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Wednesday, October 14, 2020
The Real Reason Western Media Lies about China
Tuesday, October 13, 2020
Study finds COVID-19 coronavirus can survive 28 days on some surfaces
It’s extremely robust on banknotes, glass, steel, plastic and mobile phones
These results highlight the need to wash hands as well as touchscreens regularly
The scientists found that at 68 degrees Fahrenheit, SARS-CoV-2 was "extremely robust" on smooth surfaces — like cell phone and other touch screens — surviving for 28 days on glass, steel and plastic banknotes.
At 86 degrees Fahrenheit, the survival rate dropped to seven days and plunged to just 24 hours at 104 degrees Fahrenheit.
The virus survived for shorter periods on porous surfaces such as cotton — up to 14 days at the lowest temperatures and less than 16 hours at the highest — the researchers said.
This was "significantly longer" than previous studies which found the disease could survive for up to four days on non-porous surfaces, according to the paper published in the peer-reviewed Virology Journal.
Trevor Drew, director of the Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness, said the study involved drying samples of the virus on different materials before testing them, using an "extremely sensitive" method that found traces of live virus able to infect cell cultures.
"This doesn't mean to say that that amount of virus would be capable of infecting someone," he told public broadcaster ABC.
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He added that if a person was "careless with these materials and touched them and then licked your hands or touched your eyes or your nose, you might well get infected upwards of two weeks after they had been contaminated."
Critical for "risk mitigation"
Drew said there were several caveats including that the study was conducted with fixed levels of virus that likely represented the peak of a typical infection, and there was an absence of exposure to ultraviolet light, which can rapidly degrade the virus.
Humidity was kept steady at 50 percent, the study said, as increases in humidity have also been found as detrimental to the virus.
According to the CSIRO, the virus appears to primarily spread through the air but more research was needed to provide further insights into the transmission of the virus via surfaces.
"While the precise role of surface transmission, the degree of surface contact and the amount of virus required for infection is yet to be determined, establishing how long this virus remains viable on surfaces is critical for developing risk mitigation strategies in high contact areas," CSIRO's Debbie Eagles said.
The main message remains that "infectious people are far, far more infectious than surfaces", Drew told the ABC.
"But nevertheless, it may help to explain why even when we got rid of the infectious people, we do occasionally get these breakouts again, sometimes even in a country which is considered to be free," he said.
Saturday, October 10, 2020
China joins WHO-backed vaccine programme Covax rejected by Trump
China officially joins COVAX vaccine facility_英语频道_央视网 ...
Oct.08 -- China has signed on to the World Health Organization’s Covax program, the $18 billion initiative to deploy covid-19 vaccines to the world. Bloomberg’s John Liu reports on “Bloomberg Daybreak: Asia.”
Joining the fight: Hua said China will also strengthen vaccine cooperation with relevant countries through the Covax network.
This is an important step China has taken to uphold the concept of a shared community of health for all and to honour its commitment of turning Covid-19 vaccines into a global public good, Hua said in a statement released on the Foreign Ministry’s website yesterday.
Currently, the Covid-19 pandemic still poses a severe threat to the safety and health of people in all countries.
China continues to focus on ensuring that developing countries have equal access to appropriate, safe and effective vaccines.
“To that end, we have solemnly pledged to make vaccines developed and deployed by China a global public good, which will be provided to developing countries as a priority,” Hua said.
China has maintained close communication with Covax with a positive attitude towards joining it, Hua said, noting that even when China is leading the world with several vaccines in advanced stages of R&D and with ample production capacity, it still decided to join Covax.
“We are taking this concrete step to ensure equitable distribution of vaccines, especially to developing countries, and hope more capable countries will also join and support Covax,” said the spokesperson.
“China will also strengthen vaccine cooperation with relevant countries through the Covax network.”
The country will continue to work together with Covax partners and contribute its share to the global fight against the pandemic to safeguard all human beings’ safety and health, Hua said. — Xinhua
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It's sad to see US politics in such a bloody state
Sour grapes on display in Pew survey results on China
In the face of China's eye-catching economic figures, Western society has developed a strong sour-grape mentality, hoping to discredit China by all means. Only China's sufferings make some Westerners feel relieved. However, such self-deception is tantamount to drinking poison to quench one's thirst. The West's unfavorable views of China will not hurt the country's development, while hostility toward China will not help the West get the pandemic under control, either.
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