For a Tuesday

Quite a bit going on ....




How is that self-reporting thing working out?:

• B.C. has its first presumptively confirmed case of coronavirus
• A Toronto man is first Canadian to contract the novel coronavirus and his wife is presumed to be the second
• Health officials in Ontario are investigating 11 other people suspected, but not confirmed, to have the virus.
• 106 people in China have died — most in and around Wuhan — from the novel coronavirus and the total number of confirmed cases has nearly doubled since Monday, from 2,835 to 4,515.

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A number of Toronto schools and universities are taking precautionary measures after reports that parents of students shared the same flight as a Toronto man who was diagnosed with coronavirus. 

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Niagara Health is screening patients at all of its sites for the novel coronavirus after it investigated a possible infection at St. Catharines hospital Monday.

The Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care said the tests of that patient — who The St. Catharines Standard has confirmed is a Brock University student who had recently been to the Wuhan region of China where the virus originated — were negative.

In a statement issued late Tuesday, Dr. Karim Ali, director of infectious diseases at Niagara Health, said any patient who meets the two basic screening criteria — respiratory symptoms and travel to China — will be tested for the virus which has killed at least 106 people in China.

The statement did not say how many patients, if any, are currently being screened or how long screening will take.

(Sidebar: thanks for that transparency.)

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Countries on Wednesday began evacuating their citizens from the Chinese city hardest-hit by an outbreak of a new virus that has killed 132 people and infected more than 6,000 on the mainland and abroad.

China's latest figures cover the previous 24 hours and add 26 to the number of deaths, 25 of which were in the epicenter of Hubei province and its capital, Wuhan. The 5,974 cases on the mainland were a rise of 1,459 from the previous day. Dozens of infections of the new type of coronavirus have been confirmed outside mainland China as well.

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At least 126 Canadians stuck in quarantined areas of China are asking for the government’s help to get home, as the coronavirus continues to spread.

And there they should stay because who goes to a communist countries with lax health standards and a penchant for smuggling viruses?




If these "experts" feel that way, then they can house these would-be patients:

But will the restrictions be effective in China? Bogoch says it’s still too early to tell.

“I don’t think anyone can look you in the eye and tell you with a straight face whether or not this will work or will not work, because we’ve never seen anything like this before,” he said.

Bogoch said the restrictions could slow the epidemic down and reduce the risk of transmission outside of the most heavily affected areas.

Well, this must be embarrassing:

The U.S. Attorney’s Office announced today that the Chair of Harvard University’s Chemistry and Chemical Biology Department and two Chinese nationals have been charged in connection with aiding the People’s Republic of China. 
 
Dr. Charles Lieber, 60, Chair of the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Harvard University, was arrested this morning and charged by criminal complaint with one count of making a materially false, fictitious and fraudulent statement. Lieber will appear this afternoon before Magistrate Judge Marianne B. Bowler in federal court in Boston.

Yanqing Ye, 29, a Chinese national, was charged in an indictment today with one count each of visa fraud, making false statements, acting as an agent of a foreign government and conspiracy. Ye is currently in China. 

Zaosong Zheng, 30, a Chinese national, was arrested on Dec. 10, 2019, at Boston’s Logan International Airport and charged by criminal complaint with attempting to smuggle 21 vials of biological research to China. On Jan. 21, 2020, Zheng was indicted on one count of smuggling goods from the United States and one count of making false, fictitious or fraudulent statements. He has been detained since Dec. 30, 2019.

(Merci)




But I thought that Xi was bigger than Jesus:

President Xi Jinping said on Tuesday that China was sure of defeating a "devil" coronavirus that has killed 106 people, but international alarm was rising as the outbreak spread across the world.

Our Lord: cured more things than Xi ever will.

Peace was never an option:

While Israeli leaders have welcomed Trump’s long-delayed plan, Palestinian leaders had rejected it even before its official release, saying his administration was biased towards Israel.

The absence of the Palestinians from Trump’s announcement is likely to fuel criticism that the plan tilts toward Israel’s needs rather than those of the Palestinians.

 

Don't worry. Justin will find some friends for those positions:

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has been warned that more than 200 senior jobs need filling across the federal government, including dozens in key leadership and oversight roles in different Crown corporations, commissions, agencies and embassies.

Marching in a pervert parade has never produced any competent leaders but has alienated voters:

O’Toole announced he was entering the race on Monday by video, joining up as a presumptive front-runner alongside MacKay, a former Nova Scotia MP. While describing MacKay as a friend, O’Toole attacked the former cabinet minister’s politics, saying he’d make the Conservative Party of Canada more centrist as a member of the “left side” of the Tory movement.

Marching in a parade of people who already hate you isn't at all centrist.




It's just money and a ton of secrecy:

The federal government rang up more than $1.4 million in legal costs during the failed prosecution of retired vice-admiral Mark Norman.

Revealed this week by Justice Minister David Lametti in a written response to a question from the official Opposition Conservatives, the figure is the first to put any kind of dollar amount to the high-profile and politically charged case.

Lametti did not provide any further details about the costs — including whether the figure included the cost of covering Norman’s legal fees, which the government has said it would pay.

“To the extent that the information that has been requested is protected by solicitor-client privilege, the federal Crown can only reveal the total legal costs related to the case,” Lametti wrote in response to the question from Conservative MP and leadership contender Erin O’Toole.