if the further you get away from ground zero the less potent it is, otherwise Thailand, Laos, India, Vietnam and all should be teeming with cases ...but the Chinese have put themselves on a war footing and have gone the whole 9 yards as if someone let of a biological bomb/weapon in the middle of their country.

So much just doesn't add up and it's unlikely we'll get the truth. I've never seen the Chinese government panic like this before, so am skeptical of what they are saying and some of the videos coming out of China are pretty crazy (like nailing doors shut on apartments with people in them or dumping soil mountains outside the entrances to apartment blocks to keep people in etc.)

Time will tell, I guess. Can't help thinking they screwed up at that bio-hazard facility in Wuhan and let something out resulting in their panic mode now and they know full well what they released.

Edit - Typos

[pharvey]

It seems that east Asians are the most vulnerable to this infection and it's odd that there haven't been swathes of Indians and people of surrounding countries turning up on the casualty lists unless there is a massive suppression of figures in all these countries and some of them are no friends of China so would be unwilling to tow their narrative.

Have mentioned previously that I''m amazed at the lack of cases in India - Personally I believe all has been underrated.

[PeteC]

Coronavirus: Forty infected Americans among cruise ship evacuees

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-51524460

Story includes an update on many other related issues as well.

[PeteC]

The current Worldwide update by Bloomberg News

https://www.bangkokpost.com/world/18588 ... rus-update

Video at link.

[PeteC]

The coronavirus's effect on tourism will carry into 2021, experts say

https://www.nationthailand.com/travel/30382239

[PeteC]

Thailand welcomes cruise ship shunned in Vietnam over virus fears

https://thethaiger.com/news/phuket/thai ... irus-fears

German cruise ship AIDAvita has been welcomed in Thailand, days after it was blocked from docking in Vietnam due to fears of the COVID-19 coronavirus spreading across the region. Authorities in Vietnam’s Quang Ninh province, home to UNESCO world heritage site Ha Long Bay, barred passengers on the AIDAvita from disembarking on Thursday, according to the Vietnam News Agency.

Germany’s AIDA Cruises, the owner of the AIDAvita, did not respond to requests for comment. AIDA Cruises is a subsidiary of Miami-based Carnival Corp. The vessel, with some 1,100 passengers and 400 crew, docked early yesterday at the eastern Laem Chabang port, according to a Thai Maritime Security official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

“This morning Department of Disease Control officials have monitored all the passengers and right now there has been no report of any patients inside. The situation on this ship is normal and officials have not found anyone with fever over 37.5 degrees.”

Stoking fears in countries that usually allow cruise ships to dock is the quarantine in Japan of the Diamond Princess, also managed by a unit of Carnival Corp. Of the 3,700 passengers and crew on that vessel, 335 have now tested positive for the COVID-19 coronavirus. The ship remains quarantined in Japan’s Yokohama port. Phuket recently allowed two cruise ships to dock after turning away the MS Westerdam, which was eventually allowed to dock in Cambodia.

The AIDAvita was scheduled to disembark in Phuket today. However, because of worries about the virus, AIDA says it will now send the Aidavita and another vessel, the AIDAbella, for tours in other parts of the world. Rerouting these ships away from Asia, in effect cancelling them, will affect some 3,300 passengers.

SOURCES: The Star | Reuters

[handdrummer]

I don't think many Chinese tourist visit India and vice versa. That may have something to do with the lack of virus cases in India.

[sateeb]

Point taken.

I preferred your "at a glance" daily updates, no faffing around with links, hey hum.

[PeteC]

Thailand records 1 new case of coronavirus

https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/ge ... oronavirus

Thailand has recorded one new case of coronavirus, bringing the total in the country to 35 since January, a senior health official said on Monday.

The new case is a 60-year old Chinese woman whose family members earlier contracted the virus, Sukhum Kanchanapimai, the health ministry's permanent secretary said in a news conference.

Fifteen people have recovered and return home.

Over 1,700 people in China have died from the virus but Thailand has not recorded any fatalities so far.

[duan]

[quote=sateeb post_id=503199 time=1581908157 user_id=6695]
[quote=HHTel post_id=503145 time=1581840869 user_id=2528]Point taken.[/quote]

I preferred your "at a glance" daily updates, no faffing around with links, hey hum.
[/quote]

Me too it was much better and easier to digest.
Please reconsider.

[joelle]

HHTel missing your daily report which I found highly informative, please can you keep us posted about all the outcome?
I am sure I am not the only one who used to read your stats

[HHTel]

Thanks for your posts. I'll resume the summary of stats tomorrow morning. I will show stats including the Hubei province and excluding Hubei. Obviously, there'll be a huge difference which hopefully will be re-assuring.

[sateeb]

[buksida]

This one is from a reputable outlet so don't shoot the messenger ...

The coronavirus crisis was made in China, but no one will say it
The Chinese Communist Party calls it "discourse management". It's more than mere censorship, and bigger than propaganda. And Beijing is pretty good at it. The party uses it to control its own people, but also to manage foreign governments.

Take the new coronavirus, for instance. It may be a made-in-China global pandemic, and China might have bungled its handling of it, but that's somehow irrelevant and China's government says it's "unhappy" with Australia. Come again?

The outbreak is classified by the World Health Organisation as a global health emergency. It was created in China, of course. The consensus among virologists is that the likely cause was the Chinese authorities' persistent tolerance of unsafe animal and food handling practices.

After the 2003 outbreak of a novel coronavirus, the SARS epidemic, the Chinese government banned all trade in wild animals. Once the crisis had passed, the authorities relaxed the ban, announcing 54 types of exemption. In other words, it was going to happen again one day. Then, once this outbreak was discovered, the Chinese authorities seriously mismanaged it. This is now the subject of frenetic blame-shifting inside China.

...

The central propaganda authority said it would dispatch 300 propaganda agents – though it called them "journalists" – to the "frontline" in Hubei to make sure the required happy news stories were supplied.

A noted veteran political commentator, Willy Wo-Lap Lam of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, tells me: "The official state media have glorified Xi as the brilliant and effective man to deal with the outbreak. In actual fact, this is the toughest test of his power since he took over nine years ago. He's accused of not divulging the truth about the virus and the number of casualties, of being too slow to mobilise medical supplies to the affected area, and for the people in the huge province of Hubei being left to their own devices under quarantine, without adequate resources from the central government."

...

China has imposed draconian bans on its own people, in areas home to some 50 million. Yet Beijing's mouthpiece People's Daily accused other countries that have imposed travel bans of "racism". This list would include not only Australia and the US but also Singapore and Japan and Vietnam.

Full Story: https://www.smh.com.au/world/asia/the-c ... 541hk.html

This also goes to explain why Thailand did not restrict travel - its scared shitless of Beijing.

[HHTel]

Start of another day in the 'End of the World' saga. Figures updated at 07:18 Thai time today:

China has altered it's definition of cases and now include 'clinically diagnosed cases'

N.B. Growth figures are for 2 days (just this once)

73,332 cases ( up 4,064)

Deaths: 1,873 (up 204)

12,712 recovered. (up 3,173)

Currently infected: 58,747 (up 687)
Mild cases 46,952 (80% of currently infected)
Serious or critical: 11,795 (20% of currently infected)

Recovered or died: 14,585 (up 3,377)
Recovered/discharged: 12,714 (87% of the total with outcome)
Died 1,873 (13% of cases with an outcome) Keep an eye on this percentage.

Let's see how that changes by excluding Hubei but including the rest of China and the world:

13,343 (59,989) cases

Deaths: 84 (1,789)

4,850 (7,862) recovered.

Currently infected: 16,790 (41,957)
Mild cases 15,965 (30,987) (95% of currently infected)
Serious or critical: 825 (5% of currently infected)

Recovered or died: 4,934 (9,651)
Recovered/discharged: 4,852 (98% of the total with outcome)
Died 84 (2% of cases with an outcome) Keep an eye on this percentage.

That includes the cruise liner which has a category of it's own now.

64,282 'flu deaths 2020