It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Wednesday, January 08, 2020
Shanghai’s daytime temperature broke an 80-year record, becoming the warmest day of xiaohan since the previous record of 21 degrees Celsius on Jan. 6, 1940.
Monday was the beginning of the lunar calendar’s coldest period of the year — traditionally known as xiaohan. But many parts of eastern China, including Shanghai, were unseasonably warm.
Shanghai’s daytime temperature broke an 80-year record, becoming the warmest day of xiaohan since the previous record of 21 degrees Celsius on Jan. 6, 1940. According to the city’s meteorological bureau, the mercury rose to 21.1 degrees at noon Monday.
An increase in the concentration of greenhouse gases in recent years has contributed to a warmer planet, resulting in rising sea levels, extreme weather, and changing climate conditions. The global average temperature in 2019 was about 1.1 degrees above the pre-industrial period, according to the World Meteorological Organization.
Cities across China, too, have been experiencing hotter summers. The average air temperature in July 2018 was 22.9 degrees — 1 degree hotter than the historical average, according to the China Meteorological Administration.
China Weather, the forecast agency under the meteorological administration, had earlier predicted Monday and Tuesday’s maximum temperatures to hit 20 degrees in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, with minimum temperatures at around 10 degrees.
“In cities like Shanghai, Hangzhou, and Nanchang, the highest temperature is expected to exceed 20 degrees — 10 degrees higher than the average during the same period in recent years,” China Weather said on microblogging platform Weibo. “Such warmth is very rare in January.”
China is the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases, and the effects of climate change in the country have been alarming. A 2019 government report noted that the country saw a significant increase in the annual average surface temperature between 1901 and 2018, with the last two decades becoming the warmest period since the beginning of the 20th century.
“With global warming, warm winters are becoming increasingly common,” Wu Rui, chief service officer at the Shanghai Meteorological Bureau, told Sixth Tone. “Many places, such as in Hangzhou and the Yangtze River Delta, have experienced record-breaking warm temperatures this winter.”
On Dec. 16, Shanghai’s temperature also exceeded 20 degrees, making it the highest mid-December temperature recorded in the city’s meteorological history. The Shanghai Climate Center listed the unusually warm day as one of last year’s “10 weather and climate incidents” for the city.
Shanghai’s high average temperatures between August and December have lately been on the rise, according to meteorologists. The average temperature for December last year reached 9.7 degrees, or 2.4 degrees higher than average, marking the second-highest point in recorded history.
Monday’s warm spell, however, is temporary: The Shanghai Meteorological Bureau said the temperature will plummet to a chilly 8 degrees on Wednesday.
Editor: Bibek Bhandari.
(Header image: A couple in summer clothes crosses the street in Shanghai, Jan. 6, 2020. Shi Yangkun/Sixth Tone)
The number of people infected with a mysterious viral pneumonia in Wuhan has climbed to 59, with the first patient exhibiting symptoms as early as Dec. 12, the city’s health commission announced Sunday. Though the virus has not yet been identified, several causes — including SARS, as many in the country feared — have been ruled out.
Seven of the infected individuals are in critical condition, down from 11 in the commission’s previous statement Friday. No deaths from the pneumonia have been reported.
In addition to severe acute respiratory syndrome — a disease that killed over 700 people in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the Chinese mainland in 2002-2003 — several other viruses including bird flu, regular flu, and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) have also been eliminated as potential causes.
Wuhan authorities first acknowledged over two dozen cases of the unexplained illness on Dec. 31. As of Sunday, 16 people had been hospitalized with pneumonia in Hong Kong after returning from Wuhan, according to the special administrative region’s Centre for Health Protection. The day before, Singapore’s health ministry said that a 3-year-old who had returned to the city-state after traveling to Wuhan had contracted respiratory syncytial virus, a common cause of childhood pneumonia, and was quarantined but in stable condition.
Meanwhile, China’s health officials and state-run media outlets have said little about the possibility of infections spreading to other cities on the mainland.
However, according to Ma Jin, director of the School of Public Health at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, this should be seen as an encouraging sign. “China’s epidemic prevention system works like this: Once a hospital receives a suspected case, it will report to the health commissions immediately — so if there are any more infections in other cities, the public should know about it,” Ma told Sixth Tone.
The Wuhan Health Commission’s most recent statement includes a seven-point action plan for dealing with the outbreak. It says that 163 people who came into close contact with the infected individuals had been put under medical observation, and that the South China Seafood Wholesale Market — where the first infections are believed to have occurred — had been shut down for “further hygiene investigations.” The health authority added that it is still trying to identify the pathogen and determine the exact origin of the infections.
Amid online backlash over the Wuhan government’s initial response to the infection, which some felt was slow and inadequate, local police announced the next day that eight people from the city had been taken into custody for “spreading rumors” about the disease that many online feared might be SARS.
In a statement Monday, the World Health Organization said Wuhan authorities had been providing information about the outbreak to the WHO’s China office since Dec. 31. “The symptoms reported among the patients are common to several respiratory diseases, and pneumonia is common in the winter season,” the WHO said. “However, the occurrence of 44 cases of pneumonia requiring hospitalization clustered in space and time should be handled prudently.”
The WHO suggested that there could be an “exposure link to animals,” given that several of the initial infections occurred in vendors at the seafood market, which also sells poultry and meat. Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Diseases Research and Policy in Minnesota, told the U.S. health news website Stat that the virus likely comes from birds or animals and not seafood.
With the first day of the Spring Festival holiday — during which around 400 million Chinese people travel to their hometowns to be with family — just weeks away, there is some concern that the pneumonia cluster in Wuhan may become a national rather than a local problem. But Director Ma says it’s possible to improve one’s chances of staying safe, too.
“Spring Festival will increase the possibility of infection for sure,” he said. “However, there are ways for people to prevent it — for example, by washing hands often and avoiding sharing food with others.”
Health officials in the city of Wuhan in Hubei province, China are reporting (computer translated) a total of 59 patients with unexplained diagnosis of viral pneumonia have been reported as of Jan.5, including 7 critically ill patients.
No fatal cases have been recorded. All patients are receiving treatment in isolation. 163 close contacts are under medical surveillance.
Among the 59 patients, the earliest onset of the cases was December 12, 2019, and the latest onset was December 29.
An epidemiological survey showed that some patients were operating households in Wuhan South China Seafood City (South China Seafood Wholesale Market). As of now, preliminary investigations have shown no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission and no medical staff infections. Respiratory pathogens such as influenza, avian influenza, adenovirus, infectious atypical pneumonia ( SARS) and the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) have been excluded . Pathogen identification and cause tracing are still underway.
According to a World Health Organization (WHO) risk assessment today, there is limited information to determine the overall risk of this reported cluster of pneumonia of unknown etiology. The reported link to a wholesale fish and live animal market could indicate an exposure link to animals.
At present, with the support of the state and Hubei Province, Wuhan has adopted the following main prevention and control measures:
First, it is to treat patients with all its strength.
The second is to carry out isolation treatment for all cases.
The third is to continue to conduct relevant case searches and retrospective investigations in medical institutions throughout the city.
The fourth is to carry out close contact tracking seriously, implement medical observation on the close contacts that have been tracked according to regulations, and have not found any abnormal symptoms such as fever.
Fifth, we will take measures to suspend the market for South China Seafood City, and carry out environmental sanitation and further hygiene investigations.
Sixth, actively carry out epidemiological investigations.
Seventh, cooperate with the state and province to carry out pathogen identification (including nucleic acid detection and virus isolation and cultivation) and trace the cause of the cause, and prevention and control work is proceeding in an orderly manner.
Several of the victims were students or faculty at the University of Alberta
CBC News ·
A newlywed couple, a family of four and a mother with her two daughters were among more than two dozen Edmontonians killed when a Ukrainian passenger plane crashed minutes after takeoff Wednesday from Tehran's main airport.
Payman Parseyan, a member of the Iranian-Canadian community in Edmonton, said he knew many passengers who were on board Ukraine International Airlines Flight PS752
All 176 people on board the Kiev-bound Boeing 737 were killed.
Reuters is reporting 30 of the dead were from Edmonton, almost half of the 63 Canadians identified by officials so far as having died in the crash. Many of the known victims from Edmonton have associations with the University of Alberta.
"We lost a significant portion of our community," Parseyan told CBC Radio's Edmonton AM. "Everybody in Edmonton that's of Iranian descent will know somebody that was on that flight."
'Shocking to the whole community'
Arash Pourzarabi and Pouneh Gorji, both in their mid-20s, were graduate students in the U of A's computer science program. They had travelled to Iran for their wedding, said Reza Akbari, president of the Iranian Heritage Society of Edmonton.
He said he heard the couple was accompanied by four friends who travelled with them to celebrate the wedding.
"It's devastating and shocking," Akbari said. "It's a tragic moment."
Akbari said a group chat on the app Telegram has become a lengthy memorial, with people from the Iranian community sharing stories about those who have been lost.
"When you go from top to the bottom, it's hard to believe — all these wonderful people ... these people who really were actually impactful in our community, they're not among us anymore. And in one incident all of them are gone."
Akbari said he knew eight or nine of the victims, and knew two of them well. He said he expects the grief will spread well beyond the Iranian community.
"I have no doubt that there's so many people in Edmonton, regardless of their cultural background, they know them because there's doctors, university professors, among these people. It's just tragic."
U of A engineering professors Pedram Mousavi and Mojgan Daneshmand, and their daughters, Daria and Dorina, were killed, said Masoud Ardakani, associate chair of the University of Alberta's electrical and computer engineering department.
Daria, born in 2005, attended Allendale School, and her sister, Dorina, born in 2010, attended Windsor Park School.
Dr. Shekoufeh Choupannejad, an obstetrician-gynecologist at the Northgate Centre Medical Clinic in Edmonton, and her two daughters, were also killed, Parseyan said.
Both daughters are U of A students. Saba Saadat was studying medicine; her sister, Sara, was a clinical psychology student.
Parseyan said many international students can't travel to the United States, so they travel through European connections.
Information was shared among Iranians in Edmonton through a chat group, and once manifests were released, names were cross-referenced and confirmed, he said.
A community group of about 100 people has formed to make arrangements for families of the victims, Parseyan said.
"Edmonton's Iranian community isn't Canada's largest Iranian community, but we are working together to ensure all members of the community are supported during this difficult time."
Parseyan said members of the community learned about the crash while watching the news of Iran's missile attacks against two airbases in Iraq housing U.S. and coalition forces that took place a few hours before the crash.
"Many were expecting their friends and [family] members to come back ... [and] were well aware what flight they were on," said Parseyan, a former president of the Iranian Heritage Society of Edmonton.
He said one person who knew a passenger on the plane had called him and asked him for more information.
"He called and said, 'Hey, is there any chance there's a second flight to Kyiv, this is a mistake? This can't be real.' He's devastated."
Parseyan said the news is difficult for an Iranian community already concerned about ongoing aggression between Iran and the United States
'This is a terrible day'
In a statement issued Wednesday, Alberta Premier Jason Kenney said he is "deeply saddened" by the news of the plane crash and extended sympathies on behalf of the provincial government.
"Alberta has been enriched by a small but dynamic and highly educated Iranian community," Kenney said. "This is a terrible day for them, and I am sure that all Albertans join me in expressing our condolences to the entire community, which is affected by this disaster."
Edmonton Mayor Don Iveson issued a statement Wednesday.
"I was heartbroken to hear this morning of the devastating news," Iveson said. "While no words can erase the pain this crash has caused, I, on behalf of Edmontonians and your city council, would like to offer the families and friends who have lost a loved one in this tragedy our deepest condolences.
"Edmonton is in mourning today — our community has suffered a terrible loss."
David Turpin, president and vice-chancellor of the University of Alberta, also expressed his sorrow in a statement
"Words simply cannot express the loss I know we all are feeling," Turpin said. "On behalf of the University of Alberta, I wish to extend our deepest condolences to the families, friends, colleagues and loved ones of the victims of this tragedy.
"This is a devastating loss for the University of Alberta. Ours is a closely interconnected community, and we grieve with everyone touched by this terrible loss— friends, classmates, roommates, professors, students, mentors, and colleagues. The University of Alberta's flags will be lowered to half-mast in recognition of this tragedy."
Turpin said counselling and other services are available to students, staff, faculty, and others in the community.
The disaster was the largest recent loss of life among Canadians since an Air India flight blew up in 1985 over the Atlantic Ocean, killing 268 Canadians.
The plane crash marks the single largest loss of life of Edmontonians. A tornado that tore through parts of the city in 1987 killed 27 people.
The unidentified viral illness that has sickened dozens in the Chinese city of Wuhan is not severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), according to local health officials.
In the early 2000s, an outbreak of SARS swept the globe, infecting more than 8,000 people and killing more than 750, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The epidemic began in China and hit the country harder than any other, so when an unknown form of pneumonia recently emerged in Wuhan, it stirred rumors of a second SARS outbreak. Now, local health officials have officially crossed SARS off the list of potential culprits, according to The New York Times.
Officials also confirmed that the mystery illness is not Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), bird flu or an adenovirus.
As of Sunday (Jan. 5), 59 people in Wuhan have been diagnosed with the unidentified disease, presenting with symptoms of fever, body aches, breathing difficulties and lung injury. The total number of infected people is up from the 44 cases reported last week.
In addition, 21 people who recently visited the city were hospitalized in Hong Kong between Dec. 31 and Jan. 6, according to a report from the Hong Kong health department. The city will also ramp up efforts to spot feverish passengers traveling through its international airport and on its high-speed rail system, according to the report. Health authorities in Singapore are also on the alert for infected travelers and recently quarantined a young girl after her trip to Wuhan. She was later diagnosed with a common viral illness, according to the Singapore Ministry of Health.
Rumors of a potential SARS outbreak gained traction online earlier this month, but Chinese authorities have since censored the hashtag #WuhanSARS and are now investigating eight people in Wuhan who allegedly spread misleading information about the outbreak on social media, The New York Times reported. The government failed to adequately inform the public and international health agencies during the historic SARS epidemic, which may explain the reaction of Chinese citizens to this new illness.
"I have to emphasize this is a new disease, and no one on earth has gone through this before," Leo Poon, a public health expert at the University of Hong Kong, told The New York Times. "I hope this pathogen is a less harmful one so it would not cause a major epidemic similar to SARS. It would be a nightmare for all of us."
As of yet, no health workers have contracted the mystery illness, which may indicate that the virus has not begun to spread between people, Wang Linfa, an expert on emerging infectious diseases at the Duke-NUS Medical School in Singapore, told the Times. "We should not go into panic mode," he said.
Hong Kong to add mystery respiratory illness to reportable diseases
Social Sharing
Disease has sent 59 people to the hospital in the mainland Chinese city of Wuhan
The Associated Press ·
Hong Kong's health chief said Tuesday that a respiratory illness whose cause remains unknown will be added to an official list of diseases that medical practitioners are required to report to the government. The disease — an unidentified form of viral pneumonia — has sent 59 people to the hospital in the mainland Chinese city of Wuhan, in central Hubei province. As of Sunday, seven were in critical condition, while the rest were stable. Municipal authorities have ruled out SARS, the severe acute respiratory syndrome that killed 700 people in 2002 and 2003.
In Hong Kong, a total of 15 patients were being treated Sunday for symptoms including fever and respiratory infection after recent visits to Wuhan. It is not clear whether they have the same illness as the Wuhan patients
Speaking at a news conference, the health chief, Sophia Chan, said the "severe respiratory disease associated with a novel infectious agent" will be added to a list of reportable infectious diseases in Hong Kong's Prevention and Control of Disease Ordinance.
The regulation enables the government to take stronger measures against the spread of certain diseases, such as tuberculosis and chicken pox. Actions under the ordinance could include enforcing quarantines or limiting the movement of people who are suspected to have infections.
"Under the amendment, medical practitioners will have to report suspected cases as well as carry out appropriate investigations and follow-ups to the Center for Health Protection under the Department of Health," Chan said.
The U.S. Consulate General in Wuhan issued a health alert Tuesday for the pneumonia outbreak, warning travellers to Wuhan to avoid animals, as well as animal markets and products.
Dr. Gauden Galea, WHO Representative to China, said public health officials in China "remain focused on continued contact tracing, conducting environmental assessments at the wholesale market, and investigations to identify the pathogen causing the outbreak."
WHO is closely monitoring the event and communicating with counterparts in China, Galea added in a emailed statement
Precautions for travellers
Currently, there are no suspected cases in Canada or involving Canadians overseas, Anna Maddison, a spokesperson for the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) said.
Canada's Chief Public Health Officer, Dr. Theresa Tam, is keeping in close contact with her provincial and territorial colleagues, the agency said. PHAC officials are also in close contact with federal partners, the World Health Organization and other international partners.
Maddison pointed to systems to identify, prevent and control the spread of infectious diseases including a global public health intelligence monitoring system that scans the world's open source media
"No matter the destination, travellers should always take precautions against respiratory and other illnesses while travelling, and seek medical attention if they become ill."
During their trip, Canadian travellers to Wuhan city are encouraged to:
Avoid high-risk areas such as farms, live animal markets, and areas where animals may be slaughtered.
Avoid contact with animals (alive or dead), including pigs, chickens, ducks and wild birds.
Avoid surfaces with animal droppings or secretions on them.
Travellers should also wash their hands often, and practise proper cough and sneeze etiquette.
People are encouraged to tell their health-care providers about their travel if they become ill after returning to Canada.
Toronto Pubic Health said the overall risk to residents is considered very low.
"Given that Toronto Pearson International Airport is an international travel hub, Toronto Public Health is actively monitoring this situation, along with provincial and national health agencies," the department added in a release.
Wuhan ‘pneumonia’: Hong Kong health chief under pressure to seek more information from mainland authorities amid silence on latest patient numbers
Lawmakers grill health secretary Sophia Chan for 2½ hours on the government’s response to the pneumonia situation in Wuhan Hong Kong’s public hospitals admitted eight more people who had been to Wuhan in the past two weeks and presented with symptoms of either fever and respiratory infection or pneumonia Phila Siu,Elizabeth Cheung,Lilian Cheng Published: 12:17pm, 8 Jan, 2020
Lawmakers had questioned whether Hong Kong had enough stocks of masks in the event of an outbreak. Photo: Winson Wong
Hong Kong’s health minister on Wednesday came under pressure to seek more details on the mystery Wuhan pneumonia outbreak from the mainland Chinese government, as lawmakers expressed concerns that authorities there had not released updates on patient numbers since Sunday.
The lawmakers tabled urgent questions on the outbreak as in the 24 hours to noon on Wednesday, Hong Kong’s public hospitals admitted eight more people who had been to Wuhan in central China in the past two weeks and presented with symptoms of either fever and respiratory infection or pneumonia.
This brings the total number of suspected cases in Hong Kong to 38, though 21 patients have been discharged.
Some lawmakers said Chan must press the mainland authorities for the genetic map of the Wuhan virus so Hong Kong experts could help look into the disease in case of an outbreak locally. The Hong Kong government also needed to ask the mainland side whether other cities or provinces had also been infected, they said. The Wuhan Municipal Health Commission said on Sunday that 59 people had been infected with the unidentified strain, seven of whom were in a critical condition.
“That was from its last update on January 5. Today is already January 8,” Civic Party lawmaker Tanya Chan said. “Do you have ways to really find out how many cases there are on the mainland at present, in particular in Wuhan? Can you obtain the genetic map?”
The commission said on Wednesday night that eight people with the virus had been discharged from hospital.
No other mainland government agencies had offered any updates. A source said the mainland health authorities were likely to announce results of the investigation on the virus in around a week.
Some of the patients infected with the unknown pneumonia have been treated in Jinyintan Hospital in Wuhan. Photo: Jun Mai
The World Health Organisation’s office in China, which said on Sunday it was closely monitoring the disease in Wuhan, offered no updates when asked on Wednesday.
The Hong Kong government on Wednesday made it mandatory for all medical practitioners to notify the authorities of anyone suspected to have contracted the unidentified strain.
This was done by gazetting a bill to amend the Prevention and Control of Disease Ordinance, to include with immediate effect “severe respiratory disease associated with a novel infectious agent” as a statutory notifiable infectious disease. The law empowers officials to put patients in mandatory quarantine
The government has also stepped up checks on visitors coming from Wuhan by train or plane.
Civic Party lawmaker Kwok Ka-ki, a urologist, said he had talked to public hospital doctors who told him the government knew hardly anything about the Wuhan pneumonia. That made it difficult for doctors to provide the best treatment to those who developed symptoms after returning from Wuhan recently, Kwok added. The health secretary replied that the governments of Hong Kong, Macau and the mainland had in 2005 signed an agreement to notify each other if any major public health incidents were discovered. The government had been in close contact with the mainland authorities and the mechanism had been working well, she stressed. She believed the mainland would tell the Hong Kong government if such pneumonia cases were found outside Wuhan, adding she would continue to ask the authorities for more information about the disease. Mystery pneumonia infects at least 59 people in Wuhan, China Health services sector lawmaker Joseph Lee Kok-long challenged the government’s earlier announcement that the number of isolation beds in public hospitals could be raised from the current 480 to 1,400 in 72 hours. According to the latest figures, 15 out of 17 public hospitals had over-occupancy rates in medical wards as of midnight on Tuesday, ranging from 103 to 131 per cent, because of the higher number of diseases triggered by winter weather. On this, Chan insisted the increase could be done in 72 hours. But she admitted there was “significant room for improvement” regarding the overcrowding in hospitals. Hong Kong set to add mystery pneumonia to list of notifiable diseases 7 Jan 2020
Pro-government lawmakers, including Wilson Or Chong-shing, had concerns as to whether there were enough stocks of masks in the event of a local outbreak. Chan said public hospitals had enough masks to last three months. The government had talked to pharmacies, which said more stocks would arrive in the city in one to two weeks. The Hospital Authority said on Wednesday it was exploring the feasibility of deferring non-emergency surgeries and services among the measures at public hospitals to centralise resources and manpower to cope with suspected cases related to the Wuhan pneumonia. Meanwhile, infectious diseases expert Professor Yuen Kwok-yung from the University of Hong Kong suspected the unidentified virus that led to the Wuhan outbreak was a coronavirus strain from bats. That was because the Wuhan cases were not found with bird flu, flu or other known viruses, but the infections were suspected to be linked to game meat. “Bats still carry around a dozen coronavirus strains,” Yuen said. “There is a reason for us to speculate that the virus spread from bats to some wild animals, and then jumped to humans.”
A student at PolyU developed a fever and persistent cough after returning from Wuhan and was taken to hospital. Photo: Handout He said viruses of a few major infectious diseases in the past, including severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) in 2003 and Middle East respiratory syndrome, which started in 2012, were also traced back to bats. “Theoretically, it is also possible for bats to spread the virus to humans directly. But very few people eat bats. However, many people eat masked palm civet and other wild animals,” Yuen said. Separately, a third Hong Kong education institution, Polytechnic University, has reported that a student developed a fever and persistent cough after returning from Wuhan recently. The case was reported to the government on Tuesday night and she was in a stable condition on Wednesday. The dormitory where she lived had been sterilised, PolyU said. Additional reporting by Linda Lew