Better safe than sorry: people who had not completed their vaccination, either with a booster or prime vaccinations, should be masked when in public, say health experts.
PETALING JAYA: With the rise in Covid-19 cases of late and more Hari Raya social gatherings expected, public health experts are suggesting that face masks be worn in public.
High risks individuals, such as the elderly, the obese, those with high comorbidities and immunocompromised issues such as diabetes and cancer, are among those who are at risk of an infection or re-infection.
“As such, they are highly encouraged to wear masks,” said Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia public health expert Prof Dr Sharifa Ezat Wan Puteh.
Likewise, she said people who had not completed their vaccination, either with a booster or prime vaccinations, should be masked when in public.
“It is better to be safe than sorry. Get yourself vaccinated, including the boosters. If you’re at high risk, wear a mask in public areas where there are many people who may be transmitting or carrying the virus,” she said.
She also spoke about an upsurge in cases at certain schools, so students who are at risk should mask up.
“The increase in Covid-19 cases is expected, due to a few highly transmissible Omicron strains, unmasking and many of us moving freely across states and in our workplaces.
“However, the main issue is whether the rise in cases will lead to hospitalisation or even deaths,” she said.
A Health Ministry statement on April 13 said that Covid-19 hospital admission had increased by 17.6% in the beginning of April compared to the previous month.
Health Minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa said 63.8% involved patients aged 60 and above, while 90.7% were among those with comorbidities.
Most of them had mild symptoms and deaths among patients who were not vaccinated was six times higher than those who received a single dose, she added.
Prof Dr Moy Foong Ming of Universiti Malaya’s Department of Social and Preventive Medicine suggested that the ministry should intensify its public messages on the importance of masking and encourage the people to do so during the surge in cases.
As for Covid-19 infections in schools, she said that parents should not send their children, who showed symptoms, to school.
“The school management should be alert to the health status of their staff and students. Take appropriate action when any of the staff or students are unwell,” she said.
However, experts like Dr Moy are of the view that it is not necessary to make it mandatory for people to wear mask.
She said that making masks mandatory was no longer feasible as the country was in the transition to the endemic phase.
“We are to co-exist with the virus. The public should have internalised the preventive measures and carry them out voluntarily when there is a surge in cases,” she said.
“If masking is made compulsory, then there should be punitive measures on those who don’t comply.
“This will not educate the public but rather they mask up because of fear of possible punitive action taken against them.”
Malaysian Public Health Physicians Association president Datuk Dr Zainal Ariffin Omar also said that masking should not be made mandatory but strongly encouraged.
“I think the public will not be too receptive if mandatory masking and added regulations are imposed,” he said.
He said that people should be encouraged to self-test and self-quarantine should they show symptoms.
Universiti Putra Malaysia medical epidemiologist Assoc Prof Dr Malina Osman said current measures could be maintained but those who tested positive must wear a mask to protect others.
“Those who are sick should stay at home, and be quarantined. If they need to be in public, wearing a mask is a must,” she said.
She added that the decision to make masking compulsory should only be made when the rise of Covid-19 cases posed a threat to the country’s healthcare system.
“Currently, there is no such indication, so there is no urgent need to make it compulsory,” she said.
However, she said there was a need to enhance public awareness, so that the people could be responsible to each other.
Dr Malina said the rise in cases was most likely due to the current strain being highly infectious.
“In general, we have to be more cautious. As such, people are encouraged to mask up in public, be mindful of hand hygiene and cough etiquette,” she said.
Quantum chips have become an important development track for the semiconductor industry and a key component in the deployment of quantum computing technology.
The Chinese manufacturer Benyuan Quantum has built the first quantum chip production line in China, laying the foundation for the mass production of quantum chips in China.
Following the quantum chip production line, China has made another breakthrough in quantum technology and created a "quantum chip refrigerator".
Photo: Screenshot of video from Science and Technology Daily
China's
first "refrigerator for quantum chips" has been put into use to maintain a stable environment and enable the smooth operation of quantum
chips, scientists revealed on Wednesday.
The "refrigerator," actually a high-vacuum box, has three cavities for storage and each can be controlled separately.
A
smart system monitors the cavities in real time to maintain a high-vacuum state, according to a statement by the developer of the
device, Origin Quantum Computing Technology Co, which is based in East China's Anhui Province.
A human-computer interaction function guarantees automated operation of the device, read the statement.
The Global Times learned from Origin Quantum that compared with a classic integrated circuit, a quantum chip requires a more complicated manufacturing process. Temperatures and conditions in the chip's
environment, such as noise, vibration, electromagnetic waves and even super-small particles, would have an impact on the quantum chip.
If
the strict environmental conditions are not maintained, superconducting materials can easily react chemically with oxygen and water vapor in
the air, absorbing various impurities. As a result, the key components of the chip may fail to burn in and would not function correctly.
Scientists have compared the burn-in process with "food going bad" in the air and
dubbed the high-vacuum box as a "refrigerator for quantum chips."
Quantum chips are the "brains" of quantum computers, which use quantum
mechanics to perform certain computations far more efficiently than a regular computer.
Although the general public is mostly
unfamiliar with quantum computers and their capabilities, the Spring Festival box office hit The Wandering Earth II offered a fictional
opportunity for people to comprehend the immense computing power these machines possess.
China's Innovations That Have Sparked International Interest | Brics | China Technology
#Chinatechnology#China#chinaeconomy
China's Innovations That Have Sparked International Interest | Brics | China Technology
Investigate China's various innovations, from the BRICS countries to cutting-edge technology, and understand how these have sparked an international interest. Learn about the impact China has had on the world, and how its projects have been duplicated around the globe.
Stating it clearly: A banner is hung at the
entrance stating the ban on short-term homestays at one of the apartments in Gelugor, Penang.ZHAFARAN NASIB/The Star
GEORGE TOWN: Residential property investors hoping to make a killing from the short-term stay business are likely to find it an uphill task with the new regulations in place.
State local government, housing, town and country planning committee chairman Jagdeep Singh Deo said other residents would now need to give their consent to units being used for short-term stays.
“I do not think it will be easy for one to gain approval from all other residents in a high-rise building. Even then, there are limitations.
“They will need to have a general meeting and seek approval.”
Jagdeep said the Penang government has two guidelines for short-term stays – one for high-rises and the other for landed properties.
“Both guidelines were approved by the state executive council on March 8 and will now be enforced.
“We have received many complaints regarding short-term stays. Such practices disrupt the lives of other residents,” he said.
“We formulated these guidelines not to deny property owners the right to rent them out, but to regulate short-term stays.”
Jagdeep said that for stratified projects classified as residential, one must first obtain approval from the joint management body (JMB) or management corporation (MC) through an AGM, on top of complying with other terms in the guidelines.
“Serviced apartments classified as being in a commercial zone must comply as well.
“If approval is given (for the residential or commercial properties), the short-term stay must not be for more than three days per reservation.
“On top of that, each unit must not be booked for more than 180 days in a year,” he added.
Jagdeep said many residential high-rise buildings had put up banners clearly stating that short-term stays are not allowed.
“It is clear that it will be difficult for people to convince many JMBs or MCs to allow them to use their units in that way,” he said.
Jagdeep said hotels in Penang are well equipped to cater to the needs of tourists.
“We must be fair to the people and the tourism sector,” he said.
Malaysian Association of Hotels (MAH) national vice-president Datuk Khoo Boo Lim said the guidelines would help hotels.
“We are not able to stop them from operating but with rules in place, there will be no abuse.
“They will need to follow guidelines and only those who comply will be allowed to operate.
“This will definitely help hotels as the number of short-term stay units will drop,” he said.
However, the Asia Travel Technology Industry Association (Attia) urged the state government to reconsider its decision to enforce the new guidelines.
It said the new guidelines are “untested, disproportionate, and complicated”.
“The Penang Government should have considered co-regulation and self-regulation approaches, such as voluntary code-of-conduct style frameworks, which have successfully reduced noise and nuisance issues in short-term stay homes without imposing onerous requirements,” the association said in a recent statement.
Attia said most short-term stay hosts are individuals and not companies, and such individuals could be “pushed out from participating in the lucrative sharing economy”.
The association said short-term stays complement hotels by catering to “price-sensitive digital nomads and youth travellers”, and also families wanting to rent a whole house for their holidays.
Attia is an NGO representing global businesses dealing in travel and tourism in Asia Pacific, including online room and flight booking portals.
1 day ago — SINGAPORE, April 14 (Bernama) -- Singapore has been in the middle of another COVID-19 infection wave for the past month, said the republic's ...
Clare Daly, a member of the European Parliament from Ireland, sat down with CGTN reporter Li Jingjing in Beijing on April 2 to discuss the current challenges Europe is facing and the importance of developing deeper and more stable ties with China. Daly believes most politicians in the EU understand the interconnectedness of relations with China and the necessity of it for the economy. Despite this, anti-China rhetoric is still on the rise as Europe finds itself under immense pressure from the United States.
China and Europe.
Editor's Note:
A flurry of trips by European leaders to China are taking place. It is in line with the interests of European citizens, and reflects a genuine and welcome effort on behalf of China to try and develop international relations, Clare Daly (Daly), an Irish politician and member of the European Parliament, told Global Times (GT) reporters Li Aixin and Wang Zixuan in an interview before wrapping up her China visit.
GT: During your China visit, there have been some European leaders coming to China or planning to visit China. What signal do you think it conveys?
Daly: We found it very interesting that everybody is coming to China. Brazilian President Lula is coming soon also. Everybody is beating at the door here. I think what it reflects is a very genuine and welcome effort on behalf of China to try and develop international relations.
To be honest, the relations between the EU and China have not been good. We have noticed, in the period of time since we have been in the European Parliament, hostility and anti-Chinese rhetoric creeping into the debates. That's not in the EU's interest. It doesn't make any sense.
We have tried to understand where it comes from. The only conclusion we can come to is that China is a "threat" to US economic interests, not security interests. In desperation, they [the US] are trying to drag the EU with them into their camp. But we don't think anybody should have camps.
China is a hugely important world economy. It's in the interests of the EU to have good relations with China. From what we've seen, [French] President Macron has improved his relations with China. The comments before European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen came were rude, undiplomatic, arrogant and beyond what the EU should be doing. It was quite disgraceful diplomatically. But this is what we have come to expect from the EU.
EU President Ursula von der Leyen https://youtube.com/shorts/MyYl2ViLyLw?feature=share via @YouTube
We have a very weak leadership that is behaving in a way that is not in the interests of EU citizens. They need to stay on side with China, but they are bending the knee to the US like they always do. We think they should develop an independent path and forge good relations with everybody.
GT: Do you think the visits by European leaders might show that the EU's political circle is turning toward a more rational and practical mentality toward China?
Daly: I would like to think that, but I've seen too much of the EU think that rationality is part of their plan. Unfortunately, we shot ourselves in our two feet in terms of our relations with Russia in response to the war, rather than championing peace, as we should have been doing. We have been ensuring that the conflict continues there.
Would they suddenly become intelligent and rational? Unfortunately, I don't think so. I think it's probably a result of Chinese diplomacy. Let's hope that the outcome is better relations. I think the visits will certainly help.
More important, in some ways, is the role that China is playing now on the world stage in terms of international affairs, arguing for peace in Ukraine. That is very welcome, because for too long, the world has been dominated by the US who has acted in their own interests, as all countries do. But unfortunately, that interest was to the detriment of people all over the world, and all of us are paying a price for that. We would like to see a real return to international law and multilateral arrangements, which is not really possible in a US-dominated world.
GT: When the US media discussed the European leaders' visits to China, they said French diplomacy was undermining US efforts to reign China in. What's your take in this?
Daly: This is the constant mantra from the US, this is what they do all of the time. Sadly, they generally bring the EU with them and the EU repeats this nonsense as well. It just reveals that China is an economic "threat" to the US in terms their dominant position.
The US has been working full time to drive a wedge between the EU and China and Russia and everybody else. They are trying to hang on to their global position, which they are losing and will lose and have lost in reality. They've lost the hearts and minds of most of the world's population, but they are desperately trying to keep the EU, maybe Australia and the UK, as the last group of people to bring with them.
Unfortunately, those countries have a disproportionate influence on international bodies, way beyond their numbers. But we're in a new dawn of world relations and the old one, represented by the US and sadly the EU, is in decline. The EU doesn't have to be, and the US doesn't either. The US should have good relations with China. Everybody should work with everybody to their own mutual benefit. Sadly, the military industrial complex that dominates the political agenda in the US wanted a different way, and they need to have enemies and bad guys to justify the expenditure.
Clare Daly. Photo: Courtesy of Daly
GT: How would you describe US and EU's role in the world?
Daly: What I think is that the global rule of the US is facing a long and agonizing death. Their days are coming to an end, but that death agony is going to be protracted and take some time.
We're living in an incredibly dangerous period in world history where there is an attempt to redevelop Cold War politics. Most of it is coming from the US. Sadly, the EU, rather than being on the side of saying, "no, we're not interested in that," have sided with the US in that agenda and they're playing that game.
They have sided into the "bad guys, good guys" narrative. They call it democracy vs authoritarianism, which is absolutely ridiculous. We have a chance to vote every five years. Usually the people we vote for tell lies and then they come into power, there's nothing we can do about it. So what is democracy? It's a bit crazy.
Europe should be aligning with the countries that form the majority of the world's population, which is outside the Global North, and arguing for peace in an independent way and working with everybody. They are not doing that. Hopefully. That will change.
GT: What do you think of China's position paper on the political settlement of the Ukraine crisis, and in what ways can China and Europe work together to ease or maybe end the conflict?
Daly: We very much welcome it. We are for peace, we are against war. We thought it was really helpful that the Chinese did come up with a peace plan. It's not detailed, it's common sense. It's what we have been saying since the beginning in the parliament. We think that Russia made a very big mistake. A lot of people have suffered since then and still are. World relations are in a very difficult place. The only way out of that is through peace and dialogue.
I think the proposal was helpful, but people need to get behind it. The problem is that Europe is still continuing to provide arms for Ukraine. They're still increasing and escalating the rhetoric and the hostility, which is growing all the time. When these things happen, it can get to a place where it's very hard to claw back.
We believe that President Lula's visit to China is partly linked with trying to see a peace plan for Ukraine. How sad that the leadership of the EU, on the continent of Europe, where the war is on, doesn't seem to be bothered.
It shows how much in control of the agenda is the military industrial complex, particularly in the US but right across Europe. Now we see a securitized agenda, in which there are attempts to even drag China into that as well through escalating tensions in Taiwan and so on.
GT: As the victim of the Nord Stream pipeline sabotage, why is Europe not carrying out a joint investigation into the bombing?
Daly: Because they're afraid of the truth - the only explanation that would make sense. Early on, they tried to say it was Russia who did it. The idea that they might blow up their own pipelines when they could just turn it off was a bit crazy. I'm glad that they have abandoned that lunacy.
If it was the US, which is entirely possible, then that is an act of war by the US, our supposed like-minded partner and friend. Your friends don't go around doing things like that. The ramifications will be enormous.
So the only reason is they know the answer or they are afraid of the answer, and they don't want to go there. But can you imagine if there was any suspicion or suggestion that China might have been involved in doing it, or Iran, or somebody like that, you would have had massive calls in the international community for sanctions, for investigations, meetings, everything. But now, the silence. The silence tells its own story.
GT: In the European Parliament, have you sensed pressure because of your position toward China?
Daly: We wouldn't call it pressure, but there is a racism there. There is anti-China racism and stereotyping. I find it very strange to understand where that has come from.
My belief is that it has to be created. When I was in school and when China began to come onto the world stage and opened up, everybody wanted to learn Chinese. If you were intelligent and you were really in the top, you would learn Chinese. If anybody went to China, people will be, "wow, you've gone to China, that's the cutting edge."
That's about 30 years ago. Now if you say you're going to China, people go, "Why are you going to China? That's scary! They're kind of the enemy." So how did we get into that place?
The media in Ireland has demonized us, [me and] my colleague Mick Wallace, who is a kind of a celebrity in Chinese state media. They say we are the puppets of authoritarian regimes, because some of the comments that we make may have been covered on Chinese television, but the comments we make are covered in Irish television, on American television. It doesn't make us puppets of Europe or America.
It's ignorance, but it doesn't change anything. Our job is to use the chance we have in the parliament of Europe, which is very unrepresentative of the citizens of Europe. So don't worry, if crazy people in the European Parliament are voting on stupid motions that make no sense, our job is to use that platform to represent the interests of the citizens of Europe. The interest of the citizens of Europe is to have good relations with China.
And it's a bit crazy because all of the media and some of the politicians in the countries who complain - they all have diplomatic relations with China, they all have business relations with China.
Relations are bad. It's not China's fault, I think China is doing what it can do. But the door isn't open enough. So hopefully some of these visits now are the beginning of the door opening, the beginning of breaking that US domination and the idea that the EU must be in their camp and not China's camp.
The countries where most people in the world live, big economies, Brazil, South Africa, India, all those emerging economies, they're all going to follow China. And the Global North will be sitting in that little corner thinking they're the most important when the world has changed dramatically when they were asleep.
Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang and visiting Germany Foreign Minister
Annalena Baerbock had comprehensive, candid and in-depth communication on Friday over China-Germany and China-EU relations as well as
international and regional issues, as Macron's calls for Europe's strategic autonomy made waves within the continent and across the
Atlantic.
Germany's Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock began her three-day visit in North China's Tianjin on Thursday, as Europe is
having a major debate in recent days on how to deal with China, after French President Emmanuel Macron's call for Europe to reduce its
reliance on the US drew ire from the US while winning support inside Europe.
By Chen Qingqing and Yu Xi | 2023/4/13 23:42:57
Europe should be aligning with the countries that form the majority of the world's population, which is outside ...
European plane maker Airbus on Friday unveiled a research center in Suzhou, East China's Jiangsu
Province, pushing forward the technological infrastructure through digitalization, a fresh step show-ing European companies are further
expanding tech investment in the country.
‘Use science, not politics’ 
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