Research, editing : Gan Yung Chyan, KUCINTA SETIA / Image : Simulation
News (1)
Activists vow 'knockout' blow to regime on anniversary of '88 uprising'
As Myanmar marked the 33rd anniversary of the “Four Eights”
pro-democracy uprising on Sunday (8 August 2021), activists around the country
renewed calls to end military rule once and for all.
Anti-dictatorship protests were held in both urban and rural
areas to commemorate the 1988 uprising, which began on 8 August of that year
and was crushed the following month by a bloody coup that claimed thousands of
lives.
Coming 188 days after the latest military coup, the anniversary
was remembered with a renewed sense of urgency, with many activists linking the
two events.
“Let’s struggle together towards completion of the unfinished
8-8-88 people’s liberation movement” was a slogan seen on placards and banners
at a number of protests.
Some signs, meanwhile, bore starker messages.
“Blood that was shed in ’88 must be repaid in ’21,” read one
that hearkened back to the violence that ushered in nearly a quarter century of
brutal military rule.
That era ostensibly ended a decade ago after the military
orchestrated a “transition” to quasi-civilian rule that left its power largely
intact.
However, Myanmar was again plunged into crisis when the military
seized direct control on 1 February, citing alleged irregularities in last
year’s election.
Since then, the newly installed regime has killed nearly a
thousand civilians and arrested another 7,000 in an effort to crush a massive
popular resistance movement reminiscent of the one that emerged in 1988.
Many who came out into the streets on Sunday made it clear that
they considered themselves heirs of that earlier struggle.
The current generation must learn from history and defeat the
fascist military dictatorship once and for all,” the General Strike Committee,
a protest organizing coalition, said in a statement released ahead of the
protests.
Nyi Zaw, the chair of the Yangon University Students’ Union,
also pointed to the intergenerational nature of the current anti-coup
movement.
“We are carrying over the effort of previous generations who
fought against the military dictatorship. The responsibility falls upon our
generation now,” he told Myanmar Now.
Others, meanwhile, called for unity among anti-regime forces,
including people of different ethnicities, and emphasized the endurance of the
resistance movement.
News (2)
Junta authorities forced Suu Kyi's lawyer to sign pledge not to speak to the media
Junta authorities last week forced a lawyer representing Aung
San Suu Kyi to sign a non-disclosure agreement, in an apparent bid to stop
statements from the detained civilian leader reaching the public.
Police came to the Yangon home of San Marlar Nyunt, one of the
lawyers from Suu Kyi’s five-member defence team on Friday (6 August 2021) and
forced the lawyer to sign a form promising not to talk to local or
international media, a source familiar with the incident told Myanmar
Now.
San Marlar Nyunt was taken to a local General Administration
Department office to sign the pledge, said the source, who is also a
lawyer.
“The administrator accused the lawyer of having connections with
the international community and forbade them to disclose any information to
anyone. They were released shortly after,” the source said.
Among Suu Kyi’s lawyers, Khin Maung Zaw, Min Min Soe and Thae Maung
Maung live in Naypyitaw, while Kyi Win and San Marlar Nyunt live in Yangon.
Suu Kyi has now been in detention for more than six months and
faces 11 separate charges that could see her
sentenced to more than four decades in prison.
It is not known where she is being detained but she has been
allowed 30-minute meetings with her defence team ahead of court appearances at
a Naypyitaw Council building in recent months.
Her lawyers have relayed several messages from her to the public following
the meetings.
The court hearings were postponed at the start of July as a
third wave of covid infections began sweeping the country.
Ref: https://www.myanmar-now.org/en/news/suu-kyis-lawyer-forced-to-sign-pledge-not-to-speak-to-the-media
Translation of external news on disease control and CCP
News (3)
As China's epidemic has fully spreads, official infighting over ending the epidemic
Reporter : Liu Minghuan / Editor : Wenhui / https://www.ntdtv.com/gb/2021/08/09/a103185892.html
Image : On 28 July 2021, the staff inspected a temporary Fire Eye laboratory for testing SARS-CoV-2 (novel coronavirus, CCP virus, covi) at an exhibition center in Nanjing. (STR/AFP via Getty Images)
The epidemic in China continues to spread. The official experience of "lockdown" has failed to prevent the rapid spread of the epidemic. Experts such as Zhang Wenhong suggested that they should learn to coexist with the virus, but they were immediately criticized by Gao Qiang, the former Minister of Health of the Communist Party of China.
According to comprehensive media reports, Nanjing is the source of the spread of this local covid outbreak wave. Some areas of Nanjing have launched the sixth round of large-scale nucleic acid testing on 8 August. Four rounds of nucleic acid testing were performed.
Nucleic acid tests time and time again, and the return to the closed community management measures similar to last year have caused some people to question that their anti-epidemic life seems to have not changed after being vaccinated.
Wu Feng, director of the Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine at the Affiliated Hospital of Yangzhou University, explained at a press conference on the prevention and control of the epidemic on 8 August that full-staff nucleic acid testing is an important means to block the spread of the epidemic, but the virus has an incubation period and invisibility, even though most residents tested negative but "it is still very necessary to carry out multiple rounds of nucleic acid testing for all employees in a timely manner."
News (4)
Zhang Wenhong: The world must learn to co-exist with SARS-CoV-2
Zhang Wenhong, director of the Department of Infectious Diseases at Huashan Hospital Affiliated to Fudan University, posted on Weibo on 29 July 2021 that more and more people now believe that the epidemic will not end in the short term, and may not end in the long term. The world must learn to co-exist with this virus.
However, the General Counsel of the Chinese Communist Party Health Economics Association and former Minister of Health Gao Qiang published an article on the official website of the Chinese Communist Party Health Economics Association on 5 August 2021, criticizing Zhang Wenhong in an unnamed manner, saying that some experts suggested that the country consider the strategy of "long-term coexistence with the virus" a surprise.
He claimed that China's anti-epidemic strategy "is a "double insurance" strategy that does not contradict precise epidemic control and widespread vaccination, rather than replacing strict epidemic control with vaccine herd immunity, let alone "coexisting with the virus".
News (5)
Huang Yanzhong: Coexistence with SARS-CoV-2 is not only necessary but feasible
On the 6th, Caixin published an article by Huang Yanzhong, a senior researcher in global health at the Council on Foreign Relations and professor at the School of Diplomacy and International Relations at West East University, "Coexistence with the novel coronavirus is not only necessary but feasible."
He said that the coexistence of the CCP virus with humans is a fact that is hard to change. In theory, a country can continue to strengthen measures to prevent the import of viruses from the outside through the power of the whole country but this may also have unexpected consequences.
He said that to achieve coexistence with the virus, a multi-pronged approach is needed. This process should be carried out in stages and in an orderly manner, but it should not be completely constrained by the inertia of existing policies, nor should it stand still because of risks.
Earlier, according to VOA reports, the delta variant virus prompted leaders in the United States, Australia and elsewhere to re-implement restrictions. The government of President Xi Jinping of the Communist Party of China is fighting the worst epidemic since its peak in Wuhan in 2020. The ruling Communist Party is resuming its strategy of shutting down China: Access to a city of 1.5 million people has been cut off, flights have been cancelled, and large-scale tests have been ordered in certain areas.
The "zero tolerance" strategy of isolating each case and trying to prevent new infections from abroad helped to contain the epidemic in 2020 and made China largely "virus-free" but its impact on the work and lives of millions of people is triggering warnings that the CCP needs to learn to control the virus instead of repeatedly shutting down the economy and society.
In addition, according to the website of the National Health Commission of the Communist Party of China, as of 7 August 2021, 31 provinces (autonomous regions, municipalities) and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps have reported a total of 1.770 million doses of the Chinese Communist virus vaccine.
According to the Chinese Communist Party's official regulations, the vast majority of people over 18 years of age in China have been vaccinated. Starting in July in many parts of the country, it has been extended downwards, giving priority to vaccinating minors aged 12 to 17 in an attempt to increase the coverage of vaccines.
However, the recent rapid spread of the epidemic has brought the effectiveness of the CCP's domestic vaccines to its original shape. At the same time, the public once again questioned the effectiveness of domestic vaccines. Some Weibo netizens said, "Why are you still infected with the novel coronavirus after being vaccinated?"
News (6)
Nucleic acid test covi infection cannot happen again
Reporter : Yu Yu / Editor : Wang Lei / Proofreader: Xu Yijia / https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_13960477
On 8 August 2021, the Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision of Yangzhou issued a notice stating that on 29 July, the nucleic acid testing site in Lianhe Village, Wantou Town, Guangling District, Yangzhou was not standardized and the on-site covi testing was chaotic. Many people in close contact with Wang Qiang, a staff member of the Financial Settlement Centre (who has been filed for investigation and suspended due to serious violations of the law), were infected, causing adverse social effects.
Wang Qiang has now been diagnosed as a covid case of new coronary pneumonia and has infected 23 people.
Coincidentally, on 1 August, Nanjing also reported that a two-year-old boy was infected after contact with a confirmed case while his family was queuing for nucleic acid testing.
In the afternoon of 8 August, Wu Zhenglong, the governor of Jiangsu Province, emphasized when deploying the epidemic prevention and control in Yangzhou that it is necessary to organize and arrange carefully, and there must be no infection during the detection process.
In just a few days, two places in Jiangsu have successively caused infections due to nucleic acid tests. It is no wonder that the governor of the province cannot sit still. It should be said that these two accidents are not surprising.
Prior to this, nucleic acid testing personnel in many places gathered together, and the one-metre safe distancing line was useless. This has long caused public concern. Under such circumstances, the "hit" can be said to be only a matter of time.
This chaos in the process of nucleic acid testing is certainly related to some people’s weak awareness of prevention and non-compliance with regulations but the deeper problem lies at the level of organization and management.
For example, in order to check in less than one minute, a large number of people were gathered in one place and spent several hours waiting in line, causing crowds and chaos, which may be inevitable. For some nucleic acid testing sites, citizens are not clear about the process, and the preliminary preparations are not sufficient. Most of the time is spent on processes such as identity information registration, which is also adding chaos to nucleic acid testing.
Obviously, this kind of extensive management of nucleic acid testing has exposed the epidemic prevention work in some places, lacking refined management thinking, and underestimating the risk of personnel gathering caused by nucleic acid testing. In these places, nucleic acid testing often only pursues speed and scale, while ignoring that nucleic acid testing is actually an extremely rigorous medical work, and every link must be careful, even drip-proof.
In some places where epidemics occur, it is of course necessary to urgently mobilize large-scale nucleic acid testing in a short time in order to screen infected cases as soon as possible and launch epidemiological investigations. But the more this is the time, the more it is necessary to put an end to fluke and face up to the risk of infection in the process of nucleic acid testing.
The two accidents in Jiangsu can be described as profound lessons. The risk of infection during the nucleic acid testing process must not be underestimated. To avoid similar infection accidents, the current nucleic acid detection mode must be improved. For the organization of nucleic acid testing, it is necessary to abandon the thinking of "going fast". The scale and speed of nucleic acid testing should match the support resources such as local medical care, and should not be divorced from reality.
In addition, small-scale, decentralized nucleic acid testing should be used to replace the current large-scale, centralized nucleic acid testing. Many places have already tried this. For example, there are places where nucleic acid detection points are used to enter the community. In accordance with the order, the building will take turns from building to building, which effectively avoids the risk of crowding together.
Academician Zhong Nanshan said before that Delta redefines "tight connection", "In the same space, in the same unit, in the same building, four days before the onset of illness, those who are with the patient are all close contacts." Under circumstances, nucleic acid testing is likely to become another hotbed of virus transmission if it does not get rid of the crowded and chaotic situation as soon as possible.
Now, Jiangsu has discovered the problem, and then made clear requirements. So, should other places keep up as soon as possible?
News (7)
The source of the confirmed case in Haikou is suspected to be from a Russian flight
In the afternoon of 9 August 2021, at the Haikou News Conference on the Prevention and Control of the Novel Coronavirus Pneumonia Epidemic, according to Mo Shaoxiong, deputy director of the Haikou Center for Disease Control and Prevention, according to the analysis of the gene sequencing results issued by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention of Hainan Medical College by comparison, it is preliminarily determined that the virus infected by the confirmed case Lin XX in Haikou is highly suspected to originate from the inbound Russian cargo flight at Haikou Meilan Airport.
Lin XX, male, 38 years old, is a porter of Meilan International Airport Cargo Company. He lives in the board room of the Metrology Institute of Yunlong Town Industrial Park, Qiongshan District, Haikou. In the afternoon of 4 August, due to fever, he went to the fever clinic of Haikou Fourth People's Hospital for a nucleic acid test. At the time of treatment, his temperature was 36.9°C, and he had no cough, sputum, chest tightness, shortness of breath, or fatigue. At 2 am on 5 August, a positive nucleic acid test result was reported.
Starting at 0:00 on 8 August 2021, citizens and tourists who really need to leave the island from Haikou must have a valid nucleic acid negative test report within 48 hours to pass.
News (8) to (9) / Reporter : Chen Chengliang / https://news.ltn.com.tw/news/world/breakingnews/3632430, https://news.ltn.com.tw/news/world/breakingnews/3632555
News (8)
Lambda variant strikes! Over 1,000 U.S. cases
The global epidemic of Wuhan pneumonia (covid, COVID-19) has lasted for more than one and a half years. The successive epidemics stem from the rapid speed of the variant virus. The main focus is on the Delta variant, but the Lambda variant from Peru is coming in fiercely and has spread to 32 countries around the world in the past two months. According to a report by CNN, there are currently 1,060 cases of Wuhan pneumonia caused by the Lambda strain in the United States.
According to the report, according to data released by the Global Shared Influenza Data Initiative (GISAID), genome sequencing has so far identified 1,060 cases of COVID-19 caused by the Lambda variant in the United States. Although this number is far from the number of cases caused by the Delta variant, infectious disease experts said that Lambda is the variant strain they are paying close attention to.
Lambda was first discovered in Peru in August last year. It was called C.37 or the Andean variant. It was named after the 11th Greek letter "λ". Lambda was pronounced similarly to "Lambda". It was named by the World Health Organization in June ( WHO) listed as "Variants of Interest" (Variants of Interest).
Preliminary studies have shown that Lambda is more infectious than Delta. Nearly 10% of Lambda-infected people in Peru eventually died unfortunately. In addition, Peru is currently the country with the highest per capita death rate in the world. The world pays great attention. Scientists are currently conducting more in-depth research on the infectivity of Lambda and its impact on the effectiveness of the vaccine.
News (9)
Shocking! Zhengzhou 4000 water-soaked vehicles "cemetery" sky photo exposed
Image : Netizens questioned on Twitter: "Where did the owners of these vehicles go?" and "How many people died in Zhengzhou during the flood?" (Flip from Weibo, synthesized by Liberty Times)
The heavy rain in Zhengzhou, Henan Province on 20 July 2021 caused floods, causing serious casualties. The authorities later updated the death toll and said that a total of 302 people died and 50 were missing, of which 292 people were killed and 47 people were missing in Zhengzhou. Nowadays, the empty photos uploaded by Chinese netizens show that a local square has become a water-soaked car cemetery, with more than 4,000 cars lined up. This scene has sparked questions from overseas netizens on Twitter, "How many people died in Zhengzhou in the flood?"
According to a report by the Chinese media "Dongfang.com", on 4 August, aerial photography of water trucks parked in Zhengzhou after the floods. The water trucks were densely placed. There were more than 4,000 water-soaked cars in the entire parking lot. The aerial view of the damaged vehicles was extremely shocking. These vehicles were soaked in mud and water, and many of the vehicles were covered with mud and their appearance was severely damaged.
It is understood that these water-soaked vehicles have been hung on the second-hand auction platform, and after repairs, they will enter the market as second-hand vehicles and circulate again.
However, netizens have been questioning on Twitter, "Where are the owners of these vehicles?", "Why not let the owners of the cars claim them?", "Have all the owners of these vehicles been killed?", "During the flood, How many people died in Zhengzhou?"
Zhengzhou was flooded due to heavy rainfall. In addition to serious subway casualties, the "Jingguang Road Tunnel" in the city center became a "death tunnel". It was flooded in just 5 minutes on the night of 20 July, and a large number of vehicles and people were trapped. It was reported that there were thousands of vehicles in the tunnel at the time, and some netizens posted a video on Twitter afterwards, showing a heavy truck pulled out of the Beijing-Guangzhou tunnel with a double-section extended bus. The windows were completely covered by black cloth. Some people questioned the the bus was full of dead bodies.
Some netizens estimate that the total length of the Beijing-Guangzhou Tunnel is 5,000 m long. Each vehicle occupies an 8 m road. There are 630 single-lane lanes and 3,800 vehicles in six-lane lanes. There are 7,600 people.
News (10)
Spanish study: Cold coronavirus antibody also protects against COVID-19
Reporter : Li Jingjing / https://www.ntdtv.com/gb/2021/08/09/a103185953.html
The covid epidemic is spreading globally. According to the latest research in Spain, after humans are infected with COVID-19, the antibodies produced last at least 7 months. Studies have also found that antibodies to the common cold human coronavirus can also protect the human body from being infected by SARS-CoV-2.
The epidemic has spread globally, with at least 4.29 million deaths and 220 million confirmed diagnoses. According to the latest Spanish research, after humans are infected with COVID-19, the virus antibodies in the body can survive for at least 7 months, and after a few months, they will remain stable or even increase.
Li Bingying, chairman of the Taiwan Society of Children’s Infectious Diseases: “In fact, there have been many studies on the continuity of antibodies to the novel coronavirus. It is not only 6 or 7 months now, and there is no problem with its antibodies lasting for more than 1 year.”
The study was conducted by the ISGlobal team in Barcelona, Spain. A total of 578 asymptomatic and mild patients participated. The team received several blood collections between March and October 2020 to detect IgA, IgM or level types against 6 different COVID-19 antigens, and 4 other antibodies against the coronavirus that causes the common cold in humans. Studies have also found that antibodies to the common cold human coronavirus (HCoV) can also protect the human body from being infected by covi.
Li Bingying, chairman of the Taiwan Society of Children’s Infectious Diseases, said, “When the common cold is infected with the coronavirus, it has almost no symptoms or very mild symptoms. However, the constant stimulation of the virus will allow our immune system to continue, possibly almost lifelong immunity, so in the future, the novel coronavirus may become cold like an ordinary coronavirus."
The report pointed out that regardless of the age and gender of the subjects, they can remain stable. From the fifth month of the study, 75% of the participants had increased IgG antibodies, but there was no evidence of re-exposure to the virus, and no cases of re-infection occurred. The results of this research have been published in the international journal Nature Communications.
Actual link: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-24979-9
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