By Gabriel
Crossley , Kevin Yao
BEIJING (Reuters) - China’s economy picked up speed in the
fourth quarter, with growth beating expectations as it ended a rough
coronavirus-striken 2020 in remarkably good shape and remained poised to expand
further this year even as the global pandemic raged unabated.
Gross domestic product grew 2.3% in 2020,
official data showed on Monday, making China the only major economy in the
world to avoid a contraction last year as many nations struggled to contain the
COVID-19 pandemic. And China is expected to continue to power ahead of its
peers this year, with GDP set to expand at the fastest pace in a decade at
8.4%, according to a Reuters poll.
The world’s second-largest economy has
surprised many with the speed of its recovery from the coronavirus jolt,
especially as policymakers have also had to navigate tense U.S.-China relations
on trade and other fronts.
Beijing’s strict virus curbs enabled it to largely
contain the COVID-19 outbreak much quicker than most countries, while
government-led policy stimulus and local manufacturers stepping up production
to supply goods to many countries crippled by the pandemic have also helped
fire up momentum.
GDP expanded 6.5% year-on-year in the fourth
quarter, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed, quicker than the
6.1% forecast by economists in a Reuters poll, and followed the third quarter’s
solid 4.9% growth.
“The higher-than-expected GDP number indicates
that growth has stepped into the expansionary zone, although some sectors
remain in recovery,” Xing Zhaopeng, economist at ANZ in Shanghai.
“Policy exiting will pose counter-cyclical
pressures on 2021 growth.”
Backed by the strict virus containment measures
and policy stimulus, the economy has recovered steadily from a steep 6.8% slump
in the first three months of 2020, when an outbreak of COVID-19 in the central
city of Wuhan turned into a full-blown epidemic.
EXPORTS ENGINE
REVS UP Asia’s economic powerhouse has been fuelled
by a surprisingly resilient export sector, but China’s consumption - a key
driver of growth - has lagged expectations amid fears of a resurgence of
COVID-19 cases.
More
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-economy-gdp/chinas-economy-picks-up-speed-in-fourth-quarter-ends-2020-in-solid-shape-after-covid-19-shock-idUSKBN29N04S
Goldman Sachs nudges U.S. growth
forecast higher on Biden stimulus plan January 16, 2021 7:43 PM
(Reuters) - Analysts at Goldman
Sachs Group raised their U.S. growth forecast for the second time this month on
expectations that President-elect Joe Biden’s fiscal stimulus plan will hasten
the economy’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The bank expects economic growth of
6.6% in 2021, compared with a previous forecast of 6.4%, according to a report
published on Saturday. It also raised forecasts for how much stimulus the new
administration will be able to push through in the near-term, to $1.1 trillion
from $750 billion.
Biden outlined a $1.9 trillion
stimulus package proposal on Thursday, saying bold investment was needed to
jump-start the economy and accelerate the distribution of vaccines to bring the
coronavirus under control.
“Larger boosts to disposable income
and government spending imply stronger growth later in the year,” the bank’s
analysts wrote.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-economy-gdp-goldman/goldman-sachs-nudges-u-s-growth-forecast-higher-on-biden-stimulus-plan-idUSKBN29L0QW
Biden to Eclipse Reagan as Oldest
President as Washington Leadership Ages The
average age in the Senate went from 54.4 to 62.9 years between 1987 and 2019,
Congressional Research Service data show Jan. 16,
2021 10:00 am ET
Joe
Biden when he is sworn into office Wednesday
Mr. Biden, whose doctor in late 2019 said he is physically fit to serve as
president
Still, he is younger than many in top Washington jobs.
Working well past typical retirement age is one of the few points of bipartisan
agreement in the nation’s capital.
Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California is the
Senate’s oldest member at 87, while Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa is
less than three months her junior. Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell of
Kentucky is 78.
Republican Rep. Don Young of Alaska, the oldest person in
the U.S. House and a member of Congress since the Nixon administration, is 87.
The three top Democratic leaders of his chamber aren’t far behind: House
Speaker Nancy
Pelosi
“It’s the world’s greatest retirement community because you
have great benefits and still can do interesting things,” said Judd Gregg, a
New Hampshire Republican who served as governor and in both chambers of
Congress before deciding against running for Senate re-election in 2010.
---- Tom Harkin, a former Democratic senator from Iowa
who was 73 when he announced in January 2013 that he wouldn’t run for
re-election the following year, agreed.
“The longer I remained in Congress,
the more I saw that longevity and age was many times more effective than youth
and inexperience,” he said. “You get an appreciation for compromise and taking
the long view.”
The average age in the House rose
from 50.7 to 57.6 years between 1987 and 2019, while it went from 54.4 to 62.9
years during that period in the Senate, Congressional Research Service data
show.
More
https://www.wsj.com/articles/biden-to-eclipse-reagan-as-oldest-president-as-washington-leadership-ages-11610809201
“There is only one cure for grey hair. It
was invented by a Frenchman. It is called the guillotine.”
P. G. Wodehouse
Covid-19 Corner This
section will continue until it becomes unneeded.
Vaccine Disparities Raise Alarm
as Covid Variants Multiply By James Paton
January
18, 2021, 5:00 AM GMT
Pockets without
access may breed dangerous viral strains
Global
gaps in access to Covid-19 vaccines are raising concerns that the continued
spread of the coronavirus will breed more dangerous versions of the pathogen,
weakening medical weapons and further crippling economies.
In a race to catch up with emerging coronavirus variants,
wealthy countries are already benefiting from potent vaccines. While the U.S.,
Britain and European Union have given citizens about 24 million doses so far -- more than half of the shots
administered globally -- vast numbers of countries have yet to begin their
campaigns.
Disparities in immunity pose a threat to both have and
have-not states. Giving the coronavirus an opportunity to advance and generate
new mutants would have significant economic and public-health consequences,
adding to the pain as the death toll surpasses 2 million.
Unequal
Distribution High-income countries have secured 85% of Pfizer's
vaccine and all of Moderna's
Source: Airfinity
Growth
Forecast “We cannot leave parts of the world without access to
vaccines because it’s just going to come back to us,” said Charlie Weller ,
head of vaccines at health research foundation Wellcome. “That puts everyone
around the world at risk.”
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-01-18/vaccine-disparities-raise-alarm-as-covid-variants-multiply?srnd=premium-europe
The Latest: Pakistan approves
Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine By The
Associated Press January 17, 2021
ISLAMABAD — Pakistan’s planning minister says
the country’s drug regulatory authority has approved the use of Oxford-AstraZeneca’s
COVID-19 vaccine and the government is trying to make it available by the first
quarter of the year.
Asad Umar, who is also the head of the national
agency for COVID-19, told Geo TV that the vaccine in the first phase will be
administered to health workers and those aged 65 and above.
Umar said the Chinese company CanSino is also
holding clinical trials in Pakistan and hoped its vaccine would also be
registered next month.
He said Pakistan will get the vaccines through
the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization, or GAVI, and other
alternative international sources. The AstraZeneca vaccine is being prepared in
India, which has strained relations with rival Pakistan and says it will
prioritize its own population.
Pakistan
reported 2,521 new cases and 43 deaths in the last 24 hours.
More
https://apnews.com/article/pakistan-immunizations-india-coronavirus-pandemic-coronavirus-vaccine-d4393d78c1ff3d5a23cf1751d577f8d2
Saliva-based COVID-19 tests as
accurate as those using nose, throat samples Jan. 15, 2021 / 11:01 AM By Brian P. Dunleavy
Jan. 15 (UPI) -- COVID-19
tests that use patients' saliva to screen for the virus are just as effective
as those that use swabs collected from the nose and throat, an analysis
published by JAMA Internal Medicine found.
Saliva-based tests correctly identified those infected with
the new coronavirus 83% of the time, while nose-throat swab tests were 85%
accurate, the review of data from 16 studies showed.
The saliva tests also were 99% accurate at identifying
those negative for COVID-19, roughly the same as nose-throat swab tests, the
researchers said.
The collection of saliva samples is less invasive and
causes less discomfort than nasal-throat swabs.
"We now have enough evidence to support an
alternative, more pleasant, easier-to-perform test for the diagnosis of
COVID-19, especially in patients that are well enough not to be admitted to the
hospital," study co-author Guillaume Butler-Laporte told UPI.
"The test uses patient-provided saliva, rather than a
nasopharyngeal swab, or a 'stick in the nose,' with almost identical
accuracy," said Butler-Laporte, an epidemiologist at McGill University in
Montreal.
Analysis of nose and throat samples has become the standard
in testing since the start of the pandemic last March, as the approach has been
used in screening for respiratory viruses for years, according to
Butler-Laporte.
Although the tests are accurate, they can cause discomfort,
given that they entail inserting what is essentially a long Q-tip in the
nostrils or in the back of the throat, he said.
"Given that we knew they performed well in similar
viruses and diseases, such as influenza or the other types of coronaviruses, it
was natural to start with [nasal-throat swab tests]," Butler-Laporte said.
"We also know that those viruses infect the upper
respiratory airways, and therefore it would make sense to try and obtain a
sample that is close to the site of infection," he said.
For their analysis, Butler-Laporte and his colleagues
analyzed data from 16 studies comparing the accuracy of saliva and nose-throat
swab tests in the diagnosis of COVID-19.
Collectively, the 16 studies included in the analysis
enrolled more than 5,900 participants, they said.
More
https://www.upi.com/Health_News/2021/01/15/Saliva-based-COVID-19-tests-as-accurate-as-those-using-nose-throat-samples/6341610720313/
COVID-19 reduced U.S. life
expectancy, particularly among minorities By Brian P. Dunleavy Jan. 15, 2021 / 10:28 AM
Jan. 14 (UPI) -- The COVID-19
pandemic reduced life expectancy in the United States in 2020 by more than a
year, from roughly 78.5 years to 77.5 years, an analysis published by the Proceedings
of the National Academy of Sciences found.
Life expectancy for Black people in the United States could
fall by more than two years, while it may drop by more than three years for
Latino people, the data showed.
For White people, it could fall by less than a year, according
to the researchers.
The virus killed more than 336,000 people in the United
States last year, due in part to higher fatality rates among Black and Latino
people, compared to White people, the researchers said.
"COVID-19 has had an enormous impact on life
expectancy in the U.S.and has had an especially large impact on Black and
Latino [people]," study co-author Theresa Andrasfay told UPI.
"We know that these groups are frequently employed in
front-line jobs and have higher rates of some conditions that increase the risk
of [death] from COVID-19," said Andrasfay, a postdoctoral fellow in the Leonard
Davis School of Gerontology at the University of Southern California in Los
Angeles.
Although life expectancy for Black people has historically
been lower than that for White people, COVID-19 appears to have eliminated many
of the gains made in closing these gaps since the early 2000s, according to the
researchers.
More
https://www.upi.com/Health_News/2021/01/15/COVID-19-reduced-US-life-expectancy-particularly-among-minorities/2941610661703/
Next, some vaccine links
kindly sent along from a LIR reader in Canada. The links come from a most
informative update from Stanford Hospital in California.
World
Health Organization - Landscape of COVID-19 candidate vaccines . https://www.who.int/publications/m/item/draft-landscape-of-covid-19-candidate-vaccines
NY
Times Coronavirus Vaccine Tracker . https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/science/coronavirus-vaccine-tracker.html
Stanford
Website . https://racetoacure.stanford.edu/clinical-trials/132
Regulatory
Focus COVID-19 vaccine tracker . https://www.raps.org/news-and-articles/news-articles/2020/3/covid-19-vaccine-tracker
Some other useful Covid links.
Johns Hopkins Coronavirus
resource centre
https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html
Rt Covid-19
https://rt.live/
Covid19info.live
https://wuflu.live/
Centers for Disease Control
Coronavirus
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html
The Spectator
https://data.spectator.co.uk/city/national
Technology Update.
With events happening
fast in the development of solar power and graphene, I’ve added this section.
Updates as they get reported.
Giving the hydrogen economy an
acid test Date: January 14, 2021
Source: University of Tsukuba
Summary: Scientists show that the effectiveness of
hydrogen-producing metal catalysts protected by graphene depends on the ability
of protons to penetrate into the inner metallic surface. This work may lead to
widely available hydrogen-powered cars.
A team of researchers led by the
Institute of Applied Physics at the University of Tsukuba has demonstrated a
method for producing acid-resistant catalysts by covering them with layers of
graphene. They show that using few layers allows for greater proton penetration
during a hydrogen evolution reaction, which is crucial for maximizing the
efficiency when producing H2 as fuel. This work may lead to industrial-scale
manufacturing of hydrogen as a completely renewable energy source for vehicles
that do not contribute to climate change.
The dream of hydrogen-powered cars
has excited many people as a solution for the huge amount of carbon dioxide
fossil-fuel burning vehicles emit into the atmosphere daily. However, the
production of hydrogen gas has been slowed by the lack of cheap catalysts
required to split water efficiently. In this process, hydrogen nuclei, called
protons, need to combine to form hydrogen gas, H2. Nickel and Ni-based alloy
are seen as promising cheap alternatives to platinum, but these metals corrode
easily when exposed to the acidic conditions of the reaction. One solution is
to use graphene, a single sheet of carbon atoms arranged in a honeycomb
lattice, to protect the catalyst. However, the mechanism by which the reaction
takes place remained poorly understood.
Now, an international research
collaboration led by the University of Tsukuba has shown that using three-five
layers of graphene can efficiently prevent corrosion while still partly
allowing protons to combine at the catalyst through defects in the honeycomb
structure. In addition, they found that the catalytic efficiency decreased
linearly as more layers of graphene were added. "This result allowed us to
conclude that protons must penetrate through the graphene layers in order to
react at the surface of the metal" says Dr. Kailong Hu, senior author on
the study. The alternative explanation, that electrons travel up from the metal
so the protons can react at the outer surface of the graphene, was not a major
reaction process supported by the experiments. Future work will focus on the
optimization of the number of graphene layers to balance the corrosion
resistance with catalytic activity.
"Hydrogen
fuel is particularly eco-friendly because it produces zero greenhouse gasses,
and still has a larger energy density than gasoline," Professor Yoshikazu
Ito explains. "So, we may soon be able to step on the accelerator without
leaving a carbon footprint."
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/01/210114102710.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily%2Fmatter_energy%2Fgraphene+%28Graphene+News+--+ScienceDaily%29
In
this world of sin and sorrow there is always something to be thankful for; as
for me, I rejoice that I am not a Republican.
H.
L. Mencken
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