Corona Virus

[Tommy T.]

3 hours ago, Mike J said:

Or drain cleaner. 

Mike... did you mean brain cleaner and just slipped a key?

[Tommy T.]

Here is an interesting discussion regarding the view of a Filipino regarding the status of the Philippines compared to a United Nations review. I am not making any comments about this, just presenting it for interest sake:

https://www.msn.com/en-ph/news/national/duque-says-philippines-is-not-a-third-world-country-with-weak-healthcare-system-reports-show-otherwise/ar-BBZIsQY?li=BBr8Mkn

Duque says Philippines is not a third world country with weak healthcare system; reports show otherwise

Amid the threat of the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV), Health Secretary Francisco Duque III on Monday said the Philippines was not a third world country with a weak healthcare system.

In an interview with DZMM, Duque said he does not think that the Philippines is one of those countries being referred to by the World Health Organization (WHO) with weak healthcare systems.

Last week, the WHO declared the outbreak of the novel coronavirus a global health emergency.

It also expressed fears of its impact in countries with weak healthcare systems, where it could potentially infect millions of people and kill thousands.

When asked if the Philippines was among countries with a weak healthcare system, Duque said “no.”

“Hindi. Palagay ko ang binabanggit nila diyan tingin ko Africa, mga mahihirap na mga bansa. ‘Yung sinasabi nila, ‘yung weak health system ‘yung mga talagang mahihirap na bansa,” he noted.

“‘Yun ang mga tinutukoy nila na weak health system na mahirap, mga developing third world countries. Eh tayo middle-income country na. Hindi tayo kasama diyan,” he added.

Based on the latest United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) report, the Philippines’ per capita gross domestic product (GDP), human development index (HDI), and life expectancy sit well below the thresholds for developed country status.

The country’s infant mortality rate is also very high, its industrialization is minimal, and many of its citizens lack access to quality healthcare and higher education.

In the 2019 Human Development Report, the Philippines, with an HDI value of 0.712, placed 106th out of the 189 countries and territories.

Its infant mortality rate is 22 per 1,000 live births and its life expectancy is 71 years.

The per capita GDP in the Philippines is $7,943, well below any accepted minimum for developed country status.

The HDI is a metric to assess the social and economic development levels of countries.

It quantifies life expectancy, educational attainment, and income into a standardized number between zero and one; the closer to one, the more developed the country.

No minimum requirement exists for a developed country status, but most developed countries have HDIs of 0.8 or higher.

Last October, the 2019 Global Competitiveness Report of the World Economic Forum showed that the Philippines slipped eight notches down – placing 64th out of 141 countries.

Of the 12 areas measured — institutions, infra, health, labor market, information communications technology adoption, macroeconomic stability, skills, product market, financial system, market size, business dynamism — the Philippines’ lowest ranking was in health at 102nd overall.

The Philippines is historically a third world country and is currently a developing country based on these reports

Edited February 7, 2020 by Tommy T.

[bastonjock]

5 hours ago, RBM said:

Have not heard about the ASF  from where did you get this info?

Check mindanao news , the trading center at digos has been closed and thousands of pigs culled

[bastonjock]

5 hours ago, Marvin Boggs said:

BJ, I heard a chilling prediction on a financial report this morning.  Take it with a grain of salt, because as you say, there is so much guessing and misinformation flying around right now it is hard to make sense of anything.  But the prediction was that the outbreak is going to hit the Chinese economy hard, and their factory production will tank, leaving all their export markets in short supply.  Countries hit hardest will therefore be those who are the most dependent on Chinese goods, such as Philippines.

Filter masks are the first things that have disappeared.  Just read a story this morning from Dali city China that they had seized a mask shipment being shipped to Chongking.  The factories I deal with in my business have delayed returning from their CNY holiday to Feb 10, so lets see if they stick to that schedule.  Now if you know anything about China, you know that CNY is a time of year when some percentage of workers never return from their home villages anyway.  Because they come to the cities to work, end up feeling homesick, and just decide that CNY holiday is a good time to quit work.  This is an annual problem with any production in china, so how amplified will it be this year?  Schools in China are supposedly not returning until the end of Feb.   

Now I am really really wishing our land purchase had gone thru, and that we had already started the wife's immigration paperwork.  

Thank you for that post , I can see tourism tanking in the Phil's and other south east Asian countries,  I am going by the people from Thailand  being interviewed by BBC and Sky news 

Your insite into chinese workers habits was welcome 

[bastonjock]

The latest on bbc is that there are now 62 confirmed cases on a cruise ship with 3600 people on board ,the ship is being quarantined offshore, passengers have been seeing posting flags with the message " low on medicine "

[GeoffH]

4 hours ago, Tommy T. said:

Duque says Philippines is not a third world country with weak healthcare system; reports show otherwise

My understanding of the quote is he is saying that the Philippines is a 'middle income country' (and it does meet the definition for that; GNI of around $3,500 so it is in the middle income GNI range). 

 

[Mike J]

14 hours ago, Tommy T. said:

Duque says Philippines is not a third world country with weak healthcare system; reports show otherwise

Did Mr. Dugue explain how and why polio has re emerged as a health threat here in the Philippines? 

[Tommy T.]

And just to make sure everyone doesn't relax too much regarding the corona virus, there was this story today on MSNBC Philippines:

https://www.msn.com/en-ph/news/world/china-faces-h5n1-bird-flu-outbreak-amid-coronavirus-epidemic/ar-BBZJTQR?li=BBr8Mkn

China Faces H5N1 Bird Flu Outbreak Amid Coronavirus Epidemic

China’s local government and public health officials are currently hard at work trying to contain and stop the coronavirus outbreak, which has already been declared a global public health emergency due to the amount of people it has infected and killed. However, while China itself already didn’t have its hands, full with the current outbreak, officials now announced that there’s also a new bird flu outbreak in the country.

On an announcement made Saturday, China's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs revealed an outbreak of a highly pathogenic strain of H5N1 bird flu at a farm located in the southern province of Hunan. An infection that can kill poultry and humans alike, it has, fortunately, hasn’t infected any humans yet. However, the new outbreak is also revealing a disturbing pattern that can have very grave global complications, what with China rising to global prominence in a world that’s becoming more interconnected by the day.

As per the latest release, the disease has already managed to kill 4,500 chickens in Hunan province alone, pushing the local government to cull around 1,800 chickens in order to hopefully prevent it from spreading.

The country is also not alone in trying to stop the spreading of the virus. Just earlier this week, reports revealed that authorities in India has also started culling chickens and destroying any eggs in order to contain the virus. In recent weeks, Europe has also been affected by the H5N8 virus, which is a different strain.

With that in mind, a report by the United States Geological survey stated that there’s no need to panic at the moment because the virus being “highly pathogenic” refers to its ability to kill chickens, and not humans.

“Human cases of H5N1 avian influenza occur occasionally, but it is difficult to transmit the infection from person to person. When people do become infected, the mortality rate is about 60 percent. Influenza viruses constantly undergo genetic changes. It would be a cause for concern, should the H5N1 virus become more easily transmissible among humans,” WHO said in a statement.

Nevertheless, experts are still seeing it as a ticking time bomb, what with a staggering 60 percent mortality rate.

[hk blues]

13 hours ago, GeoffH said:

My understanding of the quote is he is saying that the Philippines is a 'middle income country' (and it does meet the definition for that; GNI of around $3,500 so it is in the middle income GNI range). 

 

Yes, agreed. I feel the statement saying ".. reports show otherwise" is a tad mischevious for want of a better word. A country surely cannot be either developed or 3rd world with no middle ground?  Further, the HDI places it 106th from 189 - hardly a bottom ranker. Whilst the healthcare here may not be up to the high standards of some Western countries, anyone who has been exposed to it would be being very uncharitable to describe it as 3rd world. Out in the sticks maybe, but we could make the same criticism of many developed countries.

[Dave Hounddriver]

2 hours ago, hk blues said:

Whilst the healthcare here may not be up to the high standards of some Western countries, anyone who has been exposed to it would be being very uncharitable to describe it as 3rd world.

I am, therefore, uncharitable.

Yes there is a a middle ground for healthcare.  I would look for it in Thailand, according to the accounts of friends.  I would be uncharitable when describing the Philippine healthcare.  I would lay odds that any of us "over 65s" who end up in a Philippine hospital with Corona virus would get a bed to lay in and caring words as we pass away.  The caring words would be something like "Well he is old anyway so nothing we can do except make his passing a little less painful".  (Yes  I have heard these words spoken by Philippine doctors at the bedside of foreigners with a "normal" flu that turned to pneumonia and killed them.")