中国代表团：坚决抵制溯源政治化逆流
8/29/2021
中国常驻日内瓦代表团发言人刘玉印上周六（28日）接受央视总台专访时重申，中国坚决抵制将冠病溯源问题政治化的逆流。
据央广网报道，刘玉印说，中国常驻日内瓦代表陈旭大使致函世卫组织总干事谭德塞，重申了中国在病毒溯源问题上的一贯立场，强调溯源是重要、复杂的科学问题，必须通过强化合作、在全球稳步推进，不应当被政治操弄，不是为了指责某个国家，更不能让国际社会走向分裂。
他称，中国率先与世卫组织开展溯源合作，双方于今年3月发布了联合研究报告，得出了权威和科学的结论，其中就包括“实验室泄露极不可能”。中方已经两次邀请世卫组织专家访问了武汉病毒研究所，并且与有关的工作人员进行了深入的交流。“各方和世卫组织都应当尊重和维护联合研究报告的结论，下阶段溯源不应当再对武汉研究所开展任何形式的调查”。
陈旭8月24日致函谭德塞，随函并附有《关于德特里克堡的疑点》《关于北卡罗来纳大学巴里克团队开展冠状病毒研究情况》两份材料，以及超过2500万中国网民联署的要求调查德特里克堡基地的公开信。
刘玉印指，武汉病毒研究所已两次接待世卫组织专家，而美国德堡基地有着糟糕的安全记录，北卡大学的冠状病毒研究在业内也是远近闻名的。如果美方坚持“实验室泄漏”的说法，那么就理应开放上述机构让国际社会去调查。同样的道理，如果世卫秘书处认为不能排除实验室泄漏的可能，那么就应当本着公开、透明的原则，去美国德堡、去北卡大学进行调查。
Statement by Vice Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu on Release of US Intelligence Report on COVID-19 Origins
2021/08/30
The US intelligence community has recently compiled a so-called report on the origins of COVID-19. It is a mendacious report made up for political purposes. There is no scientific basis or credibility in it. The US has also released a statement slandering and attacking China. The Chinese side hereby expresses its firm objection. It has made strong representations with the US.
We have stressed on multiple occasions that origins tracing of COVID-19 is a complex issue of science. It should and can only be undertaken by scientists around the world through joint research. The US, however, disregards science and facts. It is instead obsessed with political manipulation and origins tracing by the intelligence community. Without providing any evidence, the US has cooked up one story after another to defame and accuse China. The aim is to use origins tracing to shift blame onto China and spread the political virus. The deployment of the intelligence community in origins tracing is in itself a compelling evidence of the politicization of the issue.
The US accuses China of not being transparent or cooperative on origins tracing. This is sheer nonsense. China attaches great importance to international scientific cooperation on origins tracing, and has taken an active part in such cooperation. Acting on the principles of science, openness and transparency, we have twice invited WHO experts to China for origins tracing research. Early this year, a WHO-China joint study team of leading international and Chinese experts conducted a 28-day research in China and released a Joint Report containing authoritative, professional and science-based conclusions. This is a good foundation for international cooperation on origins tracing. We have been supporting science-based efforts on origins tracing, and will continue to stay actively engaged. That said, we firmly oppose attempts to politicize this issue.
t is actually the US that is not being transparent, responsible and cooperative on this issue. The US has been refusing to respond to the international community’s reasonable doubts on the Fort Detrick biolab and the over 200 overseas bases for biological experiments, trying to cover up the truth and avoid being held responsible. The onus is on the US to give the world an answer.
The US attempts to politicize origins tracing have found no support and met widespread opposition from the international community: More than 80 countries have written to the WHO Director-General, issued statements, or sent diplomatic notes to voice their objection to the politicization attempts and call for the Joint Report by the WHO-China joint study team to be upheld; over 300 political parties, social organizations and think tanks from more than 100 countries and regions have submitted a joint statement to the WHO Secretariat on opposing the politicization of origins tracing; and over 25 million Chinese netizens have signed an open letter asking for an inquiry into the Fort Detrick base. These are people’s calls for justice.
As a Chinese saying goes, a just cause attracts abundant support, while an unjust one finds little. We want to once again warn the US side that politicizing origins tracing will lead nowhere. We urge the US to immediately stop doing anything that poisons the atmosphere for international cooperation on origins tracing or undermines global solidarity against the pandemic, and return to the right track of science-based origins tracing and cooperation in the face of the pandemic.
Nearly 100 Positive COVID-19 Tests Linked to Illinois Summer Camp
6/29/2021
QUINCY, Ill. (WGEM/CNN) – Nearly 100 teenagers and staff tested positive for COVID-19 after attending a church camp in rural Illinois.
‘The Crossing Camp’ was held in mid-June in Rushville. While majority of the campers and staff were eligible for the vaccine, Illinois Department of Health officials said few had been inoculated.
The health department said the camp did not require masks indoor. At least one young adult was hospitalized as a result of the outbreak.
The Delta variant appears to have tripled to 31% of all US coronavirus cases in just 11 days. It’s more dangerous than other variants and could imperil the country’s recovery.
By Marianne Guenot
6/21/2021
As of Wednesday, the Delta coronavirus variant may have been responsible for 31% of all coronavirus cases in the US, according to an estimate by the Financial Times.
Previous data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention put that share of cases at about 10% as of June 5 and 2.7% on May 22.
The Financial Times estimate, based on available sequencing data, would mean the share of Delta-variant infections in the US tripled in just 11 days.
The CDC has not yet released data on the rate of Delta-variant cases after June 5 in the US.
Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the director of the CDC, warned last week that the Delta variant could soon become dominant in the US.
And on Sunday, the former Food and Drug Administration chief Scott Gottlieb warned that the Delta variant could lead to a surge of cases in the fall even if 75% of eligible Americans were vaccinated by then.
The variant, which was first identified in India and is also called B.1.617.2, appears to be 60% more transmissible than the variant that is now still dominant in the US, the Alpha variant.
Data from the UK, where the Delta variant is thought to make up about 90% of current coronavirus cases, also suggests that the risk of hospitalization is higher for unvaccinated people with this variant.
The Delta variant also appears to more likely to evade the protection given by partial vaccinations.
Research suggests a single shot of the Pfizer-BioNTech or Oxford University-AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccines may give just 33% protection against symptomatic COVID-19 cases with the Delta variant, compared with at least 88% for other variants.
Two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech or Oxford-AstraZeneca shot have been found to be protective against hospitalization from the variant, however.
It is not clear what protection other vaccines give against this variant.
On Friday, President Joe Biden warned that the Delta variant was “particularly dangerous for young people,” who are less likely to be vaccinated than older adults and are more socially active.
He also urged all Americans to get second doses of vaccines that require them.
As of Monday, 45% of Americans were fully vaccinated and 53% had received one dose, according to data from the CDC. The pace of vaccination, however, has fallen in the past two months.
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