Translation, editing : Gan Yung Chyan, KUCINTA SETIA
News on airport management, disease control, U.S., CCP, Sri Lanka, Philippines, Myanmar
The pills’ efficacy is lower
than monoclonal antibodies, which are expensive and often given
intravenously, making monoclonal antibodies a labor-intensive effort for overtaxed hospitals.
“With these compelling results,
we are optimistic that molnupiravir can become an important medicine as part of
the global effort to fight the pandemic and will add to Merck’s
unique legacy of bringing forward breakthroughs in infectious diseases when
they are needed most,” Merck CEO
and President Roger M. Davis said.
Ref: https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2021/oct/1/merck-says-experimental-pill-cuts-worst-effects-of/
News (3)
Singapore reports an increase of 2,909 confirmed covid cases on 1 October 2021
At 12.04 am on 2 October 2021, Singapore's Ministry of Health (MOH) has reported on Facebook an increase of 2,909 confirmed covid cases on 1 October 2021, of which 2,079 cases are local community cases, 818 are dormitory cases and 12 inbound covid cases.
34 covid patients remain in intensive care units but there is a fall in the number of covid patients in the general wards to 1,322. There are 8 more covid fatalities and the total cumulative number of confirmed covid cases has increased to 99,430.
News (4)
MOH's sectional map data disclose the most frequented areas by covid cases in Singapore
The darkest colour scale on the Geospatial Data of MOH’s COVID-19 Situation Report (Covidsitrep) indicates that 230 to 560 covid cases have visited each of the areas above in the past four days. This does not include residential data.
There are currently 12 areas in this band. They are North Coast, Senoko South, Woodlands East, Yunnan, Jurong West Central, Kian Teck, Jurong River, Aljunied, Geylang East, Sengkang Town Centre, Bedok North and Tampines East.
The lowest - and lightest - band indicates
that 0 to 10 COVID-19 cases have visited the area in the specified time frame.
They include Hillcrest, Mandai East and Sengkang West.
MOH had announced on 24 September 2021 that
it would publish a map on its website of areas recently frequented by a
larger number of COVID-19 cases. However, individual users can only access to
sectional maps by clicking on each zone listed in the Geospatial Data. Users
have to write in to MOH for the updated entire map images for research purpose.
News (5) to (10) / Reporter : Hannah Sparks, The New York Post
Some scientists have backed an unlikely theory as to the source of the mysterious “Havana syndrome.”
Researchers with JASON, an advisory
group who frequently works with the State Department over scientific matters of
national security said the source of Havana syndrome may be natural and
crickets are most likely the source of Havana syndrome. The newly declassified
report, published in November 2018 and recently obtained by Buzzfeed News,
found evidence that at least eight of the 21 cases of Havana syndrome were
“most likely” caused by the insects.
Their findings back up previous work by
university researchers unaffiliated with the U.S. government.
The illness is marked by a sudden auditory buzzing sensation followed by neurological side effects, including pain, dizziness, nausea and brain fog, according to its victims. The victims are mostly US spies and diplomats, some of whom had been at the US Embassy in Havana in 2016, around the time the reports of the affliction first appeared, hence the name. Since then, potential cases have cropped up elsewhere, including Germany, Austria, Russia, China and most recently in Vietnam.
Wild reports speculating the source of the “sonic attacks” have surfaced as of late. Some have suggested symptoms associated with Havana syndrome closely mirror the effects of microwave radiation. Fueling the unsettling reports, a 2019 study commissioned by the State Department showed that the brains of purported Havana syndrome patients had been altered by the disease, though it has yet to be seen whether those effects will be long-term.
News (6)
"High confidence" that the noise came from Ac cricket
The JASON advisory group was provided with audio and video recordings captured from the time the symptoms occurred. While cross-referencing the recordings with sound clips provided by various insect species, scientists determined with “high confidence” that the offending noise had come from the noisy Anurogryllis celerinictus (Ac) cricket.
“No plausible single source of energy (neither radio/microwaves nor sonic) can produce both the recorded audio/video signals and the reported medical effects,” wrote authors of the JASON report, retrieved through a Freedom of Information Act request. “We believe the recorded sounds are mechanical or biological in origin, rather than electronic. The most likely source is the Indies short-tailed cricket.”
News (7)
American personnel in Cuba first blame Ac cricket for
Havana syndrome in 2019
They’re
not the first to blame the cacophonous critters. In 2019, an unpublished analysis of
recordings made by US personnel in Cuba surfaced in the media, also pointing to
Anurogryllis celerinictus. “The recording is definitively a cricket that
belongs to the same group,” said University of Lincoln biology professor
Fernando Montealegre-Zapata in a statement at the time of the study.
“The call of this Caribbean species is about 7 kHz, and is
delivered at an unusually high rate, which gives humans the sensation of a
continuous sharp trill,” Montealegre-Zapata explained.
News (8)
JASON team suggests the noise could be deception
Still, the JASON team did suggest that the alarming noise
that seems to prompt Havana syndrome could have been “introduced by an
adversary as deception,” misdirecting physicians and investigators while
using “an entirely unrelated mode of causing illness.”
News (9)
Dispute
over microwaves as the source of Havana syndrome
A CIA probe is currently underway to investigate the possible energy attack, helped along by the US House of Representatives, who voted 427-0 to compensate intelligence agencies for their research into Havana syndrome. Meanwhile, JASON scientists disputed the theory held by the National Academies of Science (NAS) that microwaves are the “most plausible” weapon, adding in their report that it is “highly unlikely” that sonic beams were involved in the incidents — and blamed, instead, the “psychogenic” effects of group hysteria.
News (10)
The Biden-Harris administration is studying into the cause and prevention of Havana syndrome
The NAS has told Buzzfeed News that it had not read JASON’s review as part of its study, while the State Department thanked the JASON group for its contribution to the investigation, but made no comment as to why the results had not been published.
However, an unnamed senior state official had more to say about the buried report.
“Because of the acknowledged shortcomings of previous studies, [the Biden-Harris] administration has purposefully established a new panel of experts from across the Intelligence Community, academia, and the private sector with access to the full range of information available to the government to help us determine the cause of these incidents and generate new insights that can help protect our personnel,” they said.
S. Senator Jim Risch (R-Idaho), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, today introduced the Biological Weapons Policy Act, a bill to keep Americans safe from the threat of biological weapons, including by increasing scrutiny of research collaboration with malign actors like China.
“The COVID-19 pandemic was a wakeup call – it’s time to take
biological threats more seriously,” said Risch. “We need stronger
oversight of our collaboration on biological research with countries of
concern, including China and Russia. The State Department has called out Russia
for its offensive biological weapons program, and noted serious concerns with
China’s compliance with the Biological Weapons Convention. We must ensure that
our well-intentioned cooperative efforts do not put the United States and our
partners at risk.”
This legislation:
- Strengthens State Department authorities to prevent
bioweapons proliferation.
- Establishes a Country Team Assessment requirement for
research cooperation with China, Russia, and other countries of concern to
prevent the misuse of life sciences research for military purposes.
- Prohibits the use of federal funds for gain-of-function
research with China and other countries of concern.
- Mandates a U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO)
report on how the U.S. government assesses national security,
proliferation, and country-specific concerns when considering funding
grants for life sciences research with other countries.
- Mandates the United States use voice, vote, and influence
at the United Nations (UN) to bar countries not in compliance with
Biological Weapons Convention from assuming leadership positions in
specialized UN agencies related to global health.
- Requires several oversight reports on research collaboration with China on pathogens, viruses, toxins, biotechnology, and synthetic biology.
Text of the legislation can be found here.
On September 9, Risch sent a letter to Comptroller General Gene Dodaro requesting a GAO report on U.S. government oversight of certain federally funded international biological research to ensure potential national security risks to the United States are appropriately considered.
On July 27, Risch sent a letter to President Biden asking the administration to take three crucial steps to get to the bottom of the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic in order to prevent a similar calamity in the future.
News (12) to (16) / Reporter : Joe Hoft, The Gateway Pundit, contributions from Lawrence Sellin / https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/09/exclusive-chinese-army-sergeant-casualty-test-release-covid-19/ Image : Web Screenshot
News (12)
Was a Chinese Army sergeant a casualty of a covi test release?
Since the onset of the pandemic, there
have been numerous and persistent reports from
athletes of influenza-like symptoms either during or soon after attending the
Wuhan World Military Games from 18 to 27 October 2019.
Among other efforts to counter such evidence and avoid
responsibility for the global pandemic, the Chinese Communist Party, through
its propaganda outlet the Global Times, made the highly suspect claim on 24 February 2020, that five
athletes hospitalized during the competition did not have novel coronavirus (covi). They suffered from malaria.
So far, China has not revealed either the names of those athletes or their nationalities.
News (13)
95% of malaria cases originate from Africa
According to the World Health Organization, there has not been a single indigenous case of malaria in China since 2017 and 95% of malaria cases in the world occur in a relatively small group of Sub-Saharan African countries.
There were no more than 280 athletes from Sub-Saharan countries attending the 2019 Wuhan World Military Games from which five cases of malaria were diagnosed, a very high percentage indeed.
News (14)
Wuhan reports 296 malaria cases between 2011 and 2018
Medical records for the years 2011 to 2018 published by Wuhan physicians list a total of 296 malaria cases, 96% of which were from those arriving in Wuhan from Africa.
It stretches credulity to claim there were five cases of malaria within a narrow nine-day period and among a group of highly fit and medically screened young people.
Was it COVID-19?
News (15)
Chinese Army sergeant died from malaria in Wuhan on 26 November 2019
Perhaps not coincidentally, a 23-year-old Chinese Army Sergeant, Fu Sen, died of malaria on 26 November 2019, after being unsuccessfully treated in China for over 400 days.
Fu Sen reportedly contracted the disease while serving as a
medical worker during a Chinese military deployment to South Sudan. He was
assigned to the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Hospital in the Wuchang District
of Wuhan, the epicenter of the initial covi outbreak.
Oddly, as if trying to make a point, the death of this one PLA sergeant, allegedly from easily treatable malaria, made national headlines in China and his story was distributed internationally in English.
News (16)
Covi test release conducted by the PLA during the Wuhan World Military Games
Based on a source in Wuhan, China, present during the initial phase of the COVID-19 pandemic and familiar with PLA operations, a Gateway Pundit article on 23 July 2021 reported that a test release of COVID-19 was conducted by the PLA during the Wuhan World Military Games.
The source explained that the subsequent outbreak in Wuhan was entirely unexpected. That is, there was no laboratory leak, but the unintended spread among the Chinese population of Wuhan of a virus for which the PLA had underestimated its transmissibility.
Was Fu Sen part of the PLA team conducting that test and was his
death the result of exposure to COVID-19?
The reports of influenza-like symptoms from athletes and the death of Fu Sen both fit the timeline for the onset of the pandemic.
Chinese defector Wei Jingsheng also claimed recently that COVID-19 was deliberately released during the Wuhan World Military Games.
A critical question remaining is why are the
U.S. and Canadian governments withholding information about the dozens of their
military athletes who experienced symptoms identical to COVID-19 either during
or soon after attending the Wuhan Games?
News (17) to (26) / Reporter : R. R. M. Lilani, Colombo Gazette / https://colombogazette.com/2021/09/26/world-bank-succumbs-to-chinese-monopoly/
News (17)
CCP corruption infiltrates every top organization in the world
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s corrupted activities have infiltrated every top organization in the world. Surprisingly, it was the World Bank (WB) top officials who artificially pumped up the Chinese economic forecast, which is considered the worst and greatest disinformation and propaganda network the world has ever seen. By doing so, China’s ranking in the Doing Business 2018 report rose seven places to 78th after the data methodology changes were made, compared with the initial draft report.
News (18)
China’s ranking on the global business index falsified
It has been revealed that the CCP have lured the World Bank’s top officials to distort, exaggerate, and outright falsify the global business index between 2018 and 2020, and it was Kristalina Georgieva, then CEO of the World Bank, who has been accused. She is currently the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund.
The law firm WilmerHale conducted the survey at the request of the World Bank’s ethics committee and found that there are implications by Georgieva and former World Bank President Jim Yong Kim have had cast a spotlight on CCP’s influence on the august institution.
WilmerHale in their survey found out after inquiry that Geprgoeva was directing efforts to artificially boost China’s ranking in the lender’s influential annual Doing Business report.
News (19)
Colombo Gazette: China creates SARS-CoV-2 in its Wuhan lab
China, which is claiming to be the world leader in combating the covid spread despite having created SARS-CoV-2 (novel coronavirus, covi) in its own lab in Wuhan, has been engaging in such false propaganda using top officials. During her tenure as the CEO of the World Bank, the president of the World Bank was Dr. Jim Yong Kim, a South Korean.
While Kim was the World Bank Group President, in 2018, he visited China to address the International Forum on China’s Reform and Opening Up and Poverty Reduction, cohosted by the Chinese government and the World Bank Group. He also participated in the High-Level International Symposium on Doing Business Reform in Beijing. The event organizer was the Beijing Municipal Government. Dr. Kim also visited Shanghai to address the first China International Import Expo (CIIC) that President Xi Jingping inaugurated. Dr. Kim was accompanied by Yang Shaolin, Managing Director and World Bank Group Chief Administrative Office who earlier served at the Ministry of Finance, China. Dr. Kim stepped down in 2019 after serving for six long years. Georgieva assumed duty as the World Bank CEO in the same year. They quickly became international partners with China.
News (20)
World Bank Group discontinues publication on country investment climates after Georgieva falsified China’s figures
The World Bank Group has decided to discontinue publication of its ‘Doing Business’ report on country investment climates after an internal audit immediately.
However, Georgieva has denied having any role in boosting China’s ranking in the World Bank’s 2018 report but the survey has revealed the facts.
News (21)
Political pressure from the CCP on WHO over the origins of COVID-19
Even China collaborated closely with the World Health Organization, and the WHO’s top officials are of Chinese origin. One of the reasons why the WHO cannot detect the origin of COVID-19 is due to undue political pressure from the CCP.
The WHO was accused by the Trump government of blaming China for trying to cover up the outbreak and has accused the WHO of failing to hold Beijing to account. Many countries have accused the WHO of its weak response to China’s mishandling of the COVID-19 outbreak, which has laundered China’s image at the expense of its credibility. The WHO Director-General (DG) Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has been an outspoken advocate for the Chinese government’s COVID-19 epidemic response. On 28 January 2020, Tedros met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing. Following the meeting, Tedros commended China for ‘setting a new standard for outbreak control” and praised the country’s top leadership for its “openness to sharing information” with the WHO and other countries, in the backdrop of Chinese accusations of the CCP for creating the virus.
Tedros was effusive in praise of China, and called upon nations not to limit travel with China and warned against the “recrimination or politicization” of the outbreak. Domestic Chinese news coverage prominently features Tedros’ praise of President Xi Jinping and criticism of foreign governments.
News (22)
CCP recognises Malik Peiris with its own Nobel Prize
Another astonishing episode of China’s corrupt enterprise is
that China (the CCP) also has its own ‘Nobel Prize of China’ to recognize their
laureates, and recently they felicitated with the ‘Nobel Prize of China’ for
six people, including Dr. Joseph Sriyal Malik Peiris, a Sri Lankan. Dr. Peiris,
a virologist working in China, researched the SARS virus and its impact on
COVID-19.
News (23)
Yan Limeng: SARS-CoV-2 was created in Wuhan lab and Peiris did
nothing about uncovering the virus
Controversy looms around his work now after one of his PhD students, Dr. Yan Limeng, in her research paper, discovered that SARS-CoV-2 (covi) was a synthetic virus created in the lab in Wuhan. She accused Dr. Peiris, who has been researching emerging viruses at the animal-human interface in China, knew about the cover up of covi but did nothing.
Dr. Yan claimed she knew Dr. Peiris even before she joined his department. She was married to a Sri Lankan virologist working for WHO in the emerging disease sphere. He was the staff of Prof. Malik Peiris too.
She pointed out that Dr. Tedros and others in leading positions,
including Maria Van Kerkhove, who is the technical lead at WHO, have very
strong connections with Dr. Peiris. Yet, her discovery about the virus’s origin
was ignored. Dr. Malik had strong connections with the CCP government. So both
the Chinese and the WHO kept everything under the carpet, Dr. Meng told the
international media.
Dr. Yan added that the Chinese Communist Party has been insisting that the Wuhan Hunan Seafood Market and wild animals are the origin of SARS-CoV-2 from the beginning, but has not allowed scientists to investigate the market and collect samples.
She said, “They can’t even provide any positive sample with suspicious animal hints like hair/shit/DNA. However, they still cleaned the market so that there would be no way for others to find out the evidence.”
All of this was known to Dr. Peiris, according to Dr. Yan. She further said her supervisor warned her repeatedly that she should be careful because the CCP government does not want to release this information. Dr. Malik had told her, “You will be in trouble and you will disappear.”
Dr. Yan fled to the United States for safety but before she did
so, she uploaded all of the information about COVID-19 to the public domain so
that it could not be deleted or robbed from her.
News (24)
Peiris has returned to Sri Lanka after retirement
Within a short time of her departure to the US, Dr. Malik
Peiris, the director of the P3 laboratory of the University of Hong Kong,
retired prematurely and returned to Sri Lanka. Dr. Yan accused Malik Peiris of
“no action” in the interview with Fox News. Her Sri Lankan husband has
been missing since this incident. Some claimed he also fled to the US. Dr. Yan
lives in constant fear of someone from the CCP claiming her life.
Her laboratory, the Influenza Research Center, is “a top laboratory for coronavirus”, and she came to the United States to tell the whole world “the truth about COVID-19,” she said in the interview.
After all these claimants, the University said that Dr. Yan never conducted any research on human-to-human transmission of covi at HKU in December 2019 and January 2020 although she revealed in a Fox interview that she was conducting a secret investigation into “what really happened in Mainland China “, not “research on human-to-human transmission at HKU” as indicated in the statement.
Dr. Peiris, who arrived in Sri Lanka recently, is holding a big post and has also received a ‘big contract’ from Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam to do research on the isolation of covi in Hong Kong.
News (25)
Peiris runs secret laboratory inside HKU’s P3 lab in Hong Kong doing human-to-human virus experiments
It is also claimed that Dr. Peiris runs a secret laboratory inside the P3 lab and even rented a place outside HKU for the storage of viruses which is a secret hut doing human-to-human experiments.
News (26)
Xi Jinping bribed Sri Lanka to protect Peiris
Dr. Peiris returned to Sri Lanka on 13 May 2021. The Chinese Communist Party Chairman Xi Jinping called the President of Sri Lanka and gave them US$200 million to maintain Dr. Malik’s secrets, one of Dr. Yan’s associates said. Dr. Peiris has never openly spoken about these allegations and they suspect he has been silenced.
Can Sri Lanka that is concerned about its economic growth engage in such risky activities with the CCP?
PodCast
China's Military Buildup and US Malfeasance
Source : America Out Loud
Listen to the interviews with Lawrence Sellin, Yan Limeng and Larry Bell.
Ref: https://www.americaoutloud.com/chinas-military-buildup-and-us-malfeasance/
Column
Complete transparency in data on the need for covi booster shots essential
Article by Yan Limeng
Videos
Yan Limeng delves into the CCP's lack of humanity
Source : SecuringAmerica TV via Rumble
Ref: https://rumble.com/vm1vu0-securing-america-with-dr.-li-meng-yan-pt.2-09.03.21.html
Yan Limeng talks about covid's dubious origins
Source : SecuringAmerica TV via Rumble
Ref: https://rumble.com/vm1vpk-securing-america-with-dr.-li-meng-yan-09.03.21.html
News (27)
Phyo
Min Thein served under Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) government
and was once even rumoured to be her potential successor.
His
testimony came as Suu Kyi began her first day of court hearings for four corruption charges–originally filed
against her at the Mandalay Region High Court–at a court in Naypyitaw,
according to her defence team.
Phyo
Min Thein appeared at the hearing as a main witness for one of the charges
submitted by the junta’s anti-corruption commission, said lead defence lawyer
Khin Maung Zaw.
The
Junta accused Suu Kyi in March of accepting a
total of $600,000 and seven viss, or roughly 11.4kg, of gold in bribes from the
former chief minister on three separate occasions in exchange for supporting
and protecting his businesses.
Is Phyo Min Thein guilty?
The
Junta released a video at the time of Phyo Min Thein making the accusations
against Suu Kyi.
Khin
Maung Zaw said that judge Myint San from the Mandalay Region High Court
presided over the corruption cases against Suu Kyi and that the plaintiff, who
is a member of the anti-graft commission, also testified at the hearing.
The lawyer said, "Phyo
Min Thein didn’t even look Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in the face.
He just kept his head down and went straight to the witness corner. We even had
to tell him to speak louder because his voice was so soft.”
“He
testified the same thing as in the video released by the military council,” he
added.
The
judge tried to have the defence team question the former chief minister to save
him travelling from Yangon to Naypyitaw at a future hearing, according to Khin
Maung Zaw.
Phyo
Min Thein told the court that someone else arranged his travel to Naypyitaw. He
added that he has been suffering from a chronic heart condition and was
infected with coronavirus twice in recent months, the lawyer told Myanmar Now.
News (34)
Suu Kyi's lawyers yet to see the case files, Phyo Min Thein to reappear in court on 8 October 2021
Suu
Kyi’s lawyers refused the judge's request to question him on the grounds that
she had not consulted with them about the cases and they had not been able to
see the case files until just before the hearing.
The
judge scheduled the next hearing for October 8 and summoned Phyo Min Thein to
attend again, Khin Maung Zaw said.
News (35)
Possibility
of Junta torturing and threatening people to testify falsely
Thein
Oo, the justice minister for the underground National Unity Government, said he
was unable to say what pressure Phyo Min Thein has been facing to make him
testify against his own party leader. His testimonies will be crucial in Suu
Kyi’s case, he added.
“It
is important to know whether he is in a situation where he is able to testify
freely and independently,” he said. “There are a lot of false witnesses in
judiciary affairs and it will be more apparent during such a time.”
“There
will be cases where the junta tortures and threatens people to testify
falsely,” he added.
The timelines
of Phyo Min Thein
Phyo Min Thein participated in the 1988 democratic uprising as a
university student and became active in politics as a founding member of the
Democratic Party for a New Society.
He was arrested in 1991 for his political activities and
sentenced to seven years in prison.
The military government added more prison time when he was in
jail and he was eventually released in 2005.
Before becoming an NLD member in 2012, he was involved in two
other smaller political parties. He ran in the 2012 by-election as an NLD party
representative for Yangon’s Hlegu Township. He won that election and became an
MP at the Lower House.
He became a central executive committee member at the party and
was appointed Yangon’s chief minister by Suu Kyi after he won the 2015 election
representing the same township at the Yangon region parliament.
During his tenure, he faced several controversies involving criticism
from within the party as well as from the business community and the general
public.
He participated in a 2019 public event in Yangon supporting Suu
Kyi when she went to the Hague to defend the country against charges of
committing genocide against the Rohingya at the International Court of Justice.
“All of the public need to stand together with Daw Aung San Suu
Kyi who is trying to resolve something that is a Myanmar affair,” Phyo Min
Thein said at the event.
He did not run in the 2020 election. When the military seized
power from the NLD government on 1 February 2021, Phyo Min Thein was among the
party leaders arrested.
A month later, the military announced that its anti-graft
commission was investigating Suu Kyi for corruption and that Phyo Min Thein had
admitted to giving her the bribes.
The legal charges faced by Suu Kyi and the NLD government
Suu Kyi faces five corruption charges in total. Two concern Suu
Kyi alone, another involves two ministers from her government, and the fourth
involves two members of the Naypyitaw council who served under the NLD.
Her defence lawyers said other charges are related to land
ownership issues at the Daw Khin Kyi Foundation, a charity Suu Kyi founded in
the name of her mother.
The military has also filed a separate corruption case against
Suu Kyi at the Yangon Regional High Court but no detailed information on that
case has been revealed and lawyers think it may also be transferred to
Naypyitaw.
Suu Kyi has also been accused of illegally importing walkie
talkies, of breaking anti-covid regulations, and of incitement, among other
things. She faces a potential decades-long sentence. One charge of breaching
the Official Secrets Act carries a 14-year prison sentence alone.
Suu Kyi’s Australian economic advisor, Sean Turnell, has also
been named in that case, as have Kyaw Win, who served as the NLD’s finance
minister, his successor, Soe Win, and deputy minister Set Aung.
Their hearings began on 23 September 2021 at a court in Naypyitaw.
Delta's pre-flight testing significantly decreases rate of active covid infections onboard
Press Release : Delta Airlines
The peer-reviewed study published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings showed a single COVID-19 molecular test performed within 72 hours of departure could decrease the rate of people actively infected onboard a commercial aircraft to a level that is significantly below active community infection rates. For example, when the average community infection rate was at 1.1 percent - or about one in 100 people - infection rates on COVID-19-tested flights were 0.05 percent or 5 in 10,000 passengers. The Georgia Department of Health and Mayo Clinic conducted the study in conjunction with Delta.
“We are going to live with COVID-19 variants for some time. This real-world data – not simulation models – is what governments around the world can use as a blueprint for requiring vaccinations and testing instead of quarantines to re-open borders for international travel,” explained Dr. Henry Ting, Delta’s Chief Health Officer. “Air travel risk varies depending on case rates and vaccination rates at the origin and destination, masking and other factors. But the data collected from this study show that the routine use of a single molecular test within 72 hours before international travel for unvaccinated individuals significantly mitigates the risk of COVID-19 exposure and transmission during airline travel.”
Dr. Ting added that our real-world experience and testing protocol demonstrate that a very low risk of infection transmission is possible, confirming previous simulation models of viral transmission on planes.
The study began in December 2020 with the trans-Atlantic COVID-19 testing program that enabled quarantine-free entry into Italy and allowed teams to review and model various testing strategies for feasibility, false-positive rates and case detection rates. Now, the results of this study are available – offering unique data insights on the risk of SARS-CoV-2 exposure, infection rates on board and showing the feasibility of putting in place a testing protocol with meaningful impact.
“When you couple the extremely low infection rate on board a COVID-19-tested flight with the layers of protection on board including mandatory masking and hospital-grade air filtration, the risk of transmission is less than one in one million between the United States and the United Kingdom, for example,” Dr. Ting added. “These numbers will improve further as vaccination rates increase and new cases decrease worldwide.”
Key data points and takeaways from the study, conducted from December 2020 – May 2021, include:
DATA
- Among the 9,853 potential passengers who underwent testing in the U.S., 4 (0.04%) individuals tested positive by both the rapid antigen and confirmatory molecular tests.
- During the study period, the average community infection prevalence rate was estimated at 1.1%
TAKEAWAY: A single molecular test performed within 72 hours of departure can decrease the rate of active infection onboard a commercial aircraft to a level that is several orders of magnitude below active community infection rates.
DATA
- Individuals who tested positive by both the rapid antigen and confirmatory molecular tests were considered true positives and were not allowed to board. There were no false-positive rapid antigen tests.
- The estimated risk of a false-negative antigen test is 0.00009.
TAKEAWAY: A low yield of additional rapid antigen testing at the airport suggests that further testing is unlikely to add safety alongside other mitigation efforts (i.e., masking), especially as vaccination rates are rapidly increasing.
DATA
- Testing on arrival in Italy identified 1 (0.01%) additional infected individual.
TAKEAWAY: During a period of high COVID-19 infection burden within the U.S., a single molecular test performed within 72 hours of departure lead to a low percentage of airline passengers identified with the virus on rapid antigen testing during travel. This data may inform future recommendations for testing during travel and eliminate the need for quarantine after travel.
Delta continues to operate flights to international destinations. Customers are reminded to check entry requirements for their desired destination as each country’s government may have specific requirements.
News (37) to (40) / Reporter : Long Tengyun / Editor : Ye Ziming
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