A reminder, that Covid-19 and the environmental degradation that is driving climate change are inextricably linked, comes from this timely article. President Trump persists with his divide and rule narrative (‘The Chinese virus’), because it fits his political agenda.
He could make the charges stick. A deep recession may not stop the US president getting elected. That will, of course, depend on how far US citizens feel the Trump administration bungled the early response, allowing the ‘Chinese virus’ to ‘get out of the gate’ and infect all of the US states.
Nevertheless, China has reported no new cases of Covid-19 in Wuhan and the province of Hubei (for Wednesday). All other reported new cases across China were ‘imported’, travellers. As this article makes clear, the risks of a second wave of infections remains.
However, the critical tools used by China to contain Covid-19 remain largely absent in the UK and US. Both countries continue to play catch up. As this petition shows, frontline workers in the UK lack the basic, requisite protective equipment, although the NHS has claimed it is a logistical problem, not a supply issue per se. This article was sobering too.
The big story, arguably, is the news that a Japanese flu drug is getting the ‘thumbs up’ in China, for “blunting the impact of Covid-19”. Avipiravir, which is made by Fujifilm Toyama Chemical and was approved in Japan 6 years ago, is sold on the market as Avigan. A clinical trial of 200 patients has yielded positive results.
