Shanghai quarantine (always subject to change!)

A mix of news flashes, worthwhile ones, in my COVID-19 newsletter of today.
Quarantine requirements change by the day, so one needs to doublecheck at the last minute.
17 March 2020 – Everyone who travel from (pass by) Korea, Italy, Iran, Japan, France, German, Spain, USA, UK, Switzerland, Sweden, Belgium, Norway, Netherlands, Denmark, Austria during the past 14 days, as soon as you enter Shanghai, you need to keep in quarantine for 14 days. If you have home in Shanghai, then you need to stay at home for 14 days. If you don’t have home in shanghai, then the government will send you to an official quarantine place to stay for 14 days

New coronavirus stable for hours on surfaces

SARS-CoV-2 stability similar to original SARS virus.
https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/new-coronavirus-stable-hours-surfaces

The virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is stable for several hours to days in aerosols and on surfaces, according to a new study from National Institutes of Health, CDC, UCLA and Princeton University scientists in The New England Journal of Medicine. The scientists found that severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was detectable in aerosols for up to three hours, up to four hours on copper, up to 24 hours on cardboard and up to two to three days on plastic and stainless steel. The results provide key information about the stability of SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19 disease, and suggests that people may acquire the virus through the air and after touching contaminated objects. The study information was widely shared during the past two weeks after the researchers placed the contents on a preprint server to quickly share their data with colleagues.

See the original article for more.

Dutch article mentions criticism on the research; the danger from the air could be exaggerated and the virus transmitted in the air would survive only a short time. But other studies also confirm the virus can survive for a long time on surfaces. See also earlier posts on the subject.
Amerikaans onderzoek: ‘Coronavirus kan uren overleven in de lucht en op oppervlaktes’
https://www.knack.be/nieuws/gezondheid/amerikaans-onderzoek-coronavirus-kan-uren-overleven-in-de-lucht-en-op-oppervlaktes/article-news-1578109.html
18/03/20 – Belga

China helping EU countries

At a press conference in Beijing on Tuesday, Lei Chaozi, a director of the science and technology department at the Ministry of Education, confirmed that China has begun supplying Italy, Britain and the Netherlands with coronavirus test kits and said “the country is very willing to enhance cooperation with other countries” in the preventive effort.

Damn I am blood type A

People with blood type A may be more vulnerable to coronavirus.
Research in Wuhan and Shenzhen indicates patients with the blood group had higher rate of infection and tended to get more severe symptoms.
https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/3075567/people-blood-type-may-be-more-vulnerable-coronavirus-china-study
SCMP 17 Mar, 2020

People with blood type A may be more vulnerable to infection by the new coronavirus, while those with type O seem more resistant, according to a preliminary study of patients in China who contracted the disease known as COVID-19.
Medical researchers in China took blood group patterns of more than 2,000 patients infected with the virus in Wuhan and Shenzhen and compared them to local healthy populations. They found that blood type A patients showed a higher rate of infection and they tended to develop more severe symptoms.

Now this is bad news

Bangkok closes bars, schools amid surge in cases and public rumors of a lockdown. Kick boxing stadiums, cinemas and bars in Bangkok and its surrounding areas will be closed for 14 days from Wednesday.

But obviously worse is this ticking time bomb.
Hubei’s migrant workers ‘living in fear’ as debts mount under lockdown. Sweeping coronavirus containment measures, including transport restrictions, have trapped nearly 60 million people in Hubei province. Among them are scores of rural migrant workers who are struggling to pay debts because they have been unable to return to their jobs.
My take is, that is not only a problem for Hubei migrant workers…

Why overseas Chinese return to China

(SCMP 18 March 2020, edited)
Chinese overseas head home to safe haven under Beijing’s tough quarantine regime. Some Chinese abroad feel comfort of close family, health care, masks, social control, quarantines and government surveillance is best combination to beat pandemic.

Some became very alarmed still seeing crowds of people abroad going to sports and other events, not taking any precautions. They also cannot understand why foreigners don’t use masks.
While China’s initial cover-up of the epidemic led to widespread discontent, many Chinese have given credit to the authorities for successfully slowing the transmission of the virus since drastic quarantine measures were put in place at the end of January.

Beijing has enforced mass quarantines with a powerful propaganda apparatus, surveillance technology and a large network of community watchers.
As health experts in Europe and America have struggled to convince everyone to stay at home and practice social distancing, many Chinese said the draconian measures in their country have made them feel safer.

Many of them are debating if they should “escape” back home, to a place perceived by some as a safe haven in a global crisis.
The tipping point for many overseas Chinese was a loss of trust in the health care systems of their countries of residence.
“If something happens to me, I would rather be in China,” Liu said, citing the scarcity of testing kits in the US. “The health care services [in China] are better. The medical system has already handled tens of thousands of cases.”
Despite the mandatory quarantine at home, many overseas Chinese, especially students, said they were desperate to return because of school closures, a desire to be with close family and a greater trust in China’s epidemic control mechanism.

Visit to the bank

This morning went to the bank. It took some 20 minutes to pass security and to fill out Chinese list of questions, Twice we had to do this scan QR stuff. Worse, need to do it every day. Impossible for someone who is not fluent in Chinese. Once in the bank another scan.

So this is inside the bank. Must be incredible for Americans (and other Westerners) to see a meeting with masks INSIDE the bank. And the scan stuff.

A stark warning to USA (and other countries)

Coronavirus: Unconfirmed cases may be behind rapid spread in China, researchers say.
(SCMP 17 March 2020)
Study estimates that 86% of infections went undiagnosed in the two weeks before Wuhan was locked down on January 23. Those people, who probably didn’t have severe symptoms, thought to have infected 79% of documented cases.
A joint study by experts in China, the US, Britain and Hong Kong found that undocumented infections of the new coronavirus, likely those without severe symptoms, were largely responsible for its spread across China in January.
The modelling research was published in Science magazine – run by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Couldn’t express it better!

In other words, tests kits must be used from the very start on anybody who is not feeling well or has suspicious symptoms or has met infected people.
Much unlike in USA and other countries.