Free Republic

Beijing (AFP) – The Chinese virology institute at the center of US allegations it may have been the source of the COVID-19 pandemic has three live strains of bat coronavirus on-site, but none match the new global contagion, its director has said. Scientists think COVID-19 — which first emerged in the central Chinese city of Wuhan and has killed more than 340,000 people worldwide — originated in bats and could have been transmitted to people via another mammal. But the director of the Wuhan Institute of Virology told state broadcaster CGTN that claims made by US President Donald Trump and...

Why US outsourced bat virus research to Wuhan US-funded $3.7 million project approved by Trump's Covid-19 guru Dr Anthony Fauci in 2015 after US ban imposed on 'monster-germ' research The US National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded bat-coronavirus research in the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China to the tune of US$3.7 million, a recent article in the British newspaper Daily Mail revealed. Back in October 2014, the US government had placed a federal moratorium on gain-of-function (GOF) research – altering natural pathogens to make them more deadly and infectious – as a result of rising fears about a possible...

An unprecedented amount of research has been focused solely on understanding the novel coronavirus that has taken nearly 150,000 lives across the globe. And while scientists have gotten to know some of the most intimate details of the virus called SARS-CoV-2, one question has evaded any definitive answers — Where did the virus come from? Live Science contacted several experts, and the reality, they said, is that we may never know where this deadly coronavirus originated. Among the theories circulating: That SARS-CoV-2 arose naturally, after passing from bats to a secondary animal and then to humans; that it was deliberately...

The Chinese Communist Party has ramped up its propaganda efforts to control the narrative surrounding the novel coronavirus—by rejecting criticism and painting a picture that Beijing is effectively handling the outbreak. The regime’s propaganda has gone through several phases: first ignoring the severity of the outbreak, then creating positive coverage, and now, blaming the United States. Internal government documents obtained by The Epoch Times have highlighted how the regime bungled its data tracking and censored discussions of the outbreak, fueling the virus’s spread. High-ranking communist authorities have pushed a handful of talking points to deflect blame, including that the origin...

<p>The coronavirus could be up to 1,000 times more infectious than SARS because it plagues the body in the same way as HIV and Ebola, scientists warn.</p> <p>Experts initially presumed the spread of COVID-19 would follow the same trajectory as the SARS outbreak in 2002/3, because the viruses are almost identical genetically.</p>

Talk of the new coronavirus (COVID-19) is everywhere. Here’s what you should know and do to keep yourself and your loved ones healthy.Know the symptoms The new virus causes respiratory illness in humans, usually 2–14 days after exposure. Illnesses have ranged from mild symptoms to severe, including fever, cough, and shortness of breath. The virus is thought to spread mainly from close contact with an affected person. It spreads in the air, like flu, and through droplets from sneezes and coughs. The droplets can stay suspended in the air and can land on surfaces that are touched by others. Understand...

The first U.S. doctors to analyze a COVID-19 coronavirus patients’ lungs said they were able to identify patterns in the lungs as indicators of the disease as it progressed over time. Doctors at New York City’s Mount Sinai hospital became the first in the nation to use CT scans on patients from China with COVID-19, they said in a statement on Wednesday, publishing their findings in “Radiology.” The new findings could result in a quicker diagnosis in patients who arrive with potential symptoms of the mysterious new virus. The team received CT scans of 94 patients from China, where the...

A viral outbreak that began in China has infected more than 80,000 people globally. The World Health Organization has named the illness COVID-19, referring to its origin late last year and the coronavirus that causes it. The latest figures reported by each government’s health authority as of Tuesday in Beijing: — Mainland China: 2,663 deaths among 77,658 cases, mostly in the central province of Hubei — Hong Kong: 81 cases, 2 deaths — Macao: 10 cases — South Korea: 977 cases, 11 deaths — Japan: 860 cases, including 691 from a cruise ship docked in Yokohama, 4 deaths — Italy:...

A forever thread is getting long. Perhaps a weekly thread?

Sydney (AFP) - Australia plans to evacuate its citizens from the epicentre of the deadly virus outbreak in China and quarantine them on an island normally used to detain asylum seekers, according to proposals unveiled Wednesday. Prime Minister Scott Morrison said "vulnerable" Australians -- including children and the elderly -- and short-term visitors to Wuhan and surrounding Hubei province would be prioritised in extraction efforts. Officials said about 600 Australians were known to be in the area, which has been locked down in an effort to contain the spread of the virus. Morrison said Australia was working with New Zealand...

A new, potent form of viral pneumonia has sickened 59 people in China with high fevers, lung lesions, and difficulty breathing. All have been quarantined, and seven are in critical condition. WHO calls the outbreak “pneumonia of unknown etiology”—which is epidemiologist speak for we don’t know what the hell this is. China is not known for open communication about epidemics. SARS was not reported to WHO for months and killed approximately 800 people in 2002 and 2003 while spreading to dozens of countries. This week, China seems to be more readily releasing information, though China continues to be China: The...