#1 - Wuhan (Novel) Corona Virus - looming pandemy of deadly pneumonia?

Remdesivir
Gilead Sciences Inc (GILD) $66.53  0.66 1%


Medcram watch this: (reviews/explains)


►Gilead biotech company is working with officials in the U.S. and globally to test remdesivir in patients in China with coronavirus.

►study will recruit up to 270 patients with mild and moderate pneumonia due to coronavirus, Bloomberg reported, citing a Chinese news outlet, The Paper.

►Officials plant to conduct the study at the epicenter for the new strain of coronavirus in Wuhan. (already shipped/happening now)

►The first coronavirus patient in the U.S. improved after receiving remdesivir, the New England Journal of Medicine said Friday.

►The patient, a 35-year-old man, returned to Washington State on Jan. 15 after visiting his family in Wuhan, China. Four days later, he went to urgent care with a cough and fever. The patient quickly was hospitalized.

►Physicians treated him with remdesivir a week later. [day 7]

►[day 8] On the eighth day of hospitalization — following remdesivir treatment — his symptoms began to improve.

The news sent GILD stock as high as 8.7%, signaling the biotech stock's biggest intraday gain in eight years.

https://www.investors.com/news/technology/coronavirus-treatment-gild-stock-pops-new-testing-plans/?_lrsc=391c3efe-cbe6-47f7-be76-96f57b4e8a50

Hubei Facing Hospital Staffing Shortage (8:28 a.m. HK)
Hubei, the province under siege from the epidemic, is struggling to keep up with more than 22,000 confirmed coronavirus cases. Hubei is still facing a shortage of about 2,250 doctors and nurses, the vice governor of Hubei, Yang Yunyan, was cited as saying in the official Hubei Daily on Thursday. That comes even as the central government had sent in 10,596 medical professionals to help fight the epidemic as of Feb. 5. Yang said retired doctors and nurses should be encouraged to return to work.

Virus Pushes Robots to the Frontlines (8:51 a.m. HK)
The coronavirus outbreak, which has pushed the Chinese medical community into overdrive, has also prompted the country’s hospitals to more quickly adopt robots as medical assistants.
Telepresence bots that allow remote video communication, patient health monitoring and safe delivery of medical goods are growing in number on hospital floors in urban China. They’re now acting as a go-between that helps curb the spread of the coronavirus.

China Travel Bans Leave Thousands Stranded (9:47 a.m. HK)
China’s coronavirus outbreak has triggered an unprecedented clampdown on travel to and from the world’s second-largest economy, leaving thousands stranded across the globe and dealing a major blow to the international aviation industry.
At least 14 countries and territories, from the U.S. to India and Hong Kong, have introduced some form of China-related travel restrictions. Airlines suspended 26% of scheduled services in and out of the country from Jan. 23 to Feb. 3, according to Cirium, an air-travel analysis firm.

Australia to Quarantine Evacuees in Outback Camp (12:06 p.m. HK)
Australia said it’s preparing a former resources industry workers’ camp in the Outback to quarantine evacuees from coronavirus-stricken Wuhan.

Australia has quarantined the first wave of citizens returning from Wuhan at the Christmas Island asylum-seeker detention center, about 1,200 miles from the mainland.

Toyota Extends Plant Shutdown (1:21 p.m. HK)
Toyota Motor Corp. said it will extend the shutdown of its plants in China through Feb. 16, after saying last month it would halt production until Feb. 9. Toyota plans “to resume normal operations and deliver vehicles to customers as soon as is deemed safe and appropriate,” the company said in a statement. Non-production facility employees in China to resume work from Feb. 10,

Concerns coronavirus is going undetected in Indonesia - World’s fourth most populous country says it has no confirmed cases despite close links to China
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/feb/07/concerns-coronavirus-is-going-undetected-in-indonesia

Stricken cruise ship passengers 'abandoned at sea' after being denied entry to Japan
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-02-07/stricken-westerdam-cruise-ship-denied-entry-to-japan/11943860

the 'Westerdam' a Holland America Line ship is reportedly requesting help from the US Navy after with 1,455 passengers has been denied entry to Japan after days sailing "around in circles" in the South China Sea.

"Governments have to protect their citizens, so Japan has refused, the Philippines have refused, I think Korea refused yesterday and Taiwan threw us out.

He said the captain also advised them that Holland America Line was speaking with "the US Department of State and the US Navy to work out where the boat will go now".

"He said we have enough food and fuel for the rest of the journey, but he doesn't know where the journey is to," Mr Holst said.



"But if you were in Adelaide and someone announced that a cruise boat that had been in Hong Kong or China six days ago was calling in tomorrow, and 3,000 people were going to go shopping and eating and roaming around your city, there would be uproar from the people of South Australia,"

The Westerdam was on a 14-day Taiwan and Japan cruise that departed Hong Kong on February 1.

China’s Refiners Process 15% Less Crude (6:02 p.m. HK)
Oil refineries across China have cut the amount of crude they’re turning into fuels by around 15%, and could deepen those reductions in the coming weeks. State-owned and private plants have pared back refining by at least 2 million barrels a day over the last week, said people with knowledge of operations at the nation’s largest complexes.

Two Citizen Journalists Covering Virus Go Missing in China (5:36 p.m. HK)
Chinese citizen journalists Chen Qiushi and Fang Bin, who have served as the world’s eyes and ears in the city of Wuhan, are missing.
Fang hasn’t posted any videos since Thursday. He was previously detained briefly by authorities for his video of corpses in a hospital. When he filmed the dramatic moment people in hazmat suits broke down his apartment door to take him into quarantine, it sparked hundreds of comments urging the authorities to release him. Chen has also been out of reach for more than 20 hours.

Hong Kong Airport to Segregate China Flights: SCMP (5:52 p.m. HK)
Planes coming from and going to mainland China will depart and arrive at remote parking stands

China Urges Employees, Clients to Scour World for Masks (5:35 p.m. HK)
As the virus triggers shortages of medical supplies in China, businesses are urging employees and their clients to bring back face masks from overseas.
Meanwhile, alcohol and ethanol makers including Tsingtao Brewery Co. are shifting to produce disinfectant to help ease a shortage in medical grade alcohol, with an industry association urging others to follow suit.

Coronavirus claims world's most productive car factory.

South Korea's Hyundai suspends operations at giant Ulsan complex, due to difficulties getting parts from China https://t.co/9L0qSu27Wv pic.twitter.com/3DR4iO8Kt4

— AFP news agency (@AFP) February 7, 2020