Newly released genetic data gathered from a live food market in Wuhan has linked Covid-19 with raccoon dogs, adding weight to the theory that infected animals sold at the site started the coronavirus pandemic, researchers involved in the work say. Swabs collected from stalls at the Huanan seafood market in the two months after it was shut down on 1 January 2020 were previously found to contain both Covid and human DNA. When the findings were published last year, Chinese researchers stated that the samples contained no animal DNA. That…
Tag: World Health Organization
Online Anger Over China’s Covid Pivot Shows Widening Social Split
Tao Siliang, a member of China’s Communist elite, recently criticized Sima Nan’s attacks for contradicting the party’s new direction. On Thursday, Weibo, a social media site, moved quickly to shut down or suspend more than 1,000 accounts, including that of a prominent nationalist, Kong Qingdong, for waging personal attacks against experts and scholars. “At this moment, what we need most is to abide by the 44-year-old parable: ‘Look forward in unity,’ do not challenge, tear apart, especially denounce or abuse,” the official newspaper of Zhejiang Province, in China’s east, wrote…
Health Experts Warily Eye XBB.1.5, the Latest Omicron Subvariant
Three years into the pandemic, the coronavirus continues to impress virologists with its swift evolution. A young version, known as XBB.1.5, has quickly been spreading in the United States over the past few weeks. As of Friday, the Centers for Disease Control estimated that it made up 72 percent of new cases in the Northeast and 27.6 percent of cases across the country. The new subvariant, first sampled in the fall in New York State, has a potent array of mutations that appear to help it evade immune defenses and…
China data ‘under-represents’ true impact of Covid outbreak – WHO
The World Health Organisation has criticised China’s “very narrow” definition of Covid-19 deaths, warning that official statistics are not showing the true impact of the outbreak. There is growing concern over the steep rise in Covid infections since Beijing last month abruptly lifted years of hardline restrictions, with hospitals and crematoriums quickly overwhelmed. “We still do not have complete data,” WHO’s emergencies director, Michael Ryan, said. The UN agency released data provided by the Chinese Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a day after WHO officials met Chinese scientists.…
E.U. Urges Nations to Require Negative Covid Tests for Travelers From China
BRUSSELS — The European Union on Wednesday “strongly encouraged” its 27 member nations to require a negative Covid-19 test for travelers boarding flights from China to the region, amid a surge in coronavirus cases in the country and Beijing’s lifting of its draconian travel restrictions. The bloc’s recommendation, an attempt at a unified policy, came after three major European tourist destinations — France, Italy and Spain — as well as Britain, introduced testing and other requirements for travelers from China. The E.U. move would bring back a tough pandemic-era measure…
Italy says arrivals from China must take Covid tests amid new variant concerns
Italy has become the first country in Europe to make it obligatory for people arriving from China to be tested for Covid-19 following Beijing moving to reopen its borders after lifting some of its toughest anti-Covid restrictions. The move, which sees Italy join a number of countries closer to China in changing its travel policy, comes amid concerns over the potential for new variants to emerge during fresh outbreaks of the virus in China and quickly spread overseas. Japan, Malaysia, South Korea and India are among the Asian states that…
China’s dropping of zero-Covid rule sparks concern about new variants – video report
China is to drop some of its toughest coronavirus restrictions – including scrapping quarantine for travellers – ending the government’s zero-Covid policy. Experts are watching nervously to see how this may affect variants and their global spread. Japan and India are among the countries to have introduced measures to prevent an influx of cases. Beijing’s decision on Monday to drop quarantine for overseas visitors from 8 January has prompted concerns about the potential for new variants beyond China’s borders The Guardian
China stops publishing daily Covid figures amid reports of explosion in cases
China’s National Health Commission (NHC) has stopped publishing daily Covid-19 data, amid concerns about the reliability of the figures after infections exploded in the wake of an abrupt easing of tough restrictions. “Relevant Covid information will be published by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention for reference and research,” the commission said in a statement, without specifying the reasons for the change or how frequently China CDC will update the public with new Covid information. The sudden halt to the reporting of daily infection and death totals comes…
China ‘behind the curve’ in reporting Covid surge, WHO says
China may be struggling to keep a tally of Covid-19 infections as it experiences a big spike in cases, a senior World Health Organization official has said, amid concerns about a lack of data from the country. Official figures from China have become an unreliable guide after the country of 1.4 billion people this month began dismantling its unpopular zero-Covid lockdown and testing regime. The abrupt change caught a fragile health system unprepared, with hospitals scrambling for beds and blood, pharmacies for drugs and authorities racing to build special clinics.…
China Covid infection surge puts end of global emergency in doubt – WHO
It may be too early to declare the global end of the Covid-19 pandemic emergency because of a potentially devastating wave to come in China, according to several leading scientists and World Health Organization advisers. Their views represent a shift since China began to dismantle its zero-Covid policy last week after a spike in infections and unprecedented public protests. Projections have suggested the world’s second-largest economy could face more than a million deaths in 2023 after the abrupt change in course. China’s zero-Covid approach kept infections and deaths comparatively low…