Real-time update on coronavirus outbreak

[antonius123]

World Health Organization WHO Situation Report - 35 at 10AM February 24th, 2020

SUBJECT IN FOCUS: Risk Communications to Address Stigma
Stigma occurs when people negatively associate an infectious disease, such as COVID-19, with a specific population. In the case of COVID-19, there are an increasing number of reports of public stigmatization against people from areas affected by the epidemic. Unfortunately, this means that people are being labelled, stereotyped, separated, and/or experience loss of status and discrimination because of a potential negative affiliation with the disease.

Given that COVID-19 is a new disease, it is understandable that its emergence and spread cause confusion, anxiety and fear among the general public. These factors can give rise to harmful stereotypes.

Stigma can:
• Drive people to hide the illness to avoid discrimination
• Prevent people from seeking health care immediately
• Discourage them from adopting healthy behaviours

Such barriers could potentially contribute to more severe health problems, ongoing transmission, and difficulties controlling infectious diseases during an infectious disease outbreak. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), UNICEF and the WHO are developing community-based guides and global campaigns to thwart the effects of stigma on people and the COVID-19 response.

Do your part. Governments, citizens, media, key influencers and communities have an important role to play in preventing and stopping stigma. We all need to be intentional and thoughtful when communicating on social media and other communication platforms, showing supportive behaviors around COVID-19.

Here are some examples and tips on possible actions to counter stigmatizing attitudes:
• Spreading the facts: Stigma can be heightened by insufficient knowledge about how the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is transmitted and treated, and how to prevent infection.

• Engaging social influencers such as religious leaders on prompting reflection about people who are stigmatized and how to support them, or respected celebrities to amplify messages that reduce stigma.

• Amplify the voices, stories and images of local people who have experienced COVID-19 and have recovered or who have supported a loved one through recovery to emphasise that most people do recover from COVID-19.

• Make sure you portray different ethnic groups. Materials should show diverse communities that are being affected, and show communities working together to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

• Balanced reporting. Media reporting should be balanced and contextualised, disseminating evidence-based information and helping combat rumour and misinformation that could lead to stigmatisation.

• Link up. There are a number of initiatives to address stigma and stereotyping. It is key to link up to these activities to create a movement and a positive environment that shows care and empathy for all.

Actually his narration is nothing to do with stigma toward chinese, but toward CCP. Strong narration based on corona outbreak.

 

[lcloo]

Any work about the African swine flu or Middle east respiratory syndrome MERS... Or the Ebola ( named after an African River) and so on...

You can visit WHO official website
https://www.who.int/

 

[Mista]

Looks like it's possible to be a spreader without ever knowing that you got infected and recover from it.

A new confirmed case in Singapore today has recovered before she was even tested with the conventional test. However a new serological test looking for antibodies in their immune system confirmed she had earlier been infected with Covid-19.

This has helped the Singapore Police Force to establish links and crack the mystery behind Singapore's largest infection cluster, tracking the infection to two travellers from Wuhan who arrived here on 19 Jan.

https://www.facebook.com/

Duke-NUS used COVID-19 antibody tests to establish link between church clusters in a world-first

SINGAPORE: In a world-first, a research team at Duke-NUS Medical School established a link between two COVID-19 clusters in Singapore via serological testing on two cases, the Ministry of Health (MOH) announced on Tuesday (Feb 25).

The lab tests showed that a couple, cases 83 and 91, were infected with the coronavirus. The couple are linked to the Life Church and Missions Singapore and came into contact with cases 8 and 9, a couple from Wuhan.

Cases 83 and 91 then passed the infection during a Chinese New Year gathering on Jan 25 to Case 66, who works at Grace Assembly of God church and has been determined by MOH to be the primary case in that cluster.

READ: Chinese New Year gathering identified as missing link between COVID-19 church clusters

"This meant that cases 83 and 91 likely got infected from case 8 and 9, and went on to pass the infection to case 66 at the Chinese New Year gathering,” the health ministry said.

Cases 83 and 91 had no symptoms at the time of the investigations, the ministry explained.

Records showed that case 91 had gone to Sengkang General Hospital the day after the gathering with symptoms consistent with COVID-19. Case 83 had also been unwell end-January, and repeatedly sought treatment at a GP clinic.

The MOH epidemiology team arranged for cases 83 and 91 to be tested at the National Centre for Infectious Diseases, including the use of serological tests developed by the Duke-NUS team.

Serological tests are tests that look for antibodies in blood samples.

"The test results confirmed they had earlier been infected with COVID-19," MOH said.

READ: Singapore to bar visitors with recent travel history to South Korea's COVID-19 outbreak epicentres Daegu and Cheongdo

HOW THE TESTS WERE USED

According to MOH, Duke-NUS had cultured the COVID-19 virus in less than a week after Singapore confirmed its first case.

"Using the virus and genetic material derived from the virus, the research team had then rapidly developed several specific lab tests to detect the virus-specific antibodies for contract tracing and other applications," said MOH.

MOH said the lab test currently used to confirm the COVID-19 infection is a molecular test called the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) which detects the the presence of viral generic material in a biological sample obtained from a patient.

The drawback with this test, said MOH, was that it would not work if the patient had recovered and the body's immune system has cleared the virus.

"However, the immune system produces antibodies in response to the infection. The virus specific antibodies will stay with the recovered patient for longer periods of time, which could be at least for several years," said MOH.

Using two different antibody testing platforms (virus neutralisation assay and ELISA assay), the Duke-NUS team proved that cases 81 and 93 were infected with COVID-19 in late January 2020, as they had very high levels of the virus-specific antibodies in their blood.

"This result was a significant piece of evidence which confirmed the links between the church clusters and the two Wuhan travellers," added MOH.

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/covid19-coronavirus-duke-nus-antibody-tests-12469184

 

[Glass]

Millions of Chinese firms face risk of collapse amid coronavirus pandemic, survey shows
BY DAILY SABAH WITH AGENCIES
ISTANBUL BUSINESS
FEB 25, 2020 4:57 PM GMT+3

People wearing protective face masks walk on an overpass in Shanghai on February 25, 2020. (AFP Photo)


As China’s economy struggles with the impact of the global coronavirus pandemic that has infected more than 75,000 people worldwide, millions of companies across the country are in a race against the clock to stay afloat, Bloomberg reported Sunday.

The government has asked banks to offer more credit for an economy paralyzed by the spread of the virus. A survey of small- and medium-sized Chinese firms found millions on the verge of collapse.

A survey showed that a third of respondents only had enough cash to cover fixed expenses for a month, with another third running out within two months. Without more financial support or a sudden rebound in China’s economy, some may have to shut for good, the report said.

Chinese President Xi Jinping acknowledged Sunday that the virus represented the country's "largest public health emergency" since the founding of the People's Republic in 1949.

"This is a crisis for us and it is a big test," Xi said in comments reported by state television. China's annual parliament meeting was on Monday postponed for the first time since the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s.

On Sunday, President Xi hailed the trend and urged businesses to resume work and safeguard jobs. He also told low-risk provinces to restore economic output while high-risk regions focused on controlling the epidemic.

Yunnan, Guangdong, Shanxi and Guizhou on Monday lowered their emergency response measures from the most serious level, joining the provinces of Gansu and Liaoning in relaxing restrictions on transport and travel.

The new coronavirus has infected nearly 77,000 people and killed more than 2,500 in China, and spread to numerous other countries.

Outside Hubei, factories, businesses and construction sites have already gradually restarted, though operations are still fitful.

Many front-line workers have yet to return home from specially extended Lunar New Year holidays, supply chains have not fully recovered, and raw material and component shortages still exist, a government official from Zhejiang, one of China's biggest provinces by economic output, told a news briefing.

The International Monetary Fund warned Sunday that the epidemic was putting a "fragile" global economic recovery at risk.

G20 financial chiefs also voiced concern about its ripple effects around the world.




https://www.dailysabah.com/business...nese-firms-face-risk-of-collapse-survey-shows

 

[Glass]

:/

https://twitter.com/x/status/1232339001706778625

 

[nahtanbob]

Anti-China keyboard agents spinning fake video/news and malicious mis-information abound endlessly.

Shame on people treating a crisis killing hundreds of lives as an opportunity to propagate their hate of China.

@Icloo if chinese leaders had been more transparent we may not be here

 

[patero]

Some hard choices being made in China, with many more to be made elsewhere in due time.

Relax containment and quarantine measures to stimulate the economy, but risk allowing the virus to continue spreading. Or maintain/increase containment measures and risk destabilizing the economy.

If the numbers Chinese officials have been reporting are accurate, then they can probably take the risk of relaxing restrictive measures. A mere 5 new cases reported in China today excluding Hubei province.

But if they have been under-reporting their numbers as many suspect, relaxing these measures could expose many more people to the virus.

Time will tell.

 

[beijingwalker]

@Icloo if chinese leaders had been more transparent we may not be here

How come Japan and Korea can't even contain the outbreak over 2 months after Wuhan outbreak? Are they transparent enough?

 

[lcloo]

UPDATE

As for transparency I would rather trust WHO World Health Organization and other global organizations and individuals with credibility rather than some spinning from mainly Western media with dubious vested political interest. Injecting political element into COVID-19 crisis is a shameful act.

Extract from WHO director-general's speech on 26th Feb 2020:-
full text here https://www.who.int/dg/speeches/det...ssion-briefing-on-covid-19---26-february-2020
On Monday, the WHO-China joint mission concluded its visit and delivered its report.

As you also know, the team has traveled to several different provinces, including Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak.

The team has made a range of findings about the transmissibility of the virus, the severity of disease and the impact of the measures taken.

They found that the epidemic peaked and plateaued between the 23rd of January and the 2nd of February, and has been declining steadily since then.

They have found that there has been no significant change in the DNA of the virus.

The team also estimate that the measures taken in China have averted a significant number of cases.

 

[Mista]

Man loses PR status, barred from re-entering Singapore after breaching Stay-Home Notice
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/new...ronavirus-pr-stay-home-notice-barred-12471954

COVID-19: Two to be charged with giving false information to MOH during contact tracing
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/new...arged-false-info-moh-contact-tracing-12471894

 

[nahtanbob]

How come Japan and Korea can't even contain the outbreak over 2 months after Wuhan outbreak? Are they transparent enough?

keep following your "suppress bad news at all cost policies"
it will cost you dearly one of these days

 

[beijingwalker]

keep following your "suppress bad news at all cost policies"
it will cost you dearly one of these days

Rumor and disinformation cost more, see what happend in the middle east in the past decade.

 

[nahtanbob]

Rumor and disinformation cost more, see what happend in the middle east in the past decade.

The Middle East has tried censorship portion of the Chinese model for a long time. They postpone the day of reckoning

 

[Nilgiri]

 

[beijingwalker]

The Middle East has tried censorship portion of the Chinese model for a long time. They postpone the day of reckoning

If they regulated the media, the whole region will plunged into this endless war designed by the west.