Flashermac

American politics ...

If the Dems thought they could have overturned the results by a recount, they definitely would have tried. But they didn't ... and it is far too late to try that now. Impeachment is the only thing they could come up with. Everything you see going on now is an attempt by the Dems to turn enough voters against the Donald so they won't vote for his this year. They've known all a long he won't be convicted. And now for something completely non-political!

Expert: China's animal trade to bring more outbreaks SHANGHAI: The animal-borne Sars virus 17 years ago was supposed to be a wakeup 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 meat market in the central city of Wuhan that offered everything from rats to wolf puppies and giant salamanders. 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. The Global Virome Project, a worldwide effort to increase preparedness for pandemics, which Mr Daszak is a part of, estimates there are 1.7 million undiscovered viruses in wildlife, nearly half of which could be harmful to humans. Mr Daszak said the project's research indicates we can expect around five new animal-borne pathogens to infect humanity each year. "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% 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. But pathogens can jump to humans during the capture, transportation, or slaughter of animals, especially if sanitation is poor or protective equipment not used. On Thursday, the southern province of Guangdong, a centre of rare-species consumption, said it was immediately halting trade in wild animals. Similar promises were made following Sars, yet conservationists say the trade continues, aided by loophole-riddled Chinese laws regarding many species, and episodic or just plain lax enforcement. 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," Ms Bell said. She adds that wildlife traders also have 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," Mr Yang said. "Everyone wants to eat better, so there is a market for wild animals." Mr Daszak said "it's very difficult to stop an activity with 5,000 years of cultural significance." 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," Mr Daszak said. "The problem is that we live in such an interconnected world today that any pandemic like this can spread globally in three weeks. "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% 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. But pathogens can jump to humans during the capture, transportation, or slaughter of animals, especially if sanitation is poor or protective equipment not used. On Thursday, the southern province of Guangdong, a centre of rare-species consumption, said it was immediately halting trade in wild animals. Similar promises were made following Sars, yet conservationists say the trade continues, aided by loophole-riddled Chinese laws regarding many species, and episodic or just plain lax enforcement. 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," Ms Bell said. She adds that wildlife traders also have 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," Mr Yang said. "Everyone wants to eat better, so there is a market for wild animals." Mr Daszak said "it's very difficult to stop an activity with 5,000 years of cultural significance." 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," Mr Daszak said. "The problem is that we live in such an interconnected world today that any pandemic like this can spread globally in three weeks. https://www.bangkokpost.com/world/1844024/expert-chinas-animal-trade-to-bring-more-outbreaks?fbclid=IwAR0fMCelbjwjtAVWhYn-EGAX8UheZ5cW0mrpXlrmzfwAksHVWQvEx-X9tK4#cxrecs_s

China coronavirus spread is accelerating, Xi Jinping warns The spread of a deadly new virus is accelerating, Chinese President Xi Jinping warned, after holding a special government meeting on the Lunar New Year public holiday. The country is facing a "grave situation" Mr Xi told senior officials. The coronavirus has killed at least 56 people and infected almost 2,000 since its discovery in the city of Wuhan. The US has announced that staff at the Wuhan consulate will be evacuated on a special flight on Tuesday. The State Department said that private Americans most at risk will also be able to board the flight to San Francisco. Meanwhile, UK-based researchers have warned of a real possibility that China will not be able to contain the virus. Travel restrictions have come in place in several affected cities. From Sunday, private vehicles will be banned from central districts of Wuhan, the source of the outbreak. A second emergency hospital is to be built there within weeks to handle 1,300 new patients, and will be finished in half a month, state newspaper the People's Daily said. It is the second such rapid construction project: work on another 1,000-bed hospital has already begun. Specialist military medical teams have also been flown into Hubei province, where Wuhan is located. The urgency reflects concern both within China and elsewhere about the virus which first appeared in December. Lunar New Year celebrations for the year of the rat, which began on Saturday, have been cancelled in many Chinese cities. Across mainland China, travellers are having their temperatures checked for signs of fever, and train stations have been shut in several cities. In Hong Kong, the highest level of emergency has been declared and school holidays extended. Several other nations are each dealing with a handful of cases, with patients being treated in isolation. What is the coronavirus, and what does it do? A coronavirus is a family of viruses which include the common cold. But this virus has never been seen before, so it's been called 2019-nCov, for "novel coronavirus". New viruses can become common in humans after jumping across the species barrier from animals. The Sars [Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome] outbreak of 2003 started in bats and transferred to the civet cat which passed it on to humans. his new virus also causes severe acute respiratory infection. Symptoms seem to start with a fever, followed by a dry cough and then, after a week, lead to shortness of breath and some patients needing hospital treatment. There is no specific cure or vaccine. Coronavirus: How worried should we be? Based on early information, it is believed that only a quarter of infected cases are "severe", and the dead are mostly - though not exclusively - older people, some of whom have pre-existing conditions. The Chinese authorities suspect a seafood market that "conducted illegal transactions of wild animals" was the source of the outbreak. Why is there concern about containing the virus? Scientists at the respected MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis in the UK have warned that it may not be possible to contain the virus to China. They say self-sustaining human-to-human transmission of the coronavirus is the "only plausible explanation" for the scale of the epidemic. Their calculations estimate each infected person is passing it onto, on average, 2.5 other people. The centre praised the efforts of the Chinese authorities, but said transmission of the virus needed to be cut by 60% in order to get on top of the outbreak. This is a massive challenge, the scientists suggest, which will require finding and isolating even patients with only mild symptoms that could easily be confused with other diseases. Elsewhere, a team at Lancaster University have published their estimates of the number of cases suggesting 11,000 have been infected this year. If true, that would be more than Sars. Where has it spread? There are now 1,372 confirmed cases across China, though most are concentrated in those provinces closest to Hubei. But it has also spread abroad - in isolated cases affecting small numbers of patients. On Saturday, Australia confirmed its first four cases - first in Melbourne, and then three more in Sydney. It has also spread to Europe, with three cases confirmed in France. Tests in the UK on 31 people have come back negative, the government has said. Officials are trying to trace around 2,000 people who have recently flown to the UK from Hubei province. The cases largely involve people who had recently travelled from the affected region in China. China's neighbours in the Asia region are on high alert, however, with cases reported in Thailand, Singapore, Japan, Taiwan, Malaysia, Vietnam, South Korea and Nepal. There are also two cases in the United States, including a woman in her 60s who had returned home to Chicago from Wuhan on 13 January. Canada has a "presumptive case" of the virus, but the condition of the person suffering from it is deemed stable, according to a government statement. ... https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-51249208

Meanwhile, back at the Senate ...

Despite research establishing the risks associated with ultra-fine PM2.5 particulate matter, and the fact it is both odourless and invisible, many people fail to appreciate the damaging impact it has on their health, said Khate Sripratak, cardiologist and president of the Chest Disease Institute's medical staff organisation. "It affects the health of people in all walks of life, but children, the elderly and those with congenital diseases are likely to suffer more," he said. Though there are no official figures yet, Dr Khate has noticed a distinct rise in the number of people being admitted in hospital due to PM2.5-related complaints. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), PM2.5 is particulate matter (PM) that is less than 2.5 micrometre (μm) in diameter, or about about 3% of the diameter of a human hair. PM2.5 also comprises ultra-fine particles that have a diameter of less than 0.1μm. PM that is between 0.1μm and 1μm in diameter can stay in the atmosphere for days or weeks and can be subject to long-range transboundary air transport. These ultra-fine dust particles can have short- and long-term effects, such as respiratory and cardiovascular morbidity, aggravation of asthma, respiratory symptoms, greater mortality from cardiovascular and respiratory diseases as well as from lung cancer. Dr Khate also voiced concerns about Thailand's safe standard for PM2.5. WHO stipulates that the presence of PM2.5 per cubic metre (m3) of air cannot exceed 25 microgrammes per cubic metre [µg/m³] on average over 24 hours, and can be no more than 10µg/m³ on an annual average. Thailand's Pollution Control Department (PCD), meanwhile, has set a safe level of 50µg/m³ on average over 24 hours and an average of 25µg/m³ per year. "There's no study showing that Thais have more natural resistance to pollution than other people in the world. The Pollution Control Department should make changes and launch clear measures," he said. He added that he agrees with the government's decision to halt construction, close schools and encourage people to work from home on days when the air pollution is particularly bad. "The severity of the situation was made clear by the sheer number of schools that were forced to close recently," he said. "However, these measures cannot be imposed forever, and it is important that people protect themselves." For those who cannot afford air purifiers and proper N95 masks, using ordinary sanitary face masks is recommended. "Being partially protected is better than not being protected at all," Dr Khate said. Medical staff should wear face masks to boost people's awareness of the need to protect themselves, he said. "If those who are directly involved with health issues do not set an example, people might not take the issue seriously enough," he said. https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/1843849/dont-under-estimate-pm2-5-risk-doctor-says#cxrecs_s

It's not so long ago that the PRC had "domestic passports". A friend taught there in the early 1990s, and he said everyone had to have permission just to visit a neighbouring province, and getting permission was very hard. Also, there were special department stores for the Communist Party members, where they could buy items not available to the ordinary proles. He was one of the very few foreign instructors at a university, and he knew that spies had been planted in all of his classes. He dared not say anything the CP didn't approve of. I image it's about the same in N Korea. p.s. I am totally puzzled by the presence of the U.S. Peace Corps in the PRC. WTF? The Peace Corps was intended to help third world countries, not a world power house like the PRC.

Overall, I'd say the standards for politicians in the U.S. have gone down during my lifetime. Or maybe it's just that the press no longer covers for them the way it used to, at least for the ones they don't agree with. I suspect that there were (but surely no longer are) some films of Epstein's buddies "enjoying themselves" on his private island in the Virgin Islands. That sort of people usually do like to watch tapes of themselves in action. https://globalnews.ca/news/5479663/jeffrey-epstein-caribbean-island/ "Jeffrey Epstein and his close associate ordered a teenage girl to have sex with several high-powered men, including former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson and former Maine Sen. George Mitchell, according to a deposition from the girl released Friday, August 9, 2019. "Sources from NBC News states Virginia Roberts Giuffre, now 36, claimed in the 2016 deposition that Epstein and British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell also directed her to provide sexual services for modeling agent Jean Luc Brunel, money manager Glenn Dubin and the late MIT professor Marvin Minsky — as well as a 'foreign president' and 'a well-known prime minister.'”

Posted by mistake and I can't delete it!

WTF ?

The facts said that Bill Clinton did something wrong too, but it wasn't impeachable. The question in my mind is will the rival parties now adopt impeachment as a standard policy every time they think it will be to their advantage? Can we expect to see many more impeachments in the future?

Just south of Sathorn Road are clusters of back-to-back street food shops who’ve been serving hungry locals and honing their craft for decades. By paying as little as 40 baht, you could get a dish of noodles and fish balls that someone has spent 40 years perfecting in this neighborhood along the streets of Chan, Saint Louis, and Sathu Pradit. Plus, they’re largely free of tourists, so you’ll actually be eating what locals eat, not what Instagram influencers/backpackers are snacking on. Ride up and down Chan Road on the following red hop-on-hop-off song taew buses: 1256, 1271, 1279. Videos ... http://www.khaosodenglish.com/featured/2020/01/25/tourists-still-dont-know-about-these-decades-old-street-food-in-bangkok/

BANGKOK — A viral video published on Friday shows a Grab driver crying out in pain as he is beaten bloody by two motorcycle taxis in Bangkok. In a footage recorded by a customer of the ride-hailing service and later posted by a Facebook page, two motorcycle taxi drivers can be seen headlocking and assaulting a GrabBike driver, later identified as Apichart Maneerat, while he was trying to pick up his passenger from her condominium in Soi Ratchadaphisek 36. The customer can be seen in the video trying to break the fight, but all she could do was to record the video and call the police – a gesture ignored by the assailants. They eventually let GrabBike driver go, and he later filed a complaint to police. Police are questioning Apichart and the two motorcycle taxis as of publication time. Speaking to reporters after the incident, Apichart said he heard motorcycle taxi drivers, or wins, near the condominium shout “What the fuck are you doing here?” before he replied that he was picking up his passenger. The wins then waited for his passenger to arrive, then charged at him and punched him in the ears, Apichart said. Confrontations between state-regulated motorcycle taxis, or wins, and private ride-hailing applications are known to have made headlines. The taxis have long accused private drivers of operating outside the law and “stealing” their customers. Last December, a passenger was shoved off her bike in front of Siam Paragon by a local motorcycle taxi driver while she was trying to take GrabBike back home. http://www.khaosodenglish.com/news/crimecourtscalamity/2020/01/24/motosai-taxis-headlock-grabbike-rider-ignore-calls-to-police/ Be forewarned if you are going to use mo'cy' taxis.

Deadly Wuhan Virus Speculated to Originate from Bat Soup, Experts Urge Citizens to Stop Eating It https://www.worldofbuzz.com/deadly-wuhan-virus-speculated-to-originate-from-bat-soup-experts-urge-citizens-to-stop-eating-it/?fbclid=IwAR3N8Cx0_XZxFl6WhoIin_MttbmRtUQi1phBJ55dk9b1vWvqjcdoCgUu8Tg&__cf_chl_jschl_tk__=57618482e15985471c2421d7fe953ea966324c43-1579944874-0-AWUdD9ZLv8sTR6ewL104hFrez_LHFE5tzKKMbldHFcBk0livGeEaFlXXe9CqkUSTTLPfEKt59Vyc-VO7p4UPIzlVD5HAX_O8JqtN1kRiOu2SZtPAjI-tKGTPKXRO_c8U6xwaOqSqloFAkpto0Qe8pWoqzWpdH6EmVItM6YgaJN-U0OzWNZZg4iPjxxsD_5lPntZDqZl4D5DOV-mLu-48mQkZMowu1crVlQw93HexcWosUQnLJF4PSx1dmRwItVTjgp-M1htzF9PPTvwnwzSYFqWbX68PhixcC--gIjJjkLW0Yqp-1bgp9ud1DptLIdAymLU5zg6EI8-umtwfmRudXdNARNljBjL0m-qxkCIUl9GxupMmV5FXGPkvBwIB0JM-8uGvbpT4SktZQ7fqzskFvULWHrvS3uXX01K1AtCxnzpcDcbil-Up522LDZawflHnYFij3lAowxpmrUCQYn0UjIR9U-FkWPEvxEB34hDfb2x5

Because Melania doesn't have a fat behind and varicose veins.

I wonder who ended up with his car.

Chinese Social Media Depicts Chaos in Virus-Hit Wuhan As Chinese authorities scramble to keep residents calm amid the fast-spreading coronavirus, many from Wuhan, the epicenter of the viral pneumonia, have taken to the internet to express their panic in the quarantined city. Wuhan residents, including some health workers, took to Chinese social media, such as Weibo and WeChat, to relay their exasperation and fears for the future in a city that has entered into a partial lockdown. Some have gone out of their way to bypass China’s internet firewall and access blocked sites so that their voices can be heard to the outside world. In one video, what appear to be covered bodies are seen on the ground in a hospital between two rows of patients seated along a hallway, as fully covered medical staff continue to hustle about. The woman who took the video said some of the alleged bodies may have been there all morning. In another video posted online, a patient is seen falling to the ground while waiting in line for treatment, apparently fainting. Many of these videos are being repeatedly deleted and reuploaded. The virus has infected nearly 1,300 people and claimed 41 lives to date, including one health worker. “The infections are way more terrifying than what you see on the television,” a woman, who says she works at a hospital, said in a WeChat voice message to her niece. She was sobbing uncontrollably and had to pause multiple times to catch her breath. “After a day of work, we are on the verge of a mental breakdown,” she said, telling others to take proper protective measures and “never trust the government.” She said she and around a dozen doctors saw more than 100 patients that day, but they “had no supplies at all.” “It’s so hard to bear when they come pleading for help while we really couldn’t do anything,” she said. Another video circulating on the internet showed a nurse in the backroom screaming in tears, while two others patted her head and shoulder to comfort her. She said she “couldn’t take it anymore.” Medical staff have shared similar frustrations online, and as many as eight hospitals in Wuhan on Thursday began asking the public for help because its medical supplies are running increasingly low.They were accepting donations of goggles, N95 masks, surgical masks, medical caps, gloves, hazmat suits, and surgical gowns, according to The Paper, a state-funded media. A staff member working at Wuhan Union Hospital with the last name Cheng told The Paper that the amount of protective gear at the hospital would only last another three or five days. Zhi, another employee at Wuhan Union Hospital, similarly said the hospital has been depleting its stock and has failed to reorder supplies in time ahead of the Chinese New Year holiday, where high volumes of orders in the country are expected to slow deliveries. Chinese officials have mobilized military medical personnel to help Wuhan doctors and Wuhan authorities have issued plans to build another hospital in six days, which could potentially house another 1,000 patients. “The number of cases are piling up by the day,” Zhi said. The daughter of an Wuhan patient, who used the alias Li Xue, said her dad went to several hospitals for treatment, but was turned away because his case was not serious enough, according to Lifeweek, a Chinese language magazine. Li said her parents got in line around 9:20 p.m. on Tuesday and that by 10:00 p.m., 100 people were standing in line behind them. She said they were home five hours later with five days worth of medicine, adding that the doctor told her father to come back if he had breathing difficulties and that there wasn’t a hospital bed for him there. “They are treating patients as footballs to be kicked around,” a Wuhan resident said, requesting anonymity. Wuhan is one of 18 Chinese cities that have shut down transportation. But some 300,000 people left the city hours before the lockdown took effect, according to a now-deleted post on Wuhan Railway’s Weibo account. The panic also permeated through other facets of life. In some parts of Wuhan, patients waited for hours in line at hospitals, people stood in long queues to buy masks, shelves in convenience stores and pharmacies were emptied, and people got into fights to get their share of fresh vegetables. http://www.efreenews.com/a/chinese-social-media-depicts-chaos-in-virus-hit-wuhan?fbclid=IwAR3ZWyLJFHPB8O8kXzF5yOMMHMdTSZ1RHAgZsIYiNowl6VfYdHsNYJ2LG0I

China’s Chief Medical Consultant for the Wuhan Coronavirus Is Infected With the Disease A Chinese medical expert who assured the public that the “Wuhan pneumonia is controllable” has been diagnosed with the novel coronavirus after visiting Wuhan City as one of the chief medical consultants for this new viral pneumonia. Wang Guangfa, Director of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine at Peking University First Hospital, confirmed with Chinese state media on Jan. 21 that he was diagnosed with the coronavirus, also known as Wuhan pneumonia. Wang stayed in Wuhan for at least eight days as a member of the National Health Commission’s expert team, to investigate the SARS-related pneumonia caused by a newly identified coronavirus. However, even China’s major newspapers have difficulty obtaining the exact dates of Wang’s stay in Wuhan. Some say the medical expert team was dispatched to Wuhan on Dec. 31, 2019, while other media outlets said the delegation had arrived before Dec. 31. The discrepancy in these reports is worth noting, because the Chinese public has become increasingly outraged and is demanding that authorities disclose the exact dates of the first diagnosed case and when Wuhan medical personnel became aware of the dangers of this mysterious new disease. Many people have expressed their suspicion that the public has been kept in the dark since last November. In addition, none of the Chinese state media revealed the exact date when Wang was diagnosed. The fact he was infected could be a strong evidence of human-to-human transmission, and the Chinese medical authorities were not forthcoming in confirming human-to-human transmission at all. On Jan. 10, Wang announced on China Central TV that the Wuhan patients’ condition and the overall situation of the disease spreading were controllable, adding: “The majority of patients are classified as mild to moderate. As of now, there has not been a single case of medical personnel being infected by patients.” After Wang was found to be infected, he said he had visited patients twice during his stay in Wuhan. Wang told Chinese state media that his first visit was at an ICU (intensive care unit) to check the status of a severely infected patient at Wuhan’s Jinyintan Hospital, a hospital dedicated to public health emergencies and contagious diseases under the direct jurisdiction of Wuhan Health Commission. “Although I was close to the patient, I was completely protected, with a medical face mask (an acrylic shield covering the entire face). There was little chance that I would get infected from that patient,” Wang said. On a different date, Wang visited several hospitals’ fever treatment clinics and temporary isolation wards for suspected pneumonia patients. This time, he was only wearing an N95 medical mask. After his return to Beijing, the first illness symptom he noticed was conjunctivitis on the lower part of his left eye. “A couple of hours later, I started to experience fever and catarrh symptoms,” Wang said. [more] http://www.efreenews.com/a/china-s-chief-medical-consultant-for-the-wuhan-coronavirus-is-infected-with-the-disease?fbclid=IwAR3xH500crHJkGbW8hI3J1tI5HIx5Kw7ShVOR7cKy7H2W9Go_MbfkWjZBoY

... "Despite his previous claim that he had robbed the gold shop because he wanted some excitement in his life, Prasittichai Khaokaew, 38, director of Wat Pho Chai School in Sing Buri province, eventually admitted financial problems were his real motive. He was arrested on Wednesday morning in Lop Buri as he was leaving for school. A check into his financial records showed the suspect owes more than 2 million baht to teachers' cooperatives and Krungthai Bank, the source said. Investigators also found Mr Prasittichai had previously spent 300,000 baht on a BMW Z4, which was later seized in a crackdown on illegally imported cars and led him to be fined 600,000 baht. The school director earned more than 30,000 baht a month, but after deductions, he had little left to fund his luxury lifestyle, the source said. ... At a press briefing held by national police chief Pol Gen Chakthip Chaijinda yesterday, Mr Prasittichai spoke briefly to the media via video call. "I decided to do it because I had personal problems including a financial issue. And I had to kill someone simply because I wanted to scare people away," he said. "I had been planning the robbery two or three days in advance." https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/1842179/new-reason-given-for-gold-shop-robbery?fbclid=IwAR1iQCLQznDb3zogs4rfwFTRhKyRwrUAr27kBlyRqGaUbqVqWHu0qJnpBdc#cxrecs_s

Wuhan quarantine expands as Chinese fear authorities not telling full story about coronavirus outbreak ... "A bigger outbreak is certain," said Guan Yi, a virologist who helped identify Severe acute respiratory syndrome in 2003. He estimated - "conservatively" - that this outbreak could be 10 times bigger than the SARS epidemic because that virus was transmitted by only a few "super spreaders" in a more defined part of the country. "We have passed through the 'golden period' for prevention and control," he told Caixin magazine from self-imposed quarantine after visiting Wuhan. "What's more, we've got the holiday traffic rush and a dereliction of duty from certain officials." Authorities had initially said that the virus, which began in a Wuhan food market selling exotic animals for consumption, was mild and could not be transmitted between humans. But that changed this week when the numbers of people infected by the virus, which has an incubation period as long as 14 days, began to rise rapidly. Now cases have been detected around the country, from Harbin in the north to Shenzhen in the south. The Chinese territories of Hong Kong and Macao have both reported cases, as have countries including the United States, Japan, South Korea and Thailand. The ruling Communist Party, which initially tried to show transparency after being criticized for covering up the SARS virus outbreak 17 years ago, has now shown signs of reverting to its default position of censoring bad news. ... https://www.nationthailand.com/news/30380968?utm_source=homepage&utm_medium=internal_referral