China: Responsible to the rest of the world?

China must be held Responsible for COVID!

This article was first posted in November 2020, and China has managed to avoid any consequences from being the country where the COVID pandemic started. A pandemic which has decimated the world that we knew. 

There has been some more evidence recently suggesting that the world's COVID-19 pandemic may have been engineered by Chinese scientists in a lab in Wuhan, and then allowed to escape the lab and start infecting the general public. Or perhaps it was the consequence of poor hygiene in the Chinese meat markets.

Either way, we know that the COVID pandemic started in China from a combination of negligence and poor hygiene. There are some sinister scenarios for why the world is still suffering today, but despite that, it all comes back to China.

Whether this pandemic originated in a lab, or made the jump from animal to human as was demonstrated in China back in 2003 with the original SARS outbreak, which we will get to shortly, does not alter the fact that COVID started its journey in China.

And the Chinese government, under the leadership of  the Chinese Communist Party, must be held culpable for the global trauma caused by the COVID pandemic. 

It is hard to accept that global communities across our planet continue to fight this pandemic with no response from the Chinese Communist Party. 

It would be reasonable to expect, at the very least, a formal comment from the Chinese government on what exactly happened in Wuhan, where the COVID pandemic started. Not to mention providing us all with an explanation on how this cruelly destructive pandemic was allowed to spread among the population of the Hubei province of China in the first place, and then the rest of the world.

Is it not the obligation of the Chinese government and Communist Party to explain what caused this global devastation?

Well of course it is, but we should not be surprised that China remains silent. This is a country that routinely abuses its population. The persecution of the Uighurs is widely tracked and reported. China has an appalling record on human rights, and the Uighurs are only one disturbing example of how the Chinese Communist Party persecutes and abuses it's people. 

If you want an objective view on how the Chinese Communist Party treats people, take some time to read Amnesty International's profile on China. It is not a comfortable read.

What is COVID-19 and how did the pandemic start?

Let us remind ourselves what this virus called COVID-19 actually is.

It translates to Coronavirus Disease 2019, with ‘Corona’ representing what the virus looks like under a microscope - crown-like.

It was first seen in 2019. Precisely when it was first seen in 2019 is unclear, as the Chinese government cannot be trusted to share such information. The cynic in me suspects that China would have seen an opportunity to profit from a pandemic in the early days.

And what a vague name COVID (19) is for something that should be more accurately called SARS-CoV-2, the scientific name for the virus that has brought the World to its knees, and what some leaders refer to as the 'China pandemic'.

The Lancet's description on why SARS-CoV-2 is an appropriate name for this latest coronavirus tells you everything you need to know about the naming convention.

So why is there is a '2' at the end of the title SARS-CoV-2?

Well, this is because there was a SARS-CoV-1, also courtesy of China, back in 2003. 

It is hard to understand how a country the size and importance of China can experience a virus outbreak that kills thousands of people in 2003, and then avoid taking any measures to protect the world from a further outbreak. 

We can only conclude that China learnt nothing from that first nasty episode 19 years ago, and that the world's governments are simply too scared to say anything for fear of upsetting the Chinese government. Or is there something even more sinister behind all this?

Whatever it is, we are all now paying the price for the inaction and recklessness of China.

When I first wrote this article the world had thirteen COVID vaccines that have been approved for use. These have been developed in many different countries and will make the difference between life and death for billions of people. For the very latest on the vaccine programme please visit the raps.org COVID-19 vaccine tracker page.

But in summary, the vaccines that will protect populations around the world from the 'China virus' include the following:

Why COVID Vaccines Are So Important

When the vaccination programmes started across the world, the UK government was proactive early on, acquiring vaccines and introducing a vaccination programme which gave the UK an opportunity to start relaxing restrictions, and giving businesses a chance to recover. The UK vaccination programme was an example to the rest of the world. At that time, the rest of Europe was, it seems, caught up in European Union bureaucracy and paperwork and lagged far behind where they should have been.

Sadly, the new Delta strain of the virus has hindered the recovery process and we are once again seeing large numbers of new infections daily in late 2021. More so than at the height of the pandemic during the lockdown of 2020.

But the most significant difference today are the reduced numbers of people who have been vaccinated needing hospital treatment. 80% of COVID hospital admissions are for people with no vaccination. These are the people who have likely been deceived by the anti-vaxxer campaigners, and who are the latest hospital patients losing their lives to the virus.

The fact is, if you are vaccinated, you are less likely to catch COVID-19 and therefore less likely to pass it on to someone else, and if you do catch COVID-19 you will not end up in hospital. If you have no vaccination and catch COVID-19 you may die. It is as simple as that.

The Darwin Awards this year will be dominated by the anti-vaxxers I'm sure.

The disturbing truth however is that the Anti-Vaxxers are likely to be Anti-Maskers too, which poses a serious risk to the more vulnerable among us. It is one thing for these people to consider themselves principled in this way, and behave in an entitled way as a result, but putting other's lives at risk is dangerous and reckless.

Chinese Government Disinformation and Lies on COVID

There is no doubt that the government of The Peoples Republic of China, which is under the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party was, and most certainly still is, responsible for some sinister tactics and the spreading of disinformation relating to the COVID pandemic.

Tablet Mag's article entitled China’s Global Lockdown Propaganda Campaign written by Michael Senger provides a fascinating insight on the early days of COVID, and the lengths at which the Chinese Government were prepared to go in spreading disinformation. And how, as a result of their sinister tactics, they manipulated and gained an advantage from the pandemic. These tactics can be applied to any aspect of our lives where China may see an opportunity to benefit. Whether that means risking people's lives or not.

So it is reasonable to say that China has a responsibility to the rest of the world to provide a comment, but have instead remained silent throughout the entire pandemic so far. It would also be fair to expect that, after at least 21 months of turmoil, suffering and lives lost for the entire planet, the people responsible for this suffering would be held accountable in some way.

But there is no accountable for this COVID-19 pandemic.

It seems more than a little ironic that China, the source of this global pandemic is anticipating economic growth and enjoying an unbelievably low number of daily COVID cases. They actually rank 111th by total number of cases recorded per country. They are behind Rwanda and ahead of Singapore. For a country with a population of 1.4 billion people (Singapore has a mere 4 million), it beggar's belief.

Some Background on Pandemics

So let's remind ourselves how these viruses like coronavirus manifest themselves.

A virus such as SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) can originate anywhere in the world, as demonstrated by the 2012 MERS-CoV outbreak in Saudi Arabia, and the 2009 H1N1 outbreak, otherwise known as swine flu, which was likely to have originated in Mexico. And of course, Spanish flu, which is also believed to have been an H1N1 virus. These viruses can start anywhere.

Incidentally, Spanish flu was named not because it originated in Spain, but because Spain was a neutral country in World War One and able to report openly about its cases, while other countries censored their news.

But as mentioned at the beginning of this article, and despite the fact that a virus like COVID-19 can emerge from anywhere in the world, this pandemic was predicted. A similar strain of COVID has happened previously in China.

So, this pandemic was avoidable. Without accountability for its devastating impact, the measures needed to prevent a recurrence will not be taken.

The impact of COVID-19, when compared to other pandemics, including Spanish flu, is very high. Deaths from Spanish flu were between 20 and 50 million people; Swine flu deaths were about 284,000.

So far, COVID-19 cases in total worldwide are 233 million, and deaths are approaching 5 million people, and still rising.

The Science Behind COVID-19 and why COVID-19 makes us sick 

COVID-19 is a SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) virus strain. The virus enters the body and attaches to a receptor in our body called angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2).

ACE2, as its name may suggest, is a protein enzyme that regulates chemical reactions, and is present in most organs in our body. It is very good for us. This ACE2 enzyme connects itself to the membrane of the tissue cells in the organs of our body keeping the cells behaviour under control. ACE2 plays a vital role in maintaining a healthy cell function in these organs.

ACE2 is abundant in the lungs, where it has the role of controlling the activities of a protein called angiotensin II (ANG II). Without ACE2 controlling its function, ANG II will increase blood pressure in organ tissue, causing inflammation and in turn damaging blood vessel linings and tissues in the cells of the organ. So, without ACE2 operating normally, ANG II will cause blood pressure to rise, and the cells in alveoli which are critical in bringing oxygen into the body will be damaged.

By using ACE2 as a receptor and attaching itself, COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) prevents the ACE2 enzyme from performing its natural function. The cells in the organs will then stop behaving normally and will eventually become damaged.

This series of events is why sufferers of COVID-19 with serious symptoms need respirators to help them breath. The cells in their lungs are not able to do their job. Other cells in the body are also affected by ACE2 being inhibited by the COVID-19 virus, including the heart, kidneys and intestines.

Contracting COVID-19 really is a frightening condition, to be taken very seriously. 

The Ultimate Cause

COVID-19 started as a virus in animals, and it eventually found a way to jump across from animals to humans.

Viruses that jump from animals to humans, like SARS-CoV-1, SARS-CoV-2, MERS-CoV and H1N1, are called zoonotic viruses. They make that jump from animal to human through close contact with an infected animal's body fluids, such as mucus and blood, and other fluids. When a virus makes this jump to a human it is called ‘spillover’.

It is believed that the origin of COVID-19 was bats and was transferred to humans through an intermediate host. In other words, a bat will infect an animal that will be a wild or domestic animal used for food.

But how can an animal infected by a bat end up inside a human as a virus?

Well, although these zoonotic viruses can start anywhere in the world, the trigger will relate very closely to a combination of hygiene, and the handling of animals used for food. If there are no hygiene controls, then at some point the virus that is living in the infected animal may transfer to the human who is 'processing' that animal.

As Margaret Wild, professor at Washington State University says, “These diseases don’t transmit to humans often, and when they do, it’s typically when we push natural systems by destroying animal habitat or crowding different species together with people in a marketplace”.

So, we know that there have been a number of zoonotic cases over the past 20 years, the most devastating being our current SARS-CoV-2, and the first Coronavirus being the SARS-CoV-1 outbreak in 2003.

In 2016, the World Health Organisation (WHO) identified a ‘SARS related virus’ as a likely cause of a future epidemic, and other scientists predicted that the SARS virus presents a threat back in 2007.

How right they were.

As a direct result of some of these findings, countries around the world started putting measures in place to prepare for a possible epidemic or pandemic. Among these enlightened countries was the United States. President Obama instigated a pandemic response strategy after he discovered that the US was not in any way prepared.

Roll on a few years, and President Donald Trump duly ignored any of these warnings and the measures that Obama put in place, and as a direct result of Trump's lethargy to this threat, the daily infection rate in the US from COVID-19 reached a staggering 300,000 people in late 2020.

What Happens Next?

What needs to be done next, and what measures should we expect from the Chinese Peoples Republic Communist Party government?

We cannot ignore that ‘spillover’ from SARS-CoV-2, which may have spawned the COVID-19 pandemic was likely to have happened at meat markets in the Hubei province of China, specifically the city of Wuhan. Or even released from a laboratory in Wuhan, and is now being reported. It would be fair to conclude that if COVID-19 was the result of 'spillover', then the very same conditions that resulted in COVID-19 will have also caused the first SARS outbreak in 2003, which started in the Guangdong province of China.

China should have had measures introduced following the 2003 epidemic to address the standards of hygiene and animal handling, and the necessary regulations should have been applied to animal markets across the country. This may have prevented this second ‘spillover’ from the zoonotic Coronavirus.

But precautions and measures were not introduced back in 2003, and it doesn't look like they will be introduced now, despite the monstrous global impact from COVID-19.

The Chinese Communist Party continues to remain silent about its role in the deaths of almost 7 million people worldwide. It believes itself to be the worlds most important trading partner, and that the world's leaders are falling over themselves to trade with China, and that this will protect China from penalties and scrutinisation. 

But there has to be some accountability from China for the COVID-19 pandemic. Financial penalties may give China that incentive to prevent another recurrence of one of the many zoonotic viruses that we know about. China needs, and if necessary be forced, to introduce the standards that the rest of the world lives by, and improve hygiene. But it is perhaps equally important for the Chinese Communist Party to know that it cannot treat the rest of the world's population in the same way that it treats its own people.

And lastly, the worlds governments need to look beyond their trading potential with China and instead hold them to account. Consider the long-term safety of the world’s population, and the safety or our planet as a whole.

The WHO Coronavirus Dashboard gives us a view on the impact to our planet’s population that the China virus has inflicted. The numbers speak for themselves.