"There is no doubt the US is always on the lookout for any opportunity that could put China in a bad light."
"There is no doubt the US is always on the lookout for any opportunity that could put China in a bad light."
In analyzing the spread of the deadly nCoV, we have to examine the virus from facts, and not from presumptions. Otherwise, we will be trapped in same assumptions of making propaganda to either believe it as truth or just use our emotion to denounce China. Lately, the fear has turned one of nasty racism, reviving the old hysteria of a “yellow peril” against China.
What is clear that there is a virus that is fast spreading not only in China, but also to other the major cities in Asia that could cross the Pacific to break the natural barrier to contain it. The undeniable truth also remains that the nCoV was first detected in the early month of January in the city of Wuhan. The virus has now infected more than 28,000, mostly in the city itself, now called the epicenter, and has taken a toll on more than 600 lives.
The brighter side of this raging virus is, even if medical science has yet to formulate a vaccine, China has nonetheless succeeded in taking steps to contain it. While some kind of remedial measures to cure the virus has been adopted, positive signs indicate that there is a cure as seen by the early recovery for some of the patients. This is giving hope that somehow China would be able to overcome the crisis before it developed to one of pandemic proportions.
Maybe the number of new cases infected remains high, but the undeniable facts is China has managed to overcome the crucial battle in keeping the number of mortality low. There is optimism in the fact that there is an increasing number of patients who have been discharged from the hospital after being considered cured by attending physicians. These facts were released by the World Health Organization and by China’s Ministry of Health.
Amid the terrible crisis, China and the WHO are racing to develop a vaccine. In the meantime, China has effectively managed to stabilize the spread of the virus seen in the increased number of patients discharged from the hospital. What is important is while the number of people infected continues to swell as against those discharged from the hospital, the number of mortality has remained low and has been stabilized.
The brighter side is the increasing number of patients certified as officially cured. What is astonishing is the discovery that most of those who died were over 60 years and somehow afflicted with endemic respiratory illness that accelerated only after being afflicted with the virus. In this sense, China has tactically won the battle.
Concededly, the most difficult aspect is to win the spread of the virus. But right now there is another form of virus that runs parallel to the nCoV, and this has something to do with people being biased, hostile to and discriminatory against China. Some purposely spread malicious propaganda insinuating that China itself is to blame for allegedly “inventing” the virus that got out control in their own laboratory.
Such is ludicrous for no person in his right mind would purposely allow the spread of a contagious virus that have the existential threat of wiping his own people from the face of the globe. Even the unintentional release of the virus to civilian population could produce an unimaginable conundrum of pestilence constituting a crime against humanity in the category of waging a germ warfare. Its toll could even push to the brink the existence of mankind.
But as it is, US media organizations have found a new past time in defaming China like State Secretary George Pompeo. Fake news disseminated from unknown sources present reckless and baseless presumptions about the epidemic, short of telling the world that China is to blame. The malicious propaganda is loaded with racist that accordingly the epidemic started in Wuhan’s seafood market where people could buy exotic animal meat as part of the regular dish served in many local restaurants. This is to emphasize that the epicenter of the virus is Wuhan itself.
There is no doubt the US is always on the lookout for any opportunity that could put China in a bad light. It is always profit—now matter how bleak, gloomy and hopeless the situation is. But as we see it, China is fiercely fighting the battle in such unprecedented scale using its own resources and utilizing its best doctors and scientists to combat the virus. This has elicited the admiration from the WHO. Unlike the countries in less developed areas afflicted by similar outbreak of epidemic, China’s case has turned out to be far different.
Their relatively advanced health care system with medical infrastructure to implement emergency assistance, they managed to contain the virus. These are statistics that the virus may have rapidly swelled in the first three weeks. This is attributed to the coordinated and cooperative measures taken by China with other countries to prevent the rapid spread of the virus. Outside China, the contamination has been relatively contained to only over a thousand cases.
The World Health Organization and the rest of the countries that understand China’s difficulty are finding a vaccine that could neutralize it, locking its own local population to minimize contamination, built a modern hospital in less than 10 days complete with facilities that would treat up to 1000 patients, and created an emergency medical brigades to attend to the needs of the patient at every stage of their confinement. These entire have would in the long run serve to benefit to mankind.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and Dr. Michael Ryan, the executive director of WHO’s health emergencies program, lauded China’s efforts to control the virus’ spread, with Ryan saying they had “never seen the scale, the commitment of an epidemic response at this level.” The two highlighted how Chinese scientists very quickly isolated the virus and shared its genetic sequence publicly, allowing health authorities around the world to study the virus and build diagnostic tests for it.
China also recognized Cuba’s contribution. It is a small country but stands as a giant in the medical field. This is highlighted by how Chinese scientists quickly isolated the virus and shared its genetic sequence publicly, allowing health authorities around the world to study the virus and build diagnostic tests for it. The Recombinant Interferon Alpha 2B (IFNrec), an antiviral produced by the Cuban biotech industry, is being used by Chinese doctors to treat patients infected by the 2019-nCoV coronavirus. China National Health Commission has selected the product among those used in the fight against coronavirus.
The donation and support given by Japan has elicited the expression of deep gratitude from a onetime arch-rival. Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said “the Japanese government and its people from all walks of life have expressed sympathy, understanding and support to us,” and was “deeply touched.” In response, she said, to the extreme and discriminatory words uttered by some countries, officials from the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare countered that what is at fault here is the virus, definitely not people. She said, “we are separated by land, but we share the same sky.”
In odd with the rest and perhaps out of jealousy for China’s economic success, US secretary of commerce Wilbur Ross blurted during his appearance on Fox Business show saying of the ghoulish effort to find an “America First” silver lining to the difficulties that has already killed 170 (600) people and infected nearly 8,000 (29,000) more, and threatens to become a global pandemic.” He said “it’s potentially a good thing for the US economy.” Asked if the new coronavirus puts economic growth at risk, Ross responded saying, “I don’t want to talk about a victory lap over a very unfortunate, very malignant disease.” But then proceeded by making a case that the outbreak might present a moneymaking opportunity in the United States.
Indeed, the remark made by Ross gave China the most esoteric conclusion of who he is; that the US will never see any act of kindness from China, and the only way to reciprocate such act is to interpret that in the end there is a silver lining and it is for them to take the opportunity, like Ross, that the nCoV will help assist the US to offset its huge trade deficit which is of its own making.