Beijing braces for surge in severe COVID-19 cases as world watches with concern - CNA

That number might rise sharply in the near future, with state-run Global Times citing a leading Chinese respiratory expert predicting a spike in severe cases in the capital over the coming weeks.

"We must act quickly and prepare fever clinics, emergency and severe treatment resources," Wang Guangfa, a respiratory expert from Peking University First Hospital, told the newspaper.

Severe cases increased by 53 across China on Tuesday (Dec 20), versus an increase of 23 the previous day. China does not provide absolute figures of severe cases.

Wang expects a peak in cases in China in late January, with life likely to return to normal by end-February or early March.

INTERNATIONAL CONCERNS

Amid doubts over China's very low COVID-19 death toll by global standards, the National Health Commission on Tuesday clarified only people whose death is caused by pneumonia and respiratory failure after contracting the virus are classified as COVID-19 deaths.

Benjamin Mazer, an assistant professor of pathology at Johns Hopkins University, said that classification would miss "a lot of cases", especially as people who are vaccinated, including with the Chinese shots, are less likely to die of pneumonia.

Blood clots and sepsis - an extreme body response to infection - have caused countless deaths among COVID-19 patients around the world.

"It doesn't make sense to apply this sort of March 2020 mindset where it's only COVID pneumonia that can kill you, when we know that in the post-vaccine era, there's all sorts of medical complications," Mazer said.

The NHC also played down concerns raised by the US and some epidemiologists over the potential for the virus to mutate, saying the possibility of new strains that are more pathogenic is low.

Paul Tambyah, President of the Asia Pacific Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infection, supported that view.

"I do not think that this is a threat to the world," he said. "The chances are that the virus will behave like every other human virus and adapt to the environment in which it circulates by becoming more transmissible and less virulent."

Several leading scientists and World Health Organization advisors told Reuters it may be too early to declare the end of the global COVID-19 pandemic emergency phase because of a potentially devastating wave to come in China.

Last week, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he was "hopeful" of an end to the emergency sometime next year.
 

Adblock test (Why?)

https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiYmh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmNoYW5uZWxuZXdzYXNpYS5jb20vYXNpYS9jaGluYS1iZWlqaW5nLWNvdmlkLTE5LWNhc2VzLWluY3JlYXNlLXdpbnRlci1wb2xpY2llcy0zMTU5Mzg20gEA?oc=5

2022-12-21 03:50:00Z
1691474472

US offers COVID-19 vaccines to China to stem outbreak - CNA

WASHINGTON: The United States on Tuesday (Dec 20) offered to share vaccines with China to stem soaring COVID-19 cases, saying containing the outbreak was in the interest of the world.

It is unlikely that China would accept the offer from the United States, its frequent adversary, after Beijing invested heavily in COVID-19 diplomacy that included shipping its homegrown vaccines around the world.

"It's important that all countries focus on getting people vaccinated and making testing and treatment easily available," State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters.

"The US is the largest donor of COVID-19 vaccines around the world. We're prepared to continue to support people around the world, including in China, with this and other COVID-related health support," Price said.

"This is profoundly in the interests of the rest of the world. Our COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective, and we have provided them to countries around the world, regardless or in spite of any political disagreements."

Price said that the caseload in China, the world's second largest economy, had both human and economic costs.

Adblock test (Why?)

https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiXWh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmNoYW5uZWxuZXdzYXNpYS5jb20vd29ybGQvdXMtb2ZmZXJzLWNvdmlkLTE5LXZhY2NpbmVzLWNoaW5hLXN0ZW0tb3V0YnJlYWstMzE1ODgyMdIBAA?oc=5

2022-12-20 21:41:00Z
1699963657

'I would like to hug him': Families of missing Thai sailors await news of loved ones - CNA

Vice Admiral Pichai Lorchusakul, the regional navy commander, said finding the men on Tuesday would be critical given their time exposed to the elements.

"Life jacket, life buoy and their floating technique allow us 48 hours to save their lives," he said late on Monday. "We will try to do as much as we can to save them."

Lieutenant Colonel Pichitchai Tuannadee, captain of the sunken ship, said he was in the sea for two hours before he scrambled onto a raft and was found by search teams on Monday.

"To see something as small as a life ring or a person's head above the surface of the water, it's very hard to see with the big waves," he said, adding the missing sailors were likely to be fatigued by now from having to tread water and make sure those without vests stayed afloat.

One of the marines was found late on Monday clinging to a buoy.

"He was floating in the water for 10 hours. He was still conscious, so we could take him out of the water safely," said Captain Kraipich Korawee-Paparwit, commander of the HTMS Kraburi, one of search vessels.

Adblock test (Why?)

https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMia2h0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmNoYW5uZWxuZXdzYXNpYS5jb20vYXNpYS90aGFpbGFuZC1uYXZ5LXZlc3NlbC1zaW5rcy1mYW1pbGllcy1hd2FpdC1uZXdzLW1pc3Npbmctc2FpbG9ycy0zMTU3NzE20gEA?oc=5

2022-12-20 12:21:00Z
1705380109

China races to bolster health system as COVID-19 surge sparks global concern - CNA

"GETTING SICK"

In Beijing, which has emerged as the main infection hot spot, commuters, many coughing into their masks, were back on the trains to work and streets were coming back to life after being largely deserted last week.

Streets in Shanghai, where COVID transmission rates are catching up with Beijing's, were emptier, and subway trains were only half-full.

"People are staying away because they are sick or they are scared of getting sick, but mostly now, I think it’s because they are actually sick,” said Yang, a trainer at a nearly empty Shanghai gym.

Top health officials have softened their tone on the threat posed by the disease in recent weeks, a U-turn from previous messaging that the virus had to be eradicated to save lives even as the rest of the world opened up.

They have also been playing down the possibility that the now predominant Omicron strain could evolve to become more virulent.

"The probability of a sudden large mutation ... is very low," Zhang Wenhong, a prominent infectious disease specialist, told a forum on Sunday in comments reported by state media.

Nevertheless, there are mounting signs the virus is buffeting China's fragile health system.

Cities are ramping up efforts to expand intensive care units and build fever clinics, facilities designed to prevent the wider spread of contagious disease in hospitals.

In the past week, major cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, and Wenzhou announced they had added hundreds of fever clinics, some in converted sports facilities.

The virus is also hammering China's economy, expected to grow 3 per cent this year, its worst performance in nearly half a century. Workers and truck drivers falling ill are slowing down output and disrupting logistics, economists say.

A World Economics survey showed on Monday China's business confidence fell in December to its lowest since January 2013.

Weaker industrial activity in the world's top oil importer has capped gains for crude prices and driven copper lower.

China kept benchmark lending interest rates unchanged for the fourth consecutive month on Tuesday. 

Adblock test (Why?)

https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiZmh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmNoYW5uZWxuZXdzYXNpYS5jb20vYXNpYS9jaGluYS1pbnN0YWxsLWhvc3BpdGFsLWJlZHMtY292aWQtMTktc3VyZ2UtY29uY2Vybi1hYnJvYWQtMzE1Njg2MdIBAA?oc=5

2022-12-20 04:41:00Z
1691474472

US lawmakers call for criminal charges against Trump - CNA

Charges could result in a ban from public office for the 76-year-old Republican, who still wields considerable power in the Republican Party, and even prison time.

"To cast a vote in the United States is an act of faith and hope," committee chairman Bennie Thompson said.

"That faith in our system is the foundation of American democracy. If the faith is broken, so is our democracy. Donald Trump broke that faith."

The seven Democratic and two Republican panel members are winding down their work before the end of the year, and have compiled their findings into an eight-chapter report set to be released on Wednesday.

The committee's case is that Trump "oversaw and coordinated a sophisticated seven-part plan to overturn the presidential election and prevent the transfer of presidential power".

"TRUMP KNEW HE LOST"

Investigators say the plot began with Trump's campaign to spread allegations he knew were false that the election was marred by widespread fraud.

He is accused of trying to corrupt the Justice Department and of pressuring his vice president Mike Pence, as well as state election officials and legislators, to overturn the vote by violating the Constitution and the law.

Trump is also accused of summoning and assembling the mob in Washington, and directing it toward the Capitol despite knowing it was armed with assault rifles, handguns and numerous other weapons.

And for hours he ignored pleas from his team to take action to stop the violence, lawmakers say.

Democratic panel member Zoe Lofgren said Trump's false fraud claims - far from being spontaneous - were part of a deliberate attempt to sow distrust in democracy that began long before the insurrection.

Lofgren repeated the panel's suggestion that Trump allies had engaged in witness tampering, alleging that someone linked to the former president had offered potential employment to a witness prior to their testimony.

Lofgren said a witness was also told by a lawyer linked to Trump that she could pretend to not remember facts as she was giving evidence.

Lofgren also returned to an accusation previously leveled by the panel that Trump had "raised hundreds of millions of dollars with false representations made to his online donors."

Adblock test (Why?)

https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiXmh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmNoYW5uZWxuZXdzYXNpYS5jb20vd29ybGQvdXMtbGF3bWFrZXJzLWNhbGwtY3JpbWluYWwtY2hhcmdlcy1hZ2FpbnN0LXRydW1wLTMxNTU2NjbSAQA?oc=5

2022-12-19 19:41:00Z
1702640369

Malaysia PM Anwar wins vote of confidence at first parliament sitting - CNA

Ties between GPS and DAP have been fraught as the latter cancelled some projects in Sarawak during the short-lived PH administration from 2018 to 2020. Additionally, GPS and DAP had campaigned bitterly against each in the urban state and parliamentary seats in Sarawak.

But DAP secretary-general Anthony Loke said on Nov 23 that he was in Kuching to speak with GPS chief Abang Johari Abang Gopeng and apologise on behalf of DAP if any of its statements had insulted the people and government of Sarawak.

GPS said it accepted the apology and added that it will join the Anwar-led unity government and leave the issue of Cabinet positions to the new prime minister.

After a special meeting of the Malay rulers on Nov 24 regarding the political impasse, Istana Negara announced Mr Anwar as the next prime minister of Malaysia.

MUHYIDDIN CHALLENGES PM’S LEGITIMACY

In a separate press conference that day, Mr Muhyiddin insisted that he commands the majority support from the MPs to lead the government.

He also called on Mr Anwar to prove that he has the support of the majority of lawmakers.

“For the sake of the people's confidence in the legitimacy of Anwar Ibrahim as prime minister, he should prove that he has the support of the majority of MPs,” he said.

“This must be proven through the process that has been set by the parliament speaker in a letter dated Nov 20, which is by submitting the statutory declarations (SDs) of the majority of MPs.”

On Dec 7, PN wrested from PH the parliamentary seat of Padang Serai in Kedah by more than 16,000 votes, taking its seats to 74 after delayed polling due to the death of a candidate.

Mr Muhyiddin said the result showed the public did not approve of the PH-BN partnership in a unity government proposed by the king.

Adblock test (Why?)

https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiWGh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmNoYW5uZWxuZXdzYXNpYS5jb20vYXNpYS9hbndhci1pYnJhaGltLW1hbGF5c2lhLWNvbmZpZGVuY2Utdm90ZS1wYXNzLTMxNTQxNjbSAQA?oc=5

2022-12-19 10:44:00Z
1693978197

China reports first COVID-19 deaths in weeks as official count questioned - CNA

The NHC reported 1,995 symptomatic infections for Dec 18, compared with 2,097 a day earlier.

But infection rates have also become an unreliable guide as far less mandatory PCR testing is being conducted following the recent easing. The NHC stopped reporting asymptomatic cases last week citing the testing drop.

China's stocks fell and the yuan eased against the dollar on Monday, as investors grew concerned that surging COVID-19 cases would further weigh on the world's second-largest economy despite pledges of government support.

The virus was also sweeping through trading floors in Beijing and spreading fast in the financial hub of Shanghai, with illness and absence thinning already light trade and forcing regulators to cancel a weekly meeting vetting public share sales.

Japanese chipmaker Renesas Electronics Corp said on Monday it had suspended work at its Beijing plant due to COVID-19 infections.

A survey by World Economics showed on Monday China's business confidence fell in December to its lowest since January 2013. China's economy is expected to grow 3 per cent this year, its worst performance in nearly half a century.

SPREADING FAST

China's chief epidemiologist Wu Zunyou on Saturday said the country was in the throes of the first of three COVID-19 waves expected this winter, which was more in line with what people said they are experiencing on the ground.

"I'd say 60 to 70 per cent of my colleagues ... are infected right now," Liu, a 37-year-old university canteen worker in Beijing, told Reuters, requesting to be identified by his surname.

Beijing city official Xu Hejian told reporters on Monday COVID-19 was spreading fast in the capital, putting pressure on medical resources. Still, more restrictions will be lifted, with previously-closed venues located underground, from bars to internet cafes, allowed to re-open, Xu said.

Xu made no comment on any fatalities.

Adblock test (Why?)

https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiVmh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmNoYW5uZWxuZXdzYXNpYS5jb20vYXNpYS9jaGluYS1yZXBvcnRzLWZpcnN0LWNvdmlkLTE5LWRlYXRocy13ZWVrcy0zMTU0NDY20gEA?oc=5

2022-12-19 10:12:21Z
1691474472