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Geneva, Apr 16 () Scientists have developed a new test that may detect the novel coronavirus more accurately and quickly, and relieve the pressure on polymerase chain reaction (PCR) based tests currently used in the fight against COVID-19 pandemic. Millions of people have been tested for the novel coronavirus, most using a kit that relies on the PCR, a sensitive method that amplifies SARS-CoV-2 RNA from patient swabs so that tiny amounts of the virus can be detected. However, as the pandemic surges, this laboratory workhorse is showing signs of strain, according to the research published in the journal ACS Nano. Now, researchers including those from the Institute of Environmental Engineering, ETH Zurich in Switzerland, have developed a potentially more accurate diagnostic based on plasmonic photothermal sensing. The method can detect interactions between molecules on the surface of a constructed metallic nanostructure as a local change in refractive index. Health experts agree that expanded testing is crucial for controlling the spread of COVID-19. However, testing in many countries has lagged behind because of limited supplies of some reagents and a backlog of samples awaiting available PCR machines and laboratory personnel. A number of false-negative and -positive test results have been reported, the researchers said. Other methods, such as computed tomography (CT) scanning and culturing, do not provide quick or real time results, they said. Jing Wang from Institute of Environmental Engineering, ETH Zurich, and colleagues wanted to develop a faster, potentially more accurate COVID-19 test for detecting the SARS-CoV-2 virus that could be a practical alternative to PCR. The team made DNA probes that recognised specific SARS-CoV-2 RNA sequences and attached them to gold nanoparticles. When they added pieces of the viral genome, the RNA attached to the complementary probes like a zipper being closed. The team used a laser to heat up the nanoparticles, making it more difficult for imperfectly matched sequences to remain attached, reducing false-positives. For example, a nucleic acid "zipper" missing a couple of teeth -- indicating a partial mismatch -- would unzip under these conditions. In this way, the researchers could discriminate between SARS-CoV-2 and its close relative, SARS-CoV-1. The assay detected amounts of viral RNA below those present in respiratory swabs in a matter of minutes, the researchers said. Although the test still needs to be tested on intact viral RNA from patient samples, it could help relieve the current pressure on PCR-based tests, they said. SARSAR

Novel test may quickly, accurately detect novel coronavirus: Study

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Massachusetts Sen. <keyword id="213453" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Elizabeth-Warren">Elizabeth Warren</keyword>'s oldest brother, Donald Reed Herring, died this week from the <keyword id="8604864" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="novel-coronavirus">novel coronavirus</keyword>.</li><li>Herring was 86 years old and died in Norman, Oklahoma. He was diagnosed with cancer years ago and underwent treatment. He was also hospitalized for pneumonia in February.</li><li>"I'm grateful to the nurses and other front-line staff who took care of my brother, but it is hard to know that there was no family to hold his hand or to say 'I love you' one more time," Warren said in her statement.</li><li>"And now there's no funeral for those of us who loved him to hold each other close. I will miss my brother."</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories</a>.</li></ul>This story is breaking. Check back for updates.Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren's oldest brother, Donald Reed Herring, died on Tuesday after testing positive for the novel <keyword id="1754604" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="coronavirus">coronavirus</keyword>, she confirmed in a <a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/04/23/nation/elizabeth-warrens-oldest-brother-dies-coronavirus-oklahoma/?event=event25">statement to The Boston Globe</a>.Herring, a 20-year veteran of the US Air Force, was 86 years old and died in Norman, Oklahoma, according to The Globe."I'm grateful to the nurses and other front-line staff who took care of my brother, but it is hard to know that there was no family to hold his hand or to say 'I love you' one more time," Warren said in her statement. "And now there's no funeral for those of us who loved him to hold each other close. I will miss my brother.""My oldest brother, Don Reed, died from coronavirus on Tuesday evening," Warren tweeted on Thursday, after The Globe's story was published. "He joined the Air Force at 19 and spent his career in the military, including five and a half years off and on in combat in Vietnam. He was charming and funny, a natural leader."The World Health Organization declared the novel coronavirus, which causes a disease known as <keyword id="8763838" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="covid-19">COVID-19</keyword>, a <keyword id="43587" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="pandemic">pandemic</keyword> last month. The outbreak originated in Wuhan, China, but the US became the global epicenter last month following a surge in confirmed cases in hotspots like New York, New Jersey, California, and Washington state.Warren has been sharply critical of the Trump administration's delayed response to the pandemic but has not previously revealed her personal connection to the crisis.According to The Globe, Herring was diagnosed with cancer years ago and underwent treatment. He was hospitalized for pneumonia in February and moved to a rehabilitation center to recover. Other patients in the facility Herring was at had tested positive for the virus, and he tested positive in early April. He did not show symptoms until 11 days later.Herring was moved to intensive care on April 15 and died six days later. He was not on a ventilator, according to The Globe.Got a tip? Email ssheth@businessinsider.com or sonamsheth@protonmail.com.Read the original article on <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elizabeth-warren-oldest-brother-dies-from-coronavirus-2020-4">Business Insider</a>

Elizabeth Warren's oldest brother dies from the novel coronavirus

Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images<ul class="summary-list"><li>Prince Albert of Monaco has tested positive for the novel coronavirus, the palace announced on Thursday.</li><li>"His health is good. The Prince is being monitored by his doctor and treated by the specialists at the Princess Grace Hospital," the palace said.</li><li>The World Health Organization declared the coronavirus, which causes a disease known as COVID-19, a pandemic on March 11.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories</a>.</li></ul>This story is breaking. Check back for updates.Prince Albert of Monaco has tested positive for the novel coronavirus, the palace announced on Thursday."Prince Albert, who was tested this week, is positive for coronavirus," the announcement said. "His health is good. The Prince is being monitored by his doctor and treated by the specialists at the Princess Grace Hospital.""Prince Albert continues to work from his private apartment and is in close contact with the members of his cabinet, government, and closest collaborators," the statement continued.The palace said Prince Albert is asking the people of Monaco to "respect the measures of confinement and limiting contact with others. Only rigorous observation with the confinement rules will stem the propagation of coronavirus."The public will continue getting "regular information" and updates on the prince's health, the statement said.The World Health Organization declared the coronavirus, which causes a disease known as COVID-19, a pandemic on March 11.To date, 227,310 people around the world have been infected and 9,311 have died as a result. <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-coronavirus-contradicting-public-health-officials-2020-3">6 times Trump contradicted public officials about the coronavirus pandemic</a></h3>

Prince Albert of Monaco tests positive for the novel coronavirus

<ul class="summary-list"><li>A new strain of the <keyword id="8604864" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="novel-coronavirus">novel coronavirus</keyword> that's spreading from Europe to the US is more infectious than its predecessor but is not making people any sicker than before, according to a new global study <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/02/health/coronavirus-mutation-spread-study/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">first reported on by CNN</a>.</li><li>Researchers call the new strain G614 and the previous strain D614. One of the researchers who worked on the study told CNN that the new mutation is "now the dominant form infecting people."</li><li>"Our global tracking data show that the G614 variant in Spike has spread faster than D614," the study said. "We interpret this to mean that the virus is likely to be more infectious. Interestingly, we did not find evidence of G614 impact on disease severity."</li><li>The study comes as the US is facing a resurgence of the <keyword id="1754604" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="coronavirus">coronavirus</keyword> outbreak after multiple states began reopening earlier than was recommended.</li></ul>A new strain of the novel coronavirus that's spreading from Europe to the US is more infectious than its predecessor, according to a new global study published in the journal Cell and <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/02/health/coronavirus-mutation-spread-study/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">first reported on by CNN</a>.Erica Ollmann Saphire, a researcher at the La Jolla Institute for Immunology who worked on the study, told CNN that the mutation is "now the dominant form infecting people.""This is now the virus," Saphire added. The researchers call the new mutation of the virus, which causes a disease known as <keyword id="8763838" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="covid-19">COVID-19</keyword>, G614. The previous strain is called D614."Our global tracking data show that the G614 variant in Spike has spread faster than D614," the study said. "We interpret this to mean that the virus is likely to be more infectious. Interestingly, we did not find evidence of G614 impact on disease severity.""Through March 1, 2020, the G614 variant was rare outside of Europe, but the end of March it had increased in frequency worldwide," they wrote. "The increase in G614 frequency often continues well after stay-at-home orders are in place and past the subsequent two-week incubation period."The US is currently seeing a resurgence of the coronavirus outbreak after multiple states across the country began reopening despite the fact that they did not meet one or more of the reopening guidelines the White House had put forward.White House guidelines said that states should see either a two-week decrease in new cases or a two-week decline in their share of positive coronavirus tests before reopening. But <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/05/07/us/coronavirus-states-reopen-criteria.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according to The New York Times</a>, 18 out of the 30 states that began reopening as of May 7 were still seeing a daily uptick in new cases, while nine out of the 30 states did not have a decline in their share of positive tests.Six states reopened without meeting any of the criteria: Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Nebraska, Utah, and Iowa.On Friday, the US reported 51,842 new cases, making it the third consecutive day that the country reported more than 50,000 new infections.Florida, Texas, Arizona, and California all reported record-high numbers of new cases this week; <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/03/health/us-coronavirus-friday/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according to CNN</a>, Florida reported nearly 9,500 new cases on Friday, and Texas reported 7,555 new cases after reporting around 8,000 new cases for two consecutive days.The World Health Organization declared the novel coronavirus a pandemic in March. The US has reported a total of 2,795,437 cases of the disease and 129,438 deaths since the disease gained a foothold within the country in January.Multiple states have paused their reopening plans to mitigate the spread of the disease, while others have taken extra precautions to ensure they don't see a resurgence of new cases within their borders. Earlier this week, New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut jointly announced that people who come from eight states with high numbers of new cases will be required to quarantine for two weeks.The European Union, meanwhile, has <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/30/world/europe/eu-reopening-blocks-us-travelers.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">barred all travelers from the US</a> as it begins cautiously reopening its borders because EU officials do not believe the country has done an adequate job of controlling the coronavirus outbreak. Travelers from Brazil and Russia will also not be allowed to enter the region.

A new strain of coronavirus is more infectious but doesn't make people any sicker than before, according to a global study

Toronto, Apr 29 () Scientists, including one of Indian origin, have used artificial intelligence (AI) to identify an underlying genomic signature for 29 different DNA sequences of the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19, providing an important tool for vaccine and drug developers. This new data discovery tool will allow researchers to quickly and easily classify a deadly virus like SARS-CoV-2 in just minutes, according to the researchers, including Gurjit Randhawa from Western University in Canada. It provides a process of high importance for strategic planning and mobilising medical needs during a pandemic, they said. The study, published in the PLOS ONE journal, also supports the scientific hypothesis that SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19 disease has its origin in bats as Sarbecovirus, a subgroup of Betacoronavirus. The "ultra-fast, scalable, and highly accurate" classification system uses a new graphic-based, specialised software and decision-tree approach to illustrate the classification and arrive at a best choice out of all possible outcomes, the researchers said. The machine-learning method achieves 100 per cent accurate classification of the novel coronavirus sequences and more importantly, discovers the most relevant relationships among more than 5,000 viral genomes within minutes, the researchers said. Machine learning is an application of AI that provides systems the ability to automatically learn and improve from experience without being explicitly programmed. "All we needed was the COVID-19 DNA sequence to discover its own intrinsic sequence pattern," said Kathleen Hill, a professor at University of Western Ontario in Canada. "We used that signature pattern and a logical approach to match that pattern as close as possible to other viruses and achieved a fine level of classification in minutes -- not days, not hours but minutes," Hill said. This classification tool has already been used to analyse more than 5,000 unique viral genomic sequences, including the 29 novel coronavirus sequences available on January 27, the researchers said. Hill believes the tool will be an essential component in the toolkit for vaccine and drug developers, front-line health-care workers, researchers and scientists during this global pandemic and beyond. SAR SARSAR

Scientists use AI to crack novel coronavirus genome signature

Berlin, Apr 20 () Alcohol-based hand disinfectants recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) are effective against the novel coronavirus which causes COVID-19, according to a study. The formulations can be prepared quickly and easily by pharmacies and help alleviate the current shortage of disinfectants, said researchers from Ruhr-Universitat Bochum (RUB) in Germany. In the study published in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases, the researchers exposed Sars-Cov-2 viruses for 30 seconds to two WHO-recommended disinfectant formulations. "This time frame was chosen based on recommendations for hand disinfectants," said Stephanie Pfander from RUB. The team then tested the viruses in cell culture assays and analysed how many of them remained infectious. "We showed that both WHO-recommended formulations sufficiently inactivate the virus after 30 seconds," said Pfander. The researchers noted that the findings do not merely apply to the WHO solutions. Their main components, the alcohols ethanol and isopropanol, also showed adequate inactivation of the virus, they said. The first disinfectant recommended by the WHO consists of 80 volume per cent ethanol, 1.45 volume per cent glycerine and 0.125 volume per cent hydrogen peroxide, the researchers said. The second disinfectant consists of 75 volume per cent isopropanol, 1.45 volume per cent glycerine and 0.125 volume per cent hydrogen peroxide, they said. SARSAR

WHO-recommended disinfectants effective against novel coronavirus: Study

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The Trump administration ended funding for an early-warning program that helped detect diseases that had the potential to explode into pandemics, the Los Angeles Times reported.</li><li>Last year, the PREDICT project, a program of U.S. Agency for International Development, lost its $200 million in funding just months before the novel coronavirus emerged in Wuhan, China.</li><li>PREDICT worked with labs around the world, including the facility in Wuhan, China, that first identified the novel coronavirus.</li><li>One of their missions was to to discover and analyze zootonic diseases, which jump from humans to animals. The novel coronavirus is one such disease.</li><li>USAID has given the program an emergency infusion of $2.26 million, the L.A. Times reported, but one person involved in the project says that's not enough.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories</a>.</li></ul>Just months before the novel coronavirus outbreak began, the Trump administration cut funding to a program that helped train scientists to detect and monitor over 1,200 viruses that had the potential to explode into pandemics, according to a <a href="https://www.latimes.com/science/story/2020-04-02/coronavirus-trump-pandemic-program-viruses-detection">report by the Los Angeles Times</a>.The program, known as <a href="https://www.ecohealthalliance.org/program/predict">PREDICT</a>, partnered with 60 foreign laboratories, including the lab in the Chinese city of Wuhan that first identified the novel coronavirus, according to the L.A. Times. But funding for the $200 million program ran out in September 2019, and dozens of scientists and analysists were laid off.The project's fate <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/25/health/predict-usaid-viruses.html">worried many public health experts</a>, according to an October 2019 report in the New York Times.The project was founded in 2009 by the U.S. Agency for International Development as part of its Emerging Pandemic Threats (EPT) program. That program included four projects, including PREDICT.USAID did not immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment.Since the novel coronavirus outbreak, PREDICT has since recieved $2.26 million in emergency funding from USAID, the L.A. Times reported. But at least one key player thinks that isn't enough."Look at the name: Our efforts were to predict this before it happens," Peter Daszak, president of EcoHealth Alliance, a global evironmental health non-profit that plays a prominent role in the PREDICT project, told the Times. "That's the part of the program that was exciting - and that's the part I'm worried about.""It's absolutely critical that we don't drop the idea of a large-scale, proactive, predictive program that tries to catch pandemics before they happen," he said. "Cutting a program that could in any way reduce the risk of things like COVID-19 happening again is, by any measure, shortsighted."According to EcoHealth Alliance's website, a key part of the project's work involved taking and analyzing samples from wildlife around the globe in an attempt to detect zoonotic diseases, which can transfer from animals to humans.The novel coronavirus, officially classified as SARS-CoV-2, is one such disease.Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/march-jobs-report-nonfarm-payrolls-us-economy-unemployment-wages-coronavirus-2020-4">The US economy lost 701,000 jobs in March even before the coronavirus shutdown spurred historic unemployment</a><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/democratic-national-convention-postopned-to-august-due-to-coronavirus-2020-4">Democratic National Convention postponed to August due to the coronavirus</a>Do you have a personal experience with the coronavirus you'd like to share? Or a tip on how your town or community is handling the pandemic? Please email <a href="mailto:covidtips@businessinsider.com">covidtips@businessinsider.com</a> and tell us your story.And get the latest <a href="/coronavirus-business-impact">coronavirus analysis and research</a> from Business Insider Intelligence on how COVID-19 is impacting businesses.

The Trump administration stopped funding a pandemic warning program just a few months before the novel coronavirus outbreak

New Delhi, The deadly novel <keyword id="1754604" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="coronavirus">coronavirus</keyword> has now got its official name. From now on, the virus will be known as 'COVID-19'. In a statement released by the <keyword id="6356311" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="World-Health-Organisation">World Health Organisation</keyword>, its Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, "we now have a name for the disease: COVID-19. I'll spell it: C-O-V-I-D hyphen one nine - COVID-19." He termed the virus as "a common enemy." The statement was released on Tuesday by the World Health Organisation. <keyword id="254853" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="The-Who">The WHO</keyword> chief also said that, "under agreed guidelines between WHO, the World Organisation for Animal Health and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the <keyword id="6355833" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="united-nations">United Nations</keyword>, we had to find a name that did not refer to a geographical location, an animal, an individual or group of people, and which is also pronounceable and related to the disease. Having a name matters to prevent the use of other names that can be inaccurate or stigmatizing. It also gives us a standard format to use for any future coronavirus outbreaks." According to the World Health Organisation there were 42,708 confirmed cases reported in China, and tragically the death toll surpassed 1000 deaths as on Tuesday. "1017 people in China have lost their lives due to this virus. Most of the cases and most of the deaths are in Hubei province. Outside China, there are 393 cases in 24 countries, and 1 death," said Dr Ghebreyesus. The world health body also said that it had activated a UN Crisis Management Team, to be led by Dr Mike Ryan that will help the organisation focus on the health response while the other agencies could bring their expertise to bear on the wider social, economic and developmental implications of the outbreak so we are all working to our strengths. Dr Mike Ryan will coordinate the whole UN response. WHO is also hosting a two-day meeting of more than 400 scientists from around the world, both in person and virtually called Global research and innovation forum on February 11 and 12.

Novel coronavirus gets an official new name - COVID-19 says WHO

London, Apr 20 () Researchers have developed a new method to analyse the genetic code of the novel coronavirus, an advance that can shed light on how the virus evolves, and help identify new clusters of the disease. According to the scientists, including those from the University of York in the UK, analysing global data on the published genome sequences of the novel coronavirus can help accelerate our understanding of COVID-19. In the study, published in the journal Transboundary and Emerging Diseases, the scientists developed a novel platform, originally used to analyse the human genome, to pinpoint differences among the thousands of genetic sequences of the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2. The researchers assessed the first 181 published genome sequences from the current COVID-19 outbreak to understand how changes in the virus could affect its behaviour and impact. "This RNA virus is expected to evolve into a number of distinct clusters that share mutations, which is what we have confirmed and visualised," said S S Vasan, corresponding author of the study from the Australian federal government agency The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO). The scientists noted in the study that understanding these mutations may not affect the development and evaluation of COVID-19 vaccines, therapies, and diagnostics. However, they said it is important information to monitor as preclinical and clinical studies progress. "The more we know about this virus, the better armed we'll be to fight it," said Larry Marshall, study co-author and the Chief Executive of CSIRO. "This highly complex analysis of the genome sequence of the SARS-CoV-2 virus has already helped to determine which strains of the virus are suitable for testing vaccines underway at the Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness in Geelong -- the only high biocontainment facility of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere," Marshall said. According to Denis Bauer, another co-author of the study from CSIRO, as the virus evolves, this genetic blueprint becomes increasingly important since it holds instructions about the behaviour of the virus and what kind of disease it can cause. "Globally there is now a huge amount of individual virus sequences," said Bauer, who is also Honorary Associate Professor at Macquarie University in Australia. "Assessing the evolutionary distance between these data points and visualising it helps researchers find out about the different strains of the virus - including where they came from and how they continue to evolve," Bauer said. Accordingly to the scientists, the new data visualisation platform highlights the evolving genetic mutations of the virus as it continues to change and adapt to new environments. "The more informed we are about the genetic differences and their likely consequences on the progression of the disease, the better we can tackle the disease with diagnostics and treatments," Bauer said. VIS VISVISVIS

'Novel method to understand how coronavirus evolves developed'

London, May 6 () Scientists have identified nearly 200 genetic mutations in the SARS-CoV-2 that causes COVID-19 by analysing virus genes from over 7,500 people infected with the disease globally, an advance that offers clues to direct drugs and vaccine targets. The study, published in the journal Infection, Genetics and Evolution, characterised patterns of diversity of the genome of the virus, highlighting how it may be adapting and evolving to its human hosts. The researchers from University College London (UCL) in the UK found that a large proportion of the global genetic diversity of SARS-CoV-2 is found in all hardest-hit countries, suggesting extensive global transmission from early on in the epidemic and the absence of single 'Patient Zeroes' in most countries. The findings further establish that the virus only emerged recently in late 2019, before quickly spreading across the globe. The scientists identified 198 mutations that appear to have independently occurred more than once, which may hold clues to how the virus is adapting. "All viruses naturally mutate. Mutations in themselves are not a bad thing and there is nothing to suggest SARS-CoV-2 is mutating faster or slower than expected," Professor Francois Balloux from UCL said. "So far we cannot say whether SARS-CoV-2 is becoming more or less lethal and contagious," Balloux said. The small genetic changes, or mutations, identified were not evenly distributed across the virus genome, the researchers said. As some parts of the genome had very few mutations, those invariant parts of the virus could be better targets for drug and vaccine development, they said. "A major challenge to defeating viruses is that a vaccine or drug might no longer be effective if the virus has mutated. If we focus our efforts on parts of the virus that are less likely to mutate, we have a better chance of developing drugs that will be effective in the long run," Balloux explained. "We need to develop drugs and vaccines that cannot be easily evaded by the virus," he said. "There are still very few genetic differences or mutations between viruses," co-lead author Lucy van Dorp from UCL added. "We found that some of these differences have occurred multiple times, independently of one another during the course of the pandemic -- we need to continue to monitor these as more genomes become available and conduct research to understand exactly what they do," said Dorp. The results add to a growing body of evidence that SARS-CoV-2 viruses share a common ancestor from late 2019, suggesting that this was when the virus jumped from a previous animal host, into people. This means it is most unlikely the virus causing Covid-19 was in human circulation for long before it was first detected, the researchers said. SARSAR

'Nearly 200 genetic mutations identified in novel coronavirus'

Two passengers who arrived at NSCBI Airport from Bangkok have tested positive for the <keyword id="8604864" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="novel-coronavirus">novel coronavirus</keyword>, Airports Authority of India officials said on Thursday. With this, a total of three passengers have tested positive for the novel <keyword id="1754604" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="coronavirus">coronavirus</keyword> in Kolkata. A passenger called Himadri Barman tested positive on Tuesday, and Nagendra Singh tested positive on Wednesday, the Director of NSCBI Airport, Kaushik Bhattacharjee, told . Both of them were sent to Beliaghata ID Hospital, he said. "Earlier a passenger called Anita Oraon had also tested positive during thermal scanning," Bhattacharjee said. Already two airlines which had direct flights between Kolkata and China have suspended their flights. Low cost carier <keyword id="6354706" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="IndiGo">IndiGo</keyword> has temporarily suspended its flights between Kolkata and Guangzhou from February 6. "In line with the WHO guideline to contain the spread of coronavirus, IndiGo will be suspending its Kolkata- Guangzhou service from February 6, 2020 to February 25, 2020 and Guangzhou-Kolkata from February 7 till February 26," the airline had said in a statement. After IndiGo, <keyword id="266841" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="China-Eastern-Airlines">China Eastern Airlines</keyword> suspended its flights between Kolkata and Kunming in China from February 10 to February 29. Passengers of flights coming to Kolkata from Kunming and Guangzhou in China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Bangkok were being screened since January 17. At present, passengers arriving from Hong Kong, Singapore and Bangkok are being screened as no flights are operating to and from China.

Coronavirus: Two Indian passengers from Bangkok test positive at Kolkata Airport

<ul class="summary-list"><li>President <keyword id="6354484" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Donald-Trump">Donald Trump</keyword> claimed there were "very good experts" who predicted the <keyword id="8604864" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="novel-coronavirus">novel coronavirus</keyword> "would never affect the United States."</li><li>Those people "got it wrong," Trump said.</li><li>It's unclear which experts he was referring to; dozens of public health officials warned early on of a US outbreak that would severely disrupt daily life.</li><li>Intelligence officials and Obama administration aides also repeatedly sounded the alarm about an impending <keyword id="43587" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="pandemic">pandemic</keyword>, but Trump didn't take action until weeks after the virus gained a foothold in the US.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories</a>.</li></ul>President Donald Trump claimed on Tuesday that there were "very good experts" who predicted that the novel <keyword id="1754604" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="coronavirus">coronavirus</keyword> outbreak "would never affect the United States."He made the remark during a White House speech to small business owners, in response to CNN's Jim Acosta, who asked Trump about the number of confirmed cases in the US passing the one million mark. Acosta pointed out that Trump predicted that the number of US cases would go down to zero back in February."How did we get from your prediction of zero to one million?" Acosta asked."Well, it will go down to zero ultimately," Trump said, adding that the US is "doing more testing than any other country in the world.""So, we're going to show more cases, because we're doing much, much more testing — double anybody else," he said. "And it will be, at the appropriate time, it will be down to zero like we said."Acosta then pressed Trump on how multiple experts warned at the time that the number of US cases would go up and that there would be community spread of the disease without appropriate social distancing measures.Trump pushed back. "Experts — very good experts, very good people, too — said this would never affect the United States, it wouldn't affect Europe, it wouldn't affect anything outside of China." he said. "So we were listening to experts, and we will always listen to experts, but the experts got it wrong. A lot of people got it wrong, and a lot of people had no idea it would be this serious."It's unclear which experts the president was referring to when he said they "got it wrong" by predicting the virus "would never affect" the US. Dozens of public health officials <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/health-officials-coronavirus-spread-us-trump-says-contained-china-2020-2-1028938088" target="_blank" rel="noopener">warned of a US outbreak</a> in February."Ultimately we expect we will see community spread in the United States," Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told reporters during a conference call on February 25. "It's not a question of if this will happen, but when this will happen, and how many people in this country will have severe illnesses."She added: "We are asking the American public to prepare for the expectation that this might be bad."Alex Azar, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, told a Senate subcommittee the same day that there would be additional cases of coronavirus in the US, calling it an "unprecedented, potentially several health challenge globally."Their claims contrasted sharply with what Trump said at the time. He tweeted on February 24 that the virus was "very much under control" and later insisted that "the whole situation will start working out."On Tuesday, Trump pointed to his decision to ban certain types of travel from China on January 31, saying he made the move "well ahead of schedule.""So I think we've done a great job, in the sense that we were early, I think, by banning China ... and banning people coming in who would have been very heavily infected. We probably saved hundreds of thousands of lives, so on that, I'm very proud."In addition to public health officials warning of a US outbreak, intelligence officials and Obama administration aides sounded the alarm about an impending pandemic long before the Trump administration took action.The Washington Post reported on Monday that the President's Daily Brief, or PDB, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-classified-briefings-warned-about-covid-19-threat-2020-4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">warned about the novel coronavirus</a> at least a dozen times in January and February.But despite the repeated warnings officials conveyed in the PDB, Trump "failed to register" the threat, The Post reported. The president is known to regularly skip reading through the PDB, and he reportedly doesn't have much patience even when the information is conveyed to him via oral summaries a few times per week.By the end of January and beginning of February, a majority of the intelligence contained in Trump's daily briefings was about the coronavirus, The Post reported last month. At the same time that he was getting those briefings, the president was publicly downplaying the risk of the virus.Some of the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-all-the-times-trump-was-warned-about-pandemic-2020-3">warnings</a> came even earlier. Days before Trump's inauguration, Obama administration officials briefed Trump officials on how to respond to a pandemic, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-appointees-trained-pandemic-response-in-2016-2020-3" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Politico reported</a>. The hypothetical scenario Obama officials presented to the incoming administration bore many similarities to the coronavirus outbreak.<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-admin-ignored-obama-era-nsc-pandemic-prep-document-politico-2020-3" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Politico also reported</a> that the Trump administration declined to use a nearly 70-page pandemic playbook that the NSC's health unit put together under the Obama administration. The document instructed federal officials on how to prepare for many of the same obstacles the Trump administration is now facing, including medical equipment shortages and a lack of coordination.Then, from January to August 2019, the HHS <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-trump-admin-training-simulation-predicted-current-failures-2020-3">conducted a training simulation</a> about a hypothetical pandemic, caused by a disease that bore striking parallels to the novel coronavirus. In the simulation, federal agencies fought over who was in charge, state officials and hospitals couldn't figure out what and how much medical equipment was available, and there was no centralized coordination on state lockdowns and school closings.The team conducting the simulation put together a draft report laying out the roadblocks they discovered in the exercises, but their warnings went unheeded, according to The New York Times.Got a tip? Email ssheth@businessinsider.com or sonamsheth@protonmail.com.Read the original article on <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-very-good-experts-said-coronavirus-would-never-affect-us-2020-4">Business Insider</a>

Trump claims 'very good experts' told him the coronavirus 'would never affect' the US, despite multiple officials publicly warning of an impending outbreak

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Beyond beer and wine, it will be difficult to get alcohol in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, in the wake of the coronavirus spread.</li><li>The state-run chain that has a monopoly on liquor sales is closing on Tuesday night.</li><li>"In these uncertain and unprecedented times, the public health crisis must take priority over the sale of wine and spirits, as the health and safety of our employees and communities is paramount."</li><li>Pennsylvania has at least 76 confirmed cases of coronavirus as of time of writing.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories</a>.</li></ul>It will be harder to get hard liquor in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, in the wake of the spread of the novel coronavirus: The state stores that have a monopoly on retail liquor sales are going to close shop indefinitely on Tuesday night."This was a tremendously difficult decision to make," the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board said in <a href="https://www.lcb.pa.gov/Consumers/Pages/Coronavirus.aspx">a statement</a> issued Monday afternoon. "In these uncertain and unprecedented times, the public health crisis must take priority over the sale of wine and spirits, as the health and safety of our employees and communities is paramount."By Monday night, visitors to the website of the state-run chain, Fine Wine &amp; Good Spirits, were greeted with <a href="https://www.finewineandgoodspirits.com/index.html">a message</a> stating that it "is no longer accepting orders until further notice." Any online orders already placed, and slated for pick-up at a store, will be cancelled, with at-home deliveries to be delayed "due to an unusually high order volume."All retail locations will close at 9:00 p.m. local time on March 17, with local news reporting that stores have been packed with customers. The move comes after the commonwealth announced Saturday that it was shuttering locations in the counties of Bucks, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery, which are subject to additional COVID-19 mitigation efforts due to the higher number of reported cases there.There are 76 confirmed cases of the coronavirus across Pennsylvania, according to the Department of Health, with 13 additional cases <a href="https://www.media.pa.gov/Pages/Health-Details.aspx?newsid=741">discovered on Monday</a>.Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat, announced on Friday that he was closing K-12 public schools for two weeks. But he initially resisted shutting down all liquor sales. Asked about the prospect at a press conference last week, he smiled and told reporters "this is a somber time" and "we're [trying] to be serious here," according to <a href="https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/somber-time-not-necessarily-sober-pa-liquor-stores-to-remain-open-for-now/2326173/">NBC Philadelphia</a>.Beer and wine can still be found at grocery stores in Pennsylvania, and some Pennsylvanians will no doubt make the trek to neighboring states like New Jersey, where sales are said to be "<a href="https://www.nj.com/coronavirus/2020/03/booming-sales-at-liquor-stores-are-proof-the-corona-virus-isnt-bad-for-all-business.html">booming</a>."

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