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China Medicine

China Says Peak of Coronavirus Epidemic Has Passed (newsweek.com) 203

Posted by BeauHD from the famous-last-words dept.
China's National Health Commission said on Thursday that the country has passed the peak of the coronavirus epidemic and that the number of new cases is declining. The officials noted that medical treatment work will remain the top priority and that work to control the spread of the COVID-19 virus will continue. From a report: The coronavirus outbreak began in the Chinese city of Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province, in December 2019. China has dealt with more than 80,900 cases, 3,100 deaths and more than 63,000 recoveries, according to DXY.cn, which compiles data from the National Health Commission and regional government sources. Reuters noted that Chinese authorities recorded eight new infections in Hubei, which marks the first time since the outbreak that the province recorded a daily tally of fewer than 10. As the number of new infections fall, Hubei will lift certain travel restrictions and will allow some industries to resume production. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said in other countries. The outbreak has spread across the globe with more than 134,000 infections and more than 4,900 deaths, causing the World Health Organization on Wednesday to declare the outbreak a pandemic.
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China Says Peak of Coronavirus Epidemic Has Passed More

China Says Peak of Coronavirus Epidemic Has Passed

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  • Trust (Score:2, Flamebait)

    by EzInKy ( 115248 )

    I trust the Chinese government only slightly more than I trust Trump. Why doesn't he just suspend the tariffs already? He doesn't need Congressional approval to do that, and it would be as good as any other tax cut he could propose.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by hnjjz ( 696917 )

      Trump lifted tariffs on face masks and medical equipment on March 6.

      https://www.wsj.com/articles/u... [wsj.com]

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Mitreya ( 579078 )

      I trust the Chinese government only slightly more than I trust Trump.

      Indeed. The same can be said in other countries (that the peak of infections has passed).
      Whether or not it is true in China or in other countries -- probably not.

    • I trust the Chinese government only slightly more than I trust Trump. Why doesn't he just suspend the tariffs already? He doesn't need Congressional approval to do that, and it would be as good as any other tax cut he could propose.

      Are you trolling for, "What's in _____ mind?" Sparking readers to speculate about the man's motivation? Equating a tax cut to trade imbalance? How many finanical measures address "capital flight" from VAT and Sales taxes? Trump's DealMaker branding, that, imo, must be admitted few rival, maybe Hearst, to enact tariffs by proportions as arbitrary as a town elder predating the yard sales of their minority neighborhoods, is Vampire version isolationism...

    • Re:Trust (Score:4, Interesting)

      by Mashiki ( 184564 ) <mashiki@gmail.cBALDWINom minus author> on Friday March 13, 2020 @04:58AM (#59825402) Homepage

      There were at least two riots in Wuhan last night(3/12), did you hear about them? Probably not. That was cut short first by them cutting main street power, then cutting cell services while people were live-streaming. If that's the "trust" you believe in, you're a far more naive on just what China is doing. Speaking of which, did you see the videos of the people screaming at Pooh Bear when he showed up? Or the pictures of soldiers in peoples apt's so they couldn't go out onto the balcony while he was there. Probably not. Youtube already scrubbed them, but you can find the videos on bitchute or liveleak.

  • Only 1% infected? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by quenda ( 644621 ) on Thursday March 12, 2020 @04:17PM (#59823732)

    We are hearing from world leaders and health authorities that much of the world's will get this new virus over the next couple of years, as happened with the 2009 flu pandemic.
    But officially only 1% of Wuhan has been infected, and a far smaller proportion of the rest of China. And this is a peak?
    So what is going on?

    Will China continue to control the spread, or is that control dependent on unsustainable restrictions in movement? Will leaders have to chose between economic collapse and exponential spread? Is the plan to maintain social isolation until a vaccine is developed?
    Can Italy follow China's success, or will we see million of infections in Italy (with the rest of Europe soon to follow) while China remains in the 100s of thousands?

    Are we set for a years of social isolation, with a constantly overwhelmed healthcare system?
      I'm having a lot of trouble resolving all the apparently conflicting claims. The projected numbers of ICU patients are terrifying.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by kbahey ( 102895 )

      Will China continue to control the spread, or is that control dependent on unsustainable restrictions in movement? Will leaders have to chose between economic collapse and exponential spread? Is the plan to maintain social isolation until a vaccine is developed?
      Can Italy follow China's success, or will we see million of infections in Italy (with the rest of Europe soon to follow) while China remains in the 100s of thousands?
      Are we set for a years of social isolation, with a constantly overwhelmed healthcare

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by spth ( 5126797 )

        Will China ban the sale of wild animals, enforce such a ban, and separate species in markets at a safe distance?

        If these steps are not taken, then we will be here in 5 or 10 years experiencing the same panic, and social and economic costs.

        They already did months ago as part of their response to Covid-19.

        • Re: (Score:3)

          by kbahey ( 102895 )

          Will China ban the sale of wild animals, enforce such a ban, and separate species in markets at a safe distance?

          If these steps are not taken, then we will be here in 5 or 10 years experiencing the same panic, and social and economic costs.

          They already did months ago as part of their response to Covid-19.

          And they did it too during the SARS 2002/2003 outbreak, only to relax or reverse the bans over the years, and that is why we are back to the same scenario now ...

      • China suffers from the same problem that people who prefer grass fed beef or wild caught salmon have. People think wild animals are more pure as they have lived in the natural forest rather than on dirty farms. Eating wild meat is considered a high status activity and wild meat is much more expensive than domesticated meat.
        The same high status people who eat wild meat also buy luxury European fashion goods and attended Milan fashion week. Which is why Italy has become such an epicentrer 2 weeks after fashio

    • Will China continue to control the spread, or is that control dependent on unsustainable restrictions in movement?

      The number of cases in China is dropping as people are recovering or dying and the spread in contained by the oppressive restrictions. Another week or two of the restrictions should take care of all the remaining cases and they can lift the restrictions.

      Then they just have to seal their boarders tighter than North Korea's and they'll be thriving internally as the world outside burns. Fre

      • Will China continue to control the spread, or is that control dependent on unsustainable restrictions in movement? The number of cases in China is dropping as people are recovering or dying and the spread in contained by the oppressive restrictions. Another week or two of the restrictions should take care of all the remaining cases and they can lift the restrictions. Then they just have to seal their boarders tighter than North Korea's and they'll be thriving internally as the world outside burns. Free countries are going to have a lot more suffering and death than China, but no repressive restrictions -- yay!.

        And false dilemmas of freedom and oppression are conflations of moral and cultural relativism, drop back to Politics is the Art of the Possible.

      • Boo freedom! Yay totalitarianism! The Mexican Beer virus is gonna kill us all!?!?!!1!

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by guruevi ( 827432 )

      Didn't you hear? China SAID the Pandemic was over. They had a day of celebration over it:

      Wang Zhonglin, party chief of Wuhan, said that people in the city were not appreciative enough. It is necessary, "to carry out gratitude education among the citizens of the whole city, so that they thank (President Xi Jinping), thank the Chinese Communist Party, heed the party, walk with the party, and create strong positive energy."

      • Re:Only 1% infected? (Score:4, Interesting)

        by quenda ( 644621 ) on Thursday March 12, 2020 @07:49PM (#59824478)

        Wang Zhonglin, party chief of Wuhan, said that people in the city were not appreciative enough.

        Ouch. Had to google you were not paraphrasing satire. That may have worked in 1960, but his words did not go down well in 2020:

        https://www.theguardian.com/wo... [theguardian.com]

        Wang’s statement was met with such scorn that the party affiliated paper that published his comments, the Changjiang Daily, appeared to remove the original article. Chinese media has reportedly been instructed not to publish the article, publish commentaries or mention the incident in anyway.

        According to a translation from China Media Project, an internal directive said the report had invited “raging public opinion” on a level similar to that following “the death of a certain doctor,”

      • Didn't you hear? China SAID the Pandemic was over. They had a day of celebration over it:

        Wang Zhonglin, party chief of Wuhan, said that people in the city were not appreciative enough. It is necessary, "to carry out gratitude education among the citizens of the whole city, so that they thank (President Xi Jinping), thank the Chinese Communist Party, heed the party, walk with the party, and create strong positive energy."

        Is this shocking to you? Is it malfeasance how other cultures engage collaboration and claims as to progess and success? You seem offended and compelled to warn others: If only people in another country understood America's exceptionalism by terms that might effect a liberation of their thinking, the world as one might be realized. And that's effect with an E.

    • So what is going on?

      You believed Chinese state media, that's what's going on. There were 16 new cases in China on Wednesday. For some reason 1/3rd of them were foreigners. Except in Beijing where 4/5th of them were foreigners.

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by quenda ( 644621 )

        So what is going on?

        You believed Chinese state media, that's what's going on. There were 16 new cases in China on Wednesday. For some reason 1/3rd of them were foreigners. Except in Beijing where 4/5th of them were foreigners.

        They did not say "foreigners". Could well be Chinese returning from Italy, and the number of imported cases is in line with expectations.
        It is the lack of new community cases that is surprising.

        I don't believe the "known infections" numbers from anywhere represent actual infections. Nobody does. But nor do I believe in a grand conspiracy with thousands of bodies being dumped in a mass grave outside Beijing. Keeping such a thing quiet is not possible any more. (maybe in remote provinces or prisons)

    • In china, every building or neighborhood has a ccp committee.

      When there was an infection, you had a choice of quarantine center (bad idea) or being sealed in your resident with strips of paper tape. If you broke the tape, you got a warning- but after that you were involuntarily taken to the quarantine center.

      The party member brought food and set it outside your residence and then sealed you back in. I've seen posts from people there saying they were under this kind of hard quarantine for 7 weeks.

      That's

  • And yet....... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by JustAnotherOldGuy ( 4145623 ) on Thursday March 12, 2020 @04:19PM (#59823752) Journal

    And yet there are multiple news outlets, including some from within China, that claim there is no "flattening out" and that the epidemic hasn't passed by any means.

    Hmmm, who to believe? Surely the Chinese government would never lie to anyone, would they?

    • Surely the Chinese government would never lie to anyone, would they?

      Not unless you want to get hacked.

    • Well China's official news source said there were only 5 new cases in Beijing yesterday. 2 Italians, 1 Belgian, 1 Spaniard, and a local. I believe the Chinese. They released one hell of a racist virus.

      • Why are you always so full of shit?
        The same time that you complain of other people being unreliable sources.

        Those cases were people returning from those countries. Nowhere does it say what nationality those cases were. You may have noticed Italy currently has 5x the number of cases per person than China. [worldometers.info]
        So any random person from Italy is 5x as likely to have the virus. (Even before you consider the fact almost all the Chinese people with the virus are in Hubei and not Beijing)(even before considering Ch

  • Half true (Score:5, Interesting)

    by burtosis ( 1124179 ) on Thursday March 12, 2020 @04:27PM (#59823788)
    What they are not saying is several large areas of China have been on lockdown with residents confined to their homes for going on 7 weeks and the reason the spread has stopped is that the massive quarantine, testing, tracing and then testing again and social distancing works. Also, it’s appearing more and more likely that wearing a mask when you are well or sick can substantially cut down on cases, likely because with this you are contagious before symptoms. In fact, even just testing everyone and having them self isolate seems to be effective. For this to be effective in America, Given how we have let it spread, we need on the order of hundreds of thousands of tests per day, possibly even more than a million. They need to be totally free at the point of service otherwise the hundred million underinsured and uninsured will be a vector to everyone else. We need to be doing so many things, Italy has some of the best medical care in the developed world and they are falling apart with overload leaving the less able to be saved to fend for themselves without care and this is pushing the case fatality rate past 7%. Unfortunately that looks like what will happen in the US in a matter of weeks.

    • Re:Half true (Score:5, Interesting)

      by coastwalker ( 307620 ) <acoastwalker@NospaM.hotmail.com> on Thursday March 12, 2020 @05:16PM (#59823984) Homepage

      This is the most likely explanation I have seen in this thread. The Chinese population are capable of withstanding a 7 week quarantine because of their way of life and the support their authoritarian state is capable of providing to their people and their businesses. This is just a fact. Their government is issuing 8 year interest free loans to businesses with holes in their books and they fed and looked after the people they locked down. Full blown capitalist systems are just not capable of doing the same things and may fare worse. Only time will tell.

      • While China has been effective, so has Germany, South Korea, and Vietnam. It’s hard to say China isn’t effective as a country considering its thousands of years old, but we have hard evidence other systems are effective at beating this pandemic.

      • This is the most likely explanation I have seen in this thread. The Chinese population are capable of withstanding a 7 week quarantine because of their way of life and the support their authoritarian state is capable of providing to their people and their businesses. This is just a fact. Their government is issuing 8 year interest free loans to businesses with holes in their books and they fed and looked after the people they locked down. Full blown capitalist systems are just not capable of doing the same things and may fare worse. Only time will tell.

        There are two parts to the Chinese government actions. The first is forced restriction of movement, for which economic systems are completely irrelevant. The key is a totalitarian government. Thus, such control over movement is problematic in non-totalitarian countries. The second part is support for services for those confined to their homes. This is an economic effort. Western governments have in the past been willing to spend huge sums of money for vast social programs. So, providing such services

      • ...and they fed and looked after the people they locked down

        Every Uyghur has a full belly and an empty body cavity?

    • and the reason the spread has stopped is

      Is because they said it did. According to their own figures there have been no new reported cases in 12 out of 16 provinces since *even before* the quarantine came into effect.
      Additionally Beijing had 5 cases yesterday, some how they were 4 foreigners. That's a damn racist virus they are working with there.

  • China:

    all your virus are belong to us :-)

  • Don't base your health decisions on gov. press (Score:5, Insightful)

    by DallasTruaxxx ( 4880195 ) on Thursday March 12, 2020 @04:40PM (#59823860)
    China is not interested in your health if you are not one of theirs, and is only marginally interested in the health of its own citizens in that dead people don't produce. Everything they say publicly is suspect. Period. China lied about the existence of the virus, and imprisoned doctors that dared to speak out about it. China lied about the number of infections, and the number of dead. I see no reason to believe them now, about much of anything. The U.S. govt. is only marginally better in this regard. Individuals that have no reason to lie, making reports on the internet are far more credible than governments.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by hondo77 ( 324058 )

      Individuals that have no reason to lie, making reports on the internet are far more credible than governments.

      You were doing okay until that last sentence. Individuals on the internet are, on average, stupid and their posts about coronavirus are even less credible than the nonsense Trump has been spewing.

      • You were doing okay until that last sentence. Individuals on the internet are, on average, stupid and their posts about coronavirus are even less credible than the nonsense Trump has been spewing.

        I took it to mean that citizen journalists, as opposed to the mockingbird press or government mouth pieces, wouldn't necessarily have the same conflicts of interest.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by ghoul ( 157158 )

      Almost everything you wrote is inaccurate or a flat out lie. China informed the WHO of the virus on December 31. They detected the first cases in December beginning and it took 2-3 weeks to realize this is something worth reporting. The eye-doctor who was called into the police station and censured about spreading rumors on social media instead of raising the alrm via proper channels were not arrested, only called into the police station and given a talking to. Any doctor who saw a new virus in the US and i

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      It's obvious you have never been to China and have no idea what Chinese culture is actually like. The government has been supporting people and helping them on a level that puts most other countries to shame.

      Did you not hear about that hospital they built in a week? That doesn't sound like being only "marginally interesting in the health of its own citizens".

  • As things get back to normal for the Chinese presumably they have a number of people, among them health care workers who are immune to corona and workers facing a global demand chock. I'd be great if we had some international solidarity going because neither corona nor the economy is going to get fixed soon.

  • Chen Quishi is still disappeared after a 24 day forced quarantine that was supposed to end 10 days ago.
    He (and a few others) were exposing the actual shit going down, with video proof.

    China has tens of millions infected, at least (and among them many dead).

  • Humanitarian Aid: Send your test kits to the USA (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Que_Ball ( 44131 ) on Thursday March 12, 2020 @05:21PM (#59824020)
    I would like to make an urgent appeal to China to start sending as many test kits as they can spare in a humanitarian effort to the USA.

    The USA has third world like conditions for medical care of it's most vulnerable poor to middle class population and could urgently benefit from the generosity of the Chinese people in this time of need.

    Please China, help a child in the USA and donate a test kit today.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by GbrDead ( 702506 )
      > Please China, help a grandpa in the USA and donate a test kit today.

      FTFY. Children are not vulnerable. Most victims are old people with diabetes and heart conditions.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      China has actually been doing that. Not to the USA as far as I know but for example both Italy and Spain have received media aid from China, and they sent experts to Italy to help with their efforts.

      Unfortunately the USA is unlikely to accept any aid. I just hope that the UK isn't so silly when the time comes.

  • According to China's own numbers:

    a) Even before Wuhan was put under quarantine there was a stop in the rise of cases in 12 out of 16 provinces. I.e. before initiating quarantine measures China, a country with huge population density in major cities didn't see a rise in any cases. I call bullshit.
    b) Based on history the virus was declining, right before China announced multiple 10s of thousands of cases in a single day. Then the numbers started declining again. That's not how viruses spread. I call bullshit.

  • If there was any veracity to this, then why can't I get any of my shipments out of China? Why am I unable to book transit?

    China's glass heart is laughable.

  • As with any other flu virus, once it runs it's course, and humans own antibodies build up resistance, the virus goes dormant. Coronaviruses were first discovered in the 1960s. The earliest ones discovered were infectious bronchitis virus in chickens and two viruses from the nasal cavities of human patients with the common cold that were subsequently named human coronavirus 229E and human coronavirus OC43. Other members of this family have since been identified, including SARS-CoV in 2003, HCoV NL63 in 200

  • Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Thursday March 12, 2020 @07:58PM (#59824518)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Jzanu ( 668651 )
      Yours is the best overview I've read yet. Pointing out the error made by Chinese officials and explaining how it actually happened without claiming conspiracy or worse. Pointing out the trends in preparedness as well. Good job!

      I underestimated the effect but fortunately the people whose jobs it was in the civilized countries to deal with things dealt with it. Now we just face bringing every country up to the same level. Don't fuck around with fake travel bans, instead focus on the reality. Control of out

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      The hospitals were planned for but they were not stockpiling materials for them. China is having a decades long building boom. It's incredible, when you travel around the whole country is just and endless string of building sites. They have so much production capacity that when they need to build a new hospital they just tell the factories to send over some stuff and a day or two later it arrives in volume.

      There's just no way other countries can match that. It also explains why they were able to offer to bu

  • China releases propaganda. They've lied about this virus before. Wait for others to confirm.

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