Prominent scientists have bad news for the White House about coronavirus antibody tests
Updated 1100 GMT (1900 HKT) April 15, 2020
In a phone call last week, some of the nation's top scientists briefed White House officials about antibody testing, according to two doctors who were on the call.
Much of the news wasn't very good.
Antibody tests check to see if a person has previously been infected with Covid-19, an indication that they've had the virus and now could be immune to it.
'Crime against humanity': Trump condemned for WHO funding freeze
Timing of move during Covid-19 crisis is deplored by UN chief and experts who say it will cost lives
Leading health experts have labelled Donald Trump’s decision to cut funding to the World Health Organization (WHO) as a “crime against humanity” and a “damnable” act that will cost lives.
The move also drew a rebuke from the head of the United Nations, who said the WHO was “absolutely critical to the world’s efforts to win the war against Covid-19”.
Late on Tuesday Trump declared US funding would be put on hold for 60-90 days pending a review “to assess the World Health Organization’s role in severely mismanaging and covering up the spread of the coronavirus”. The US is the single largest contributor to the WHO.
Coronavirus: Japan could face 850,000 severe cases and 400,000 deaths, dire health ministry report warns
Projections should serve as wake-up call to public on need for better social distancing, says top expert advising government
Adam WithnallAsia Editor
Japan could suffer more than 400,000 deaths from coronavirus if the country does not follow social distancing rules and other measures, according to a dire projection released by its health ministry on Wednesday.
Research commissioned by the government and carried out by Hokkaido University found that in a worst-case scenario, Japan could see some 850,000 people fall seriously ill as a result of the Covid-19 outbreak.
The report projected that 420,000 of those would die, because the country’s health system would not have the numbers of intensive care units or ventilators to cope with so many seriously ill people.
Opinion: Turkey's coronavirus outbreak reveals Erdogan's inhumanity
Turkey is granting amnesty to 90,000 detainees, but jailed journalists and political prisoners will remain behind bars. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, Erdogan is relentlessly persecuting his critics, says Hülya Schenk.
The coronavirus crisis is forcing people across the world to isolate themselves in their homes — which for many offers an opportunity for self-reflection. At the same time, news of rising coronavirus-related deaths is causing widespread fear. Right now, we depend on the solidarity of others. And on lawmakers to show understanding and leniency — especially in authoritarian countries such as Turkey, where trust in political elites has eroded.
But despite these difficult times, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan continues to practice his repressive leadership style, with journalists and dissidents being thrown in jail for their political beliefs.
China failed to warn public of coronavirus threat for days: AP
Officials delayed announcement for six days allowing over 3,000 new cases to emerge, according to internal documents.
In the six days after top Chinese officials secretly determined they were probably facing a pandemic from the new coronavirus, the city of Wuhan hosted a mass banquet for tens of thousands of people and millions began their annual trip home for the Lunar New Year celebrations.
President Xi Jinping warned the public on January 20 - the seventh day - but by then, more than 3,000 people had been infected during almost a week of public silence, according to internal documents obtained by The Associated Press (AP) news agency and estimates based on retrospective infection data.
The Coronavirus Is Empowering Islamophobes — but Exposing the Idiocy of Islamophobia
Mehdi Hasan
IF ANTI-SEMITISM is the world’s oldest hatred, perhaps Islamophobia is the world’s weirdest.
How else to explain the fact that a pandemic of global and historic proportions, a novel coronavirus that is infecting people in almost every country and territory on Earth, has been weaponized by the far right to attack … Islam and Muslims?
Take India, where the spread of the virus has been dubbed a “corona jihad” by supporters of the far-right BJP government; they claim the pandemic is a conspiracy by Muslims to infect and poison Hindus.
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