Friday, July 2, 2021

CCP's century-long war against all religions and movements

News (1)

Replacing God: The CCP's Century-Long War against Faith

Reporters : Eva Fu and Frank Fang / Publisher : The Epoch Times PREMIUM / Screenshots from videos uploaded by ChinaAid show the destruction of Golden Lampstand Church in the city of Linfen in China’s Shanxi province on Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2018. (ChinaAid)


Priests and nuns were forced to kneel down in front of a large bonfire, watching helplessly as the flames devoured their sacred instruments and burned their skin.

In another Chinese city, students wearing red armbands hit Catholics with sharp wooden sticks, throwing one priest into a fire pit after he collapsed in pain. They beat one nun to death after she refused to stomp on a statue of the Virgin Mary.

One Catholic priest was buried alive in Beijing after declining to give up his faith.

Unsettling as they might be, these acts of brutality documented by Hong Kong-based missionary Sergio Ticozzi were hardly out of the norm for faithful Chinese during the frenzy of the decade-long Cultural Revolution from 1966, when all forms of religious practices were declared “superstitious” and banned.

Nor was such repression unique to that particular period during the regime’s more than 70 years of ruling China.

News (2)

CCP seeks to exert total control on its members and all Chinese's religions

Belief in a higher power is anathema to the atheist Chinese Communist Party (CCP) that for 100 years has sought to command absolute loyalty and control over its members and the Chinese people.

“They just cannot handle an allegiance other than to the state,” Sam Brownback, former U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom, told The Epoch Times.

Marking the Party’s centennial, the heads of six state-level religious associations met in June and extolled the CCP leadership. Expressing resolve to “always follow the Party,” they pledged to begin an education campaign to deepen “love for the Party” among their religious circles.

Pastor Bob Fu, the founder of Christian human rights group China Aid, described the CCP as the “world’s largest extreme atheistic Party.”

“[The] CCP has committed the worst religious persecution and crimes against humanity,” Fu told The Epoch Times.

In the words of Sam Brownback, the CCP is “at war with faith”—be it Christians, Tibetan Buddhists, Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in Xinjiang, or the Falun Gong meditation discipline.

“It’s a war they will not win,” Brownback said.

News (3)

Chinese Communism has no tolerance with religions

One year after the CCP took power in 1949, Chinese troops marched into Tibet and forced upon the Tibetans a 17-point agreement to legitimize the CCP’s rule. Yet despite rosy promises of Tibetan autonomy on paper, Beijing turned the region into a surveillance state and installed labor camps.

The Dalai Lama, the region’s spiritual leader, went into exile in India in 1959 after the regime brutally crushed an uprising, killing tens of thousands of Tibetans. In the 20 years following, about 1.2 million Tibetans have died under the regime’s repressive policies, according to estimates by the Tibetan government-in-exile. More than 150 have resorted to setting themselves on fire in a desperate act of defiance.

Police routinely monitor private correspondence, search homes, and examine phone records in search of forbidden content such as “reactionary music” from India, according to the latest U.S. State Department report. Provincial officials also banned students from participating in religious activities during school holidays. The report cited 273 Tibetans being “detained in violation of international human rights standards as of late 2019.”

A Tibetan herder named Lhamo, a 36-year-old mother of three, was detained in June 2020 for sending money to her family in India. The family members who saw her two months later found her “badly bruised and unable to speak,” according to advocacy group Human Rights Watch. She died days later at a local hospital and was immediately cremated.

With the current Tibetan spiritual leader in his 86th year, Beijing has made clear it wants a hand in selecting his successor. In a white paper issued in May, China’s State Council said it had identified and approved “92 reincarnated Living Buddhas”—indicating its intent to choose the next Dalai Lama when the current one passes away.

“The CCP practices a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to religious believers,” Lobsang Tseten, executive director of U.S.-based Tibetan activist group Students for a Free Tibet, told The Epoch Times. He added that the “CCP’s arbitrary rule in Tibet is a direct threat to every aspect of the life of a Tibetan.”

News (4)

CCP keeps clamping down on Christian churches

The CCP’s suppression of Catholic and Protestant churches has also intensified under current leader Xi Jinping’s watch.

Chinese authorities have removed thousands of crosses from churches, arrested pastors, ordered the removal of Christian images, and aggressively pursued a “sinicization” policy by establishing “patriotic churches,” in which pictures of Jesus Chris and the Virgin Mary are replaced with portraits of Xi or Mao.

News (5)

CCP is reinterpreting and retranslating the Bible

The Chinese regime is also reinterpreting and retranslating the Bible to promote “Chinese-style Christianity,” with one Chinese ethics textbook twisting a story from the Bible to have Jesus stone a woman to death while claiming himself a sinner.

News (6)

Chinese Christians fined for celebrating Christmas

In 2017, at least four cities and one province restricted Christmas celebrations, banning displays of Christmas decorations, themed performances, and promotional activities. Communist officials in one university banned activities related to Western religious holidays in the name of helping the younger generation “build cultural confidence.” One Christian this January received a hefty fine of 160,000 yuan ($24,733) for celebrating the holiday.

News (7)

Underground churches regarded as illegal businesses in CCP China

Underground churches have proliferated as a result of the regime’s oppression. In response, Chinese officials have detained church members and handed lengthy prison sentences to pastors.

Wang Yi, a pastor in central China’s Chengdu who founded one of the country’s largest unregistered Christian churches, was sentenced to nine years in prison in December 2019 for “illegal business operations” and “inciting to subvert state power,” a charge the regime frequently uses to silence dissidents.

As a result, successive Party leaders have launched campaign after campaign to crush and control people of faith in China.

News (8)

CCP sanctions all religions

Mao Zedong, the first CCP leader, who oversaw one of the most thorough campaigns to dismantle Chinese religious life, compared religion to “poison” in a conversation with Tibet’s exiled leader, the Dalai Lama. In his autobiography, the Dalai Lama recalls Mao telling him in 1954 that religion “undermines the race” and “retards the progress of the country.”

Former Chinese leader Jiang Zemin in 1993 declared religious freedom to be “unsuitable for Party members” and told Party members to “patiently educate” those with faith to help them “get rid of religious shackles.”

Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, Catholicism, and Christianity—the five religions the regime has officially sanctioned—remain under rigid state control, with Party officials setting the terms on how they operate.

Chinese officials for religious affairs have stressed the need to “guide religion with socialist values” and for devotees to possess “gratitude toward the Party.”

Under the Party’s rules, members also face possible expulsion for believing in religion or engaging in “superstitious activities.”

News (9)

Secret brainwashing facilities involving torture forcing Christians to give up their faith

In April, Radio Free Asia reported that Beijing was running secret brainwashing facilities, which usually involve torture, in southwestern China’s Sichuan Province to force Christians to give up their faith.

News (10)

Muslims in CCP China under torture: ‘Each Day the Party Is Becoming Bolder

In the far west region of Xinjiang, over 1 million Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities are currently being held in Chinese internment camps—which the regime calls “vocational training centers” ostensibly used for “curbing extremism”—where they face forced labor, torture, sexual abuse, political indoctrination, forced abortion, and forced sterilization.

Led by the United States, a growing number of countries, including BelgiumCanada, the Czech Republic, Lithuaniathe Netherlands, and the United Kingdom, have recognized the suppression campaign as a form of genocide.

“The genocide of the Uyghurs is ongoing still, and each day the Party is becoming bolder,” Rushan Abbas, executive director of Washington-based nonprofit Campaign for Uyghurs, said in a June 30 statement, one day ahead of the CCP’s centennial celebration. “This is our final wake-up call that the CCP must be stopped if we are to preserve a global system of dignity and order that is respected by all.”

A recent report by two Washington-based organizations—Oxus Society for Central Asian Affairs and Uyghur Human Rights Project—showed that at least 28 countries in the world were “complicit in China’s harassment and intimidation of Uyghurs.” Many of these countries had strong economic ties to China, including those that have signed up to China’s Belt and Road initiative (BRI, also known as One Belt, One Road).

“As China expands its role globally through the BRI, more states will likely become locked into relations of dependence, increasing China’s ability to coerce or co-opt them to assist in targeting diaspora members and exiles,” according to the report.

News (11)

Persecution on Chinese New Age Movement: ‘We Can Make You Disappear’

Nowhere is the CCP’s hatred for religion more evident than in its bloody suppression of practitioners of Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline with slow meditative exercises and moral teachings based on the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance, according to its website.

Out of fear of Falun Gong’s popularity in China, then-leader Jiang on July 20, 1999, launched a brutal persecution against adherents. Top Chinese officials gave secret orders to “destroy them politically, bankrupt them financially, ruin their reputation,” according to a former military colonel who attended the meeting.

Since then, millions of Falun Gong adherents have been held in prisons, labor camps, psychiatric hospitals, and other detention facilities in China. Hundreds of thousands have been tortured in those venues in a bid to force practitioners to give up their belief. An untold number have died under China’s state-sanctioned forced organ harvesting, with their organs cut out to be sold on the transplant market.

The persecution has continued to this day.

Over the first five months of 2021, 599 Falun Gong practitioners are documented to have been sentenced for their faith; one of them, 81 years old, received nine years, according to data from Minghui.org, a U.S.-based website that monitors the persecution of the faith group. More than 15,000 were documented to have experienced harassment or arrests last year.

Lured by handsome bonuses, police and local officials last year began a sweeping “Zero-Out Campaign” going after adherents country-wide, Minghui reported. The adherents were told to sign a statement renouncing their faith or see their pensions, careers, or children’s education imperiled.

“We can make you disappear if we say the word,” one officer from China’s northernmost province Heilongjiang allegedly told an adherent.

Guo Zhenfang, from Chifeng city in Southeastern Inner Mongolia, died in June, one day after his trial. At the hospital, his family found bloodstains on his nose and a wound around his knee cap. His back from the waist down had turned “purple-red,” according to Minghui. Dozens of plain-clothed police officers blocked the family from further examining the body and sent it to the crematorium without their consent.

Lü Songming, a former history teacher at a middle school from southern China’s Hunan Province, spent a total of 14 years in jail. He lost around 20 teeth to beating, forced labor, electrocution, and other forms of torture. When he was released in 2018, he had only six teeth left and was no longer fit to work. He suffered from frequent heart failure, eventually dying in March at the age of 53.

News (12)

CCP is showing ‘a real weakness’ by increasing brutal, inhumane tactics 

Former Ambassador Brownback observed that increasingly in Xi’s China, brutal, inhumane tactics from the Mao era are making a comeback.

But in its rush to assert power over China’s faithful, Brownback said, the regime is “showing a real weakness.”

“They must be feeling the loss of control, and so they are being far more repressive and brutal,” he said.

Beijing’s human rights and religious freedom abuses are costing the regime its global image, while at home, it is hurting its ability to maintain its rule, said Brownback.

“Communism and faith just have great trouble co-existing, and faith will not be subdued, so eventually the communism will fall,” he said.

What remains of the CCP’s 100-year legacy, said Pastor Fu, will be its record as “the single political party through which the largest number of human lives were arbitrarily lost … in the whole of human history.”

News (13)

Evolutionary Biologist: Sudden shift in COVID-19 lab leak narrative "Mysterious"

Reporters : Isabel Van Brugen and Jan Jekeliek / Publisher : The Epoch Times PREMIUM

The sudden shift in narrative over the possibility that COVID-19 could have emerged from a lab in WuhanChina, is mysterious and contingent to “just how corrupt our system has become,” according to evolutionary biologist Bret Weinstein.

Weinstein, biologist and co-host of the DarkHorse Podcast, has since last year explored the possibility that COVID-19 could have emerged from a laboratory. He told Epoch TV’s “American Thought Leaders” program (episode premiering on Sat. July 3) that the fact that the hypothesis is now receiving widespread recognition from the international community is “completely mysterious.”

“My channel was very early on this topic, and it was quite clear to many of us, starting with the tremendous coincidence of this virus having emerged first in Wuhan, where there is a biosafety level four lab studying these very viruses and enhancing them,” said Weinstein. “It was quite clear that there was at least a viable hypothesis that needed to be discussed.

Weinstein, a visiting fellow at the James Madison Program at Princeton University, said that before the narrative surrounding the COVID-19 lab leak theory gained traction, those who did discuss it were stigmatized, demonized and “portrayed as everything from racist to reactionary.”

“All we were doing was following the evidence,” Weinstein continued. “The change in that story was, I have to say, completely mysterious.”

While the theory that the virus was the result of a leak from the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) was labeled a “conspiracy theory” last year, it has recently gained traction as a growing number of scientists and officials have lent credence to the hypothesis.

A January State Department fact sheet raised questions about whether the outbreak could have been the result of a lab accident at WIV. It said the United States has “reason to believe” that several WIV researchers became sick with symptoms consistent with both COVID-19 and common seasonal illnesses in autumn 2019. The department also said the lab had been conducting secret military experiments on animals since at least 2017, and that it has a history of conducting gain-of-function research on viruses. Such research involves modifying viruses to have new or enhanced capabilities.

President Joe Biden on May 26 ordered the intelligence community to produce a report in 90 days on the origins of the virus, saying that intelligence agencies are looking at rival theories, including the possibility of a laboratory accident in China.

Weinstein criticized the explanations provided in recent weeks by “all of those who had gotten the story wrong” after the lab leak theory gained wider recognition.

PolitiFact, for example, on May 24 quietly retracted a September 2020 fact check that labeled a Hong Kong virologist’s claim that COVID-19 originated in a lab as inaccurate and a “debunked conspiracy theory.”

“The claim is inaccurate and ridiculous,” the now-archived fact check previously said. “We rate it Pants on Fire!”

In an updated editor’s note, PolitiFact explained why it removed the label.

“When this fact-check was first published in September 2020, PolitiFact’s sources included researchers who asserted the SARS-CoV-2 virus could not have been manipulated. That assertion is now more widely disputed,” the note said. “For that reason, we are removing this fact-check from our database pending a more thorough review. Currently, we consider the claim to be unsupported by evidence and in dispute.”

Separately, the Washington Post quietly walked back its claims regarding the COVID-19 lab leak theory.

The paper in February 2020 published an article claiming the idea was a “conspiracy theory” that had been “debunked.” The article attacked Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), who called for an investigation into the origins of the CCP virus.

Some reporters have said that they disregarded the lab leak theory because Republicans were largely the ones promoting the idea.

Weinstein described the phenomenon as “a headlong rush, by all of those who had gotten the story wrong to explain themselves—and their explanations made less than no sense.”

He said that certain journalists or media outlets “seemed to center on the fact that because [former President] Donald Trump had been favorable to the idea that this might have emerged from a lab, that that made it not true.”

“Which, of course, is such an illogical conclusion that it’s hard to imagine how anybody who considers himself a journalist could for a moment have been misled,” he continued. “I mean, at worst, if you thought everything that Donald Trump said was a lie—at worst, you would have to take it as no evidence either way.

“But that’s not how people treated it. They treated it almost as if the truth was always the opposite of what he said.”

Other outlets have also corrected or quietly updated stories, including Vox, while Facebook stopped banning posts suggesting the virus was man-made.

Weinstein said that he believes it eventually became “impossible to maintain the public lie that a laboratory version was somehow in conflict with the evidence.”

“And we now know from Dr. Fauci, his emails, that behind the scenes, the top people didn’t believe it either. They were just simply feeding the public a line that they had their own reasons for wanting the public to believe,” he said.

“It is contingent on the several different stories that surround COVID-19, revealing to us just how corrupt our system has become.”

News (14) to (15) / Source : The Phnom Penh Post

News (14)

CCP China's new travel notice to Cambodia takes effect from 11 July 2021

‘China is our main market. Cambodia was planning to start with them first,” a slightly disturbed Thourn Sinan, Cambodia chapter chairman for Pacific Asia Travel Association, said regarding a notice by the Chinese embassy in Cambodia on compulsory quarantine and Covid-19 tests before flying to China. “We are worried about this, especially when the government has been working hard to start vaccinated tourism.”

On June 26, the embassy issued an “urgent notice” requiring travellers to China from Cambodia to quarantine for 14 days, including the flight day, in airline-designated hotels.

They would have to undergo “dual detection” tests – nucleic acid and serum antibody – at the Royal Cambodian Army Hospital and the National Institute of Public Health at their own expense.

Both Chinese citizens and foreigners must then apply for an international health code from the embassy and submit necessary documents prior to departure. The notice takes effect on July 11.

The embassy, on its website, said the compulsory measures were implemented as the number of confirmed novel coronavirus cases “imported from Cambodia remained high” and “many travellers were infected on the way to China”.

It advised people to assess their need to travel, given that the global epidemic is serious and the risk of cross-infection is relatively high.

The Cambodian government in the past has allegedly dismissed the existence of exported cases involving Chinese nationals who tested positive upon return in Guangzhou city, which is one of the main entry points for flights from Cambodia.

A news report by Hong Kong-listed Tencent Holdings Ltd’s QQ web portal, quoting Guangzhou Municipal People’s Government, revealed a chart by Nandu Big Data Research Institute where imported asymptomatic Covid-19 cases from Cambodia was highest at 19.

The figure represented 32 per cent of the total imported cases between May 21 and June 20 this year in Guangzhou.

Cambodia was among 22 countries including Malaysia, Cameroon and Bangladesh identified by the research institute, which has been tracking imported cases since January 30 last year.

The information by the municipal was made public together with detailed measures on prevention and control of imported cases in a media conference on June 21, following a surge in cases in the Guangdong province where Guangzhou is its capital city.

According to QQ’s report, the event was attended by officials from Guangzhou Municipal Health Commission, Guangzhou Border Inspection, two Chinese airlines and the Guangzhou port.

Back in Cambodia, the Chinese embassy said following the tests, which are required two days before departure, “isolation certificates” would be issued to travellers by the respective airlines, and expenses such as food and lodging can be negotiated with the airline. It also listed the contact for some 10 Chinese and Cambodian airlines that served both markets.

Given that Chinese travellers make up the mass of airline passengers and tourist numbers in the Kingdom, the embassy’s decision reverberated through the travel sector.

News (15)

Covid cases continue to rise in China and Cambodia despite Sinovac CoronaVac vaccination

Although vaccination is being rolled out at fever pitch in both China and Cambodia, positive Covid-19 cases continue to rise, particularly with the Delta strain detected in new infections.

The new variant threatens to pushmedical practitioners over the edge, with Health Minister Dr Mam Bunheng declaring the present community transmission as having reached “a red line”.

Going beyond it could result in widespread infection, increased fatalities and further disruption to daily living, while entailing a lockdown to contain the spread.

According to the Health Ministry, the variant has been detected in 22 persons as of June 29, all being import cases from Thailand.

Quarantine period for Delta and Delta Plus, a mutation of the variant, has been extended to 21 days from 14 days with land, sea and air borders tightened along with rapid testing on returning migrant workers.

As of July 1, Cambodia recorded 628 fatalities on the back of 51,384 cases as provinces registered daily spikes in recent weeks amid restrictive movements.

News (16)

Expert: WHO does not have the ability to investigate virus traceability

Reporter : Liu Minghuan / Editor: Deming / https://www.ntdtv.com/gb/2021/07/03/a103157223.html / Direct translation

The World Health Organization is currently formulating the next phase of the CCP virus traceability investigation and hopes that China can cooperate. However, more and more scientists say that the WHO does not have the ability to lead this investigation, so it should not be allowed to conduct the investigation.

The Associated Press reported on July 2 that some experts, including those close to the WHO, said that it is impossible to obtain credible answers to an investigation led by the WHO.

They believe that what is needed now is an extensive independent investigation, similar to the Chernobyl nuclear disaster investigation in Russia in 1986.

The Associated Press quoted Lawrence Gostin, director of the WHO Center for Public Health Law and Human Rights Cooperation at Georgetown University, as saying, "If we rely on the WHO, we will never be able to find the source of the virus."

Gostin said, "For a year and a half, the World Health Organization has been at the mercy of China (the CCP). It is very clear that the World Health Organization cannot find out the truth."

Jamie Metzl, a member of the WHO advisory group, and some of his colleagues put forward a suggestion that the parties concerned should study the feasibility of establishing a new investigation team to be responsible for the investigation by the Group of Seven.

The first phase of the WHO mission requires China’s consent. It not only agrees to the entry of WHO experts, but also agrees to the entire agenda of the investigation, and agrees to the final investigation report proposed by the experts.

Richard Ebright, a molecular biologist at Rutgers University in the United States, calls it "mischief." He said that determining whether the virus came from an animal or leaked from a laboratory is first of all a scientific problem, a problem that is beyond the scope of the WHO's expertise and has political implications.

The first phase of the virus traceability investigation jointly conducted by the WHO and China ended in March this year. The investigation concluded that the CCP virus may have been transmitted to humans through animals, and laboratory leaks are "extremely unlikely."

But recently, the view that the Chinese Communist Party virus may be caused by a laboratory leak has gained more support.

US Secretary of State Blinken said on June 13 that the first WHO investigation was "very flawed."

U.S. President Biden ordered the U.S. intelligence system to produce a study on the source of the virus within 90 days.

Before the WHO released the report, the Wall Street Journal and Reuters respectively quoted WHO investigators as saying that the Chinese Communist Party refused to provide investigators with the original and personal characteristics of the 174 early-stage cases detected in the early stage of the outbreak in Wuhan, China in December 2019.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus also admitted that the investigation team intended to obtain data in China but was blocked, so further investigations are required.

Dr. Mike Ryan, director of WHO's emergency projects, said in June that WHO's work on the next phase of the investigation plan is nearing completion. However, Ryan emphasized that WHO can only use "persuasion" to seek assistance from China and it has no power. Forcing China to cooperate.

There is a view that this is exactly why the WHO-led investigation is doomed to fail.

The last time humans discovered the closest gene to the CCP virus was in 2012. Six workers who worked in an abandoned mine in Tongguan Town, Mojiang, Yunnan, China, suffered from pneumonia after contacting virus-carrying bats. However, the Chinese authorities blocked the mine in 2020, confiscated the virus samples obtained by the scientists, and ordered local people not to talk to reporters about this matter.

A survey conducted by the Associated Press in December found that Beijing imposed various restrictions on research papers on the CCP virus, forcing all relevant papers to be reviewed by a central agency.

On 20 June, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said in an interview with the Fox program "Fox News Sunday" that if China (the Chinese Communist Party) does not cooperate with the coronavirus (Chinese Communist Party virus) further investigation into the origin of the epidemic will face "isolation of the international community".

News (17)

Commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet: This is my duty

Reporter : Jing Zhongming / Editor : Mei Lan

Image : Commander of the US Pacific Fleet (Sam Paparo). (Mazen Mahdi/AFP via Getty Images)

Xi Jinping's July 1 speech claimed to "smash the Taiwan independence plot," and the US officials immediately called for a peaceful resolution of the Taiwan issue. The US Pacific Fleet also posted on Facebook the ones sent to the Taiwan Strait during the Taiwan Strait crisis. Photo of aircraft carrier. According to US media reports, the commander of the fleet also publicly stated recently that it is his duty to prevent the CCP from taking over Taiwan.

The US "Seapower" magazine reported on June 30 that the commander of the US Pacific Fleet, Sam Paparo, said at a military seminar in the United States on the 29th that he was worried that the CCP was an ever-increasing threat, but He is full of confidence in his troops, allies, and combat strategies, and believes that any attempt by the CCP to attack Taiwan by force can be thwarted.

Paparo said that he fully agrees with General Philip Davidson, the former commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, that the CCP may violate Taiwan by force within six years. However, Paparo said that whether it is tomorrow, next year or six years later, the Indo-Pacific Fleet or Indo-Pacific Command has the responsibility to prepare for the threats against the United States.

Paparo emphasized that his duty is to enable the US fleet to defeat the CCP’s ambitions to subvert the world order, including preventing the CCP from military control of Taiwan. He also believes that with the efforts of various parties, he is confident that the CCP can be stopped.

Paparo mentioned that the U.S. Navy's second, third, and fourth fleets are ready and ready to be deployed anywhere in the world where they need it.

On July 1, the Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping made tough remarks at the "Party Celebration" event in Tiananmen Square, claiming that he would "smash the Taiwan independence plot" and confront "foreign forces". The next day, the US Pacific Fleet posted a photo of the USS Independence (CV62) aircraft carrier on Facebook and mentioned the “celebration”. This move was accused of being full of meaning.

In 1996, the CCP conducted military exercises and launched missiles across the Taiwan Strait. The United States deployed the Independence and USS Nimitz aircraft carriers close to the Taiwan Strait. The situation was once critical.

The US State Department spokesperson also stated after Xi Jinping’s "July 1" speech that the United States urges Beijing to stop exerting military, diplomatic, and economic pressure on Taiwan, and will continue to support the peaceful resolution of cross-strait issues, while urging China to engage in meaningful dialogue with Taiwan.

News (18)

U.S. aids Moderna vaccine, Taiwanese senior citizens benefit
Reporters : Zeng Yihao and Zeng Xinmin / https://www.ntdtv.com/b5/2021/07/02/a103156532.html / Direct translation

The 2.5 million doses of the Moderna vaccine given to Taiwan by the United States are administered to eight categories of targets on 1 and 2 July 2021. Taipei started vaccinating elders over 72 years old. The family members who accompanied the vacination at the Minsheng Elementary School said that the order is in good order today and there is no waiting. The General Administration of Highways stated that about 90,000 taxi drivers in Shuangbei, Keelung, and Taoyuan, platform delivery personnel, and truck drivers can start vaccinating today.
Reporter Zeng Xinmin said, "The 2.5 million doses of Moderna vaccine provided by the United States to Taiwan were distributed by the central government to local governments on Thursday for vaccination. Then, on Friday, Taipei City also started to attack the elderly over 72 years old. And aboriginal elders over 55 years old. The reporter’s location is at Minsheng Elementary School, the vaccination site of Chang Gung Memorial Hospital. The accompanying family members also said that today there is no waiting, everything is satisfied, and the order is very good."
The Moderna Vaccination at Chang Gung Memorial Hospital started, and nearly 900 people are vaccinated on Friday, and more than 200 people came to report for more than an hour after the start.
Xie Cantang, Dean of Chang Gung Memorial Hospital: "Almost half of the elderly over the age of 85 require assistance or wheelchairs. Therefore, the flow of this line will be as smooth as this is now 72 to 74 (years old). You can watch it today. Until now, almost everyone can move freely on their own. I think this is the biggest change."
After entering the classroom, fill out the form, and the nursing staff will preach and explain. After the consultation, the doctor will administer the vaccine to the elderly. All the procedures are completed in the same classroom, reducing the flow of personnel and improving the efficiency of vaccination. During the observation and waiting period after the administration, the doctor will also remind the elders of precautions.
Elderly vaccinated, "Originally, I said I was going for AZ vaccination. Suddenly the epidemic was serious. Everyone rushed to be vaccinated and we were not in turn. (How do you feel after the fight?) No response."
Elderly vaccinated, "We came in at 9 o'clock and we immediately came in for a vaccination. We didn't wait long. (None of them were in the sun) No."
The elders vaccinated with Moderna. Not only did they sign up quickly and the booking system was congested, but some counties and cities also reported that the scene was full of people and long queues. On Friday, taxi drivers and platform delivery personnel from Shuangbei, Keelung, and Taoyuan also began to administer the vaccine.
News (19) to (40) / Editor : Ye Ziwei / https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/21/7/2/n13062918.htm / Translation, editing : Gan Yung Chyan, KUCINTA SETIA
News (19)
WHO: The world is in a "very dangerous period"
The Director-General of the World Health Organization, Dr. Tedros, warned that the world is in a "very dangerous period" of a pandemic and that "no country has yet to get out of the predicament."
He said in today's briefing that the Delta variant (Covi72) has been found in at least 98 countries and is "spreading rapidly."
He also said that some vaccines are being shared, but "just a trickle." He also urged vaccine manufacturers to share information.
Tedros said, "With more easily spreading variants, such as Delta, it is rapidly becoming the main strain in many countries, and we are in a very dangerous period of this COVID-19 pandemic."
News (20)
People are not interested, Slovakia returns Russian vaccine
The Ministry of Health of Slovakia stated that Slovakia has sold most of its Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine back to its country of origin.
The Slovak government hesitated for months to use Russian products that lacked European regulatory approvals, and public interest in the vaccine was very low.
Slovakia shipped 160,000 of the 200,000 doses of vaccine received in March to Russia at the same price as the original purchase.
Slovak health authorities approved the vaccine last month, but the acceptance rate is very low.
For then Prime Minister Igor Matovic, the vaccine deal was a disastrous defeat, he bought them without telling his alliance partners.
Matovic later resigned, but returned to the reorganized cabinet as Minister of Finance.
News (21)
Number of infections in South Africa hits a record high
South Africa has set a new record of daily new cases of Covid-19 despite tightening restrictions again.
The latest data shows that the number of new infections on Friday was 24,270, higher than the record of 21,980 set in January. More than 2 million people in South Africa are now infected with the CCP virus.
According to official data, South Africa is the worst-hit country in Africa.
Another 303 people died on Friday, bringing the total death toll to 61,332.
News (22)
Want to go to Canada? Listen to what the border authority has to say
The Canadian border agency is issuing notices to those who intend to travel: If you are not eligible to enter Canada now, you will not have it next Monday (July 5).
This is a clear message from the Canada Border Services Agency, as it is preparing for the initial relaxation of COVID-19  travel restrictions next week.
After midnight on Sunday, Canadian citizens and permanent residents who have been fully vaccinated will be exempted from quarantine requirements when they enter the country.
However, this exemption only applies to those eligible travelers, that is, they have been vaccinated with one of the four vaccines approved for use in Canada and have been 14 days old.
It also requires passengers to use the ArriveCAN app or online service to record their vaccination details and COVID-19 test results before departure.
Denis Vinette, vice president of the CBSA Passenger Division, said this was very cautious and was the first step in relaxing the restrictions imposed since March 2020.
News (23)
Russia's death toll today breaks record
Russia once again reported a record number of daily Covid deaths-679. This is a slight increase from yesterday's historical high of 672.
Reuters noted that the number of official cases has also increased by 23,218 new infections in the past 24 hours, including 6,893 in Moscow.
News (24)
Indonesia's confirmed cases and deaths both hit new highs
Indonesia today reported 25,830 new infections and 539 deaths, both of which set record highs.
So far, the total number of cases in Indonesia has reached 2,228,938 and 59,534 deaths.
Indonesian Minister of Health, Budi Gunadi Sadikin, said today that teenagers under the age of 18 will be vaccinated with Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
Reuters reported that he said that Java is half of the country's population of more than 270 million people and is the island with the most outbreaks of Covi72 in the country.
News (25)
Intensified outbreak in the UK Covi72 cases increase fourfold in less than one month
New data from the Department of Public Health of the United Kingdom show that in the United Kingdom, the number of Covi72 cases has increased nearly fourfold in less than a month.
PA media reported that Covi72 continues to spread in the UK and currently accounts for about 95% of confirmed cases in the UK.
On 9 June, the number of confirmed and probable cases of  Covi72 was 42,323; as of 30 June, the latest number of cases was 161,981, almost four times that.
Professor Lawrence Young, a virologist at the University of Warwick, said: "These data must be considered when deciding to open on July 19."
"We may have weakened the link between infection, hospitalization and death, but the significant increase in Delta variant infections raises serious concerns."
"As the virus continues to spread among people who have not been vaccinated or have only received a single injection, this will cause more diseases, including increasing long covid."
"We have seen some people who have been fully vaccinated become infected, and some of them are sick."
"There is another concern-as the virus spreads, it will continue to produce new variants, thereby increasing the risk of the emergence of variants that are more resistant to vaccines."
News (26)
Cases in most local authorities in England are rising week by week
Data from Public Health England (PA) shows that most local authorities in England have seen an increase in covid cases. Among them, Hyndburn in Lancashire has the most cases.
According to the data, in the seven days ending on 28 June, 308 of the 315 local authorities in England had a weekly increase in cases. Henderburn has the highest incidence rate, 614.5 cases per 100,000 people; Newcastle on Tyne (Tyne) has the second highest incidence rate, 574.3 cases per 100,000 people; the third highest is Star Tamworth in Staffordshire has 554.1 cases per 100,000 people.
The biggest weekly increases were Tamworth, Oxford, South Tyneside, Gateshead and Newcastle upon Tyne.
News (27)
Latest outbreak figures in Spain
With the spread of Covi72, the number of covid cases in Spain climbed on 2 July, with 12,563 new infections and 28 new deaths.
This marks an increase in these figures compared to the previous day. Yesterday, there were 12,345 new infections and 8 deaths in the country.
Reuters reported that data from the Ministry of Health showed that this week’s single-day increase reached the highest level since mid-April.
The infection rate measured in the past two weeks has also risen to 153 infections per 100,000 people (the number yesterday was 134).
News (28)
Latest epidemic figures in Italy
Italy on 2 July reported 794 new cases of covid and 28 new covid deaths.
These figures show that compared with the previous day, the number of cases is decreasing, while the number of deaths is increasing. Yesterday the similar figures were 882 and 21 respectively.
News (29)
First case of Covi72 confirmed in Bosnia
According to reports, Bosnia on 2 July confirmed that a pilgrim from Spain was infected with the Delta variant. This is the first case of Covi72 found in the country.
According to Reuters, the infected person had visited Medjugorje, a Catholic pilgrimage site in southern Herzegovina.
There are no official data on the vaccinations of Bosnians. However, it is understood that this number is small because the government has failed to purchase vaccines.
So far, there are a total of 205,047 covid cases in the country, and 9,667 people have died.
News (30)
Europe approves Johnson & Johnson to expand its Dutch factory
Image : This photo shows the Janssen manufacturing plant in Leiden, the Netherlands. (Taken on March 10, 2021) The Netherlands has ordered more than 11 million doses of Leiden vaccine. (SEM VAN DER WAL/ANP/AFP via Getty Images)

European drug regulators have approved the expansion of Johnson & Johnson's plant in Leiden, the Netherlands. The factory produces pharmaceutical substances for its covi vaccine.
News (31)
27,125 new people tested positive in the UK today, cases increased by 74% last week
According to figures from the British government, an additional 27,125 people have tested positive for covid today. In the past week, cases have increased by 74%, and 157,675 people confirmed positive test results.
In addition, 27 new people died of the disease today; 304 people were hospitalized with the disease. Last week, 123 people died, an increase of 11.8% from the previous week.
As of yesterday, 45,013,503 people received one dose of vaccine and 33,241,265 people received two doses.
News (32)
Covi72 accounts for one-third of cases in France
The Minister of Health of France stated today that Covi72 has accounted for about one-third of Covid-19 cases in France.
Health Minister Olivier Véran stated that “it is indeed possible that there will be another outbreak in France this summer” and urged as many people as possible to be vaccinated.
News (33)
Covi72 spreads rapidly in Italy
The Italian National Institute of Health said today that the Delta variant is spreading rapidly in Italy.
Reuters reported that data from the Italian National Institute of Health showed that the Delta variant accounted for 22.7% of the cases on June 22; in the previous survey, using the data on 18 May, Covi72 accounted for only 1%.
News (34)
Cambodia's covid death toll on Friday breaks record
Cambodia reported 32 deaths from the CCP virus on Friday, which is the highest single-day death toll on record. Cambodian authorities warned that this was caused by a new wave of infection risks caused by Covi72.
Cambodia is one of the countries with the lowest number of confirmed cases of infection in the world, but the outbreak at the end of February has pushed the total number of cases to 52,350, with 660 deaths.
Reuters reported that in a speech on 1 July 2021, Prime Minister Hun Sen warned of the risks of another wave.
Hun Sen said, “If action is not taken in time, a third wave of epidemics may occur, because now the Delta variant has caused a new outbreak, not only in Cambodia, but also worldwide.”
Hun Sen said that patients infected with Covi72 will receive separate treatment and be isolated for 21 days after recovery.
News (35)
Residents of Nanchang, Jiangxi Province now infected with the virus are required to undergo two rounds of nucleic acid testing
Recently, a person infected with the Chinese Communist Party virus (Wuhan pneumonia) appeared in Qingshan Lake District, Nanchang City, Jiangxi Province. The patient had been quarantined for 21 days, but the nucleic acid test was negative. Residents around Qingshan Lake District in Nanchang City were required to undergo two rounds of nucleic acid testing. There is a video that medical staff wearing protective clothing appeared on the streets of the local area.
On 2 July, the Health Commission of Nanchang City, Jiangxi Province of the Communist Party of China issued a notice stating that on 2 July 021, there is a new case of asymptomatic infection of the CCP virus in Jiangxi Province, and close contacts were under observation.
On 2 July, the CCP’s Nanchang Qingshan Lake District Epidemic Prevention and Control Guidance issued a nucleic acid test reminder that the following eight places have been visited from June 28 to 30, and people will go to the temporary nucleic acid test site of Wenjiao Road Primary School, Chadaokou East Road, for nucleic acid testing and detection.
The 8 locations include Shanghai Lu Caichang Poyang Lake Wild Fish Farm House Pork Store; Qingshan Lake District Zhandong Street Jinxin Community Lvjiayuan Fresh Food Delivery Store; Qingshan Lake District Zhandong Street Jinxin Community Authentic Seafood Wonton Store; Raw and Cooked Five Grains Grocery Mill Shop; Jiefang West Road Mingyue Glasses Shop; Beijing West Road Qiaotou Fruit Stall; Shunwai Farmers Market Fruit Stall Chadaokou East Road Shop; Chengnan Avenue Changsheng Pharmacy.
On 1 July, the Epidemic Prevention and Control Headquarters of Qingshan Lake District, Nanchang City, Jiangxi Province issued a notice stating that the patient was a 45-year-old Nanchang native Wei Moumou who had worked as a chef in Cambodia.
Wei took a plane from Cambodia to Zhengzhou on 2 June and was quarantined for 14 days in Zhengzhou. During the period, 5 nucleic acid and serum antibody tests were negative. On 16 June , he returned to Nanchang and was quarantined for 7 days in Qingshan Lake District. During this period, two nucleic acid tests were negative. On 23 June, Wei transferred to home health monitoring for 7 days. On 30 June, the nucleic acid test was suspected to be positive. After that, he was checked positive by the Municipal Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
The headquarters also issued another notice on 1 July, requiring residents around the original factory building of the watch accessories factory at No. 54 Shida South Road, Jinxin Community, Zhandong Street, Qingshan Lake District, to conduct nucleic acid testing.
The notice requires the first round of nucleic acid testing from the evening of 1 July, and the second round of nucleic acid testing from 8.30 am on 3 July. Before the results of the two rounds of nucleic acid testing are announced, personnel are not allowed to move freely, and merchants suspend business.
A video showed that the local store was closed, and medical staff wearing full protective clothing appeared on the street. One of the stores was closed because the patient had come for breakfast. The video also shows that people are queuing for nucleic acid testing.
News (36)
China's vaccine diplomacy has not won the strategic trust of Southeast Asian countries
The effectiveness of CCP Chinese vaccines is being questioned globally. Analysts said that although the CCP is ahead of Europe and the United States in filling vaccine vacancies in Southeast Asian countries, this advantage has not been translated into CCP’s “soft power”, and the CCP’s vaccine diplomacy has not won the strategic trust of Southeast Asian countries. There is more capacity to support the fight against the epidemic in Southeast Asia and other places.
According to a report by the Voice of America, the Indonesian Medical Association recently stated that among the 26 Indonesian doctors who died of the covi infection in June this year, at least 10 had been vaccinated against the Sinovac CoronaVac vaccine, and had received two doses.
Although epidemiologists say that appropriate investigations of these deaths are needed to determine whether factors such as improper hospital care or chronic underlying diseases are the main reason, concerns about the effectiveness of China's vaccines have been further heightened. Some health experts have already considered whether to give medical staff on the frontline an additional dose of "enhancement."
Khairulanwar Zaini, a researcher at the Regional Strategy and Politics Project of the Yusof Issa Southeast Asian Research Institute in Singapore, said in an email to the Voice of America that Indonesia and other Southeast Asian countries are safe for Chinese vaccines. Worries have always existed.
He said: "Before these recent news were released, there were reports that the region was hesitant to CCP Chinese vaccines. Part of the reason was skepticism about the safety of CCP Chinese vaccines. The lack of data integrity (of vaccine clinical trials) and the confusion further deepens the suspicion."
In addition, he said that anti-Chinese (anti-communist) racism still exists in Indonesia. In Vietnam, there are broader geopolitical concerns that rely on the CCP. There are also obvious religious considerations in Malaysia and Indonesia: "Some Muslims worry about whether the vaccine in China is halal, and whether they will be allowed to enter Saudi Arabia for pilgrimage after being vaccinated with CoronaVac or Sinopharm."
Cambodia and Laos are the countries that have received the most vaccine donations from China in the world. Among them, the CCP donated 2.2 million doses of vaccine to Cambodia and 1.9 million doses to Laos. As of 25 June, 3.803 million people in Cambodia have been vaccinated against covid, accounting for 38.3% of the national vaccination target for 10 million people, of which more than 2.8 million people have completed two doses of covi vaccination.
Although Indonesia has ordered 125 million doses of vaccines from China, this accounts for only about one-third of all vaccine sources in Indonesia. Indonesia has ordered more than 250 million doses from AstraZeneca, Novavax and Pfizer-BioNTech.
The same goes for the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, and even Brunei. China's vaccines are an important source, but they are not dominant. The Philippine government and Sinovac signed a contract for the supply of 25 million doses of CoronaVac, second only to Indonesia in number. However, the Philippines has also taken advantage of AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, Moderna, Pfizer-BioNTech, CoviShield, Novavax (SII-Novavax) and Russia’s Sputnik V . The ordered vaccines total 137 million doses.
A poll conducted by the OCTA research team at the beginning of this year showed that only 13% of respondents said they believed in vaccines from CCP China, while 41% preferred vaccines from the United States.
Thailand ordered 18.6 million doses of  CoronaVac and also received a donation of 1 million doses. However, Thailand’s expectations for CCP Chinese vaccines are not high. In Thailand, the people most hope to get the Pfizer and Modena vaccines from the United States. According to Thai social media news, Thai celebrities and wealthy people go abroad to vaccinate Moderna and Pfizer. In March, the Thai opposition party criticized the government for still ordering CCP vaccines even though it knew there were problems with the effectiveness of CCP vaccines.
Zani emphasized that although the CCP has won some goodwill among Southeast Asian countries through vaccine diplomacy, it has not yet won their strategic trust. Southeast Asian countries' efforts to diversify vaccine supply and avoid relying entirely on the CCP are a good example.
News (37)
Former White House official: The virus most likely originated from a leak from the WIV laboratory
General Brett Giroir, a member of the Trump Administration’s Epidemic Task Force, testified before Congress on Tuesday (29 June) that SARS-CoV-2 that caused the plague was "most likely" from An "accidental" leak in the WIV laboratory.
At the hearing of the Special Subcommittee on Epidemic Crisis, Girol told House Republicans: "I assess that the most likely origin of the plague is an accidental infection by laboratory personnel of the Wuhan Institute of Virology, and the infected personnel spread to local residents and then spread. To hundreds of millions of people all over the world."
Girol’s opening remarks contradicted the CCP’s initial statement about the spread of animals to humans in the Wuhan seafood market, which is only a few miles away from the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Girol pointed out that the current evidence shows that "Wuhan seafood market is a place of secondary infection."
"There is now more and more indirect evidence that the virus originated from a laboratory leak." Girol, who was in charge of testing in the Trump White House COVID-19 working group, added, "In the final analysis, I believe that you can't find it in nature. The new bat virus has caused a worldwide plague pandemic, and it is a coincidence that there is a virus laboratory for secret research on dangerous bat viruses a few miles away from the starting point of the plague.

"Sometimes, the most obvious explanation is indeed correct." He said.
Girol is a four-star general who serves on the U.S. Public Health Commission. He also revealed that at the time of the outbreak, there was not a single American member on the board of directors of the World Health Organization.
"When this pandemic first appeared in China and began to spread to the world, the only most qualified country had no members on the WHO Executive Committee." Girol said, "This is because in November 2018, after I was nominated by President Trump as a member of the Executive Committee in October, my nomination was repeatedly blocked by Senator Schumer and his Democratic colleagues. I was not confirmed. Therefore, the United States was not able to speak on the WHO Executive Committee before May 2020."
Girol added that the investigation into the origins of SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 must be conducted by a bipartisan team, because the WHO is already under the control of the Chinese Communist Party, and scientists have conflicts of interest that may affect the integrity of the investigation.
"It is vital for Congress to provide guidance for a comprehensive, transparent, and unbiased investigation. This can help find the most likely source of the virus and investigate whether the National Institutes of Health directly or indirectly funded, or explicitly or acquiesced to, the Wuhan virus experiment. Research on dangerous viruses in the laboratory and what the United States needs to do to minimize the possibility of future plague pandemics and enable the world to quickly contain any suspicious outbreaks of infectious diseases." He concluded.

Taiwan  adds 57 local cases and 15 deaths on 2 July
Taiwan’s Central Epidemic Command Center announced today (July 2) that there were 57 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 (Chinese Communist Party virus) in Taiwan and one imported case; another 15 new deaths were confirmed.

Chen Shizhong, the commander of Taiwan’s Central Epidemic Command Center, said at an epidemic press conference in the afternoon of 2 June that 2 July's 57 new local cases (22 of which were tested positive during home quarantine or expired) were 25 males and 32 females.  The age is between less than 5 years old and more than 90 years old, and the onset date is between 22 June and 1 July.
The distribution of cases is 29 in Taipei, followed by 15 in New Taipei, 4 in Hsinchu County, 3 in Taoyuan and Keelung, 2 in Taichung, and 1 in Hsinchu; 28 of them are known sources of infection, 6 Cases are unclear, 23 cases are under investigation, and related epidemic investigations are ongoing.
Chen Shizhong explained that there were 15 new deaths today, 8 males and 7 females, aged in their 40s to 80s. The onset date was between 25 May and 21 June, and the diagnosis date was between 5 June and 28 June, the dates of death are between 3 and 30 June.
The command center pointed out that the recently confirmed cases were released from quarantine. Among the 13,605 confirmed cases announced from May 11 to June 30, 10,347 people have been released from quarantine, and the number of people who have been released from quarantine has reached 76.1% of the confirmed cases.
The command center stated that there was one new inbound case (Case 14975), a female in her 50s who returned to Taiwan from Hungary on 28 June, with a negative test report within 3 days before the flight, and went to the epidemic prevention hotel after entering the country for quarantine. The application for going out for funerals on 1 July was arranged by the health unit to the hospital for quarantine at their own expense. The diagnosis was confirmed today; the case was asymptomatic while in Taiwan, and the relevant contacts were listed.
The covid epidemic broke out in the Huannan Market in Taipei. Chen Shizhong announced that he would release a mobile newsletter to people who have been to the Huannan Market since 8 June, calling on those with suspected symptoms to immediately go to the community screening station for examination.
Taiwan has so far accumulated 1,411,572 covid-related notifications (including 1,395,446 cases excluded). According to the command center's statistics, 14,911 cases were confirmed, 1,176 cases were imported from abroad, 13,682 cases were local, 36 cases were in the Dunmu fleet, and 2 cases were aircraft infections. , 1 case is unknown and 14 cases are under investigation; another 103 cases have been removed as empty numbers.
A total of 676 covid deaths have been reported since 2020, of which 668 are local. The counties and cities of residence are 343 in New Taipei, 256 in Taipei, 21 in Keelung, 20 in Taoyuan, 11 in Changhua County, and Hsinchu. There were 5 cases in the county, 4 cases in Taichung, 2 cases each in Yilan and Hualien, and 1 case each in Miaoli, Taitung, Yunlin and Kaohsiung; the other 8 cases were imported from abroad. 
News (39)
Johnson & Johnson vaccine can fight Covi72
Johnson & Johnson said late Thursday that in two studies, the single-dose vaccine from Johnson & Johnson showed positive signs of preventing the Delta variant (Covi72).
The company said that subjects vaccinated by Johnson & Johnson can produce sufficient neutralizing antibodies against all variant viruses, including Delta and over time, the immune response will further increase.
Johnson & Johnson predicts that even in the face of new variants, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is still 85% effective, and the effectiveness can be maintained for at least 8 months. There should be no need for supplemental boosters within one year.
Other vaccine manufacturers, including Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca, have previously stated that their vaccines are effective against the Delta virus.
The findings announced by Johnson & Johnson are based on two studies. The first is to analyze the blood samples of 8 participants in the later clinical trials after being vaccinated by Johnson & Johnson to understand the effect of neutralizing antibodies in the blood on Covi72; the second is to analyze 20 initial experiments. The duration of the participant’s immune response.
Previously, health agencies around the world have been paying close attention to the effect of Johnson & Johnson's vaccine on the Delta variant. According to the World Health Organization, the Delta variant, which was first discovered in India, is becoming a major global virus strain.
The Delta variant virus also prompted the UK to postpone the reopening time for a full month.
Johnson & Johnson has submitted research data to the bioRxiv website for peer review.
News (40)
Research: A large number of pets have been infected with COVID-19 by their owners
A Dutch study showed that if you think you are infected with COVID-19, it is best to stay away from your pet. The study found that a large number of cats and dogs may be infected by their owners.
Dr. Els Broens from Utrecht University in the Netherlands said: "About one in five pets will get this disease from their owner, although there is no such disease spread from pets yet to the known case of humans."
"Fortunately, animals do not suffer from serious illnesses." She added.
Bruns's research team tested 156 dogs and 154 cats in 196 households with confirmed cases. The results showed that approximately 17% of pets, namely 31 cats and 23 dogs, have antibodies to COVID-19, which indicates that they have been infected.
In addition, 6 cats and 7 dogs, or 4.2% of pets, passed the PCR test positive.
Bruns said that subsequent tests showed that these animals recovered quickly and did not spread to other pets in the same family.
The scientific community generally believes that COVID-19 originated in bats. At the beginning of the pandemic, it was discovered that mammals can be infected, but severe illnesses rarely occur.
At present, there have only been cases of mink being infected by humans and spreading the disease to other humans.
Bruns said that the owner's feelings for their cats and dogs may have contributed to the high infection rate of pets.
"Many pets have very close contact with their owners. For example, the owner may sleep on the bed with the pet," she said, "this may spread."

No comments:

Post a Comment

Hotel Pictures and Plane-spotting site: Narita Tobu Hotel Airport West Wing

 Pictures copyright by : Gan Yung Chyan, KUCINTA SETIA