By Bill Koenig
Coronavirus concerns:
Coronavirus far more likely than SARS to bond to human cells due to HIV-like mutation, scientists say - South China Morning Post
Coronavirus from Chinese facility:;
According to Dr. Frances Boyle the coronavirus came from a biological weapons facility in Wuhan, China - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsyujjitOFM
Coronavirus facts: Can survive for nine days; up to 14 days before symptoms; 80 percent contagious
American Center for Microbiology: They found that human coronaviruses such as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) coronavirus, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) coronavirus or endemic human coronaviruses (HCoV) can survive for up to nine days on surfaces including metal, glass or plastic, but that treating those surfaces with a disinfectant will kill the virus within a minute.
"As no specific therapies are available for SARS-CoV-2, early containment and prevention of further spread will be crucial to stop the ongoing outbreak and to control this novel infectious thread," they noted inxz their summary.
Enigmatic – symptoms appear later up to 14 days – making it hard to trace and hard to trace in people entering in the country
Containment is required immediately because it is so contagious.
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Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus as an Agent of Emerging and Reemerging Infection
Source: NCBI
In a paper published earlier this month in The Journal of Hospital Infection, a group of researchers looked at 22 studies detailing how long coronaviruses which effect humans and animals can survive on inanimate surfaces.
They found that human coronaviruses such as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) coronavirus, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) coronavirus or endemic human coronaviruses (HCoV) can survive for up to nine days on surfaces including metal, glass or plastic, but that treating those surfaces with a disinfectant will kill the virus within a minute.
"As no specific therapies are available for SARS-CoV-2, early containment and prevention of further spread will be crucial to stop the ongoing outbreak and to control this novel infectious thread," they noted in their summary.
The virus is known to spread person-to-person through respiratory droplets, most often through a cough or a sneeze, but the research suggested that the virus may also be spread through a person touching an infected surface and then touching the mouth or nose, or possibly even the eyes.
"Based on the current available data, I would primarily rely on the data from SARS coronavirus, which is the closest relative to the novel coronavirus - with 80% sequence similarity - among the coronaviruses tested.
For SARS coronavirus, the range of persistence on surfaces was less than five minutes to nine days," said Dr. Charles Chiu, an infectious disease professor at the University of California, San Francisco, who was not on the team of researchers behind the report, CNN has reported.
"However, it is very difficult to extrapolate these findings to the novel coronavirus due to the different strains, viral titers and environmental conditions that were tested in the various studies and the lack of data on the novel coronavirus itself," he said. "More research using cultures of the novel coronavirus are needed to establish the duration that it can survive on surfaces."
The findings suggest that quarantine measures combined with rigorous cleanliness measures may aid in preventing spread of the virus. America's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has stated on its website that the virus "seems to be spreading easily and sustainably in Hubei province and other parts of China," but adds: "In the United States, spread from person-to-person has occurred only among a few close contacts and has not spread any further to date."
The team of researchers found that treating surfaces with either an alcohol based disinfectant or bleach would likely remove the risk from inanimate surfaces within one minute.
Meanwhile, "Remain informed, but do not panic," Chiu said.
- "My recommendations would be frequent hand-washing, avoiding contact with people who are sick, follow home quarantine recommendations according to the latest public health agency guidelines if you have recently traveled from China or were in contact with a known or suspected infected patient."
However, he added: "It is still far more likely that you contract influenza rather than this novel coronavirus, meaning that you should get vaccinated for influenza as well."
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Economic repercussions
China's growing threat to national security and the nation's health
FDA recalls are a reminder that China controls much of world's drugs.
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The new coronavirus could have a lasting impact on global supply chains
There are three reasons to think the coming months could prove even more unpleasant for many firms.
First, big multinationals have left themselves dangerously exposed to supply-chain riskowing to strategies designed to bring down their costs.
For example, many keep only enough stock on hand to last a few weeks, confident that they can always replenish their inventories “just in time”. That confidence is misplaced, argues Bindiya Vakil of Resilinc, a consultancy.
The second vulnerability arises from the fact that giant firms are much more reliant on Chinese factories today than they were at the time of the SARS outbreak in 2003.
- China now accounts for 16% of global GDP, up from 4% back then.
- Its share of all exports in textiles and apparel is now 40% of the global total.
- It generates 26% of the world’s furniture exports.
- It is also a voracious consumer of things such as metals, needed in manufacturing. In 2003 China sucked in 7% of global mining imports. Today it claims closer to a fifth.
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Virus threatens U.S. companies’ supply of Chinese-made parts and materials
Washington Post
Major airlines in the United States and Europe are halting their cargo and passenger flights to China for up to two months. Recent visitors to the country are barred from entering the United States.
Investment banker El-Erian: Can’t count on quick economic virus rebound
Supply and Demand – sudden economy stop – EU and US having supply change disruption – Chinese can’t get out; China not paying people; demand and supply shock; affects trade and services; internal and external; economy wasn’t good in first place; economic not stock; deeply conditioned; markets central bank policies let the market; now market leading the central banks; globalization has risks;
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China is sterilizing cash in an attempt to stop the coronavirus spreading
Chinese banks have been ordered to disinfect cash before issuing itto the public in an effort to curb the spread of the new coronavirus that has so far killed 1,770 people in the country.
The Chinese government said during a press conference on Saturday that banks would only be permitted to release new bills which had been sterilized.
I have been told to withdraw potentially infected cash from circulation and disinfect it using either ultraviolet or heat treatments, the government’s State Council told reporters. Decontaminated cash would then be stored for seven to 14 days before it could be returned to the market.
Money removed from high-risk sites such as hospitals and markets would be sealed and specially treated, but it would then be held by the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) instead of re-entering circulation, officials said.
Cash transfers between China’s provinces had also been suspended, which the State Council claimed had minimized the movement of personnel and reduced the risk of transmitting the new strain of coronavirus — formally named COVID-19 — during transit.
“After the outbreak, we paid great attention to the safety and health of the public’s use of cash,” he said, according to a translation by Google. “Prior to January 17 this year, the People’s Bank of China arranged to allocate nearly 600 billion yuan ($86 billion) of new banknotes to the country.”
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Millions of Chinese Firms Face Collapse If Banks Don’t Act Fast
With much of China’s economy still idled as authorities try to contain an epidemic that has infected more than 75,000 people, millions of companies across the country are in a race against the clock to stay afloat.
A survey of small- and medium-sized Chinese companies conducted this month 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.
Many of China’s businesses were already grasping for lifelines before the virus hit, pummeled by a trade war and lending crackdown that sent economic growth to a three-decadelow last year.
Banks are hardly any better off themselves. Many are under-capitalized and on the ropes after two years of record debt defaults.Rating firm S&P Globalhas estimated that a prolonged emergency could cause the banking system’s bad loan ratio to more than triple to about 6.3%, amounting to an increase of 5.6 trillion yuan.
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U.S. policymakers worry about China 'weaponizing' drug exports
Last year, China accounted for 95 percent of U.S. imports of ibuprofen, 91 percent of U.S. imports of hydrocortisone, 70 percent of U.S. imports of acetaminophen, 40 to 45 percent of U.S. imports of penicillin and 40 percent of U.S. imports of heparin, according to Commerce Department data. In all, 80 percent of the U.S. supply of antibiotics are made in China.
"Millions of Americans, including service members, rely on drugs to stay healthy — yet the United States imports a significant portion of these drugs' components from China," the senators, joined by Sens. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) and Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), said in a letter.
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Rosemary Gibson - China Rx
https://www.chinarxbook.com/media
Rosemary Gibson is an award-winning author of China Rx: Exposing the Risks of America’s Dependence on China for Medicine which reveals the dramatic shift in where medicines are made and growing concerns about their quality. It highlights the centralization of the global supply of medicines in a single country and implications in the event of a global pandemic, natural disaster, or geopolitical event.
Ms. Gibson is Senior Advisor at the Hastings Center and Perspectives Editor at JAMA Internal Medicine. She is recipient of the highest honor from the American Medical Writers Association for her outstanding contributions to the public’s interest in reporting on critical health care issues.
“China: Making Your Medicine” - New American
“China’s grip on pharmaceutical drugs is a national security issue” - Washington Post
“Chinese Vitamin C Price-Fixing Case Could Alter U.S. Drug Market” - Bloomberg
China's growing threat to national security and the nation's health – The Hill
FDA recalls are a reminder that China controls much of world's drug supply –NBC News
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How Iran’s regime spread coronavirus to the Middle East
It may have done so partially out of incompetence, with a Health Ministry that did not know how to find, quarantine or test the sick.
In fact, Iran has not done what China or Italy or other places have done. It has not been transparent and did not even quarantine the cases in Qom or elsewhere. Instead, Iran has acted like an incubator.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani spoke with an Austrian delegation on Sunday. Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif smiled and laughed with the Austrians. The virus was a big joke for the president and minister. Zarif later joked that he did not have the virus. Rouhani claimed the virus was like US sanctions: It seemed worse than it was.
For average Iranians, becoming collateral damage to the country trying to preserve its reputation may not be what they bargained for. For Iraq, Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait, Lebanon and other countries now under threat because of people who traveled to Iran, the government’s indecision – and its not treating the issue as an emergency – could also be bad news.
It is already causing panic in the Gulf and Iraq. Health ministries from Erbil in the Kurdistan region to Abu Dhabi are trying to reassure people not to panic or spread rumors. Tehran’s unwillingness to take part in a regional response to the crisis is not helping tamp down the rumors.