I am sure readers are following the news on this event. Perhaps many of our non Australian resident readers are aware of the advances made for a vaccine here in Australia.
Our headline image comes from our Mongolian partners and trust the Mongolians to find a glimmer of humour in the situation – title – Mongolian Wrestling Competitions this Lunar New year.
Whilst the Chinese did ‘eventually’ release the genetic code what was really needed was a virus sample and at the time they did not send one to WHO.
Quote from article in the AGE.
China has been largely praised for a swift and effective response to the outbreak, although questions have been raised about the police suppression of what were early on considered mere rumours – a reflection of the one-party Communist state’s determination to maintain a monopoly on information in spite of smart phones and social media.
That stands in stark contrast to the initial response to SARS, when medical reports were hidden as state secrets. The delayed response was blamed for allowing the disease to spread worldwide, killing around 800 people. – end quote Read full article here.
And for some current balance, from another AGE article – good effort!!!
Quote – A mask factory in Shanghai has gone into overdrive despite the holiday. “We are now working 24 hours, two shifts a day, 12 hours shift,” said Liao Huolin, president of the mask company. “We violated labor law,” Liao said, “but the workers understand.” – unquote
And a quote from some of Chinese business partners – yes, but no-one trusts our Govt, why were there 1000’s trying to get into Hong Kong (after condemning the HK people a few moths ago) and why are there so many Chinese driving into Nth Thailand before the border closed?
Here in Melbourne a lab was able to duplicate the virus from a sample taken from an early local infection – sample has been sent to WHO. The specialist bio facility in Geelong (we only learnt about this place ourselves last night) is now moving ahead on finding a vaccine. Assuming all goes smoothly we should see a turn around soon. So keep formulating your travel plans and get a flu shot!
Can wearing a face mask help you. Read about this topic here.