2 | Tuesday, February 25, 2020 HONG KONG EDITION | CHINA DAILY PAGE TWO Action: Cases of racism condemned From page 1
Koh King Kee, president of the Centre for New Inclusive Asia, a It is unfortunate leading Asian think tank based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, said China that the outbreak has shown itself to be a true global has coincided citizen in its moment of crisis. “The Chinese people have demon with an upsurge of strated unity and made huge sacrifi nationalism in many ces to contain the spread of the virus other countries that for their own good and that of the world. China deserves loud applause has already led to from around the world,” he said. xenophobia and fear Robert Dingwall, a leading medi cal sociologist and professor at the of people who have School of Social Sciences at Notting different ideas, beliefs ham Trent University in the UK, said China has taken extraordinary and cultures.” steps that would not be possible in Robert Dingwall, a leading the West. medical sociologist and “It has done many things that are professor at the School of Social only possible in a society with a Sciences at Nottingham Trent strong central government able to University in the UK take rapid initiatives once decisions have been made,” he said. However, he believes that local bushfires. Perhaps this is a wakeup governments in China also need to call,” said Stelling, who is based in learn lessons from the outbreak. Dubai, United Arab Emirates. “Once the crisis is over, China will It has become clear during the out need to consider how local govern break that global cooperation is vital ments can be empowered to act to defeat it, and UK Foreign Secre more on their own initiative, rather tary Dominic Raab is among those than waiting for authorization from who have underlined this message. an appropriate level in the central “The coronavirus outbreak repre government,” Dingwall said. sents an unprecedented global The efforts made by China to stem health challenge. No single country the crisis have not always been can overcome, or fully defend recognized by some leading interna against, the threat that coronavirus tional political figures and the glob presents,” he wrote in UK newspa al media. Chinese people have also per The Sunday Telegraph on Feb 16. been subjected to cruel incidences “Whether it is looking out for our of xenophobia. nationals around the world or find Alistair Michie, chairman of the ing a vaccine for the virus, the inter international board at the Centre for national community must work China and Globalization, an inde together,” Raab said. pendent think tank based in Beijing, However, Hunter, from the Uni regards this as highly regrettable. versity of East Anglia, who has “Despite all the efforts China has become a familiar face in the media made, there has been a lot of nega in recent weeks, believes this is eas tive coverage in the media. The eyes ier said than done. and ears of the world are often “Getting the global community to closed to almost any communica act together on these things is very tion coming out of China,” he said. difficult. This outbreak will be diffi Michie, a prominent figure in the cult to contain in China and it will UK business community in China, spread to being a pandemic some believes that when the war against time this year, although the scale of the virus has been won, there will it might be reduced because of the need to be a “rethinking” about how measures China has taken,” he said. China gets its message across. He Dingwall said such problems can has previously called for a “new only be dealt with by “joined up mindset in communication”. thinking” across governments. “Many in Europe and the United “Epidemics and pandemics are not States are very ignorant about Chi exclusively public health problems na and the astounding changes I and cannot be approached as such. In have witnessed over the past 30 the UK, we have, since the early years. It was fresh thinking and poli 2000s, been thinking about them as cies that created the success that civil emergencies that require cross was reform and openingup. There government responses, rather than needs to be similar thinking to make being exclusively the property of the a comparable change in communi Health Department,” he said. cations,” he said. This is certainly the case now in Michie believes this is fully recog China, where the whole apparatus nized by the Chinese leadership — of the State is focused on tackling in particular, by President Xi SONG CHEN /CHINA DAILY the emergency. Jinping. Stelling, the communications He said that in a speech at the message that needs to be communi upsurge of nationalism in many oth have serious consequences for the “It took until late January before expert, said that despite these being World Economic Forum in Davos, cated. We are certainly seeing this in er countries that has already led to individuals who are stigmatized.” there was any global awareness tough times for China, the country’s Switzerland, in January 2017, Xi action during this outbreak.” xenophobia and fear of people who Oliver Stelling, a communications (about the outbreak). For most of international reputation could expressed the goal of “building a Dingwall said he particularly have different ideas, beliefs and cul adviser specializing in emerging mar December and January, the world eventually be enhanced by the way community of shared future for regrets the xenophobia being tures,” he said. kets, the Middle East and Asia, said was absorbed by (US President in which it has dealt with the crisis. mankind”. encountered by Chinese people. “While people always try to blame he believed the media had its eyes Donald) Trump’s impeachment tri “If it proves it has handled this “This is China’s concept of being a “It is unfortunate that the out new diseases on ‘outsiders’, we are in elsewhere and were slow to catch up al, Brexit and the UK election, Harry well, China’s global standing will global citizen and it is this powerful break has coincided with an particularly fertile times for this to with what was happening in China. and Meghan, and the Australian rise dramatically,” he said.
more there.” While Levitt Battle against the epidemic being won, says Nobel prizewinner agrees that people need to take meas By ANDREW MOODY something like 0.2 percent, so I can still see a lot,” he said. “What I am effect, sugarcoated, whereas a virus cians, chefs. It is a much ‘flatter’ socie ures to prevent thought I should try to calm people identifying is the mathematics of caught from the original host would ty, than, say, Britain or the United infection, these China is winning the war against by doing my own analysis of the spread and mathematics of exponen not be. This might be why one is States.” have to be fol the novel coronavirus pneumonia data,” he said. tial growth. more lethal than the other.” He also knows people in Wuhan, lowed through if outbreak, according to Nobel prize “I started by just sending it off to “We’re assuming that the whole Levitt, who was born in South Afri which is one of the reasons he want Michael they are going to winner Michael Levitt. friends, and then somebody translat thing obeys very simple mathemati ca, had a long association with Fran ed to become involved in analyzing Levitt work. He believes the rate of progression ed it into Chinese without me know cal rules, such as sigmoid growth cis Crick, the codiscover of DNA — or data from the outbreak. “There is no of the virus, as measured by the num ing and I was suddenly inundated by (where growth is like an Sshaped deoxyribonucleic acid — when he Levitt said he is appalled by the point in washing your hands if you ber of new deaths each day, has emails. Now, I do a daily update,” curve — slow at the start, then expo was at Cambridge University in the xenophobia some Chinese are experi then pick up your phone. You need to peaked. Levitt said. nential before leveling off). It doesn’t United Kingdom and then at the Salk encing and by travel restrictions use alcohol wipes for your phone as His latest analysis, which uses data This has brought him considerable need to follow the rules, but it has Institute for Biological Studies in San imposed by countries such as Austra well,” he said. up to Sunday, predicts that the final worldwide attention, including behaved well so far. I believe the Diego, California, in the 1970s. lia and the US, contrary to World He added that if there are any les death toll from the virus in Hubei appearances on State broadcaster numbers are capturing some under “I worked for Francis Crick very Health Organization advice. sons to be learned about the current province will be 3,050, with 200 China Global Television Network. lying trend.” early in my career, but then when he “It’s crazy. Travel bans don’t help at outbreak, it is the vulnerability of an deaths in the rest of China. Levitt, who won the Nobel prize for His latest analysis predicts there moved to the Salk Institute, by pure all. I think all this punishment just increasingly global society to pan “Contrary to the prevailing world chemistry in 2013 with Martin Kar will be a total of 65,000 cases in chance I ended up working with him leads to underreporting, and it’s not demics, particularly with increasing hysteria, the epidemic is almost all plus and Arieh Warshel for work on Hubei and 15,000 in the rest of China. again. He was also a close family a good idea.” antibiotic resistance among certain over in China,” he said. developing models for complex Levitt said the figures show that friend. He was amazing,” he said. He said the epidemic is receiving bacteria. Since the start of this month, chemical systems, stressed that he is the death rate in Wuhan, the epicen Crick, 88, died in July, 2004. far more attention than the H1N1 “It is particularly worrying because Levitt, a professor of structural biolo not a viral specialist, but a molecular ter of the outbreak, is higher than in Levitt has been spending about outbreak that began in the US in the financial models of big pharma gy at Stanford University School of biologist making extensive use of the rest of Hubei and other cities in two months a year in China. He met 2009. ceutical companies in the Western Medicine in the United States, has computer modeling. China. his second wife, Shoshan, an Israeli, It is important to get the risks from world mean they are no longer inter been carrying out a daily analysis of “I’m not an epidemiologist, but a He believes this could be linked to in China and they married in Shang the current outbreak in proportion, ested in drugs that you take for only figures on the outbreak released by structural biologist. My work is the difference in the molecular struc hai in March last year. She is a curator he added. 10 days, such as antibiotics,” he said. China and the World Health Organi essentially in computing, and anyone ture of the virus that infected people of Chinese art and teaches Hebrew at “The death rate if you contract the “The big moneymaking drugs zation. in the area of epidemiology could say, at a wet market in Wuhan and that Peking University, while Levitt is an virus is 2 percent. I am 73 years old are anticancer ones that you can “We are getting a better idea of ‘Oh well, what does he know?’ ” he passed on in subsequent humanto adviser at a number of universities. now, and I have a similar risk of dying give to somebody to extend their life what is actually happening, either said. human transmission. “I became much more interested every year. That’s life,” he said. for, let’s say, a year. If somebody has mathematically or at least numbers Speaking from his home in Califor “A virus made in an animal will in China, and seeing the country “People are getting regular flu all the money, then a year of life is easily wise. The numbers seem to make nia, Levitt said he believes that num have the same protein and nucleic through the eyes of somebody who the time. I think that in the US we worth half a million dollars. I hope more and more sense,” he said. bers are important in terms of acid as a virus made in a human, but has lived there made it very differ have 80,000 deaths a year from it, countries like China and India have “I was very surprised by the level of assessing progression of the virus. viruses also have polysaccharides — a ent,” he said. and I’m sure that in China it’s at a different model to this and focus alarm in the world, because the death “We haven’t even got big data. We sugarliquid coating,” he said “The “I know so many people in China least five times that — probably on antibiotics and also vaccines for rate outside Hubei province was are working with small data, but we virus you get from a humanoid is, in — newspaper people, artists, politi more, since people tend to smoke fighting this virus.”