UN chief Antonio Guterres said today that different countries have followed different, sometimes contradictory strategies on <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/trump-calls-barack-obama-grossly-incompetent-after-ex-presidents-covid-19-criticism-299305">coronavirus</a>&nbsp;and all are paying a heavy price during the virtual World Health Assembly annual meeting today.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/global-coronavirus-cases-surge-to-47-million-death-toll-at-315244-299352">Also Read:&nbsp;Global coronavirus cases surge to 4.7 million, death toll at 315,244</a>

"The planet is paying a heavy price for countries ignoring the recommendations of the World Health Organization to fight the coronavirus pandemic," the WHO chief said.

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The World Health Assembly <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WHA73?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WHA73</a> starts today. 
 
Health leaders are convening virtually for the first time this year, due to <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/COVID19?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#COVID19</a>. 
 
Watch it LIVE here from 12:00 CEST.<a href="https://t.co/3LcaLDToH9">https://t.co/3LcaLDToH9</a>
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President Xi who attended the video conference said China has always been "transparent about coronavirus". The Chinese president said his country will provide $2 billion in global coronavirus aid over two years.

The Chinese president added that his county would make coronavirus vaccine a "global public good".

"China supports an inquiry after the pandemic has been brought under control," President Xi added.

The annual conference began amid clashes between China and the United States over the pandemic with the Trump administration accusing China of not being transparent and President Trump accusing the WHO of "mismanaging" the crisis.

UN chief Antonio Guterres said today that different countries have followed different, sometimes contradictory strategies on coronavirus and all are paying a heavy price during the virtual World Health Assembly annual meeting today.

UN chief Antonio Guterres said today that different countries have followed different, sometimes contradictory strategies on coronavirus and all are paying a heavy price during the virtual World Health Assembly annual meeting today. Also Read: Global coronavirus cases surge to 4.7 million, death toll at 315,244 "The planet is paying a heavy price for countries ignoring the recommendations of the World Health Organization to fight the coronavirus pandemic," the WHO chief said. The World Health Assembly #WHA73 starts today. Health leaders are convening virtually for the first time this year, due to #COVID19. Watch it LIVE here from 12:00 CEST.https://t.co/3LcaLDToH9 — World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) May 18, 2020 × President Xi who attended the video conference said China has always been "transparent about coronavirus". The Chinese president said his country will provide $2 billion in global coronavirus aid over two years. The Chinese president added that his county would make coronavirus vaccine a "global public good". "China supports an inquiry after the pandemic has been brought under control," President Xi added. The annual conference began amid clashes between China and the United States over the pandemic with the Trump administration accusing China of not being transparent and President Trump accusing the WHO of "mismanaging" the crisis.

China always transparent about coronavirus, says President Xi during World Health Assembly video conference

As Wuhan, the Chinese city where the COVID-19 pandemic began, cranked up testing after five of its residents tested positive for the novel coronavirus, some residents crowding the test centres expressed concern on Saturday that the very act of getting tested could expose them to the coronavirus.

As Wuhan, the Chinese city where the COVID-19 pandemic began, cranked up testing after five of its residents tested positive for the novel coronavirus, some residents crowding the test centres expressed concern on Saturday that the very act of getting tested could expose them to the coronavirus. Safety has become a hot topic on social media groups among the 11 million residents of Wuhan, people converged on open-air test sites at clinics and other facilities. Many said, though, that they support the voluntary campaign. Wuhan health authorities sprang back into action after confirming last weekend the central Chinese city's first cluster of new infections since it was released from virtual lockdown on April 8. The new cases - all of them people who had previously shown no symptoms of the disease - spurred Wuhan authorities to launch a citywide search for asymptomatic carriers of the virus, aiming to gauge the level of COVID-19 risk. "Some people have expressed worry in the (social media) groups about the tests, which require people to cluster, and whether there's any infection risk," said one Wuhan resident who asked not to be named. "But others rebutted those worries, saying such comments are not supportive of the government." The unprecedented scale of testing indicates the official level of concern, some experts say. Others say it is an extremely costly exercise and question its effectiveness. China has confirmed 82,941 cases of COVID-19 as of Friday and 4,633 deaths. The government does not include people found to be asymptomatic carriers of the virus in its tally and does not publish a cumulative number of asymptomatic cases. (With inputs from Reuters)

Wuhan residents fear coronavirus testing could rekindle disease

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), some Western scientists sympathetic to China and the obsequious media have expended enormous efforts to convince the public that the COVID-19 pandemic is a naturally-occurring outbreak of disease.

Included in that effort are <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2020/04/12/asia/china-coronavirus-research-restrictions-intl-hnk/index.html">restrictions </a>imposed by the Chinese government on academic research related to the origins of COVID-19, in what is likely part of a wider attempt to control the narrative surrounding the origin of the pandemic.

There are now rumours swirling within the global scientific community that Western professional journals are submitting to pressure from Beijing and refusing to publish data that do not conform to the naturally-occurring interpretation of the origin of COVID-19.

The narrative promoted by the CCP is that COVID-19, while circulating in a bat population mutated, acquiring the ability to infect humans, which was then transmitted to people either visiting or working in the Wuhan Seafood Market.

First of all, it was already known by the end of January 2020, that the initial patients hospitalised between December 1-10, 2019 had <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30183-5/fulltext">not visited </a>the market and bats were <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7079563/">not sold</a> there.

Despite the extraordinary propaganda campaign mounted by the Chinese government and its sycophants in the West, the origin of COVID-19 remains unknown and all of the structurally close bat coronaviruses so far identified to explain its origin have only raised more doubts.

In the February 3, 2020 Nature article, scientists from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, led by Zheng-Li Shi, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7079563/">claimed that</a> the coronavirus RaTG13, isolated from bats in Yunnan Province, China, showed a 96.2% sequence identity with COVID-19 and, therefore, “RaTG13 is the closest relative” of COVID-19 and forms a distinct lineage from other coronaviruses.

A month later on March 17, 2020, the article “The proximal origin of SARS-CoV-2,” widely-cited by scientists and the media, supported the conclusion that RaTG13 is CoVid-19’s closest relative, which likely “jumped” from animals to humans in the Wuhan Seafood Market.

It was later <a href="https://ccnationalsecurity.org/chinas-narrative-about-the-origin-of-covid-19-is-starting-to-unravel/">revealed that </a>RaTG13 only existed on paper and was actually a duplicate of another bat coronavirus, BtCoV/4991, about which very little experimental data have been published.

Nevertheless, if we use the RaTG13 sequence, which has provided the basis of China’s naturally-occurring theory for the origin of COVID-19, holes begin to appear in its argument.

COVID-19’s receptor binding domain, which allows the attachment of the virus to a human cell, is structurally closer in its amino acid sequence to that of pangolins (scaly anteaters) than to bat RaTG13. 
 
COVID-19 
 
N S N N L D S K V G G N Y N Y L Y R L F R K S N L K P F E R D I S T E I Y Q A G S T P C 
N G V E G F N C Y F P L Q S Y G F Q P T N G V G Y Q P Y 
 
Pangolin

N S N N L D S K V G G N Y N Y L Y R L F R K S N L K P F E R D I S T E I Y Q A G S T P C 
N G V E G F N C Y F P L Q S Y G F H P T N G V G Y Q P Y&nbsp;

RaTG13 
 
N S K H I D A K E G G N F N Y L Y R L F R K A N L K P F E R D I S T E I Y Q A G S K P C 
N G Q T G L N C Y Y P L Y R Y G F Y P T D G V G H Q P Y &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;

As you can see, the pangolin sequence differs from COVID-19 by only one amino acid, while RaTG13 differs in seventeen positions.

Within the receptor-binding domain there are fourteen specific amino acids that were previously <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/113/11/3048">shown</a> to be critical for coronaviruses to bind to the angiotensin-converting enzyme-2 receptor that initiates the COVID-19 infection in humans.

At least two pangolin species match those critical COVID-19 amino acids in thirteen out of fourteen positions, whereas RaTG13 matches only seven out of fourteen and other bat coronaviruses do so to an even lesser extent.

Chinese scientists <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2313-x">suggest </a>that the pangolin receptor binding domain was “donated” to COVID-19, presumably through some type of recombinant event occurring between a bat coronavirus and a pangolin coronavirus inside a pangolin host.

Their naturally-occurring explanation for the presence of a pangolin-like receptor binding domain is highly speculative and no evidence exists to support such a contention.

A far more likely scenario is that the native receptor binding domain within a bat coronavirus “backbone” was artificially replaced with one from a pangolin strain.

After that, came the insertion of the furin polybasic cleavage site, found in COVID-19 and none of the close bat coronaviruses relatives yet identified and a distinctive feature is widely known for its ability to enhance <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6832359/">pathogenicity</a> and<a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12250-020-00212-7"> transmissibility</a> in coronaviruses.

There is additional information now being discussed on <a href="https://nerdhaspower.weebly.com/blog/scientific-evidence-and-logic-behind-the-claim-that-the-wuhan-coronavirus-is-man-made#comments">virology blogs</a> indicating that COVID-19 is not naturally-occurring because its differential ratio of synonymous to non-synonymous substitution is vastly different compared to that which occurs in nature among bat populations as well as natural factors that would select against the presence of a furin polybasic cleavage site.

China’s ongoing propaganda campaign and its associated Western censorship will not stop honest scientific inquiry from discovering the true origin of COVID-19. 
 
(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL)

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), some Western scientists sympathetic to China and the obsequious media have expended enormous efforts to convince the public that the COVID-19 pandemic is a naturally-occurring outbreak of disease.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), some Western scientists sympathetic to China and the obsequious media have expended enormous efforts to convince the public that the COVID-19 pandemic is a naturally-occurring outbreak of disease. Included in that effort are restrictions imposed by the Chinese government on academic research related to the origins of COVID-19, in what is likely part of a wider attempt to control the narrative surrounding the origin of the pandemic. There are now rumours swirling within the global scientific community that Western professional journals are submitting to pressure from Beijing and refusing to publish data that do not conform to the naturally-occurring interpretation of the origin of COVID-19. The narrative promoted by the CCP is that COVID-19, while circulating in a bat population mutated, acquiring the ability to infect humans, which was then transmitted to people either visiting or working in the Wuhan Seafood Market. First of all, it was already known by the end of January 2020, that the initial patients hospitalised between December 1-10, 2019 had not visited the market and bats were not sold there. Despite the extraordinary propaganda campaign mounted by the Chinese government and its sycophants in the West, the origin of COVID-19 remains unknown and all of the structurally close bat coronaviruses so far identified to explain its origin have only raised more doubts. In the February 3, 2020 Nature article, scientists from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, led by Zheng-Li Shi, claimed that the coronavirus RaTG13, isolated from bats in Yunnan Province, China, showed a 96.2% sequence identity with COVID-19 and, therefore, “RaTG13 is the closest relative” of COVID-19 and forms a distinct lineage from other coronaviruses. A month later on March 17, 2020, the article “The proximal origin of SARS-CoV-2,” widely-cited by scientists and the media, supported the conclusion that RaTG13 is CoVid-19’s closest relative, which likely “jumped” from animals to humans in the Wuhan Seafood Market. It was later revealed that RaTG13 only existed on paper and was actually a duplicate of another bat coronavirus, BtCoV/4991, about which very little experimental data have been published. Nevertheless, if we use the RaTG13 sequence, which has provided the basis of China’s naturally-occurring theory for the origin of COVID-19, holes begin to appear in its argument. COVID-19’s receptor binding domain, which allows the attachment of the virus to a human cell, is structurally closer in its amino acid sequence to that of pangolins (scaly anteaters) than to bat RaTG13. COVID-19 N S N N L D S K V G G N Y N Y L Y R L F R K S N L K P F E R D I S T E I Y Q A G S T P C N G V E G F N C Y F P L Q S Y G F Q P T N G V G Y Q P Y Pangolin N S N N L D S K V G G N Y N Y L Y R L F R K S N L K P F E R D I S T E I Y Q A G S T P C N G V E G F N C Y F P L Q S Y G F H P T N G V G Y Q P Y RaTG13 N S K H I D A K E G G N F N Y L Y R L F R K A N L K P F E R D I S T E I Y Q A G S K P C N G Q T G L N C Y Y P L Y R Y G F Y P T D G V G H Q P Y As you can see, the pangolin sequence differs from COVID-19 by only one amino acid, while RaTG13 differs in seventeen positions. Within the receptor-binding domain there are fourteen specific amino acids that were previously shown to be critical for coronaviruses to bind to the angiotensin-converting enzyme-2 receptor that initiates the COVID-19 infection in humans. At least two pangolin species match those critical COVID-19 amino acids in thirteen out of fourteen positions, whereas RaTG13 matches only seven out of fourteen and other bat coronaviruses do so to an even lesser extent. Chinese scientists suggest that the pangolin receptor binding domain was “donated” to COVID-19, presumably through some type of recombinant event occurring between a bat coronavirus and a pangolin coronavirus inside a pangolin host. Their naturally-occurring explanation for the presence of a pangolin-like receptor binding domain is highly speculative and no evidence exists to support such a contention. A far more likely scenario is that the native receptor binding domain within a bat coronavirus “backbone” was artificially replaced with one from a pangolin strain. After that, came the insertion of the furin polybasic cleavage site, found in COVID-19 and none of the close bat coronaviruses relatives yet identified and a distinctive feature is widely known for its ability to enhance pathogenicity and transmissibility in coronaviruses. There is additional information now being discussed on virology blogs indicating that COVID-19 is not naturally-occurring because its differential ratio of synonymous to non-synonymous substitution is vastly different compared to that which occurs in nature among bat populations as well as natural factors that would select against the presence of a furin polybasic cleavage site. China’s ongoing propaganda campaign and its associated Western censorship will not stop honest scientific inquiry from discovering the true origin of COVID-19. (Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL)

Explained: Scientific indications that show COVID-19 is man-made

China retaliates with higher tariff on Australian goods as Australia said that it will hold inquiry even if it hurts the trade with China. Australia has asked for the inquiry into Coronavirus origin.

Australia asks for inquiry into Coronavirus origin

China confirmed on Friday that it had commanded unauthorised laboratories to destroy samples of the coronavirus in the early stage of the outbreak.

Liu Dengfeng, an official with the National Health Commission’s science and education department, said this was done at unauthorised labs to ''prevent the risk to laboratory biological safety and prevent secondary disasters caused by unidentified pathogens''.

According to him, when the pneumonia-like illness was first reported in Wuhan, ''national-level professional institutes''&nbsp;were working to identify the pathogen that was causing it.

''Based on comprehensive research and expert opinion, we decided to temporarily manage the pathogen causing the pneumonia as Class II, highly pathogenic and imposed biosafety requirements on sample collection, transport and experimental activities, as well as destroying the samples,''&nbsp;he said.

Those handling virus samples were ordered not to provide them to any institutions or labs without approval, as per&nbsp;a provincial health commission notice issued in February.

Unauthorised labs that obtained samples in the early stage of the outbreak had to destroy them or send them to a municipal centre for disease control and prevention for storage.

However, he defended the move by saying that this was in line with China’s standard practice for handling highly pathogenic samples, which should not be done by labs that do not meet the requirements.

Tensions have escalated between Beijing and Washington as they trade accusations over the origin of the virus, which has killed more than 300,000 people worldwide, and China is under mounting international pressure to allow an inquiry into its handling of the pandemic.

Both US President Donald Trump and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo have&nbsp;repeatedly said that Beijing declined to provide virus samples taken from patients when the contagion began in China late last year, and that Chinese authorities had destroyed early samples.

&nbsp;

China confirmed on Friday that it had commanded unauthorised laboratories to destroy samples of the coronavirus in the early stage of the outbreak. Liu Dengfeng, an official with the National Health Commission’s science and education department, said this was done at unauthorised labs to ''prevent the risk to laboratory biological safety and prevent secondary disasters caused by unidentified pathogens''.

China confirmed on Friday that it had commanded unauthorised laboratories to destroy samples of the coronavirus in the early stage of the outbreak. Liu Dengfeng, an official with the National Health Commission’s science and education department, said this was done at unauthorised labs to ''prevent the risk to laboratory biological safety and prevent secondary disasters caused by unidentified pathogens''. According to him, when the pneumonia-like illness was first reported in Wuhan, ''national-level professional institutes'' were working to identify the pathogen that was causing it. ''Based on comprehensive research and expert opinion, we decided to temporarily manage the pathogen causing the pneumonia as Class II, highly pathogenic and imposed biosafety requirements on sample collection, transport and experimental activities, as well as destroying the samples,'' he said. Those handling virus samples were ordered not to provide them to any institutions or labs without approval, as per a provincial health commission notice issued in February. Unauthorised labs that obtained samples in the early stage of the outbreak had to destroy them or send them to a municipal centre for disease control and prevention for storage. However, he defended the move by saying that this was in line with China’s standard practice for handling highly pathogenic samples, which should not be done by labs that do not meet the requirements. Tensions have escalated between Beijing and Washington as they trade accusations over the origin of the virus, which has killed more than 300,000 people worldwide, and China is under mounting international pressure to allow an inquiry into its handling of the pandemic. Both US President Donald Trump and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo have repeatedly said that Beijing declined to provide virus samples taken from patients when the contagion began in China late last year, and that Chinese authorities had destroyed early samples.

China confirms ordering 'unauthorised labs' to destroy early COVID-19 samples

International order has been historically referenced with the event that brought about a major change in the same; be it a post-Westphalian international structure, a post-World War order or a post-Cold War era. With a pandemic of this magnitude that has brought even developed economies to their knees, the international order will certainly take a new shape post-COVID19. A key takeaway is going to be the reorientation of global supply chains along the lines of economic nationalism.&nbsp;

The fight of major Asian economies like South Korea, Japan, India, as well as, China against COVID-19 has caused immense damage to both life and livelihood, with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) stating that for the first time in almost 60 years, Asian economies will see “zero growth” in 2020. This was not the Asian Century that had been imagined; a realm of economic prosperity, connectivity and shifting of the global power stage to Asia with Asian powers at important tables had been the reality under which the 21st Century was to operate. At the regional level, a post-COVID-19 economic and political Asian trajectory is concurrently emerging. How likely is economic nationalism to shape the future of post-COVID-19 Asia? &nbsp;

Addressing supply chain conundrums&nbsp;

A major change in a post-COVID Asia, if not the world, is going to be a rise in and increased thrust by administrations on economic nationalism. Prolonged focus on extended and specialised global supply chains is going to be discouraged; extreme over-reliance of global supply chains on China, be it in sectors of pharmaceuticals, consumer goods, electronics or automobiles, has become alarmingly clear during the COVID-19 pandemic. &nbsp;

An extended emphasis on economic nationalism has been on the rise since the 2008 financial crisis-era; however, economic liberalism and globalisation continued to hold the larger sway, supported by Bretton Woods institutions. The coronavirus pandemic and its effect on national economies can prove to be the very thrust needed for economic nationalism to become the policy implemented by major economies. China, for its part, has been largely critical of Bretton Woods institutes like the IMF, WTO, and World Bank, earning itself the tag of a “revisionist” power by the US in its 2017 National Security Strategy and 2018 National Defence Strategy while in 2019, the US Treasury labelled China a ‘currency manipulator’. However, China’s miraculous rise to a global economic power has been a result of perks it enjoyed due to the US-led liberal economic order. Hence, while China has tried to Asianise or lead by offering an alternate platform to existing Bretton Woods institutions, as seen in the case of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), the BRICS New Development Bank (NDB) or its attempts to increase its voting power base in the IMF, it has hoped for continuation of globalisation trends that aid its economic growth. For China, a manufacturing giant and trading hub, economic nationalism imbibed by Asian nations is going to result in loss of its regional dominance and serve as a major fallback to its ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).&nbsp;

A report by Dun and Bradstreet claims that globally, over 51,000 companies have direct while 5 million companies have one or two-ties suppliers in China. Examples of economic nationalism being exacerbated by the COVID-19 crisis can be seen already. For instance, Japan, for whom China is its largest trading partner, has announced that USD 2.2 million from its huge coronavirus stimulus package will be dedicated to solely encourage its manufacturers to shift their businesses out of China, preferably into Japan itself or to other neighbouring countries. Economic nationalism has already taken a front seat in US President Donald Trump’s “America First” policy which has led to the withdrawal of US support from multilateral trade agreements like the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Further, while citing that it was responsible for “mismanaging and covering up the spread of coronavirus”, Trump recently suspended US funding from the World Health Organisation (WHO) which had come under rebuke by the US for its pro-China dealings. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decision to keep India out of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) in 2019 is also remnant of its economic nationalism interests while the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union (EU) has been interpreted as London making a strong case for national economics a priority over globalisation.&nbsp;

Economic nationalism takes a lead&nbsp;

Economic nationalism, unlike economic liberalism, will prove to be a zero-sum game. It will allow nations to benefit at the expense of other countries or groups; it threatens the positive sum-game interdependency a globalised international order has thrived on. Beijing has followed a dual policy of implementing economic nationalism in its own national initiatives (case in point, the BRI which follows a debt-trap, unilateral, state-run policy of functioning) while benefitting from the economic liberal order that trade institutions and multilateral initiatives have created (BRI does indeed fulfil, albeit at the questionable expense, the infrastructure and connectivity needs of developing nations). &nbsp;

Economic nationalism is hence not new in China; it has varied forms of management and aggressiveness under Xi Jinping’s Communist Capitalism lead. What is emerging as a disturbing trend is the emergence of economic nationalism as a core foreign policy tool among countries like Japan, India and South Korea as well. These are critical top trading partners of China and this trend is likely to severely damage its supply chain networks. &nbsp;

Implementation of economic nationalism in a pre-coronavirus world could have worked in favour of China; theoretically, the concept threatens Bretton Woods institutions and rules-based trading, as championed by the US and its alliance and close strategic partners. It ultimately promotes a national-interest oriented and non-intermediary form of trade that does not necessarily follow international norms but rather bilateral settlements. It would have ultimately supported China’s BRI objectives, as it has done in the past with Hambantota Port in Sri Lanka and BRI’s extensive Pakistan associations threatening Indian sovereignty. &nbsp;

Economic nationalism in pre-COVID era worked in Chinese favour because while Beijing followed its national interest-driven economic plans, it also actively engaged in institutions like the WTO, IMF, UN, AIIB and New Development Bank (NDB) while spearheading agreements like RCEP. This allowed it to present a global leader narrative, enunciating inclusion in the erstwhile Westernised world order, while becoming the world’s production center. China’s global might and political power stems from its economic prowess. However, in a post-COVID 19 order, economic nationalisation will strengthen ‘Make in’ self-territory initiatives and also lead to shifting from single-source supply chains. Ultimately, the pandemic is only going to strengthen trends that have been already in the play of moving away from China-centric supply sources.&nbsp;

While economic nationalism is at the core of competing foreign policy outlooks, it has been harder to implement the same due to the heavily ingrained globalization framework modern trade has been built around. However, the resurgence of economic nationalism must be studied in the context of the emergence of an environment that has become increasingly unfavourable towards economic integration. Take for example India’s decision to not join RCEP; it came in light of intense domestic pressure, with the agrarian sector and political affiliate parties of Modi’s Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) citing disapproval with the FTA. Similarly, public disapproval and pushback against the TPP as well as the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), even with their net economic benefits, lead to US withdrawal from the same. &nbsp;

Even though globalisation is here to stay and will not be completely done away with, a largely localised manner of globalisation with national interests at its core is highly likely to be implemented. This trend, which has seen a reflection in Japan’s post coronavirus manufacturing withdrawal from China, goes to show that thrust in economic nationalism and protectionism in brewing and could possibly have the potential to bring massive changes to the existing global economic and trade system.&nbsp; 
 
(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL)&nbsp; 
&nbsp;

International order has been historically referenced with the event that brought about a major change in the same; be it a post-Westphalian international structure, a post-World War order or a post-Cold War era.

International order has been historically referenced with the event that brought about a major change in the same; be it a post-Westphalian international structure, a post-World War order or a post-Cold War era. With a pandemic of this magnitude that has brought even developed economies to their knees, the international order will certainly take a new shape post-COVID19. A key takeaway is going to be the reorientation of global supply chains along the lines of economic nationalism. The fight of major Asian economies like South Korea, Japan, India, as well as, China against COVID-19 has caused immense damage to both life and livelihood, with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) stating that for the first time in almost 60 years, Asian economies will see “zero growth” in 2020. This was not the Asian Century that had been imagined; a realm of economic prosperity, connectivity and shifting of the global power stage to Asia with Asian powers at important tables had been the reality under which the 21st Century was to operate. At the regional level, a post-COVID-19 economic and political Asian trajectory is concurrently emerging. How likely is economic nationalism to shape the future of post-COVID-19 Asia? Addressing supply chain conundrums A major change in a post-COVID Asia, if not the world, is going to be a rise in and increased thrust by administrations on economic nationalism. Prolonged focus on extended and specialised global supply chains is going to be discouraged; extreme over-reliance of global supply chains on China, be it in sectors of pharmaceuticals, consumer goods, electronics or automobiles, has become alarmingly clear during the COVID-19 pandemic. An extended emphasis on economic nationalism has been on the rise since the 2008 financial crisis-era; however, economic liberalism and globalisation continued to hold the larger sway, supported by Bretton Woods institutions. The coronavirus pandemic and its effect on national economies can prove to be the very thrust needed for economic nationalism to become the policy implemented by major economies. China, for its part, has been largely critical of Bretton Woods institutes like the IMF, WTO, and World Bank, earning itself the tag of a “revisionist” power by the US in its 2017 National Security Strategy and 2018 National Defence Strategy while in 2019, the US Treasury labelled China a ‘currency manipulator’. However, China’s miraculous rise to a global economic power has been a result of perks it enjoyed due to the US-led liberal economic order. Hence, while China has tried to Asianise or lead by offering an alternate platform to existing Bretton Woods institutions, as seen in the case of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), the BRICS New Development Bank (NDB) or its attempts to increase its voting power base in the IMF, it has hoped for continuation of globalisation trends that aid its economic growth. For China, a manufacturing giant and trading hub, economic nationalism imbibed by Asian nations is going to result in loss of its regional dominance and serve as a major fallback to its ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). A report by Dun and Bradstreet claims that globally, over 51,000 companies have direct while 5 million companies have one or two-ties suppliers in China. Examples of economic nationalism being exacerbated by the COVID-19 crisis can be seen already. For instance, Japan, for whom China is its largest trading partner, has announced that USD 2.2 million from its huge coronavirus stimulus package will be dedicated to solely encourage its manufacturers to shift their businesses out of China, preferably into Japan itself or to other neighbouring countries. Economic nationalism has already taken a front seat in US President Donald Trump’s “America First” policy which has led to the withdrawal of US support from multilateral trade agreements like the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Further, while citing that it was responsible for “mismanaging and covering up the spread of coronavirus”, Trump recently suspended US funding from the World Health Organisation (WHO) which had come under rebuke by the US for its pro-China dealings. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decision to keep India out of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) in 2019 is also remnant of its economic nationalism interests while the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union (EU) has been interpreted as London making a strong case for national economics a priority over globalisation. Economic nationalism takes a lead Economic nationalism, unlike economic liberalism, will prove to be a zero-sum game. It will allow nations to benefit at the expense of other countries or groups; it threatens the positive sum-game interdependency a globalised international order has thrived on. Beijing has followed a dual policy of implementing economic nationalism in its own national initiatives (case in point, the BRI which follows a debt-trap, unilateral, state-run policy of functioning) while benefitting from the economic liberal order that trade institutions and multilateral initiatives have created (BRI does indeed fulfil, albeit at the questionable expense, the infrastructure and connectivity needs of developing nations). Economic nationalism is hence not new in China; it has varied forms of management and aggressiveness under Xi Jinping’s Communist Capitalism lead. What is emerging as a disturbing trend is the emergence of economic nationalism as a core foreign policy tool among countries like Japan, India and South Korea as well. These are critical top trading partners of China and this trend is likely to severely damage its supply chain networks. Implementation of economic nationalism in a pre-coronavirus world could have worked in favour of China; theoretically, the concept threatens Bretton Woods institutions and rules-based trading, as championed by the US and its alliance and close strategic partners. It ultimately promotes a national-interest oriented and non-intermediary form of trade that does not necessarily follow international norms but rather bilateral settlements. It would have ultimately supported China’s BRI objectives, as it has done in the past with Hambantota Port in Sri Lanka and BRI’s extensive Pakistan associations threatening Indian sovereignty. Economic nationalism in pre-COVID era worked in Chinese favour because while Beijing followed its national interest-driven economic plans, it also actively engaged in institutions like the WTO, IMF, UN, AIIB and New Development Bank (NDB) while spearheading agreements like RCEP. This allowed it to present a global leader narrative, enunciating inclusion in the erstwhile Westernised world order, while becoming the world’s production center. China’s global might and political power stems from its economic prowess. However, in a post-COVID 19 order, economic nationalisation will strengthen ‘Make in’ self-territory initiatives and also lead to shifting from single-source supply chains. Ultimately, the pandemic is only going to strengthen trends that have been already in the play of moving away from China-centric supply sources. While economic nationalism is at the core of competing foreign policy outlooks, it has been harder to implement the same due to the heavily ingrained globalization framework modern trade has been built around. However, the resurgence of economic nationalism must be studied in the context of the emergence of an environment that has become increasingly unfavourable towards economic integration. Take for example India’s decision to not join RCEP; it came in light of intense domestic pressure, with the agrarian sector and political affiliate parties of Modi’s Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) citing disapproval with the FTA. Similarly, public disapproval and pushback against the TPP as well as the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), even with their net economic benefits, lead to US withdrawal from the same. Even though globalisation is here to stay and will not be completely done away with, a largely localised manner of globalisation with national interests at its core is highly likely to be implemented. This trend, which has seen a reflection in Japan’s post coronavirus manufacturing withdrawal from China, goes to show that thrust in economic nationalism and protectionism in brewing and could possibly have the potential to bring massive changes to the existing global economic and trade system. (Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL)

Economic nationalism takes a lead in post-COVID-19 Asia

The travel industry has borne the brunt of the damage wrought by lockdowns to contain the novel coronavirus as nations have sealed borders and planes have been grounded.

While some expect the COVID-19 shock to last around year, the lasting <a href="https://www.wionews.com/south-asia/sri-lanka-to-target-high-spending-tourists-to-revive-tourism-297463">impact on travel</a> is unclear.

The UN forecasts&nbsp;that the world economy will shrink by 3.2 per cent this year, the sharpest contraction since the 1930s Great Depression.

However, as the realisation dawns that the world will have to learn to live with the virus, governments are keen on <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/global-governments-banking-on-tourism-for-economic-revival-298732">kickstarting tourism </a>for economic revival.

European Union&nbsp;is planning to salvage the summer tourist season and is asking member nations to throw open their borders. It has called for&nbsp;unrestricted movement across member states,&nbsp;albeit with safety measures, such as face masks on aeroplanes and social distancing. 
 
<a href="https://www.wionews.com/opinions-blogs/explained-coronavirus-impact-on-the-tourism-industry-277803">Also read:&nbsp;Explained - Coronavirus impact on the tourism industry</a>

The tourism sector accounts for about 10 per cent of the BLOC's economy.&nbsp;Europe’s museums, beaches and plazas have been virtually empty since mid-March under a near-blanket travel halt that has destroyed jobs, pulverised the airline and hospitality sectors and undermined Europe’s cherished principle of free movement in a bid to contain the virus.

Austria and Germany are planning&nbsp;to fully reopen their border on June 15. That will particularly help Austria’s tourism industry, which relies heavily on German visitors. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said that the aim is to eliminate border controls from June 15 across the Schengen region.

Furthermore, governments are working on individual plans too. The Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have opened their borders to one another, creating a coronavirus "travel bubble".&nbsp;This is the first "travel bubble" in Europe since nations began shutting their borders earlier this year in response to the coronavirus pandemic. 
 
India too is keen to restart tourism. Prime Minister Narendra Modi while referring to tourism said that he saw the potential for domestic tourism "but we need to think of the contours of the same".

He&nbsp;said, "We can now focus our strategy in this battle against coronavirus, as should be the case. We have a twofold challenge –- to reduce the transmission rate of the disease, and to increase public activity gradually, while adhering to all the guidelines. We will have to work towards achieving both these objectives."

Social-distance travel

Under the European Commission’s proposals, airlines and airports would insist passengers wear masks and reorganise check-ins, dropoffs and luggage pickups to avoid crowds. 
 
The Brussels-based Commission also wants vouchers for cancelled flights or holidays to be valid for at least a year, with protection against bankruptcies, so people would accept them instead of demanding refunds from cash-strapped airlines and travel firms.

It said people should be able to stay in hotels, eat in restaurants or go to beaches - though it stressed the situation would have to be monitored to prevent a new surge in infections. 
 
(With inputs from Reuters)

The travel industry has borne the brunt of the damage wrought by lockdowns to contain the novel coronavirus as nations have sealed borders and planes have been grounded.

The travel industry has borne the brunt of the damage wrought by lockdowns to contain the novel coronavirus as nations have sealed borders and planes have been grounded. While some expect the COVID-19 shock to last around year, the lasting impact on travel is unclear. The UN forecasts that the world economy will shrink by 3.2 per cent this year, the sharpest contraction since the 1930s Great Depression. However, as the realisation dawns that the world will have to learn to live with the virus, governments are keen on kickstarting tourism for economic revival. European Union is planning to salvage the summer tourist season and is asking member nations to throw open their borders. It has called for unrestricted movement across member states, albeit with safety measures, such as face masks on aeroplanes and social distancing. Also read: Explained - Coronavirus impact on the tourism industry The tourism sector accounts for about 10 per cent of the BLOC's economy. Europe’s museums, beaches and plazas have been virtually empty since mid-March under a near-blanket travel halt that has destroyed jobs, pulverised the airline and hospitality sectors and undermined Europe’s cherished principle of free movement in a bid to contain the virus. Austria and Germany are planning to fully reopen their border on June 15. That will particularly help Austria’s tourism industry, which relies heavily on German visitors. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said that the aim is to eliminate border controls from June 15 across the Schengen region. Furthermore, governments are working on individual plans too. The Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have opened their borders to one another, creating a coronavirus "travel bubble". This is the first "travel bubble" in Europe since nations began shutting their borders earlier this year in response to the coronavirus pandemic. India too is keen to restart tourism. Prime Minister Narendra Modi while referring to tourism said that he saw the potential for domestic tourism "but we need to think of the contours of the same". He said, "We can now focus our strategy in this battle against coronavirus, as should be the case. We have a twofold challenge –- to reduce the transmission rate of the disease, and to increase public activity gradually, while adhering to all the guidelines. We will have to work towards achieving both these objectives." Social-distance travel Under the European Commission’s proposals, airlines and airports would insist passengers wear masks and reorganise check-ins, dropoffs and luggage pickups to avoid crowds. The Brussels-based Commission also wants vouchers for cancelled flights or holidays to be valid for at least a year, with protection against bankruptcies, so people would accept them instead of demanding refunds from cash-strapped airlines and travel firms. It said people should be able to stay in hotels, eat in restaurants or go to beaches - though it stressed the situation would have to be monitored to prevent a new surge in infections. (With inputs from Reuters)

What's the importance of tourism to the world's economy?

With the governments imposing large-scale restrictions on economic activities to halt the spread of coronavirus, the global economy has come to a virtual standstill.&nbsp;

A report by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs has projected that the world economy is set to lose nearly $8.5 trillion over the next 2 years.

UN has predicted that the world economy will contract by 3.2 per cent in 2020 amid the coronavirus crisis, the sharpest contraction since the Great Depression in the 1930s.

But in the worst-case scenario, it said the global economy could contract by a further 0.5 per cent in 2021 if a new wave of infections and lockdowns continues in the third quarter, which ends September 30.

The UN report projects that the economic output of developed countries will plunge to minus 5 per cent and below, meanwhile, the GDP of the developing countries will contract by 0.7 per cent in 2020.

The report also forecast a 15 per cent contraction in world trade in 2020 as a result of sharply reduced global demand and disruptions in global supply chains.&nbsp;

COVID-19 is likely to push more than 34 million people into extreme poverty, the report added.&nbsp;

India’s GDP growth rate dips to 1.2% for FY 2020-21

The UN has slashed India's projected growth rate to 1.2 per cent in 2020, a further deterioration from the already slowed growth of 4.1 per cent in 2019.

However, India, which grew at 6.8 per cent in the fiscal year 2018, is forecast to recover slightly and clock a 5.5 per cent growth rate in 2021.

“The national lockdown in India, for example, is expected to depress economic growth to just 1.2 per cent, much lower than the already disappointing growth in 2019,” the report said.

The abrupt halt of commercial activity threatens to impose economic pain so profound and enduring in every region of the world at once that recovery could take years.

(With inputs from agencies)

With the governments imposing large-scale restrictions on economic activities to halt the spread of coronavirus, the global economy has come to a virtual standstill.

With the governments imposing large-scale restrictions on economic activities to halt the spread of coronavirus, the global economy has come to a virtual standstill. A report by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs has projected that the world economy is set to lose nearly $8.5 trillion over the next 2 years. UN has predicted that the world economy will contract by 3.2 per cent in 2020 amid the coronavirus crisis, the sharpest contraction since the Great Depression in the 1930s. But in the worst-case scenario, it said the global economy could contract by a further 0.5 per cent in 2021 if a new wave of infections and lockdowns continues in the third quarter, which ends September 30. The UN report projects that the economic output of developed countries will plunge to minus 5 per cent and below, meanwhile, the GDP of the developing countries will contract by 0.7 per cent in 2020. The report also forecast a 15 per cent contraction in world trade in 2020 as a result of sharply reduced global demand and disruptions in global supply chains. COVID-19 is likely to push more than 34 million people into extreme poverty, the report added. India’s GDP growth rate dips to 1.2% for FY 2020-21 The UN has slashed India's projected growth rate to 1.2 per cent in 2020, a further deterioration from the already slowed growth of 4.1 per cent in 2019. However, India, which grew at 6.8 per cent in the fiscal year 2018, is forecast to recover slightly and clock a 5.5 per cent growth rate in 2021. “The national lockdown in India, for example, is expected to depress economic growth to just 1.2 per cent, much lower than the already disappointing growth in 2019,” the report said. The abrupt halt of commercial activity threatens to impose economic pain so profound and enduring in every region of the world at once that recovery could take years. (With inputs from agencies)

UN forecasts coronavirus to shrink world economy by 3.2%; India's growth rate projected to slow to 1.2% in 2020

Beaches in Los Angeles county which have been closed for more than 6 weeks during the pandemic have now been reopened activities.

COVID-19: Los Angeles county beaches reopen

Most of us are stuck inside our home, we can’t hang out with friends, we can’t step out to shop, we can’t plan a get together with cousins. Like responsible people, we are successfully maintaining social distancing - but at a cost - and that price is our digital footprints.&nbsp;

Being locked inside the house, we are exposing ourselves to the online world a lot more.

For instance, we are surfing online more and our search queries directly reflect on our interests which remain documented on the internet.

In fact, by now many of you, must have shown your entire house in various videos and in casual selfies.&nbsp;

Our social media engagement has gone up. These days, we are giving more information about us online, but are we doing that responsibly? Probably, no.

And we have no idea, how and when these online details could be misused by miscreants because digital footprints stay forever.&nbsp;

Therefore, along with social distancing, we need to maintain information distancing as well. But how?&nbsp;Here are some handy tips that can help you achieve that:

1. Be mindful of what you share. Just because there is no limit to what you can post online, doesn’t mean that you should be documenting online everything you do. It’s a big no! Be wise and exercise your judgement so that you don’t end up sharing too much personal details.

2. While recording videos at home or attending a video conference, be wary of what’s in the background. Your home is your personal space and the online world shouldn’t get a virtual tour of your house.

3. For sensitive and confidential information, switch to private browsing. It prevents the browser from remembering your activity. For instance, the browser won't save your search history or permissions you give to websites.&nbsp;

4. Be extra careful when transacting online. Avoid using a browser for banking. Always use native banking apps for internet banking as those apps come from trusted providers. And, therefore, they are more secure.

5. Many of you must have downloaded more games on your mobile during the lockdown. But did you read the permissions before installing those apps? Go back to those apps and check. If these are asking for more permissions than required to play a game, uninstall them.

Be careful of what you share, how you share and when you share. You need to be responsible even when sharing data online. Because data is the new currency. So, stay safe and practice information distancing along with social distancing. 
 
(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL)

Most of us are stuck inside our home, we can’t hang out with friends, we can’t step out to shop, we can’t plan a get together with cousins. Like responsible people, we are successfully maintaining social distancing - but at a cost - and that price is our digital footprints.

Most of us are stuck inside our home, we can’t hang out with friends, we can’t step out to shop, we can’t plan a get together with cousins. Like responsible people, we are successfully maintaining social distancing - but at a cost - and that price is our digital footprints. Being locked inside the house, we are exposing ourselves to the online world a lot more. For instance, we are surfing online more and our search queries directly reflect on our interests which remain documented on the internet. In fact, by now many of you, must have shown your entire house in various videos and in casual selfies. Our social media engagement has gone up. These days, we are giving more information about us online, but are we doing that responsibly? Probably, no. And we have no idea, how and when these online details could be misused by miscreants because digital footprints stay forever. Therefore, along with social distancing, we need to maintain information distancing as well. But how? Here are some handy tips that can help you achieve that: 1. Be mindful of what you share. Just because there is no limit to what you can post online, doesn’t mean that you should be documenting online everything you do. It’s a big no! Be wise and exercise your judgement so that you don’t end up sharing too much personal details. 2. While recording videos at home or attending a video conference, be wary of what’s in the background. Your home is your personal space and the online world shouldn’t get a virtual tour of your house. 3. For sensitive and confidential information, switch to private browsing. It prevents the browser from remembering your activity. For instance, the browser won't save your search history or permissions you give to websites. 4. Be extra careful when transacting online. Avoid using a browser for banking. Always use native banking apps for internet banking as those apps come from trusted providers. And, therefore, they are more secure. 5. Many of you must have downloaded more games on your mobile during the lockdown. But did you read the permissions before installing those apps? Go back to those apps and check. If these are asking for more permissions than required to play a game, uninstall them. Be careful of what you share, how you share and when you share. You need to be responsible even when sharing data online. Because data is the new currency. So, stay safe and practice information distancing along with social distancing. (Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL)

Are we leaving more digital footprints during coronavirus lockdown?

China is considering retaliation against the claims of the United States that the coronavirus originated in Wuhan.

According to the Chinese media, it&nbsp;is pondering to take&nbsp;action against certain US states&nbsp;and politicians seeking punitive damages for maligning its reputation.

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/coronavirus-may-leave-a-permanent-scar-on-global-mental-health-un-298568" hreflang="en">Coronavirus may leave a permanent scar on global mental health: UN</a>

The individuals include Missouri attorney general Eric Schmitt, who filed a lawsuit in April against the Chinese government and Chinese Communist Party for the ''enormous death, suffering and economic losses they inflicted on the world''.

The report also singled out Missouri senator Josh Hawley, Arkansas senator Tom Cotton and Texas congressman Dan Crenshaw, all Republicans, for introducing legislation that would allow Americans to sue the Chinese government for&nbsp;damages caused by the disease.

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/just-like-hiv-coronavirus-may-never-go-away-who-expert-warns-298539" hreflang="en">Just like HIV, coronavirus may never go away: WHO expert warns</a>

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian, who suggested on Twitter in March that the US military had brought the coronavirus to Wuhan slammed the US on Thursday for shifting responsibility to China, but stopped short of saying if Beijing would retaliate.

Tensions between China and the US have been escalating over culpability for the pandemic, with US President Donald Trump’s administration slamming Beijing for cover-ups and missteps in its initial handling of the outbreak, and the Chinese leadership accusing Washington of seeking to shift blame and politicise a global health crisis.

China is considering retaliation against the claims of the United States that the coronavirus originated in Wuhan. According to the Chinese media, it is pondering to take action against certain US states and politicians seeking punitive damages for maligning its reputation.

China is considering retaliation against the claims of the United States that the coronavirus originated in Wuhan. According to the Chinese media, it is pondering to take action against certain US states and politicians seeking punitive damages for maligning its reputation. Also read: Coronavirus may leave a permanent scar on global mental health: UN The individuals include Missouri attorney general Eric Schmitt, who filed a lawsuit in April against the Chinese government and Chinese Communist Party for the ''enormous death, suffering and economic losses they inflicted on the world''. The report also singled out Missouri senator Josh Hawley, Arkansas senator Tom Cotton and Texas congressman Dan Crenshaw, all Republicans, for introducing legislation that would allow Americans to sue the Chinese government for damages caused by the disease. Also read: Just like HIV, coronavirus may never go away: WHO expert warns Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian, who suggested on Twitter in March that the US military had brought the coronavirus to Wuhan slammed the US on Thursday for shifting responsibility to China, but stopped short of saying if Beijing would retaliate. Tensions between China and the US have been escalating over culpability for the pandemic, with US President Donald Trump’s administration slamming Beijing for cover-ups and missteps in its initial handling of the outbreak, and the Chinese leadership accusing Washington of seeking to shift blame and politicise a global health crisis.

China considering retaliation of US lawsuits regarding coronavirus origin

Half of over 5,000 households surveyed in rural areas of 12 states have been eating fewer meals during the coronavirus lockdown, a PTI report said quoting a survey.

50 per cent of surveyed households in rural India eating less due to COVID-19 lockdown

To strengthen the <a href="Global Covid-19 cases surge past 4.2 million mark, death toll at 291,981">fight against coronavirus</a>, police and authorities across the globe have started using 'smart helmets' which take only a few seconds to accurately scan people’s temperature.&nbsp;

With quick thermal screenings being considered as one of the options to identify COVID-19 patients, the technology will be particularly useful in restarting the economy and ensuring the safe movement of people in public places.

Dubai police are using the helmets to screen people in densely populated areas, including sealed off neighbourhoods.

The smart helmets, used by the Dubai police, also has facial recognition capabilities, license plate recognition and the ability to scan QR codes. 
 
<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/covid-19-has-now-begun-to-show-newer-symptoms-and-syndromes-298424">Also read: COVID-19 has now begun to show newer symptoms and syndromes</a>

"The helmet has up to 5 or 6 different modes. It has the temperature reading mode, facial recognition capabilities, plate number recognition, QR code reader and ultimately this all connects together to give you the history of a person," said Managing Director of Global Manufacturing and Industrialisation Summit, Namir Hourani.&nbsp;

Meanwhile,&nbsp;Rome's&nbsp;Fiumicino airport&nbsp;has also started using smart helmets to ramp up its safety measures as airlines begin to resume services again.

"This is a smart helmet, a helmet equipped with a thermal camera capable of detecting the infrared heat emissions of bodies passing through its range and a normal camera. The pictures are then transmitted to a visor inside the augmented reality helmet that projects what the operator sees on his visor," said Sielte Spa senior engineer, Massimiliano Moretto.

Even in the Chinese city of Shenzhen, which shares a border with Hong Kong, police have started inspecting people drivers with the help of these smart helmets.

The helmets help quickly and accurately spot people with abnormal temperatures in crowds.

Chinese company KC Wearable says it has sold more than 1,000 of the temperature scanning helmets and has received orders from the Middle East, Europe and Asia.

While screening devices like the N901 smart helmets have obviously added value in helping businesses and public places reopen more safely.&nbsp;

(With inputs from agencies)

To strengthen the fight against coronavirus, police and authorities across the globe have started using 'smart helmets' which take only a few seconds to accurately scan people’s temperature.

To strengthen the fight against coronavirus, police and authorities across the globe have started using 'smart helmets' which take only a few seconds to accurately scan people’s temperature. With quick thermal screenings being considered as one of the options to identify COVID-19 patients, the technology will be particularly useful in restarting the economy and ensuring the safe movement of people in public places. Dubai police are using the helmets to screen people in densely populated areas, including sealed off neighbourhoods. The smart helmets, used by the Dubai police, also has facial recognition capabilities, license plate recognition and the ability to scan QR codes. Also read: COVID-19 has now begun to show newer symptoms and syndromes "The helmet has up to 5 or 6 different modes. It has the temperature reading mode, facial recognition capabilities, plate number recognition, QR code reader and ultimately this all connects together to give you the history of a person," said Managing Director of Global Manufacturing and Industrialisation Summit, Namir Hourani. Meanwhile, Rome's Fiumicino airport has also started using smart helmets to ramp up its safety measures as airlines begin to resume services again. "This is a smart helmet, a helmet equipped with a thermal camera capable of detecting the infrared heat emissions of bodies passing through its range and a normal camera. The pictures are then transmitted to a visor inside the augmented reality helmet that projects what the operator sees on his visor," said Sielte Spa senior engineer, Massimiliano Moretto. Even in the Chinese city of Shenzhen, which shares a border with Hong Kong, police have started inspecting people drivers with the help of these smart helmets. The helmets help quickly and accurately spot people with abnormal temperatures in crowds. Chinese company KC Wearable says it has sold more than 1,000 of the temperature scanning helmets and has received orders from the Middle East, Europe and Asia. While screening devices like the N901 smart helmets have obviously added value in helping businesses and public places reopen more safely. (With inputs from agencies)

Police across the globe use 'smart helmets' to strengthen fight against coronavirus

Chinese universities have started cancelling entrance exams for international students, claiming that&nbsp;the move is a response to Wuhan coronavirus fears.

Peking University, Renmin University of China, and Shanghai Jiao Tong University have scratched exam requirements for foreigners according to media reports. 
 
A notice on&nbsp;Peking University's&nbsp;website stated ''to protect the health of the majority of candidates during the coronavirus pandemic ... the University has taken the decision to cancel the written examinations for international students applying [for undergraduate programs in 2020].

The school will instead conduct remote interviews for students who meet their qualifications, according to Chinese news agencies.

However, experts claim that the change will make it easier for overseas students to gain admission into these institutions and could be linked to the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) continued propaganda efforts abroad.

The decision is likely in response to recent closures of Confucius Institutes over growing concerns that China's influence is negatively affecting freedom of speech on campuses around the world. 
 
According to Chinese education specialist Shi Dajun, a Peking University graduate, ''now that the Confucius Institutes are running into obstacles, we are seeing them take a new direction.''

''The goal is to have foreign students studying in China take the CCP’s message back to their own countries to help spread Beijing’s narrative,'' Shi said. 
 
A retired professor from Lanzhou University surnamed Cai said&nbsp;that attracting overseas students to China is part of a long-running strategy for the CCP, which uses education as a form of soft power.

Students who study in China under its Belt and Road Initiative enjoy generous stipends for living expenses and no tuition fees in addition to free accommodations. The idea is to train the next generation of pro-China people and to develop friendly ties with their countries.

Chinese universities have started cancelling entrance exams for international students, claiming that the move is a response to Wuhan coronavirus fears. Peking University, Renmin University of China, and Shanghai Jiao Tong University have scratched exam requirements for foreigners according to media reports.

Chinese universities have started cancelling entrance exams for international students, claiming that the move is a response to Wuhan coronavirus fears. Peking University, Renmin University of China, and Shanghai Jiao Tong University have scratched exam requirements for foreigners according to media reports. A notice on Peking University's website stated ''to protect the health of the majority of candidates during the coronavirus pandemic ... the University has taken the decision to cancel the written examinations for international students applying [for undergraduate programs in 2020]. The school will instead conduct remote interviews for students who meet their qualifications, according to Chinese news agencies. However, experts claim that the change will make it easier for overseas students to gain admission into these institutions and could be linked to the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) continued propaganda efforts abroad. The decision is likely in response to recent closures of Confucius Institutes over growing concerns that China's influence is negatively affecting freedom of speech on campuses around the world. According to Chinese education specialist Shi Dajun, a Peking University graduate, ''now that the Confucius Institutes are running into obstacles, we are seeing them take a new direction.'' ''The goal is to have foreign students studying in China take the CCP’s message back to their own countries to help spread Beijing’s narrative,'' Shi said. A retired professor from Lanzhou University surnamed Cai said that attracting overseas students to China is part of a long-running strategy for the CCP, which uses education as a form of soft power. Students who study in China under its Belt and Road Initiative enjoy generous stipends for living expenses and no tuition fees in addition to free accommodations. The idea is to train the next generation of pro-China people and to develop friendly ties with their countries.

Chinese universities cancelling entrance exams for foreign students

US National Security Advisor Robert O'Brien passed scathing remarks on China. He said that China has been the reason behind five plagues in the past 20 years and it has to stop now. He holds China responsible for coronavirus pandemic that has killed over 250,000 people globally.&nbsp;

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/donald-trumps-approval-rating-dips-currently-trails-behind-biden-polls-298359" hreflang="en">Donald Trump's approval rating dips, currently trails behind Biden: Polls</a>

During the press meet at the White House, O'Brien told the&nbsp;reporters that people will rise globally to ask the Chinese government that they can no longer have these plagues coming out of China, whether it be lab or wet markets.&nbsp;

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/coronavirus-vaccine-might-take-some-time-top-health-expert-anthony-fauci-298327" hreflang="en">Coronavirus vaccine might take some time: Top health expert Anthony Fauci</a>

"We know it came from Wuhan and I think there's circumstantial evidence that it could have come from the lab or the wet market. But, again, if you're China, neither one's a good answer," O'Brien said.

"We've had five plagues from China in the last 20 years. We've had SARS, avian flu, swine flu, COVID-19 now and how long can the world put up with this terrible public health situation that you've got in the People's Republic of China that is being unleashed on the world," US National Security Advisor said.&nbsp;

He even urged the Chinese government to allow health officials from the US to help them, but they refused. He said: "I mean, this is -- at some point, it's got to stop. We offered to send in health professionals to help the Chinese. They rejected that."

O'Brien was asked about the investigation related to the origin of the virus, he denied giving any timeframe on it.&nbsp;

He said: "I can't give you a timeframe on that. That's something that we're continuing to review and it is obviously a very serious concern.

"Look, China's got to figure out how to deal with its public health because we cannot have another one of these virus outbreaks and plagues come from China. This was a terrible thing that happened to the entire world, not just to the United States," he added.&nbsp;

The United States has been the worst-hit nation in terms of coronavirus, with over 80,000 deaths and over 1.3 million cases.&nbsp;

"The world economy shut down, and this isn't the first time it's happened. This is the fifth time it's happened in 20 years, and it's got to stop. China needs help.

"They need help from the rest of the world. And we're prepared to help China deal with the public health crises so we don't face this issue again," O'Brien added.

US National Security Advisor Robert O'Brien passed scathing remarks on China. He said that China has been the reason behind five plagues in the past 20 years and it has to stop now.

US National Security Advisor Robert O'Brien passed scathing remarks on China. He said that China has been the reason behind five plagues in the past 20 years and it has to stop now. He holds China responsible for coronavirus pandemic that has killed over 250,000 people globally. Also read: Donald Trump's approval rating dips, currently trails behind Biden: Polls During the press meet at the White House, O'Brien told the reporters that people will rise globally to ask the Chinese government that they can no longer have these plagues coming out of China, whether it be lab or wet markets. Also read: Coronavirus vaccine might take some time: Top health expert Anthony Fauci "We know it came from Wuhan and I think there's circumstantial evidence that it could have come from the lab or the wet market. But, again, if you're China, neither one's a good answer," O'Brien said. "We've had five plagues from China in the last 20 years. We've had SARS, avian flu, swine flu, COVID-19 now and how long can the world put up with this terrible public health situation that you've got in the People's Republic of China that is being unleashed on the world," US National Security Advisor said. He even urged the Chinese government to allow health officials from the US to help them, but they refused. He said: "I mean, this is -- at some point, it's got to stop. We offered to send in health professionals to help the Chinese. They rejected that." O'Brien was asked about the investigation related to the origin of the virus, he denied giving any timeframe on it. He said: "I can't give you a timeframe on that. That's something that we're continuing to review and it is obviously a very serious concern. "Look, China's got to figure out how to deal with its public health because we cannot have another one of these virus outbreaks and plagues come from China. This was a terrible thing that happened to the entire world, not just to the United States," he added. The United States has been the worst-hit nation in terms of coronavirus, with over 80,000 deaths and over 1.3 million cases. "The world economy shut down, and this isn't the first time it's happened. This is the fifth time it's happened in 20 years, and it's got to stop. China needs help. "They need help from the rest of the world. And we're prepared to help China deal with the public health crises so we don't face this issue again," O'Brien added.

China has been the reason behind five plagues in past 20 years and they should stop it: US NSA

One new coronavirus case was confirmed in the city on May 7, and there are 13 infections registered in the city now.

China sees fresh round of cases, imposes lockdown in Shulan

After more than a month without reporting any new cases, Wuhan, the Chinese city where the outbreak first started, announced its first case since 3 April.

China: Coronavirus ground zero Wuhan reports new cases

During a March 15, 2020<a href="https://www.microbe.tv/twiv/twiv-591/"> interview</a>, beginning at the 27:40 time point, Dr Ralph Baric, noted coronavirus scientist at the University of North Carolina, said the following when asked about the animal origin of the human COVID-19 pandemic:

“As far as I know they [the Chinese] have not identified the actual reservoir species. There were reports about pangolins [scaly anteaters] as being potentially being the intermediate host, but pangolins viruses are 88-90% identical to SARS-2 [COVID-19] in comparison civet and racoon dog strains of SARS coronavirus were 99.8 identical to SARS coronavirus from 2003. In other words, you are talking about a handful of mutations between civet strains, racoon dog strains and human strains in 2003. Pangolins have over 3,000 nucleotide changes - no way they are the reservoir species [for COVID-19], absolutely no chance.”

Here is what Dr Baric was saying.

It was logical to conclude that the coronavirus from the human 2003 SARS outbreak could have originated in animals because the coronavirus circulating in the civet and racoon dog populations was 99.8 per cent the same as the coronavirus eventually found in humans. That would, therefore, require only a relative “handful” of naturally-occurring mutations to “jump” to humans.

In contrast, pangolin coronaviruses are only 88-90 per cent the same as COVID-19. The huge number of naturally-occurring mutations required for pangolins to act as a reservoir species and intermediate host for COVID-19 would make it practically impossible.

Despite that, an <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2313-x">article </a>published by scientists from Guangzhou, China on May 7, 2020 in the prestigious journal Nature directly contradicts the comments made by Dr Baric, concluding:

“The isolation of a coronavirus that is highly related to SARS-CoV-2 [COVID-19] in pangolins suggests that they have the potential to act as the intermediate hosts for SARS-CoV-2 [COVID-19].”

The Guangzhou scientists concede that the bat coronavirus RaTG13, which is <a href="https://www.wionews.com/opinions-blogs/chinas-narrative-about-the-origin-of-covid-19-is-starting-to-unravel-297737">actually </a>BtCoV/4991, has &nbsp;about a 96 per cent&nbsp;sequence identity to SARS-CoV-2 [COVID-19] at the whole-genome level and it is reasonable to assume that bats are the native host of SARS-CoV-2 [COVID-19].

Agreeing with Dr Baric, the authors admit that, although genetically similar, it is unlikely that coronaviruses usually found in pangolins are directly linked to the outbreak because of their overall substantial sequence differences from COVID-19.

The Guangzhou group states, however, that the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of a pangolin coronavirus is nearly identical to the same structure in COVID-19, having only a single amino acid difference.

The Chinese scientists claim that a pangolin coronavirus appears to have “donated” the RBD to COVID-19, presumably through some type of recombinant event occurring between a bat coronavirus and a pangolin coronavirus inside a pangolin host.

The close identity of COVID-19’s RBD to that of pangolins has been <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-020-0820-9">widely reported</a>, but the recombinant scenario suggested by the Guangzhou research team is purely speculatively for which they provide no supporting data.

China’s own scientists may have inadvertently stumbled upon the truth. A far more likely explanation is that the pangolin RBD was inserted into a bat coronavirus by genetic engineering. 
 
(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL) 
&nbsp;

During a March 15, 2020 interview, beginning at the 27:40 time point, Dr Ralph Baric, noted coronavirus scientist at the University of North Carolina, said the following when asked about the animal origin of the human COVID-19 pandemic: “As far as I know they [the Chinese] have not identified the actual reservoir species.

During a March 15, 2020 interview, beginning at the 27:40 time point, Dr Ralph Baric, noted coronavirus scientist at the University of North Carolina, said the following when asked about the animal origin of the human COVID-19 pandemic: “As far as I know they [the Chinese] have not identified the actual reservoir species. There were reports about pangolins [scaly anteaters] as being potentially being the intermediate host, but pangolins viruses are 88-90% identical to SARS-2 [COVID-19] in comparison civet and racoon dog strains of SARS coronavirus were 99.8 identical to SARS coronavirus from 2003. In other words, you are talking about a handful of mutations between civet strains, racoon dog strains and human strains in 2003. Pangolins have over 3,000 nucleotide changes - no way they are the reservoir species [for COVID-19], absolutely no chance.” Here is what Dr Baric was saying. It was logical to conclude that the coronavirus from the human 2003 SARS outbreak could have originated in animals because the coronavirus circulating in the civet and racoon dog populations was 99.8 per cent the same as the coronavirus eventually found in humans. That would, therefore, require only a relative “handful” of naturally-occurring mutations to “jump” to humans. In contrast, pangolin coronaviruses are only 88-90 per cent the same as COVID-19. The huge number of naturally-occurring mutations required for pangolins to act as a reservoir species and intermediate host for COVID-19 would make it practically impossible. Despite that, an article published by scientists from Guangzhou, China on May 7, 2020 in the prestigious journal Nature directly contradicts the comments made by Dr Baric, concluding: “The isolation of a coronavirus that is highly related to SARS-CoV-2 [COVID-19] in pangolins suggests that they have the potential to act as the intermediate hosts for SARS-CoV-2 [COVID-19].” The Guangzhou scientists concede that the bat coronavirus RaTG13, which is actually BtCoV/4991, has about a 96 per cent sequence identity to SARS-CoV-2 [COVID-19] at the whole-genome level and it is reasonable to assume that bats are the native host of SARS-CoV-2 [COVID-19]. Agreeing with Dr Baric, the authors admit that, although genetically similar, it is unlikely that coronaviruses usually found in pangolins are directly linked to the outbreak because of their overall substantial sequence differences from COVID-19. The Guangzhou group states, however, that the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of a pangolin coronavirus is nearly identical to the same structure in COVID-19, having only a single amino acid difference. The Chinese scientists claim that a pangolin coronavirus appears to have “donated” the RBD to COVID-19, presumably through some type of recombinant event occurring between a bat coronavirus and a pangolin coronavirus inside a pangolin host. The close identity of COVID-19’s RBD to that of pangolins has been widely reported, but the recombinant scenario suggested by the Guangzhou research team is purely speculatively for which they provide no supporting data. China’s own scientists may have inadvertently stumbled upon the truth. A far more likely explanation is that the pangolin RBD was inserted into a bat coronavirus by genetic engineering. (Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL)

Here's what China's scientists have to say about the origin of COVID-19

India needs labour reforms, not a suspension of labour laws during a pandemic. Some states like Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat have suspended key labour laws, which they claim is to facilitate employment and investment. The cruelty of the policy measure is visible in the timing of the decision. When the migrant worker crisis is one of the most visible failures in the fight against COVID-19, this insensitive decision robs our hardworking migrant labourers of the last shred of their dignity. It does not mean that we do not need labour reforms in India. &nbsp;

There are 44 Central laws and more than 200 State Laws which overlap with each other and are primarily skewed against the industry. India is a labour surplus country with 47 million unemployed below the age of 24 years and 12-13 million youths joining the labour market every year. Almost 93 per cent of India’s labour force works in the unorganised sector, the majority are unskilled and poorly educated. &nbsp;

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic raised its ugly head and made our immediate future uncertain, the Indian economy was already slowing down. Before the pandemic, India’s GDP growth in the October-December quarter of 2019 (Q3 of FY20) stood at 4.7 per cent, and in the previous quarter, it was a six-year low at 4.5 per cent. Economic growth was already on a downhill. The pandemic made it worse. Several rating agencies have predicted zero per cent growth in FY 20-21, amidst the lockdown. India’s Investment Rate i.e Gross Fixed Capital Formation (GFCF) as a percentage of GDP has declined by a whopping 9 percentage points between 2011-12 and 2019-20. This means that private investment has plummeted. It is predominantly because India has not been able to scale up manufacturing. Structural reforms in labour laws can boost private investment, but a crisis like the pandemic is hardly a time to do so. Post COVID-19 response to restart economy needs a whole package of big-bang reforms — labour reforms are only a part of it. &nbsp;

In pre-COVID economy, to circumvent the rigorous labour policies, companies either shifted their manufacturing bases to foreign countries or turned capital intensive, reducing their manpower needs. Besides swelling unemployment, these measures also pushed people to the informal sector. Private investment had already slumped. India’s women participation in the labour force remains abysmal. &nbsp;

In the times of lockdown, there is a huge migrant exodus from states as jobless workers are pushed to the corners of depravity by several governments. Critics would argue that doing away with labour laws is a sound policy decision. This may be the silver bullet idea which policymakers and industry lobbies think would attract the labourers back, but this would simply not work. Every policy intervention has a context. Right now, the context is the safety and wellbeing of our people. The recent incident of 26 workers in a pharmaceutical major in Gujarat turning positive is a stark example of how factory workers are not safe. &nbsp;

Least intervention by government is often the best policy measure. The immediate solution to migrant workers leaving their place of work is to give them a return ticket. Yes. That is the solution. If the government or the industry provides them with a return ticket to join work after the pandemic lockdown is over, it is natural that they will get their livelihood back. It is a simple solution rather than some big bang announcement to grab thirty seconds of eyeballs by any PR hungry government. It does not remove the social security net around the workers. Neither, does it take away their human rights. &nbsp;

The long term solution is amending the statutory framework of labour laws. Simplify them. First, we need a meta-structure to deal with ‘labour laws’ being in the concurrent list. A ‘Labour Laws Review Council’ with states, similar to that of GST Council, which meets periodically is needed. &nbsp;Second, consolidation of labour laws in four broad categories as envisaged by successive governments in the past. Third, have uniform definitions of key terms like ‘industry’, ‘worker’, ‘employee’ et al. Most laws have different definitions which result in long drawn disputes and confusion. Fourth, establish a ‘Central Labour Authority’ with representation from states, for self-certification and single consolidated return to ease compliances and multiple inspections of industrial units. &nbsp;

Fifth, amend the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 to ensure that post-facto approval from the government to close down industry is not required when any industry employees less than 300 workers or where lay off exceeds one month. A rigorous version of this was first implemented by Rajasthan and the Economic Survey, 2019 cited this as a case study to prove that employment increases if we do this. &nbsp;

Sixth, pass a new labour regulation law for small scale industries employing less than 50 workers with liberal exemptions. Seventh, a separate law to ensure the welfare, facilities and safety of women in the labour force.&nbsp;

Incremental long term reforms are needed to restart the economy. Snatching the rights of workers in a healthcare crisis will only result in high unemployment and no growth. &nbsp;

(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL)

India needs labour reforms, not a suspension of labour laws during a pandemic. Some states like Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat have suspended key labour laws, which they claim is to facilitate employment and investment.

India needs labour reforms, not a suspension of labour laws during a pandemic. Some states like Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat have suspended key labour laws, which they claim is to facilitate employment and investment. The cruelty of the policy measure is visible in the timing of the decision. When the migrant worker crisis is one of the most visible failures in the fight against COVID-19, this insensitive decision robs our hardworking migrant labourers of the last shred of their dignity. It does not mean that we do not need labour reforms in India. There are 44 Central laws and more than 200 State Laws which overlap with each other and are primarily skewed against the industry. India is a labour surplus country with 47 million unemployed below the age of 24 years and 12-13 million youths joining the labour market every year. Almost 93 per cent of India’s labour force works in the unorganised sector, the majority are unskilled and poorly educated. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic raised its ugly head and made our immediate future uncertain, the Indian economy was already slowing down. Before the pandemic, India’s GDP growth in the October-December quarter of 2019 (Q3 of FY20) stood at 4.7 per cent, and in the previous quarter, it was a six-year low at 4.5 per cent. Economic growth was already on a downhill. The pandemic made it worse. Several rating agencies have predicted zero per cent growth in FY 20-21, amidst the lockdown. India’s Investment Rate i.e Gross Fixed Capital Formation (GFCF) as a percentage of GDP has declined by a whopping 9 percentage points between 2011-12 and 2019-20. This means that private investment has plummeted. It is predominantly because India has not been able to scale up manufacturing. Structural reforms in labour laws can boost private investment, but a crisis like the pandemic is hardly a time to do so. Post COVID-19 response to restart economy needs a whole package of big-bang reforms — labour reforms are only a part of it. In pre-COVID economy, to circumvent the rigorous labour policies, companies either shifted their manufacturing bases to foreign countries or turned capital intensive, reducing their manpower needs. Besides swelling unemployment, these measures also pushed people to the informal sector. Private investment had already slumped. India’s women participation in the labour force remains abysmal. In the times of lockdown, there is a huge migrant exodus from states as jobless workers are pushed to the corners of depravity by several governments. Critics would argue that doing away with labour laws is a sound policy decision. This may be the silver bullet idea which policymakers and industry lobbies think would attract the labourers back, but this would simply not work. Every policy intervention has a context. Right now, the context is the safety and wellbeing of our people. The recent incident of 26 workers in a pharmaceutical major in Gujarat turning positive is a stark example of how factory workers are not safe. Least intervention by government is often the best policy measure. The immediate solution to migrant workers leaving their place of work is to give them a return ticket. Yes. That is the solution. If the government or the industry provides them with a return ticket to join work after the pandemic lockdown is over, it is natural that they will get their livelihood back. It is a simple solution rather than some big bang announcement to grab thirty seconds of eyeballs by any PR hungry government. It does not remove the social security net around the workers. Neither, does it take away their human rights. The long term solution is amending the statutory framework of labour laws. Simplify them. First, we need a meta-structure to deal with ‘labour laws’ being in the concurrent list. A ‘Labour Laws Review Council’ with states, similar to that of GST Council, which meets periodically is needed. Second, consolidation of labour laws in four broad categories as envisaged by successive governments in the past. Third, have uniform definitions of key terms like ‘industry’, ‘worker’, ‘employee’ et al. Most laws have different definitions which result in long drawn disputes and confusion. Fourth, establish a ‘Central Labour Authority’ with representation from states, for self-certification and single consolidated return to ease compliances and multiple inspections of industrial units. Fifth, amend the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 to ensure that post-facto approval from the government to close down industry is not required when any industry employees less than 300 workers or where lay off exceeds one month. A rigorous version of this was first implemented by Rajasthan and the Economic Survey, 2019 cited this as a case study to prove that employment increases if we do this. Sixth, pass a new labour regulation law for small scale industries employing less than 50 workers with liberal exemptions. Seventh, a separate law to ensure the welfare, facilities and safety of women in the labour force. Incremental long term reforms are needed to restart the economy. Snatching the rights of workers in a healthcare crisis will only result in high unemployment and no growth. (Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL)

India needs labour law reforms and not its suspension amid coronavirus mayhem

It is now well realised by the world community that COVID-19 originated from Wuhan in China, though Beijing has denied this.

The world community further believes that China has not informed the world about the seriousness of COVID-19 issue when it happened in Wuhan and did not share information about the challenges it faced in dealing with the problem.

Certainly, the rest of the world would have taken some precautions to prevent the spread of COVID-19, if China had forewarned the world.

In this process, China has let down the world community and a number of people seem to think that WHO too has let down the world community, as it has not insisted that it should visit Wuhan region to study the problem. WHO should have visited the Wuhan region and must have taken the initiative to launch world-wide efforts to prevent the spread of virus and develop an appropriate vaccine/drug to treat the disease.

While the world community is suffering due to COVID-19 with loss of thousands of lives and many more thousands of people infected and the numbers going further at an alarming level, China claims that it has solved the problem and is now free of the virus. &nbsp;If it is really so, China should have shared information with the rest of the world, as to how it solved the problem, so that the world community would be benefited. By not doing so, China has exhibited irresponsible behaviour, obviously implying that it has the least concern about the health of the world community.

It appears that China is trying to give an impression that while it has solved the problem, the other countries like the USA and those in Europe and rest of the world have not been able to do so, implying that China is far more advanced in the field of medical science and technology.

Countries like USA, Japan, Singapore and countries in Europe, which are supposed to be technologically and scientifically advanced, certainly feel sad, depressed and diminished, that they are not able to achieve so far, what China claims to have achieved by combating the virus.

The worst scenario is that these advanced countries in Europe, USA do not even have an adequate manufacturing facility for masks, sanitisers, test kits, ventilators etc. and have to face the humiliating situation of having to import personal protection equipment from China.

In such scenario, one cannot but get a feeling that countries in Europe, as well as USA, Japan and others, feel humiliated, even as they are battling the virus without any firm clue as to how to overcome the crisis and when they could do.

 
Like a wounded tiger, European countries, America and Japan are bound to look for ways and means to undo the loss of reputation due to the inability to handle the COVID-19 crisis vis a vis China’s claim that it has sorted out the issue and China implicitly trying to convey an impression that it has superior technical and scientific expertise.

The suspicion is growing not only amongst these “wounded tigers” but also in the rest of the world that China must have enacted a game plan to spread the virus and the virus could have been generated from Wuhan lab, though there is no conclusive evidence to prove this so far.

China seems to be throwing stones sitting in the glasshouse, without realising that it is vulnerable on several fronts to international pressure, in spite of it’s impressive economic and industrial growth achieved during the last few decades and the strength that it has gained in the process.

China seems to be preparing the ground for the scenario of confrontation with several countries in the world, as is evident from its recent moves in the South China Sea, without being concerned about the COVID-19 crisis that has caused serious unrest all over the world.

Though China has systematically gained vice-like grip and sort of control over several weak countries such as Pakistan by extending loan and participating in projects, it is unlikely that such strategies would help China, if and when it would be confronted by several other countries.

It is astonishing that China does not have the wisdom to realise about the need to gain good global image by cooperating with the rest of the world in combating COVID-19 and not creating territorial disputes with the nearby countries like Vietnam, India and others.

It is now realised by many countries that China has expansionist ambition and wants to dominate the world. Therefore, an impression is gaining around the world that China has to be controlled at any cost.

&nbsp;

(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL) 
&nbsp;

It is now well realised by the world community that COVID-19 originated from Wuhan in China, though Beijing has denied this. The world community further believes that China has not informed the world about the seriousness of COVID-19 issue when it happened in Wuhan and did not share information about the challenges it faced in dealing with the problem.

It is now well realised by the world community that COVID-19 originated from Wuhan in China, though Beijing has denied this. The world community further believes that China has not informed the world about the seriousness of COVID-19 issue when it happened in Wuhan and did not share information about the challenges it faced in dealing with the problem. Certainly, the rest of the world would have taken some precautions to prevent the spread of COVID-19, if China had forewarned the world. In this process, China has let down the world community and a number of people seem to think that WHO too has let down the world community, as it has not insisted that it should visit Wuhan region to study the problem. WHO should have visited the Wuhan region and must have taken the initiative to launch world-wide efforts to prevent the spread of virus and develop an appropriate vaccine/drug to treat the disease. While the world community is suffering due to COVID-19 with loss of thousands of lives and many more thousands of people infected and the numbers going further at an alarming level, China claims that it has solved the problem and is now free of the virus. If it is really so, China should have shared information with the rest of the world, as to how it solved the problem, so that the world community would be benefited. By not doing so, China has exhibited irresponsible behaviour, obviously implying that it has the least concern about the health of the world community. It appears that China is trying to give an impression that while it has solved the problem, the other countries like the USA and those in Europe and rest of the world have not been able to do so, implying that China is far more advanced in the field of medical science and technology. Countries like USA, Japan, Singapore and countries in Europe, which are supposed to be technologically and scientifically advanced, certainly feel sad, depressed and diminished, that they are not able to achieve so far, what China claims to have achieved by combating the virus. The worst scenario is that these advanced countries in Europe, USA do not even have an adequate manufacturing facility for masks, sanitisers, test kits, ventilators etc. and have to face the humiliating situation of having to import personal protection equipment from China. In such scenario, one cannot but get a feeling that countries in Europe, as well as USA, Japan and others, feel humiliated, even as they are battling the virus without any firm clue as to how to overcome the crisis and when they could do. Like a wounded tiger, European countries, America and Japan are bound to look for ways and means to undo the loss of reputation due to the inability to handle the COVID-19 crisis vis a vis China’s claim that it has sorted out the issue and China implicitly trying to convey an impression that it has superior technical and scientific expertise. The suspicion is growing not only amongst these “wounded tigers” but also in the rest of the world that China must have enacted a game plan to spread the virus and the virus could have been generated from Wuhan lab, though there is no conclusive evidence to prove this so far. China seems to be throwing stones sitting in the glasshouse, without realising that it is vulnerable on several fronts to international pressure, in spite of it’s impressive economic and industrial growth achieved during the last few decades and the strength that it has gained in the process. China seems to be preparing the ground for the scenario of confrontation with several countries in the world, as is evident from its recent moves in the South China Sea, without being concerned about the COVID-19 crisis that has caused serious unrest all over the world. Though China has systematically gained vice-like grip and sort of control over several weak countries such as Pakistan by extending loan and participating in projects, it is unlikely that such strategies would help China, if and when it would be confronted by several other countries. It is astonishing that China does not have the wisdom to realise about the need to gain good global image by cooperating with the rest of the world in combating COVID-19 and not creating territorial disputes with the nearby countries like Vietnam, India and others. It is now realised by many countries that China has expansionist ambition and wants to dominate the world. Therefore, an impression is gaining around the world that China has to be controlled at any cost. (Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL)

China must be made to pay for its role in coronavirus spread

With the way this pandemic is playing out, India could especially be hit hard simply because we don’t have a sizeable economy to service 1.4 billion people. The last twenty years of economic development in the country has been substantial; we pulled nearly 240 million people out of poverty. Unfortunately, if we do not handle things right in the next two years' time, we may push them straight back below the poverty line. &nbsp;

But in all this, there are bright spots. Without a strong investment from outside the country, we will not have the capability to put the markets and industry back in place and move populations back to their workplaces.&nbsp;

There is a great opportunity for India as the trust that people had in the Chinese economy has been seriously eroded. Already Japan has offered over $500 billion dollars to move their industry out of China, and the United States could do something even more drastic. Over 300 top companies in the world may start partially moving out of China.&nbsp;

India is eminently positioned to benefit if they come here even for partial production. This will need a very determined effort from the industry lobby, the businesses, and the government has to pitch in. We must set up a single-point clearance without any bureaucratic process – for land, electricity, and all clearances. If necessary, pass an Economic Emergency bill to empower states to execute the facilitation of big investments. A billion-dollar-plus investment must be given immunity from PILs and cost litigation for a period of five years. If we do this, we can get the economy buzzing. It all depends on how efficiently and hungrily we grab this opportunity.&nbsp;

(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL) 
&nbsp;

With the way this pandemic is playing out, India could especially be hit hard simply because we don’t have a sizeable economy to service 1.4 billion people. The last twenty years of economic development in the country has been substantial; we pulled nearly 240 million people out of poverty.

With the way this pandemic is playing out, India could especially be hit hard simply because we don’t have a sizeable economy to service 1.4 billion people. The last twenty years of economic development in the country has been substantial; we pulled nearly 240 million people out of poverty. Unfortunately, if we do not handle things right in the next two years' time, we may push them straight back below the poverty line. But in all this, there are bright spots. Without a strong investment from outside the country, we will not have the capability to put the markets and industry back in place and move populations back to their workplaces. There is a great opportunity for India as the trust that people had in the Chinese economy has been seriously eroded. Already Japan has offered over $500 billion dollars to move their industry out of China, and the United States could do something even more drastic. Over 300 top companies in the world may start partially moving out of China. India is eminently positioned to benefit if they come here even for partial production. This will need a very determined effort from the industry lobby, the businesses, and the government has to pitch in. We must set up a single-point clearance without any bureaucratic process – for land, electricity, and all clearances. If necessary, pass an Economic Emergency bill to empower states to execute the facilitation of big investments. A billion-dollar-plus investment must be given immunity from PILs and cost litigation for a period of five years. If we do this, we can get the economy buzzing. It all depends on how efficiently and hungrily we grab this opportunity. (Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL)

To get the  economy buzzing, India should woo foreign industry

The narrative promoted by China as to the origin of COVID-19 and the one quickly adopted by the scientific establishment and the media has always been that COVID-19, while circulating in a bat population, mutated, acquiring the ability to infect humans, which was then transmitted to people either visiting or working in the Wuhan Seafood Market

On February 3, 2020, Chinese researchers led by Zheng-Li Shi of the Wuhan Institute of Virology published an article in the prestigious journal Nature, which became the basis of the naturally-occurring narrative by identifying a previously unknown bat coronavirus, RaTg13, as a close relative to COVID-19.

A month later, using RaTG13 as a linchpin of its argument, Western scientists published “The Proximal Origin of SAR-CoV-2,” which became the single most widely-cited article by scientists and the media to support the contention that COVID-19 came from nature.

Thus, originated the “wide scientific consensus” claimed even by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence in the United States in its April 30, 2020 statement that COVID-19 “was not manmade or genetically modified.”

It did not take long for doubts about the validity of the RaTG13 argument or even its existence to appear, as the <a href="https://ccnationalsecurity.org/is-bat-coronavirus-4991-a-smoking-gun-in-chinas-covid-19-cover-up/">April 25, 2020 article</a> “Is Bat Coronavirus 4991 a Smoking Gun in China’s COVID-19 Cover-up?” will attest.

We have now learned that RaTG13 existed only on paper. RaTG13 and BtCoV/4991 are the <a href="https://twitter.com/schnufi666/status/1259035090811846661">same virus</a>.

How long has this been known by the scientists involved and has it been part of a deliberate deception?

"Although sequenced earlier, the entire RaTG13 genome was later uploaded to the National Institutes of Health GenBank with an updated timestamp of March 24, 2020 and an accession number <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nuccore/MN996532">MN996532.1</a>."

In that filing, there is no mention of BtCoV/4991.

Yet, in a Chinese virus <a href="http://www.mgc.ac.cn/cgi-bin/DBatVir/main.cgi?func=accession&amp;acc=MN996532">database</a>, dated March 7, 2020 in the <a href="http://www.mgc.ac.cn/DBatVir/update.xml">source code</a>, RaTG13 and BtCoV/4991 are listed as equivalent and links to the NIH GenBank.

What else has China been hiding?

The numerous inconsistencies in the theory that COVID-19 is naturally-occurring are <a href="https://ccnationalsecurity.org/author/lawrence-sellin/">well-documented</a>.

A thorough, objective investigation of the true origin of COVID-19 is long overdue. 
 
(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL) 
&nbsp;

The narrative promoted by China as to the origin of COVID-19 and the one quickly adopted by the scientific establishment and the media has always been that COVID-19, while circulating in a bat population, mutated, acquiring the ability to infect humans, which was then transmitted to people either visiting or working in the Wuhan Seafood Market On February 3, 2020, Chinese researchers led by Zheng-Li Shi of the Wuhan Institute of Virology published an article in the prestigious journal Nature, which became the basis of the naturally-occurring narrative by identifying a previously unknown bat coronavirus, RaTg13, as a close relative to COVID-19.

The narrative promoted by China as to the origin of COVID-19 and the one quickly adopted by the scientific establishment and the media has always been that COVID-19, while circulating in a bat population, mutated, acquiring the ability to infect humans, which was then transmitted to people either visiting or working in the Wuhan Seafood Market On February 3, 2020, Chinese researchers led by Zheng-Li Shi of the Wuhan Institute of Virology published an article in the prestigious journal Nature, which became the basis of the naturally-occurring narrative by identifying a previously unknown bat coronavirus, RaTg13, as a close relative to COVID-19. A month later, using RaTG13 as a linchpin of its argument, Western scientists published “The Proximal Origin of SAR-CoV-2,” which became the single most widely-cited article by scientists and the media to support the contention that COVID-19 came from nature. Thus, originated the “wide scientific consensus” claimed even by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence in the United States in its April 30, 2020 statement that COVID-19 “was not manmade or genetically modified.” It did not take long for doubts about the validity of the RaTG13 argument or even its existence to appear, as the April 25, 2020 article “Is Bat Coronavirus 4991 a Smoking Gun in China’s COVID-19 Cover-up?” will attest. We have now learned that RaTG13 existed only on paper. RaTG13 and BtCoV/4991 are the same virus. How long has this been known by the scientists involved and has it been part of a deliberate deception? "Although sequenced earlier, the entire RaTG13 genome was later uploaded to the National Institutes of Health GenBank with an updated timestamp of March 24, 2020 and an accession number MN996532.1." In that filing, there is no mention of BtCoV/4991. Yet, in a Chinese virus database, dated March 7, 2020 in the source code, RaTG13 and BtCoV/4991 are listed as equivalent and links to the NIH GenBank. What else has China been hiding? The numerous inconsistencies in the theory that COVID-19 is naturally-occurring are well-documented. A thorough, objective investigation of the true origin of COVID-19 is long overdue. (Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL)

China’s narrative about the origin of COVID-19 is starting to unravel

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has become the articulate, compassionate political face of government competence in fighting a pandemic.

That’s quite an achievement for a man who as late as early March 2020 trumpeted: “Excuse our arrogance as New Yorkers… We think we have the best healthcare system on the planet right here in New York. So, when you’re saying what happened in other countries versus what happened here, we don’t even think it’s going to be as bad as it was in other countries. We are fully coordinated; we are fully mobilised.”

New York was neither fully coordinated, nor was it fully mobilised.

In fact, it became the pandemic’s prime hotspot in the United States, accounting for the highest number of infection cases and the highest mortality rate. Its hospitals were overwhelmed, its stockpiles depleted, its frontline workers perilously exposed to risk of contagion. Many of the deaths could have been prevented had Cuomo opted to lock down the Big Apple earlier.

For now, recent history has largely been forgotten. Cuomo thrives in his element, a rising star on America’s political ferment. His sober but empathetic, fact-based daily briefings project him as a man in command with a mission to ensure the health, safety, and wellbeing of his state.

If Cuomo, a veteran of dealing with the aftermaths of disasters like Hurricane Sandy, learnt anything from his delayed response to the coronavirus pandemic, it was that “an outbreak anywhere is an outbreak everywhere.”

Unlike other epidemics in recent years such as the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome or SARS in the early 2000s, the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) in 2012 or the eruption of Ebola in West Africa in 2014, the coronavirus, dubbed COVID-19, left no corner of the globe untouched.

It is a lesson that goes to the heart of all that is wrong with global, regional, and national healthcare governance. It is a lesson that calls into question social and economic policies that have shaped the world for decades irrespective of the political system.

It is also a lesson that goes to the core of the relationship between government and the people. It positions social trust as a pillar of effective healthcare policy in a time of crisis.

In an era of defiance and dissent as a result of a breakdown in confidence in political systems and political leadership that kicked off with Occupy Wall Street and the 2011 Arab popular revolts and led to the rise of populists, mass anti-government demonstrations and in 2019 the toppling of leaders in Algeria, Sudan, Lebanon and Iraq, lack of trust complicated government efforts to counter the virus.

Distrust persuaded many Iranians to initially refuse to heed public health warnings to maintain social distancing, stay at home and install an Android app designed to help people self-diagnose and avoid rushing to the hospital.

Pakistanis put their faith in religious leaders who rejected government demands for a halt to congregational prayers. So did many Russians as bans on mass gatherings split the clergy and threatened to undermine the Russian Orthodox Church’s key support for President Vladimir Putin.

Post-mortems of governments’ handling of the crisis once the coronavirus has been contained could increase the trust deficit.

Moreover, in an indication of pent-up anger and frustration that could explode, the imposition of curfews and stay-at-home orders failed to prevent incidental outbursts, including protests in mid-American states, quarantined Egyptian villages and poorer Tunisian and Moroccan hamlets.

In an echo of the Tunisian vendor who sparked the 2011 Arab revolts, 32-year-old unemployed and physically disabled Hammadi Chalbi set himself alight in a town 160 kilometres southwest of Tunis after authorities’ refused to license him as a fruit seller. In Lebanon, a taxi driver set his vehicle on fire while fruit vendors dumped their goods in the streets in expressions of mounting discontent. The protests suggest a universal corollary with the pandemic: an outbreak anywhere is an outbreak everywhere.

Protesters in 2019 went beyond demanding the fall of a leader. They sought the fall of political elites and radical overhaul of failed political systems. The pandemic called an abrupt halt to the protests. Protesters like the rest of the population went into temporary hibernation.

When they re-emerge, they are likely to put government leaders who prioritised political advantage above their health and economic well-being at a cost that surpasses that of the 1929 Great Depression on par with crimes committed against humanity during times of war.

Social, economic, ethnic, and sectarian fault lines are likely to be hardened in countries like Pakistan and Iraq where militants stepped in with healthcare and other social services to fill voids created by lack of government capacity.

The pandemic further painfully illustrated the economic cost of not only failing to confront a health crisis in a timely fashion but also the risk inherent in policies that do not ensure proper healthcare infrastructure in every corner of the globe, guarantee equal access to healthcare, make sure that people irrespective of income have proper housing and nutrition, turn a blind eye to the destruction of healthcare facilities in conflict situations like Syria, Yemen, Libya, Ukraine, Nagorno-Karabakh, Myanmar, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, tolerate millions of refugees existing in sub-standard living and hygiene conditions, and disregard environmental degradation and climate change.

The pandemic casts a spotlight on the deprivation of populations of proper healthcare as a result of politically motivated discriminatory social and economic policies.

The non-discriminatory nature of the coronavirus forced the Israeli government to ramp up testing in communities of Israeli Palestinians which had been described by public health experts as a ticking time bomb.

The experts warned that Israeli Palestinians, who figured prominently among frontline doctors and nurses treating Jews and Palestinians alike, were an at-risk group, many of whom suffer from chronic diseases, live in crowded conditions, and are socially and economically disadvantaged.

Ramping up testing to prevent the spread of COVID-19 constitutes an immediate effort to stem the tide but does little to structurally prepare Israeli and Palestinian society for the next pandemic.

Pre-dominantly Palestinian “East Jerusalem is gravely neglected in every possible way in terms of the infrastructure. Most neighbourhoods of East Jerusalem don’t have sewage systems. Just about every possible public service you can think of is underbudgeted and lacking in East Jerusalem. The only thing they get a lot of is parking fines and (punitive) housing demolition orders, said” &nbsp;left-wing member of the Jerusalem municipal council Laura Wharton.

A Monopoly board centred on Jerusalem given to her by Moshe Lion, the city’s mayor and a former economic advisor and director-general of prime minister Benyamin Netanyahu’s office, illustrates the political calculus that potentially puts not only Jews and Palestinians but populations elsewhere at risk in a future pandemic.

“You have here the City of David, the Mount of Olives, the Knesset (the Israeli parliament), the Montefiore windmill, the markets, (the ultra-orthodox Jewish neighbourhood of) Mea She’arim. Al Aqsa (the third holiest Muslim site) is not here, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is not here. Basically what you have is a bunch of Jewish sites and various illusions to other things. It’s not a very balanced picture of Jerusalem,” Wharton noted pointing at various landmarks on the board.

African Americans, Hispanics and Native Americans tell the story, They have fallen disproportionately victim in the United States to the coronavirus.

US surgeon general Jerome Adams, a 45-year old African American vice admiral in the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, one of America’s eight uniformed services, pulled out his inhaler at a White House press briefing in April 2020, saying he's carried it around for 40 years, "out of fear of having a fatal asthma attack."

Looking fit and trim in his dark uniform, Adams said he also had a heart condition and high blood pressure. "I represent that legacy of growing up poor and black in America. And I, and many black Americans, are at higher risk for COVID."

The surgeon general said that “It's alarming but not surprising that people of colour have a greater burden of chronic health conditions. African Americans and Native Americans develop high blood pressure at much younger ages… and (the virus) does greater harm to their organs. Puerto Ricans have higher rates of asthma and black boys are three times (more) likely to die of asthma than their white counterparts…. People of colour are more likely to live in densely packed areas and multi-generational housing, situations which create a higher risk for the spread of a highly contagious disease like COVID-19. We tell people to wash their hands, but a study shows that 30 per cent of homes of the Navajo Nation don’t have running water, so how are they going to do that?”

What goes for one of the wealthiest nations on earth goes for the rest of the world too, particularly with the last two decades suggesting that pandemics occur more frequently and are likely to do so going forward.

What started in Wuhan in China in December 2019 had, by April 2020, brought the world to a virtual standstill. Millions across the globe were infected, tens of thousands did not survive, economies shut down and the prospects for recovery and return to what was normal seemed a mere hope in a distant future.

Andrew Cuomo may be the exception that confirms the rule. There is little in the response of leaders from China’s Xi Jinping to Russia’s Vladimir Putin, Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan and US President Donald J. Trump that suggests that the lesson that an outbreak anywhere is an outbreak everywhere has persuaded them to think in terms of structural change.

If the first six months of the coronavirus are anything to go by, the name of the game has been jockeying for political positions, ideology trumps science, and everyone for him or herself in a race to the bottom rather than apolitical banding together globally, regionally and nationally to fight a dangerous and debilitating common enemy.

The response to the pandemic reflected the crumbling of the post-World War II international order that is in the grips of a struggle by big and medium-sized powers to shape global governance in the 21st century.

The struggle has already crippled the United Nations and politicisation of the coronavirus and healthcare threatens to undermine the World Health Organisation, the one, albeit flawed, a structure capable of coordinating a global response.

Complicating the response, was the rise of civilizationalists like Xi, Hungarian prime minister Victor Orban and Trump who think in civilizational rather than national terms.

They conceive of their nations as civilizations in which Hans, Hindus or Christians rule supreme and there is no equal place for minorities rather than nation-states defined by legally recognised borders, population, and language.

Theirs is a world of neglect for international law, increased conflict, political violence, and mass migration that promises to be even less prepared for the next pandemic. It is also a world in which early warning systems are weakened by the muzzling of a free press.

Former US president Barak Obama, in his opening blast against Trump in the run-up to the November presidential election, put his finger on the pulse.

“What we are fighting against is these long-term trends in which being selfish, being tribal, being divided and seeing others an enemy, that that has become a stronger impulse in American life. And by the way, you know, we are seeing that internationally as well. And it’s part of the reason why the response to this global crisis has been so anaemic and spotty… It has been an absolute chaotic disaster when that mindset of what’s in it for me and to heck with everybody else – when that mindset is operationalized in our government,” Obama told a virtual gathering of his former staffers.

The pandemic demonstrates the need for coordinated policies ranging from global, regional, and national stockpiling, international cooperation in medical research and development, conflict mediation, protection of minority rights, environment, absorption of refugees and robust but diversified supply chains.

It also highlights the importance of eradication of poverty and proper social security nets, housing, hygiene, and access to water in a world in which an outbreak anywhere is an outbreak everywhere.

The pandemic positions an approach towards healthcare that is integrated into sustainable social and economic policies as a matter of global and national security on par with regional and national defence and security policies and investments.

It also raises the question of what role major non-governmental institutions like the Clinton Initiative, George Soros and the Gates Foundation can play.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has become the articulate, compassionate political face of government competence in fighting a pandemic. That’s quite an achievement for a man who as late as early March 2020 trumpeted: “Excuse our arrogance as New Yorkers… We think we have the best healthcare system on the planet right here in New York.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has become the articulate, compassionate political face of government competence in fighting a pandemic. That’s quite an achievement for a man who as late as early March 2020 trumpeted: “Excuse our arrogance as New Yorkers… We think we have the best healthcare system on the planet right here in New York. So, when you’re saying what happened in other countries versus what happened here, we don’t even think it’s going to be as bad as it was in other countries. We are fully coordinated; we are fully mobilised.” New York was neither fully coordinated, nor was it fully mobilised. In fact, it became the pandemic’s prime hotspot in the United States, accounting for the highest number of infection cases and the highest mortality rate. Its hospitals were overwhelmed, its stockpiles depleted, its frontline workers perilously exposed to risk of contagion. Many of the deaths could have been prevented had Cuomo opted to lock down the Big Apple earlier. For now, recent history has largely been forgotten. Cuomo thrives in his element, a rising star on America’s political ferment. His sober but empathetic, fact-based daily briefings project him as a man in command with a mission to ensure the health, safety, and wellbeing of his state. If Cuomo, a veteran of dealing with the aftermaths of disasters like Hurricane Sandy, learnt anything from his delayed response to the coronavirus pandemic, it was that “an outbreak anywhere is an outbreak everywhere.” Unlike other epidemics in recent years such as the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome or SARS in the early 2000s, the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) in 2012 or the eruption of Ebola in West Africa in 2014, the coronavirus, dubbed COVID-19, left no corner of the globe untouched. It is a lesson that goes to the heart of all that is wrong with global, regional, and national healthcare governance. It is a lesson that calls into question social and economic policies that have shaped the world for decades irrespective of the political system. It is also a lesson that goes to the core of the relationship between government and the people. It positions social trust as a pillar of effective healthcare policy in a time of crisis. In an era of defiance and dissent as a result of a breakdown in confidence in political systems and political leadership that kicked off with Occupy Wall Street and the 2011 Arab popular revolts and led to the rise of populists, mass anti-government demonstrations and in 2019 the toppling of leaders in Algeria, Sudan, Lebanon and Iraq, lack of trust complicated government efforts to counter the virus. Distrust persuaded many Iranians to initially refuse to heed public health warnings to maintain social distancing, stay at home and install an Android app designed to help people self-diagnose and avoid rushing to the hospital. Pakistanis put their faith in religious leaders who rejected government demands for a halt to congregational prayers. So did many Russians as bans on mass gatherings split the clergy and threatened to undermine the Russian Orthodox Church’s key support for President Vladimir Putin. Post-mortems of governments’ handling of the crisis once the coronavirus has been contained could increase the trust deficit. Moreover, in an indication of pent-up anger and frustration that could explode, the imposition of curfews and stay-at-home orders failed to prevent incidental outbursts, including protests in mid-American states, quarantined Egyptian villages and poorer Tunisian and Moroccan hamlets. In an echo of the Tunisian vendor who sparked the 2011 Arab revolts, 32-year-old unemployed and physically disabled Hammadi Chalbi set himself alight in a town 160 kilometres southwest of Tunis after authorities’ refused to license him as a fruit seller. In Lebanon, a taxi driver set his vehicle on fire while fruit vendors dumped their goods in the streets in expressions of mounting discontent. The protests suggest a universal corollary with the pandemic: an outbreak anywhere is an outbreak everywhere. Protesters in 2019 went beyond demanding the fall of a leader. They sought the fall of political elites and radical overhaul of failed political systems. The pandemic called an abrupt halt to the protests. Protesters like the rest of the population went into temporary hibernation. When they re-emerge, they are likely to put government leaders who prioritised political advantage above their health and economic well-being at a cost that surpasses that of the 1929 Great Depression on par with crimes committed against humanity during times of war. Social, economic, ethnic, and sectarian fault lines are likely to be hardened in countries like Pakistan and Iraq where militants stepped in with healthcare and other social services to fill voids created by lack of government capacity. The pandemic further painfully illustrated the economic cost of not only failing to confront a health crisis in a timely fashion but also the risk inherent in policies that do not ensure proper healthcare infrastructure in every corner of the globe, guarantee equal access to healthcare, make sure that people irrespective of income have proper housing and nutrition, turn a blind eye to the destruction of healthcare facilities in conflict situations like Syria, Yemen, Libya, Ukraine, Nagorno-Karabakh, Myanmar, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, tolerate millions of refugees existing in sub-standard living and hygiene conditions, and disregard environmental degradation and climate change. The pandemic casts a spotlight on the deprivation of populations of proper healthcare as a result of politically motivated discriminatory social and economic policies. The non-discriminatory nature of the coronavirus forced the Israeli government to ramp up testing in communities of Israeli Palestinians which had been described by public health experts as a ticking time bomb. The experts warned that Israeli Palestinians, who figured prominently among frontline doctors and nurses treating Jews and Palestinians alike, were an at-risk group, many of whom suffer from chronic diseases, live in crowded conditions, and are socially and economically disadvantaged. Ramping up testing to prevent the spread of COVID-19 constitutes an immediate effort to stem the tide but does little to structurally prepare Israeli and Palestinian society for the next pandemic. Pre-dominantly Palestinian “East Jerusalem is gravely neglected in every possible way in terms of the infrastructure. Most neighbourhoods of East Jerusalem don’t have sewage systems. Just about every possible public service you can think of is underbudgeted and lacking in East Jerusalem. The only thing they get a lot of is parking fines and (punitive) housing demolition orders, said” left-wing member of the Jerusalem municipal council Laura Wharton. A Monopoly board centred on Jerusalem given to her by Moshe Lion, the city’s mayor and a former economic advisor and director-general of prime minister Benyamin Netanyahu’s office, illustrates the political calculus that potentially puts not only Jews and Palestinians but populations elsewhere at risk in a future pandemic. “You have here the City of David, the Mount of Olives, the Knesset (the Israeli parliament), the Montefiore windmill, the markets, (the ultra-orthodox Jewish neighbourhood of) Mea She’arim. Al Aqsa (the third holiest Muslim site) is not here, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is not here. Basically what you have is a bunch of Jewish sites and various illusions to other things. It’s not a very balanced picture of Jerusalem,” Wharton noted pointing at various landmarks on the board. African Americans, Hispanics and Native Americans tell the story, They have fallen disproportionately victim in the United States to the coronavirus. US surgeon general Jerome Adams, a 45-year old African American vice admiral in the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, one of America’s eight uniformed services, pulled out his inhaler at a White House press briefing in April 2020, saying he's carried it around for 40 years, "out of fear of having a fatal asthma attack." Looking fit and trim in his dark uniform, Adams said he also had a heart condition and high blood pressure. "I represent that legacy of growing up poor and black in America. And I, and many black Americans, are at higher risk for COVID." The surgeon general said that “It's alarming but not surprising that people of colour have a greater burden of chronic health conditions. African Americans and Native Americans develop high blood pressure at much younger ages… and (the virus) does greater harm to their organs. Puerto Ricans have higher rates of asthma and black boys are three times (more) likely to die of asthma than their white counterparts…. People of colour are more likely to live in densely packed areas and multi-generational housing, situations which create a higher risk for the spread of a highly contagious disease like COVID-19. We tell people to wash their hands, but a study shows that 30 per cent of homes of the Navajo Nation don’t have running water, so how are they going to do that?” What goes for one of the wealthiest nations on earth goes for the rest of the world too, particularly with the last two decades suggesting that pandemics occur more frequently and are likely to do so going forward. What started in Wuhan in China in December 2019 had, by April 2020, brought the world to a virtual standstill. Millions across the globe were infected, tens of thousands did not survive, economies shut down and the prospects for recovery and return to what was normal seemed a mere hope in a distant future. Andrew Cuomo may be the exception that confirms the rule. There is little in the response of leaders from China’s Xi Jinping to Russia’s Vladimir Putin, Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan and US President Donald J. Trump that suggests that the lesson that an outbreak anywhere is an outbreak everywhere has persuaded them to think in terms of structural change. If the first six months of the coronavirus are anything to go by, the name of the game has been jockeying for political positions, ideology trumps science, and everyone for him or herself in a race to the bottom rather than apolitical banding together globally, regionally and nationally to fight a dangerous and debilitating common enemy. The response to the pandemic reflected the crumbling of the post-World War II international order that is in the grips of a struggle by big and medium-sized powers to shape global governance in the 21st century. The struggle has already crippled the United Nations and politicisation of the coronavirus and healthcare threatens to undermine the World Health Organisation, the one, albeit flawed, a structure capable of coordinating a global response. Complicating the response, was the rise of civilizationalists like Xi, Hungarian prime minister Victor Orban and Trump who think in civilizational rather than national terms. They conceive of their nations as civilizations in which Hans, Hindus or Christians rule supreme and there is no equal place for minorities rather than nation-states defined by legally recognised borders, population, and language. Theirs is a world of neglect for international law, increased conflict, political violence, and mass migration that promises to be even less prepared for the next pandemic. It is also a world in which early warning systems are weakened by the muzzling of a free press. Former US president Barak Obama, in his opening blast against Trump in the run-up to the November presidential election, put his finger on the pulse. “What we are fighting against is these long-term trends in which being selfish, being tribal, being divided and seeing others an enemy, that that has become a stronger impulse in American life. And by the way, you know, we are seeing that internationally as well. And it’s part of the reason why the response to this global crisis has been so anaemic and spotty… It has been an absolute chaotic disaster when that mindset of what’s in it for me and to heck with everybody else – when that mindset is operationalized in our government,” Obama told a virtual gathering of his former staffers. The pandemic demonstrates the need for coordinated policies ranging from global, regional, and national stockpiling, international cooperation in medical research and development, conflict mediation, protection of minority rights, environment, absorption of refugees and robust but diversified supply chains. It also highlights the importance of eradication of poverty and proper social security nets, housing, hygiene, and access to water in a world in which an outbreak anywhere is an outbreak everywhere. The pandemic positions an approach towards healthcare that is integrated into sustainable social and economic policies as a matter of global and national security on par with regional and national defence and security policies and investments. It also raises the question of what role major non-governmental institutions like the Clinton Initiative, George Soros and the Gates Foundation can play.

Coronavirus pandemic is far more than a global health emergency

As the world fights <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/coronavirus-lockdown-may-not-lead-to-a-rise-in-population-says-study-297484">coronavirus pandemic</a>, China is throwing its weight around. Beijing has deployed warships, asserted itself on the high seas and flexed its military muscle on the South China sea.

The developed world, barring a few, hasn't said much about the Chinese military aggression. But, that is not the case with smaller nations.

A report says that Vietnam is close to filing an international arbitration case and settle the South China Sea dispute with Beijing.

Leading countries are indecisive and divided over China. As the world scratches their heads over the right approach, Vietnam's decisiveness is like a breath of fresh air. 
 
<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/world-leaders-look-for-ways-to-hold-china-accountable-for-spread-of-coronavirus-report-297509">Also read: World leaders look for ways to hold China accountable for spread of coronavirus</a>

Last year, the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam had hosted a conference on the South China Sea. Vietnam's deputy foreign minister had raised the issue of an international case for the first time in nearly five years.

Since then, Vietnam has got more firm with China. Recently, China had announced a fishing ban in the South China Sea until August. However, Vietnam has rejected that decision, calling China's order "unilateral".

Indonesia is standing up to China too. After three Indonesian sailors died in the Pacific, Indonesia summoned the Chinese ambassador. This came after the reports that they were mistreated and exploited, apparently by the Chinese. 
 
Taiwan, considered as a breakaway province by China, has repeatedly called out Beijing over its botched up response to the pandemic.

The coronavirus outbreak has exposed the lack of leadership on the world stage. China is trying to coerce its way to the centre of the world order. When the G20 Summit happened, world leaders had a chance to call out China, but they didn't.

The world needs to closely look at Vietnam, Indonesia and Taiwan, they have decided not to bow to the&nbsp;economic pressures.

As the world fights coronavirus pandemic, China is throwing its weight around. Beijing has deployed warships, asserted itself on the high seas and flexed its military muscle on the South China sea.

As the world fights coronavirus pandemic, China is throwing its weight around. Beijing has deployed warships, asserted itself on the high seas and flexed its military muscle on the South China sea. The developed world, barring a few, hasn't said much about the Chinese military aggression. But, that is not the case with smaller nations. A report says that Vietnam is close to filing an international arbitration case and settle the South China Sea dispute with Beijing. Leading countries are indecisive and divided over China. As the world scratches their heads over the right approach, Vietnam's decisiveness is like a breath of fresh air. Also read: World leaders look for ways to hold China accountable for spread of coronavirus Last year, the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam had hosted a conference on the South China Sea. Vietnam's deputy foreign minister had raised the issue of an international case for the first time in nearly five years. Since then, Vietnam has got more firm with China. Recently, China had announced a fishing ban in the South China Sea until August. However, Vietnam has rejected that decision, calling China's order "unilateral". Indonesia is standing up to China too. After three Indonesian sailors died in the Pacific, Indonesia summoned the Chinese ambassador. This came after the reports that they were mistreated and exploited, apparently by the Chinese. Taiwan, considered as a breakaway province by China, has repeatedly called out Beijing over its botched up response to the pandemic. The coronavirus outbreak has exposed the lack of leadership on the world stage. China is trying to coerce its way to the centre of the world order. When the G20 Summit happened, world leaders had a chance to call out China, but they didn't. The world needs to closely look at Vietnam, Indonesia and Taiwan, they have decided not to bow to the economic pressures.

How smaller neighbours of China are taking on the dragon

The true cost of <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/coronavirus-lockdown-may-not-lead-to-a-rise-in-population-says-study-297484">the coronavirus </a>can't be measured, but what we can measure is how much countries are spending, and losing due to the coronavirus.

The global economy will lose at least one trillion dollars. To make the dragon pay, leaders in different countries want to sue China.

There is an avalanche of legal claims against China now. Last month Missouri became the first American state to sue China. The lawsuit says Missouri lost billions of dollars due to the pandemic.&nbsp; 
 
<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/how-smaller-neighbours-of-china-are-taking-on-the-dragon-297518">Also read: How smaller neighbours of China are taking on the dragon</a>

There are more lawsuits that target China. US President Donald Trump hasn't ruled out a demand for damages either. Some suggest countries should sue China at international tribunals.

However, international law experts say that may not work because China remains protected by the doctrine of sovereign immunity.

Also, Beijing is unlikely to accept the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice.

Some argue that China can be booked under international health regulations. Article 6 of the regulations says the WHO must be notified within 24 hours of any event that poses a risk, something that could become an international public health emergency.

While China can be accused of censoring, misrepresenting and suppressing valuable data, that alone, may not be enough.

So far, no national government has announced its intention to sue China for the coronavirus outbreak, but several leaders are looking for ways to up the ante against Beijing.

Making China legally liable and seeking damages is an appealing idea, but world leaders will have to come up with an effective way to do it.

&nbsp;

The true cost of the coronavirus can't be measured, but what we can measure is how much countries are spending, and losing due to the coronavirus. The global economy will lose at least one trillion dollars.

The true cost of the coronavirus can't be measured, but what we can measure is how much countries are spending, and losing due to the coronavirus. The global economy will lose at least one trillion dollars. To make the dragon pay, leaders in different countries want to sue China. There is an avalanche of legal claims against China now. Last month Missouri became the first American state to sue China. The lawsuit says Missouri lost billions of dollars due to the pandemic. Also read: How smaller neighbours of China are taking on the dragon There are more lawsuits that target China. US President Donald Trump hasn't ruled out a demand for damages either. Some suggest countries should sue China at international tribunals. However, international law experts say that may not work because China remains protected by the doctrine of sovereign immunity. Also, Beijing is unlikely to accept the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice. Some argue that China can be booked under international health regulations. Article 6 of the regulations says the WHO must be notified within 24 hours of any event that poses a risk, something that could become an international public health emergency. While China can be accused of censoring, misrepresenting and suppressing valuable data, that alone, may not be enough. So far, no national government has announced its intention to sue China for the coronavirus outbreak, but several leaders are looking for ways to up the ante against Beijing. Making China legally liable and seeking damages is an appealing idea, but world leaders will have to come up with an effective way to do it.

World leaders look for ways to hold China accountable for spread of coronavirus: Report

So international courts may not be up to the task but the world cannot look the other way as China and its accomplices break the rules like the World <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/south-korea-closes-bars-and-clubs-fears-second-wave-of-covid-19-297461">Health </a>Organization(WHO).

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/after-the-covid-19-pandemic-is-over-ready-for-review-under-who-china-297447">Also Read:&nbsp;After the COVID-19 pandemic is over, ready for review under WHO, says&nbsp;China</a>

Could that be India? there's a good chance. India will be taking up the leadership role at the WHO on May 22. New Delhi's nominee is expected to be appointed the chairperson of the WHO's executive board. It is the WHO wing responsible for executing decisions and implementing policies of the health assembly.

India's nomination was unanimously upheld by the WHO's South-East Asia group last year. India will be replacing Japan which will complete its one-year-term and it will hold the post for at least three years.

It implies that the Director-General of the WHO will have to get the chairperson - India &nbsp;- on board for all important decisions. Here are five things that India can and must do to fix the broken system of the&nbsp;UN health body.

Start by asking questions, push for accountability from WHO leadership, why did it buy China's word on the human transmission? Did it downplay or blatantly lie about how lethal the coronavirus was? Why did it declare a pandemic only after the virus had reached 85 countries?&nbsp;

Dr. Tedros sent a WHO delegation to China? what again did it achieve? and why can't the world talk about the place of origin of this virus?

India must begin by asking these questions without hesitation. Second, demand transparency from member countries. Starting with the one that gave the world this virus- China.

Why and on what basis should we trust China's recovery? Why won't it share research with and initial test samples as a WHO member nation? What evidence does Cina have to claim that this virus did not originate in the Wuhan lab? &nbsp;Why shouldn't global experts have access to this lab?

And most importantly, the wet markets - are they back? if they are what are they selling? under what conditions? and what assurance can China give the world that another disease is not waiting to explode? India must insist on the financial independence of the World Health Organization. How much does money talk at this body?

Reports say that contribution by countries in lieu of their membership to the WHO is extremely low. The WHO budget is mostly financed by voluntary contributions. Donations and grants that come from public and private sources. How much does the WHO depend on these 'extra-budgetary resources'? and which private sources are sending money to this body? are they from China?...

Also how much influence do they wield? India must push for Taiwan's inclusion at the World Health Organization. The WHO labels parts of India as Chinese territory but when it comes to Taiwan this body adheres to the One-China principle. Forget praising Taiwan's success story, it doesn't even acknowledge its existence.

India must rally support for Taiwan's observer status at the WHO. Taiwan must be permitted to share its expertise on the pandemic for the simple reason that its response has been the best.

And lastly, conduct an independent international probe on the outbreak which China says it is ready but with "close co-operation with the WHO". A body it already controls.&nbsp;

India must push for a transparent and crystal clear probe on the coronavirus outbreak and the world must not waste time mourning missed chances.

India must take the lead and WHO member nations must extend their support.

So international courts may not be up to the task but the world cannot look the other way as China and its accomplices break the rules like the World Health Organization(WHO).

So international courts may not be up to the task but the world cannot look the other way as China and its accomplices break the rules like the World Health Organization(WHO). Also Read: After the COVID-19 pandemic is over, ready for review under WHO, says China Could that be India? there's a good chance. India will be taking up the leadership role at the WHO on May 22. New Delhi's nominee is expected to be appointed the chairperson of the WHO's executive board. It is the WHO wing responsible for executing decisions and implementing policies of the health assembly. India's nomination was unanimously upheld by the WHO's South-East Asia group last year. India will be replacing Japan which will complete its one-year-term and it will hold the post for at least three years. It implies that the Director-General of the WHO will have to get the chairperson - India - on board for all important decisions. Here are five things that India can and must do to fix the broken system of the UN health body. Start by asking questions, push for accountability from WHO leadership, why did it buy China's word on the human transmission? Did it downplay or blatantly lie about how lethal the coronavirus was? Why did it declare a pandemic only after the virus had reached 85 countries? Dr. Tedros sent a WHO delegation to China? what again did it achieve? and why can't the world talk about the place of origin of this virus? India must begin by asking these questions without hesitation. Second, demand transparency from member countries. Starting with the one that gave the world this virus- China. Why and on what basis should we trust China's recovery? Why won't it share research with and initial test samples as a WHO member nation? What evidence does Cina have to claim that this virus did not originate in the Wuhan lab? Why shouldn't global experts have access to this lab? And most importantly, the wet markets - are they back? if they are what are they selling? under what conditions? and what assurance can China give the world that another disease is not waiting to explode? India must insist on the financial independence of the World Health Organization. How much does money talk at this body? Reports say that contribution by countries in lieu of their membership to the WHO is extremely low. The WHO budget is mostly financed by voluntary contributions. Donations and grants that come from public and private sources. How much does the WHO depend on these 'extra-budgetary resources'? and which private sources are sending money to this body? are they from China?... Also how much influence do they wield? India must push for Taiwan's inclusion at the World Health Organization. The WHO labels parts of India as Chinese territory but when it comes to Taiwan this body adheres to the One-China principle. Forget praising Taiwan's success story, it doesn't even acknowledge its existence. India must rally support for Taiwan's observer status at the WHO. Taiwan must be permitted to share its expertise on the pandemic for the simple reason that its response has been the best. And lastly, conduct an independent international probe on the outbreak which China says it is ready but with "close co-operation with the WHO". A body it already controls. India must push for a transparent and crystal clear probe on the coronavirus outbreak and the world must not waste time mourning missed chances. India must take the lead and WHO member nations must extend their support.

India to assume WHO leadership role; five things to fix

By Thomas Strandberg 
 
By the beginning of April 2020, a large proportion of the world’s population was living in some level of isolation as their governments took measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Some countries imposed tight restrictions at an early stage whereas others waited.

Findings from a survey taken at the time suggest that early action was the way to go for governments seeking public support. The public preferred their governments to take action more quickly in the UK and the US – two countries facing criticism for their slowness to act.

People in these two countries were also less trusting of their governments than in Germany and Italy. One reason behind this could be that politicians in both Germany and Italy acted more decisively compared to their two counterparts, almost immediately imposing lockdown measures. Italy was particularly notable for a high level of trust in the government, despite also suffering a high number of deaths.

We asked 2,006 people across four different countries to complete an online survey – 603 from the UK, 504 from the US, 427 from Germany and 472 from Italy. Each answered questions on their attitudes towards the measures taken to contain the spread of the coronavirus.

We found that respondents in the US were significantly less trusting of their government during this crisis than people in other countries. When asked to rate how much of the time they trusted their government on a four-point scale, with 0 being “just about never” and 3 being “just about always”, US respondents came out with an average score of just 0.85. German respondents reported quite a lot of trust, at 1.65, which brings them closer to trusting their government “some” or “most of the time”. In the UK, the trust level was 1.1 and in Italy 1.28.

The significantly different death rates, with Germany standing out with a small number of deaths per capita, in combination with Germany’s and Italy’s earlier responses to the pandemic could partly explain these differences.

There was a similar pattern in media trust, with German respondents having a higher trust (1.49) compared to respondents from the other countries (an average of 1.14).

Faster action needed

When asked what politicians in their country should have done differently, the most common response was to say they should have acted faster. Around three in four answers spoke to this point. This view was particularly prevalent in the UK, where 81% of respondents mentioned it, and in the US, where 74% mentioned it. In Germany, 69% brought it up, and in Italy, where very strict lockdown conditions were introduced, the least number of people (although still 57%) raised the issue.

There was also a strong sense that politicians should have “isolated more”, such as by closing down societal functions, restricting social life and keeping elderly and other risk groups isolated. However, views on this varied between countries. A significant seven out of ten people in the UK thought more isolation would have been preferable but only one in three Germans felt the same. This may also be because German politicians imposed more radical measures at an early stage, whereas UK and US governments have been criticised for reacting late and changing their strategies. However, all in all many respondents from all four countries wanted more isolation.

In the UK and US, the view that politicians should have provided more medical resources (such as hospital beds, personal protective and diagnostic equipment) was twice as common as in Germany and Italy.

Supporting lockdowns 
 
Participants were also asked: “How should the leaders of the world tackle the current situation?”. In response they could either say “open up and only isolate risk groups to save economy and jobs” or “isolate and lock down the whole country as long as needed to reduce the spread of the virus”.

An overwhelming majority (83%) chose isolating and locking down over the option to think more about the economy. However, there was some variation between countries. While 22% of German respondents wanted to open up, only 12% of UK respondents did. In the US, 17% of respondents wanted to open up and in Italy, only 16% did.

As governments decide how to approach the next phase of this crisis, it is clear that their citizens want priority to be given to health issues over economic concerns, which might conflict with politicians’ will to alleviate rising unemployment rates. And, in the longer-term future, some leaders may have some difficult questions to answer about why they didn’t take action sooner.

(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL)

(This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-us-and-uk-governments-losing-public-trust-137713">original article</a>) &nbsp;

(Thomas Strandberg is PhD candidate, cognitive science, Lund University) 
&nbsp;

By Thomas Strandberg By the beginning of April 2020, a large proportion of the world’s population was living in some level of isolation as their governments took measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

By Thomas Strandberg By the beginning of April 2020, a large proportion of the world’s population was living in some level of isolation as their governments took measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Some countries imposed tight restrictions at an early stage whereas others waited. Findings from a survey taken at the time suggest that early action was the way to go for governments seeking public support. The public preferred their governments to take action more quickly in the UK and the US – two countries facing criticism for their slowness to act. People in these two countries were also less trusting of their governments than in Germany and Italy. One reason behind this could be that politicians in both Germany and Italy acted more decisively compared to their two counterparts, almost immediately imposing lockdown measures. Italy was particularly notable for a high level of trust in the government, despite also suffering a high number of deaths. We asked 2,006 people across four different countries to complete an online survey – 603 from the UK, 504 from the US, 427 from Germany and 472 from Italy. Each answered questions on their attitudes towards the measures taken to contain the spread of the coronavirus. We found that respondents in the US were significantly less trusting of their government during this crisis than people in other countries. When asked to rate how much of the time they trusted their government on a four-point scale, with 0 being “just about never” and 3 being “just about always”, US respondents came out with an average score of just 0.85. German respondents reported quite a lot of trust, at 1.65, which brings them closer to trusting their government “some” or “most of the time”. In the UK, the trust level was 1.1 and in Italy 1.28. The significantly different death rates, with Germany standing out with a small number of deaths per capita, in combination with Germany’s and Italy’s earlier responses to the pandemic could partly explain these differences. There was a similar pattern in media trust, with German respondents having a higher trust (1.49) compared to respondents from the other countries (an average of 1.14). Faster action needed When asked what politicians in their country should have done differently, the most common response was to say they should have acted faster. Around three in four answers spoke to this point. This view was particularly prevalent in the UK, where 81% of respondents mentioned it, and in the US, where 74% mentioned it. In Germany, 69% brought it up, and in Italy, where very strict lockdown conditions were introduced, the least number of people (although still 57%) raised the issue. There was also a strong sense that politicians should have “isolated more”, such as by closing down societal functions, restricting social life and keeping elderly and other risk groups isolated. However, views on this varied between countries. A significant seven out of ten people in the UK thought more isolation would have been preferable but only one in three Germans felt the same. This may also be because German politicians imposed more radical measures at an early stage, whereas UK and US governments have been criticised for reacting late and changing their strategies. However, all in all many respondents from all four countries wanted more isolation. In the UK and US, the view that politicians should have provided more medical resources (such as hospital beds, personal protective and diagnostic equipment) was twice as common as in Germany and Italy. Supporting lockdowns Participants were also asked: “How should the leaders of the world tackle the current situation?”. In response they could either say “open up and only isolate risk groups to save economy and jobs” or “isolate and lock down the whole country as long as needed to reduce the spread of the virus”. An overwhelming majority (83%) chose isolating and locking down over the option to think more about the economy. However, there was some variation between countries. While 22% of German respondents wanted to open up, only 12% of UK respondents did. In the US, 17% of respondents wanted to open up and in Italy, only 16% did. As governments decide how to approach the next phase of this crisis, it is clear that their citizens want priority to be given to health issues over economic concerns, which might conflict with politicians’ will to alleviate rising unemployment rates. And, in the longer-term future, some leaders may have some difficult questions to answer about why they didn’t take action sooner. (Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL) (This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article) (Thomas Strandberg is PhD candidate, cognitive science, Lund University)

Coronavirus outbreak: US and UK governments are losing public trust

From historical times, human beings have been surviving despite several types of diseases confronting them. &nbsp;In such conditions, medical science was developed to safeguard human beings from diseases

In ancient India, there were reports of several medicinal practices and development of several types of drugs for the treatment of different types of illness, which were mostly based on natural products and not developed by the synthetic process. Traditionally, such Indian medical practices have been termed as Ayurveda, Siddha etc.

In other countries too, such traditional medical practices have prevailed under various names such as homoeopathy, Unani etc.

In short, the world has been living with diseases from time immemorial and has been responding to the diseases by developing appropriate medical procedures from time to time.

With the changing lifestyle of people, development of synthetic production processes for cosmetics, chemicals, &nbsp;fertilisers, pesticides, etc. and environmental hazards created by industrial operations and transportation, promotion of new food items etc. newer diseases have also been steadily rising.

The medical researchers have not lagged behind and have been developing new drugs and vaccines to treat new and emerging diseases.

COVID-19 is the latest addition to the rest of the diseases in the world.

Huge international efforts have now been taken up to identify the root cause of COVID-19 and develop appropriate drug/vaccine to treat the disease. &nbsp;

Given the past success ratings of medical researchers in handling other diseases, one can be hopeful that appropriate drug/vaccine would also be developed to treat COVID-19 patients.

While medical research has developed phenomenally, it has not been able to prevent the occurrence of the diseases, except in a few cases. Of course, in the case of polio attack, vaccines given to the children at the right time have largely eliminated the polio disease in the world.

However, this cannot be said about several of diseases such as cancer, influenza etc. which continue to occur at a very high level and are being treated.

A similar situation may prevail in future in the case of COVID 19 too, with medical researchers unable to prevent it but only treat it.

While the panicked world is still viewing COVID-19 with great fear and medical researchers are striving hard to develop treatment procedures, certainly, the day will come when the world would reconcile itself to the prevalence of COVID-19, just as it has reconciled itself to the prevalence of diseases like cancer, flu etc. and would also be prepared to treat the disease with appropriate procedures.

Possibly, after six months or so from now, when COVID-19 crisis would settle down, the world community would look back at the COVID-19 crisis and would wonder whether the world had overreacted.

In such circumstances, is it appropriate that the world economy should have been brought down to the level of stagnant or decelerating growth over several months in the year 2020, fearing COVID-19?

Due to such near-global lockdown, billions of poor people have been put to hardships, a large number of people have lost the jobs, many production centres are facing closure and appear that it would take some time for the world to recover from this losses due to lockdown, fearing COVID-19.

Today, it would look odd, if anyone would say that the world has overreacted to COVID-19 and sacrificed it’s social and economic interests.

As the days go by, perhaps, at the beginning of 2021 the world would realise that after all, it could have been a case of overreaction by the world community&nbsp;to the COVID-19 crisis.

In future, the world would add COVID-19 to the list of diseases prevailing in the world, treatment procedures would be evolved and some people would succumb and some people would recover.&nbsp;

The world will move on, &nbsp;just as it has been moving on even as it is confronted with diseases like cancer, flu, heart ailment etc.

(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL)

From historical times, human beings have been surviving despite several types of diseases confronting them. In such conditions, medical science was developed to safeguard human beings from diseases In ancient India, there were reports of several medicinal practices and development of several types of drugs for the treatment of different types of illness, which were mostly based on natural products and not developed by the synthetic process.

From historical times, human beings have been surviving despite several types of diseases confronting them. In such conditions, medical science was developed to safeguard human beings from diseases In ancient India, there were reports of several medicinal practices and development of several types of drugs for the treatment of different types of illness, which were mostly based on natural products and not developed by the synthetic process. Traditionally, such Indian medical practices have been termed as Ayurveda, Siddha etc. In other countries too, such traditional medical practices have prevailed under various names such as homoeopathy, Unani etc. In short, the world has been living with diseases from time immemorial and has been responding to the diseases by developing appropriate medical procedures from time to time. With the changing lifestyle of people, development of synthetic production processes for cosmetics, chemicals, fertilisers, pesticides, etc. and environmental hazards created by industrial operations and transportation, promotion of new food items etc. newer diseases have also been steadily rising. The medical researchers have not lagged behind and have been developing new drugs and vaccines to treat new and emerging diseases. COVID-19 is the latest addition to the rest of the diseases in the world. Huge international efforts have now been taken up to identify the root cause of COVID-19 and develop appropriate drug/vaccine to treat the disease. Given the past success ratings of medical researchers in handling other diseases, one can be hopeful that appropriate drug/vaccine would also be developed to treat COVID-19 patients. While medical research has developed phenomenally, it has not been able to prevent the occurrence of the diseases, except in a few cases. Of course, in the case of polio attack, vaccines given to the children at the right time have largely eliminated the polio disease in the world. However, this cannot be said about several of diseases such as cancer, influenza etc. which continue to occur at a very high level and are being treated. A similar situation may prevail in future in the case of COVID 19 too, with medical researchers unable to prevent it but only treat it. While the panicked world is still viewing COVID-19 with great fear and medical researchers are striving hard to develop treatment procedures, certainly, the day will come when the world would reconcile itself to the prevalence of COVID-19, just as it has reconciled itself to the prevalence of diseases like cancer, flu etc. and would also be prepared to treat the disease with appropriate procedures. Possibly, after six months or so from now, when COVID-19 crisis would settle down, the world community would look back at the COVID-19 crisis and would wonder whether the world had overreacted. In such circumstances, is it appropriate that the world economy should have been brought down to the level of stagnant or decelerating growth over several months in the year 2020, fearing COVID-19? Due to such near-global lockdown, billions of poor people have been put to hardships, a large number of people have lost the jobs, many production centres are facing closure and appear that it would take some time for the world to recover from this losses due to lockdown, fearing COVID-19. Today, it would look odd, if anyone would say that the world has overreacted to COVID-19 and sacrificed it’s social and economic interests. As the days go by, perhaps, at the beginning of 2021 the world would realise that after all, it could have been a case of overreaction by the world community to the COVID-19 crisis. In future, the world would add COVID-19 to the list of diseases prevailing in the world, treatment procedures would be evolved and some people would succumb and some people would recover. The world will move on, just as it has been moving on even as it is confronted with diseases like cancer, flu, heart ailment etc. (Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL)

Is the world overreacting to COVID-19 crisis?

Let me begin by stating what should be obvious.

It may be marginally about health, but the debate about the origin of COVID-19 is really about vast amounts of money, the research programs it supports and the power and prestige that go with them.

It is also about potential complicity or culpability.

On April 30, 2020, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence in the United States issued a statement including the following:

“The Intelligence Community also concurs with the wide scientific consensus that the COVID-19 virus was not manmade or genetically modified,”

What exactly comprises the “wide scientific consensus?”

If you exclude massive amounts of Chinese propaganda, it is actually based largely on a single, but widely-cited, Nature Medicine article entitled “The Proximal Origin of SAR-CoV-2,” and a supporting scientific narrative made by a few Western scientists with possible vested interests in the outcome, linked to a nearly endless regurgitation of the same arguments by the mainstream media.

It appears to be the same formula for artificially creating the “wide scientific consensus” of climate science or COVID-19 epidemiological models, mostly meant to stifle debate by labelling any contrary views as conspiracy theories.

That technique involves stating some scientific facts, but weaving them together in a manner that leads either to an entirely speculative conclusion or a false one, but both sounding definitive.

The truth is that no one yet knows the origin of COVID-19 and to make any categorical statements is misleading.

The naturally-occurring theory claims that coronaviruses circulating in a bat population mutated, acquiring the ability to infect humans, which was then transmitted to people either visiting or working in the Wuhan Seafood Market; &nbsp;

First of all, the initial patients hospitalised between December 1-10, 2019 <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30183-5/fulltext">had not visited</a> the Wuhan Seafood Market and bats were <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7079563/">not sold </a>there.

According to <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2012-7">data published</a> by Zhengli Shi of the Wuhan Institute of Virology, the protein sequence of COVID-19 indicates that it most closely resembles the B Lineage of bat beta coronaviruses.

Yet, COVID-19 contains a furin polybasic cleavage site not found in any B Lineage bat beta coronaviruses found in nature.

There may be a scientific explanation for that, which would destroy the naturally-occurring theory of COVID-19.

In nature, B Lineage bat beta coronaviruses may select against the presence of a furin polybasic cleavage site because the biochemical action it induces <a href="https://nerdhaspower.weebly.com/blog/scientific-evidence-and-logic-behind-the-claim-that-the-wuhan-coronavirus-is-man-made#comments">may expose </a>the virus to the more robust immune system of wild animals, especially bats.

Furthermore, the entire naturally-occurring argument made in the much-cited scientific article “The Proximal Origin of SAR-CoV-2” rests largely on the sequence of presumed B Lineage bat betacoronavirus RaTG13, which has never been verified outside of China, nor have samples of RaTG13 been provided to independent laboratories for study.&nbsp;

That is, RaTG13 appears to exist only on paper.

It has been reported that early in the COVID-19 outbreak viral samples in the Wuhan Institute of Virology were <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8281085/Wuhan-virus-lab-cover-up.html">destroyed </a>and changes were made in its <a href="https://nypost.com/2020/05/06/what-is-china-covering-up-about-the-coronavirus-devine/">database</a>, allegedly by Zhengli Shi on the evening of December 30th, the day before the World Health Organisation was alerted to the outbreak of a cluster of pneumonia cases in Wuhan.

Even if RaTG13 exists and the sequence reported by China is accurate, <a href="https://gnews.org/192144/">evidence</a> <a href="https://gnews.org/192144/">suggests</a> that the mutation pattern compared to COVID-19 does not resemble that for similar beta coronaviruses found in nature, indicating that either RaTG13 or COVID-19 is not natural.

It should now be clear even to the dimmest bulbs in Washington that the evidence supporting the naturally-occurring theory of the origin of COVID-19 is questionable and that a broader objective scientific investigation is warranted. 
 
 
(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL) 
&nbsp;

Let me begin by stating what should be obvious. It may be marginally about health, but the debate about the origin of COVID-19 is really about vast amounts of money, the research programs it supports and the power and prestige that go with them.

Let me begin by stating what should be obvious. It may be marginally about health, but the debate about the origin of COVID-19 is really about vast amounts of money, the research programs it supports and the power and prestige that go with them. It is also about potential complicity or culpability. On April 30, 2020, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence in the United States issued a statement including the following: “The Intelligence Community also concurs with the wide scientific consensus that the COVID-19 virus was not manmade or genetically modified,” What exactly comprises the “wide scientific consensus?” If you exclude massive amounts of Chinese propaganda, it is actually based largely on a single, but widely-cited, Nature Medicine article entitled “The Proximal Origin of SAR-CoV-2,” and a supporting scientific narrative made by a few Western scientists with possible vested interests in the outcome, linked to a nearly endless regurgitation of the same arguments by the mainstream media. It appears to be the same formula for artificially creating the “wide scientific consensus” of climate science or COVID-19 epidemiological models, mostly meant to stifle debate by labelling any contrary views as conspiracy theories. That technique involves stating some scientific facts, but weaving them together in a manner that leads either to an entirely speculative conclusion or a false one, but both sounding definitive. The truth is that no one yet knows the origin of COVID-19 and to make any categorical statements is misleading. The naturally-occurring theory claims that coronaviruses circulating in a bat population mutated, acquiring the ability to infect humans, which was then transmitted to people either visiting or working in the Wuhan Seafood Market; First of all, the initial patients hospitalised between December 1-10, 2019 had not visited the Wuhan Seafood Market and bats were not sold there. According to data published by Zhengli Shi of the Wuhan Institute of Virology, the protein sequence of COVID-19 indicates that it most closely resembles the B Lineage of bat beta coronaviruses. Yet, COVID-19 contains a furin polybasic cleavage site not found in any B Lineage bat beta coronaviruses found in nature. There may be a scientific explanation for that, which would destroy the naturally-occurring theory of COVID-19. In nature, B Lineage bat beta coronaviruses may select against the presence of a furin polybasic cleavage site because the biochemical action it induces may expose the virus to the more robust immune system of wild animals, especially bats. Furthermore, the entire naturally-occurring argument made in the much-cited scientific article “The Proximal Origin of SAR-CoV-2” rests largely on the sequence of presumed B Lineage bat betacoronavirus RaTG13, which has never been verified outside of China, nor have samples of RaTG13 been provided to independent laboratories for study. That is, RaTG13 appears to exist only on paper. It has been reported that early in the COVID-19 outbreak viral samples in the Wuhan Institute of Virology were destroyed and changes were made in its database, allegedly by Zhengli Shi on the evening of December 30th, the day before the World Health Organisation was alerted to the outbreak of a cluster of pneumonia cases in Wuhan. Even if RaTG13 exists and the sequence reported by China is accurate, evidence suggests that the mutation pattern compared to COVID-19 does not resemble that for similar beta coronaviruses found in nature, indicating that either RaTG13 or COVID-19 is not natural. It should now be clear even to the dimmest bulbs in Washington that the evidence supporting the naturally-occurring theory of the origin of COVID-19 is questionable and that a broader objective scientific investigation is warranted. (Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL)

Is the COVID-19 naturally-occurring narrative driven by politically-motivated science?

It's not just the media which China wants to censor, it is targeting embassies based in China. It is targeting governments calling for an inquiry. Beijing is targeting any organization that dares to challenge its narrative.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/china-lambasts-us-for-coercing-countries-to-plant-covid-19-accusations-against-it-297110">Also Read: China&nbsp;lambasts US for coercing countries to plant COVID-19 accusations</a>&nbsp;

Even those who consider China a friend are being targeted, namely the European Union(EU). A union of 27 European nations,&nbsp;a body that is said to represent over 447 million Europeans but off late it has been representing and mirroring Chinese propaganda.

Firstly, the European Union watered down the coronavirus report critical of the Chinese regime and then some of its member nations hailed China as a brother for its "donation diplomacy".

Now, this body seems to be dealing with China on China's terms. The European Union recently released an opinion piece on the coronavirus. It was co-authored and co-signed by all European Union ambassadors to Beijing.

It was meant to celebrate the body's 45th anniversary of diplomatic relations with China. The European Union called it a friendship letter. &nbsp;

"The outbreak of the coronavirus in China and its subsequent spread to the rest of the world over the past three months, has meant that our pre-existing plans have been temporarily side-tracked," it said, a paragraph which pointed to China as the origin of this pandemic.

China's daily - a state-run newspaper published a letter &nbsp;on Wednesday, with part of the letter mentioned being removed. China censored the so called "friendship letter" and apparently the European Union didn't protest.

As per reports, it was the EU which allowed China to publish the censored version. According to Battu Henriksson, an EU spokeswoman on foreign affairs, "EU diplomats decided to proceed with the publication with considerable reluctance."

It's not just the media which China wants to censor, it is targeting embassies based in China. It is targeting governments calling for an inquiry. Beijing is targeting any organization that dares to challenge its narrative.

It's not just the media which China wants to censor, it is targeting embassies based in China. It is targeting governments calling for an inquiry. Beijing is targeting any organization that dares to challenge its narrative. Also Read: China lambasts US for coercing countries to plant COVID-19 accusations Even those who consider China a friend are being targeted, namely the European Union(EU). A union of 27 European nations, a body that is said to represent over 447 million Europeans but off late it has been representing and mirroring Chinese propaganda. Firstly, the European Union watered down the coronavirus report critical of the Chinese regime and then some of its member nations hailed China as a brother for its "donation diplomacy". Now, this body seems to be dealing with China on China's terms. The European Union recently released an opinion piece on the coronavirus. It was co-authored and co-signed by all European Union ambassadors to Beijing. It was meant to celebrate the body's 45th anniversary of diplomatic relations with China. The European Union called it a friendship letter. "The outbreak of the coronavirus in China and its subsequent spread to the rest of the world over the past three months, has meant that our pre-existing plans have been temporarily side-tracked," it said, a paragraph which pointed to China as the origin of this pandemic. China's daily - a state-run newspaper published a letter on Wednesday, with part of the letter mentioned being removed. China censored the so called "friendship letter" and apparently the European Union didn't protest. As per reports, it was the EU which allowed China to publish the censored version. According to Battu Henriksson, an EU spokeswoman on foreign affairs, "EU diplomats decided to proceed with the publication with considerable reluctance."

Now, China censors European Union's 'friendship letter'

The United States is pressuring its allies and trying to coerce other countries to help it plant accusations against China on issues concerning COVID-19 responsibility, said a spokeswoman for China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday.

Hua Chunying said that some US&nbsp;media reported the United States is pressuring its European allies to stand with it on pandemic responsibility and also&nbsp;to&nbsp;plant accusations against China.

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/coronavirus-worse-than-pearl-harbor-911-for-us-says-trump-297102" hreflang="en">Coronavirus 'worse' than Pearl Harbor, 9/11 for US, says Trump</a>

Earlier, renewing&nbsp;his criticism of China on Wednesday over the global coronavirus pandemic, US President Donald Trump said it was the "worst attack" ever on his country.

Trump lashed out at China, continuing a war of words over the origins of the deadly virus that emerged in Wuhan last year.&nbsp;

Beijing says the US wants to distract from its own handling of the pandemic.

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/nearly-one-out-of-five-children-in-us-left-hungry-since-virus-crisis-study-297103" hreflang="en">Nearly one out of five children in US left hungry since virus crisis: study</a>

China hit back Wednesday at US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo over his claims the virus originated in a Wuhan laboratory, saying he has no evidence.

"This matter should be handed to scientists and medical professionals, and not politicians who lie for their own domestic political ends," China's foreign ministry spokeswoman said.

''Some US&nbsp;politicians repeatedly blame China for domestic politics regardless of the facts. On this issue, countries in Europe and other areas in the world do have a choice to make, not between China and the United States, but between lies and facts, unilateral bullying and multilateral cooperation, and this is a choice that every country faces," said Hua.

She stated that China is on the side of strengthening international ties and has participated in supporting and cooperating with other nations to help stop the spread of the pandemic.

"The answer is obvious, and in fact many countries are already responding with actions. Many European leaders have made clear their support for the World Health Organization (WHO) to continue to play an important role in responding to COVID-19 and strengthening the global public health system.''

The European Union held an international pledging conference on May 4.

''China has&nbsp;actively participated in it and made its own contribution. On the issue of strengthening international solidarity and cooperation in the fight against the pandemic, China has always stood firmly with the United Nations, the WHO and almost all countries in the world, and made every possible contribution. I hope the United States can see its isolation at this time," said Hua.

The deadly virus has claimed&nbsp;263,831 lives worldwide while infecting&nbsp;3,755,341 people.

The United States is pressuring its allies and trying to coerce other countries to help it plant accusations against China on issues concerning COVID-19 responsibility, said a spokeswoman for China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday.

The United States is pressuring its allies and trying to coerce other countries to help it plant accusations against China on issues concerning COVID-19 responsibility, said a spokeswoman for China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday. Hua Chunying said that some US media reported the United States is pressuring its European allies to stand with it on pandemic responsibility and also to plant accusations against China. Also read: Coronavirus 'worse' than Pearl Harbor, 9/11 for US, says Trump Earlier, renewing his criticism of China on Wednesday over the global coronavirus pandemic, US President Donald Trump said it was the "worst attack" ever on his country. Trump lashed out at China, continuing a war of words over the origins of the deadly virus that emerged in Wuhan last year. Beijing says the US wants to distract from its own handling of the pandemic. Also read: Nearly one out of five children in US left hungry since virus crisis: study China hit back Wednesday at US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo over his claims the virus originated in a Wuhan laboratory, saying he has no evidence. "This matter should be handed to scientists and medical professionals, and not politicians who lie for their own domestic political ends," China's foreign ministry spokeswoman said. ''Some US politicians repeatedly blame China for domestic politics regardless of the facts. On this issue, countries in Europe and other areas in the world do have a choice to make, not between China and the United States, but between lies and facts, unilateral bullying and multilateral cooperation, and this is a choice that every country faces," said Hua. She stated that China is on the side of strengthening international ties and has participated in supporting and cooperating with other nations to help stop the spread of the pandemic. "The answer is obvious, and in fact many countries are already responding with actions. Many European leaders have made clear their support for the World Health Organization (WHO) to continue to play an important role in responding to COVID-19 and strengthening the global public health system.'' The European Union held an international pledging conference on May 4. ''China has actively participated in it and made its own contribution. On the issue of strengthening international solidarity and cooperation in the fight against the pandemic, China has always stood firmly with the United Nations, the WHO and almost all countries in the world, and made every possible contribution. I hope the United States can see its isolation at this time," said Hua. The deadly virus has claimed 263,831 lives worldwide while infecting 3,755,341 people.

China lambasts US for coercing countries to plant COVID-19 accusations against it

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