Wuhan Virus

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Grey Havoc

Grey Havoc

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Another terrible event in the world. I wonder if this is something we should be dealing with collectively rather than individual nations. Could we do that?
 
First ill people in France: Bordeaux, only 10 km from my house. Frack. And he got through the airport where I work, re-frack. Luckily not my airline. Also luckily enough the guy - a 48 year old Franco-Chinese wine seller - took all the necessary steps to limit contagion. Same for the ten people he saw before falling ill. He is presently alive and well, but locked in an hospital room insulated from the rest of the world. Dang. The world is small place nowadays. My cousin is working in China only 500 miles from Wuhan (Xiamen) and one of our contractor employees at work got the bright idea to go on holidays in China for a month, so he is presently in the very eye of the storm.
I guess we are all doomed, just like in that freakkin gloomy movie intro. Haunting.


I vastly prefered Homer Simpson own take, incidentally. Twice.


 
The World Health Organisation, and in particular it's Director-General, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, are coming under increasing fire for not declaring 2019-nCoV a PHEIC (Public Health Emergency of International Concern).
 
http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ202001280053.html
The Japanese government plans to dispatch its first plane to the city in Hubei province on the evening of Jan. 28 to pick up about 200 Japanese citizens, Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said.

Officials initially attempted to dispatch the plane the morning of Jan. 28, but there was a delay, as more time was required by China to approve the flight's arrival.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said at a news conference after a Cabinet meeting the same morning, "We're standing by, waiting for China's 'OK,' to send the plane."

He said that the government is considering transporting relief supplies, such as masks and protective clothing, in the plane.

The government classified the coronavirus as a "designated infectious disease"--Japan's fifth such designation--at the meeting, effective Feb. 7. MERS (Middle East respiratory syndrome) was given the same designation in 2014.

About 650 people are seeking to return to Japan, according to Motegi. The first plane will depart from Wuhan on the morning of Jan. 29 and arrive by noon. A second flight is expected in the following days.

During a meeting of junior coalition partner Komeito on Jan. 28, a foreign ministry official added: "Two flights may not be enough. We're not excluding the possibility of using a government plane."

One doctor, two nurses and a quarantine officer will be on board the plane, the health ministry revealed the same day. As there will be a quarantine process in place, if a doctor determines that an individual has a high fever, they may be prevented from boarding.
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https://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0006318813
The health ministry announced on Jan. 28 that a man who never visited Wuhan in China has been confirmed with the pneumonia-like illness believed caused by a new type of coronavirus.

Wuhan in Hubei province has been in lock down mode after thousands of local residents were diagnosed with the new illness.

But according to the health ministry announcement, the two latest confirmations of the illness include a bus driver in Nara Prefecture in his 60s who has never visited Wuhan. However, the bus driver did operate a tour bus in Tokyo on Jan. 12 that included tourists from Wuhan.

He developed symptoms including the chills, a cough and joint pain from Jan. 14. He went to a medical institution in Nara Prefecture on Jan. 17, but no irregularities were discovered at that time.

However, on Jan. 22 his symptoms worsened so he again visited the medical institution on Jan. 25. He was confirmed to have pneumonia symptoms and was hospitalized at another Nara Prefecture medical institution. The bus driver said he wore a face mask while visiting the various institutions.

The other confirmed case was for a man in his 40s who resides in Wuhan. He came to Japan on Jan. 20, but did not show any signs of having the pneumonia-like illness. But he visited a medical institution in Aichi Prefecture on Jan. 26 after his condition worsened from Jan. 22. He has been hospitalized since Jan. 28 after being diagnosed with pneumonia symptoms.

Health ministry officials who interviewed the man were told he did not visit the seafood market in Wuhan that has been linked to many patients coming down with the new illness. He also told the officials he wore a face mask while outdoors.

The latest confirmations bring the total number of cases in Japan to six.

The government was planning to dispatch a charter flight to Wuhan later on Jan. 28 to repatriate Japanese nationals living in that eastern Chinese city.
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Australia's Mathildas, the female soccer team were to play their qualifying games for the Olympics in Wuhan. That was moved to Nanjing. Now it has been moved to Australia. Older Mathildas apparently went to Soccer Australia and demanded that the team not be allowed to travel to China.
 
litzj said:
S.Korea Government will send B747-400 and A330-300 to get out their own people
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That's a damn sight better than what the US did. It seems they planned on sending ONE 767 flight for an estimated 1000 Americans.

https://time.com/5773546/americans-trapped-wuhan-coronavirus/
"Still, priority on Wednesday’s flight was given to staff at the local U.S. consulate and their families. The few remaining seats were available at inflated costs of $1,000, say Americans living in Wuhan, prompting anger among those who felt abandoned by their government.

“For the average person, that plane ticket really wasn’t available,” says George Goodwin, a biology teacher from Reno, Nev., who worked for the U.S. Center for Disease Control before moving to China. “Many people were very frustrated as the announcement [of the flight] made it seem this is going to be the savior of all Americans in Wuhan. Except it really isn’t because most of us can’t go.”"
 
https://edition.cnn.com/asia/live-news/coronavirus-outbreak-01-29-20-intl-hnk/index.html
e5cdecf7-9290-4d84-aad5-35dab9bad46e.png
 
That map is a little misleading, at a quick glance it would suggest the whole of USA and Canada are infected. But News reports here in Canada have said two people in Toronto have been confirmed as infected. Not sure how many in the USA are though.
 
https://www.bbc.com/news/health-51299735
Unprecedented speed

At Inovio's lab in San Diego, scientists are using a relatively new type of DNA technology to develop a potential vaccine. "INO-4800 " - as it's currently called - with plans for it to enter human trials by the early summer.

Kate Broderick, senior vice-president of research and development at Inovio, said: "Once China had provided the DNA sequence of this virus, we were able to put it through our lab's computer technology and design a vaccine within three hours.

"Our DNA medicine vaccines are novel in that they use DNA sequences from the virus to target specific parts of the pathogen which we believe the body will mount the strongest response to.

"We then use the patient's own cells to become a factory for the vaccine, strengthening the body's own natural response mechanisms."
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The work in these labs is being funded by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (Cepi), which is made up of and funded by governments and philanthropic organisations from around the world.

It was created in the aftermath of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa to provide funding to accelerate the development of vaccines for new diseases.

Dr Melanie Saville, director of vaccine research and development at Cepi, said: "The mission is to make sure that outbreaks are no longer a threat to humanity and to develop vaccines for emerging infectious diseases."
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'Molecular clamp'

Cepi is also funding two other programmes that are developing a vaccine for this new coronavirus.

The University of Queensland is working on a "molecular clamp" vaccine, which it says "enables targeted and rapid vaccine production against multiple viral pathogens."

Moderna Inc in Massachusetts has also joined forces with the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to accelerate its research.

The WHO is co-ordinating this global quest for a new vaccine. It says it is following the progress of a number of research facilities, including the three supported by Cepi.

Although efforts to come up with a vaccine for this new coronavirus have been accelerated, research is still at an early stage at all the facilities in the race to find a new vaccine. Clinical trials take time and are best carried out within an outbreak setting.

There are no guarantees any of the designs so far will be safe and effective enough to be used in the outbreak in China.
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3 hrs to design a vaccine and 6 months before they can start trials? What's wrong with this picture?
 
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