Category: Pale Horse

Boris Johnson leaves intensive care, remains under observation

REUTERS – April 9, 2020

Prime Minister Boris Johnson left intensive care on Thursday evening as he continues to recover from COVID-19, but he remains under close observation in hospital, his office said on Thursday.

Johnson, 55, was admitted to St Thomas’ Hospital on Sunday evening with a persistent high temperature and cough, and was rushed to intensive care on Monday where he spent three nights receiving treatment.

“The prime minister has been moved this evening from intensive care back to the ward, where he will receive close monitoring during the early phase of his recovery,” a spokesman from his office said in an emailed statement.

“He is in extremely good spirits.”

Johnson was the first world leader to be hospitalized with the coronavirus, forcing him to hand control of the world’s fifth-largest economy to foreign minister Dominic Raab just as Britain’s outbreak approaches its most deadly peak.

Raab tweeted that the improvement in Johnson’s condition was “the news we all wanted to hear.” U.S. President Donald Trump described it as “great news.”

https://www.jpost.com

Covid-19 cases reach 1 MILLION worldwide, 50,000 dead as pandemic continues to ravage the globe

RT – April 2, 2020

The coronavirus pandemic has passed its landmark moment, as over one million people worldwide have tested positive for the disease, according to figures from multiple sources.

The total number of confirmed Covid-19 cases hit the 1 million mark on Thursday, according to tallies by both the AFP news agency and Johns Hopkins University in the US. Over 51,000 people have died worldwide from the virus.

The novel coronavirus outbreak was first recorded in December 2019, in the city of Wuhan in China’s central Hubei province. The number of infected people in Wuhan skyrocketed, prompting a lockdown by the government. The virus then quickly spread abroad, hitting nearly every country.

On March 11, the World Health Organization declared Covid-19 a pandemic. Two weeks later, the US became the most-affected nation, surpassing China. In Europe, Italy, Spain, Germany and France were hit the hardest, with each having more than 40,000 cases.

By April 1, close to half the world’s population – most of North America, Europe and India – had been ordered to stay at home, in hopes of slowing or stopping the spread of the contagion.

In many places, the rapidly-spreading virus has overwhelmed local healthcare systems. Doctors have struggled with shortages of hospital space and medical equipment, including testing kits and protective gear.

China said it had turned the tide on the spread of Covid-19 by late March, as the number of new domestic cases decreased significantly, prompting officials to gradually ease travel restrictions in Hubei.

https://www.rt.com

Double Whammy In India: Bird flu Comes Knocking In Times Of Lockdown

Strange Sounds – March 25, 2020

Two localities in Patna have been tested positive for bird flu.

Thousands birds have been culled in Kerala. A patient has also been confirmed positive for swine flu in Bihar. Several died from Monkey fever. What’s more for India?

While 1.3 billion people went under “total lockdown” for 21 days to combat the spread of the contagion in India, several states are reporting avian influenza in parallel.

Samples in Bihar and Kerala have tested positive for H5N1 virus. A patient has also been confirmed positive for swine flu in Bihar.

In Bihar, samples of dead crows were sent to the National Institute of High-Security Animal Diseases (NIHSAD) at Bhopal, where the results confirmed the worst fears.

In Kerala, the state government has decided to destroy the disease at the source and mass culling have already started since a week to contain a possible outbreak.

Avian influenza A (H5N1) is contagious among birds and can be fatal. There have been instances of human beings getting infected with the virus:

“In most of the cases, people having direct or close contact with H5N1-infected poultry or H5N1-contaminated surfaces contracted the disease.

“The H5N1 strain of bird flu is regarded as highly pathogenic and can also cause disease and death in humans.

https://strangesounds.org

Trump Declares Sunday as National Day of Prayer in Midst of COVID-19 Outbreak

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WASHINGTON — President Trump has declared Sunday a National Day of Prayer in the midst of the COVID-19 outbreak, which has been characterized as a pandemic in its affliction of nations worldwide.

“It is my great honor to declare Sunday, March 15th as a National Day of Prayer,” Trump tweeted on Friday. “We are a country that, throughout our history, has looked to God for protection and strength in times like these.”

“No matter where you may be, I encourage you to turn towards prayer in an act of faith,” he added. “Together, we will easily prevail!”

According to the latest statistics as of press time, 3,377 Americans had been diagnosed with COVID-19, with 63 deaths nationwide. Next to China — as the virus is believed to have originated from animal-to-human transmission in Wuhan, the nation of Italy has been the hardest hit, with 24,747 cases and 1,800 deaths.

Trump stated during a press conference in the White House rose garden on Friday that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) plans to have over a million coronavirus test kits available this week for medical facilities nationwide and approximately five million by the end of the month.

Some churches chose not to hold services on Sunday or to instead broadcast online, while others continued on as usual but encouraged those with any symptoms to stay home.

Trump said that he would be watching a church service online, specifically Jentezen Franklin’s Free Chapel service, which was streamed to its members this week.

https://christiannews.net

Trump Announces National Emergency, More Tests, More Nimble Pandemic Response

Newsmax – March 13, 2020

President Donald Trump declared a coronavirus national emergency in a speech from the Rose Garden on Friday afternoon, invoking the Stafford Act for disaster relief and emergency assistance. The step will mean billions of dollars in additional federal cash for testing, resources and the shoring up of the flailing national economy.

In no uncertain terms, Trump also addressed the lack of sufficient testing capabilities, an issue that has inflamed critics who’ve deemed the administration’s pandemic response haphazard. He said that going forward, there would be a partnership with the private sector “to vastly increase and accelerate our capacity to test for the coronavirus” — including providing drive-through sites that will be able administer the tests and a way to self-screen online.

Trump assured the nation, “We will get through this together.”

In recent days, the Trump administration has been under intense fire for conflicting messages, a sluggish national response and insufficient testing for the COVID-19 virus, which began in China and has since afflicted tens of thousands of people around the world. (Vice President Mike Pence said the virus has now been detected in 46 states.)

In his speech, Trump touted Americans’ response thus far, compared to that seen in other parts of the world. But then he somberly declared, “I am officially declaring a national emergency,” saying that doing so would open up access to $50 billion.

He also urged every state to set up emergency operations, and hospitals to invoke their emergency preparedness plans.

https://www.newsmax.com

Health Officials: US Experiencing Worst Flu Season For Children In Past Decade As Second Influenza Wave Spreading

Stephanie Stahl – February 18, 2020

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — It’s been a bad flu season for children nationwide and now officials say there is a second wave of influenza spreading. Pennsylvania has more than 72,000 confirmed cases of the flu, which is just a small reflection of the number of people who are sick.

The flu can be dangerous for children, especially if they have a weakened immune system or have not been vaccinated.

Dr. Aditi Joshi, with Jefferson Health, says it’s easily spread in schools.

“Because it’s very contagious, it can live on surfaces for a few hours even if you’re not there and if you don’t wash your hands, it tends to be very contagious for that reason, so kids tend to get it a lot,” Dr. Joshi said.

The CDC says this is one of the worst flu seasons for children. Ninety-two have died since last fall, which is the highest total at this point in the season in the past decade.

There is now a second wave of flu cases.

Overall, about 14,000 Americans have died from the flu this season.

“Now with flu A, we are seeing people feeling sicker,” Dr. Joshi said.

Health officials say two strains of the flu, A and B, have circulated this season and it’s possible to get both.

“We want to keep the spread down, the contagion down,” Dr. Joshi added.

https://philadelphia.cbslocal.com

New ‘Puzzling’ Virus of Unknown Origin Discovered in Brazil

Strange Sounds – February 12, 2020

The new unknown virus has been discovered in Lake Pampulha, an artificial lake in the city of Belo Horizonte, Brazil in January.

Named after the mythological mermaid Yara, the Yaravirus has left scientists baffled because it doesn’t appear to be related to any other viruses in the world.

The new virus contains 74 genes in total, from which only six had already been recorded in literature. In other words, 90 per cent of Yaravirus genes have never been seen before, making it wholly unique.

The discovery comes amid the outbreak of a new killer virus across the world which started in China.

Yaravirus was taken from a single-celled creature called amoeba and scientists already speculate it represents the first isolated case of an unknown group of amoebal virus, describing the Yayavirus as a ‘new lineage of amoebal virus with a puzzling origin and phylogeny.’ in a published paper on the server bioRxiv.

For now, Yaravirus doesn’t appear to pose any threat to humans. It can only transfer between amoeba.

https://strangesounds.org

No peak in sight as China reports 5,000 new coronavirus cases

Reuters – February 14, 2020

BEIJING/SIHANOUKVILLE, Cambodia, Feb 14 (Reuters) – China’s coronavirus outbreak showed no sign of peaking with health authorities on Friday reporting more than 5,000 new cases, while passengers on a cruise ship blocked from five countries due to virus fears finally disembarked in Cambodia.

Policymakers pledged to do more to stimulate Asian economies hit hard by the virus, helping Asia stock markets edge higher, with Chinese shares headed for their first weekly gain in four.

In its latest update, China’s National Health Commission said it had recorded 121 new deaths and 5,090 new coronavirus cases on the mainland on Feb. 13, taking the accumulated total infected to 63,851 people.

Some 55,748 people are currently undergoing treatment, while 1,380 people have died of the flu-like virus that emerged in Hubei province’s capital, Wuhan, in December. The latest toll takes account of some deaths that had been double counted in Hubei, the health commission said.

The new figures give no indication the outbreak is nearing a peak, said Adam Kamradt-Scott, an infectious diseases expert at the Centre for International Security Studies at the University of Sydney.

“Based on the current trend in confirmed cases, this appears to be a clear indication that while the Chinese authorities are doing their best to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, the fairly drastic measures they have implemented to date would appear to have been too little, too late,” he said.

https://news.trust.org/item

4 Plagues Are Marching Across Asia Simultaneously: Coronavirus, African Swine Fever, H5N1 Bird Flu And H1N1 Swine Flu

– February 2, 2020

The coronavirus outbreak that is raging all over China right now has been making headlines on a daily basis all over the globe, and rightly so.  At this point we don’t know if it will ultimately become a horrifying global pandemic that will affect tens of millions of people, but what we do know is that the virus spreads very easily and the number of cases has been rising at an exponential rate.  Meanwhile, three other plagues have also been marching across Asia, and most people in the western world don’t even realize that this is happening.  What I am about to share with you in this article is quite chilling, and the months ahead will be very dark if these plagues continue to spread.

Long before we ever heard of this new coronavirus, African Swine Fever was devastating pork farms from one end of China to the other.  There is no vaccine for “pig ebola”, there is no cure, and once it hits a farm the only thing that can be done is to kill every single pig so that it won’t spread anywhere else.  But even though draconian measures have been implemented, it has just kept spreading, and at this point “about two-thirds of China’s swine herd has been lost”.

Unfortunately, this insidious disease has also been devastating farms in many other nations all over the planet.  In particular, Cambodia, North Korea, South Korea, Vietnam and the Philippines have been hit particularly hard.

Meanwhile, there has been a very alarming resurgence of the H5N1 bird flu in China.

According to the Daily Mail, more than 17,000 chickens have been culled in an effort to keep this new outbreak from spreading further…

China has reportedly seen an outbreak of a ‘highly pathogenic’ strain of H5N1 bird flu which has already killed 4,500 chickens.

Alarmingly, the H5N1 bird flu has also popped up at a facility in India.

Not too long ago, the H1N1 swine flu caused mass panic all over the globe, and I personally knew someone that was killed by it.

So the truth is that all of these outbreaks are very concerning.

And never before have we seen so many alarming outbreaks occur simultaneously.  Could it be possible that we have entered a period of time when mass pandemics are going to become “the new normal”?

Hopefully none of these current outbreaks will end up killing millions of people all over the globe.

http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com

China’s Viral Death Toll Hits Grim New High as World Health Agency Declares a Global Crisis

Newsmax – January 30, 2020

The World Health Organization declared the outbreak sparked by a new virus in China that has spread to more than a dozen countries a global emergency after the number of cases spiked more than tenfold in a week, including the record number of deaths in 24 hours reported Friday.

China counted 9,692 confirmed cases with a death toll of 213, including 43 new fatalities. The vast majority of the cases have been in Hubei province and its provincial capital, Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak. No deaths have been reported outside China.

The U.N. health agency defines an international emergency as an “extraordinary event” that constitutes a risk to other countries and requires a coordinated international response.

China first informed WHO about cases of the new virus in late December. Eighteen other countries have since reported cases, as scientists race to understand how exactly the virus is spreading and how severe it is.

Experts say there is significant evidence the virus is spreading among people in China and have noted with concern instances in other countries — including the United States, France, Japan, Germany, Canada, South Korea and Vietnam — where there have also been isolated cases of human-to-human transmission.

Speaking to reporters in Geneva on Thursday, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus noted the worrisome spread of the virus between people outside China.

“The main reason for this declaration is not because of what is happening in China but because of what is happening in other countries,” he said. “Our greatest concern is the potential for this virus to spread to countries with weaker health systems which are ill-prepared to deal with it.”

https://www.newsmax.com