Wuhan Coronavirus: Megathread - Got too big

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China orders public holiday extended to curb epidemic

AFP Article (Archive)

Chinese authorities have ordered the extension of a public holiday in an effort to contain an epidemic that has killed 56 people and infected nearly 2,000 worldwide, state-run media reported.
A working group chaired by Premier Li Keqiang to tackle the outbreak decided on Sunday "to reduce population flows" by extending the Spring Festival holiday which had been scheduled to end on January 30, state news agency Xinhua said.

It was not immediately clear how long the extension is.
The group also ordered changes to "the starting dates of schools" and "people to work from home by working online."
"The meeting stressed that the country is at a crucial time in the prevention and control of the novel coronavirus outbreak, urging Party committees and governments at all levels to take more 'decisive, powerful and orderly, scientific and well-planned' measures to effective curb the spread," Xinhua reported.
In a bid to slow the spread of the respiratory virus, the government had previously locked down hard-hit Hubei, a province in central China that is at the outbreak's epicentre, in an unprecedented operation affecting tens of millions of people.
The previously unknown virus has caused global concern because of its similarity to the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) pathogen, which killed hundreds across mainland China and Hong Kong in 2002-2003.
Originating in Hubei's capital of Wuhan, the virus has spread throughout China and across the world -- with cases confirmed in around a dozen countries including as far away as the United States.
Several countries were making arrangements to evacuate their citizens from Wuhan, where an eery calm pervades as new restrictions prohibit most road traffic in the metropolis of 11 million.
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Edit: Rounding out the AFP's coverage since they seem to be pretty good so far.

China's animal trade to spawn more viral outbreaks: experts

Article (Archive)

The animal-borne SARS virus 17 years ago was supposed to be a wake-up call about consuming wildlife as food, but scientists say China's latest epidemic indicates that the practice remains widespread and a growing risk to human health.
Like SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome), which was traced to bats and civets, the virus that has killed dozens in China and infected almost 2,000 people is believed to have originated in animals trafficked for food.

Final findings are yet to be announced, but Chinese health officials believe it came from wildlife sold illegally at a market in the central city of Wuhan that offered enough animals to fill a zoo, including civets, rats, snakes, giant salamanders and live wolf pups.

The so-called "bushmeat" trade, plus broader human encroachment on wild habitats, is bringing us into ever-closer contact with animal viruses that can spread rapidly in our uber-connected world, said Peter Daszak, president of EcoHealth Alliance, a global NGO focused on infectious disease prevention.



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AFP / Gal ROMA Coronavirus

The Global Virome Project, a worldwide effort to increase preparedness for pandemics, which Daszak is a part of, estimates there are 1.7 million undiscovered viruses in wildlife, nearly half of which could be harmful to humans.
Daszak said the project's research indicates we can expect around five new animal-borne pathogens to infect humanity each year.

- 'New normal' -

"The new normal is that pandemics are going to happen more frequently," he said.

"We are making contact with animals that carry these viruses more, and more, and more."

Viruses are a natural part of the environment, and not all are the stuff of sci-fi horror.

But the recent track record of animal-hosted viruses that "jump" to humans is sobering.

Like SARS, which killed hundreds in China and Hong Kong in 2002-03, Ebola also was traced to bats, while HIV has roots in African primates.

Today, more than 60 percent of new emerging human infectious diseases reach us via animals, scientists say.

Even familiar menu items like poultry and cattle -- whose pathogens we have largely adapted to over millennia -- occasionally throw a curveball, like bird flu or mad-cow disease.

"For the sake of these wild species' future, and for human health, we need to reduce consumption of these wild animals," said Diana Bell, a wildlife disease and conservation biologist at University of East Anglia who has studied SARS, Ebola and other pathogens.

"But, 17 years on (from SARS), apparently that hasn't happened."

Wild-meat consumption itself is not necessarily dangerous -- most viruses die once their host is killed.



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AFP/File / Peter PARKS A 2002 image shows a kitchen worker using a wooden mallet to hit a water rat on the head to stun it before it is killed for a meal in a restaurant in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou

But pathogens can jump to humans during the capture, transportation, or slaughter of animals, especially if sanitation is poor or protective equipment not used.
With scrutiny rising amid the viral outbreak, China on Sunday ordered a temporary ban on wildlife trading until the viral epidemic eases.

But conservationists say China has repeatedly failed to deliver on pledges to crack down.

Chinese authorities have addressed the problem partly by encouraging a farmed-animal industry.

This has included for endangered species like tigers, whose parts are prized in China and other Asian countries as aphrodisiacs or for other uses.

But that comes with its own downside, by providing a channel for more sought-after wild-caught beasts to be laundered as "farmed," Bell said.

She added that wildlife traders also had become more savvy, avoiding market scrutiny by selling directly to restaurants.

- 'Difficult to stop' -

Environmental groups say Chinese demand, fuelled by rising consumer buying power, is the biggest driver of the global bushmeat trade today.

Some rare species have been prized in China as delicacies or for unproved health benefits since ancient times.

Traditionally, a host gains "face" by serving guests or business partners expensive, hard-to-acquire wild fare.

Yang Zhanqiu, a pathogen biologist at Wuhan University, said modern demand also is bolstered by widespread distrust of a Chinese food industry tarnished by years of repeated safety scandals.

"People will think: wild is natural, natural is safe," Yang said.

"Everyone wants to eat better, so there is a market for wild animals."

Daszak said "it's very difficult to stop an activity with 5,000 years of cultural significance."



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AFP / Hector RETAMAL Pharmacy workers wear protective clothes and masks in Wuhan, the epicentre of the latest deadly virus outbreak to have jumped from animals
But recent surveys strongly indicate that China's younger generation -- swayed partly by animal-rights campaigns involving popular Chinese celebrities -- are much less inclined to tuck into bat, rat, or salamander, he added.
"I think that in 50 years this will be a thing of the past," Daszak said.
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"The project's research indicates we can expect around five new animal-borne pathogens to infect humanity each year."

Stop eating the bats. They are friends, not food.
 
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DidYouJustSayThat said:
So California is confirmed to be lost, Trump should just nuke it now, before they spread to the rest of the states.
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Put the whole state under marshall law, build private roads to the ports, and wall off everything else. Come back in a couple years, anyone left is America.
 
Mr. Faget said:
But...the virus literally originates from one region of one country. Why would any sensible person NOT exclude others based on that criteria for an insanely virulent disease?
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Even the Chinese are doing this to their fellow country men, which is saying a lot.
 
This genuinely worries me.
People see China, California, Taiwan, Australia, Japan, etc and with that Keep Calm and Carry On shit, they think 'it's not coming to Britain, even if it is a little bit of flu, the NHS will help us, lets buy some Lemsips!!'

If this hits the UK, the NHS will start it's death rattle. The gravity of this is unbelievable and someone should be shutting down all flights from certain areas - extreme, but since when did we stop protecting our people? We're an island, we shouldn't get worldwide pandemics but here we are waiting for our first case rather than actively preventing it. Doesn't matter if a lot of people pull through, it's still unpleasant and I for one do not want it reaching our soil, let alone mutating on it.

A close family member of mine is getting on an eleven hour flight in a few days, and he's decided to wear a scarf over his face and vasoline up his nostrils. Nigga, if you on that plane, and Coronachan on that plane, you and your preexisting health conditions are gon get yeeted.

Why we're not taking this even half as seriously as the Chinese do is beyond me. People forget flu is a killer and does such a number on the body, let alone a new strain. There's a reason when people say they've got the flu and someone says 'mate, if you had the flu, you wouldn't be standing up at work right now, you wouldn't be able to move for two weeks'.
 
lameandgay2 said:
This genuinely worries me.
People see China, California, Taiwan, Australia, Japan, etc and with that Keep Calm and Carry On shit, they think 'it's not coming to Britain, even if it is a little bit of flu, the NHS will help us, lets buy some Lemsips!!'

If this hits the UK, the NHS will start it's death rattle. The gravity of this is unbelievable and someone should be shutting down all flights from certain areas - extreme, but since when did we stop protecting our people? We're an island, we shouldn't get worldwide pandemics but here we are waiting for our first case rather than actively preventing it. Doesn't matter if a lot of people pull through, it's still unpleasant and I for one do not want it reaching our soil, let alone mutating on it.

A close family member of mine is getting on an eleven hour flight in a few days, and he's decided to wear a scarf over his face and vasoline up his nostrils. Nigga, if you on that plane, and Coronachan on that plane, you and your preexisting health conditions are gon get yeeted.

Why we're not taking this even half as seriously as the Chinese do is beyond me. People forget flu is a killer and does such a number on the body, let alone a new strain. There's a reason when people say they've got the flu and someone says 'mate, if you had the flu, you wouldn't be standing up at work right now, you wouldn't be able to move for two weeks'.
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Might be a stupid question but, what do you purpose to stop it? While travel bans are a thing, it seems like that won't stop the virus from spreading at this point.
 
I played a lot of pandemic 2 and plague inc. Usually the AI starts to close down airports and waterways by this point. Why the fuck is nobody doing this and why does every country newly infected keep saying don't worry its "Low Risk" even though its silently transmitted while China is flatlining their economy and quarantining 50 million people in over 15 cities? Really makes you wonder 🤔
 
FlappyBat said:
How could something like this be a pest:
https://youtube.com/watch?v=WVz8rvIl_vY
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It's a flying rat, make sure you cook it on high for at least 4 hours, change water every hour and keep topping up water, that has boiled off. Add ramen stock after last water change.
After that throw away the soup, the pot and any other utensils used.
 
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Bats are actually very important for the ecosystem. They eat the insects such as mosquitoes. Eating them means less mosquitoes eaten. More moquitoes means more disease.

I hate you, Maleria-chan.
 
When I was young, I cosplayed as the pyro from TF2 with an old WW2 gas mask...


ME AND THE BOYS PLAYING FALLOUT 76 VR:
Gasmask.png
(I always wanted a gasmask anyway...)

I hope there isn't actually some sort of mass plague but if there it it'll be cool to live on the hills like my ancestors before me.
 
Disheveled Human said:
I played a lot of pandemic 2 and plague inc. Usually the AI starts to close down airports and waterways by this point. Why the fuck is nobody doing this and why does every country newly infected keep saying don't worry its "Low Risk" even though its silently transmitted while China is flatlining their economy and quarantining 50 million people in over 15 cities? Really makes you wonder 🤔
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You probably don't have the western politically correct add-on installed. Shutting down routes coming from China is racist and white supremacist, you see.
 
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