COVID-19 Pandemic: EDITORIAL-Time For All Governments To Be Truthful As New Cases Emerge in China And New Zealand

COVID-19 Pandemic: EDITORIAL- As of 16^th June, (3.30am California) the official total number of infected COVID-19 cases has reached more than 8.15 million while the total number dead is 439,715.  In reality all these figures being collated by John Hopkins and sites like Worldometers are all not reliable as many countries are under-reporting figures or even concealing figures deliberately. Among some of the major culprits are countries like Russia, Iran, Pakistan, Brazil, etc who are following China’s manner in the way it handled releasing figures during the initial outbreak. That is not to say that countries like US, UK etc are spotless, they too have been under-reporting and are using a variety of ways to do so.


 
One common way countries keep the figures low is to do less testing or no testing. Also tens of thousands of deaths that are caused by COVID-19 indirectly such as strokes, heart failures, kidney failures, epileptic attacks etc are all frequently not being reported as linked to COVID-19 as long as the dead are not tested for COVID-19.
 
To make matters worse, most PCR tests are not even accurate in the first place, further compounding to the problem.
 
The governments in many countries are doing to in order to manage their economic issues and also so that their respective citizens not to lose faith in them while some dictatorship governments do not really care and will simply conceal things in any way they can including using draconian online and technology laws.
 
Interestingly, one South-East Asian nation, managed to keep its figures so low by simply refusing to conduct much tests as it knew most of its citizens will only develop mild or moderate symptoms. This could have been due to the genetic makeup of its population or due to the usage of certain herbs in their dietary mainstay such as lemon grass or reasons unknown (note that they are no scientific proof in either). But one thing is interesting though, the number of 'suspected cases' being hospitalized and observed in that country is huge despite figures showing that there are very few or no cases daily.
 
What is worrying is that to date there are no drugs that are really effective to treat COVID-19 with hydroxychloroquine even being officially revoked yesterday. It is only a matter of time that even remdesivir will be removed as a drug to treat COVID-19 as already there are certain issues arising considering that there are no strong studies to show its true efficacy with the exception of the lame point that it shortens hospitalization stays and more frightening is the fact that no safety studies has ever been conducted on the drug.
 
With regards to plasma and antibody therapies, new studies have started to show the limitations including indicating the life span of the immunity and as far as vaccines are concerned, there will never be a vaccine that is effective for COVID-19 despite all the hot air being spewed by various biotech and pharmaceutical companies and governments.
 
Even more frightening is that many governments and media are holding back studies with regards to genomic mutations of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus and also study findings that are now emerging about the long term health implications of the disease in both ‘recovered’ and asymptomatic patients.In some countries, study findings published in cr edible medical journals and that have been peer-reviewed are not allowed to be publicly mentioned or published if it concerns those two subject matters.
 
Medical textbooks will have to be likely rewritten as new studies are showing that this new coronavirus has so many multiples ways of affecting the various organs, tissues, systems and cellular pathways in the human body and even those are only the start.
 
Despite all the seriousness of the pandemic, we still have reports daily from certain insensitive individuals claiming that the disease is peaking or stabilizing etc. The reality is as what we have always been saying, ie we are not even in the first wave of the pandemic yet but only going through the ‘dry runs.’ The actual first wave and not spike in cases according to our predictions will start sometime in October or November.
 
Meanwhile almost 106 news cases of the coronavirus has been reported  in China and the first New Zealand infections in almost a month on Tuesday underlined the immense challenges still ahead in containing the deadly pandemic, even as some EU nations reopened their borders to fellow Europeans.
 
The infected and death tolls are still surging in Latin America, Asia and Middle-East.
 
Though caseloads have declined but not completely stopped across Europe, governments are keen to ease lockdowns that have saved lives but devastated economies despite experts warning that restrictions will be required until a vaccine or effective treatment is developed.
 
The reminder of the threat came on Tuesday from China, which had largely brought its outbreak under control, as more new infections were reported in Beijing, where a new cluster linked to a wholesale food market has sparked mass testing and neighborhood lockdowns.
 
Beijing city spokesman Xu Hejian said, "The epidemic situation in the capital is extremely severe as the number of confirmed infections soared to 106.” Many medical staff are claiming the figures to be much higher as hospitals are beginning to be overflowing with sick patients exhibiting symptoms.
 
New Zealand reported its first cases in almost a month, two recent arrivals from Britain prompting authorities to start tracing their movements. The South Pacific nation had declared last week that it had ended community transmission of the virus.
 
Though these cases have caused concern about the possibility of a full-blown resurgence in countries that have suppressed their outbreaks, the disease is gaining a worrying momentum in other regions with massive populations.
 
Official COVID-19 infections in India have crossed 345,000, and authorities already stretched by the COVID-19 outbreak are bracing for the monsoon season, which causes outbreaks of illness such as dengue fever, influenza and malaria every year.
 
India’s healthcare system is underfunded and there are not even enough hospital beds and if only 0.05 percent of its population were to get infected with COVID-19 the country’s healthcare system will be in a total chaos. Those figure are expected to be reached in only a few days’ time.
 
The situation in Latin America is almost hopeless as countries there are struggling to contain the disease while trying to ease the crushing economic blow dealt by widespread lockdowns and social distancing measures.
 
Countries like Peru reported its economy shrank by more than 40 percent year-on-year in April, while Chile extended its state of emergency by three months as it struggles with a controversy over how it is counting COVID-19 deaths. Brazil is in a state of beyond salvation as its government had badly managed the start of the crisis, infections and deaths are just on an exponential increase daily.

While in America, the world's worst-hit nation, there has already been flare-ups in some states.
 
However President Donald Trump's administration insists there will be no new economic shutdown even if a second wave hits.
 
The Oscars has been postponed by two months, the latest casualty of an already interrupted sports and entertainment calendar.
 
But many are expecting that the worst is yet to come to America due to the mismanagement and the attitude of the Trumps’ followers in terms of protective mask and social distancing and practicing healthy regimens.
 
Meanwhile after a gradual drop in new cases, European nations including Belgium, France, Germany and Greece have lifted border restrictions hoping to boost tourism and travel over the summer months. In UK the fight against the coronavirus is far from over and in Germany, new cases are also emerging and the same goes for Italy.
 
If anyone is really thinking that the COVID-19 situation is peaking or is already over, they are going to be in for a rude shock in a few months’ time.
 
For more on the COVID-19 pandemic, keep on logging to Thailand Medical News.