On 4/9/2021 at 11:56 AM, John Drake said:

From Cambodia directly to Thonglor?

yep, Cambodian casino to vip knocking shop in one easy move

20 minutes ago, Excel said:

yep, Cambodian casino to vip knocking shop in one easy move

lol teerak is gonna be so upset when she finds out she is infected with a low-so virus coz her husband went to the border casino last month ????

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but it could be from migrant workers or Thais sneaking across the border

Oh so close! almost ownership but not quite let's call it 50% it's better than nothing I suppose a bit like a sinovac vaccine ????

1 hour ago, Excel said:

yep, Cambodian casino to vip knocking shop in one easy move

That's the rumor.  And probably true.  Not the first time this has happened.  Remember the outbreak last year in the North?  Returning Thais from the Cambo casino.

2 hours ago, Jeffr2 said:

That's the rumor.  And probably true.  Not the first time this has happened.  Remember the outbreak last year in the North?  Returning Thais from the Cambo casino.

Myanmar actually, but yes.

10 minutes ago, sungod said:

Myanmar actually, but yes.

Ah...right.  Now Cambodia?  Jeez.....when will these people learn.

Thankfully it can be blamed on Cambodia. 

5 hours ago, Caldera said:

Thankfully it can be blamed on Cambodia. 

and not the dirty UK Farang??  

On 4/10/2021 at 2:39 AM, lkv said:

Not to worry. Sinovac has an efficacy rate of just over 50% for 2 doses, and 3% (yes),  for the first dose only.

 

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3128886/chile-covid-19-vaccination-drive-adds-sinovac-efficacy-data

 

Maybe Astra Zeneca will save Thailand. Europe might shortly start donating, we have plenty of supply and no demand in the EU.

In the context of epidemiology efficacy and effectiveness are technical terms that have nothing to do with how potent a vaccine is in preventing death and serious symptoms requiring hospitalization. In those same reports that say Sinovac's vaccine is 50% effective, it's also noted that its stopping power against death and serious symptoms is virtually 100% .

On 4/10/2021 at 6:42 AM, PatOngo said:

I blame the "humans" that ate the bats then spread the filthy, devastating virus! The originators MUST be held accountable!

Genomic sequencing clearly indicates that the virus did not cross over directly from bats to humans but came via an intermediate species, so people eating bats had nothing to do with it.

On 4/10/2021 at 7:29 AM, mikebell said:

China did not welcome WHO officials nor were the officials satisfied with the data given.  The Wu-Han flu was in existence for months before China admitted it.

Don't worry, this virus has been all around the world and now it's back in South East Asia, it's on a long trip via Europe all the way back to China.

 

It will get back into China through Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam, the same way it sneaked its way into each of those countries over the borders.

 

What goes around really does come around, China is going to be dealing with this new variant very soon, if not already.

 

On 4/13/2021 at 1:38 PM, GroveHillWanderer said:

Genomic sequencing clearly indicates that the virus did not cross over directly from bats to humans but came via an intermediate species, so people eating bats had nothing to do with it.

Don't let that get in the way of racism or xenophobia though. 

On 4/9/2021 at 12:39 PM, ThailandRyan said:

Wait, there are infections in Cambodia.  I was told there were minimal cases there, and even one member here on TV who lives there indicated it was under control and there had never been a true outbreak.  Maybe I am being facetious, but why lay the blame on anyone country.  The fact is it is here and needs to be dealt with.  They worry to much about where something came from instead of getting ahead of the issue and stopping mass travel which will just assist in the spread of the virus.  I wish everyone a safe Songkran, drive carefully, and keep social distancing and sanitizing.

 

Today there are being reported 559 new cases of Covid.  Just watching the news now.

All the Asian countries are required to blame someone else. They care about face more than almost everything else. That's how this likely started, after all. China couldn't admit it'd made a mistake and rather kills tens of millions of people. 

 

You will not see any Asian countries reporting on new variants that develop in their countries for this reason as well. Only non Asian countries will report on variants. 

 

There could very well be more deadly or more contagious variants in Asian countries. And, in fact it's likely. 

On 4/9/2021 at 12:30 PM, webfact said:

British variant

 

Wow. You guys are allowing this label? Odd 

 

Would the South Africa variant then be the Black South African variant or something else? 

 

China and other Asian countries are loving this. Pretty soon they'll have us calling them the Caucasian Variant, Black African Variant, etc. Very clever those Chinese. 

 

On 4/10/2021 at 7:29 AM, mikebell said:

China did not welcome WHO officials nor were the officials satisfied with the data given.  The Wu-Han flu was in existence for months before China admitted it.

 

Do you really think that China as an entity, is any better or worse than USA, UK or any one of a hundred other contenders?

 

If you do, you're whistling Dixie. Put your faith in Xi, Biden or Trump? why? they're all the same, just some are more skilled at managing their dimwits than the others.

 

Was COVID-19 deliberately culled and released? Perhaps. You don't agree? OK. Do I have any proof? No. But I do understand people, though I often wish I didn't, it would certainly save some head-shaking.

 

WW3? No. Brinksmanship? Yep. Bluffing.

 

China has ambitions, wants a bigger slice of the cake ad has the population and the Will to achieve it. USA wants to frustrate those ambitions but no longer has the wherewithal or the principal. or the zeal or the dsense of mission. You can forget the USA for at least 10 years, even if it gets past the orange guy, and that won't be without a fight.

 

UK? Oh dear, what a pity, the UK doesn't count for anything any more, Holy Loch or no Holy Loch.

 

On 4/13/2021 at 10:38 AM, GroveHillWanderer said:

Genomic sequencing clearly indicates that the virus did not cross over directly from bats to humans but came via an intermediate species, so people eating bats had nothing to do with it.

 

Can you kindly provide that data?  Been looking for it up and down. So far their is no indication where the original came from.  The data, not opinions and news articles.

 

On 4/12/2021 at 10:07 AM, Jeffr2 said:

Ah...right.  Now Cambodia?  Jeez.....when will these people learn.

They won't. They don't need to. They have the Don on their side. Water into wine, pigs over the cliff. That sort of thing... Besides. 'er indoors got some more gold last month again: guaranteed memory lapse.

17 hours ago, rabas said:

 

Can you kindly provide that data?  Been looking for it up and down. So far their is no indication where the original came from.  The data, not opinions and news articles.

 

It's true that the origins and the route SARS-CoV-2 took in order to infect humans is not definitively proven but I think it's fairly clear based on the published research that it did not come directly from bats to humans.

 

Try the following research paper that is very informative.

 

A Genomic Perspective on the Origin and Emergence of SARS-CoV-2

 

Of course, it's couched in the more circumspect type of language that scientists always use but I think its findings make it highly unlikely this virus came directly from bats.

 

For instance, one thing it points out is that:

 

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Both sequence and structural comparisons suggest that the SARS-CoV-2 RBD is well suited for binding to the human ACE2 receptor ...

 

Given that the bat virus RaTG13, that is closest in genomic terms to SARS-CoV-2 and is often cited as the most likely bat precursor to this novel coronavirus, does not bind to the human ACE2 receptor, this suggests an intermediate species is involved.

Here's another paper that talks in a more definitive way about how an intermediate species must have been involved.

 

As it states:

 

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Several viruses in circulation in animals with a greater degree of homology to SARS-CoV-2 have been identified and proposed to be likely progenitors of SARS-CoV-2. RaTG13, identified in 2016 and the most likely contender identified thus far, is a bat coronavirus which shares 96% of its genome with SARS-CoV-2.

 

Two primary factors, however, have led the scientific community to conclude that humans were initially infected by a virus that circulates in a second intermediate host species.

 

What is the intermediate host species of SARS-CoV-2?

 

Indeed, the very title of the paper takes it as a given that there is an intermediate species.

5 hours ago, GroveHillWanderer said:

It's true that the origins and the route SARS-CoV-2 took in order to infect humans is not definitively proven but I think it's fairly clear based on the published research that it did not come directly from bats to humans.

 

Try the following research paper that is very informative.

 

A Genomic Perspective on the Origin and Emergence of SARS-CoV-2

 

Of course, it's couched in the more circumspect type of language that scientists always use but I think its findings make it highly unlikely this virus came directly from bats.

 

For instance, one thing it points out is that:

 

Given that the bat virus RaTG13, that is closest in genomic terms to SARS-CoV-2 and is often cited as the most likely bat precursor to this novel coronavirus, does not bind to the human ACE2 receptor, this suggests an intermediate species is involved.

 

Thanks for the two excellent papers. First, my question was more about hard evidence supporting any specific route, rather than bat-to-human. Which intermediate species? Which bat to human path? What might have leaked? 

 

This is still hard to find and neither paper addresses it.  The first paper, by a well known Chinese researcher, was published very early in March 2020 when little was known, and before the Wuhan wet market was demoted as a likely origin. He did hint that infections pre-dated the market.

 

His general argument for intermediate species is that humans have little contact with bats. Although true, he doesn't mention handling infected bats in laboratories.  I think by now RaT13G is considered similar rather than a direct precursor. In late 2019, the Chinese discovered the even closer RmYN02, there are likely more.  As for ACE2, the top question may be how did SARS-2 instantly bind so well the human ACE2 receptors?  SARS-1 took months to get started.

 

Interestingly, on January 11, the author uploaded the first SARS-2 genome to an international database apparently before official authorization. China officially released it the next day. Then on January 13, Thailand released their sequence from Thailand's first patient. Some suggest he was a hero.

 

The second paper is mostly a perspective about weaknesses of intermediate species models, in a sense arguing my view.

 

"Despite unprecedented allocation of resources, efforts to confirm the mutation rate of SARS-CoV-2 have seemingly belied identifying the origins of SARS-CoV-2, and questions critical to our understanding of the origins of SARS-CoV-2 remain unanswered"

 

He suggests that for an intermediate species to explain SARS-2, an extra mechanism is needed to accelerate mutations, to make the timing fit. . One such mechanism is “serial passage”, which is used in labs to rapidly adapt viruses.

 

"In summary, to fully understand the origins of SARS-CoV-2 we must adjust our operating assumptions. … First and foremost, the scope of hosts must include those where serial passage has taken place or is likely to occur."

 

So although I may agree with all you said, I still scratch my head. Here is another more recent paper. I copy one of those famous scientific generalities. Cross-species recognition of SARS-CoV-2 to bat ACE2

 

"However, the origin of SARS-CoV-2 is full of uncertainties and whether or not there is an intermediate host is still unknown. "

 

On 4/15/2021 at 5:27 PM, Fex Bluse said:

All the Asian countries are required to blame someone else. They care about face more than almost everything else. That's how this likely started, after all. China couldn't admit it'd made a mistake and rather kills tens of millions of people. 

 

You will not see any Asian countries reporting on new variants that develop in their countries for this reason as well. Only non Asian countries will report on variants. 

 

There could very well be more deadly or more contagious variants in Asian countries. And, in fact it's likely. 

Sounds like you are blaming someone else for the highly contagious UK mutant strain that developed after millions in the UK were infected 

That is what the OP is about. You have gone off topic a bit.

 

Not sure where you are getting the “tens of millions” of deaths. I have told you a thousand times before not to exaggerate.

14 hours ago, Natai Beach said:

Sounds like you are blaming someone else for the highly contagious UK mutant strain that developed after millions in the UK were infected 

That is what the OP is about. You have gone off topic a bit.

 

Not sure where you are getting the “tens of millions” of deaths. I have told you a thousand times before not to exaggerate.

 

At least 5 million have died in China. Learn to scrutinize information, as I have ordered you before. Now goto your room. You're grounded until further notice. 

6 hours ago, Fex Bluse said:

 

At least 5 million have died in China. Learn to scrutinize information, as I have ordered you before. Now goto your room. You're grounded until further notice. 

 

Yes, lmao. 

 

Here in Shenzhen last night streets were filled with corpses from covid. 

 

Ah no, we were all just partying at clubs without masks ????

 

Silly....