Showing posts with label Japan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Japan. Show all posts

Tuesday 23 November 2021

Drop in cases in Japan: Ivermectin, nsp14 and/or APOBEC3A?

John Campbell shares three theories on sudden drop of Covid-19 cases in Japan: (1) Ivermectin allowed as a treatment on August 13, two weeks before the precipitous drop in cases (2) Ituro Inoue, professor, National Institute of Genetics, on the virus’s error-correcting protein, nsp14 (3) More people in Asia have a defense enzyme called APOBEC3A that attacks RNA viruses, including the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19. 

View here (Youtube, Nov 24, 2021)

Sunday 21 November 2021

New research suggests Delta strain ‘drove itself to extinction’ in Japan

‘According to a “potentially revolutionary” theory put forward by Professor Ituro Inoue, a genetics expert, the Delta variant simply accumulated too many mutations to the virus’s error-correcting protein called nsp14. Prof Inoue says the virus struggled to repair the errors in time and ultimately caused its own “self-destruction”.

Read here (News.com.au, Nov 22, 2021)

Thursday 1 April 2021

Vaccinating Asia: How does world's largest continent immunise 4.5 billion people in shortest time possible?

‘It is a critical issue as the world rushes to achieve herd immunity against the coronavirus. How does the largest continent in the world immunise 4.5 billion people in the shortest time possible? The Straits Times bureaus find out in this special report.’

  • Grappling with myriad challenges on path towards Covid-19 immunity
  • Midwives and soldiers in Indonesia mobilised to support country's inoculation drive
  • Millions of undocumented migrants in Malaysia keen on Covid-19 jab but wary of arrest
  • Filipinos in search of coveted 'Covid-19 passport'
  • India's greatest challenge lies in vaccinating rural villages
  • Quality and quantity of Covid-19 vaccines in China hamper inoculation drive
  • Hong Kong's Covid-19 vaccination drive zips ahead despite woes
  • South Korean govt draws flak for not mandating Covid-19 vaccine holiday after roll-out delay
  • South Korean man, Singaporean fiancee inoculated ahead of May wedding
  • Japan's chequered past with vaccines raises fresh fears
  • No rush for Covid-19 jab in Taiwan, given fears over side effects
  • Religious, community groups, experts clear doubts about Covid-19 jabs in Singapore
  • Church webinar in S'pore convinces senior to take Covid-19 jab
  • Tapping TikTok videos and social media influencers to spread information on vaccines in Singapore
  • MCI officers create skits, dances on TikTok to debunk Covid-19 myths
  • Foodcourt chat to allay fears about Covid-19 shots among Singaporeans

Read here (Straits Times, Apr 2, 2021) 

Friday 12 March 2021

US and allies (India, Australia and Japan) promise one billion jabs for South East Asia

‘The leaders of the US, Australia, India and Japan have agreed to deliver one billion doses of coronavirus vaccine to much of Asia by the end of 2022. The joint commitment was made following the first leaders' meeting of the so-called Quad - a group formed in 2007. The vaccines - expected to be the single-dose Johnson & Johnson product - are set to be manufactured in India.’

Read here (BBC, Mar 13, 2021)

Saturday 17 October 2020

Covid-19 virus survives on skin five times longer than flu virus: Study

‘The Covid-19 virus remains active on human skin for nine hours, Japanese researchers have found, in a discovery they said showed the need for frequent hand washing to combat the Covid-19 pandemic. The pathogen that causes the flu survives on human skin for about 1.8 hours by comparison, said the study published this month in the Clinical Infectious Diseases journal.’

Read here (Straits Times, Oct 18, 2020)

Wednesday 7 October 2020

Dying in a leadership vacuum: NEJM editorial

‘Covid-19 has created a crisis throughout the world. This crisis has produced a test of leadership. With no good options to combat a novel pathogen, countries were forced to make hard choices about how to respond. Here in the United States, our leaders have failed that test. They have taken a crisis and turned it into a tragedy.

‘The magnitude of this failure is astonishing. According to the Johns Hopkins Center for Systems Science and Engineering,1 the United States leads the world in Covid-19 cases and in deaths due to the disease, far exceeding the numbers in much larger countries, such as China. The death rate in this country is more than double that of Canada, exceeds that of Japan, a country with a vulnerable and elderly population, by a factor of almost 50, and even dwarfs the rates in lower-middle-income countries, such as Vietnam, by a factor of almost 2000. Covid-19 is an overwhelming challenge, and many factors contribute to its severity. But the one we can control is how we behave. And in the United States we have consistently behaved poorly.’

Read here (New England Journal of Medicine, Oct 8, 2020)

Thursday 24 September 2020

Countries should meet these five criteria before easing lockdowns, study says. Many aren't even close

‘Countries should not ease coronavirus lockdown restrictions until they meet five criteria -- and many nations are not even close, according to a new analysis published in The Lancet medical journal. The research, published Thursday, said that the prerequisites for easing Covid-19 measures are: knowledge of infection status, community engagement, adequate public health capacity, adequate health system capacity and border controls.

‘The authors looked at nine high-income countries and territories that have started to relax restrictions -- Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, Germany, Norway, Spain and the UK. They found that many governments had failed to meet the criteria necessary to avoid new waves of infection, as seen in Spain, Germany and the UK.’

Read here (CNN, Sept 25, 2020)

Thursday 20 August 2020

India, Japan, Australia keen to boost supply chain security by reducing reliance on China

‘The Supply Chain Resilience Initiative will look to secure supply chains and reduce dependence on China in wake of the disruptions caused by the coronavirus. The supply chain initiative could also eventually be expanded to include the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean).’

Read here (South China Morning Post, August 21, 2020)

Saturday 25 July 2020

Governments losing support for their handling of Covid-19: Survey

‘Governments are fast losing support for their handling of the coronavirus outbreak from a public that widely believes death and infection figures to be higher than statistics show, a survey of six countries [US, Britain, France, Sweden, Japan and Germany] revealed on Saturday (July 25).’

Read here (Straits Times, July 25, 2020)

Thursday 16 July 2020

Anger in Japan as US army bases report mounting Covid-19 outbreak

‘An escalating Covid-19 outbreak at American bases in Okinawa has seen 136 US military personnel and dependents infected so far, with the governor of the southern Japanese island complaining that United States officials have refused to provide details of infections among service members...

‘The question of quarantine regulations for US troops and their family members is a particularly contentious one, with local media reporting that Tokyo has little control over the US nationals who fly into Japan, even if they are arriving at commercial airports. The SOFA [Status of Forces Agreement between Japan and the US] permits service personnel to sidestep testing that is presently mandatory for all other arrivals from overseas.’

Read here (South China Morning Post, July 16, 2020)

Friday 24 April 2020

Japan to subsidise 100% of salaries at small companies

‘Japan is working on a subsidy to ensure that temporarily idled small-business employees receive 100% of their wages during the current state of emergency, Nikkei has learned... The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare plans to use an existing employment adjustment subsidy, which helps enterprises seeing no choice but to temporarily lay off workers continue to pay them, at least in part... As things stand, laid-off workers at companies that have halted operations are entitled to at least 60% of their regular pay. The government shoulders up to 90% of this to keep them from being dismissed outright, with the company chipping in the other 10%.’

Read here (Nikkei, April 24, 2020)

Worst ever Covid variant? Omicron

John Campbell shares his findings on Omicron.  View here (Youtube, Nov 27, 2021)