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China is desperate to control the narrative of Covid-19's origin - whatever the cost https://www.yahoo.com/news/china-desperate-control-narrative-origins-105645148.html International experts from the World Health Organisation trying to investigate the origins of the coronavirus in China, a year after it first emerged in the central city of Wuhan, continue to run into roadblocks. The delay for the WHO mission – already plagued by politics and posturing – adds to persistent worries that China will whitewash and frustrate the investigation. Indeed, a two-person WHO team on a three-week mission last August, aimed at laying out plans for further study, sat through a 14-day quarantine upon arrival and never visited Wuhan. This comes as Beijing engages in a relentless propaganda campaign to distract from its cover-up and rewrite the narrative – all aimed at claiming the coronavirus originated outside China. Officials have seeded a number of conspiracy theories, including blaming the US military for infecting China. The most recent theory flouted is to label imported frozen seafood as the culprit. Foreign minister Wang Yi has gone so far as to claim the virus emerged in many countries, and that China was simply the first to spot it. “We raced to report the epidemic first,” he told state media. Mr Wang’s comments are a far cry from the experiences of doctors, including the late Li Wenliang and Ai Fen, both of whom were reprimanded by Chinese authorities after discovering coronavirus infections in December 2018 and seeking to warn colleagues. Foreign journalists trying to report on the impact and origins of coronavirus, including from the Telegraph, have been harassed since the outbreak began at cemeteries in Wuhan and at caves deep in China where scientists had studied similar coronaviruses. Beijing is so determined to stamp out dissent against its official story of what happened that authorities have disappeared citizen journalists who sought to report on the outbreak. A few weeks ago, one of them, Zhang Zhan, resurfaced in court where she was sentenced to four years in prison in a trial that the UK criticised as “secret.” Authorities have even instructed some Wuhan residents not to speak to foreign journalists, reminding them that only praise for the government response is acceptable. ll this paranoia helps whip conspiracy theorists in the West into a frenzy. What is China trying to hide? Did the virus escape from a lab? Was it even engineered there? These theories have been roundly dismissed by the global scientific community. But they are unlikely to go away until China is more transparent. The WHO mission is a good place to start. But a change of tact is, sadly, unlikely. China is more focused on crowing victory over the virus and to tout its vaccine diplomacy – state-owned Sinopharm said it’s on track to produce one billion doses this year. Its priority lies in rehabilitating its image on the world stage, whatever the cost.

Yes, can’t understand why! rxpharm, any ideas?

Amazing Thailand. You couldn't make shit like this up.

Not funny. Do you realise how many poms there are roaming Soi Buakhao in cargo shorts and a Singha wifebeater?

I agree on most things in your post , Rom. Theres no way the official numbers is the truth. Why would Thailand be some sort of safe haven compared to the rest of the world. I was in Pattaya last winter and the place was heaving with chinese tourists. No testing=No cases. As far as covering up I think you give somchai too much credit. They're not capable of doing that. However, I wouldn't rule out theres some medical genetic explanation to their cases compared to the west. Maybe their gene pool give them some sort of immunity. I read the other day something about a neanderthal gene in people being at more risk, https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/12/neanderthal-gene-found-many-people-may-open-cells-coronavirus-and-increase-covid-19 so its not impossible the blood type (has been reported, I think type O the most common was preferable in the case of covid-19 ), and genetics come into play. Then again why would chinese be hit so hard and not thais, they're both of similar descent I would guess. re: excess deaths. Age, Rom, age! Very complicated to say for sure. It all depends what data we put in. For example in Sweden death rates were lower in 2020 than 2018 and 2019 among people under the age of 60. Heck, what do I know. I just read too much about this plague. Sorry for going off topic. https://academic.oup.com/eurpub/advance-article/doi/10.1093/eurpub/ckaa218/5968985 Background Sweden has one of the highest numbers of COVID-19 deaths per inhabitant globally. However, absolute death counts can be misleading. Estimating age- and sex-specific mortality rates is necessary in order to account for the underlying population structure. Furthermore, given the difficulty of assigning causes of death, excess all-cause mortality should be estimated to assess the overall burden of the pandemic. Methods By estimating weekly age- and sex-specific death rates during 2020 and during the preceding five years, our aim is to get more accurate estimates of the excess mortality attributed to COVID-19 in Sweden, and in the most affected region Stockholm. Results Eight weeks after Sweden’s first confirmed case, the death rates at all ages above 60 were higher than for previous years. Persons above age 80 were disproportionally more affected, and men suffered greater excess mortality than women in ages up to 75 years. At older ages, the excess mortality was similar for men and women, with up to 1.5 times higher death rates for Sweden and up to 3 times higher for Stockholm. Life expectancy at age 50 declined by less than 1 year for Sweden and 1.5 years for Stockholm compared to 2019. Conclusions The excess mortality has been high in older ages during the pandemic, but it remains to be answered if this is because of age itself being a prognostic factor or a proxy for comorbidity. Only monitoring deaths at a national level may hide the effect of the pandemic on the regional level.

Serious? Where you read that? They can't enter here either for two reasons. Brexit being one.

Join them? I don't think so. Covid bonanza no matter what they say.

The American Money Behind Blacklisted Chinese AI Companies For American investors who have poured money into tech companies that serve at the Chinese Communist Party’s pleasure, it isn’t business as usual despite sanctions. Business, in fact, is booming. https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-american-money-behind-blacklisted-chinese-artificial-intelligence-companies?source=articles&via=rss

We're expecting a surge 10-14 days after Xmas and New Year, case reporting lagging at least a week. Peak expected second half of January.

Feared post-Christmas coronavirus surge appears to begin in L.A. County as cases top 800,000 https://www.yahoo.com/news/feared-post-christmas-coronavirus-surge-171737329.html The dreaded post-Christmas spike in coronavirus cases appears to be materializing in Los Angeles County, with a new rise in cases as hospitals are already in crisis from the Thanksgiving surge. The county reported 19,063 cases on New Year's Day, its third-highest single-day total, and 16,603 on Saturday, its fifth-highest total, according to an independent Times tally of local health jurisdictions. That means that over the last three days, an average of more than 16,000 new cases a day have been reported in the county — one of the highest such tallies on record. Saturday's tally pushed the county's cumulative number of cases past 800,000. In a sign of how rapidly the coronavirus is spreading, more than 400,000 of those infections were reported since Dec. 1. "This is the fastest acceleration of new cases than at any other time during the pandemic," the L.A. County Department of Public Health said.

Vietnam reports first case of new coronavirus variant in woman returning from Britain https://www.yahoo.com/news/vietnam-reports-first-case-coronavirus-052521654.html Vietnam has detected its first imported case of the new coronavirus variant that is spreading rapidly around Britain, the health ministry said on Saturday. The variant was detected in a 44-year-old woman returning to Vietnam from Britain, who was quarantined upon arrival and was confirmed positive for the virus on Dec 24, the ministry said in a statement. "Researchers ran gene-sequencing on the patient's sample and found the strain is a variant known as 'VOC 202012/01'", it said. The variant includes a genetic mutation that, in theory, could result in the virus spreading more easily between people.

I fully agree. And as always it boils down to one thing: greed.

Take this, Scorsese.

Interesting piece: https://www.yahoo.com/news/bill-coming-due-china-capitalist-113012069.html The Bill Is Coming Due for China’s ‘Capitalist’ Experiment The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has re-awoken to a profound truth: Rich, secure capitalists are the natural enemies of authoritarian regimes. In a hybrid autocratic-capitalist model, capitalism is the means to generate wealth, but power is the end goal. Successful capitalists naturally begin to demand that their personal and property rights be protected from authoritarian fiat. Capital in the hands of entrepreneurs is a political resource; it poses a threat to the implementation of centralized plans.

Thank you Chy-na. Thousands packed the streets to celebrate New Year's Eve in Wuhan, where the coronavirus first emerged, as other cities worldwide were deserted https://www.yahoo.com/news/thousands-packed-streets-celebrate-years-103520530.html Wuhan Times Square, NYC London London Berlin Cologne Paris Milano Istanbul

A wise old friend of mine, said its not gay if you don't push back. Or its not gay if you beat them up afterwards. ( Joke).

Talked to a ladyman I like in Patts yesterday: "Now Pattaya have covid . I scare." Authorities sure did a number on them. Nevermind barebacking and smoking ice. Covid will kill you! She's by a long shot nowhere near Sindys status as an earner, so I send her money for food. She lost her room, no money for rent, and is now living with a bunch of them in a small room. I was optimistic up until the fall, September, October but now, I don't know. What a nightmare this turned out to be. Even if we get the vaccine soon I'm starting to doubt we'll set foot in Los this year. Thank you Chy-na.

Happy New Year, Lastword Lance

I have tried humour on this board, especially the stamp collecting (obviously humour is all subjective) but its safe to say that hasn't gone too well. So ,stop the attempts of humour, BBG. Concentrate on the 7/11 developments and the praising of Supastar Lily ( Should I insert a smiley here to be on the safe side?). Did they have New Years coffee, btw?

Good stuff, poesface. Thanks for posting.

Ok, I know now. Thanks. Can't have enough 7/11 stores.

Wheres this soi?

Worst year ever. Not on a personal level, I had a great long stay in Thailand december 2019 to march 2020, but the big picture sucked. Piss off 2020. 2021 can only be better! Happy New Year

Sure. I too live like you nowadays, but social interaction is not to dismiss, imo. I can't stand 80% of the people but I have to admit its very nice to socialise with some good ones, especially now during the pandemic.

No Yes No