Research, editing : Gan Yung Chyan, KUCINTA SETIA
News on disease control, Taiwan
News (1) to (5) / Reporters : Li'er and Liang Zhen / Editor : Sun Yun / https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/21/12/12/n13431834.htm
Image : Daily Mail
News (1)
Lin Xiaoxu: Omicron specializes on attacking young people, immune potential is very important
The covi variant Omicron is coming so aggressively, triggering countries to increase travel restrictions. What is so special about this virus? "True Words" invited Dr. Lin Xiaoxu, the former director of the Department of Viral Diseases of the Walter Reed Army Academy of the United States, an expert in virology, and a PhD in microbiology to analyze the current situation.
"The Delta variant that everyone was familiar with before in South Africa is the Omicron variant. This variant is different from the other familiar Alpha, Beta, and Gamma. The biggest difference is that it has accumulated a large number of mutations. There are 35 mutation sites. Others include the non-structural protein NSP6, and some structural proteins can be said to be mutation masters!"
"A large number of mutations appear on one variant, of course, everyone who is doing public health or virological research is shocked." Lin Xiaoxu said that no one thought that there would be an Omicron equivalent to the king of mutations in southern Africa.
For the international community, what is of greatest concern is what kind of impact mutations will have on the function of the virus. Does it increase its spreading power or enhance its pathogenicity? Is Omicron's relative immune escape function enhanced against vaccines or natural infections? The above and so on are the main problems.
News (2)
Omicron is the king of mutations and its communication power is significantly enhanced
Lin Xiaoxu pointed out that the spreading power of Omicron virus has been significantly enhanced from the current situation in South Africa. From the high-level areas with high incidence in South Africa, basically in the past 3 weeks, the number of confirmed cases of the virus has increased sharply. Compared with the Beta virus epidemic wave and the Delta virus epidemic wave that existed in South Africa before, the epidemic wave of Omicron variants has increased exponentially on a curve.
It has become the most mainstream variant in the local high-rise areas in just a few weeks. "Of course, no one expected such a trend to be so fast, because the previous Delta variants took about 90 days to become the most popular virus strain in the local area."
News (3)
Immune escape is inevitable, most of the infected are young people
"Now more than 30 countries have confirmed that the Omicron variant has been found. The virus spreads very fast. There is basically no doubt. There is actually not much doubt about the immune escape function."
Lin Xiaoxu mentioned that from the current mutation sites, it is clear that there are some very important sites involved in the immune escape function, including binding to the receptor and binding to the ACE2 receptor. There are currently at least 4 sites. A mutation has occurred.
There are also some mutation sites that have been involved in the immune escape function of Beta and Delta viruses in the past. Including mutations at positions 203 and 204 on the nucleocapsid protein, it is also involved in increasing the infectivity of the virus. There are also some important sites on the activator protein S2, which will also enhance the membrane and the surface of the virus. The ability of cell membranes to fuse enhances the infectivity of the virus and at the same time enhances its immune escape function.
"Involving so many mutations in the spike protein, basically immune escape is basically unavoidable."
Lin Xiaoxu said that a large number of vaccines said that a new generation of vaccines will be developed as soon as possible to deal with Omicron, which shows that people in the vaccine industry are also very worried about variants. In South Africa, there are indeed people who have been fully vaccinated and are still infected. Although the proportion of people diagnosed with Omicron infection is less than that of people who have not been vaccinated, it is clear that there are cases of breakthrough infection.
The biggest question is whether Omicron will cause serious symptoms. According to the latest data provided by several hospitals in Gauteng, South Africa, the proportion of inpatients who need to use ventilators is still relatively small, and the proportion of severe illnesses is relatively low, dozens of people. Only one person died in the case.
However, according to data from a few hospitals, what is more worrying is that among the hospitalized population, there are relatively high numbers of children aged 0 to 9 years old, 20 to 29 years old, and 30 to 39 years old. The proportion of people infected is far more than the previous Delta variant and this Beta variant.
"The number of severely ill people is very small now, but because so many young people are infected, instead of the basic diseases of the elderly over 60 years old, they can't withstand the virus attack and are prone to severe illness."
Lin Xiaoxu analyzed in the past that the elderly should be vaccinated first but now if this variant is very suitable for reproduction in young people, it will cause young people to have symptoms and be hospitalized, and even if there is no serious illness, it is a very dangerous signal.
If there is further mutation, or if you see the right people, will it also cause a larger area of infection and more severe illness among young people? Lin Xiaoxu thinks that more complete case data and in vitro tests, including animal model tests, are needed to test Omicron variants, whether different organs, tissues, and humans will have changed pathology.
He feels that now is what the international community urgently needs, and hopes to see some more complete data in the next two weeks.
News (4)
CCP China-made vaccines are significantly less effective than other vaccines
"For China's domestic vaccines, whether they are Sinopharm or Sinovac vaccines, they have relatively poor protection against past variants. They are basically recognized internationally. Even if the CCP itself does not recognize them, I think they actually recognize them indirectly, because The current so-called zero-tolerance anti-virus policy does not rely on vaccines at all, so China itself knows that China-made vaccines are inferior to the outsourcing Fubitai vaccine or AstraZeneca vaccine.
Of course, some Chinese scientists immediately came out to speak for the government, saying that China's inactivated vaccine may also have a good effect on Omicron, but there is no complete data to support their claim. "
News (5)
Chinese vaccine company hopes to make big money from the epidemic
Lin Xiaoxu said that although inactivated vaccines contain various viral proteins, after inactivation, the protein conformation has changed a lot. Therefore, it may not be said that the immune response is stimulated and it can be targeted against Omicron variants. He feels that there is no theoretical basis, saying that inactivated vaccines are better than other vaccines.
So this is why Western vaccine companies continue to develop new vaccines because huge conformational changes will bring about huge changes in antigenicity. Of course, CCP China is now actively promoting its vaccines, and CCP Chinese vaccine companies have to make a lot of money. Of course, the influence of the entire Chinese Communist Party in Africa and the influence brought about by their large-scale investment are beyond doubt. So at this time, it is a very good time for the CCP to quickly sell domestic vaccines.
Lin Xiaoxu also mentioned that in fact, many people in South Africa have been infected by Beta variants or Delta variants, and they already have the natural immunity brought about by natural infections. This immunity is not necessarily worse than the immunity brought by China's domestic vaccine.
So in fact, many people in South Africa do not need to be vaccinated with CCP Chinese-made vaccines. The core of the problem is just how pathogenic the Omicron variant is after infection. The Chinese vaccine cannot solve these problems.
News (6)
European countries have ordered a large number of vaccines, the third shot is an inevitable trend
"For the world, including Europe, Beta variants are still popular. For the governments of many countries, the promotion of vaccines has become an established policy. Many governments themselves have also purchased a large number of first batches of development from vaccine companies. The purchase of vaccines has already been promised. The government has placed orders for vaccines, and it also hopes that there will be a good way out for the government. Therefore, promoting booster injections is almost the only way for countries with vaccine policies."
Lin Xiaoxu's analysis pointed out that there is no direct evidence of how much effect the enhanced needle has on the Omicron virus. The basic scientific basis for the booster injection is clear, that is, the decay of the antibody energy is inevitable when the vaccine is injected for more than 6 months. Of course, this aspect will also bring about a considerable rebound in society. Many authoritative magazines published articles mentioning that in fact, the current virus should be blamed on people who are not vaccinated. There is not enough theoretical basis and it cannot be reasonable. Illustrative.
News (7)
Immune potential is more important than surface immunity
"I have always emphasized that immunity should be a problem of immune potential. It does not lie in the amount of antibodies in the body at that time. It will have a certain effect, but it is not entirely a decisive factor. The core is memory B cells and T cells. .When really infected, these memory cells can mobilize the immune system to produce the body's ability to deal with one-way attacks on the virus. This potential is the most effective. The core of immunity should actually be the immune potential, not the superficial immunity force."
Lin Xiaoxu believes that during the epidemic, there should be no excessive psychological burden. Whether it is Omicron or a new variant in the future, a positive attitude is good for maintaining and improving immunity. A normal, healthy diet and daily routine are very beneficial to the immune system. Appropriate nutritional supplements, including vitamin C, etc., as well as healthy beverages such as green tea, etc., are effective in improving human immunity. For the medical system, it should be equipped with some preventive drugs, including ivermectin, which should have a very positive effect on preventing the spread of the epidemic in different regions.
“Don’t wait for the patient to be seriously ill. After entering the hospital on a ventilator, you can think about how to treat the patient. This is more passive, and the most positive thing should be prevention. When the disease is mild, early treatment is actually immune to all countries. It's all the most important."
News (8)
WHO: Omicron is less likely to cause severe covid but weakens the effectiveness of the vaccine
The World Health Organization said today based on preliminary data, covi variant Omicron (Covi29) is more infectious than Delta variant (Covi72) and will weaken the effectiveness of the vaccine but it is less likely to cause severe illness.
Agence France-Presse reported that most of the confirmed cases in the world are due to infection with Covi72. However, Omicron prompting countries around the world to implement travel bans against many countries in southern Africa, and to restart epidemic prevention and control to curb the spread of Omicron.
The World Health Organization (WHO) stated that as of 9 December, Covi29 has spread to 63 countries, and this variant has spread rapidly in South Africa and the United Kingdom. Delta did not have a pandemic in South Africa while Covi72 is the main virus in the United Kingdom. Strain.
Despite this, the WHO emphasizes that the lack of data means that the WHO cannot determine whether Omicron's spread is less prone to immune response, Covi29 is more infectious, or both.
The WHO stated that preliminary evidence showed that Covi29 "weakened the effectiveness of vaccines against infection and spread," and said, "According to the data currently available, Omicron may surpass Delta where community infections occur."
The WHO said so far, Omicron's confirmed cases have "mild" or asymptomatic infections but the data currently obtained are still insufficient to determine the clinical severity of this virus strain.
South Africa notified the discovery of Omicron on 24 November although it originates from Botswana. The US pharmaceutical company Pfizer and German BioNTech said last week that three doses of BNT vaccine can still be effective against Covi29. Countries such as the United Kingdom and France where the vaccine supply is unreliable have encouraged local people to inject booster anti-Covi29. (Central News Agency)
News (9)
Tracking down the P3 laboratory infection incident
Reporter : Qiu Zhirou / https://news.ltn.com.tw/news/life/breakingnews/3766768
Image : Liao Junzhi, Dean of the Academia Sinica, made a special report to the Social Welfare and Sanitation and Environment Committee of the Legislative Yuan on 13 December, explaining that the preliminary investigation found six major mistakes. (Photo by Qiu Zhirou)
Former assistant of the P3 laboratory of the Genomic Research Center of the Academia Sinica was diagnosed with covid. The Central Epidemic Command Center initially assigned a laboratory infection case to the Academia Sinica President Liao Junzhi on 13 December gave a special report to the Social Welfare and Sanitation and Environment Committee of the Legislative Yuan, explaining that the preliminary investigation results found six major mistakes.
Liao Junzhi pointed out that based on the preliminary investigation results, there are 6 missing items, including "no SOP notification of rat bite accident", "failure to operate mice in a biological safety cabinet", "non-compliant SOP for putting on and unloading personal protective equipment," and "suspicious newcomers. Insufficient operation training", "The laboratory operation process is suspected of no management or senior personnel monitoring in the central control room" and "The unit and the hospital should strengthen supervision and re-examine the supervision mechanism."
Liao Junzhi explained that the confirmed case served as a research assistant at the branch of the hospital from 17 February to 16 May 2021, and as a research assistant at the P3 laboratory of the Genome Research Center from 17 May to 3 December. She has voluntarily resigned. The case was bitten by laboratory rats twice in mid-October and mid-November, but the date of the person’s statement was inconsistent with the laboratory entry and exit records, and videotape verification is still to be obtained.
Liao Junzhi said that after the case was bitten for the first time, the direct laboratory manager was not on the scene, so he directly notified the biosafety officer of the Genome Center, and the person in charge judged it as a low-risk event. Therefore, he instructed the case to self-administer health care and did not report to the case. On 16 October, she was screened negative at his own expense. When she was bitten for the second time, the case did not receive a positive response to the first bite notification and was not notified again.
In addition, after reviewing the video tape, it was found that on 24 November, 3 people including the case entered the P3 laboratory to operate the mice, but the video tape showed that the operation process was not carried out in the biological safety cabinet as required, and when 3 people left the laboratory to remove personal protective equipment, the procedure was not followed. Only one of the three was correct. In addition, three people were suspected of not wearing shoe covers. According to the interview records, the individual cases only wore single-layer gloves during the mouse experiment. None of them meet the SOP.
Liao Junzhi also confessed that the case was a newcomer who was still in training and suspected that she had not received operation training. After the investigation is completed, if there is indeed a violation of the regulations, it will be punished according to the identity of the person.
Liao Junzhi emphasized that the P3 laboratory of the Academia Sinica was shouldering important national missions and under heavy pressure during the epidemic, but it should still adhere to biosafety as the primary consideration. This accident highlighted that the institute’s insufficient supervision of biosafety management has caused social unrest. He is sorry and will try his best to clarify the truth as soon as possible, and give the public a complete explanation.
News (10)
CCTV said that young people in Taiwan ate "junk food" and they were overweight. The Ministry of National Defense spoke
Reporter : Lin Enru
Image : A new system of 14-day education convening will be implemented on a trial basis. (Picture/TVBS data screen)
The Ministry of National Defense has promoted the reform of the reserve combat capability and increased the number of days for education call (teaching) for 14 days. The official media in mainland China recently reported that young people in Taiwan ate a lot of junk food in a short period of time in order to escape military service. Excessive weight is exempt from recruitment. In response to this, General Wang Xinlong, the Deputy Minister of National Defense, said in an interview that it is a common tactic of mainland China to attack and slander young people in Taiwan.
Image : Wang Xinlong was invited to the joint meeting of the Legislative Yuan's Foreign Affairs and National Defense, Justice and Legal Affairs Committee. In the morning, he reviewed the letter from the Executive Yuan to consider the case of deleting the draft Article 21 of the Regulations on Disrupting Military Service. Question. General Wang Xinlong, Deputy Minister of National Defense. (Picture/Retrieved from the National Assembly Affairs Broadcasting Channel)
According to the National Defense Reserve Command recently issued the "Nation Army 111 Annual Mobilization Proposal", which increased the number of training days by 14 days, etc. However, mainland Chinese media such as "CCTV" questioned if the war broke out, it was difficult for Taiwan to recruit a large number of people, and claimed that Taiwan continued to revise the qualifications for conscription. It also said that many young people in Taiwan ate junk food in a short period of time in order to avoid military service, so that they would be overweight and avoid being recruited. In response, Wang Xinlong responded, "This is cognitive warfare, attacking and slandering our young people. Everyone knows that this is its usual trick."
News (11)
Tang Feng’s briefing "a picture" blows up the video of the White House Democracy Summit, and the video screen disappears
Editor : Liu Yiting
Image: Tang Feng delivered a speech on the Summit for Democracy on the second day. (Video Screenshot)
US President Joe Biden held a two-day democracy summit last week. Taiwan was invited and represented by Xiao Meiqin, the representative to the United States, and Tang Feng, the political committee member, but an unexpected episode happened. According to reports, Tang Feng marked Taiwan and China in different colours in the briefing files. This scene shocked US officials on the spot. The White House also requested that the release of the film must be deleted, leaving only the voice of Tang Feng's speech.
According to a report by Reuters, people familiar with the matter revealed that Tang Feng marked China and Taiwan in different colours in the briefing file, which meant that the two belong to different countries. About 1 minute after this scene appeared, US officials panicked. After a few minutes, Tang Feng’s video was no longer seen on the screen, only her voice was left. The screen was replaced with a title card. After that, a disclaimer appeared on the screen, indicating that it is purely the personal opinion of the guest and does not represent the position of the US government.
An unnamed source pointed out that the removal of Tang Feng's picture was at the request of the White House. When China coerced Taiwan, the United States invited Taiwan to attend the democracy summit to show its support for Taiwan. However, the White House worried that if there were scenes that separated Taiwan and China into different countries during the meeting, it might be regarded as the United States’ "One China policy" shaken.
The White House did not comment on this but the State Council stated that the "chaos" caused by the sharing of images during the meeting led to the removal of Tang Feng's images, saying it was only an "unintentional fault".
The spokesperson also stated that "we value the participation of Tang Feng's political commissar, which highlights Taiwan's world-class experience in issues such as transparent governance, human rights, and combating false information."
Image : Tang Feng’s briefing at the time showed a colourful map of South African non-governmental organization CIVICUS ranking according to the degree of openness of citizenship of each country. Among Asian countries, only Taiwan is painted in green, which means "open" countries, and the others are "oppressive", For "obstructed" or "restricted," mainland China, Laos, Vietnam, and North Korea are painted in red to represent "closed" countries. (Photo/Retrieved from The Summit for Democracy YouTube)
According to sources, as soon as the "sensitive picture" appeared at that time, the White House National Security Council immediately contacted the State Department and later expressed dissatisfaction with the Taiwanese government about this, believing that this was related to pre-arrangements, "The content is different, We think Tang Feng deliberately did it." However, Taiwan turned it around, expressing anger at the removal of the picture. This person believes that the US has overreacted because the original intention of the map in the briefing is not to illustrate the differences in national borders. Tang Feng herself stated that she did not believe that the disappearance of the screen was related to the CIVICUS map or the United States' Asian allies. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs blamed this on "technical problems."
News (12) to (14) / Source : Daily Mail / Image credit : Reuters
News (12)
Boris Johnson: Omicron has claimed at least one death in the UK
The UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson revealed on 13 December 2021 that at least one British patient has died from the Omicron covi variant / B.1.1/529 (Covi29).
The Prime Minister said Covi29 was also causing hospital admissions and the "best thing" people could do was get their booster jab.
Mr Johnson warned against being complacent about the new strain amid claims by doctors in South Africa that Covi29 is milder than past variants.
Speaking during a visit to a vaccination clinic in Paddington, West London, Mr Johnson said, "Sadly yes Omicron is producing hospitalisations and sadly at least one patient has been confirmed to have died with Covi29.
"So I think the idea that this is somehow a milder version of the virus, I think that's something we need to set on one side and just recognise the sheer pace at which it accelerates through the population. So the best thing we can do is all get our boosters."
Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting said the news underlined "the seriousness of the situation".
He tweeted, "The awful news of the UK's first Omicron death underlines the seriousness of the situation and my heart goes out to their family and friends.
"This is why the booster rollout is so vital and public health measures are necessary to reduce its spread."
Earlier, the Health Secretary Sajid Javid revealed that at least 10 people have been admitted to hospitalised with Covi29 in England and more in Scotland.
News (13)
Omicron patient deaths came as booster booking system crashed
It came as Boris Johnson's pledge to dish out a million booster jabs a day to beat Omicron descended into chaos on its first day, with vaccine centres warning stocks are running low and Britons left standing in 'two hour' queues.
Hundreds of thousands of people were rushing to get their third dose less than two weeks before Christmas, hours after the Prime Minister revealed that the booster programme would be opened to all UK adults.
But Britons faced lines stretching at least 300 yards at vaccination centres, that started forming almost an hour before they even opened.
The NHS booking system crashed as thousands tried to secure a top-up dose, with health service bosses now urging people to 'try again tomorrow'.
In another sign of chaos, a 37-year-old in Bicester, Oxfordshire, who lives two miles from a vaccination centre was told their nearest appointment was 26 miles away.
The Government also ran out of lateral flow tests, with the website reading, "Sorry, there are no more home test kits available right now'. From tomorrow, vaccinated people who are close contacts of a covid case will be asked to swab themselves once a day. Experts have urged people to test themselves repeatedly in the run up to Christmas.
NHS bosses warn that scaling up the booster programme now will be "incredibly difficult" and inevitably have "consequences", with patients once again facing the threat of cancelled operations.
In a massively ambitious move last night, the Prime Minister brought forward the deadline to offer all over-18s a booster jab by New Year’s Day as he warned the country, "There is a tidal wave of Omicron coming."
The Army and thousands of extra volunteers will be drafted in to achieve the target, and clinic hours extended to help dish out up to 20 million jabs over the next two-and-a-half weeks.
The drive will also see 42 military planning teams across every region, additional vaccine sites and mobile units, an extension of opening hours for clinics so they run seven days a week and thousands of extra volunteer vaccinators trained.
However concerns about whether the Government could even hit the goal were raised almost immediately after Mr Johnson’s 8 pm announcement at night of 12 December 2021. Even at the height of the NHS’s vaccine drive in March, the health service never managed more than 850,000 jabs a day.
GPs fumed they found out about the goal at the same time as the rest of the nation, and NHS bosses warned it would take ‘time’ to get the scaled up programme "fully up and running".
News (14)
Crumbling is the vaccine wall of defence
Former Cabinet minister David Davis and Labour MPs slammed the Government for failing to ramp up the booster drive in September, and warned the "vaccine wall of defence was crumbling".
Health Secretary Sajid Javid said that patients waiting for elective surgery such as hip replacements could see their treatment postponed as the NHS races to roll out a million jabs a day. He promised, however, that critical care for cancer patients would be unaffected.
The PM's intervention last night comes amid the ever-growing threat of tougher restrictions in January, with the potential for a new lockdown if Omicron cases surge out of control after the UK's covid alert level was raised from Level 3 to Level 4.
Both Scotland and Wales have dangled the possibility of having to go even further in bid to ward off the highly-transmissible variant.
Refs: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10304283/Boris-Johnson-reveals-Briton-died-Omicron.html, https://staygate.blogspot.com/2021/12/omicron-specializes-on-attacking-young.html
News (15)
Omicron enters Tianjin
The mainland epidemic prevention unit confirmed tonight (13 December 2021) that the first case of the Omicron mutant strain (Covi29) occurred in the mainland. The case entered Tianjin and belonged to an asymptomatic patient. It was confirmed that it is Covi29 and the case is currently being treated in isolation in the hospital.
No comments:
Post a Comment