Thursday, April 23, 2020

Coronavirus News (53)


I call my mother on WhatsApp, but my father on Viber. My niece suggested a chat on Houseparty, so I and my nephews...
Posted by Manjushree Thapa on Thursday, April 23, 2020

Coronavirus City: 21% of New York City is infected. Random test. Only a matter of time and the entire city will be...
Posted by R Benson Evans on Thursday, April 23, 2020




Outbreak began earlier in US California health officials identifying a fatality on Feb. 6 — weeks before the first death was thought to have occurred at a Washington nursing home. ..... Testing in New York City, meanwhile, indicated that one out of every five people had antibodies for the virus, meaning many times more people than previously thought were infected. .......... Midwestern meat processing plants and factories are experiencing a surge in coronavirus cases, even as cases moderate in coastal areas. ........ A second wave of coronavirus infections could overlap with the start of flu season next winter, increasing the burden on health care facilities

White-collar jobs not in the clear The job losses that began in the restaurant, hotel and factory sector are making their way into white-collar offices of America. Analysts and engineers — many who have never had to apply for unemployment assistance before — are getting laid off. Bloomberg reports companies originally in the clear have seen dwindling revenue and profits, "triggering a second round of job cuts or furloughs, with office workers taking a bigger hit this time." According to a recent Gallup poll, a record-high 25% of working Americans believe they are likely to be laid off in the next year.

Street by street, home by home: how China used social controls to tame an epidemic Neighbourhood monitoring system is at the heart of restrictions imposed ‘at the expense of public autonomy and vitality’ ..... Chinese city has eased restrictions, but measures remain in place for community ‘cells’

In the aftermath of the coronavirus crisis, India could emerge as the power behind the global growth engine The Covid-19 pandemic has sparked a backlash against globalisation, which ignores its huge contribution to global GDP and poverty reduction ...... While China, with its dynamic supply chain, labour pool and support systems for manufacturing, powered global growth after the 2008 financial crisis, India could do the same for services

The world is waking up to the risks of relying on China for its critical medical supplies For the US and Europe, the coronavirus pandemic has highlighted China’s dominance in critical medical supplies. ......The reliance is now an issue of national security and geopolitical risk, with more countries seeing it as an imperative to decouple and diversify away from China

Australia wants international probe into coronavirus origins, prompting backlash from China Prime Minister Scott Morrison discussed an investigation during phone calls with other leaders overnight ....... ‘Certain Australian politicians are keen to parrot what those Americans have asserted and simply follow them in staging political attacks on China,’ embassy statement said

Why is an oil price plunge not being celebrated by China, the world’s biggest crude buyer? China relies on imports for over 70 per cent of its domestic oil consumption, but lower prices represent a big challenge for its own oil production and investments ....... Low prices also do not directly translate into cheaper petrol and fuel bills for consumers due to Beijing’s strict control of domestic energy prices

Medical experts have a plan to prevent next epidemic – it’s called ‘One Health’ Health groups have already learned lessons from previous outbreaks involving animals ...... But approach requires more collaboration between disciplines and across governments ........

a public health strategy that recognises the growing threat from new animal viruses is linked to human economic expansion

and taps the combined expertise of livestock and wildlife veterinary surgeons, conservationists and ecologists, along with medical doctors and researchers, to tackle it. ........... reduce human destruction of forests, which is thought to have driven more virus-carrying bats into orchards ........ “People recognised the interconnection between what’s happening in the ecosystem – land use change, agriculture intensification, and climate changes at the time – and how those all occurred at the same time, and what arises from that is something that’s very explosive” ....... The One Health approach, based on

the idea that human, animal and environmental health are interrelated

, has gained traction in the past two decades ............. the approach demands that different fields of expertise and government departments work together, which can result in bottlenecks caused by politics and bureaucracy ........... recognising, managing and monitoring the risks that have caused infectious diseases to emerge from wildlife at an unprecedented rate in recent decades. .......... changes in how people use land, like forests being ploughed into farmland; suburbs and cities spreading into rural areas; the increasing scale of the livestock industry and a booming wildlife trade – activities that drive increased contact between people and animals. ............... a number of disease outbreaks that followed Nipah virus: West Nile virus in New York City, severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) in southeastern China, and avian flu across East and Southeast Asia. ....... the current pandemic, likely caused by contact between humans and animals through the wildlife trade, and these same issues of human, animal and environmental health are at play. ......... the sanitation and hygiene in so-called wet markets, where live and butchered wild animals and poultry are crammed next to each other, creating prime opportunity for the viruses they carry to combine, mutate and jump to people. ........ China’s massive animal breeding farms. .......

The coronavirus pandemic has triggered calls from scientists around the world to ban the trade of wildlife in wet markets.

............. these intersections between human, animal and environmental health ........ problems often arise at government levels when bureaucrats focus on protecting their own turf. ........ “What [One Health] requires is linkages between government departments, and they never like that – they each have their own budgets and different power structures,” Dirk Pfeiffer, a professor of One Health at Hong Kong’s City University, said.

“If you look around the world, you will see very few examples of integration.”

........... most countries had “inadequate mechanisms” in place for collaboration among animal health, public health and environment sectors. .........

Wild animals account for about 70 per cent of emerging infectious diseases in recent decades

............... as the world looks to prevent future pandemics, strategies must take into account not only human, environmental and animal health, but the economic and social factors that influence them ........ “planetary health”, a more recent concept stressing recognition of linkages between environmental change and public health ......... The impetus to change and better manage the human behaviour that drives this risk could be the “painful silver lining to the Covid-19 outbreak”, he said. “If we can’t change course now, given the circumstances we find ourselves in, I don’t know if we ever will.”


Coronavirus study points to vast number of cases under the radar in China Researchers in Hong Kong find that Covid-19 definitions make big differences to the pandemic’s bigger picture ...... Mainland China might have had four times as many infections as official total if broader criteria used, team says

Rise in coronavirus cases brings to light Singaporeans’ racist attitudes towards foreign workers The spread of the virus among its migrant workers living in cramped conditions has touched off a wave of blame and scapegoating in society, never mind that Singapore owes its success to this huge low-paid workforce providing many essential services

‘ठीक टाइममा अस्पताल गएकाले बाँचेर फर्केर आएँ’ : न्युयोर्कका नेपाली डाक्टर विनोद शाह



NYC: 1 in 5 residents infected with coronavirus, says Cuomo
Coronavirus: One virus caused Covid-19. Scientists say thousands more are in waiting Coronavirus has forced changes on all levels of society, and shown how being able to ship goods and people around the world in 24 hours helps viruses spread ....... The second part of our series on lessons learned from the pandemic looks at the importance of identifying new viruses and the risks of them infecting humans

Coronavirus News (52)





केपी ओलीको गन्तव्य : अब कता ?
एकचोटि प्रधानमन्त्रीजीसँग भेट्नैपर्‍यो भन्ने दबाव आयो : डा. सुरेन्द्र यादव 'नयाँ पार्टी बनाउन सजिलो छैन, थ्रेसहोल्ड पनि छ'
राजपा–सपा एकीकरण : मधेस मामिलामा ओलीको असफलता पार्टी फुटाउने ओलीको सपना अझै मुर्झाइसकेको छैन ..... नयाँ पार्टीको नाम ‘जनता समाजवादी पार्टी’ रहने, झण्डा समाजवादीकै रहने र चुनावचिन्ह राजपाको (छाता) रहने ....... कोरोनाको महामारीविरुद्ध लड्नुपर्ने बेलामा बालुवाटारमा बसेर साना पार्टी फुटाउने षडयन्त्रको ड्राफ्ट गर्नतिर दैनिक १८ घण्टा खटेका प्रधानमन्त्री ओली ....... अब जनता समाजवादी पार्टी (जसपा) नेपालको तेस्रो ठूलो राष्ट्रिय दल बन्न पुगेको छ । ...... मधेसकेन्द्रित विभिन्न ६ वटा दल मिलेर बनेको राजपा र बाबुरामको नयाँ शक्ति अनि उपेन्द्र यादव नेतृत्वको समाजवादी मिलेर बनेका समूहरु एकतावद्ध हुनु भनेको केपी ओलीको मधेस रणनीति असफल हुनु नै हो । ...... महामारीविरुद्ध राष्ट्रलाई एकतावद्ध बनाउनुपर्ने बेलामा पार्टी फुटाउने नकारात्मक खेलमा लागेका प्रधानमन्त्री ओलीलाई राजपा र समाजवादी पार्टीले तत्काल एकीकरण गरेर जवाफ दिएका छन् । राजपा समाजवादीले दिएको यो जवाफ तात्कालिक अर्थको मात्र छैन, आगामी चुनावको शक्ति सन्तुलनमा समेत यसले सत्तारुढ नेकपालाई असर गर्ने देखिन्छ ।
प्रधानमन्त्रीले भने- अध्यादेश फिर्ता लिन्छु
भैँसेपाटी बैठकको निष्कर्ष : अध्यादेश फिर्ता लिनुको विकल्प छैन
ओलीले अध्यादेशको बचाउ गर्दा प्रचण्ड मौन भीम रावलले जनाए असहमति, सीमापारिका नेपालीको उद्धार गर्न सांसदको माग ..... सरकारले ल्याएको अध्यादेशपछि नेकपाको शीर्ष नेतृत्वमा किचलो देखिएपछि पार्टी फुट्ने हो कि भन्ने चिन्ता माथिदेखि तलसम्म फैलिएको छ । ....... प्रधानमन्त्री निवासमा आयोजित छलफलमा सांसदहरूको जिज्ञासा कोरोना कसरी भगाउने भन्दा पनि पार्टी एकता जोगाउने र विवादित अध्यादेशतिरै केन्द्रित थियो । ....... पहिलो वरीयताका अध्यक्षसमेत रहेका प्रधानमन्त्री ओलीले पार्टीका सांसदहरूलाई लामो पृष्ठभूमि बाँधेर अध्यादेशको औचित्य पुष्टि गर्ने प्रयास गरिरहँदा प्रचण्डचाहिँ मौन बसेका थिए । ........ सरकारका कार्यशैलीसँग विमति राख्दै आएका नेता भीम रावलले नीतिगत विषयमा आफ्ना केही कुरा रहेको भन्दै अध्यादेशप्रति असहमति राखेका थिए । ...... प्रधानमन्त्री ओलीले कतिपय नेता र सांसदहरूले आफू स्मार्ट देखिनका लागि सरकारका नकारात्मक कुरा मात्र गर्ने प्रवृत्ति रहेको भन्दै भाइरल बन्न खोज्ने प्रवृत्तिले कसैलाई फाइदा नगर्ने बताएका थिए ।
नेकपाको सचिवालयमै अध्यादेश ढिसमिस ! कोरोनाको महामारीविरुद्ध राष्ट्रिय एकताको खाँचो परिरहेका बेला पार्टी फुटाउन सजिलो पार्ने अध्यादेश पारित गरेर शीतलनिवास पठाएपछि प्रधानमन्त्री ओली सचिवालय बैठकमा उभिएका थिए । ...... क्याबिनेटमा उर्जामन्त्री वर्षमान पुन, परराष्ट्रमन्त्री प्रदीप ज्ञवाली र कृषिमन्त्री घनश्याम भुसालले अध्यादेशको विरोध गरेका थिए । ........ त्यतिबेलासम्म सरकारले ल्याएको अध्यादेशविरुद्ध सामाजिक सञ्जाल गर्माइसकेको थियो । देशभरिका नेकपा कार्यकर्ता तरंगित बनेका थिए । ...... नेकपा फुट्न पो लागेको हो कि भन्ने प्रश्न सर्वत्र फैलिइसकेको थियो । ...... नौ भाइ नेताहरु हतार–हतार बालुवाटारमा जुटे । ...... सोमबार अघिसम्म प्रधानमन्त्री ओलीको पक्षमा ईश्वर पोखरेल र विष्णु पौडेल मात्र खुलेर लागेका थिए । रामबहादुर थापा बादलको झुकाव ओलीतिरै देखिए पनि खुलिसकेका थिएनन् । ...... प्रचण्ड–माधव खेमामा सचिवालयका बहुमत अर्थात, ५ जना सदस्य देखिन्थे । ...... आफ्नो निर्णय आम जनमानसमा कति अलोकप्रिय छ र कति विरोध भइरहेको भन्ने कुरा प्रधानमन्त्रीले मतलब गरेजस्तो देखिँदैनथ्यो ।
समाजवादी-राजपा एकीकरण : प्रदेश २ मा खुशीको माहौल 'टुटफुटको इतिहासलाई यहीँबाट रोकिनुपर्छ' ....... ‘जुन उद्देश्यले प्रधानमन्त्रीज्यूले अध्यादेश ल्याउनुभयो, त्यो पूरा भएन’ ...... ‘व्यापक माग थियो मधेशमा यो दुवै पार्टी एक हुनुपर्छ भनेर’ ....... रातारात भएको यो एकतालाई दुवै दलका जिल्लास्तरका नेताहरुले स्वागत गरेका छन् । ..... मध्यरातमा एकीकरण भयो,’ महासचिव पटेलले भने, ‘सञ्चारमाध्यम हेरिरहेका छौं, विस्तारै थाहा होला ।’ ..... ‘वर्षौं पहिले हुनुपर्ने एकता हो, प्रधानमन्त्रीले ल्याएको अध्यादेशले गर्दा अहिले एकता भयो,’ उनले भने, ‘अब छिन-छिनमा मोहमा परेर पार्टी फोड्नेभन्दा कार्यकर्ता र संगठन बनाउनमा ध्यान जाओस् ।’ ....... संघीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र खतरामा परेको समयमा भएको एकीकरणले मधेसी जनतामा सकारात्मक सन्देश प्रवाह गर्ने
पार्टी फुट्दैन, एकताको बाँकी काम लकडाउनपछि पूरा गर्छौँ : महतो बिहीबार बिहान दल दर्ताका लागि निर्वाचन आयोगमा पुगेका महतोले पत्रकारहरूसँग कुरा गर्दै अहिले कोरोना भाइरसबाट जीवनरक्षा गर्ने काम प्राथमिकतामा परेकाले एकताको बाँकी काम पछि गर्ने बताए । उनले भने, ‘पहिले जनताको जीवनरक्षा गर्नुपर्‍यो । लकडाउनपछि एकताको बाँकी प्रक्रिया पूरा गर्छौँ ।’...... उनले समाजवादी र राजपाबीच सम्मानजनक एकता भएको दाबी गरे । ...... नेताहरूको पद बाँडफाँट गरिएको छैन । एकतापछि पार्टीको नाम ‘जनता समाजवादी पार्टी’ राखिएको छ भने झण्डा समाजवादीको र चुनावचिह्न राजपाको प्रयोग गर्ने सहमति भएको छ ।
‘अपहरण’मा परेका सांसद यादव होटलबाट फुत्केर समाजवादी पार्टीको सम्पर्कमा पुगे पार्टी फुटाउन ‘अपहरण’ को शैलीमा जनकपुरबाट काठमाडौं ल्याइएका सांसद डा. सुरेन्द्र यादव होटलबाट फुत्केर समाजवादी पार्टीको सम्पर्कमा पुगेका छन् । ..... यादवले घटनाबारे थप केही बताउन मानेका छैनन् । उनी आफूलाई काठमाडौं ल्याउने मानिसहरुबाट डराइरहेका छन् । ..... डा. यादवलाई नेकपा सांसद महेश बस्नेत र किसान श्रेष्ठ र पूर्वप्रहरी महानिरीक्षक सर्वेन्द्र खनालको टोली राति ३ बजे काठमाडौं ल्याइपुर्‍याएको पाण्डेले बताए । ....... राति काठमाडौं ल्याइएका यादवसँगै समाजवादी पार्टीका केही सांसदलाई नक्शालस्थित मेरियट होटलमा राखिएको समाजवादी पार्टीको भनाइ छ ।
पार्टी एकीकरणको खुसियालीमा जसपाका कार्यकर्ताद्वारा दीपावली पार्टी एकीकरण भएको खुसियालीमा सप्तरीका नेता/कार्यकर्ताहरुले बिहीबार साँझ दीपावली गरेका छन् । सदरमुकाम राजविराजस्थित गजेन्द्र चोकमा जसपाका कार्यकर्ताले संयुक्त रुपमा मैनबत्ती प्रज्वलन गरेका हुन् । ....... अब मधेशको मागलाई सशक्त रुपमा उठान गर्न सजिलो हुने विश्वास समेत व्यक्त गरे ।
डा. सुरेन्द्र यादव प्रकरणका अनुत्तरित प्रश्न लकडाउन छिचोल्दै ‘देश र जनताको हितमा’ जनकपुर पुगेका थिए सर्वेन्द्र ? ....... सांसद यादवको कथित ‘अपहरण’ मा खनालको मात्र नभएर देशको कार्यकारी प्रधानमन्त्री केपी शर्मा ओली र उनकै विश्वासपात्र सांसद महेश बस्नेतलगायतको पनि नाम मुछिएको छ । .... प्रधानमन्त्री केपी शर्मा ओलीको ठाडो आदेशमा काठमाडौँबाट गएको प्रहरी टोलीले डा. यादवलाई जनकपुरबाट अपहरण गरेको दाबी गरे । ....... रातोपाटीसँगको कुराकानीको क्रममा मन्त्री यादवले सांसदद्वय महेश बस्नेत, किसान श्रेष्ठ, पूर्व आईजीपी सर्वेन्द्र खनाल र महोत्तरीका प्रहरी प्रमुख एसपी श्यामकृष्ण अधिकारीको मिलेमतोमा डा. यादवको अपहरण भएको दावी गरे । ....... यस विषयमा रातोपाटीले सोही बेला नै बस्नेतलाई सम्पर्क गरेको थियो । तर, उनले आफू काभ्रेस्थित ससुरालीमा रहेको प्रतिक्रिया दिएका थिए । कुनै गलत मनसायका साथ डा. यादवलाई काठमाडौँ ल्याइएको थिएन भने बस्नेतले किन झुट बोल्नुपर्ने आवश्यकता किन प¥यो ? प्रश्न अनुत्तरित छ । ....... लगभग १२ घण्टापछि मिडियाको सम्पर्कमा आएका डा. यादवले भनेका छन्, ‘मलाई अपहरण गरिएको होइन, प्रधानमन्त्री केपी शर्मा ओलीले बोलाएपछि आएको हुँ ।’ तर, साथसाथै उनले आफूलाई काठमाडौँ जान मन नरहेको र ‘दबाब’ का कारणमात्र आएको पनि स्पष्ट पारेका छन् । ......... यता, पूर्व आइजीपी खनालले आफू ‘देश र जनताको हितको लागि काम गर्ने’ क्रममा जनकपुर पुगेको र सोही क्रममा लकडाउनको बेला यादवको ‘उद्धार’ गरेर काठमाडौँ ल्याएको स्पष्टिकरण फेसबुकमार्फत दिएका छन् । ........... घटनाका कडीहरुलाई जोड्दा तीन भाइको जनकपुर यात्रा नै शंकास्पद छ । किनभने लकडाउनमा एउटा सांसदलाई उद्धार गर्न पूर्व आइजिपीदेखि लिएर सांसदद्वय नै काठमाडौँबाट जनकपुरसम्म जानुपर्ने त्यस्तो गम्भीर अवस्था प्रकाशमा आएको छैन । ...... यादवले पनि प्रष्टरुपमा आफूलाई प्रधानमन्त्रीको दबाबमा काठमाडौँ ल्याइएको स्पष्ट पारिसकेका छन् । ........ राजनीतिक खिचातानीमा महेश बस्नेत र किसान श्रेष्ठको नाम मुछिनुलाई सामान्य मानिए पनि प्रहरी संगठनको नेतृत्व गरेर हालसालै अवकाश पाएका व्यक्तिले राजनीतिक षड्यन्त्रमा प्रत्यक्ष सहभागी हुनुलाई आश्चर्यका रुपमा हेरिएको छ । जबकि खनालले अवकाश पाएको ३ महिना पनि पूरा भएको छैन । .......... स्रोत भन्छ, खनाल पछिल्लो समय अख्तियार दुरुपयोग अनुसन्धान आयोगमा आयुक्त पदमा नियुक्त हुन लविङमा रहेका छन् ।' प्रधानमन्त्री ओलीलाई खुसी पारेर आयुक्त हुनैका लागि खनाल अराजनीतिक काममा लागेको स्रोतको दाबी छ । ....... पूर्वप्रधानमन्त्री र बहालवाला प्रदेश गृहमन्त्रीले लगाएको आरोप गम्भीर रहेकाले सबैमाथि अनुसन्धान हुनुपर्ने सुरक्षाविद्हरुको भनाइ छ । ....... यस प्रकरणमा अध्यक्ष उपेन्द्र यादव मौन रहे पनि लकडाउनका बेला पार्टी फुटाउन सांसदलाई जनकपुरबाट काठमाडौँ ल्याउन भूमिका खेलेको भन्दै खनाललाई कारवाही गर्न पूर्व प्रधानमन्त्री डा. बाबुराम भट्टराईले माग समेत गरेका छन् । ....... निर्मला हत्याकाण्ड, नेत्रविक्रम चन्द ‘विप्लव’ नेतृत्वको नेकपाका सर्लाही जिल्ला इन्चार्ज कुमार पौडेलको हत्या प्रहरीबाटै हुनुदेखि प्रहरी संगठनका भ्रष्टाचारको छानबिन गर्न अख्तियार दुरुपयोग अनुसन्धान आयोगले मुख्यालयमै छापा मारेर कागजात नियन्त्रणमा लिएको जस्ता घटनाले खनालको कार्यकाल बदनाम बनेको थियो । अवकाश पाएसँगै केही समय गुमनाम खनालको नाम ‘सांसद अपहरण’ जस्तो गम्भीर विषयमा जोडिएको छ ।
ओलीविरुद्ध भैंसेपाटीमा अर्को मोर्चाबन्दी, यस्तो छ बैठकको निष्कर्ष समग्र पार्टी र सरकारकोे मूल्यांकन गर्नुपर्ने नेताहरुको जोड ....... सत्तारुढ दल नेपाल कम्युनिस्ट पार्टी (नेकपा) का शीर्ष नेताहरुको बैठकले विवादित अध्यादेश तत्काल फिर्ता गर्नुको विकल्प नभएको निष्कर्ष निकालेका छन् । सो पार्टीको नौ सदस्यीय सचिवालयमध्येका ६ जना नेताहरु यस्तो निष्कर्षमा पुगेका हुन् । .... यसअघि पनि भैंसेपार्टीमा ओलीविरुद्ध मोर्चाबन्दी गर्दै सचिवालयका ५ नेताहरुको बैठक बसेको थियो । सो बैठकपछि नै ओली पार्टीमा एक्लिँदै गएका थिए ।
झण्डै ११ वर्षपछि यसरी सम्भव भयो राजपा–समाजवादीबीचको एकीकरण समाजवादी पार्टीमा रेणु यादवको नेतृत्वमा छुट्टै पार्टी बनाउने तयारी भइरहेको थियो भने उता राजकिशो यादव र अनिलकुमार झा पनि राजपा नेपालबाट अलग हुने मनस्थिति बनाइरहेका थिए । ....... दुई पार्टीमा एकीकरण भएपनि अहिलेसम्म पार्टीको नाम, झण्डा र चुनाव चिन्हबाहेक अरु कुनै विषयमा कुरा मिलेको छैन । पार्टीको नेतृत्व कसले गर्ने, कुन मोडेलमा पार्टी सञ्चालन हुने, पार्टीको आधिकारिक राजनीतिक लाइन के हो लगायतका कुनै विषयमा कुरा मिलेको छैन । .... अहिले एकीकृत पार्टीको पहिलो वरियताक्रममा महन्थ ठाकुर र दोस्रो डा.बाबुराम भट्टराई राख्ने सहमति भएको छ भने अन्य अरु पदहरुमा पनि सबै नेताहरुलाई सम्मानजनक तरिकाले समायोजन गर्ने सहमति भएको राजपा नेपालका प्रवक्ता केशव झाले बताए ।
अनि विभाजनबाट जोगियो समाजवादी पार्टी... संसद ४० प्रतिशत पुर्याएर समाजवादी पार्टीकी उपाध्यक्ष रेणु यादवले आफ्नो नेतृत्वमा पार्टी विभाजन गर्ने तयारी गरेकी थिइन् । ...... समाजवादी पार्टीका अध्यक्षद्वय डा.बाबुराम भट्टराई, उपेन्द्र यादव, उपाध्यक्ष एवम् प्रदेश २ का मुख्यमन्त्री लालबाबु राउत, वरिष्ठ नेता अशोक राई विहान सबेरै रेणु यादवको निवासमा पुगेका थिए । सबै नेताहरु उनको घरमा पुगेपछि रेणु यादवले कुनै गतिविधि गर्न नै पाइनन् । ....... उपाध्यक्ष रेणु यादवलाई साथ दिएका नेताहरुलाई रातिदेखि उपेन्द्र यादव र डा.बाबुराम भट्टराईले पछ्याइ रहेका थिए । प्रदीप यादवले राति नै आफू पार्टी विभाजनको पक्षमा नरहेको भन्दै रेणु यादवको साथ छाडेका थिए । त्यसैगरि, डा.सुरेन्द्र यादवलाई पनि समाजवादी पार्टीका नेताहरुले आफ्नो सम्पर्कमा ल्याउन सफल भएका छन् भने उता रेणु यादवको घरमा हिजैदेखि सबै नेता डेरा जमाएपछि पार्टी फुटाउने नेताहरुले केही थप निर्णयहरु गर्न सकेनन् । ...... अध्यक्षद्वय डा.बाबुराम भट्टराई र उपेन्द्र यादवले इस्तियाक राइ लगायत अन्य असन्तुष्ट नेताहरुसँग पनि भेटेका छन् । उनीहरुलाई अझै सम्झाइ बुझाइ गरिरहेका छन् । तर, उनीहरुको असन्तुष्टिलाई सम्बोधन गर्न सकिरहेका छैनन् । ...... राजपा र समाजवादी पार्टीको एकता नै समाजवादी पार्टी नटुक्रिनुको रामवाण साबित भएको छ । दुई पार्टी एकीकृत नभएको भए सायद पार्टीलाई विभाजन हुनबाट कसैले रोक्न सक्ने थिएन । ...... स्रोतका अनुसार समाजवादी पार्टी टुक्रा हुनबाट जोगाउन नेपालस्थित भारतीय दूतावासको पनि भूमिका रहेको छ । दूतावास शुरुदेखि राजपा र समाजवादीलाई एकीकृत गराउने पक्षमा थियो । दूतावासले पटक–पटक दुवै दलको बीचमा एकीकरण होस् भनेर पहल गरिरहेको थियो । ....... समाजवादी पार्टी फुट्ने चर्चा शुरु भएको थियो । सोही चर्चामा दूतावासले पनि खेल्यो । दुवै पार्टी एकीकरण नभए समाजवादी पार्टीलाई विभाजनबाट कसैले बचाउन सक्दैन भने सन्देश उपेन्द्र यादव समक्ष पु¥यायो । ...... त्यसपछि उपेन्द्र यादवले हतार हतारमा बैठक बोलाएर राजपा नेपालसँग एकीकरणका लागि तयार भए । अघि उनले राजपा नेपालका सबैलाई बराबर हैसियत दिन तयार नभएका यादव सबैलाई समान हैसियत दिनसम्म तयार भए । अर्थात् राजपा नेपालका नेताहरुको माग पूरा गर्दै यादव एकीकरणका लागि तयार भएका छन् । ..... एकीकरणमा सहमति भएपछि यता दूतावासले पनि समाजवादी पार्टी टुक्राउनमा सक्रिय भएका सांसदहरुलाई सम्पर्क गरेर पार्टी विभाजन नगर्न दबाव दिएको थियो । त्यसमध्ये कतिपय सांसद तत्कालै दूतावासको कुरा मानेर पछाडी हटे भने कतिपयले पछिसम्म अडानमा रहे । दूतावासका एक पदाधिकारीले भने, ‘फुट्नु राम्रो होइन, जुट्नु राम्रो हो हाम्रो प्रयास पनि दलहरु जुटुन् भन्ने नै हो, अब के गर्नुहुन्छ उहाँहरुले गर्नुहुन्छ ।’

Tuesday, April 21, 2020

The Medicine Men Of Yesterday



The medicine men of yesterday -- and yes, they are mostly men -- that clog the arteries of Capitol Hill and the White House and the myriad institutions that serve the interests of the Wall Street money men -- and yes, they are mostly men -- prescribe to you medicines from another era. They respond to today's problems with yesterday's solutions. They intend to jumpstart the economy as if lack of cash in rich people's pockets is what has called this global strike. If you were to take Covid-19 patients to them, they would give them flu shots with utmost confidence. They might even do it on prime time TV.

The smug men of "science" -- and yes, they are almost all men -- who run China think protein is protein. Men learned of protein long before they learned about viruses. And sometimes science is one step ahead of the virus, sometimes the virus is two steps ahead of science, for it mutates and gets deadlier. In their zeal for wild animals to eat, they unleash virus after virus, small epidemics to large ones.

The exponential growth of the pandemic is no different from the exponential graph of climate catastrophe that the world has been drawing for itself. And so this pandemic is also an opportunity for the world to put itself on a path to tackle climate change.

Testing is easy. Everyone on earth staying home at once for three weeks in a row would be the most effective and the least disruptive, or nearly everyone, for the essential workers are still needed and should be first in line for medical testing. Three weeks is plenty of time for the infected to get symptomatic. The first few symptoms -- cold, cough, possibly fever -- are not that different from flu symptoms. But no discrimination needs to be made. Let them self-identify and self-isolate. But if they move on also to other symptoms like shortness of breath, pain, and loss of taste and smell, then that is guaranteed COVID-19 infection and they should be given medical attention. Let the armies of the world erect tent hospitals in every village on earth.

But this global lockdown can not happen unless a world government is created at zip speed. These tent hospitals can not be erected fast enough and will lack supplies and personnel unless every national army acts like it is but one battalion in a global army.

And people will have to be fed in their homes. It has to be strictly demand and supply with no money involved. You take food to everywhere it is needed. Feed everyone everywhere. Redirect as much of every development budget as necessary. Food growers and handlers are also essential workers. Fund Charity: Water to the full and make it obsolete.

Figure out ways to mass educate people everywhere on the best practices when it comes to basic hygiene, social distancing, and wearing of masks, and inhaling steam and drinking hot water.

All along be working on the vaccine.

And spend these weeks to create forward-looking programs that will resurrect the global economy. The starting point has to be Universal Basic Income.

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America Is About to Witness the Biggest Labor Movement It’s Seen in Decades It took 40 years and a pandemic to stir up a worker revolution that’s about to hit corporate America .......... Japan had surrendered, ending World War II, but American meat packers, steelworkers, telephone installers, telegraph operators, and auto assemblers had something different from partying in mind. In rolling actions, they went on strike. After years of patriotic silence on the home front, these workers, along with unhappy roughnecks, lumberjacks, railroad engineers, and elevator operators — some 6 million workers in all — shut down their industries and some entire cities. Mainly they were seeking higher pay — and they got it, averaging 18% increases. ........ For the previous generation of labor, the goal post was the 40-hour week. New labor’s immediate aims are much more prosaic: a sensible face mask, a bottle of sanitizer, and some sick days. .........

For now at least, some of the country’s most powerful CEOs are clearly nervous.

....... The past four decades have been perhaps labor’s weakest since the Industrial Age. ......... .. For a half century, those working for hourly wages have won almost no real gains. The real average hourly wage in 2018 dollars adjusted for inflation was $22.65 in 2018, compared with $20.27 in 1964 — just an 11.7% gain ..... Real median hourly wages rose by only another 0.6% last year despite the sharp tightening of the job market and an increase in the minimum wage across the country .......... If teachers are an indicator of what is coming, Amazon, fast food restaurants, hospitals, and gig companies have a long, hot few years ahead. ............ In Arizona, teachers won a 20% raise, and Los Angeles teachers won a 6% raise. That triggered more strikes through much of 2019, with Chicago teachers, for one, winning a 16% pay raise. ......... postal workers across the country who keep sorting, transporting, and delivering the mail and packages to every one of our homes, with a toll so far of 12 dead, 600 confirmed with the virus, another 6,000 under quarantine — and very little apparent hope of a government bailout. .......... Workers are galvanizing and telling their stories through social media, rarely requiring the organizational meticulousness that made Old Labor so formidable. ......... “Business models based on ridiculous labor rates plus arbitrage where you foist all your costs onto the employee are coming to an end.” ......... When the virus struck Hilton Hotels starting in January, its global occupancy plummeted to somewhere between 10% and 15%, and most of its 6,100 managed and franchised properties closed. ......... Hospital management has been upbraided for suspending nurses who try to protect themselves by buying their own equipment and disciplining those who speak out. ........ “Business models based on ridiculous labor rates plus arbitrage where you foist all your costs onto the employee are coming to an end” ...... Until the virus, the notion of unionized tech workers was just that — a notion that seemed to violate the very spirit of Silicon Valley. It’s still hard to imagine unionized software engineers. But it’s equally difficult to say where the boundaries of the possible lie. ........... In February, employees at Kickstarter, the crowdfunding platform, voted to unionize, becoming the first white-collar tech company staff to do so ......... The Teamsters are making an open run at organizing other Silicon Valley workers. If you put Covid-19 out of your mind, the move is mind-blowing. ...............

The biggest fish of all in terms of tech unionization is Amazon.

The e-commerce giant is beset with worker complaints just as it has begun to transcend its barbarian image, repositioning itself as a public good at the very center of the U.S. economy. .......... railroad workers shut down transportation across the country in labor’s peak .......... what is more local than the grocery bagger, the postman, the nurse? ....... their pluck, beaten out of them by the years of layoffs, has returned with Covid-19.






Paul Krugman: the Trump administration and its Senate allies are botching pandemic economics — and at some level they know that. So they’re desperate to wish the problem away before the failure of their response becomes too obvious. ........ To be fair, the problems posed by Covid-19 are both novel and incredibly fast moving. Still, both logic and other countries’ experiences have given us a pretty good idea of what we should be doing right now. First, lock down high-contact economic activities, to slow the viral spread. Second, provide generous disaster relief to those whose incomes have been cut off by the lockdown. Third, rapidly ramp up testing and tracking, so that when we (cautiously) restart normal life we can quickly identify and neutralize any emergent hot spots. .............. The trouble is that we’re falling down badly on (2) and (3). ......... there is a huge backlog of unprocessed claims, and millions of Americans have yet to see a dime. ........ Canada introduced an Emergency Response Benefit for those losing income as a result of the coronavirus, implemented directly by the federal government and easily accessible via a government portal and hotline; the program began paying out up to $2,000 a month almost immediately. .............

Meanwhile, those small business loans are being run through private banks, under criteria that let huge restaurant and hotel chains claim that each of their locations is a small business; not surprisingly, these giants, which have strong relationships with big banks, quickly snapped up almost all the money, with little flowing to the intended beneficiaries.

.............. And behind this failure to provide economic relief, we’re not seeing anything like the rapid rise in testing we need to start reopening safely. ........ A different president might have responded to these developments with a crash effort to fix the problems .............. But Trump being Trump, he’s disavowing any responsibility, instead pressuring states to ignore the health risks and abandon the social distancing that has blunted the pandemic. .........

this isn’t just cruel, it’s politically stupid. As we’ve just seen, viruses move fast. A few days ago we were starting to see signs that Covid-19 might be peaking. But relax our vigilance, even a bit, and a second, bigger wave of deaths could easily happen well before the election.

........ I’m getting even more scared than I was.

It’s the End of the World Economy as We Know It Experts suggest there will be “a rethink of how much any country wants to be reliant on any other country.” ............ When big convulsive economic events happen, the implications tend to take years to play out, and spiral in unpredictable directions. ........ Who would have thought that a crisis that began with mortgage defaults in American suburbs in 2007 would lead to a fiscal crisis in Greece in 2010? Or that a stock market crash in New York in 1929 would contribute to the rise of fascists in Europe in the 1930s? ..............

The world economy is an infinitely complicated web of interconnections.

.......... opens the possibility of a global economy completely different from the one that has prevailed in recent decades. ......... Crises have a way of bringing to the fore issues that are easy to ignore in good times. .......... The idea of a world economy with the United States at its center was already falling apart, between the rise of China and America’s own turn toward nationalism. ......... “There will be a rethink of how much any country wants to be reliant on any other country” .........

Senator Lindsey Graham suggested that the United States should punish China for failing to contain the virus by canceling debt the Chinese government owns — a step that would risk the role of U.S. Treasury bonds as the bedrock of the world financial system.

............. Trade as a share of global G.D.P. peaked in 2008 and has trended lower ever since. .........

companies are actively talking about resilience

........ China has reoriented its economic strategy, aiming to be not a low-cost manufacturing hub for the world but the maker of technologically advanced products like aircraft and telecommunications equipment. That has made Americans, Europeans and the Japanese all the more reluctant to have major operations in China, for fear of intellectual property theft. ............. Under the Trump administration, the United States has experienced strain with even traditional allies in Western Europe. Put it all together, and a more every-nation-for-itself mentality was already becoming ingrained before Covid-19, in ways the pandemic seems to be reinforcing. ...........

the trends that were already in motion before this pandemic will be accelerated

........... In a past episode of de-globalization — the unwinding of global commerce that took place amid World War I and the 1918 flu epidemic — there was also a remaking of the global financial system, with the British pound losing its pre-eminence. ............ initial signs point the other way: toward the dollar’s becoming even more entrenched at the center of the global financial system. ............ The U.S. Federal Reserve has opened swap lines with 14 overseas central banks — which enables them to pump dollars into their domestic banking systems — and started a novel program that lets other countries obtain dollars by pledging Treasury bonds as collateral. Those moves are helping ensure that a global dollar shortage doesn’t paralyze the world economy. ............... European officials have been reluctant to take steps that would make the euro more central to the world currency system, such as issuing bonds that are jointly guaranteed by the countries of the eurozone. And China has, if anything, been reluctant to remake its financial system in ways that could enable the renminbi to become more crucial to world commerce, such as allowing free capital flows in and out of the currency. ............ “The dollar system is inherently unstable, but so is a bicycle,” said Mr. Tooze, the historian. “They’re unstable, but if you’re a skilled rider of them, they’re great. And the Fed has demonstrated it’s a skilled rider of the dollar hegemony bike.” .............

At times over the last 12 years, it has felt as if the world were reliving the period of 1918 to 1939, but as if told by a forgetful student who was getting the events out of order. That era also featured a global financial collapse; a rise of authoritarian governments; the emergence of a new economic superpower (the United States then, China now); and a pandemic, though not in that sequence.





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Monday, April 20, 2020

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The economic data is even worse than Wall Street feared: ‘The economy is clearly in ruins here’ New York regional manufacturing activity hit an all-time low, declining to a shocking negative 78.2%. ....... the double whammy of state shutdowns in mid-March on two pillars of the economy — the consumer and business. ...... state shutdowns affecting areas responsible for more than 90% of the economy. ........ “Nobody is buying cars, down 25.6%, nobody is buying furniture, down 26.8%, and eating and drinking places were down 26.5%.” ....... The economic decline, which started in the first quarter is expected to reach its trough in the second quarter. Economists anticipate an unprecedented drop of more than 30% in GDP for the second quarter. JPMorgan

economists expect a 40% decline in the second quarter, on top of a 10% drop in the first quarter

. ......... consumer spending has fallen off a cliff after being relatively solid for a prolonged period of time ...... March retail sales also showed barely a blip in online purchases, only up 3.1%, though consumers are shopping from home. ......... Consumers are hunkering down at home, only venturing out to go to the grocery store. It’s lights out today, and as far as we can tell, it’s going to be worse next month ....... raises concerns that the sharp recession will morph into a depression, though the $2.2 trillion in fiscal spending and Fed monetary actions could head that off and help drive a rebound that many economists expect to start in the third quarter. .......... in just three weeks ended April 4, more than 17 million workers filed claims for unemployment benefits, more than the Great Recession. ........ This is a sudden stop. it’s not surprising that things are economically skewed, but we’re not playing by typical economic rules ......... “We’re playing by health policy rules. It’s going to be hard for [Treasury] rates to sell off in any meaningful fashion.” ....... Investors responded to the March economic reports by dumping stocks and rushing to the safety of Treasury bonds. ....... In the Treasury market, investors bid up longer-duration bonds, like the 10-year, more than the shorter, 2-year duration notes. That is creating a so-called flattening trade, meaning

the two spreads are moving closer together, a sign of economic duress.

The 10-year was at 0.66%, while the 2-year yield was 0.20%. ........... Currently, the market shows expectations of inflation at 0.87% on average over the next five years well below the Fed’s 2% inflation target.

Goldman says downturn will be 4 times worse than housing crisis, then an ‘unprecedented’ recovery The global economic hit from the coronavirus crisis will be far worse in the near term than the financial crisis, according to Goldman Sachs. ..... In the U.S., second-quarter activity likely dropped 35% while unemployment could hit 15%. ....... However, the recovery in the second half of the year could be stronger than anything the U.S. has seen. ....... The global economic hit from the coronavirus crisis will likely be four times worse than the financial crisis and the U.S. will see its highest unemployment rate since World War II .......... “the number of new active cases looks to be peaking globally, projections of cumulative fatalities and peak healthcare usage are coming down, and even actual new hospitalizations in hard-hit New York City have fallen sharply.” .........

“business as usual” is unlikely until a vaccine is proven effective

....... “it might be possible to bring back at least part of the lost output with a sharp increase in testing as well as more limited changes to business practices that lower the risk of infection.” ...... manufacturing and construction, specifically citing the auto industry, which he said could go from 25% capacity in April to 70% in May. ....... He forecasts

third-quarter growth to be up 19% from the Q2 plunge followed by another 12% jump in the final three months of the year

. ...... “Such is the strange world of recovering from a pandemic shock” ........ “Governments need to replace as much as possible of the private-sector income hit, in order to limit the downward pressure on after-tax income and therefore on spending.”




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How does coronavirus kill? Clinicians trace a ferocious rampage through the body, from brain to toes On rounds in a 20-bed intensive care unit (ICU) one recent day, physician Joshua Denson assessed two patients with seizures, many with respiratory failure and others whose kidneys were on a dangerous downhill slide. Days earlier, his rounds had been interrupted as his team tried, and failed, to resuscitate a young woman whose heart had stopped. All shared one thing, says Denson, a pulmonary and critical care physician at the Tulane University School of Medicine. “They are all COVID positive.” ............ As the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 surges past 2.2 million globally and deaths surpass 150,000, clinicians and pathologists are struggling to understand the damage wrought by the coronavirus as it tears through the body. They are realizing that

although the lungs are ground zero, its reach can extend to many organs including the heart and blood vessels, kidneys, gut, and brain.

......... “[The disease] can attack almost anything in the body with devastating consequences” ....

“Its ferocity is breathtaking and humbling.”

........ the roughly 5% of patients who become critically ill. ...........

the virus acts like no microbe humanity has ever seen

........ When an infected person expels virus-laden droplets and someone else inhales them, the novel coronavirus, called SARS-CoV-2, enters the nose and throat. It finds a welcome home in the lining of the nose ......... As the virus multiplies, an infected person may shed copious amounts of it, especially during the first week or so. Symptoms may be absent at this point. Or the virus’ new victim may develop a fever, dry cough, sore throat, loss of smell and taste, or head and body aches. .......... If the immune system doesn’t beat back SARS-CoV-2 during this initial phase, the virus then marches down the windpipe to attack the lungs, where it can turn deadly. The thinner, distant branches of the lung’s respiratory tree end in tiny air sacs called alveoli, each lined by a single layer of cells that are also rich in ACE2 receptors. ......... Normally, oxygen crosses the alveoli into the capillaries, tiny blood vessels that lie beside the air sacs; the oxygen is then carried to the rest of the body. But as the immune system wars with the invader, the battle itself disrupts this healthy oxygen transfer. Front-line white blood cells release inflammatory molecules called chemokines, which in turn summon more immune cells that target and kill virus-infected cells, leaving a stew of fluid and dead cells—pus—behind. This is the underlying pathology of pneumonia, with its corresponding symptoms: coughing; fever; and rapid, shallow respiration ........... Some COVID-19 patients recover, sometimes with no more support than oxygen breathed in through nasal prongs. ........ But others deteriorate, often quite suddenly, developing a condition called acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Oxygen levels in their blood plummet and they struggle ever harder to breathe. On x-rays and computerized tomography scans, their lungs are riddled with white opacities where black space—air—should be. Commonly, these patients end up on ventilators. Many die. Autopsies show their alveoli became stuffed with fluid, white blood cells, mucus, and the detritus of destroyed lung cells. ........... the driving force in many gravely ill patients’ downhill trajectories is a disastrous overreaction of the immune system known as a “cytokine storm,” which other viral infections are known to trigger. Cytokines are chemical signaling molecules that guide a healthy immune response; but in a cytokine storm, levels of certain cytokines soar far beyond what’s needed, and immune cells start to attack healthy tissues. Blood vessels leak, blood pressure drops, clots form, and catastrophic organ failure can ensue. ........... “The real morbidity and mortality of this disease is probably driven by this out of proportion inflammatory response to the virus” ....... other scientists are zeroing in on an entirely different organ system that they say is driving some patients’ rapid deterioration: the heart and blood vessels. ......... heart damage in nearly 20% of patients out of 416 hospitalized for COVID-19 in Wuhan, China. In another Wuhan study, 44% of 36 hospitalized patients had arrhythmias. ......... “The more we look, the more likely it becomes that blood clots are a major player in the disease severity and mortality from COVID-19” ....... ischemia in the fingers and toes—a reduction in blood flow that can lead to swollen, painful digits and tissue death. ......... In the lungs, blood vessel constriction might help explain anecdotal reports of a perplexing phenomenon seen in pneumonia caused by COVID-19: Some patients have extremely low blood-oxygen levels and yet are not gasping for breath. It’s possible that at some stages of disease, the virus alters the delicate balance of hormones that help regulate blood pressure and constricts blood vessels going to the lungs. So oxygen uptake is impeded by constricted blood vessels, rather than by clogged alveoli. .........

If COVID-19 targets blood vessels, that could also help explain why patients with pre-existing damage to those vessels, for example from diabetes and high blood pressure, face higher risk of serious disease.

...... risk factors seem to be vascular: diabetes, obesity, age, hypertension.” ............. The virus may directly attack the lining of the heart and blood vessels, which, like the nose and alveoli, are rich in ACE2 receptors. ........

“We really don’t understand who is vulnerable, why some people are affected so severely, why it comes on so rapidly … and why it is so hard [for some] to recover.”

.......... “If these folks are not dying of lung failure, they’re dying of renal failure” ........

the kidneys, abundantly endowed with ACE2 receptors, present another viral target.

........ 27% of 85 hospitalized patients in Wuhan had kidney failure. Another reported that 59% of nearly 200 hospitalized COVID-19 patients in China’s Hubei and Sichuan provinces had protein in their urine, and 44% had blood; both suggest kidney damage. Those with acute kidney injury (AKI), were more than five times as likely to die as COVID-19 patients without it ....... “The lung is the primary battle zone. But a fraction of the virus possibly attacks the kidney. And as on the real battlefield, if two places are being attacked at the same time, each place gets worse” ......... Ventilators boost the risk of kidney damage, as do antiviral compounds including remdesivir, which is being deployed experimentally in COVID-19 patients. Cytokine storms also can dramatically reduce blood flow to the kidney, causing often-fatal damage. And pre-existing diseases like diabetes can increase the chances of kidney injury. ......... Some people with COVID-19 briefly lose consciousness. Others have strokes. Many report losing their sense of smell. ........ whether in some cases, infection depresses the brain stem reflex that senses oxygen starvation. This is another explanation for anecdotal observations that some patients aren’t gasping for air, despite dangerously low blood oxygen levels. ........ the coronavirus behind the 2003 severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) epidemic—a close cousin of today’s culprit—could infiltrate neurons and sometimes caused encephalitis. ....... traces of new coronavirus in the cerebrospinal fluid of a COVID-19 patient who developed meningitis and encephalitis, suggesting it, too, can penetrate the central nervous system. ........ a cytokine storm could cause brain swelling, and the blood’s exaggerated tendency to clot could trigger strokes. ....... inducing the gag reflex or transporting patients for brain scans risk spreading the virus. ........ a possible invasion route: through the nose, then upward and through the olfactory bulb—explaining reports of a loss of smell—which connects to the brain ....... In early March, a 71-year-old Michigan woman returned from a Nile River cruise with bloody diarrhea, vomiting, and abdominal pain. Initially doctors suspected she had a common stomach bug, such as Salmonella. But after she developed a cough, doctors took a nasal swab and found her positive for the novel coronavirus. ......... the new coronavirus, like its cousin SARS, can infect the lining of the lower digestive tract, where the crucial ACE2 receptors are abundant. ....... a Chinese team reported finding the virus’ protein shell in gastric, duodenal, and rectal cells in biopsies from a COVID-19 patient. “I think it probably does replicate in the gastrointestinal tract” .......

up to half of patients, averaging about 20% across studies, experience diarrhea

......... the unsettling possibility that it could be passed on through feces. ....... the risk from fecal transmission is probably low. ........ up to one-third of hospitalized patients develop conjunctivitis—pink, watery eyes—although it’s not clear that the virus directly invades the eye. ......... This map of the devastation that COVID-19 can inflict on the body is still just a sketch. It will take years of painstaking research to sharpen the picture of its reach, and the cascade of cardiovascular and immune effects it might set in motion. As science races ahead, from probing tissues under microscopes to testing drugs on patients, the hope is for treatments more wily than

the virus that has stopped the world in its tracks.







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Tom Hanks discusses coronavirus symptoms: 'I was wiped' “She had a much higher fever. She had lost her sense of taste and sense of smell." ....... he "had some bad body aches and was very fatigued, and that’s how the COVID-19 went through us.” ....... shared that while he was in recovery, he did his best to stay in shape by doing 30-minute stretch sessions, as well as other "old man things." ........ "I was very tired. I felt extremely achy," Wilson said. "Uncomfortable, didn't want to be touched and then the fever started. Chills like I've never had before. Looking back, I realize I was also losing my sense of taste and smell which I didn't realize at the time." ........ The actress also said that she thinks her fever "got close to 102."

CDC’s failed coronavirus tests were tainted with coronavirus, feds confirm A federal investigation found CDC researchers not following protocol.
Remember the flu? Coronavirus sent it into hiding, but at a cost At least one victim of the coronavirus pandemic will not be mourned. ...... Influenza, which each year kills hundreds of thousands of people worldwide, all but vanished in Europe last month as coronavirus lockdowns slowed transmission ........ The northern hemisphere’s winter flu outbreak normally runs from October until mid-May and in some seasons has claimed lives on the scale of COVID-19, despite the existence of a vaccine. ........ Influenza killed 152,000 people in Europe in the 2017-18 winter. So far, COVID-19 has taken nearly 100,000 lives across the continent, albeit in a shorter period of time. ....... “The flu season ended earlier than usual this year and this is probably due to the measures taken regarding SARS-CoV-2, such as social distancing and mask wearing” ........ By the end of March, after lockdown measures had been in place for a few weeks across Europe, reported influenza outbreaks had all but disappeared. ...... People with milder flu symptoms have mostly steered clear of hospitals during the COVID-19 epidemic

US coronavirus study warns sick children could overwhelm health system Lower risk of fatality from Covid-19 among children has led to a sense of complacency that does not add up, new research warns ...... ‘Urgent’ need to prepare for influx of paediatric cases with infants and very young most at risk ..... Covid-19 infections among children could lead to thousands of hospitalisations, with the very young most at risk. ........ Paediatric services in the US could be overwhelmed by thousands of sick infants and young children – an overlooked group which has a higher risk of serious illness from Covid-19 ....... one in 200 children in the US would be infected with the virus, with 991 severe enough to require hospitalisation. In the most extreme scenario, three out of five US children would be infected, with 118,887 becoming seriously ill. ......... “Severity and case fatality are much lower for children than for elderly persons, and this truth has created a sense of complacency that Covid-19 is not a major concern for children’s health” ......... 176,190 children in the US had been infected with the virus, based on data showing 74 children admitted to paediatric intensive care units in 19 states in the US, as of April 6. ......... infants at the highest risk of becoming severely or critically ill with the virus, at 10.6 per cent, followed by 7.3 per cent of severe or critical infection for those aged between one and five, falling to 4.2 per cent among children between six and 15 years old.



China’s initial coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan spread twice as fast as we thought, new study suggests

Each carrier was infecting 5.7 people

on average, according to US researchers, who say previous estimate had used incomplete data .....Latest data based on cases whose origin could be traced more clearly, in provinces that had test kits and ample health care capacity ....... the chaos in Wuhan as infections there rose at the start of the year may have produced incomplete data and a distorted picture....... instead of taking six to seven days for the number of infected people to double, as was previously thought, it took only 2.3 to 3.3 days to do so........ achieving so-called herd immunity would need at least 82 per cent of people to be immune (by infection or vaccination) to stop the contagion spreading in a population – not about 60 per cent .......

achieving so-called herd immunity would need at least 82 per cent of people to be immune (by infection or vaccination) to stop the contagion spreading in a population – not about 60 per cent

........ “When 20 per cent of transmission is driven by unidentified infected persons, high levels of social distancing efforts will be needed to contain the virus”




Deadly coronavirus comes in three variants, researchers find Types A, B and C are all derived from the pathogen first found in bats but have evolved in different ways, according to a report by British and German geneticists ...... Findings show

the virus has become well adapted to human transmission and mutates as it spreads

, Chinese epidemiologist says ....... there are currently three versions of it spreading around the world. ....... “There are too many rapid mutations to neatly trace a Covid-19 family tree. We used a mathematical network algorithm to visualise all the plausible trees simultaneously” ....... variant A was the root of the outbreak as it was most closely related to the virus found in bats and pangolins. Type B was derived from A, separated by two mutations, while type C was the “daughter” of variant B. ...... one of the earliest introductions of the virus to Italy – found in a Mexican traveller who was diagnosed on February 28 – came via the first documented German infection – a person who worked for a company in Munich – on January 27. ............. The German contracted the infection from a Chinese colleague in Shanghai, who had recently been visited by her parents from Wuhan. ...........

10 mutations in the viral journey from Wuhan to Mexico.

...... … the virus may coexist with humans for a long time.”