China to "resolutely ban and harshly attack the illegal market and trade in wildlife"

[dalton99a]

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/01/world/coronavirus-news.html

China’s leader, Xi Jinping, says the country must strengthen its defenses against outbreaks.

China’s initial response to the coronavirus epidemic was marred by policy stumbles that fueled public anger, the nation’s leader, Xi Jinping, said in published speech excerpts that laid out his ideas for strengthening the country’s defenses against such outbreaks.

Mr. Xi’s comments, drawn from two internal speeches that he made in February, were published on Saturday in Qiushi, or “Seeking Truth,” the ruling Communist Party’s leading journal. They seemed intended to highlight the policy and legal changes that Mr. Xi intends to push to confront the epidemic.

Those include banning the trade in wildlife that scientists believe may have let the coronavirus jump from animals into the human population; more effective monitoring of potential epidemics; and stronger coordination to direct emergency medical supplies when an outbreak happens.

While praising the Chinese government’s response to the crisis, Mr. Xi also acknowledged problems, using blunter language than he has in previous public comments on the epidemic.

After more than a month of emergency measures that have locked down cities, towns and villages, and shut down much transportation, commerce and industry, China appears to be taming the new coronavirus, labeled Covid-19, that emerged late last year in Wuhan, a city in the country’s center. On Saturday, China officially recorded 573 new infections, and another 35 deaths, from the virus.

In his latest comments, Mr. Xi tried to look beyond the immediate crisis, laying out areas where he wants changed policy. These included:

Cracking down on the illegal trade in wildlife. Scientists generally believe that the coronavirus may have spread from a wholesale market in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei Province, where some vendors sold wildlife. They say the pathogen may have jumped from bats to other animals, possibly pangolins, and to humans.

“Resolutely ban and harshly attack the illegal market and trade in wildlife,” he said in the comments published Saturday. “Contain major public health hazards at their source.”

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[Eugene]

1. Good if they really do it, rather than making a big show

of appearing to do something.

[SunSeeker]

2. Maybe they'll finally stop eating pangolins now that it crashed their economy...

[sinkingfeeling]

4. +1000 And hopefully, it will help save rhinos somehow.

[BigmanPigman]

3. I read that it went from bats then to cats and dogs then to humans.

If it is a cultural and economic cuisine it may be difficult to do much from that end. In the future more monitoring, cooperation and supplies on hand is a good start.

[HAB911]

5. Too bad shark fins are not poisonous or at least infectious

[Crunchy Frog]

6. So something good is coming out of this. n/t