Coronavirus epidemic 'far from over' in Asia: WHO official

[snoop1130]

Coronavirus epidemic 'far from over' in Asia: WHO official

 

 

BEIJING (Reuters) - The coronavirus epidemic is "far from over" in the Asia-Pacific region, and current measures to curb the spread of the virus are buying time for countries to prepare for large-scale community transmissions, a WHO official said on Tuesday.

 

Even with all the measures, the risk of transmission in the region will not go away as long as the pandemic continues, said Takeshi Kasai, Regional Director for the Western Pacific at the World Health Organization (WHO).

 

The new coronavirus first surfaced in central China in late 2019. Infections have now exceeded 770,000 cases worldwide, with the United States, Italy and Spain overtaking mainland China in confirmed cases.

 

"Let me be clear. The epidemic is far from over in Asia and the Pacific. This is going to be a long-term battle and we cannot let down our guard," Kasai told a virtual media briefing.

 

"We need every country to keep preparing for large-scale community transmission."

 

Countries with limited resources are a priority, such as Pacific Island nations, he said, as they have to ship samples to other countries for diagnoses, and transportation restrictions are making that more difficult.

 

Kasai warned that for countries that are seeing a tapering off of cases, they should not let down their guard, or the virus may come surging back.

 

The WHO does not expect any country to be safe, as the coronavirus will eventually get everywhere, said WHO technical adviser Matthew Griffith.

 

"Whereas countries and areas in this region have shown how to flatten the curve, outbreaks continue to pop up in new places and importation remains a concern," Griffith said at the briefing, citing cases in Singapore and South Korea from people who travelled abroad.

 

The focus of the epidemic is now on Europe, but that will likely shift to other regions, Griffith said.

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-03-31

Follow Thaivisa on LINE for breaking COVID-19 updates

[Just1Voice]

This is FAR from being over, or even contained

[smedly]

I think India and Pakistan will be hit the hardest but will generally go unreported because it will be so out of control that there will be no way to track it

 

Thailand - well the jury is still out on that one - no test no report 

[cyril sneer]

We’d be seeing it already if it was to become as bad as Europe.

 

Thailand was ranked second in cases/deaths below China when it started. 

I still believe there are hidden death cases but if it was to get as bad as Italy/Spain I don’t think they could hide it.

 

There’s probably so many similar viruses that have unknowingly come from China that people here are more immune to it, and/or the hot weather.

[Coremouse]

19 minutes ago, cyril sneer said:

We’d be seeing it already if it was to become as bad as Europe.

 

Thailand was ranked second in cases/deaths below China when it started. 

I still believe there are hidden death cases but if it was to get as bad as Italy/Spain I don’t think they could hide it.

 

There’s probably so many similar viruses that have unknowingly come from China that people here are more immune to it, and/or the hot weather.

Second this. We haven't seen makeshift morgues like in Bergamo/NY so prob not as bad. Still should be vigilant if any second wave China / SK / Singapore already taken hit but learned lessons, on the other hand Thailand relatively unscathed hard to explaine, maybe 75% tropical luck... 

 

Japan and Taiwan also relatively unscathed, but they currently very secretive about their virus test( Taiwanese friend said no one is qualified for viral dna test except those with strong symptom/history or foreigners returning home. This creates problem as Thailand now requires solid med cert for entry, but Taiwanese doctors could at best only describe no symptoms in the med cert, only Thai returnee are qualified for virus test ) , much less credible I'd say. 

[ThaiPauly]

The way I see people behaving in CM it's like the virus does not exist.

Markets are heaving, no social distancing, many not wearing masks, they should have them for the terrible burning problems, let alone the virus but many choose not to wear them.

I can see this as a nightmare in waiting.

Everybody will wonder why it happened when it happens.

Things like getting the virus happen to other people, not them.☹️

[totally thaied up]

21 minutes ago, ThaiPauly said:

Markets are heaving, no social distancing, many not wearing masks

I sat out the front of my house this afternoon and watched all the motorcycles drive down the road to our village markets. The market at 5p.m was from what I could see from a distance was packed. So much for social distancing. 

 

This is far from over. I hope I am wrong but over the coming months, we will find out.

[DrTuner]

Buying time to prepare. Many would need years if not decades to prepare. 

[TheDark]

53 minutes ago, DrTuner said:

Buying time to prepare. Many would need years if not decades to prepare. 

Modern SEA countries used their almost 2 decades to prepare for this event after experiencing SARS. 

 

Most other countries did a lot less. 

 

We are now nearing 1 million confirmed infected. What is the number going to be in 1st of May, 1st of June, 1st of July?

 

May 30 million, June 1 billion and finally in july 70% of herd infection rate?

 

Seems like this virus is sneaky enough to hide itself long enough so that it can transfer between seemingly unaffected people towards others.

 

The good news is that it is far less deadly than earlier predicted. It's still quite deadly.

 

We all are going to know people who die due this pandemic. 

 

[DrTuner]

5 minutes ago, TheDark said:

The good news is that it is far less deadly than earlier predicted. It's still quite deadly.

Before anybody asks, let me just pop this Lancet article here: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(20)30243-7/fulltext#

 

Yes, IFR (Infection Fatality Ratio) might be lower than the previous estimates. That's good news. The bad news is why .. there might be a lot of untested asymptomatic carriers walking about, infecting others.

 

We won't really know until there's large scale testing of the general public that don't have any symptoms. Ideal would be to test every single human on the planet. Then we'd really know.

Edited March 31, 2020 by DrTuner

[TheDark]

2 minutes ago, DrTuner said:

Before anybody asks, let me just pop this Lancet article here: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(20)30243-7/fulltext#

 

Yes, IFR (Infection Fatality Ratio) might be lower than the previous estimates. That's good news. The bad news is why .. there might be a lot of untested asymptomatic carriers walking about, infecting others.

 

We won't really know until there's large scale testing of the general public that don't have any symptoms. Ideal would be to test every single human on the planet. Then we'd really know.

There has been months long wishes to do random test to the general population. Random as to the people who are selected, regardless whether they show symptoms or not. This is to understand what is the real scope of the spread of the virus and what is the real serious sickness and mortality rate. Simply to get a glue, what is happening. 

 

Any country could have done this test. As far as I know, none have done it yet. Which is utterly stupid.

 

now we can only go with 'I feel' or 'In my educated feeling' mentalities, when we don't have real data available. 

 

I, like everybody else, would be far better off if we had good data on our hands. We don't. 

 

So each of us has to back our troughs how things are on our back brain huchses. The educated guesses. 

 

It's stupid as that.

[metisdead]

A post using profane language has been removed:

 

8.) You will not post disruptive or inflammatory messages, vulgarities, obscenities or profanities.

[FarFlungFalang]

12 hours ago, Just1Voice said:

This is FAR from being over, or even contained

Of course it's over.It's all over.It's all over the Asia Pacific region!Haven't people been watching the news?

[cornishcarlos]

12 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Let me be clear. The epidemic is far from over in Asia and the Pacific. This is going to be a long-term battle and we cannot let down our guard,"

 

Keep the fear going... Not enough damage done to enough economies yet..

Still some resistance out there.. Give it another 6 months of lock down...

Who pays for WHO ??? 

[FarFlungFalang]

14 minutes ago, cornishcarlos said:

Who pays for WHO ??? 

Roger Daltrey?

[tifino]

11 minutes ago, FarFlungFalang said:

27 minutes ago, cornishcarlos said:

Who pays for WHO ??? 

Roger Daltrey?

he might Pay them;

but Thomas Dolby could blind them, with science

[Redline]

22 hours ago, smedly said:

I think India and Pakistan will be hit the hardest but will generally go unreported because it will be so out of control that there will be no way to track it

 

Thailand - well the jury is still out on that one - no test no report 

And all of the world’s refugee camps ????