Air Pollution Is Significantly Down In These Cities

Follow Us by Clicking Here

COVID-19 新冠肺炎时事

Till 3:00pm, April 22, 2020, the coronavirus COVID-19 is affecting 210 countries and territories around the world and 1 international conveyance (the Diamond Princess cruise ship harbored in Yokohama, Japan). There are totally 2557,994 COVID-19 cases in the world and 177,688 people have died. 

Get informed with the latest epidemic updates, simply send the keyword "Virus" to MORE Hangzhou's official WeChat account: MOREmagazine to get the updated statues.

Air Pollution Is Significantly Down In Cities Because Of Coronavirus Lockdowns

▲ The sudden fall in pollutants and the subsequent blue skies signal a dramatic shift for India

Lockdowns restricting travel and industry imposed to halt the spread of coronavirus have resulted in unprecedented reductions in deadly air pollution around the world, new analysis shows.

Major cities that suffer from the world's worst air pollution have seen reductions of deadly particulate matter by up to 60% from the previous year, during a three-week lockdowns period.

Researchers from IQAir -- a global air quality information and tech company -- studied 10 major cities around the world which have relatively high numbers of coronavirus cases and COVID-19 lockdown measures.

▲ Air pollution plummets 30% in Northeast US amid lockdowns

The study compared levels of harmful microscopic particulate matter known as PM 2.5. The pollutant, which is smaller than 2.5 micrometres in diameter, is considered particularly dangerous as it can lodge deep into the lungs and pass into other organs and the bloodstream, causing serious health risks.

Seven out of the 10 cities studied, including New Delhi, Seoul, Wuhan and Mumbai, saw significant improvements in air quality. Those with historically higher levels of PM2.5 pollution witnessed the most substantial drops in pollution.

     ADVERTISEMENT     

 — Set Menu —

The Steakhouse

@ Grand Hyatt Hangzhou 

👈  Slide to see the food pictures

     左右滑动查看菜品照片

Virgin Australia Enters Bankruptcy Proceedings As Sales Plunge

▲ Virgin Australia plans to continue to operate scheduled domestic and international flights to help transport essential workers, maintain freight corridors and return Australians home. Loren Elliott/Reuters

Virgin Australia Holdings Ltd says it has entered voluntary administration to recapitalise the business and emerge in a stronger financial position after being battered by the coronavirus crisis and a high debt load.

Consultancy firm Deloitte has been appointed as the administrator, Virgin said in a statement on Tuesday, after the airline was unable to secure a 1.4 billion Australian dollar ($887.60m) loan from the federal government.

Administration is Australia's closest equivalent to the Chapter 11 bankruptcy provisions used to restructure companies in the United States, and provides companies facing insolvency some protection from the claims of their creditors.

Virgin said the current management team led by Chief Executive Paul Scurrah would continue to run the business and it would still operate scheduled domestic and international flights to help transport essential workers, maintain freight corridors and return Australians home.

Virgin employs 10,000 people directly and 6,000 people indirectly in competition with larger rival Qantas Airways Ltd, which would have a virtual monopoly in Australia if Virgin stopped flying. Qantas shares jumped as much as 7.2 percent on Tuesday to their highest level since March 12, before falling back to 1.4 percent in afternoon trade.

Branson said on Twitter that his company would work with administrators, the management team, investors and government to get Virgin Australia back up and running.

     ADVERTISEMENT     

COVID-19 Virus Lingers Longer in Sicker Patients

The new coronavirus lingers for as long as three weeks in the bodies of patients with severe disease, Chinese researchers reported Tuesday.

The virus can be found deep in the lungs and in the stool of patients, and the sicker they are, the longer it stays, the team at a hospital in China’s Zhejiang province reported. But the virus was found in the urine of patients less than half the time, and rarely in the blood at first. 

Their report provides another piece of evidence about the pattern of disease in COVID-19 patients. It published in the BMJ. Unlike many recently released studies about the coronavirus, this one has gone through peer review, which means other experts have reviewed the findings.

The team tested 96 patients treated in their hospital for COVID-19 between January and March. They tested samples from the nose and throat, from deeper in the respiratory system, in the blood, stool and urine. They wanted to see how long people had virus in their systems and whether it was likely to spread in various ways. The findings support other studies showing that the virus could spread in stool from infected people.

In general, the sicker people were, the longer the virus could be detected. That could be important for doctors to know, so they can predict which patients will fare better, and, perhaps, how long they may remain infectious to others. 

“The median duration of virus in respiratory samples was 18 days,” they wrote. 

More on this: An earlier Chinese study showed that people without symptoms had just as much virus in their noses as people who had COVID-19 symptoms – something that indicated people who are not sick could be just as likely to spread virus as people who are.

The team in Zhejiang found that sicker people had more virus deeper in their respiratory tracts, however.

They also found differences between men and women with COVID-19. “In this study, we found that the duration of virus was significantly longer in men than in women,” they wrote.

“Our results shed light on the causes of disease severity in men in terms of the duration of the virus. In addition to differences in immune status between men and women, it has also been reported to be related to differences in hormone levels,” the team wrote.

Latest From the World

UK to start human vaccine trials: Human coronavirus vaccine trials will begin on Thursday in Oxford, UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock said today.

Holidays on hold: Indonesia has banned all citizens from traveling to their hometowns for Eid al-Fitr celebrations in an effort to contain the spread of the virus. Millions of people traditionally make the annual trip to see their families.

Italy's plan to fight the virus: The country's prime minister unveiled a five-point plan to handle the coronavirus outbreak that will include social distancing, reinforcing the country's beleaguered health care system and contact tracing.

About 2300 people have undergone free nuclear acid tests, after a Starbucks staff in a Guangzhou shopping mall tested positive for COVID19 and sent to the hospital on Saturday. The store was closed and disinfected.

Guangzhou in South China's Guangdong Province will conduct COVID19 nucleic acid tests for all teachers and students returning school, including 30,000 teaching staff and 167,000 students in their final year of senior and junior high schools.

Scan the QR code below to read HANGZHOU NON-OFFICIAL HOTLINE WIKI for frequently Asked Questions (FAQ), tutorials and tips of COVID-19.

 MORE

 If you like this post, don't hesitate to repost! 

 如果你喜欢这条微信, 那就转发给你的朋友们吧! 

 You Might Also Like 

Follow MORE's WeChat to find out 

what's going on around town 长按二维码关注我们

| CONTACT US 联系我们 |

Advertisement Cooperation

广 告 合 作

 WeChat: Hangzhouvian

QQ: 511560694

TEL: [phone]

Email: [e-mail]

Tell Us About A Good Place

爆 料 一 个 好 地 方

 WeChat: Hangzhouvian

Email: [e-mail]