Carbon82

Wish all MCFers have the best of luck and health in the year of rat.

As of 6pm today. Confirmed case: 1,358 Suspected case: 1,965 Death: 41

Reunion dinner at Putien.

Don't need to get paranoid yet. Beside China, there are not other cases of local infection so far in other countries, so either all are better prepared this time round or the new virus is not as contagious as SARS. And fatality rate is also much lower than SARS, although I know 1 death is too many... I have trust in our system. As long as we watch our own health, observe good personal hygiene as well as abiding to all instructions issued by the authorities, we shall be fine, unless situations take a sudden downturn.

Cranberries Oat cookies by daughter. Can't stop after taking the 1st piece.

You are late...

Total confirmed case hit 571 in China as of this morning. Wuhan virus: Number of confirmed cases in China exceeds 570 BEIJING: China said on Thursday (Jan 23) that the number of people infected by a new coronavirus has hit 571, as authorities took a drastic step to contain the outbreak by suspending all flights and trains out of Wuhan, the epicentre of the epidemic. At least 17 people have died from the SARS-like virus, which has also spread to other major Chinese cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Chongqing, as well as provinces in northeastern, central, and southern China. The first case of the new virus was confirmed on Dec 31 and it has since been detected in Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Thailand and the United States. The virus, which causes respiratory symptoms similar to a cold or flu, has been linked to a seafood market in Wuhan, the largest city in central China with a population of about 11 million. That market has since been shut down. The Chinese government has classified the outbreak in the same category as the SARS epidemic, meaning compulsory isolation for those diagnosed with the illness and the potential to implement quarantine measures. The World Health Organization (WHO) has confirmed that the virus can be passed between people, at least those in close contact. It delayed a decision on Wednesday on whether to declare a global health emergency - a rare instrument used only for the worst outbreaks, saying it needed "more information". The emergency committee will meet again from 1100GMT (7pm local time) on Thursday, after its chair, Didier Houssin, said the experts were split over declaring a public health emergency. Wuhan is now under effective quarantine, with outward flights and trains suspended, subways halted and large public events cancelled. Wuhan's special anti-virus command centre said the quarantine measures are meant to "effectively cut off the virus spread, resolutely curb the outbreak and guarantee the people's health and safety," according to state media. The decision came as hundreds of millions of people are travelling across China for the Chinese New Year holiday, which starts on Friday. The city had already warned people to avoid entering or leaving Wuhan. Authorities in Wuhan also made it mandatory to wear a mask in public places, according to state media.

The lock down per my understanding is to restrict those unwell from traveling out of Wuhan, not all its 11m resident. More details shall emerge after 10am when the lock down started. As for WHO, I am surprised why they choose to postpone making that critical decision that could potentially affect many others... WHO postpones decision on whether to declare China outbreak a global public health emergency The World Health Organization on Wednesday delayed a decision on whether to declare the ongoing outbreak of a novel virus that originated in China a global health emergency, with agency officials saying they needed more information to reach a consensus. Following a meeting of a WHO emergency committee, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO’s director-general, said he had asked the committee to continue the discussion Thursday. “This is an evolving and complex situation,” said Tedros, as he is known. He said declaring the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern, or PHEIC, was a decision “I’m only prepared to make with appropriate consideration of all the evidence.” The delay came as new cases were reported and the situation in China was rapidly changing. Authorities said they planned to implement a travel lockdown in Wuhan, the city of 11 million people where the outbreak is believed to have started. Starting at 10 a.m. local time Thursday, public transit service is going to be suspended, and flights and trains from the city are going to be canceled. Designating an outbreak a PHEIC grants the WHO director-general additional powers to issue recommendations for how countries should respond. While countries can ignore those directives, such an announcement can coalesce global attention on an outbreak. Dr. Didier Houssin, the chair of the WHO emergency committee, said members were divided over whether to recommend Tedros declare a PHEIC. Ultimately, he said, “the committee felt it was a little too unprecise to very clearly state that it was time to suggest to the [director-general] that it was a PHEIC.” Hundreds of cases of the virus, which has been determined to belong to a family called coronaviruses, have been confirmed in Wuhan. Infections have also started to crop up around China. Health authorities have identified cases in people traveling from Wuhan to countries including Thailand, Japan, South Korea, and, as of Tuesday, the United States. With millions of people expected to travel around the Lunar New Year holidays, which kick off this week, health authorities fear spread of the virus could accelerate. Countries, including the United States, are screening passengers arriving from Wuhan for symptoms of the infection, including cough, fever, and shortness of breath, and informing travelers about the signs of the virus to encourage them to seek out medical care if they become sick. There have been 17 confirmed deaths related to the virus, which is known provisionally as 2019-nCoV. At least some of the patients who died had existing health complications when they contracted the virus. North Korea has closed its border to foreign travelers, according to tour operators. Restricting travel and trade with a country dealing with an outbreak, however, is viewed as unlikely to stop disease spread and as likely to discourage countries from being transparent about outbreaks. The PHEIC designation would have enabled Tedros to urge countries not to close borders or limit trade. Coronaviruses, which include SARS and MERS, typically spread to humans from an animal source. Many of the early cases of the novel coronavirus were linked to a seafood market in Wuhan that also sold game. But health authorities have confirmed that some infections have come through human-to-human transmission. They are still trying to determine whether spread among people is limited or whether it might be spreading in a sustained manner, meaning it easily passes from one person to the next and then onward. They are also trying to learn if people with the virus can spread it only when they are symptomatic or before symptoms arise as well. The seafood market in Wuhan was closed Jan. 1, the day after Chinese health officials reported to the WHO a strange spike in pneumonia cases in the city. That allowed scientists to discover the novel virus. The emergence of a global coronavirus outbreak from China is reminiscent of the SARS outbreak of 2002 to 2003, which went on to kill nearly 800 people. The PHEIC designation (pronounced “fake”) was created following an update to the International Health Regulations after that outbreak. The first PHEIC was declared for the 2009 H1N1 flu pandemic, and others have included the 2014-2016 West African Ebola outbreak and the Zika outbreak in 2016. The WHO set up an emergency committee to assess whether MERS should be declared a PHEIC, but it concluded after meeting several times that the disease did not constitute a global health emergency. There are currently two active PHEICs: the ongoing Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the continued transmission of polio.

I fully agree. And this time round, they are also fully prepared, basing on the guidelines issued from various agencies so far. To those that have previously complained that there are no actions from our government, this is the best response. I will give them my as well. And hopefully all these efforts will reduce our risk and exposure to the minimum. Wuhan virus: How it could have jumped from animals to humans and other questions answered SINGAPORE - The Ministry of Health (MOH) announced on Wednesday (Jan 22) that it is setting up a multi-ministry task force to tackle the mysterious Wuhan virus that has already infected more than 400 people in China. Although it has yet to reach Singapore's shores, increased air travel in the lead-up to the Chinese New Year holidays has led to the ministry - as well as other agencies across the world - stepping up precautionary measures to either prevent entry of the disease or contain its spread. As of Wednesday afternoon, the Wuhan virus, a type of coronavirus which causes pneumonia in its victims, has claimed nine lives. But what is the virus and how did the Wuhan virus spread to people? Here are some questions and answers about the Wuhan coronavirus behind the latest outbreak. 1. WHAT IS A VIRUS? Viruses are microscopic parasites that lack the ability to survive and reproduce outside living organisms, which includes animal, humans and even bacteria. For this reason, it is debatable if they are truly "alive". They become active only when they come into contact with living cells, which they then try to hijack to produce more viruses. Even so, viruses are made of biological material and have the biggest population of any biological entity on earth, triggering responses in living things that range from unnoticeable reactions to death. Some experts believe that nearly 10 per cent of the current human genome is viral genetic material, as a result of viruses infecting human cells for millennia. 2. WHAT ARE CORONAVIRUSES? They belong to a large group of viruses that usually infect only animals, and are so named for the crown-like spikes on their surface. But from the mid-1960s, scientists began identifying coronaviruses that affect humans, with seven types of these viruses classified to date, according to the United States Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. Four of these typically cause mild to moderate upper-respiratory tract illnesses like the common cold, with well-known symptoms such as sore throats, cough, and headaches. But the remaining three have more recently caused severe repercussions on human health as scientists scrambled to understand them. The first is the infectious severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) coronavirus, which killed almost 800 people in 32 countries 17 years ago. The other two are the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (Mers-CoV), which was first reported in Saudi Arabia in 2012 and later spread further, and the latest Wuhan virus (2019-nCov) which killed its first victims in the Chinese city of Wuhan. 3. HOW COULD THE WUHAN VIRUS SPREAD FROM ANIMALS TO HUMANS? Scientists have speculated that the virus from the latest Wuhan outbreak, like the Mers and Sars viruses that preceded it, evolved from coronavirus strains that previously affected only animals. This ability of a virus to "jump" from animals to humans is not unusual and has given rise to a category of illnesses called zoonotic diseases, which also counts among its ranks diseases caused by non-coronavirus viruses like the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and Ebola. Zoonotic viruses generally have a single strand of genetic material called RNA, which is more easily copied or mutated than humans' double-stranded DNA, which accounts for their virality. To date, the Wuhan coronavirus has been closely linked to Huanan seafood market in Wuhan, which reportedly also peddled live animals like deer and animal parts in addition to seafood. Scientists have said such "unnatural situations", where animals are brought together and often housed in bad conditions in close proximity to people, create opportunities for viruses to hop between animals. The virus could then have changed so that it is able to infect humans and eventually start spreading between people. Every virus typically infects a certain type of living host organism, said Dr Sebastian Maurer-Stroh, deputy executive director of research at the Agency for Science, Technology and Research's (A*Star) Bioinformatics Institute. "Viruses can shift their host preference through mutations... Some viruses mutate much faster," he added. 4. HOW MIGHT THE WUHAN VIRUS SPREAD BETWEEN PEOPLE? The Wuhan coronavirus is understood to spread much like the common flu does - through the air when an infected person coughs, through close contact such as shaking hands with an infected person, or touching an object with the virus on it before touching one's mouth and eyes. For now, virologists have said that the Wuhan coronavirus - based on reported rates of infection - is likely not as infectious as the Sars virus. But there are concerns that the Wuhan virus' current reported 2 per cent death rate - two out of 100 infected people die - is not representative and that the virus could further mutate to become more lethal. Dr Michael Wong, a senior family physician at Raffles Medical, said the virulence of the Wuhan virus cannot be underestimated. “With mutations, the virus could increase in virulence and transmissibility, leading to a serious pandemic,” he said. The Chinese government has classified the Wuhan virus outbreak in the same category as the Sars epidemic, meaning compulsory isolation for those diagnosed with the illness and the potential to implement quarantine measures on travel, said Dr Wong. There are also worries that the number of infections is yet under-reported, with many brushing off symptoms as those of the common flu. 5. HOW IS THE WUHAN VIRUS DIFFERENT FROM THE SARS VIRUS? It is a different strain and, for now, has reported a lower fatality rate than the Sars virus. The World Health Organisation estimates that the overall fatality rate for Sars patients to be between 14 per cent and 15 per cent, while that for Wuhan is currently at 2 per cent. Researchers have said that the Wuhan virus shares only 76 per cent of its genetic material with the Sars virus - a big difference in genetic terms much like "comparing a dog and a cat". There is, however, speculation that both viruses originated from bats. 6. SHOULD I PANIC? No, said professor Paul Tambyah, from the department of medicine at NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine. “I don’t think we should panic as panic is never a good approach.” Instead, we should be concerned. He said there are measures in place to control the outbreak here and elsewhere. The public should be concerned and thus be vigilant about maintaining good hand hygiene, seeking medical attention if unwell and staying home, he said. 7. SHOULD I WEAR A MASK? Wear a surgical mask when you have a cold or flu, to prevent the transmission of airborne germs. Some doctors have been wearing surgical masks as a precautionary measure at work, so some people have wondered if they should dig out their N95 masks too. But there is no need to, said professor Leo Yee Sin, the executive director of the National Centre for Infectious Diseases. Instead, people should wear surgical masks. “N95 masks are of a very special design. They are very difficult to breathe in. If you find the N95 mask easy to breathe in and comfortable, you are wearing it wrong and it’s no use,” she said. “It’s only when it is difficult to breathe that you are wearing it correctly.” It is thus not recommended for the general public, she said. In fact, if you use it wrongly, it may make things worse because you think you are protected when you are not, she said. Dr Leong Hoe Nam, an infectious disease specialist at Mount Elizabeth Novena Hospital said that everyone with respiratory symptoms must wear masks, now that there’s human to human transmission. 8. CAN I STILL VISIT CHINA? The MOH advises travellers to avoid non-essential travel to Wuhan. It also reminds the public to continue to exercise caution and pay attention to personal hygiene when travelling to the rest of China. The MOH said that all travellers should monitor their health closely for two weeks upon return to Singapore and seek medical attention promptly if they feel unwell, and also inform their doctor of their travel history. If they have a fever or respiratory symptoms like a cough or runny nose, they should wear a mask and call the clinic ahead of the visit. 9. SHOULD I BE WORRIED ABOUT CHINA TOURISTS COMING INTO SINGAPORE? Singapore is stepping up precautionary measures, in anticipation of more travellers in the lead-up to the Chinese New Year holidays. The expanded measures include temperature screening for all travellers arriving from China – not just Wuhan alone – at Changi Airport from Wednesday and issuing health advisory notices to them. “However, people who are in the incubation period – likely seven to 14 days based on known characteristics of other corona viruses – might not have started showing symptoms such as a fever, and, hence, not be detected by the thermal scanners,” said Raffles Medical’s Dr Wong. “With increased awareness of the infection, it is hoped that those who experience symptoms would isolate themselves and see a doctor as soon as possible so as to prevent spreading the infection.” 10. Is there a cure for the Wuhan virus infection? There is no specific treatment to cure illnesses caused by human coronaviruses, including pneumonia caused by the Wuhan virus. Patients typically recover on their own after some time by depending on their immune system to fight the infection. Treatment mostly involves tackling flu-like symptoms from infections and making patients more comfortable, such as providing them with breathing apparatus to help with breathing difficulties. In some cases, antiviral drugs are available to shorten the duration or reduce the severity of the illness by decreasing the ability of the coronavirus to reproduce, effectively isolating it. A*Star's Dr Maurer-Stroh said that "as a rule of thumb, a virus that spreads widely is often less severe". 11. SHOULD I GET A FLU JAB? A flu vaccine will not help protect you against the Wuhan coronavirus. There is no vaccine to protect against coronaviruses. However, according to an advisory from Raffles Medical, you should still get a flu jab if you are travelling to exposed areas to prevent you from contracting influenza symptoms and signs that may mislead screening authorities at temperature checkpoints.

Wuhan pneumonia outbreak: A timeline of how the new coronavirus spread BEIJING: A new coronavirus, a mysterious SARS-like disease, has spread around China and to other countries since first emerging in the central Chinese city of Wuhan. A timeline of how the virus has spread: ALARM RAISED BY CHINA The World Health Organization (WHO) is alerted on Dec 31, 2019, by Chinese authorities of a string of pneumonia-like cases in Wuhan, a city of 11 million people. Patients are quarantined and work begins on identifying the origin of the pneumonia. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) identifies a seafood market suspected to be at the centre of the outbreak. The market is closed on Jan 1, 2020. SINGAPORE STARTS SCREENINGS AT AIRPORT On Jan 2, Singapore's Ministry of Health (MOH) says it is aware of the pneumonia outbreak and is monitoring the situation closely. Temperature screening will be implemented for all travellers arriving at Changi Airport from Wuhan and suspected cases will be referred to hospitals for further assessment. NEW CORONAVIRUS On Jan 9, the WHO says that the outbreak in Wuhan was caused by a previously unknown type of coronavirus, which is a broad family ranging from the common cold to more serious illnesses like SARS. Fifty-nine people have been infected, of whom seven are in a serious condition, according to an official toll. FIRST DEATH Chinese health authorities say a first person has died of the virus on Jan 11. They revise downwards the number of sick people to 41. SPREADS BEYOND CHINA On Jan 13, the virus spreads beyond China's borders for the first time, with a case emerging in Thailand, according to the WHO. The victim is a Chinese woman diagnosed with mild pneumonia who was returning from a trip to Wuhan. On Jan 15, China's health commission says no human-to-human transmission of the virus behind the Wuhan outbreak has been confirmed so far, but the possibility "cannot be excluded". The next day a first case of the virus is confirmed in Japan in someone who had stayed in Wuhan in early January. US CONTROLS On Jan 17, a second person, a 69-year-old man, dies in Wuhan, according to authorities. The same day, the US CDC announces that it will begin screening passengers arriving from Wuhan at three airports: San Francisco, New York's JFK and Los Angeles. HUMAN-TO-HUMAN TRANSMISSION CONFIRMED On Jan 20, a third death and more than 100 new cases are announced in China, sparking concerns ahead of the annual Chinese New Year holiday which begins on Jan 25 and sees hundreds of millions of Chinese people travel nationwide. The virus is present in Beijing in the north, Shanghai in the east and Shenzhen in the south. More than 200 cases have been recorded. The virus is also detected in South Korea in a Chinese person who has arrived by plane from Wuhan. China's President Xi Jinping says that the virus must be "resolutely contained", in his first public comments on the outbreak. Human-to-human transmission is "affirmative", a top Chinese expert on infectious diseases Zhong Nanshan tells state broadcaster CCTV. COUNTRIES STEP UP AIRPORT SCREENINGS Singapore's MOH says on Jan 20 that temperature screening at Changi Airport will be extended to all travellers arriving from China. Individuals with pneumonia who had travelled to Wuhan within 14 days before the onset of symptoms will be isolated in hospital. On Jan 21, Australia announces it will begin screening passengers from some flights from China. DEATH TOLL AT 6, MEDICAL WORKERS ILL Wuhan's mayor tells state television that the death toll has risen to six. According to state media, the number of infected patients has spiked to 291, a jump of more than 70 cases from the previously reported 218 patients. It also confirms 15 medical workers in Wuhan have been diagnosed with pneumonia, with an additional worker suspected of having the disease. Separately, China's eastern Zhejiang provincial health authority says a total of five cases of new coronavirus were confirmed as of noon on Jan 21. VIRUS SPREADS BEYOND ASIA FOR THE FIRST TIME TO THE US On Jan 21, the CDC announces the US' first case of the virus. A US resident in his 30s who lives near Seattle approached authorities after reading about the SARS-like virus in news reports. The man entered the country on Jan 15 after travelling to Wuhan, two days before the US began deploying health officials at major airports to screen passengers arriving from that central Chinese city which is at the heart of the outbreak. The efforts are to be extended now to a total of five US airports. DEATH TOLL CLIMBS On Jan 22, an official from China's national health commission says the death toll as of Jan 21 is nine. There are a total of 440 confirmed cases across 13 provinces in China and more than 2,000 cases of close contact have also been detected. The commission's deputy head Li Bin tells reporters the coronavirus is transmitted via the respiratory tract and there is "the possibility of viral mutation and further spread of the disease". MORE CASES OUTSIDE CHINA Two new cases are reported in Thailand on Jan 22 - a Thai woman who visited Wuhan and a male Chinese tourist. Both are being treated in medical facilities outside Bangkok. Macau confirms its first case, a 52-year-old businesswoman from Wuhan who went to hospital on Jan 21. Local authorities announce temperature checks at entry points, with visitors required to fill in a health declaration form. Casinos have also been provided with portable screening devices and all casino staff are required to wear surgical masks. North Korea announces it will ban tourists in a bid to keep the virus out of the country. Singapore announces it has set up a ministerial task force to deal with the Wuhan virus. Health Minister Gan Kim Yong says an imported case reaching its shores is "inevitable". DEATH TOLL NEARLY DOUBLES State television reports on the night of Jan 22 that the death toll has risen to 17, with the number of confirmed cases in Hubei rising to 444 as of 8pm local time.

Dinner.

The time has come, and this is a very clear message from our MOH. No more guessing or hearsay. From pandemic preparedness and response point of view, I would say the timing is just right, given that there are now more details and evidences to warrant a travel advisory as well as setting up of ministerial task force. Singapore to form Wuhan virus ministerial task force, imported case 'inevitable': Gan Kim Yong SINGAPORE: Health Minister Gan Kim Yong said on Wednesday (Jan 22) that he will co-chair a multiministerial task force to deal with the "eventuality" of the Wuhan virus on Singapore's shores. He will lead the committee with Minister for National Development Lawrence Wong. "It is inevitable that we will see an imported case sooner or later," said Mr Gan, adding that this is because of the evolving situation and the high volume of traffic in and out of Singapore. He was speaking to reporters after an update from the Ministry of Health (MOH) on the Wuhan virus situation. Three more suspected cases have been identified in Singapore and are undergoing testing. In a press release on Wednesday, the Health Ministry advised travellers to avoid non-essential travel to Wuhan. "MOH reminded the public to continue to exercise caution and attention to personal hygiene when travelling to the rest of China," the release said. Wuhan, the Chinese city at the centre of the SARS-like outbreak, has urged people to stay away as it strives to contain a disease that has spread across the country. The death toll from the virus has reached nine while more than 400 people have now been infected in 13 provinces and municipalities. The disease is spreading just as hundreds of millions of people are travelling in packed trains, planes and buses across China to gather with friends and family for the Chinese New Year holiday, which starts on Saturday. Across the world, the virus has spread to Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and the United States. On Wednesday, Singapore began isolating all pneumonia patients who have been in China in recent weeks. Those with acute respiratory infection and have visited a hospital in China within 14 days before their symptoms surfaced will also be isolated. Previously, only patients with fever and pneumonia and who have travelled to Wuhan have been subject to isolation.

The VP of my ex company bought it for his son, price well over $200K (and he was so proud of it). I sat in it before but really nothing special, not worth the premium. His son sold it in less than a year time.