President Donald Trump announced during the White House Coronavirus Task Force press briefing on Tuesday that the administration was looking at freezing funding to the World Health Organization (WHO) over its handling of the coronavirus outbreak.
&#8220;The W.H.O., that’s the World Health Organization, receives vast amounts of money from the United States and we pay for a majority — the biggest portion of their money,&#8221; Trump said. &#8220;They actually criticized and disagreed with my travel ban at the time I did it, and they were wrong. They have been wrong about a lot of things. They had a lot of information early and they did not want to divert [from being] very China-centric.&#8221;
&#8220;We have to look into that. So, we’re going to look into it. We pay for the majority of the money that they get,&#8221; Trump continued. &#8220;We want to look at the World Health Organization, because they really are — they called it wrong. They called it wrong. They missed the call. They could have called it months earlier, they would have known. And they should have known. And they probably did know.&#8221;
&#8220;So we will be looking into that very carefully,&#8221; Trump concluded. &#8220;And we will put a hold on money spent to the W.H.O. We’re going to put a very powerful hold on it, and we’re going to see. It is a great thing if it works, but when they call every shot wrong, that is no good.&#8221;
WATCH:
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President Trump rightfully calls out the World Health Organization for getting so many things wrong. W.H.O. also better get ready for that &#39;stop check&#39; notice from the U.S. <a href="https://t.co/GswFKC8E0U">pic.twitter.com/GswFKC8E0U</a>
&mdash; ForAmerica (@ForAmerica) <a href="https://twitter.com/ForAmerica/status/1247647704756387841?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 7, 2020</a></blockquote>
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This is a breaking news story, refresh the page for updates.

US-HEALTH-VIRUS-POLITICS-TRUMP

Trump Looking At Freezing Funding To W.H.O. Over Coronavirus Mistakes

Coronavirus

Donald Trump

World Health Organization

Mike Lindell, CEO of MyPillow, mocked leftist critics with a South Park meme on Monday after they erupted last week when Lindell praised God during a White House Coronavirus Task Force briefing and encouraged Americans to read their Bibles.
Lindell, who had already responded to the left-wing outrage after he made the remarks on March 30, continued to mock critics with a meme posted to his Twitter account last night.
The meme features a screenshot from South Park episode &#8220;Molestation Demonstration&#8221; &#8212; which is the first episode of season 10 &#8212; of a detective using a doll to ask a classroom full of students if a school employee had inappropriately touched them.
The meme that Lindell tweeted out stated: &#8220;Show me on this doll where the MyPillow CEO hurt you by mentioning God and the Bible.&#8221;
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<a href="https://t.co/W1wgZvFAcF">pic.twitter.com/W1wgZvFAcF</a>
&mdash; Mike Lindell (@realMikeLindell) <a href="https://twitter.com/realMikeLindell/status/1247361987828314112?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 7, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Left-wing critics exploded last week after Lindell said the following during the press conference:
<blockquote>God gave us grace on November 8th, 2016, to change the course we were on.  God had been taken out of our schools and lives.  A nation had turned its back on God.  And I encourage you: Use this time at home to get — home to get back in the Word, read our Bibles, and spend time with our families.
Our President gave us so much hope where, just a few short months ago, we had the best economy, the lowest unemployment, and wages going up.  It was amazing.  With our great President, Vice President, and this administration and all the great people in this country praying daily, we will get through this and get back to a place that’s stronger and safer than ever.</blockquote>
The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-honors-my-pillow-exec-for-shifting-production-to-facemasks-media-whine-that-he-praises-trump-god">highlighted</a> some of the remarks that left-wing critics made in response to Lindell&#8217;s remarks:
<ul>
<li>Vox’s Aaron Rupar tweeted, “The My Pillow guy Mike Lindell says this: ‘God gave us grace on November 8, 2016, to change the course we were on. God had been taken out of our schools &amp; lives, a nation had turned its back on God. I encourage you to use this time at home to get back in the word. Read our Bible.&#8217;”</li>
<li>CNN executive editor Ram Ramgopal: “In case you were wondering what My Pillow is doing in a time of coronavirus.”</li>
<li>Ali Velshi of MSNBC: “Trump just called the ‘My Pillow’ guy up to the podium in the Rose Garden. You cannot make this stuff up.”</li>
<li>Newsweek columnist Seth Abramson: “Dear Trumpists, *this* is why media doesn’t want to cover your God-Emperor’s coronavirus rallies: because the g*ddamned My Pillow CEO was holding forth from the lectern on a day that 500+ Americans died and 20,000+ got sick from the virus the briefing was *intended* to focus on.”</li>
<li>Scott Dworkin, Deputy Director for the 2009 Presidential Inaugural Committee and the 2012 Democratic National Convention: “Now Trump is having the My Pillow guy speak. This is absurd. #StopAiring Trump.”</li>
<li>MSNBC’s Joy Reid: “Not a prank. Ok perfect. Everything is fine.”</li>
<li>Sam Stein of the Daily Beast and MSNBC: “I’m a proponent of TV carrying Trump’s presser. But allowing corporations to use them as advertising platforms seems like the exact opposite of news.”</li>
</ul>

Key Speakers At The Conservative Political Action Conference

MyPillow CEO Mike Lendell Torches Critics With South Park Meme

Mike Lindell

Religion

The founder of the anti-Semitic Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement said on Sunday that if Israel creates a vaccine of the coronavirus, which originated in China, that BDS supporters can take it.
BDS founder Omar Barghouti made the remarks during a Facebook video titled: “BDS and Anti-normalization: The most important strategies to fight against the deal of the century, even in the time of COVID-19.”
“If you use medical equipment from Israel – it’s not a problem. Cooperating with Israel against the virus – to begin with, we didn’t consider it normalization,&#8221; Barghouti <a href="https://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/BDS-founder-No-need-to-boycott-Israeli-developed-coronavirus-drugs-623759">said</a>, according to The Jerusalem Post. “The BDS announced normalization criteria long ago. If Israel finds a cure for cancer, for example, or any other virus, then there is no problem in cooperating with Israel to save millions of lives.”
“Up until now, we have not been in a situation where we need Israel urgently and no one else can save us but Israel,&#8221; Barghouti continued. &#8220;If that will happen, saving lives is more important than anything else.”
In late February, scientists in Israel announced that they were weeks away from having developed the first vaccine to combat the coronavirus.
“Congratulations to MIGAL [The Galilee Research Institute] on this exciting breakthrough,” Science and Technology Minister Ofir Akunis <a href="https://www.jpost.com/HEALTH-SCIENCE/Israeli-scientists-In-three-weeks-we-will-have-coronavirus-vaccine-619101">said</a>, according to The Jerusalem Post. “I am confident there will be further rapid progress, enabling us to provide a needed response to the grave global COVID-19 threat.”
“Our basic concept was to develop the technology and not specifically a vaccine for this kind or that kind of virus,” said Dr. Chen Katz, MIGAL’s biotechnology group leader. “The scientific framework for the vaccine is based on a new protein expression vector, which forms and secretes a chimeric soluble protein that delivers the viral antigen into mucosal tissues by self-activated endocytosis, causing the body to form antibodies against the virus.”
“Let’s call it pure luck,” Katz said. “We decided to choose coronavirus as a model for our system just as a proof of concept for our technology.”
At the start of the month, The Jerusalem Post <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/report-israel-team-days-away-from-creating-active-component-of-coronavirus-vaccine">reported</a> that the scientists were only days away from &#8220;finishing production of the active component of a coronavirus vaccine. Additionally, the researchers say their work could be tested on humans by June 1.&#8221;
The coronavirus broke out in Wuhan, China, late last year with the first reported case being recorded on November 17.
The New York Post <a href="https://nypost.com/2020/04/02/chinas-deadly-coronavirus-lie-co-conspirator-the-world-health-organization/">reported</a>:
<blockquote>The fog of war obscures much about the novel coronavirus pandemic. But two facts seem absolutely certain. First, China’s Communist authorities have lied, concealed and misled about the origins of the epidemic and the toll of the virus in China. Second, the World Health Organization has acted as Beijing’s handmaid.
&#8230;
Independent Chinese journalists have detailed the Wuhan cover-up: They report that a Chinese lab isolated and identified the strange new virus last December — but that the authorities ­ordered it to stop its work, get rid of its specimens and keep quiet. It took almost another month for the government to acknowledge that a SARS-like contagion, spread by human contact, was exploding in Hubei province.
When the late Dr. Li Wenliang, the heroic whistleblower, tried to warn the public about the coronavirus, he was detained, charged with “spreading false rumors” and accused of “seriously disrupting social order.” All discussion about the virus is now censored.</blockquote>
U.S. intelligence officials <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-u-s-intelligence-tells-trump-that-china-intentionally-lied-about-coronavirus-outbreak-report-says">told</a> Bloomberg News last week that China has lied about the extent of the outbreak in their country and an <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/washington-post-evidence-coming-out-of-wuhan-suggests-real-death-toll-over-40000">analysis</a> from The Washington Post estimated that the official death count from the coronavirus was 16 times higher in Wuhan than the communist government reported.

General Views Of Israel

BDS Founder Changes Tune Now That Israel Working On Coronavirus Vaccine

Israel

A Michigan state Democratic lawmaker who was suffering from the coronavirus credited President Donald Trump with saving her life, saying on Monday that his constant touting of hydroxychloroquine is what led her to ask her doctor for the malaria drug.
Rep. Karen Whitsett (Detroit) &#8220;said she started taking hydroxychloroquine on March 31, prescribed by her doctor, after both she and her husband sought treatment for a range of symptoms on March 18,&#8221; The Detroit Free Press <a href="https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2020/04/06/democrat-karen-whitsett-coronavirus-hydroxychloroquine-trump/2955430001/">reported</a>. &#8220;&#8216;It was less than two hours&#8217; before she started to feel relief, said Whitsett, who had experienced shortness of breath, swollen lymph nodes, and what felt like a sinus infection.&#8221;
Whitsett said that she had taken the drug before for a separate medical issue but would not have thought to ask her doctor about it unless Trump had been repeatedly talking about it.
&#8220;It has a lot to do with the president &#8230; bringing it up,&#8221; Whitsett said. &#8220;He is the only person who has the power to make it a priority.&#8221;
When The Detroit Free Press asked her if she thought that Trump may have saved her life, she responded, &#8220;Yes, I do. I do thank him for that.&#8221;
Trump sent out a link to the report, writing, &#8220;Congratulations to State Representative Karen Whitsett of Michigan. So glad you are getting better!&#8221;
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Congratulations to State Representative Karen Whitsett of Michigan. So glad you are getting better! <a href="https://t.co/v6z46rUDtg">https://t.co/v6z46rUDtg</a>
&mdash; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1247268841845141504?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 6, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Last week, The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) <a href="https://www.fda.gov/media/136537/download">issued</a> an “Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) to permit the emergency use of hydroxychloroquine sulfate supplied from the Strategic National Stockpile to treat adults and adolescents who weigh 50 kg or more and are hospitalized with COVID-19 for whom a clinical trial is not available, or participation is not feasible.”
While experts are still waiting on clinical trials and additional testing to officially determine the efficacy of using the drug to treat coronavirus, many doctors have said that it works very well.
Los Angeles based Dr. Anthony Cardillo, CEO of Mend Urgent Care, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/dr-praises-hydroxychloroquine-for-coronavirus-very-ill-to-basically-symptom-free-in-hours">praised</a> the drug over the weekend during an interview with ABC 7 news anchor Jory Rand.
“What we’re finding clinically with our patients is that it really only works in conjunction with zinc. So the hydroxychloroquine opens the zinc channel, zinc goes into the cell, it then blocks the replication of the cellular machinery,” Cardillo said. “So, it has to be used in conjunction with zinc. We are seeing some clinical responses in that regard. There are people that take it regularly for other disease processes, we have to be cautious and mindful that we don’t prescribe for patients who have COVID that are well. It really should be reserved for people that are really sick, in the hospital, or at home very sick that need that medication, otherwise we’re going to blow through our supply for the patients that take it regularly for other disease processes.”
“Every patient I’ve prescribed it to has been very, very ill and within 8-12 hours they were basically symptom free and so, clinically I am seeing a resolution that mirrors what we saw in the French study and some of the other studies worldwide,” Cardillo continued. “But what I am seeing is that people that are taking it alone, by itself, it’s not having efficacy.”
During an interview on Fox News last week, Dr. Stephen Smith, an infectious disease doctor, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/dr-on-malaria-drug-absolute-game-changer-beginning-of-the-end-of-the-pandemic">said</a>, “It’s a game changer. It’s an absolute game changer. I think this data will go to really support the French data. … I think this is the beginning of the end of the pandemic. I’m very serious.”

Coronavirus Pandemic Causes Climate Of Anxiety And Changing Routines In America

Michigan Democrat With Coronavirus Credits Trump With Saving Her Life: ‘I Do Thank Him For That’

On Monday, President Donald Trump grilled a reporter on if she was working for China after she expressed pro-China sentiment during the White House Coronavirus Task Force press briefing.
&#8220;Only last week there were multiple flights coming from China full of medical supplies, companies like Huawei and Alibaba has been donating to the United States like 1.5 million N95 masks and also a lot of medical gloves and much more medical supplies,&#8221; the reporter from Phoenix TV said.
&#8220;That sounds like a statement more than a question,&#8221; Trump interjected.
&#8220;The Chinese Ambassador Cui Tiankai last night wrote a op-ed in The New York Times calling for cooperation with the United States,&#8221; the reporter continued. &#8220;So are you personally working directly with China on medical supplies and fighting with the virus?&#8221;
Trump gave a lengthy answer about how the administration is working with China on trade and how he has secured a massive $250 deal for America&#8217;s farmers.
&#8220;Are you cooperating with China?&#8221; the reporter continued.
&#8220;Who are your working for, China?&#8221; Trump asked. &#8220;You work for China? Who are you with?&#8221;
&#8220;Hong Kong Phoenix TV,&#8221; the reporter responded. &#8220;It’s based in Hong Kong.&#8221;
&#8220;Who owns that, China?&#8221; Trump pressed. &#8220;Is it owned by China?&#8221;
&#8220;It&#8217;s based in Hong Kong,&#8221; the reporter said.
&#8220;Is it owned by the state? Trump asked.
&#8220;No, it&#8217;s not,&#8221; the reporter claimed. &#8220;It&#8217;s a private owned company.&#8221;
The company is <a href="https://twitter.com/peterjhasson/status/1247293701753356292">partially owned</a> by a &#8220;subsidiary of the Chinese state bank.&#8221; The company&#8217;s founder and CEO, Liu Changle, was a <a href="https://www.cecc.gov/publications/commission-analysis/report-on-chinas-only-government-authorized-private-television-news">colonel</a> in the Chinese military.
WATCH:
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&quot;Who are you working for, China?&quot; &#8211; President Trump asks a reporter from Phoenix TV, which is partially owned by the Chinese state bank.<a href="https://t.co/EJEMLDblLW">pic.twitter.com/EJEMLDblLW</a>
&mdash; Nathan Brand (@NathanBrandWA) <a href="https://twitter.com/NathanBrandWA/status/1247322707659755521?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 7, 2020</a></blockquote>
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The Washington Free Beacon reported in late 2018 that former Phoenix TV news director, Chung Pong, <a href="https://freebeacon.com/national-security/cruz-chinese-want-mexico-radio-propaganda/">testified</a> that Phoenix TV is controlled by China&#8217;s &#8220;Communist Propaganda Department&#8221;.
&#8220;I know from personal experience that Phoenix TV&#8217;s content is subject to the dictates of the leadership of the Central Communist Propaganda Department, Central Communist Overseas Propaganda Office, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs which often directly sent instructions to Phoenix Satellite TV,&#8221; Pong said in a statement included in an FCC filing, according to The Free Beacon.
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A former Phoenix TV news director testified in 2018 that the network is controlled by China&#39;s Communist Propaganda Department and that there are internal directives to not report positively on the United States. 
Why is this outlet in the White House asking Trump questions? <a href="https://t.co/LrNZacN2a5">pic.twitter.com/LrNZacN2a5</a>
&mdash; Elliott Schwartz (@elliosch) <a href="https://twitter.com/elliosch/status/1247300029271941121?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 6, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Quartz <a href="https://qz.com/747918/hong-kong-media-has-become-beijings-new-go-to-spot-for-forced-confessions-and-fake-interviews/">reported</a> that Phoenix TV aired the forced confessions of four Hong Kong booksellers in 2016 who had allegedly been kidnapped by the Chinese:
<blockquote>In February, four of five of Hong Kong’s disappeared booksellers—who some believe were kidnapped by Chinese agents—appeared on Phoenix TV to confess to selling banned books in mainland China. One of them, Lam Wing-kee, later said upon his return to Hong Kong from the mainland that he was forced to make the confession. In March, another bookseller, Lee Bo, gave an interview to The Paper, Phoenix TV and a pro-Beijing Hong Kong news outlet, Sing Tao Daily, to denounce claims that he was abducted by mainland officials in Hong Kong. Previously Sing Tao also ran several “exclusive” reports on Lee’s disappearance.</blockquote>
&#8220;Phoenix TV has been identified by U.S. intelligence agencies as a major overseas outlet used to spread propaganda and promote the policies of the communist government in Beijing,&#8221; the Free Beacon added. &#8220;The Hong Kong television station also has close ties to China&#8217;s intelligence service and military.&#8221;

Members Of The Coronavirus Task Force Hold Press Briefing

Trump Grills Reporter On If She Works For China. She Said ‘No.’ Here’s The Rest Of The Story.

China

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was moved to the Intensive Care Unit at St Thomas&#8217; Hospital in London as his condition has continued to worsen after testing positive with the coronavirus.
&#8220;Since Sunday evening, the Prime Minister has been under the care of doctors at St Thomas’ Hospital, in London, after being admitted with persistent symptoms of coronavirus,&#8221; a spokesperson for Johnson said in a statement. &#8220;Over the course of this afternoon, the condition of the Prime Minister has worsened and, on the advice of his medical team, he has been moved to the Intensive Care Unit at the hospital.&#8221;
&#8220;The PM has asked Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, who is the First Secretary of State, to deputize for him where necessary,&#8221; the statement continued. &#8220;The PM is receiving excellent care, and thanks all NHS staff for their hard work and dedication.&#8221;
&#8220;I spoke to the PM on Saturday, was the last time I spoke to him in person,&#8221; Mr Raab <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2020/04/06/coronavirus-update-testing-lockdown-boris-johnson-dominic-raab/">told</a> The Telegraph. &#8220;Look, he&#8217;s in charge, but he&#8217;ll continue to take doctors&#8217; advice on what to do next.&#8221;
Johnson, 55, was hospitalized on Sunday after his conditions continued to worse after being diagnosed with the coronavirus, which originated in China, 11 days ago.
A spokesperson for Johnson <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-british-prime-minister-boris-johnson-admitted-to-hospital-over-coronavirus">said</a> in a statement yesterday, “On the advice of his doctor, the Prime Minister has tonight been admitted to hospital for tests.”
“This is a precautionary step, as the Prime Minister continues to have persistent symptoms of coronavirus ten days after testing positive for the virus,” the statement added. “The Prime Minister thanks NHS staff for all of their incredible hard work and urges the public to continue to follow the Government’s advice to stay at home, protect the NHS and save lives.”
In a tweet, Johnson wrote: &#8220;Last night, on the advice of my doctor, I went into hospital for some routine tests as I’m still experiencing coronavirus symptoms. I’m in good spirits and keeping in touch with my team, as we work together to fight this virus and keep everyone safe.&#8221;
&#8220;I’d like to say thank you to all the brilliant NHS staff taking care of me and others in this difficult time. You are the best of Britain,&#8221; Johnson added. &#8220;Stay safe everyone, and please remember to stay at home to protect the NHS and save lives.&#8221;
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I’d like to say thank you to all the brilliant NHS staff taking care of me and others in this difficult time. You are the best of Britain. 
Stay safe everyone, and please remember to stay at home to protect the NHS and save lives.
&mdash; Boris Johnson #StayHomeSaveLives (@BorisJohnson) <a href="https://twitter.com/BorisJohnson/status/1247137346505637890?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 6, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Carrie Symonds, Johnson’s pregnant fiancée, has said that she has been recovering from symptoms of coronavirus.
“I’ve spent the past week in bed with the main symptoms of Coronavirus,” Symonds wrote on Twitter. “I haven’t needed to be tested and, after seven days of rest, I feel stronger and I’m on the mend.”
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I’ve spent the past week in bed with the main symptoms of Coronavirus. I haven’t needed to be tested and, after seven days of rest, I feel stronger and I’m on the mend.
&mdash; Carrie Symonds (@carriesymonds) <a href="https://twitter.com/carriesymonds/status/1246471777741688839?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 4, 2020</a></blockquote>
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The U.K. has been hit hard with the coronavirus as it currently has at least 52,274 confirmed cases with at least 5,383 deaths, according to a Johns Hopkins coronavirus tracker.
While the U.K. has been hit hard, it has not been hit as hard as many other nations in Europe.
Spain has over 350,000 cases and over 13,000 deaths; Italy has over 132,000 cases and over 16,500 deaths; Germany has over 101,000 cases and over 1,600 deaths; France is closing in on 100,000 cases and has nearly 9,000 deaths.
This report has been updated to include additional information.

Boris Johnson Meets US Secretary of State For Syria Talks

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson Moved To Intensive Care Over Coronavirus

Boris Johnson

Rep. Mark Green (R-TN) said on Sunday that China is trying to leverage its supply of medical safety gear to force other countries to use Huawei for 5G, a company owned by communist China that Attorney General William Barr recently suggested poses perhaps the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/ag-barr-highlights-greatest-threat-to-u-s-should-vastly-outweigh-all-other-priorities">greatest national security threat</a> to the United States and its allies.
At the tail end of a video clip from a Fox News interview that Green posted to his Twitter account over the weekend, Green said, &#8220;In France, we were told yesterday on a conference call that [French President Emanuel] Macron was talking to [Chinese President] Xi and Macron asked for a billion masks, and Xi said, ‘We’ll give them to you if you implement 5G with Huawei.&#8217; That’s who China is and it’s time the world wake up and recognize it.&#8221;
Attorney General Barr said earlier this year that China&#8217;s intent is to &#8220;dominate&#8221; the 5G market with Huawei, which will allow them to gain more influence in the global economy and control the next generation of internet. &#8220;Much of the discussion on the dangers of allowing China to establish dominance in 5G has been focused on the immediate security concern of using communications networks that China can monitor and surveil,&#8221; Barr said during a speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in early February. &#8220;That is, in fact, a monumental danger.&#8221;
The New York Post reported on Sunday that the administration was weighing taking legal action against China after major U.S. manufacturers <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/china-allegedly-blocked-u-s-companies-from-exporting-medical-safety-gear-as-pandemic-exploded-report-says">said</a> that China blocked them from being able to export medical safety gear as the coronavirus pandemic exploded around the world.
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
We must increase our strategic stockpiles and fix our reliance on China– the country that started this virus– for our Nation&#39;s supply of medications and medical supplies. 
Joined <a href="https://twitter.com/LelandVittert?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@LelandVittert</a> on <a href="https://twitter.com/ANHQDC?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ANHQDC</a> to discuss: <a href="https://t.co/EXqe6C5Jut">pic.twitter.com/EXqe6C5Jut</a>
&mdash; Rep. Mark Green (@RepMarkGreen) <a href="https://twitter.com/RepMarkGreen/status/1246490279265402882?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 4, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Partial transcript:
<blockquote>Fox News host Leland Vittert: As always, has this become a national security issue rather than say a commerce and distribution issue?
Rep. Mark Green (R-TN): Very clearly, the whole issue 0f PPE, our medical supply chain, is a national security issue. You look at right now, we maintain a manufacturing base for let’s say tank barrels. Even though we’re not making a single tank barrel, there’s a plant ready in case of national emergency, in case of war, to build tank barrels. We got to start thinking about PPE, ventilators, public health stuff in that same vain and have at home, you know, the lessons learned from this. We got to increase our strategic stockpiles, we got to disperse them, you know, have more locations for those and we clearly have got to fix this issue of relying on China, the guys who started this whole virus, for our supply for medications and medical supplies. It’s just one of the lessons that we’ve learned out of this.
Vittert: There’s a joke in business that says, if you owe the bank a million dollars, the bank owns you. If you owe the bank a billion dollars, you own the bank. It seems like in a way, China owns us because we may have the cash to buy things but they’ve got what we need. Andrew Cuomo was thanking China for donating ventilators.
Green: Yeah, I think that’s a little bit ridiculous that he would do that because China does have in some cases the whole world over a barrel right now. And again, it’s Xi’s virus, he’s the one who hid this thing from everyone, we told them not to do these wet markets back when SARS came out and they persist, but I digress. Back to the issue you’re raising, in France, we were told yesterday on a conference call that [French President Emanuel] Macron was talking to Xi and Macron asked for a billion masks and Xi said, ‘we’ll give them to you if you implement 5G with Huawei. That’s who China is and it’s time the world wake up and recognize it.</blockquote>

Michael Cohen Hearing

Rep. Mark Green: China Trying To Force France Onto Huawei 5G In Exchange For Masks

William Barr

The Chinese Communist Party reportedly blocked U.S. manufacturers from exporting desperately needed personal protective equipment (PPE), which is used to protect medical workers, as the pandemic exploded, and now the Trump administration is weighing taking legal action against China.
The New York Post <a href="https://nypost.com/2020/04/05/trump-admin-weighs-legal-action-over-alleged-chinese-hoarding-of-ppe/">reported</a> on Sunday, &#8220;Leading US manufacturers of medical safety gear told the White House that China prohibited them from exporting their products from the country as the coronavirus pandemic mounted – even as Beijing was trying to ‘corner the world market’ in personal protective equipment.&#8221;
&#8220;Executives from 3M and Honeywell told US officials that the Chinese government in January began blocking exports of N95 respirators, booties, gloves and other supplies produced by their factories in China,&#8221; the Post reported, according to a senior administration official. &#8220;China paid the manufacturers their standard wholesale rates, but prohibited the vital items from being sold to anyone else, the official said.&#8221;
China also imported $1.2 billion worth of “epidemic prevention and control materials” from the end of January through the end of February that included billions of masks and tens of millions of &#8220;protective clothing&#8221; items from numerous countries around the world.
The senior official told the Post, “Data from China’s own customs agency points to an attempt to corner the world market in PPE like gloves, goggles, and masks through massive increased purchases – even as China, the world’s largest PPE manufacturer, was restricting exports.”
Jenna Ellis, a senior legal adviser to the 2020 Trump campaign, told the Post about legal options that the Trump administration could take against China.
Ellis, not speaking for the administration, told the Post, &#8220;People are dying. When you have intentional, cold-blooded premeditated action like you have with China, this would be considered first-degree murder.&#8221;
Ellis said that the administration is considering working &#8220;through the United Nations&#8221; to go after China.
“They have victimized the world once and now they are re-victimizing with their profiteering off of PPE that is desperately needed in the countries that are being ravaged by the Chinese coronavirus,” Ellis told The Daily Wire.
Michael Wessell, a founding member of the federal US-China Economic and Security Review Commission, confirmed that the allegations against China were true in a statement to the Post, saying that American medical professionals are “starved of PPE to fight this crisis” because of China.
“We understand that China has engaged in policies to try and not only develop its own capabilities, but to do so at expense of producers around the world,” Wessell said. “At a time when demand was rising to deal with the crisis, China was marshaling all of the products for its own use.”
Wessell said that some of the actions taken by China &#8220;are probably illegal.&#8221;
&#8220;[China is] using it for soft power, essentially saying it’s a humanitarian gesture to try to curry goodwill with American people when some of the problems we’re facing are the direct result of Chinese policies,” Wessell added.
The news comes after numerous supplies that China has shipped around the world have proven to be <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/china-sends-hundreds-of-thousands-of-coronavirus-tests-masks-to-nations-many-dont-work">defective</a>, and the communist nation forced Italy to buy back supplies that Italy gave to China to help them fight the outbreak when it first started.
&#8220;After COVID-19 made its way to Italy, decimating the country’s significant elderly population, China told the world it would donate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to help Italy stop its spread,&#8221; the Spectator <a href="https://spectator.us/italy-china-ppe-sold-coronavirus/">reported</a>. &#8220;Reports later indicated that China had actually sold, not donated, the PPE to Italy. A senior Trump administration official tells the Spectator that it is much worse than that: China forced Italy to buy back the PPE supply that it gave to China during the initial coronavirus outbreak.&#8221;
The official told the Spectator, &#8220;Before the virus hit Europe, Italy sent tons of PPE to China to help China protect its own population. China then has sent Italian PPE back to Italy – some of it, not even all of it … and charged them for it.&#8221;

COVID-19 Chinese Imported Surgical Masks

China Allegedly Blocked U.S. Companies From Exporting Medical Safety Gear As Pandemic Exploded, Report Says

COVID-19

A tiger at the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Bronx Zoo has tested positive for the coronavirus, and several other animals have reportedly developed symptoms of the disease, according to the zoo.
&#8220;Nadia, a 4-year-old female Malayan tiger at the Bronx Zoo, has tested positive for COVID-19. She, her sister Azul, two Amur tigers, and three African lions had developed a dry cough and all are expected to recover,&#8221; the zoo said in a statement. &#8220;This positive COVID-19 test for the tiger was confirmed by USDA’s National Veterinary Services Laboratory, based in Ames, Iowa.&#8221;
&#8220;We tested the cat out of an abundance of caution and will ensure any knowledge we gain about COVID-19 will contribute to the world’s continuing understanding of this novel coronavirus,&#8221; the statement continued. &#8220;Though they have experienced some decrease in appetite, the cats at the Bronx Zoo are otherwise doing well under veterinary care and are bright, alert, and interactive with their keepers. It is not known how this disease will develop in big cats since different species can react differently to novel infections, but we will continue to monitor them closely and anticipate full recoveries.&#8221;
The zoo said that the cats were infected by &#8220;a person caring for them who was asymptomatically infected with the virus or before that person developed symptoms.&#8221;
CNN <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/02/health/cats-dogs-ferrets-coronavirus-wellness/index.html">highlighted</a> a recent study out of China on the ability of the coronavirus, which originated in China,  to infect house pets:
<blockquote>Our furry feline friends appear to be susceptible to catching Covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus called SARS-CoV-2. Even worse, the cats in the study were able to infect each other, although they showed no signs of illness.
Ferrets were also able to &#8220;catch&#8221; the virus, although it didn&#8217;t appear to harm them. Dogs, on the other hand, were not susceptible, according to the study. The virus showed up in the feces of five dogs, but no infectious virus was found. Pigs, chickens and ducks were also not very hospitable places for the virus.
But there&#8217;s no need for cat or ferret lovers to panic, experts say. There&#8217;s no evidence their pets could get very sick or die from the novel coronavirus.</blockquote>
The Wildlife Conservation Society’s Bronx Zoo noted that none of zoo’s snow leopards, cheetahs, clouded leopard, Amur leopard, puma or serval cats had shown any signs of the disease.
&#8220;We are grateful for the cooperation and support of the New York State Diagnostic Laboratory at Cornell University and the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, where the initial COVID-19 testing of samples from the tiger were performed; the USDA National Veterinary Services Laboratory where confirmatory testing was conducted; USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service; and the New York and Illinois State Veterinarians and the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene for their assistance,&#8221; the statement concluded. &#8220;We will issue additional information as warranted. Our four zoos and aquarium have been temporarily closed since March 16.&#8221;
This report has been updated to include additional information.

Animals At The Bronx Zoo

Tiger At Bronx Zoo Tests Positive For Coronavirus, Other Animals Suspected Of Having Disease

animals

New York

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was admitted to the hospital on Sunday after continuing to experience symptoms from the coronavirus after testing positive 10 days ago.
A spokesperson for Johnson <a href="https://www.axios.com/boris-johnson-hospital-coronavirus-9928d983-45cf-4b12-88b2-f28ee1d62342.html">said</a> in a statement, &#8220;On the advice of his doctor, the Prime Minister has tonight been admitted to hospital for tests.&#8221;
&#8220;This is a precautionary step, as the Prime Minister continues to have persistent symptoms of coronavirus ten days after testing positive for the virus,&#8221; the statement continued. &#8220;The Prime Minister thanks NHS staff for all of their incredible hard work and urges the public to continue to follow the Government’s advice to stay at home, protect the NHS and save lives.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
BREAKING: British Prime Minister <a href="https://twitter.com/BorisJohnson?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@BorisJohnson</a> admitted to hospital tonight for tests due to persistent <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/coronavirus?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#coronavirus</a> symptoms 10 days after testing positive. Worrying development &#8211; he&#39;s looked worse each time we&#39;ve seen him, poor guy. Wish him well. <a href="https://t.co/NiDPAHb5JU">pic.twitter.com/NiDPAHb5JU</a>
&mdash; Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) <a href="https://twitter.com/piersmorgan/status/1246894160445149185?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 5, 2020</a></blockquote>
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The news of Johnson&#8217;s hospitalization comes as the U.K. has continued to deal with a growing outbreak of the coronavirus, which originated in China, in their country.
A Johns Hopkins coronavirus tracker reported on Sunday that the U.K. had over 48,000 cases of the coronavirus and nearly 5,000 deaths.
Carrie Symonds, Johnson&#8217;s pregnant fiancée, has reportedly been recovering from symptoms of coronavirus.
&#8220;I’ve spent the past week in bed with the main symptoms of Coronavirus,&#8221; Symonds tweeted on Saturday. &#8220;I haven’t needed to be tested and, after seven days of rest, I feel stronger and I’m on the mend.&#8221;
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I’ve spent the past week in bed with the main symptoms of Coronavirus. I haven’t needed to be tested and, after seven days of rest, I feel stronger and I’m on the mend.
&mdash; Carrie Symonds (@carriesymonds) <a href="https://twitter.com/carriesymonds/status/1246471777741688839?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 4, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Bloomberg News reported last week that U.S. intelligence officials confirmed to President Donald Trump that communist China was lying about the extent of the outbreak that originated in their country.
“China’s public reporting on cases and deaths is intentionally incomplete,” Bloomberg News <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-01/china-concealed-extent-of-virus-outbreak-u-s-intelligence-says">reported</a>, according to three U.S. officials that it spoke to. “Two of the officials said the report concludes that China’s numbers are fake.”
The New York Post <a href="https://nypost.com/2020/04/02/chinas-deadly-coronavirus-lie-co-conspirator-the-world-health-organization/">highlighted</a> China&#8217;s lies and cover-up of the outbreak:
<blockquote>The fog of war obscures much about the novel coronavirus pandemic. But two facts seem absolutely certain. First, China’s Communist authorities have lied, concealed and misled about the origins of the epidemic and the toll of the virus in China. Second, the World Health Organization has acted as Beijing’s handmaid.
&#8230;
Independent Chinese journalists have detailed the Wuhan coverup: They report that a Chinese lab isolated and identified the strange new virus last December — but that the authorities ­ordered it to stop its work, get rid of its specimens and keep quiet. It took almost another month for the government to acknowledge that a SARS-like contagion, spread by human contact, was exploding in Hubei province.
When the late Dr. Li Wenliang, the heroic whistleblower, tried to warn the public about the coronavirus, he was detained, charged with “spreading false rumors” and accused of “seriously disrupting social order.” All discussion about the virus is now censored.</blockquote>
An analysis from The Washington Post <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/washington-post-evidence-coming-out-of-wuhan-suggests-real-death-toll-over-40000">estimated</a> that based on &#8220;evidence,&#8221; the real outbreak numbers out of Wuhan, the Chinese city at the center of the outbreak, was 16 times higher than what China reported.
Despite its drastic measures to stop the spread of the virus, China has <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/china-begins-mass-quarantines-again-after-failing-to-stop-coronavirus">failed</a> to contain it and is now dealing with another outbreak in its country and recently had to quarantine a county of more than 600,000 people.
This report has been updated to include additional information.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson Admitted To Hospital Over Coronavirus

United Kingdom

Dr. Stephen Hahn, Commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, said during the White House Coronavirus Task Force press briefing on Saturday that the FDA is working on blood-related therapies for the coronavirus.
&#8220;One other thing I’d like to mention is that we, on Friday, stood up a formal convalescent plasma program. We have a great deal of enthusiasm for that,&#8221; Hahn said. &#8220;There are some reports that this is a benefit to patients in other countries who have had COVID-19 virus, and what this means is taking plasma from patients who have had the virus and who have recovered, and transferring the immunity, the immunoglobulins, from that person to someone who’s sick.&#8221;
&#8220;And we’re, hopefully, expanding that across the country,&#8221; Hahn continued. &#8220;The Red Cross is involved in that program, and I think it shows great promise. It needs to be studied like other things, but just like I said before, provides hope. We don’t want to provide false hope, but definitely hope.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Based on prior experience with respiratory viruses &amp; on data from China, convalescent plasma – the plasma from the blood of recovered <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/COVID19?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#COVID19</a> patients – may potentially lessen severity or shorten the illness caused by <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/COVID19?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#COVID19</a>. <a href="https://t.co/JAjUEBSy6c">https://t.co/JAjUEBSy6c</a> <a href="https://t.co/HCmqGfDrYy">pic.twitter.com/HCmqGfDrYy</a>
&mdash; Dr. Stephen M. Hahn (@SteveFDA) <a href="https://twitter.com/SteveFDA/status/1246562836630863883?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 4, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Later in the press conference, a reporter asked Hahn, &#8220;Can you walk us through if that’s working, and is it kind of like a case by case basis?&#8221;
&#8220;So, this is a situation where someone who has recovered from the virus, doesn’t have the virus in their system at all, you can take plasma, and this is a pretty routine procedure,&#8221; Hahn responded. &#8220;You can actually donate a couple times a week, a couple times a month frankly, and give that plasma. That plasma contains the proteins in the blood that have the antibodies against the virus. You can take that, process it, and give it to someone who is ill. And so that allows you to transfer immunity.&#8221;
&#8220;Doesn’t have to be matched by family or anything like that. Since last Tuesday, the Tuesday before last, we’ve allowed academic centers and other laboratories and hospitals around the country to do this on a compassionate use basis,&#8221; Hahn continued. &#8220;What we did was we pulled this together in what’s called an expanded access program and run it through the Red Cross because they‘ve got the greatest system and capacity for doing this. This allows us to scale up so that when people get sick we can actually have these donated plasma packs given to the patients who are sick.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Dr. Stephen Hahn says people who&#39;ve recovered from COVID-19 can donate their plasma with antibodies allowing them to transfer their immunity and help others to resist the infection. <a href="https://t.co/UfCqi1W32L">pic.twitter.com/UfCqi1W32L</a>
&mdash; Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) <a href="https://twitter.com/stillgray/status/1246570944094588928?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 4, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Hahn noted that the FDA made the announcement and is partnering with the Red Cross in the effort.
&#8220;Notably, the FDA has led an effort, working collaboratively with our industry, academic, and government partners to develop and implement a protocol that will provide convalescent plasma to patients in need across the country who may not have access to institutions with clinical trials in place,&#8221; the FDA said on Friday. &#8220;This will allow for a simplified process for providers that will help to ensure patient safety, while also allowing for the collection of needed information about product efficacy.&#8221;
&#8220;In this partnership, the Mayo Clinic will serve as the lead institution for the program and the American Red Cross will help collect plasma and distribute it for use in patients across the country,&#8221; the FDA continued. &#8220;The program was developed with funding from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the Assistant Secretary of Preparedness and Response. The FDA anticipates that this collaborative effort will be able to move thousands of units of plasma to the patients who need them in the coming weeks.&#8221;

US-health-VIRUS-BRIEFING

FDA Head Highlights New Potential Coronavirus Treatment For Which FDA Has ‘Enthusiasm’

Joe Rogan, host of the podcast &#8220;The Joe Rogan Experience,&#8221; said on Friday that he would vote for President Donald Trump over Joe Biden if Biden becomes the Democratic presidential nominee.
Rogan made the remarks while talking with guest Eric Weinstein, a left-wing political commentator who is also the managing director of Thiel Capital.
&#8220;This is the real issue with the Democratic Party,&#8221; Rogan said. &#8220;They’ve essentially made us all morons with this Joe Biden thing. They really have. They&#8217;ve made us all morons.&#8221;
&#8220;I can’t vote for that guy,&#8221; Rogan continued. &#8220;I’d rather vote for Trump than [Biden]. I don’t think he can handle anything. You’re relying entirely on his cabinet. If you want to talk about an individual leader who can communicate, he can’t do that. And we don’t know what the f**k he’ll be like after a year in office. The pressure of being President of the United States is something than no one has ever prepared for. The only one who seems to be fine with it is Trump, oddly enough. He doesn’t seem to be aging at all or in any sort of decline. Obama, almost immediately, started looking older. George W. [Bush], almost immediately, started looking older.&#8221;
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Joe Rogan&#8211;who supported Bernie&#8211;on his podcast yesterday w/ managing director of Thiel Capital Eric Weinstein. &quot;I’d rather vote for Trump than [Biden]. I don’t think he can handle anything. You’re relying entirely on his cabinet.&quot; 1.3 million views on YouTube since yesterday <a href="https://t.co/Sxor0RvVZ0">pic.twitter.com/Sxor0RvVZ0</a>
&mdash; Alex Thompson (@AlxThomp) <a href="https://twitter.com/AlxThomp/status/1246499752071647233?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 4, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
TRANSCRIPT:
<blockquote>ERIC WEINSTEIN: I think that in general people, when they are given no choice at all, express themselves moronically.
JOE ROGAN: When they are given no choice at all — How so?
WEINSTEIN: I want a choice of an actual president that’s viable. I don’t have one. Now you’re going to ask me which of the none-viable people do you like best?
ROGAN: This is the real issue with the Democratic Party. They’ve essentially made us all morons with this Joe Biden thing. They really have. They&#8217;ve made us all morons.
WEINSTEIN: Can you imagine?
ROGAN: I can’t vote for that guy.
WEINSTEIN: I can’t vote for him, I can’t vote for Trump.
ROGAN: I’d rather vote for Trump than [Biden]. I don’t think he can handle anything. You’re relying entirely on his cabinet. If you want to talk about an individual leader who can communicate, he can’t do that. And we don’t know what the f**k he’ll be like after a year in office. The pressure of being President of the United States is something than no one has ever prepared for. The only one who seems to be fine with it is Trump, oddly enough. He doesn’t seem to be aging at all or in any sort of decline. Obama, almost immediately, started looking older. George W. [Bush], almost immediately, started looking older.</blockquote>
Rogan, who is a supporter of socialist Bernie Sanders, has repeatedly hammered Biden in recent months over Biden&#8217;s struggles on the campaign trail.
“You have to be able call out s**t that’s wrong on your side,” Rogan <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/rogan-blasts-biden-skin-pulled-tight-like-a-lizard-trump-going-to-eat-him-alive">said</a> in March. “And this is one of the problems that the Democratic Party is having right now with this Joe Biden guy. You guys gotta be able to call it out, you can’t let this slide, because everybody else see’s it and Trump is going to eat him alive. He’s going to eat that guy alive.”
“The guy can barely remember what he’s talking about while he’s talking,” Rogan continued.
“Stop. Pause. He can’t be president,” Rogan <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/rogan-blasts-biden-skin-pulled-tight-like-a-lizard-trump-going-to-eat-him-alive">said</a> earlier in March. “Stop. Pause. Pause. Listen, we can’t play any games here, folks. This is a really old man who can’t talk. This is not a joke. Like that right now, ‘you know the thing,’ play that again. This should get you into a mental hospital. They should be like, ‘Hey, um, Joe are you alright?’”

FOX UFC Saturday

Joe Rogan On 2020 Election: I Would ‘Rather Vote For Trump’ Over Biden, Biden Can’t Handle Anything

2020 Election

Bernie Sanders

Joe Biden

Joe Rogan

The number of infections and deaths from the coronavirus in Italy could be much higher than the numbers that have been reported because the country reportedly does not have the resources that it needs to test everyone suspected of having the virus, which originated in China.
The Wall Street Journal <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/italys-coronavirus-death-toll-is-far-higher-than-reported-11585767179">reported</a> this week that an analysis it compiled showed that Italy was under-reporting thousands of deaths due to how fast the pandemic is spreading.
Two of the examples highlighted by The Wall Street Journal included:
<blockquote>Nowhere in Italy has been harder hit than Bergamo, a city of about 120,000 people. In March 2019, 125 people died in the city. This March, 553 people died. Of these, 201 deaths were officially attributed to the virus. This leaves 352 further deaths for the period, far higher than normal.
In the wider Bergamo province, which comprises the city and more than 240 small towns and has a total population of 1.1 million, 2,060 people died in March from the virus, according to the official count. But some 4,500 more people died in the province in March than a year earlier, according to a new joint study by the local Eco di Bergamo newspaper and research firm InTwig that took data from 91 towns in the province.</blockquote>
“There are many more dead than are officially declared,&#8221; Eugenio Fossati, deputy mayor of Coccaglio, said. &#8220;But this is not a j’accuse. People died and they were never tested because time and resources are limited.”
“We know the real number is higher, and we mourn them, knowing full well why they died,” Fossati continued. “It’s a hard truth to accept.”
For a long time Italy had been the hardest hit country in Europe, although that is slowly starting to change as an outbreak in Spain has put the two countries nearly neck-and-neck for total reported cases at more than 119,000 cases each. Italy still has some 3,500 more recorded deaths than Spain does with 14,681+ deaths to Spain&#8217;s 11,198 deaths.
While Italy&#8217;s numbers appear to be under reported it does not appear that it was done out of any kind of malicious intent unlike in China.
The Washington Post <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/chinese-families-should-be-sweeping-graves-now-but-thousands-still-havent-buried-their-dead/2020/04/03/5a6daa50-7234-11ea-ad9b-254ec99993bc_story.html">reported</a>:
<blockquote>The coronavirus pandemic ravaging the globe officially claimed 2,563 lives in Wuhan, where it began in a market that sold exotic animals for consumption. But evidence emerging from the city as it stirs from its two-month hibernation suggests the real death toll is exponentially higher. …
Using photos posted online, social media sleuths have estimated that Wuhan funeral homes had returned 3,500 urns a day since March 23. That would imply a death toll in Wuhan of about 42,000 — or 16 times the official number. Another widely shared calculation, based on Wuhan’s 84 furnaces running nonstop and each cremation taking an hour, put the death toll at 46,800.</blockquote>
The analysis from The Washington Post came after Bloomberg News reported earlier this week that U.S. intelligence officials told President Donald Trump that China lied about the extent of the outbreak.
“China’s public reporting on cases and deaths is intentionally incomplete,” Bloomberg News <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-01/china-concealed-extent-of-virus-outbreak-u-s-intelligence-says">reported</a>, according to three U.S. officials that it spoke to. “Two of the officials said the report concludes that China’s numbers are fake.”
Scientific advisers reportedly <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/british-scientific-advisers-claim-chinas-outbreak-could-be-15-to-40-times-worse-than-reported-report-says">told</a> British Prime Minister Boris Johnson last week that China severely  downplayed the extent of the coronavirus outbreak in its country and that the real number could be “15 to 40 times” higher.

ITALY-HEALTH-VIRUS

Coronavirus Outbreak In Italy Could Be ‘Far’ Worse Than What’s Been Reported, Report Suggests

Italy

Communist China is implementing mass quarantines after the nation once again failed to contain the coronavirus outbreak that originated within its borders and has wrought havoc on the world.
&#8220;Henan province in central China has taken the drastic measure of putting a mid-sized county in total lockdown as authorities try to fend off a second coronavirus wave in the midst of a push to revive the economy,&#8221; Politico <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/01/chinese-county-coronavirus-lockdown-second-wave-159615">reported</a>. &#8220;Curfew-like measures came into effect on Tuesday in Jia county, near the city of Pingdingshan, with the area’s roughly 600,000 residents told to stay home, according to a notice on the country’s official microblog account.&#8221;
The news comes as an analysis from The Washington Post on Friday estimated that the number of people who died in Wuhan, China, where the outbreak originated, was more than 16 times higher than the number that China&#8217;s communist government reported.
The Washington Post <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/chinese-families-should-be-sweeping-graves-now-but-thousands-still-havent-buried-their-dead/2020/04/03/5a6daa50-7234-11ea-ad9b-254ec99993bc_story.html">reported</a>:
<blockquote>The coronavirus pandemic ravaging the globe officially claimed 2,563 lives in Wuhan, where it began in a market that sold exotic animals for consumption. But evidence emerging from the city as it stirs from its two-month hibernation suggests the real death toll is exponentially higher. …
Using photos posted online, social media sleuths have estimated that Wuhan funeral homes had returned 3,500 urns a day since March 23. That would imply a death toll in Wuhan of about 42,000 — or 16 times the official number. Another widely shared calculation, based on Wuhan’s 84 furnaces running nonstop and each cremation taking an hour, put the death toll at 46,800.</blockquote>
U.S. officials <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-01/china-concealed-extent-of-virus-outbreak-u-s-intelligence-says">confirmed</a> to Bloomberg News this week that China lied to the world about the extent of the outbreak in their country.
White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx indicated this week that China&#8217;s lies were harmful to the rest of the world.
“When you talk about could we have known something different, you know, I think all of us, I was overseas when this happened in Africa and I think when you look at the China data originally, and you said, there’s 80 million people, or 20 million people in Wuhan and 80 million people in Hubei, and they come up with the number of 50,000, you start thinking of this more like SARS than you do this kind of global pandemic,” Birx <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/dr-birx-any-lack-of-preparation-due-to-significant-amount-of-missing-data-from-china">said</a>. “So, I think the medical community interpreted the Chinese data as this was serious, but smaller than anyone expected because I think probably we were missing a significant amount of the data” from China.
China knew about the outbreak on November 17 and yet did not start to raise the alarm until December 31, 2019, and lied to the World Health Organization by falsely claiming that the virus could not be transmitted from person-to-person.
It was not until January 21 that China finally warned the world that the coronavirus could be spread from person-to-person, despite the fact that they had already had cases of individuals contracting the disease that were not connected to the wet market in Wuhan were some officials claim that the coronavirus originated from.
&nbsp;

CHINA-HEALTH-VIRUS

China Begins Mass Quarantines AGAIN After Failing To Stop Coronavirus

A new analysis from Washington Post Beijing bureau chief Anna Fifield suggests that the real number of people who have died from the coronavirus in Wuhan, China, where the virus originated, is more than 16 times higher than the number reported by communist China.
The Washington Post <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/chinese-families-should-be-sweeping-graves-now-but-thousands-still-havent-buried-their-dead/2020/04/03/5a6daa50-7234-11ea-ad9b-254ec99993bc_story.html">reported</a>:
<blockquote>The coronavirus pandemic ravaging the globe officially claimed 2,563 lives in Wuhan, where it began in a market that sold exotic animals for consumption. But evidence emerging from the city as it stirs from its two-month hibernation suggests the real death toll is exponentially higher. &#8230;
Using photos posted online, social media sleuths have estimated that Wuhan funeral homes had returned 3,500 urns a day since March 23. That would imply a death toll in Wuhan of about 42,000 — or 16 times the official number. Another widely shared calculation, based on Wuhan’s 84 furnaces running nonstop and each cremation taking an hour, put the death toll at 46,800.</blockquote>
The analysis from The Washington Post comes after Bloomberg News reported this week that U.S. intelligence officials have presented President Donald Trump with a highly classified report that confirmed that China lied about the extent of the outbreak.
“China’s public reporting on cases and deaths is intentionally incomplete,” Bloomberg News <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-01/china-concealed-extent-of-virus-outbreak-u-s-intelligence-says">reported</a>, according to three U.S. officials that it spoke to. “Two of the officials said the report concludes that China’s numbers are fake.”
Vice President Mike Pence told CNN this week: “The reality is that we could have been better off if China had been more forthcoming. What appears evident now is that long before the world learned in December that China was dealing with this, and maybe as much as a month earlier than that, that the outbreak was real in China.”
White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx also indicated this week that China&#8217;s lying about the extent of the outbreak harmed the rest of the world.
“When you talk about could we have known something different, you know, I think all of us, I was overseas when this happened in Africa and I think when you look at the China data originally, and you said, there’s 80 million people, or 20 million people in Wuhan and 80 million people in Hubei, and they come up with the number of 50,000, you start thinking of this more like SARS than you do this kind of global pandemic,” Birx said.
Birx said that when U.S. officials looked at the data from China during the first days of the outbreak that she did not think that it would be a global pandemic based on the data that China provided.
“So, I think the medical community interpreted the Chinese data as this was serious, but smaller than anyone expected because I think probably we were missing a significant amount of the data” from China, Birx added.
Communist China also has a history of lying about epidemic outbreaks that originate within its borders.
The New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/21/world/the-sars-epidemic-epidemic-china-admits-underreporting-its-sars-cases.html">reported</a> on the SARS outbreak in April 2003:
<blockquote>In a rare public admission of failure, if not deception, the Chinese government disclosed today that cases of a dangerous new respiratory disease were many times higher than previously reported, and stripped two top officials of their power.
…
Admitting to the existence of more than 200 previously undisclosed SARS patients in military hospitals, the official, Deputy Health Minister Gao Qiang, said that as of Friday Beijing had 339 confirmed cases of SARS and an additional 402 suspected cases.
Ten days ago, Health Minister Zhang Wenkang said there were only 22 confirmed SARS cases in Beijing. Last Wednesday, the World Health Organization caused a stir here by estimating that there could be as many as 100 to 200 cases.</blockquote>
This report has been updated to include additional information.

CHINA-BEIJING-LEADERS-TREE PLANTING (CN)

Washington Post: ‘Evidence’ Coming Out Of Wuhan Suggests Real Death Toll Over 40,000

Washington Post

The Chinese city of Shenzhen has reportedly banned people from eating dogs and cats as part of an effort to clamp down on the wet markets that are believed to have caused the outbreak of the coronavirus.
&#8220;Authorities in the southern Chinese technology hub said the ban on eating dogs and cats would come into force on May 1,&#8221; Reuters <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-china-wildlife/chinas-shenzhen-bans-the-eating-of-cats-and-dogs-after-coronavirus-idUSKBN21K0EW">reported</a>. &#8220;Provincial and city governments across the country have been moving to enforce the ruling but Shenzhen has been the most explicit about extending that ban to dogs and cats.&#8221;
“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,” the Shenzhen government said in an order. “This ban also responds to the demand and spirit of human civilization.”
The coronavirus, which originated in Wuhan, has infected over 950,000 people worldwide and killed well over 48,000, based on reported numbers. There is overwhelming evidence that the real numbers of both cases and deaths is significantly higher than what is being reported.
&#8220;Shenzhen’s initial rules, first proposed in late February, [L3N2AR2CQ] appeared to ban the consumption of turtles and frogs &#8212; both common dishes in China’s south,&#8221; Reuters notes. &#8220;But the city government acknowledged this week that this had been a &#8216;a hot point of controversy&#8217; and clarified that both could be eaten.&#8221;
Teresa M. Telecky, the vice president of the wildlife department for Humane Society International, praised China, telling Reuters, “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. Shenzhen’s bold steps to stop this trade and wildlife consumption is a model for governments around the world to emulate.”
However, there is reason to view this move with skepticism because what China did in response to the 2002 outbreak of SARS, which also originated in a Chinese wet market.
A mini documentary released last month by Vox explained and how a combination of laws and prioritization of luxuries for the rich and powerful in China likely contributed to the outbreak. The documentary highlighted how China shut down the wet markets, which are open air markets that sell fresh meat from exotic wild life that has been killed on the spot, after the outbreak in 2002 and then reopened them once it was all over.
Peter Li, Associate Professor at the University of Houston, told Vox, “The majority of the people in China do not eat wildlife animals. Those people who consume these wildlife animals are the rich and the powerful – a small minority.”
“It’s this minority that the Chinese government chose to favor over the safety of the rest of its population,” the documentary adds. “Soon after the coronavirus outbreak, the Chinese government shut down thousands of wet markets and temporarily banned wildlife trade again. Organizations around the world have been urging China to make the ban permanent.”
WATCH:
<iframe title="How wildlife trade is linked to coronavirus" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/TPpoJGYlW54?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Chinese Market

Chinese City Claims It Has Banned Eating Dogs, Cats. Be Skeptical.

An infectious disease doctor told Fox News on Wednesday night that using hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin to treat patients that have the coronavirus was an &#8220;absolute game changer&#8221; and that it was &#8220;the beginning of the end of the pandemic.&#8221;
Appearing on Fox News&#8217; &#8220;The Ingraham Angle&#8221; with host Laura Ingraham, Dr. Stephen Smith explained why he believes that the regimen has been effective for treating his patients.
Smith began by explaining what being &#8220;intubated&#8221; meant, saying it &#8220;actually means putting a tube down your trachea and then placed on the ventilator for support, respiratory support.&#8221;
&#8220;We’ve had, I mentioned 20 intubations, most all of them occurred in the first two days,&#8221; Smith continued. &#8220;More importantly, no person who has received five days or more of the hydroxychloroquine-azithromycin combination has been intubated. The chance of that occurring by chance, according to my sons who did some stats for me, are .000 something.&#8221;
&#8220;It’s a ridiculous low no matter how you look at it,&#8221; Smith continued. &#8220;We worry about selection bias in the situation, but I cannot think of a reason why, if all else is equal, why people that have received five days or more — even four days or more of this hydroxychloroquine-azithromycin regimen wouldn’t get intubated.&#8221;
When asked by Ingraham if it was a game changer, Smith responded, &#8220;It’s a game changer. It’s an absolute game changer. I think this data will go to really support the French data. Now you actually have an intra[inaudible] comparison saying that this regimen works and I will get some real statisticians besides my sons to look at that.&#8221;
&#8220;I think this is the beginning of the end of the pandemic,&#8221; Smith said. &#8220;I’m very serious.&#8221;
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Dr. Stephen Smith, an infectious disease specialist, on using hydroxychloroquine/azithromycin combo to treat <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/COVID19?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#COVID19</a> patients: 
“It’s a game changer. It’s an absolute game changer. … I think this is the beginning of the end of the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/pandemic?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#pandemic</a>. I’m very serious.” <a href="https://t.co/F716IhtEvA">pic.twitter.com/F716IhtEvA</a>
&mdash; Nicole Saphier, MD (@NBSaphierMD) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBSaphierMD/status/1245671458505924608?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 2, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/01/health/hydroxychloroquine-coronavirus-malaria.html">reported</a> on Wednesday that &#8220;the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine helped to speed the recovery of a small number of patients who were mildly ill from the coronavirus, doctors in China reported this week.&#8221;
&#8220;Cough, fever and pneumonia went away faster, and the disease seemed less likely to turn severe in people who received hydroxychloroquine than in a comparison group not given the drug,&#8221; the Times added. &#8220;Previous reports from China and France that the drug seemed to help patients, along with enthusiastic comments from President Trump, have created a buzz around hydroxychloroquine and the closely related chloroquine, which are decades-old drugs used to treat malaria and autoimmune diseases like lupus and rheumatoid arthritis.&#8221;
The Times noted that experts had said that more testing and research was needed on using the treatment to treat the coronavirus but that initial results were promising.
“It’s going to send a ripple of excitement out through the treating community,” said Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease expert at Vanderbilt University. “I think it will reinforce the inclination of many people across the country who are not in a position to enter their patients into clinical trials but have already begun using hydroxychloroquine.”
The Times notes that Dr. Schaffner &#8220;cautioned that the results applied only to patients with relatively mild illness, like the ones in the study, and could not be generalized to advanced cases.&#8221;
The treatment has been touted by President Trump, and members of the administration&#8217;s Coronavirus Task Force have remained positive about its potential use to treat coronavirus patients.

Hydroxychloroquine Sulfate Medication Illustration

Dr. On Malaria Drug: ‘Absolute Game Changer,’ ‘Beginning Of The End Of The Pandemic’

Distributed Bio co-founder and CEO Dr. Jacob Glanville told the Radio New Zealand program &#8220;Checkpoint&#8221; this week that he believes his team of scientists have developed a cure for the coronavirus.
&#8220;I&#8217;m happy to report that my team has successfully taken five antibodies that back in 2002 were determined to bind and neutralise, block and stop the SARS virus,&#8221; Dr Glanville <a href="https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/checkpoint/audio/2018740956/pandemic-scientist-makes-breakthrough-on-covid-19-cure">said</a>. &#8220;We&#8217;ve evolved them in our laboratory, so now they very vigorously block and stop the SARS-CoV-2 [Covid-19] virus as well. This makes them suitable medicines that one could use once they&#8217;ve gone through human testing to treat the virus.&#8221;
Glanville is featured in a Netflix documentary called &#8220;Pandemic&#8221; that explores where viruses come from, how scientists and medical professionals look at pandemics, and how experts try to prevent them from happening.
&#8220;The new virus is a cousin of the old SARS. So what we&#8217;ve done is we&#8217;ve created hundreds of millions of versions of those antibodies, we&#8217;ve mutated them a bit, and in that pool of mutated versions, we found versions that cross them over,&#8221; Glanville continued. &#8220;So now we know they bind on the same spot as the new virus, Covid-19. It binds the spot that the virus uses to gain entry into your cells. It blocks that.&#8221;
&#8220;At this point we know it binds the same spot extremely tightly with high affinity,&#8221; Glanville added. &#8220;The next step is we send the antibodies to the military, and they will directly put those on the virus and show that it blocks its ability to infect cells.&#8221;
Glanville said that the antibodies are being sent to the military because he does not want the coronavirus or SARS in his laboratory and he wants &#8220;the stamp of approval of a government military.&#8221;
Glanville said that his group is not the first group to find the antibodies, but he thinks his group is moving faster than others because they used existing scientific data from the SARS virus as the foundation for their antibodies.
Glanville <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/media/dr-jacob-glanville-antibody-neutralize-coronavirus">told</a> Fox News&#8217; Martha MacCallum last month that the completed drug is going to go to the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases.
He said that unlike a typical vaccine, antibodies can take effect almost immediately and can be used to treat those who are very sick. However, he cautioned that the antibodies would only provide protection for 8-10 weeks.
Glanville said that it would still take months before the antibodies could be available for the public to use.
&#8220;The next step, the big-time consuming part, is the GMP manufacturer,&#8221; Glanville said. &#8220;Traditionally, that takes nine to 12 months – obviously, we can&#8217;t wait that long. So we&#8217;ve worked with two different partners to try to accelerate that to take a few months, but that does take time, and there&#8217;s really no way around.&#8221;
&#8220;Assuming that we&#8217;re able to complete our study, at the end of summer… and it looks good, then we would use something called compassionate use,&#8221; Glanville continued. &#8220;This was used in the Ebola crisis, and it&#8217;s been used in other cases where if you have something that&#8217;s effective, and there&#8217;s no other good medicine, you can begin releasing it to the world for use prior to going through all the approval [processes].&#8221;
&#8220;That could be as early as September. Unfortunately, that&#8217;s also as far away as September,&#8221; Glanville concluded. &#8220;So, that&#8217;s as fast as we can conceive of having this medicine widely available.&#8221;
<iframe title="Covid 19 antibodies breakthrough made in San Francisco" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/CDBVwqNOBXY?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Rio de Janeiro Federal University (UFRJ) Researchers Start Developing a New Coronavirus (COVID &#8211; 19) Testing Program Amidst the Pandemic

Doctor Featured In Netflix ‘Pandemic’ Documentary Claims To Have Found Coronavirus Treatment

Netflix

Taro Aso, who serves as Japan&#8217;s Deputy Prime Minister, blasted the World Health Organization (W.H.O.) for its soft stance toward communist China amid the outbreak of the coronavirus, saying that the organization should be renamed as the &#8220;China Health Organization.&#8221;
&#8220;Although the details are murky, the W.H.O.’s previous director-general was a Chinese national and at the time there were complaints all around, and now at least the petition has gathered 300,000 signatures or rather 500,000 signatures,&#8221; Aso said, according to Formosa TV. &#8220;People think the World Health Organization should change its name. It shouldn’t be called the W.H.O., it should be renamed the C.H.O., this appeal is truly resonating with the people.&#8221;
&#8220;Early on, if the W.H.O. had not insisted to the world that China had no pneumonia epidemic, then everybody would have taken precautions,&#8221; Aso continued. &#8220;The W.H.O., which is a global organization, does not even include Taiwan, and then precisely because Taiwan is not a member of the W.H.O., it becomes a world leader in fighting the epidemic. Then after that statement is made, the CCP jumps out to correct it, it says Taiwan is a region not a country.&#8221;
The publication also noted that Aso has repeatedly referred to the virus as the &#8220;Wuhan virus,&#8221; which has been <a href="https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20200314/p2a/00m/0na/025000c">documented</a> in Japanese newspapers.
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
WOW: Japanese official blasts China, says the WHO should be renamed the CHO &#8212; China Health Organization, given the Chinese Communist Party&#39;s role in covering up the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/coronavirus?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#coronavirus</a> outbreak: <a href="https://t.co/www1S2nRUu">pic.twitter.com/www1S2nRUu</a>
&mdash; John Cooper (@thejcoop) <a href="https://twitter.com/thejcoop/status/1245463265712496642?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 1, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
TRANSCRIPT:
<blockquote>PRESENTER 1: Pro-Taiwan Japanese Politician Aso Taro blasted the World Health Organization for bowing to China and excluding Taiwan.
PRESENTER 2: Speaking to Japanese lawmakers the deputy prime minister said the W.H.O. should change its name to the C.H.O. or China Health Organization. He said being excluded from the global health body Taiwan was driven to become a world leader in combating the coronavirus.
NARRATOR: The coronavirus pandemic has led to the postponement of the 2020 Olympics in Japan. Speaking in Japan’s Parliament, the country’s Deputy Prime Minister leveled fresh criticism against China.
ASO TARO (translated): Although the details are murky the W.H.O.’s previous director-general was a Chinese national and at the time there were complaints all around and now at least the petition has gathered 300,000 signatures or rather 500,000 signatures. People think the World Health Organization should change its name. It shouldn’t be called the W.H.O., it should be renamed the C.H.O., this appeal is truly resonating with the people.
NARRATOR: The Japan official took issue with former W.H.O. director-general Margaret Chan, charging her with inadequate accountability. He said the current director-general was no better for giving into China’s spin about the coronavirus.
ASO TARO (translated): Early on, if the W.H.O. had not insisted to the world that China had no pneumonia epidemic then everybody would have taken precautions. The W.H.O., which is a global organization, does not even include Taiwan and then precisely because Taiwan is not a member of the W.H.O., it becomes a world leader in fighting the epidemic. Then after that statement is made the CCP jumps out to correct it, it says Taiwan is a region not a country.
NARRATOR: Aso had once said that Taiwan in various ways is a country that shares common values of a Japan. He’s regarded as a member of the pro-Taiwan camp and Japanese Politics. Amid the pandemic, he’s turned to China with a critical eye, questioning its claim that the virus was contained and insisting on using the term ‘Wuhan virus’.</blockquote>

JAPAN-CHINA-HEALTH-VIRUS

Top Japanese Official: Rename W.H.O. To ‘China Health Organization,’ Use ‘Wuhan Virus’

Japan

Taiwan

Wuhan Virus

Federal prosecutors say that an engineer deliberately derailed a train on Tuesday near the Port of Los Angeles in an attempt to crash it into the USNS Mercy, a U.S. Military hospital ship that was deployed to the area to assist hospitals that may become overwhelmed with coronavirus patients.
&#8220;[The 44-year-old suspect from] San Pedro, was charged with deliberately wrecking a train during the incident Tuesday, which lead to a derailment and fuel leak, according to charges,&#8221; The Los Angeles Times <a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-04-01/man-charged-derailing-train-hospital-ship-mercy">reported</a>. &#8220;Prosecutors allege that [the suspect] derailed the train and deliberately crashed through barriers designed to stop engines before grinding to a halt 250 yards from the Mercy.&#8221;
According to an affidavit, the suspect allegedly told a California Highway Patrol officer, &#8220;You only get this chance once. The whole world is watching. I had to. People don&#8217;t know what&#8217;s going on here. Now they will.&#8221;
The CHP officer witnessed the incident and took the suspect into custody as the suspected tried to run from the scene.
The CHP officer reported seeing “the train smash into a concrete barrier at the end of the track, smash into a steel barrier, smash into a chain-link fence, slide through a parking lot, slide across another lot filled with gravel, and smash into a second chain-link fence.”
The Department of Justice&#8217;s U.S. Attorney’s Office <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-cdca/pr/train-operator-port-los-angeles-charged-derailing-locomotive-near-us-navy-s-hospital">said</a> in a statement:
<blockquote>In his first interview with the Los Angeles Port Police, [the suspect] acknowledged that he “did it,” saying that he was suspicious of the Mercy and believing it had an alternate purpose related to COVID-19 or a government takeover, the affidavit states. [The suspect] stated that he acted alone and had not pre-planned the attempted attack. While admitting to intentionally derailing and crashing the train, he said he knew it would bring media attention and “people could see for themselves,” referring to the Mercy, according to the affidavit.
In a second interview with FBI agents, [the suspect] stated that “he did it out of the desire to ‘wake people up,’” according to the affidavit. “[The suspect] stated that he thought that the U.S.N.S. Mercy was suspicious and did not believe ‘the ship is what they say it’s for.’”
The Los Angeles Port Police reviewed video recorded from the locomotive’s cab, according to the affidavit. One video shows the train clearly moving at a high rate of speed before crashing through various barriers and coming into close proximity to three occupied vehicles. A second video shows [the suspect] in the cab holding a lighted flare.
[The suspect] was held overnight on local charges, and he was turned over to FBI agents this morning. [The suspect] is expected to make an initial appearance in federal court this afternoon.</blockquote>
The press release said that if convicted, the suspect could face up to 20 years in federal prison.
The ship departed San Diego for Los Angeles over a week ago and was sent there to help one of the nation&#8217;s largest cities deal with a potential massive surge in coronavirus cases.
&#8220;This global crisis demands whole-of-government response, and we are ready to support,” <a href="https://www.navy.mil/submit/display.asp?story_id=112443">said</a> Capt. John Rotruck, Mercy’s Military Treatment Facility commanding officer. “Mercy brings a team of medical professionals, medical equipment, and supplies, all of which will act, in essence, as a ‘relief valve’ for local civilian hospitals in Los Angeles so that local health professionals can better focus on COVID-19 cases. We will use our agility and responsiveness as an afloat Medical Treatment Facility to do what the country asks, and bring relief where we are needed most.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BREAKING?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BREAKING</a>: Train engineer arrested on terrorism charges after allegedly running a locomotive off the tracks in an attempt to hit USNS Mercy. The Mercy is docked in the Port of LA to ease crowding at local hospitals during the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/COVID%E3%83%BC19?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#COVIDー19</a> pandemic. <a href="https://twitter.com/Stu_Mundel?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Stu_Mundel</a> reports from <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Sky9?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Sky9</a> <a href="https://t.co/IYnDUuQDat">pic.twitter.com/IYnDUuQDat</a>
&mdash; Mike Rogers (@MikeRogersTV) <a href="https://twitter.com/MikeRogersTV/status/1245492282100334592?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 1, 2020</a></blockquote>
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This report has been updated to include additional information.

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Ryan Saavedra

Articles by Ryan Saavedra