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Bengal Tiger, Panthera tigris, female crossing track, Bandavgarh National Park, India. David Tipling / Universal Images Group / Getty Images
By Neil Carter
Tigers are one of the world's most iconic wild species, but today they are endangered throughout Asia. They once roamed across much of this region, but widespread habitat loss, prey depletion and poaching have reduced their numbers to only about 4,000 individuals. They live in small pockets of habitat across South and Southeast Asia, as well as the Russian Far East — an area spanning 13 countries and 450,000 square miles (1,160,000 square kilometers).
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Today Asia is experiencing a road-building boom. To maintain economic growth, development experts estimate that the region will need to invest about <a href="https://www.adb.org/publications/asia-infrastructure-needs" target="_blank">US$8.4 trillion</a> in transportation infrastructure between 2016 and 2030.
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<em>Reposted with permission from </em><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/endangered-tigers-face-growing-threats-from-an-asian-road-building-boom-137052" target="_blank">The Conversation</a></em><em>.</em>
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<p>Major investment projects, such as China's <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.13317" target="_blank">Belt and Road Initiative</a> — one of the largest infrastructure projects of all time — are fueling this growth. While roads can <a href="https://www.adb.org/sites/default/files/publication/29406/when-rural-roads-benefit-poor.pdf" target="_blank">reduce poverty</a>, especially in rural areas, many of Asia's new roads also are likely to traverse regions that are home to diverse plants and animals.</p><p>To protect tigers from this surge of road building, <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=SquL06QAAAAJ&hl=en" target="_blank">conservation scientists like me</a> need to know where the greatest risks are. That information, in turn, can improve road planning in the future.</p><p>In a newly published study, I worked with researchers at the University of Michigan, Boise State University and the University of British Columbia to examine how existing and planned Asian roads <a href="https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/6/18/eaaz9619" target="_blank">encroach on tiger habitats</a>. We forecast that nearly 15,000 miles (24,000 kilometers) of new roads will be built in tiger habitats by 2050, and call for bold new planning strategies that prioritize biodiversity conservation and sustainable road development across large landscapes.</p>
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Letting Humans In
<p>Road construction <a href="http://tigers.panda.org/news/asias-infrastructure-development-threatens-worlds-tigers/" target="_blank">worsens existing threats to tigers</a>, such as poaching and development, by paving the way for human intrusion into the heart of the tiger's range. For example, in the Russian Far East, roads have led to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7998.2008.00458.x" target="_blank">higher tiger mortality</a> due to increased collisions with vehicles and more encounters with poachers.</p><p>To assess this threat across Asia, we focused on areas called Tiger Conservation Landscapes — 76 zones, scattered across the tiger's range, which conservationists see as crucial for the species' recovery. For each zone we calculated road density, distance to the nearest road and relative mean species abundance, which estimates the numbers of mammals in areas near roads compared to areas far from roads. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1522488113" target="_blank">Mean species abundance</a> is our best proxy for estimating how roads affect numbers of mammals, like tigers and their prey, across broad scales.</p><p>We also used <a href="https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aabd42" target="_blank">future projections of road building</a> in each country to forecast the length of new roads that might be built in tiger habitats by 2050.</p><span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="cec6392b3df8ca30d414d90e477b9c60"><iframe lazy-loadable="true" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/iFJSfOsbcDs?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span>
More Roads, Fewer Animals
<p>We estimated that more than 83,300 miles (134,000 kilometers) of roads already exist within tiger habitats. This is likely an underestimate, since many logging or local roads are missing from the global data set that we used.</p><p>Road densities in tiger habitat are one-third greater outside of protected areas, such as national parks and tiger reserves, than inside of protected areas. Non-protected areas averaged 1,300 feet of road per square mile (154 meters per square kilometer), while protected areas averaged 980 feet per square mile (115 meters per square kilometer). For tiger populations to grow, they will need to use the forests outside protected areas. However, the high density of roads in those forests will jeopardize tiger recovery.</p><p>Protected areas and priority conservation sites — areas with large populations of tigers — are not immune either. For example, in India — home to more than <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/07/29/746237332/census-finds-nearly-3-000-tigers-in-india" target="_blank">70% of the world's tigers</a> — we estimate that a protected area of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiger_reserves_of_India" target="_blank">500 square miles, or 1,300 square kilometers</a>, contains about 200 miles (320 kilometers) of road.</p><p>Road networks are expansive. More than 40% of areas where tiger breeding has recently been detected — crucial to tiger population growth — is within just 3 miles (5 kilometers) of a nearby road. This is problematic because <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2010.02.009" target="_blank">mammals often are less abundant</a> this close to roads.</p><p>In fact, we estimate that current road networks within tiger habitats may be reducing local populations of tigers and their prey by about 20%. That's a major decrease for a species on the brink of extinction. And the threats from roads are likely to become more severe.</p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzE4NDIxNi9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTU5MjY3MzM3OH0.8l0IHi170xacm4qz_dNDf-ewnoc5bRHoPG_cJTrxEd4/img.jpg?width=980" id="8de0c" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="1d766502917e14ebd219933e2baabaf6" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Estimated road densities for 76 tiger conservation landscapes (colored zones), with darker red indicating more roads per unit area. Neil Carter / CC BY-ND
Making Infrastructure Tiger-Friendly
<p>Our findings underscore the need for planning development in ways that interfere as minimally as possible with tiger habitat. Multilateral development banks and massive ventures like the Belt and Road Initiative can be important partners in this endeavor. For example, they could help establish an international network of protected areas and habitat corridors to safeguard tigers and many other wild species from road impacts.</p><p>National laws can also do more to promote <a href="https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/27751" target="_blank">tiger-friendly infrastructure planning</a>. This includes keeping road development away from priority tiger populations and other "no go" zones, such as tiger reserves or habitat corridors.</p><p>Zoning can be used around infrastructure to prevent settlement growth and forest loss. Environmental impact assessments for road projects can do a better job of assessing how new roads might exacerbate hunting and poaching pressure on tigers and their prey.</p><p>Funding agencies need to screen proposed road developments using these tiger-friendly criteria before planners finalize decisions on road design, siting and construction. Otherwise, it might be too late to influence road planning.</p><p>There are also opportunities to reduce the negative effects of existing roads on tigers. They include closing roads to vehicular traffic at night, decommissioning existing roads in areas with important tiger populations, adding road signs announcing the presence of tigers and constructing wildlife crossings to allow tigers and other wildlife to move freely through the landscape.</p><p>Roads will become more pervasive features in Asian ecosystems as these nations develop. In my view, now is the time to tackle this mounting challenge to Asian biodiversity, including tigers, through research, national and international collaborations and strong political leadership.</p>
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A man bows in front of flowers and a photo of the late ophthalmologist Li Wenliang outside the Houhu Branch of Wuhan Central Hospital in China's central Hubei province on Feb. 7, 2020. Li, a doctor who was punished for raising the alarm about the new coronavirus, died on Feb. 7 after being infected by the pathogen. STR / AFP via Getty Images
Officials in China have revised the total death toll from the novel coronavirus in Wuhan, the city where the infectious disease was first reported. The new numbers that China released Friday increase the number of COVID-19 deaths by 1,290, or a 50 percent increase, as CNN reported.
<p>They also added 325 infections to the city's tally of positive cases, bringing the official number to 50,333, with 3,869 deaths. The previous reported death toll for Wuhan was 2,579, according to <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/17/asia/china-wuhan-coronavirus-death-toll-intl-hnk/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a>.</p><p>That pushes China's national total up to 4,600 deaths. China has confirmed nearly 84,000 coronavirus infections, the seventh-highest globally, according to Johns Hopkins University data, as the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-52321529" target="_blank">BBC</a> reported.</p><p>Officials in Wuhan said the newly released numbers now include those who died at home during the beginning of the outbreak, as well as deaths that had not been properly reported by hospitals or registered on death certificates, according to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/17/world/coronavirus-news.html#link-f029419" target="_blank">The New York Times</a>.</p>
<p>However, those numbers seem circumspect to the international community, which has accused China of downplaying the severity of the outbreak. China, however, insists it has not covered anything up and has touted the efficacy of its restrictive lockdowns in Wuhan, which lasted for months and have only recently eased, according to the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-52321529" target="_blank">BBC</a>. On Friday, China reported 26 new infections, the lowest daily number in more than two weeks, according to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/17/china-economy-shrinks-record-wuhan-covid-19-death-toll-rises-50-percent" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>.</p><p>China's handling and reporting of the outbreak has drawn the ire of several prominent political leaders around the world. Dominic Raab, Britain's foreign secretary, told Reuters on Thursday that China would have to answer "hard questions" after the crisis about how the pandemic came about and how it could have been stopped earlier. President Emmanuel Macron of France told The Financial Times that "there are clearly things that have happened that we don't know about," as <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/17/world/coronavirus-news.html#link-f029419" target="_blank">The New York Times</a> reported.</p>
<p>On Thursday, however, China's President Xi Jinpeng responded to some of the criticism, particularly from President Donald <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/trump-watch/">Trump</a> who had recently accused China of not sharing data in a timely fashion. Xi, in a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, called such accusations counterproductive, as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/17/china-economy-shrinks-record-wuhan-covid-19-death-toll-rises-50-percent" target="_blank">The Guardian</a> reported. Putin agreed.</p><p>Xi said politicizing the pandemic was "detrimental to international cooperation," according to state-run news agency Xinhua, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/17/china-economy-shrinks-record-wuhan-covid-19-death-toll-rises-50-percent" target="_blank">The Guardian</a> reported. According to the agency, Putin said "attempts by some people to smear China" were "unacceptable."</p>
<p>Of course, the latest change in numbers to the official death toll could renew skepticism about China's openness. Officials said that the figures had been revised to show "accountability to history, to the people and the victims," as well as to ensure "open and transparent disclosure of information and data accuracy," as <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/17/asia/china-wuhan-coronavirus-death-toll-intl-hnk/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a> reported.</p><p>The way China counted coronavirus infections actually changed three times in January and February, leading to confusion about what exactly was happening in Wuhan. One area of criticism has been the reluctance to count people who tested positive but were asymptomatic, making it impossible to compare the number of infections with international data, according to <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/17/asia/china-wuhan-coronavirus-death-toll-intl-hnk/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a>.</p><p>As the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-52321529" target="_blank">BBC</a> reported, China reported the cases to the World Health Organization on Dec. 31, but WHO experts were only allowed to visit China and first investigate the outbreak on Feb. 10, when China had more than 40,000 cases.</p>
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A farmer shifts through soil after a burn session in China's Xishuangbanna region, once home to tropical rain forests. Ryan Pyle / Corbis / Getty Images
By Charli Shield
After the novel coronavirus broke out in Wuhan, China in late December 2019, it didn't take long for conspiracy theorists to claim it was manufactured in a nearby lab.
<p>Scientific consensus, on the other hand, is that the virus — SARS-CoV-2 — <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-020-0820-9" target="_blank">is a zoonotic disease</a> that jumped from animal to human. It most likely <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2019.2736" target="_blank">originated in a bat</a>, possibly before passing through another mammal.<br></p><p>While the virus was certainly not engineered in a laboratory, this doesn't mean we haven't played a role in the current pandemic. Human impingement on natural habitats, biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation are making virus spillover events much more likely, a <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2019.2736" target="_blank">major new study</a> from scientists in Australia and the US has found.</p><p>The number of emerging infectious disease outbreaks has more than tripled <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rsif.2014.0950#RSIF20140950F1" target="_blank">every decade since the 1980s</a>. More than two thirds of these diseases originate in animals, and about <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nature06536" target="_blank">70% of those come from wild animals</a>. Many of the infectious diseases we're familiar with — Ebola, HIV, swine and avian flu — are zoonotic.</p>
<p>Aided by a hyper-connected global population, SARS-CoV-2 and the disease it causes, COVID-19, has also demonstrated how quickly modern outbreaks can become pandemics.</p><p>While the speed at which COVID-19 has spread across the world has shocked many, scientists have long been <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2176051/" target="_blank">warning</a> of such a <a href="https://academic.oup.com/nsr/article/4/3/493/3789515" target="_blank">pandemic</a>.</p><p>By disrupting ecosystems, we have created the conditions that allow animal viruses to cross over into human populations, says Joachim Spangenberg, ecologist and vice-president of the Sustainable Europe Research Institute.</p><p>"We are creating this situation, not the animals," Spangenberg told DW.</p>
Deforestation, habitat encroachment
<p>As people move further into the territories of wild animals to clear forests, raise livestock, hunt and extract resources, we are increasingly exposed to the pathogens that normally never leave these places and the bodies they inhabit.</p><p>"We're getting closer and closer to wild animals," says Yan Xiang, professor of virology at the University of Texas Health Science Center, "and that brings us into contact with these viruses."</p><p>"As you increase human population density and increase encroachment onto natural habitats, not just by people but by our domesticated animals, you're increasing the rolls on the die," David Hayman, professor of infectious disease ecology at Massey University in New Zealand, told DW.</p><p>But, as well as increasing the likelihood of transfer, ecosystem disruption also has an impact on how many viruses exist in the wild and how they behave.</p><p>In the last century, tropical forests, home to around two thirds of the world's living organisms, <a href="https://www.theworldcounts.com/challenges/planet-earth/forests-and-deserts/rate-of-deforestation" target="_blank">have been halved</a>. This profound loss of habitat has ripple effects throughout the entire ecosystem, including on the "parts we tend to forget — infections," says Hayman.</p><p>In some cases, scientists have observed that when animals at the top of the food chain disappear, the animals at the bottom of the food chain, like rats and mice that carry more pathogens, tend to fill that space.</p><p>"It's not just about how many species we have in an ecosystem," says Alice Latinne at the Wildlife Conservation Society, "it's about which species."</p><p>"Each species plays a different role in the ecosystem and sometimes, if you just replace one species with another, this can have a huge impact in terms of disease risk. And sometimes we can't predict it," she told DW.</p>
<p>Habitat changes can also force animals — and their pathogens — to go elsewhere, including areas populated by people.</p><p>Latinne draws on the example of the emergence of Nipah virus in Malaysia in the late 1990s, where deforestation drove fruit bats from their forest habitat to mango trees on pig farms. Bats often carry pathogens that don't bother them, but in this case when the pigs came into contact with bat droppings and saliva, they became infected. The pigs then went on to infect farmers.</p><p>Evidence linking disruption of ecosystems to increased risk of novel infection transfer is why, Spangenberg says, experts talk about the importance of the "One Health" concept; the idea that the health of animals, the ecosystem and humans are all interlinked, and when one is out of balance, others follow suit.</p>
Wildlife trade
<p>So-called "wet markets" selling produce, meat and live animals provide another incubator for the emergence of infectious disease. Scientists <a href="https://www.cell.com/action/showPdf?pii=S0092-8674%2820%2930328-7" target="_blank">believe</a> there's a strong possibility SARS-CoV-2 emerged at a wet market in Wuhan, China.</p><p>Cramming stressed, sick animals into cages together is, in many ways, the "perfect setting" to incubate new pathogens, Spangenberg says, and "an excellent way to transfer diseases from one species to another." For that reason, many scientists, including Spangenberg, say the world needs, at the very least, to introduce strict regulations for live animal markets.</p><p>That's the message from Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, the United Nations' biodiversity chief, who has called for a global ban on wildlife markets.</p><p>But as Mrema also pointed out, millions of people — particularly in low-income communities — rely on the food and income sources these markets provide.</p><p>That's part of what makes solutions to preventing disease outbreak complex, according to Hayman. Animal exploitation is one part of it, he says. But "poverty, access to jobs, how people are treated in remote areas, the way people engage with food" also contribute to conditions that lead to spillovers.</p><p>Even just on an economic level, Latinne believes, "we will be forced to change — because the cost of disease emergence and spillover from wildlife will be much higher than the economic benefit of our exploitation of the environment."</p><p>"We are part of nature — we're part of the ecosystem where our health is linked to the health of wildlife, the health of livestock and the health of the environment," Latinne says. "We have to find a better way to live together safely."</p>
<p class=""><em>Reposted with permission from</em> <em><a href="https://www.dw.com/en/coronavirus-pandemic-linked-to-destruction-of-wildlife-and-worlds-ecosystems/a-53078480?maca=en-VAM_volltext_ecowatch-28485-html-copypaste" target="_blank">Deutsche Welle</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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President Donald Trump speaks at a White House press briefing in which he announced his decision to pause funds to the World Health Organization. Alex Wong / Getty Images
In a move roundly decried by public health experts, President Donald Trump announced Tuesday he would halt U.S. funding for the World Health Organization (WHO) as his administration investigates the international body's handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
<p>Trump claimed the agency trusted the information coming out of <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/china" target="_self">China</a> in the early days of the outbreak too easily, but his actions come as he tries to deflect criticism of his own response to the pandemic that has <a href="https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/us-map" target="_blank">sickened</a> more than 600,000 in the U.S. and claimed nearly 25,000 U.S. lives. His announcement also follows a <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/us-coronavirus-deaths-2645702852.html" target="_self">weekend</a> that saw the U.S. death toll rise to become the highest in the world, as well as the release of a major New York Times investigation revealing Trump implemented social distancing measures weeks after his own health experts thought they were necessary. More Americans now disapprove of Trump's handling of the virus than approve, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/14/us/politics/coronavirus-trump-who-funding.html?campaign_id=51&emc=edit_MBE_p_20200415&instance_id=17651&nl=morning-briefing&regi_id=88631294&section=topNews&segment_id=25194&te=1&user_id=d8eb7cee9d3c5ab39515239b6ec54d19" target="_blank">The New York Times pointed out</a>.</p>
<p>"It is a transparent attempt to shift blame for the U.S. administration's own failings," Center for Global Development senior policy fellow and former U.S. Agency for International Development disaster relief head Jeremy Konyndyk told <a href="https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/04/trump-freezes-us-funding-who-world-fights-pandemic" target="_blank">Science</a> of Trump's decision to pause funding. He also said the freeze "leaves the U.S. and the world less safe."</p>
<iframe width="100%" height="150" scrolling="no" class="rm-shortcode twitter-embed-1250194670031974400" id="twitter-embed-1250194670031974400" lazy-loadable="true" src="/res/community/twitter_embed/?iframe_id=twitter-embed-1250194670031974400&created_ts=1586904611.0&screen_name=WhiteHouse&text=President+%40realDonaldTrump+is+halting+funding+of+the+World+Health+Organization+while+a+review+is+conducted+to+asses%E2%80%A6+https%3A%2F%2Ft.co%2FtbxfP81TuT&id=1250194670031974400&name=The+White+House" frameborder="0" data-rm-shortcode-id="a06bbce6a679a11442336858a3705fca"></iframe>
<p>During a White House press briefing Tuesday, Trump claimed that WHO's early missteps had proven fatal.</p><p>"So much death has been caused by their mistakes," the president told reporters.</p><p>One of his major criticisms is that the agency accepted Chinese accounts of the virus too readily. But The New York Times pointed out that Trump himself praised the Chinese response in January while he was negotiating a trade deal with the country.</p><p>"China has been working very hard to contain the Coronavirus. The United States greatly appreciates their efforts and transparency," he tweeted Jan. 24. "It will all work out well. In particular, on behalf of the American People, I want to thank President Xi!'</p>
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<p>Other countries have raised concerns about the speed with which WHO responded to the virus. For example, the agency did accept the news from China in mid-January that the virus did not pass from person to person. But it also gave out warnings during that month about the new illness.</p><p>A senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins University Center for Health Security, Dr. Amesh Adalja, told <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-trump-who/trump-halts-world-health-organization-funding-amid-coronavirus-pandemic-idUSKCN21W34Y" target="_blank">Reuters</a> that while WHO may have made some errors, it still was doing vital work to control the spread of the new disease.</p><p>"It's not the middle of a pandemic that you do this type of thing," he said.</p><p>Even other members of the administration agree. Trump made his announcement despite the opposition of top health officials, who were concerned it would hamper international efforts to fight the virus that causes COVID-19., an anonymous official told Reuters.</p>
<p>The U.S. is the country that contributes most to WHO. In 2019, it gave more than $400 million, around 15 percent of the agency's budget. Its funding pause comes as the agency is appealing for more than a billion in extra funds to fight the virus.</p><p>Trump said he expects his review to take 60 to 90 days, but it comes as WHO is working to fight the virus in less developed countries who are less prepared to cope with its spread. On Tuesday, the first WHO "solidarity flight" took off from Ethiopia carrying essential health supplies to African countries, Science pointed out.</p><p>"WHO is in the middle of supporting global surveillance efforts and scale-up of testing and response in low- and middle-income countries around the world," Georgetown University global health researcher Matthew Kavanaugh told Science. "Hobbling that response is not just unjust, it's incredibly bad for U.S. public health at a moment when we have all learned painfully how easily this virus moves from abroad to U.S. shores."</p>
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Animal rights activists try to save dogs at a free market ahead of the Yulin Dog Eating Festival in Yulin city, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region on June 21, 2014. Jie Zhao / Corbis via Getty Images
The Chinese city of Shenzhen announced Thursday that it would ban the eating of dogs and cats in the wake of the coronavirus, which is believed to have stemmed from the wildlife trade, according to Reuters.
<p>The new ordinance will start on May 1, and makes Shenzhen the first city in China to ban the consumption of animals raised as pets, as <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/02/asia/shenzhen-cats-dogs-ban-scli-intl/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a> reported. The ban builds on a Feb. 1 decree by the country's government that made it illegal to eat wild animals.</p><p>"Dogs and cats as pets have established a much closer relationship with humans than all other animals, and banning the consumption of dogs and cats and other pets is a common practice in developed countries and in Hong Kong and Taiwan," a spokesperson for the Shenzhen government said, as <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/chinese-city-bans-eating-cats-dogs-coronavirus-wildlife-meat-1495817" target="_blank">Newsweek</a> reported. "This ban also responds to the demand and spirit of human civilization."</p>
<p>In addition to banning the sale of cats and dogs for food, the new rule, known as the "Shenzhen Special Economic Region Regulation on a Comprehensive Ban on the Consumption of Wild Animals," permanently bans the consumption, breeding and sale of wildlife — such as snakes, lizards and other wild animals — for people to eat in the city, according to <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/chinese-city-bans-eating-cats-dogs-coronavirus-wildlife-meat-1495817" target="_blank">Newsweek</a>.</p><p>The rule says that animals that can be eaten include pigs, cattle, sheep, donkeys, rabbits, chickens, ducks, geese, pigeons and quails, among others, according to <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/chinese-city-bans-eating-cats-dogs-coronavirus-wildlife-meat-1495817" target="_blank">Newsweek</a>.</p>
<p><br>"If convicted, they will be subjected to a fine of 30 times the wild animal's value, if the animal is above the value of 10,000CNY [$1400 USD]," announced authorities, as <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/02/asia/shenzhen-cats-dogs-ban-scli-intl/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a> announced.</p><p>Liu Jianping, an official with the Shenzhen Center for Disease Prevention and Control, told the state-owned media Shenzhen Daily that the poultry, livestock and seafood available to consumers was sufficient.</p><p>"There is no evidence showing that wildlife is more nutritious than poultry and livestock," Liu said, as <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-china-wildlife/chinas-shenzhen-bans-the-eating-of-cats-and-dogs-after-coronavirus-idUSKBN21K0EW" target="_blank">Reuters</a> reported.</p>
<p>According to the Humane Society International, 30 million dogs are killed each year across Asia for meat. However, eating dog meat in China is actually not that common. The majority of people there say they have never tried it and don't want to, as the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-52131940" target="_blank">BBC</a> reported.</p><p>That said, the Humane Society International praised the move and said it may be an auspicious harbinger for the future protection of dogs, cats and wildlife.</p><p>"With Shenzhen taking the historic decision to become mainland China's first city to ban dog and cat meat consumption, this really could be a watershed moment in efforts to end this brutal trade that kills an estimated 10 million dogs and four million cats in China every year," said Dr. Peter Li, China policy specialist for the Humane Society International, as <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/chinese-city-bans-eating-cats-dogs-coronavirus-wildlife-meat-1495817" target="_blank">Newsweek</a> reported. "The majority of these companion animals are stolen from people's back yards or snatched from the streets, and are spirited away on the backs of trucks to be beaten to death in slaughterhouses and restaurants across China."</p>
<p>"Shenzhen is China's fifth-largest city so although the dog meat trade is fairly small there compared with the rest of the province, its true significance is that it could inspire a domino effect with other cities following suit. Most people in China don't eat dog or cat meat, and there is considerable opposition to the trade particularly among younger Chinese," he added.</p><p>While authorities are trying to bring the lucrative wildlife trade under control after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the cultural roots of China's use of wild animals are deeply ingrained. Wild animals are not only used for food, but also for traditional medicine, clothing, ornaments and even pets, according to <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/02/asia/shenzhen-cats-dogs-ban-scli-intl/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a>.</p><p>"Shenzhen is the first city in the world to take the lessons learned from this pandemic seriously and make the changes needed to avoid another pandemic," said Teresa M. Telecky, the vice president of the wildlife department for Humane Society International, to <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-china-wildlife/chinas-shenzhen-bans-the-eating-of-cats-and-dogs-after-coronavirus-idUSKBN21K0EW" target="_blank">Reuters</a>.</p><p>"Shenzhen's bold steps to stop this trade and wildlife consumption is a model for governments around the world to emulate."</p>
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Coronavirus Epicenter Reports No New Cases for First Time Since Outbreak Began
20 March
Health + Wellness
A worker disinfects around the No. 7 Hospital, once designated for only COVID-19 patients, in Wuhan in central China's Hubei province Thursday, March 19, 2020. The hospital is getting back to be a normal hospital after the last coronavirus patient was transferred away. Feature China / Barcroft Media / Getty Images
As the new coronavirus continues to spread across the globe, the country and city where it originated reported a hopeful milestone.
<p>For the first time since the outbreak began, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/china" target="_self">China</a> reported no new domestic cases Thursday, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/19/china-reports-no-domestic-cases-of-coronavirus-for-first-time-since-outbreak-began" target="_blank">The Guardian reported</a>. And in Wuhan, the city where the disease that came to be called COVID-19 <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/china-lung-disease-caronavirus-2644658010.html" target="_self">first emerged in December 2019</a>, there were no new cases period, <a href="https://time.com/5806180/wuhan-china-covid19-no-new-cases/" target="_blank">according to Time</a>.</p><p>"Today we have seen the dawn after so many days of hard effort," senior National Health Commission inspector Jiao Yahui said.</p><p>China announced Thursday that all 34 new cases that were reported in the country compared to the day before were people who had arrived from elsewhere. The news suggests that China's dramatic quarantine measures, which placed more than 50 million people in Wuhan's Hubei province under lockdown since late January, have paid off, at least for now.</p><p>"It's very clear that the actions taken in China have almost brought to an end their first wave of infections," Ben Cowling, the head of the division of epidemiology and biostatistics at Hong Kong University's School of Public Health, told <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/18/world/asia/china-coronavirus-zero-infections.html?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur&fbclid=IwAR0_I_BYWxUXlnY1Gay8GuiNd9Iiu3st2Kqds2lI77LtJeOHN3nMkD50qGo" target="_blank">The New York Times</a>. "The question is what will happen if there's a second wave, because the kind of measures that China has implemented are not necessarily sustainable in the long term."</p>
<p>In Wuhan, restrictions are already starting to ease, according to The Guardian. People in residential units deemed "virus free" can now leave their homes to do single activities, and, in places found virus-free for seven days, residents can move about free of restrictions if they don't gather in groups.</p><p>The news comes as the U.S. and Europe are restricting movement in response to a rising case load. In Italy, the death toll from the outbreak has risen past China's, <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-51964307" target="_blank">BBC News reported Thursday</a>, and lockdown measures originally set to expire March 25 have been extended. Italy has now seen 3,405 deaths compared to China's 3,245.</p><p>Meanwhile, the U.S. State Department Thursday issued its highest possible Level 4: Do Not Travel advisory, urging U.S. citizens and residents not to travel abroad, and to return home from abroad unless they were prepared to stay away indefinitely, <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2020/03/19/politics/state-department-travel-advisory/index.html" target="_blank">CNN reported</a>.</p><p>"Many countries are experiencing COVID-19 outbreaks and implementing travel restrictions and mandatory quarantines, closing borders, and prohibiting non-citizens from entry with little advance notice," the advisory said.</p><p>The coronavirus has so far sickened 209,839 people in 169 countries and killed 8,778, <a href="https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019" target="_blank">according to the latest data from the World Health Organization</a>.</p>
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Pigeons gather on Piazza del Duomo by Milan's cathedral on March 10, 2020. Italy imposed unprecedented national restrictions on its 60 million people to control the deadly coronavirus. MIGUEL MEDINA / AFP via Getty Images
The entire country of Italy has gone into lockdown to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus, officially known as COVID-19.
<p>The measures, announced by Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte Monday night, will ban public gatherings for Italy's more than 60 million people and prevent them from traveling between towns and cities except for emergencies.</p><p>"There is no more time," Conte said, as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/09/coronavirus-italy-prime-minister-country-lockdown" target="_blank">The Guardian reported</a>. "I will take responsibility for these measures. Our future is in our hands."</p>
<iframe width="100%" height="150" scrolling="no" class="rm-shortcode twitter-embed-1237145779350929410" id="twitter-embed-1237145779350929410" lazy-loadable="true" src="/res/community/twitter_embed/?iframe_id=twitter-embed-1237145779350929410&created_ts=1583793513.0&screen_name=GiuseppeConteIT&text=Il+futuro+dell%E2%80%99Italia+%C3%A8+nelle+nostre+mani.+Facciamo+tutti+la+nostra+parte%2C+rinunciando+a+qualcosa+per+il+bene+della%E2%80%A6+https%3A%2F%2Ft.co%2FLFlzmoDjjF&id=1237145779350929410&name=Giuseppe+Conte" frameborder="0" data-rm-shortcode-id="59MDE61583845510"></iframe>
<p>Italy is facing the worst coronavirus outbreak in Europe and has seen the most deaths from the new virus outside <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/china" target="_self">China</a>, according to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/09/world/europe/italy-lockdown-coronavirus.html" target="_blank">The New York Times</a>. As of Monday, 9,172 Italians had fallen sick and 463 people had died, 97 more than on Sunday.</p><p>"The figures show we are experiencing a serious increase in infections, an increase in people hospitalised in intensive care – and an increase, unfortunately, in deaths. We need to change our lifestyle. We need to change it now. That's why I have decided to adopt these hard measures," Conte said, according to The Guardian.</p><p>His decree also makes Italy the first European country to enact dramatic restrictions comparable to those that seem to be working in the more authoritarian China, The New York Times pointed out.</p>
<p>On Tuesday, Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Wuhan for the first time since the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/china-lung-disease-caronavirus-2644658010.html" target="_self">new disease emerged there</a> in December 2019. The city, and the surrounding province of Hubei, have both been on lockdown in quarantine measures that appear to be working. His visit came as China reported its lowest number of new cases to date, <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-51813876" target="_blank">BBC News reported</a>.</p><p>"He is there now to reap the harvest. His being there means the Communist Party of China (CCP) may declare victory against the virus soon," Renmin University professor Zhang Ming told Reuters, as BBC News reported.</p><p>But this is not the case outside China, where, as <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2020/03/10/asia/china-xi-jinping-wuhan-coronavirus-intl-hnk/index.html" target="_blank">CNN put it</a>, "the situation is growing increasingly dire." According to the <a href="https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/685d0ace521648f8a5beeeee1b9125cd" target="_blank">most recent World Health Organization figures</a>, there have now been 113,672 confirmed cases in 110 countries and more than 4,000 deaths.</p>
<p>Italy hopes to control its outbreak with its newly restrictive measures, which include, according to The Guardian:</p><ul><li>A ban on all public events</li><li>The closing of bars, movie theaters, gyms, clubs and other gathering spots</li><li>The cancellation of all funerals, weddings and sporting events</li><li>The closing of all schools and universities until April 3</li><li>Fines or as many as three months of jail time for those who travel between cities without legitimate reasons</li></ul><p>The decree also included a ban on prison visits, which set off riots in prisons across the country, <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-51810673" target="_blank">BBC News reported</a>. Seven inmates died.</p><p>Giovanni Rezza, director of the infectious disease department at the National Health Institute, told The New York Times that Italy's restrictions were "necessary" and that other European countries like France and Germany should follow its example.</p>
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CDC Expert seen in a Hazmat Suit. Eugeneonline / iStock / Getty Images
The World Health Organization has now declared that the fatality rate of the COVID-19 coronavirus is higher than the flu. After several missteps and the deaths of nine Americans, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is now saying that it will lift restrictions on testing and will fast-track people who fear they may have been exposed to the virus, according to The New York Times.
<p>Here are three ways the CDC has drawn criticism for its handling of COVID-19 so far.</p>
COVID-19 Testing Mishaps
<p>The CDC's first attempt to screen for COVID-19 hit a snag when they "botched its first attempt to mass produce a diagnostic test kit, a discovery made only after officials had shipped hundreds of kits to state laboratories," as The New York Times reported.</p> <p>The faulty tests took weeks to replace. Still, the replacements did not allow state and local laboratories to make a final diagnosis. </p> <p>"The incompetence has really exceeded what anyone would expect with the C.D.C.," Dr. Michael Mina, an epidemiologist at Harvard University, said to The New York Times. "This is not a difficult problem to solve in the world of viruses."</p> <p>"It's really, essentially, inexplicable why the CDC did not have well-performing test kits before now," Dr. Irwin Redlener, the director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University, <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/03/03/811504588/cdc-criticized-for-its-slow-release-of-coronavirus-testing-kits" target="_blank">said to NPR</a>. "But this delay has really been costly in terms of our ability to identify and control the disease."</p> <p>The CDC's response is slightly shocking for an advanced nation, considering that South Korea tested 10,000 people on Friday alone and has established drive-thru COVID-19 screening locations, as <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-cdc-us-facilities-lack-testing-capacity-to-id-cases-2020-3" target="_blank">Business Insider reported</a>.</p>Narrow and Stringent Testing Criteria
<p>The CDC is also taking flak for the narrow and stringent testing criteria it set-up, ensuring that very few Americans would actually be tested for COVID-19. As the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/02/health/coronavirus-testing-cdc.html" target="_blank">New York Times</a> pointed out, "the persistent drumbeat of positive test results has raised critical questions about the government's initial management of the outbreak.</p> <p>Why weren't more Americans tested sooner? How many may be carrying the virus now?"</p> <p>Until last week, the CDC only called for testing people who had <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/travelers/" target="_blank">recently traveled</a> to China and come in contact with someone who had a diagnosed case of COVID-19. That strict criteria meant that a patient in California, who tested positive for the coronavirus, went untested for several days at two area hospitals, according to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-cdc-us-facilities-lack-testing-capacity-to-id-cases-2020-3" target="_blank">Business Insider</a>. </p> <p>Last week, the CDC changed the guideline to include people whose symptoms were so severe that they required hospitalization. However, it still did not offer tests for people who had traveled to Iran or Italy, both spots of severe outbreaks, as Business Insider reported. </p> <p>The case in California was alarming since the patient did not travel to China nor did the patient have direct contact with someone known to have the virus. Furthermore, doctors had to plead with officials to test the patient and to persist in asking before the CDC went ahead and tested the patient, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/27/health/us-cases-coronavirus-community-transmission/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">according to CNN</a>. </p>Numbers Disappearing From CDC Website
<p>A strange thing happened at the <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/cases-in-us.html#states-confirmed-cases" target="_blank">CDC site</a> that reports on the total number of COVID-19 cases. The CDC had been reporting the number of people who had been tested. Then, on Monday, the numbers disappeared. </p> <p>"All of a sudden those stats vanished," Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) said as CNN reported. Pocan <a href="https://twitter.com/repmarkpocan/status/1234640186966978567" target="_blank">wrote a letter</a> of complaint to the CDC Monday night.</p> <p>"Inexplicably, today, the CDC's public webpage dedicated to COVID-19 data no longer displays how many persons have been tested for, or who have died from COVID-19. I would like to know why," Pocan wrote.</p> <p>"Americans are dying. We deserve to know how many Americans have perished from COVID-19, and we deserve to know how many people have been tested for it," Pocan added in his letter.</p> <p>A CDC spokeswoman told <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/04/health/cdc-website-coronavirus-testing/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a> that the numbers were taken down since many states are testing and reporting their own results. Yet, the spokeswoman added, "There's only 50 states. We can get this information relatively easily."</p>From Your Site Articles
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Trending
Maps shared by NASA show the decline in nitrogen dioxide emissions over China before and after quarantine measures went into effect to control the new coronavirus. NASA Earth Observatory images by Joshua Stevens, using modified Copernicus Sentinel 5P data processed by the European Space Agency
Toxic pollution levels fell significantly in China between January and February, and scientists think the new coronavirus is a large part of the reason why.
<p>Satellite data collected by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the European Space Agency (ESA) and <a href="https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/146362/airborne-nitrogen-dioxide-plummets-over-china" target="_blank">shared</a> by NASA's Earth Observatory Monday show a steep decline in nitrogen dioxide levels over China between Jan. 1 to 20 and Feb. 10 to 25. The two periods coincide with the time before and after Chinese officials implemented a quarantine in Wuhan, the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/china-lung-disease-caronavirus-2644658010.html" target="_self">epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak</a>.</p><p>"This is the first time I have seen such a dramatic drop-off over such a wide area for a specific event," air quality researcher at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Fei Liu said in the NASA post.</p>
<p>Nitrogen dioxide is a noxious gas emitted by cars, power plants and factories. Short term exposure can aggravate the symptoms of asthma, and longer term exposure can cause people to develop asthma and be more vulnerable to respiratory infections, <a href="https://www.epa.gov/no2-pollution/basic-information-about-no2" target="_blank">according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency</a>. The decline in emissions over China came after Jan. 23, by which point transit in and out of Wuhan had been halted and local businesses had been shuttered, NASA said. The decline in pollution levels began over Wuhan and then spread across the country.</p><p>Nitrogen dioxide levels have fallen before, but never so steeply and widely, Liu said. They fell gradually in several countries after the 2008 recession, and temporarily in Beijing during the 2008 Olympics.</p>
<p>Scientists also usually observe a decline in Chinese pollution levels at the end of January and beginning of February, when businesses and factories close for the Lunar New Year. However, the pollution levels usually rise again when the celebration is over, but this year, they have not.</p><p>"This year, the reduction rate is more significant than in past years and it has lasted longer," Liu said. "I am not surprised because many cities nationwide have taken measures to minimize spread of the virus."</p><p>Further images shared by NASA show how 2020's pollution levels did not rise after the holiday the way they did during the same time last year.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjgzNzY3NC9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzNTM4ODg1OH0.7FqQ_b_nwip1kiTm9HKmxk68rzjEhJeDeCPWZs1jXQk/img.png?width=980" id="a7ead" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="9395ce23db4063127b4abf681d7366ed" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
<p>For an even broader view, the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (<a href="https://aura.gsfc.nasa.gov/omi.html" target="_blank">OMI</a>) on NASA's <a href="https://aura.gsfc.nasa.gov/about.html" target="_blank">Aura satellite</a> has been collecting nitrogen dioxide levels for 15 years. This year's nitrogen dioxide levels in eastern and central China were 10 to 30 percent lower than the average levels for this time of year between 2005 and 2019.</p><p>"There is always this general slowdown around this time of the year," NASA air quality scientist Barry Lefer said. "Our long-term OMI data allows us to see if these amounts are abnormal and why."</p><p>Emissions have fallen in the past because of economic upheavals. The economic crisis triggered by the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 significantly reduced greenhouse gas emissions because people in the region stopped eating meat as prices rose and purchasing power fell, leading to a decline in meat production, <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-02024-6" target="_blank">Nature explained</a>.</p><p>COVID-19, which has<a href="https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/685d0ace521648f8a5beeeee1b9125cd" target="_blank"> so far sickened almost 89,000 people in 65 countries and killed more than 3,000</a>, has already spooked the global economy. Stock markets fell last week by more than 10 percent, and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development warned Monday that the continued spread of the new disease could cut economic growth in half and drive several countries into a recession, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/mar/02/coronavirus-escalation-could-cut-global-economic-growth-in-half-oecd" target="_blank">The Guardian reported</a>.</p>
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China Wildlife Trade Ban Expands to Consumption of Wild Animals as Coronavirus Spreads
27 February
Animals
A pangolin at a rescue center in Cambodia. Rhett A. Butler / Mongabay
China has banned the trade and consumption of wild animals in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak that has claimed more than 2,700 lives and infected more than 81,000 people, most of them in China, according to the state-run Xinhua News Agency.
<p>A temporary ban on trade in wildlife <u><a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/01/conservationists-welcome-chinas-wildlife-trade-ban/" target="_blank">announced</a></u> in January was expected to continue until the epidemic was brought under control. However, with the spread of the disease caused by the virus, known as COVID-19, showing no signs of abating, a more comprehensive ban was passed on Feb. 24 by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), which exercises legislative power in the country.<em></em></p>
<p>Some see it as a step toward a permanent ban that would have to be enshrined in the wildlife laws of the country. If passed, it would be a big boost in the global fight against the illegal trade, since China is a major destination for trafficked animals. "If China is able to shut down the illegal animal trade, it will make the world a bit safer from viruses like SARS-CoV, and have a huge impact on wildlife conservation efforts," Benjamin Neuman, a virologist at Texas A&M University-Texarkana, told Mongabay in an email. "It's a thing that needs to happen, and if COVID-19 is the reason, so be it."</p><p>Though the trade in endangered species is banned under CITES, weak enforcement and substantial demand for animal meat and for animal products used in traditional medicines have hindered efforts to control this trade in China. Xinhua cited "the prominent problem of excessive consumption of wild animals, and the huge hidden dangers to public health and safety" as justification for the ban.</p><p>Researchers say they suspect the epicenter of the epidemic was a wet market in Wuhan, where wild animals and bushmeat was being sold. The novel coronavirus most likely originated in bats and made the jump to humans. The ban on wildlife trade and consumption is an attempt to limit the exposure of people to wild animals that could carry viruses that humans haven't encountered before and can't effectively defend against.</p>
<p>The suggestion that the new virus passed through an <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/02/illegal-pangolin-trade-may-have-played-a-part-in-coronavirus-outbreak/" target="_blank">intermediary host</a> like pangolins before infecting humans has brought attention to the illegal trade in wild animals. Pangolins, shy nocturnal animals found in Asia and Africa, are considered the most trafficked mammals in the world. Though trade in pangolins and pangolin products is banned in China and under the CITES treaty, there exists a massive demand for pangolin meat and scales for use in traditional medicine.</p><p>China's wildlife laws promulgated in 1989 regulate this trade, but it does not impose a total ban on consumption of meat from wild animals and allows captive breeding for commercial purposes.</p><p>The new ban was not introduced through an amendment to the country's wildlife laws, because the legislative session has been postponed in light of the coronavirus crisis. The ban, which takes immediate effect, covers not just wild-caught species recognized nationally and internationally as threatened species, but also the hunting, trading and transport of all terrestrial wild animals for human consumption. It also applies to wild animals born and raised in breeding facilities.</p>
<p>Beijing had already imposed a temporary embargo on sales of wild animals in January. The three state agencies that issued that restriction — the State Administration of Market Regulation, the Ministry of Agricultural and Rural Affairs, and the National Forestry and Grassland Administration — had warned against the consumption of wild animal meat, but hadn't gone so far as to ban it.</p><p>During the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak in 2002-2003, a limited ban was similarly imposed by China, but was later lifted. "The embargo on wild animal trade is a reasonable decision for disease control," said Chengxin Zhang, a researcher at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. "The Chinese embargo of trading and consumption of civet, the most notable intermediate host of SARS coronavirus, is thought to partially contribute to the disease control and eventual containment of SARS."</p><p>Preliminary research done by Zhang and his colleagues, not yet peer-reviewed or published, supports claims that pangolins are a highly likely host, alongside bats, of the new coronavirus and others similar to it. "The involvement of bats, civets, and pangolins in the SARS and COVID-19 outbreak suggests that a permanent ban on wild animal trades by 'wet' markets should effectively minimize future risk of zoonotic disease spillovers," he said.</p>
<p>There is a growing call for China to keep the ban in place permanently and amend its wildlife laws accordingly. Conservationists say they hope a permanent ban and messaging around the dangers of wildlife consumption could dampen the demand for contraband wildlife products. Some surveys suggest that people are now more inclined to support such a ban. "There has been a growing concern among people over the consumption of wild animals and the hidden dangers it brings to public health security since the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak," Zhang Tiewei, a spokesman for the Chinese legislature's Legislative Affairs Commission,<u><a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-health-wildlife/china-bans-trade-consumption-of-wild-animals-due-to-coronavirus-idUSKCN20J069" target="_blank"> told</a></u> Reuters.</p><p>Others fear that such a ban would push the trade underground and make it even harder to track the emergence of new diseases. According to the <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18288193?dopt=Abstract" target="_blank">World Health Organization, almost three-quarters </a>of all epidemics in recent decades have spilled over from animals. There are also concerns that such a ban will face stiff resistance from stakeholders in the multibillion-dollar wildlife trade industry in China, which employs millions of people.</p><p>The new ban also calls for better enforcement of existing laws, a long-standing demand from wildlife activists. The group of experts that advised the NPC Standing Committee on possible revisions to the wildlife laws also presented recommendations for finding substitutes for animal products that are used in traditional Chinese medicine, according to Hong Kong's South China Morning Post.</p><p>"The aspects of traditional medicine that use ground-up animal parts are entirely based on superstition rather than science, and as the latest outbreak shows, are rather dangerous nonsense," Neuman said. "But tradition is a powerful thing, in China as everywhere else. If the Chinese government is willing to take strong measures to enforce the new rules, they may actually succeed."</p>
<p><em>Malavika Vyawahare is a staff writer for Mongabay. Find her on Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/MalavikaVy" target="_blank">@MalavikaVy</a></em></p><p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/02/china-beefs-up-wildlife-trade-ban-as-covid-19-outbreak-intensifies/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Mongabay</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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Coronavirus Has Infected More Than 60,000 Worldwide, New Figures From China Reveal
14 February
Health + Wellness
Passengers get off the train as they arrive at the Lo Wu MTR station on Feb. 3, 2020 in Hong Kong, China. Anthony Kwan / Getty Images
By Jessica Corbett
As the world's leading health experts wrapped up a two-day forum about the coronavirus at the World Health Organization's Geneva headquarters Wednesday, new figures out of China over the past 24 hours revealed that the respiratory illness has now infected more than 60,000 people globally.
<p>During a Thursday press conference about COVID-19, as the virus is now officially known, Mike Ryan, executive director of WHO's Health Emergencies Program, emphasized that the new figures don't represent a spike in infections but rather reflect a change in the way China is counting cases.</p>
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<p>Since Wednesday, China has reported an additional 1,820 laboratory-confirmed cases as well as 13,332 clinically-confirmed cases in the Hubei province, Ryan said. Experts believe the virus outbreak started at a "<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-ban-illegal-animal-trade-tighten-supervision-on-wet-markets-2020-2" target="_blank">wet market</a>" in Wuhan, the province's capital and largest city, late last year.</p><p>The new additions brought the total number of cases in mainland China to 59,804, with at least 1,367 deaths, <a href="https://apnews.com/8f9a62dd30cff38645b0197b184dc5e3" target="_blank">according to</a> The Associated Press. There are also 51 cases, with one death, in Hong Kong, and 10 cases in Macao, which are both special administrative regions of China.</p>
<p>One public health expert <a href="https://apnews.com/2ce0ef3cab52434988c82dc87896be20" target="_blank">suggested</a> to the AP that China's new "clinical diagnosis case" classification likely reflects a backlog of samples from patients:</p><blockquote>"Clearly in Wuhan, the health system is under extreme pressure and so the first priority has to be the patient," said Mark Woolhouse, a professor of infectious disease epidemiology at the University of Edinburgh.<br>He said it wasn't unprecedented for case definitions to rely on doctors' diagnoses rather than wait for laboratory confirmation, and that these kinds of changes usually happen when there are simply too many patients to process in a fast-moving outbreak.<br>"I'm not surprised that this has happened given the way the outbreak has been going in China," Woolhouse said. "You have to be pragmatic and take the concerns of the patient first and treat them as if they already have the disease, even in the absence of lab confirmation."</blockquote><p>While the vast majority of infections and deaths have been in China, particularly the Hubei province, relatively small numbers of infections and a few deaths have been <a href="https://apnews.com/8f9a62dd30cff38645b0197b184dc5e3" target="_blank">documented</a> in over two dozen other countries. Japan has the second-highest number of cases due to a <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-health-japan-ship-idUSKBN20708N" target="_blank">quarantined cruise ship</a> docked in Yokohama.</p>
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<p>Reuters <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-health-japan-ship-idUSKBN20708N" target="_blank">reported</a> Thursday that "elderly passengers on the Diamond Princess who have pre-existing conditions or are in windowless rooms would be allowed to leave starting from Friday, rather than the originally targeted date of Feb. 19. They will complete their quarantine onshore."</p><p>That announcement came from Japanese Health Minister Katsunobu Kato, who confirmed later in the day that a woman in her 80s from the Kanagawa prefecture had died after contracting the virus, marking the country's first death related to the COVID-19 outbreak.</p><p>The Global Research Collaboration for Infectious Disease Preparedness (GloPID-R) and the WHO, a United Nations agency, held a meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday for more than 300 of the world's leading public health experts to set priorities and fund research aimed at containing this outbreak and preventing others.</p><p>In a statement Wednesday, GloPID-R chair Yazdan Yazdanpanah <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/detail/12-02-2020-world-experts-and-funders-set-priorities-for-covid-19-research" target="_blank">said</a> that "equitable access — making sure we share data and reach those most in need, in particular those in lower and middle-income countries, is fundamental to this work which must be guided by ethical considerations at all times."</p>
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<p>WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that "research is an integral part of the outbreak response."</p><p>"This outbreak is a test of solidarity — political, financial and scientific," he added. "We need to come together to fight a common enemy that does not respect borders, ensure that we have the resources necessary to bring this outbreak to an end and bring our best science to the forefront to find shared answers to shared problems."</p><p>The WHO chief's remarks echoed his statements from earlier in the week, which <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/02/10/calling-global-action-who-chief-says-world-may-only-be-seeing-tip-iceberg" target="_blank">included</a> a warning that "we may only be seeing the tip of the iceberg" with the virus. Tedros has repeatedly called for global cooperation to end the outbreak.</p><p>As Common Dreams <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/02/11/just-trump-slashes-global-health-funds-experts-warn-coronavirus-could-infect-60" target="_blank">reported</a> Tuesday, while the virus continued to spread and kill people, U.S. President Donald <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/trump-watch/">Trump</a> on Monday unveiled his 2021 budget blueprint, which proposed slashing <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/02/10/trump-world-health-organization-funding-coronavirus-state-department-usaid-budget-cuts/" target="_blank">funds </a>for global health programs by 34%.</p><p>Noting the rising death toll in China due to COVID-19, U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) denounced the president's proposal as "a unilateral, willing surrender to pandemic disease."</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/02/13/who-forum-ends-updated-figures-china-reveal-new-virus-has-infected-over-60000?cd-origin=rss" target="_blank">Common Dreams</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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