Coronavirus 2019-2020 thread (no unsubstantiated rumours!)

KYli

Brigadier
Vietnam doesn't want to use Chinese vaccines. It didn't place an order of Chinese vaccines or accept donation from China until recently. After Vietnam accepted 500,000 Sinopharm from China, it didn't fulfill its promise to prioritize vaccinating Chinese living in Vietnam, residents that near border, workers that work in factories near border.

Vietnam did place an order of 5 million doses of Sinopharm after a recent flare up but it is for stopgap. In fact, vietnam is looking for 40 millions doses of Sputnik V which everyone knows won't be available any time soon. Vietnam also asked Modi to transfer technology know how for manufacturing the AstraZeneca. In addition, Vietnam asked foreign companies that have factories in Vietnam to procure vaccines for their workers.

Basically, it is wishful thinking that China should prioritize Vietnam. You can only help those who want to be helped.
 

SteelBird

Colonel
It's interesting how Asian countries that got praised for their initial COVID-19 response and now dealing with larger numbers of cases are showing how they really can't handle an outbreak. It's not like they had no cases in the beginning. It's two totally different things going on. They're showing the deer-in-the-headlights response that Western countries faced first. They were probably acting much in the same way as before. I wonder if they can actually find out the reason how they seemed to escape it initially but failed later. Was it just luck? Another thing the West isn't saying out loud but are probably panicking about is how they're bashing Chinese vaccines yet countries around the world are still choosing Chinese vaccines. It shows how much influence the West has lost because that is the whole point why the West is doing it.
Please allow me to take the cases of Vietnam and Cambodia to response to your post. The two SEA nations enjoyed almost Covid-19 free for about a year or more and were so proud of themselves ("ourselves" on my perspective). Cambodia started sinking into deep water when the pandemic broke out in Samut Sakhorn province in Thailand and thousands of Cambodian migrant workers fled back home amid fears. This brought large amount of virus into Cambodia because some fled quarantine at borders. We call it the "Feb 20" community infection event. Vietnam is sinking deep only recently and has not peak yet. Yesterday's figure stood at 2383, a day before it was 1953. In the past infection events, Vietnamese authority could contain the virus within 10 to 30 days. But this time its authority said that the situation is much more complicated. There is only one reason -- the Delta variant. I'm not here to blame India but its failure to contain the virus has given chances to the virus to mutate into more and more dangerous variants. We have found about 22 cases of Delta variant in Cambodia and quarantine them immediately. Our ministry of health warned that the health system could collapse due to 900+ daily case and told the people to be careful not to let the Delta variant break into our community or we may become a mini India. I am worried it's a matter of time.
 

weig2000

Captain
This AP report's title is strictly lying.

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They should just use the first paragraph in some form, which is truer. That is, it's still a deal with a China-based distributor, not side-stepping China. Taiwan still has to go though Fosun, after wasting months.

Taiwanese tech giants Foxconn and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company announced Monday they will each donate five million coronavirus vaccine doses to the government in a deal with a China-based distributor.

It pretends to be objective, but actually contributes to the misinformation.

As Taipei and Beijing accused each other of hampering vaccine deals, Foxconn and TSMC stepped in with a face-saving solution – buying the Pfizer-BioNTech doses from a Chinese distributor and donating them to Taiwan.
 

Tam

Brigadier
Registered Member
This AP report's title is strictly lying.

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

They should just use the first paragraph in some form, which is truer. That is, it's still a deal with a China-based distributor, not side-stepping China. Taiwan still has to go though Fosun, after wasting months.



It pretends to be objective, but actually contributes to the misinformation.


They should go and say outright that said distributor is Fosun.
 

Hendrik_2000

Lieutenant General
Remember couple days ago Bloomberg come up with resilience ranking. Now Chinese spoke person Zhou Lijian laugh at it

Zhao Lijian: Over the past few days, several of my colleagues and friends have asked me whether the Bloomberg report was misprinted. They also asked how the authoritative Bloomberg could have produced such a childish stunt. I see reports saying that in this so-called "Covid Resilience Ranking", in order to put the US at the top, Bloomberg even didn't scruple to remove such indicators as the number of confirmed cases and death toll, the most crucial factors in previous ranking. It also considered lockdown and entry and exit quarantine management policy as negative factors, which shows no respect for facts, science or life. As we Chinese often say, people have their own judgment and are sharp-eyed. The so-called ranking makes black look white, and white look black, and perhaps it will call what is dead alive. They will only be shrugged off by people around the world and offer something to giggle about.

 

AndrewS

Brigadier
Registered Member
Vietnam doesn't want to use Chinese vaccines. It didn't place an order of Chinese vaccines or accept donation from China until recently. After Vietnam accepted 500,000 Sinopharm from China, it didn't fulfill its promise to prioritize vaccinating Chinese living in Vietnam, residents that near border, workers that work in factories near border.

Vietnam did place an order of 5 million doses of Sinopharm after a recent flare up but it is for stopgap. In fact, vietnam is looking for 40 millions doses of Sputnik V which everyone knows won't be available any time soon. Vietnam also asked Modi to transfer technology know how for manufacturing the AstraZeneca. In addition, Vietnam asked foreign companies that have factories in Vietnam to procure vaccines for their workers.

Basically, it is wishful thinking that China should prioritize Vietnam. You can only help those who want to be helped.

It all depends on how bad it gets in Vietnam.

At the current rate, I think they will start seeing hospitals overflowing.
 

plawolf

Lieutenant General
The Western media is highly misleading (or ignorant) by citing surges in infection or efficacy rate against infection. So long as infection does not lead to hospitalization or death, then the vaccine works. We only care if people are dying, or hospital beds or ICUs are overflowing.... the infection/cases can never go to zero unless everyone gets to herd immunity (highly improbable), so the reality is if people aren't hospitalized or dying, then the vaccine works.

If I recall, even against the Delta variant, most vaccines are highly efficacious against hospitalization and death, even if it's efficacy against infection is waning.

Example: Pfizer is "only" 63% efficacy against Delta infection, but is +93% efficacy against Delta-hospitalization. Same for all vaccines in general too, even Chinese vaccines. Very high protection against hospitalization/death.
Aside from the risk of developing vaccine resistant variants, another massive unknown is the effects of long covid on survivors.

Current studies shows worrying signs of permanent health damage which could potentially have serious long term negative impacts both on the quality of life of the individuals affected, but also massively ongoing healthcare costs for countries and economies to support the vast numbers of long covid hobbled population.
 

getready

Senior Member
I have read report of long covid on some patients. It seem to affect previously normal people, with disease like chronic fatigue, pain and diabetes. I think more studies need to be done long term but it does sound worrying. Not sure what is the percentage though, see, like it's still pretty tiny now
 

getready

Senior Member
Please allow me to take the cases of Vietnam and Cambodia to response to your post. The two SEA nations enjoyed almost Covid-19 free for about a year or more and were so proud of themselves ("ourselves" on my perspective). Cambodia started sinking into deep water when the pandemic broke out in Samut Sakhorn province in Thailand and thousands of Cambodian migrant workers fled back home amid fears. This brought large amount of virus into Cambodia because some fled quarantine at borders. We call it the "Feb 20" community infection event. Vietnam is sinking deep only recently and has not peak yet. Yesterday's figure stood at 2383, a day before it was 1953. In the past infection events, Vietnamese authority could contain the virus within 10 to 30 days. But this time its authority said that the situation is much more complicated. There is only one reason -- the Delta variant. I'm not here to blame India but its failure to contain the virus has given chances to the virus to mutate into more and more dangerous variants. We have found about 22 cases of Delta variant in Cambodia and quarantine them immediately. Our ministry of health warned that the health system could collapse due to 900+ daily case and told the people to be careful not to let the Delta variant break into our community or we may become a mini India. I am worried it's a matter of time.
Good explanation , it's seem like most of these cases of SEA countries getting hit hard now after initial success can be attributed to complacency, highly transmissable delta, and lack of vaccines or low vaccination.

Australia right now is facing all these, while not as bad as other countries, it's not good if you compare it to just last month
 
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