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Showing posts with the label #Pandemic

Coronavirus: COVID-19 outbreak grows in South Korea as CDC warning in U.S. rattles markets

#SouthKorea #China #Coronavirus #COVID-19 #Outbreak #Quarantine #Pandemic  The  coronavirus epidemic  that started in China late last year continues to spread around the world, with hundreds more cases confirmed in South Korea on Wednesday and Italy racing to try and control a smaller, but equally worrying outbreak. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned Americans Tuesday to be prepared for the COVID-19 illness to start spreading within the U.S. populace, saying it's a question of when, not if. Among the almost 1,300 cases in South Korea — the largest outbreak outside China — was a 23-year-old U.S. service member who has been ordered to self-quarantine in their home off-base. Before he was isolated, however, he recently visited two U.S. military facilities in the region where South Korea's outbreak is focused. The U.S. has thousands of troops based around the city of Daegu, where the outbreak has been linked to a large church congregation. ...

How to Prepare for the Coronavirus: What to Buy Now in Case a Pandemic Is Declared, According to a Virologist

As the deadly new coronavirus continues to spread around the world, a scientist has released a list of items to collect in case COVID-19 is declared a pandemic—but stressed that people should not panic buy or hoard. Virologist Ian Mackay, adjunct Associate Professor at the University of Queensland, Australia, wrote in a blog post that, as COVID-19 isn't widespread in most parts of the world, "now is a great time to make a list, label up a 'Pandemic Stash' box, and begin to slowly fill it with items that won't go off and that you won't touch unless needed." Writing on his Virology Down Under website Tuesday, Mackay said if more cases appear and can't be traced back to known chains of transmission then "the efforts in some countries to contain COVID-19 will have failed." "At some point, we'll be in the main phase of a pandemic," he said, emphasizing that "a pandemic doesn't necessarily mean the disease is severe...

Don’t buy China’s story: The coronavirus may have leaked from a lab

#China  #Coronavirus #Outbreak #Quarantine #Pandemic #Wuhan At an emergency meeting in Beijing held last Friday, Chinese leader Xi Jinping spoke about the need to contain the coronavirus and set up a system to prevent similar epidemics in the future. A national system to control biosecurity risks must be put in place “to protect the people’s health,” Xi said, because lab safety is a “national security” issue. Xi didn’t actually admit that the coronavirus now devastating large swaths of China had escaped from one of the country’s bioresearch labs. But the very next day, evidence emerged suggesting that this is exactly what happened, as the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology released a new directive titled: “Instructions on strengthening biosecurity management in microbiology labs that handle advanced viruses like the novel coronavirus.” Read that again. It sure sounds like China has a problem keeping dangerous pathogens in test tubes where they belong, doesn’t it? A...