Most baby formula health claims not backed by science: study

Yahoo – AFP, Daniel Lawler, 16 February 2023 

The vast majority of health claims used to advertise baby formula worldwide are not supported by rigorous scientific evidence, a study said Thursday, leading researchers to urge the breast milk substitutes be sold in plain packaging. 

The study comes a week after a group of doctors and scientists called for a regulatory crackdown on the $55-billion formula industry for "predatory" marketing which they said exploits the fears of new parents to convince them not to breastfeed. 

Breastfeeding is widely recognised to have huge health benefits for babies. The World Health Organization and the US CDC recommend breastfeeding exclusively during the first six months of a newborn's life. 

However that recommendation is followed for less than half of infants globally, according to the WHO. 

Daniel Munblit, an honorary senior lecturer at Imperial College London and an author of the new study, said researchers were not on a "crusade" against infant formula, which should remain an option for mothers who cannot or choose not to breastfeed.

"But we are very much against inappropriate infant formula marketing, which provides misleading claims not backed up by solid evidence," Munblit told AFP. 

Munblit and an international team of researchers looked at the health claims made for 608 products on the websites of infant formula companies in 15 countries, including the United States, India, Britain and Nigeria. 

The most common claims were that formula supports brain development, strengthens immune systems and more broadly helps growth. 

Half of the products did not link the claimed health benefit to a specific ingredient, according to the study published in the BMJ journal. 

Three quarters did not refer to scientific evidence supporting their claims. 

Of those that provided a scientific reference, more than half pointed to reviews, opinion pieces or research on animals. 

Just 14 percent of the products referred to registered clinical trials on humans. However 90 percent of those trials carried a high risk of bias, including missing data or the finding not supporting the claim, the study said. 

And nearly 90 percent of the clinical trials had authors who received funding from or had ties to the formula industry, it added. 

'Distressing' 

The most commonly cited ingredient was polyunsaturated fatty acids, which is in breast milk and is considered important for brain development. 

However there is no evidence of any added benefit when the ingredient is added to baby formula, according to a Cochrane systematic review. 

Munblit said the health claims were mostly used to advertise premium formula products, which could be "distressing" for parents who are misled into believing the ingredients are essential but cannot afford them. 

When asked what he thinks needs to be done to address the problem, Munblit was concise. 

"Plain packaging," he said. 

The study comes after a series of papers were published in the Lancet journal last week calling for global policy makers to end exploitative formula marketing. 

WHO infant health specialist Nigel Rollins, an author of one of the Lancet papers, said busy parents "lack the time to properly scrutinise claims" about infant formula. 

The new study showed that "governments and regulatory authorities must commit the necessary time and attention to review the claims of formula milk products," Rollins said in a linked BMJ editorial.

Mexico bans sales of 'harmful' e-cigarettes

Yahoo – AFP, 31 May 2022 

The World Health Organization considers electronic cigarettes to be harmful
to health (AFP/Valery HACHE) (Valery HACHE)

Mexico on Tuesday banned sales of electronic cigarettes and other vaping devices because of concerns about their health effects, the government announced. 

President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said it was a "lie" to claim that e-cigarettes are a safe alternative to inhaling tobacco smoke.

"The vapors are also harmful for health," Lopez Obrador told reporters as he announced the signing of a presidential decree introducing the ban on World No Tobacco Day. 

He showed a pink vaping device to illustrate how the products are intended to appeal to young people. 

"Look at the color, the design," Lopez Obrador said. 

Mexico prohibited the import and export of vaping devices and cartridges in October, but the companies have continued to sell their inventory, Deputy Health Minister Hugo Lopez-Gatell said. 

The new ban covers "the circulation and marketing of these new products," he added. 

E-cigarettes heat up a cartridge of liquid typically containing nicotine and other chemicals into an aerosol. The user inhales the resulting vapor, mimicking traditional cigarettes. 

Proponents of vaping say it is safer than traditional tobacco. 

The World Health Organization considers electronic cigarettes to be harmful to health and has called for tight regulation to stop young people in particular from using them. 

More than 30 countries have banned sales of electronic cigarettes, the WHO said last July. 

In April, e-cigarette firm Juul agreed to pay $22.5 million in a US lawsuit that alleged the company deliberately targeted teenagers and lied about how addictive its products are.

Dutch doctor says group will keep sending abortion pills to US women

France24 – AFP, 16 May 2022

Rebecca Gomperts, the founder of abortion-rights groups Women on Waves and
Aid Access, is seen in Amsterdam in September 2020 Remko de Waal ANP/AFP/File

Washington (AFP) – Rebecca Gomperts, a 55-year-old Dutch physician, has spent years fighting for women's access to abortion around the world. 

Made famous by her "abortion boat," as recounted in the 2014 documentary "Vessel," she and her Women on Waves group have anchored the ship in international waters off the coasts of Poland, Spain, Mexico and other countries, offering medical abortions to women otherwise unable to obtain them. 

But it is in the United States that interest has been surging in her other organization, Aid Access, which since 2018 has provided abortion pills over the internet. 

Behind the fast-rising demand is what appears -- based on a rare leak from the US Supreme Court -- to be the imminent end of federal protection for abortion rights. Once the court makes its decision official, probably next month, some 20 states are poised to ban or severely restrict abortions. 

"We're already seeing a huge increase in requests," Gomperts told AFP, saying some people were "panicking." 

"It's not only when this takes place; it has already made people aware how vulnerable they are." 

Aid Access, based in Austria, has been working with physicians to fill requests in the 20 US states where abortion pills can be legally prescribed by telemedicine. 

For requests from the other states, Gompert's group has exploited a legal loophole to send the pills from abroad. 

Demand was strong even before word of the high court's intentions leaked out. In a little more than a year (from October 2020 to December 2021), Aid Access says it received more than 45,000 requests from the United States. 

Reasons for the requests vary: the high cost of other abortion services, the cost and difficulty of traveling to distant abortion clinics, or the impossibility of doing so due to job or child-care demands. 

After filling out a questionnaire, women are instructed on how to take the pills at home. The price is adjusted depending on their ability to pay, and the pills are mailed from a pharmacy in India. Aid Access checks in with the women afterward. 

The most vulnerable

The pills are easy to find elsewhere on the internet, usually for a few hundred dollars. But those websites, also based outside the United States, are purely commercial and provide no medical support. 

For Gomperts, who in 2020 was listed as one of the world's 100 most influential people by Time magazine, the fight for abortion rights is a matter of "social justice." 

"The biggest problem is that the women that are not literate, that cannot read and write, that have no access to internet -- the most impoverished group -- they will not be able to find these solutions," she said. 

Many of them would lack the resources to travel to a state where abortion remains legal. 

"These are the women that might be forced to give birth or that will take drastic measures to end their pregnancy."  

These pills -- mifepristone and misoprostol -- can be used in generally very safe
at-home abortions, experts say; this picture comes from the Plan C advocacy
group Elisa WELLS PLAN C/AFP/File

The certain result, Gomperts said, will be an increase in maternal mortality and morbidity. 

A safe method

According to a 2017 survey of several thousand women in the United States, 20 percent of those who had attempted an at-home abortion used the pills, 29 percent used other drugs, 38 percent used plant-based infusions and 20 percent tried physical methods (some used more than one method, so the total exceeds 100 percent). 

During recent demonstrations outside the Supreme Court, women protesters brandished a disturbing object, something that seemed an artifact from a long-ago era: metal clothes-hangers -- a symbol of highly risky abortions performed clandestinely. 

And yet, up to the 10th week of pregnancy, abortion pills are very safe, experts say. 

A demonstrator holds up a clothes hanger marked 'Never Again' during an abortion
rights rally May 3, 2022 outside the US Supreme Court Stefani Reynolds AFP/File

 Today they represent half of all abortions in the United States (in France, by way of comparison, the figure is 70 percent). And their use outside of any medical setting is a "very acceptable" option, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). 

Two drugs are used: first a dose of mifepristone is taken to block the hormones that support a pregnancy; then, 24 to 48 hours later, misoprostol is taken to induce contractions. 

Complications that might require medical help -- an excessive flow of blood, an infection or an allergic reaction -- are rare. 

So, beyond the medical aspect, the real risk to at-home abortions is legal complications. 

The NGO If/When/How has counted 60 cases in which women who allegedly self-managed abortions, or people who assisted them, were arrested, charged or sentenced between 2000 and 2020. 

The group, which says it envisions "a future when all people can self-determine their reproductive lives free from discrimination, coercion or violence," helps find legal representation for such women. 

It fears the trend toward criminalizing abortion will be greatly aggravated if the Supreme Court rules as expected. 

Such a ruling, said Gomperts, "instills fear in people, and especially in health-care providers -- and that is the biggest impact."

Africa to be declared polio-free

Yahoo - AFP, Sophie Bouillon with Aminu Abubakar in Kano, August 25, 2020

A child in Kano, northwest Nigeria receives the vaccine in 2017

The World Health Organization (WHO) is set to certify on Tuesday that the African continent is free from wild polio, four years after the last cases appeared in northeastern Nigeria.

"Thanks to the relentless efforts by governments, donors, frontline health workers and communities, up to 1.8 million children have been saved from the crippling life-long paralysis," the WHO said in a statement.

The official announcement is due at 1500 GMT in a videoconference with WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and key figures including philanthropist and Microsoft founder Bill Gates.

"Happiness is an understatement. We've been on this marathon for over 30 years," said Tunji Funsho, a Nigerian doctor and local anti-polio coordinator for Rotary International.

He said it marked a crucial step in the total eradication of the illness at the global level.

"It's a real achievement, I feel joy and relief at the same time," he added.

Poliomyelitis, or "wild polio" is an acutely infectious and contagious disease which attacks the spinal cord and causes irreversible paralysis in children.

It was endemic around the world until a vaccine was found in the 1950s, though this remained out of reach for many poorer countries in Asia and Africa.

As late as 1988, the WHO counted 350,000 cases globally, and in 1996 said there were more than 70,000 cases in Africa alone.

Thanks to a rare instance of collective global effort and financial backing -- some $19 billion over 30 years -- only Afghanistan and Pakistan have recorded cases this year: 87 in total.

Trust

Nigeria, a country with 200 million inhabitants, was still among the trouble-spots in the early 2000s.

In its northern Muslim-majority areas, authorities were forced to stop vaccination campaigns in 2003 and 2004 by Islamic extremists who claimed it was a vast conspiracy to sterilise young Muslims.

It took a huge effort in tandem with traditional chiefs and religious leaders to convince populations that the vaccine was safe. 

"People trust their local traditional leaders who live with them more than the political leaders," said Grema Mundube, a community leader in the town of Monguno, in the far north of Nigeria.

"Once we spoke to them and they saw us immunising our children they gradually accepted the vaccine," he told AFP.

However, the emergence of violent Islamist group Boko Haram in 2009 caused another rupture in the programme. In 2016, four new cases were discovered in Borno state in the northeast in the heart of the conflict.

"At the time, we couldn't reach two-thirds of the children of Borno state -- 400,000 children couldn't access the vaccine," said Dr Funsho.

Inaccessible children

The security situation remains highly volatile in the region, with the jihadists of Boko Haram and a local Islamic State affiliate controlling vast areas around Lake Chad and the border with Niger.

"International agencies, local governments, donors -- all partners took the bull by the horns to find new strategies to manage to reach these children," said Dr Musa Idowu Audu, coordinator for the WHO in Borno.

In these "partially accessible" areas, vaccination teams worked under the protection of the Nigerian army and local self-defence militias.

For areas fully controlled by the jihadists, the WHO and its partners sought to intercept people coming in and out along market and transport routes in a bid to spread medical information and recruit "health informants" who could tell them about any polio cases.

"We built a pact of trust with these populations, for instance by giving them free medical supplies," said Dr Audu.

Today, it is estimated that only 30,000 children are still "inaccessible": a number considered too low by scientists to allow for an epidemic to break out.

Despite the "extreme happiness and pride" felt by Dr Audu, he never fails to remember the 20 or more medical staff and volunteers killed for the cause in northeast Nigeria in recent years.

The challenge now is to ensure that no new polio cases arrive from Afghanistan or Pakistan and that vaccinations continue to ensure that children across the continent are protected from this vicious disease.

"Before we couldn't sleep at all. Now we will sleep with one eye open," said Dr Funsho.

Madagascar virus potion scorned because it's from Africa: president

Yahoo – AFP, May 11, 2020

Madagascar's President Andry Rajoelina sips Covid Organics, which he
touts as a remedy for coronavirus (AFP Photo/RIJASOLO)

Antananarivo (AFP) - Madagascar President Andry Rajoelina on Monday batted away criticism for promoting a homegrown "remedy" for COVID-19, charging that the West has a condescending attitude toward traditional African medicine.

"If it wasn't Madagascar, and if it was a European country that had actually discovered this remedy, would there be so much doubt? I don't think so," he told French media in an interview.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has repeatedly warned that the Covid-Organics infusion, which Rajoelina has touted as a remedy against the deadly coronavirus, has not been clinically tested.

The drink is derived from artemisia -- a plant with proven anti-malarial properties -- and other indigenous herbs.

"African scientists... should not be underestimated," he told France 24 and Radio France International (RFI).

"I think the problem is that (the drink) comes from Africa and they can't admit... that a country like Madagascar... has come up with this formula to save the world," said Rajoelina, who claims the infusion cures patients within 10 days.

Already Equatorial Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Niger and Tanzania have taken delivery of consignments of the potion, which was launched last month.

"No country or organisation will keep us from going forward," Rajoelina said in response to the WHO's concerns.

He said proof of the tonic's efficacy was in "the healing of our sick".

Madagascar has officially reported 183 coronavirus infections and 105 recoveries, with no deaths.

"The patients who were cured were cured through the administration of Covid-Organics alone," the president said.

He referred to the remedy as "an improved traditional medicine", adding that Madagascar was not conducting clinical trials but "clinical observations" in accordance with WHO guidelines.

Related Article:

WHO cautions against use of Madagascar anti-virus potion

WHO cautions against use of Madagascar anti-virus potion

Yahoo – AFP, Philippe Alfroy, May 7, 2020

Madagascar's President Andry Rajoelina drinks a sample of Covid Organics which
he touted as a remedy for coronavirus (AFP Photo/RIJASOLO)

Johannesburg (AFP) - The World Health Organization on Thursday advised governments to clinically test a herbal drink touted by Madagascar's President Andry Rajoelina as a remedy against coronavirus.

The Covid-Organics infusion is derived from artemisia -- a plant with proven anti-malarial properties -- and other indigenous herbs.

Rajoelina hopes to distribute the infusion across West Africa and beyond, claiming it cures COVID-19 patients within 10 days.

Equatorial Guinea, Guinea-Bissau and Niger have already received consignments of the potion. Others such as Tanzania have expressed interest.

But the World Health Organization (WHO) has repeatedly warned that there are no published scientific studies of the herbal tea and that its effects have not been tested.

"We would caution and advise countries against adopting a product that has not been taken through tests to see its efficacy," WHO Africa Director Matshidiso Moeti said in a press briefing on Thursday, calling on Madagascar to take the drink "through a clinical trial".

Moeti said that in 2000, African governments had committed to taking "traditional therapies" through the same clinical trials as other medication.

"I can understand the need, the drive to find something that can help," Moeti said. "But we would very much like to encourage this scientific process in which the governments themselves made a commitment."

Rajoelina defended his tonic during a coronavirus screening campaign in Madagascar's eastern city of Toamasina on Thursday.

"The WHO has indicated that artemisia could lead to a cure for coronavirus," the president said, promising to submit the drink to clinical trials.

Scepticism remains

Earlier this week, the WHO recognised artemisia as a "possible treatment" for COVID-19. But the organisation also repeated its calls for more rigorous testing.

South Africa's Health Minister Zweli Mkhize on Wednesday said Madagascar had reached out for "help" with scientific research.

"Our scientists would be able to assist with this research," Mkhize tweeted, adding that South Africa would only "get involved in a scientific analysis of the herb".

The country has the highest number of coronavirus cases in sub-Saharan Africa, with 7,808 infections and 153 fatalities recorded to date.

Neighbouring eSwatini -- a tiny landlocked nation wedged between South Africa and Mozambique -- said it would not consider Rajoelina's tonic for the time being.

"It is important as a country to first ascertain where such herbal products have been tested," she said Health Minister Lizzie Nkosi on Thursday.

"We have to do adequate proper research and be sure that the product works."

To date eSwatini has reported 123 cases of coronavirus, including two deaths.

Meanwhile, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has debunked claims that it had ordered a package of Covid-Organics from a "third country".

"We are aware that several claims of a COVID-19 cure have been made in different parts of the world," ECOWAS said in a statement on Wednesday.

"But we can only support and endorse products that have been shown to be effective through scientific study."

Theory that Coronavirus Escaped from a Lab Lacks Evidence

The pathogen appears to have come from wild animals, virologists say, and there are no signs of genetic manipulation in the SARS-CoV-2 genome.

The Scientist, Emily Makowski, Mar 5, 2020

Since the early days of the COVID-19 epidemic, theories have circulated about the origin of the novel coronavirus causing the disease, SARS-CoV-2. One prominent rumor is that it first escaped from a lab in Wuhan studying bat coronaviruses and then spread to the public. This theory has also evolved into claims that the virus was genetically engineered to be a bioweapon. But scientists say that while there’s not enough information to pinpoint where the virus came from, there is no evidence that it was created in a lab.

The lab-escape theory had been circulating on social media and various blogs for weeks, but gained considerable visibility in a New York Post article in late February. In it, Steven Mosher, a social scientist and the president of the Population Research Institute in Front Royal, Virginia, summarizes why he believes SARS-CoV-2 may have been accidentally spread by China’s National Biosafety Laboratory at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, where researchers have studied bat coronaviruses.

In the article, Mosher describes several lines of reasoning, namely, that the lab is less than 10 miles away from the seafood market where a cluster of COVID-19 cases was first discovered, and that after the 2003 SARS outbreak, the SARS-CoV virus escaped from virology labs multiple times in China. He also describes how Chinese virologist and bioweapons expert Major General Chen Wei went to the Wuhan Institute of Virology with military scientists in January to study thenew virus, which Mosher sees as a form of damage control.

“The circumstantial evidence surrounding it is pretty compelling. . . . The idea that the epicenter of this epidemic would be just a few miles from the Institute of Virology in Wuhan, which is where we know that dangerous pathogens are being kept and looked at as potential bioweapons, I think the odds against that are just astronomical,” Mosher tells The Scientist.

Dimitrios Paraskevis, an epidemiologist at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens in Greece, tells The Scientist that while it’s not possible to rule out the idea of lab escape, he believes that it is unlikely. “Any person who works in a lab must follow very strict safety regulations. It sounds to me very extraordinary that something happened and nobody took care about such an accident,” he says. The World Health Organization updated SARS surveillance guidelines in 2004 after the lab-based outbreaks, urging labs to follow proper biosafety procedures, and China replaced the director of its Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

One problem leading to a lot of apprehension and speculation about the new coronavirus is that scientists “don’t know what the actual source of the virus was,” Anthony Fehr, a coronavirus researcher at the University of Kansas, tells The Scientist. Additionally, researchers don’t know if SARS-CoV-2 immediately started to spread in humans after a single transmission from an animal, or if it took multiple zoonotic events between an infected animal population and humans.

Despite the question mark around the exact source of the disease, it does appear to have originally come from wildlife, according to a team of international public health scientists who wrote a statement published in The Lancet. An analysis of SARS-CoV-2 by scientists at the Wuhan Institute of Virology suggests that the virus’s genome is 96 percent similar to a coronavirus found in bats.

Mosher agrees that animals were the likely origin. “That doesn’t mean [the virus] wasn’t collected, brought to the lab, and was being tested on in various ways, and escaped from the lab,” he says. Mosher also does not claim that China genetically engineered the virus. “I’m not saying this has been genetically engineered to be a bioweapon that’s escaped from the lab. . . . I’m just saying that [China is] collecting dangerous pathogens, [and] they have a history of letting them escape from the lab,” he says.

Transmission from an animal, with no lab experiment or genetic manipulation involved, fits best with what scientists know about how other coronaviruses have made the jump to humans. In the past, these viruses have spread through wild bats that infect another type of animal—an intermediate host—that then spreads it to humans. SARS-CoV, for example, was transmitted from bats to civets to humans, while camels were an intermediate host in MERS, according to Quanta. The civet version of SARS-CoV was 99.8 percent similar to the one found in humans—much more closely related than the bat and human varieties of SARS-CoV-2—so researchers believe the new coronavirus also infected another type of animal on its way from bats to humans. But they have not found a candidate so far, according to Nature.

This ability to move in between different animal hosts is a characteristic feature of coronaviruses, according to Paul McCray, a pulmonologist at the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine whose lab studies coronaviruses. “It’s exactly what we’ve learned in studies of SARS in 2002 and 2003, and MERS in 2012. . . . So the concept that this is happening again should come as no surprise,” he says. “For people that work with these viruses, this is completely unsurprising. We don’t need to come up with farfetched theories when the genome sequences and the characteristics of these viruses support what we’re seeing.”

No signs of engineering in SARS-CoV-2 genome

In addition to the claim that a naturally evolved virus escaped from a lab by mistake, some conspiracy theories have posited that SARS-CoV-2 was genetically engineered. In fact, researchers throughout the world, including in the US and China, have conducted research involving the creation of experimentally engineered hybrid coronaviruses. But there is no evidence that SARS-CoV-2 was genetically engineered, says Paraskevis, whose genomic analysis of the new virus was reported as a preprint in January.

RNA viruses, which include coronaviruses, “accumulate mutations at a rate one million times faster than human DNA [does]. . . . It gives them the ability to survive against an immune response,” Paraskevis says. While the new coronavirus does have some genetic differences to other known viruses due to mutations, “there’s no evidence that this is the result of a human experiment,” he says, adding that if the virus were engineered, scientists would expect to see additional genetic material in its genome. For example, an early bioRxiv preprint on SARS-CoV-2 found HIV-like genetic sequences, but online commenters pointed out that “the findings were at most a coincidence” and that research has since been retracted, reports STAT.

As there are still many unknowns about SARS-CoV-2, researchers worldwide are trying to uncover as much as they can about the virus. Chinese researchers “released the genomic sequence incredibly rapidly online. . . . They were very public in sharing the most important first piece of information” about it, McCray tells The Scientist. “The fact that scientists all over the world had access to that genomic sequence” made a lot of early research possible, he says.

Emily Makowski is a freelance writer based in Boston. Find her on Twitter @EmilyRMakowski.

"China is seeking to deflect criticism for its role in starting a global pandemic and not telling the world" by spreading "dangerous and ridiculous" conspiracy theories, a US State Department official said https://t.co/wBxj3p3Sjl pic.twitter.com/myx3OcoixS

— AFP news agency (@AFP) March 13, 2020

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"Kryon on Corona", Reykjavik, Iceland, Mar 13, 2020 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (>13.46 Min - Reference to the Global Coronavirus crisis) - New

What the new coronavirus measures in the Netherlands mean for you

DutchNews, March 13, 2020 

Empty shelves in a Dutch supermarket. Photo: DutchNews.nl 

The Dutch government on Thursday announced new nationwide measures to try to contain the coronavirus epidemic in the Netherlands. Here’s what you need to know. 

Social contacts

• If you have a cold, a cough, sore throat or a fever stay home. Avoid contact with others. Only call your doctor if your symptoms get worse. 
• Gatherings of more than 100 people have been cancelled. This includes public places such as museums, concerts, theatres, professional and amateur sports events and matches. 
• Churches and mosques are also cancelling their services 
• There are currently no restrictions on visiting a cafe or restaurant, as long as you do not have any symptoms 
• Work from home if possible or stagger your working times. 
• Try to avoid close contact with the elderly and people with weakened immune systems. 
• In particular, elderly people and those with weakened immune systems are asked to avoid large gatherings and public transport. 
• Healthcare workers are being asked to stay home only if they have symptoms including a fever. They are also being asked not to travel abroad. 

Education

• Universities and hbo colleges have been requested to offer online lectures and the university and college associations have said they will stop all physical forms of education for the time being, including exams. 
• Children who have a cold, cough or fever should stay at home. 
• Primary schools, secondary schools, secondary vocational schools (MBO) and childcare centres will remain open as usual. This, the government says, is because children and young people are not high-risk groups and closing schools would have a major impact on society without contributing significantly to reducing the spread of coronavirus. 

The measures apply up to and including March 31. 

Hygiene 

The Dutch public health institute RIVM and World Health Organisation say everyone should follow these instructions to prevent infection: 

• Avoid shaking hands and physical contact 
• Wash your hands frequently and thoroughly with soap or alcohol rub 
• Sneeze into a tissue or  your elbow 
• Use paper tissues and dispose of them immediately 
• Stay away at least one metre away from people who are sneezing or coughing 
• Avoid touching your face with your hands, which may have picked up the virus 

The RIVM says face masks should only be worn by medical staff. Most of the paper masks used by the general public are worthless and offer a false sense of security, officials say. 

Coronavirus in the Netherlands, the questionsyou want answered 

Tests 

Tests for coronavirus can only be requested via the local health board or a hospital and it takes around 24 hours for the test results to come through. 

Testing is currently only being carried out on people who have worsening symptoms and have been in an at risk area or in contact with people who have coronavirus. 

The RIVM has an interactive map showing where corona infections are being confirmed. 

Can I still go on holiday? 

The Dutch foreign affairs ministry has up-to-date advice on foreign travel and has set up a red to green coding system for coronavirus. Currently China, Iran and Italy should be avoided for all but essential travel. The Dutch government website has more information in English. 

The US has imposed a travel ban on all incoming flights from the EU from Saturday. 

Official information sources in English 

Dutch public health institute RIVM 
Dutch government website 
The government has also published flyers in a variety of languages about the recommended hygiene measures.

Related Articles:

The Netherlands cancels big events, but won’t close schools in corona clampdown


"Kryon on Corona", Reykjavik, Iceland, Mar 13, 2020 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (>13.46 Min - Reference to the Global Coronavirus crisis) - New

You have a virus which is ‘spreading’ in your world …

The Federation of Light channeled by Blossom Goodchild – 2 February 2020

Blossom Goodchild

Blossom: Hello there! Giving it another go, to see if we are able to communicate. So much going on for everyone. So many Energies of all Vibrations flying around and yet, onwards we march! How is it where you are and do you fancy a swap?

Federation of Light: Dearest Blossom. Welcome to you and may our Energies be compatible … Indeed, ALL Energies be compatible in order for us to chat and discuss as we like to do.

You are correct in saying about the different Vibrations. This is what is causing so much upheaval for everyone in these times. As the Vibration of your Planet is lifting into a more deserving position, it is rejecting Vibrational magnetic fields that ‘want to come along for the ride’. The struggle between the Higher and the lower frequencies is an unruly dance conducted by the lower sensations and this is what is causing so much ‘unforgettable’ disturbance.

Why do you say ‘unforgettable’?

Because is it not a term used to ‘remember’ if we look at it that way?

I guess so. Yet, I wouldn’t really want to remember this particular time as it is not one to put in the ‘Fondest memories’ album.

And yet WHEN THS IS ALL OVER … WHEN EVERYTHNG THAT NEEDS TO BE SAID AND DONE IS SAID AND DONE … you WILL remember it and look back fondly upon it because it is recognised as the ending process of the old … as you bring in the New.

The New shall bring such Strength and Happiness to all.

The New shall allow you to FEEL the YOU that you TRULY are.

Everyone, including myself, seems to be feeling so vulnerable. So much is happening to so many … is it absolutely necessary for this to take place on an individual, personal level? So many needing to be in hospital, so many being served up, what I consider to be unnecessary predicaments that are far from pleasant. I mean why does it have to be so personal when the clearing of Energies is ‘in the air’, if you get me?

Yet, you are all One and the same. That which one is experiencing … is experienced for the Whole.

ALL that is taking place in one person’s life is like ‘taking one for the team’. Everything that you are now working through, is ridding the planet of all the ‘stuff’ that HAS TO BE RELEASED in order for the pathway ahead to be clear.

With respect … Haven’t we been doing that for the last few decades and then some?

Keep in mind Blossom, you and everyone else aware of their Light, are not just dealing with a few fibs here and there, or a little bit of jewellery theft.

You are dealing with the dark side of the WHOLE! You are choosing to be part of the removal system of all that has fallen into the pit of misery, greed, hate, … shall we go on?

No need, yet, yes, please do, just out of interest.

Jealousy, lust, pride, deceit. ALL that is below the line of that which is acceptable.

We previously expressed to you that this coming year would be a most interesting one in many forms of itself. One thing after another shall be presented to you as those of lesser Light … much lesser Light … struggle to redeem their status of power and control over the populous.

You have a virus which is ‘spreading’ in your world …

The Corona virus?

This is its given name.

I felt you wanted me to look up the meaning of the word ‘Corona’.  (Gaseous envelope of the sun and other stars … or ‘of the crown’.)

Interesting name. Considering there is much talk of solar flares and the sovereignty of a country that is under much strain due to news that has been leaked out. All that you are told goes much deeper than has so far been offered. Yet, it shall be revealed and there shall be no stopping these condemnations as they flow forth.

So, the virus?

A decoy! Put in place to mask rescue missions of those ‘under the thumb!’

‘Under the thumb’ meaning being controlled or dominated by someone. So, to speak as it is … you are saying the virus was put in place to take the attention away from those of darkness who are about to be ‘caught’.

Correct, Blossom.

Yet, none the less the virus is a real thing that is killing people!

As with many viruses that have been concocted to cause great alarm and fear. There will always be ‘some medical situation’ that is made prominent at a time suitable for undercover agents to slip through the bar and slip away unseen.

So much that is presented in your world is that of a decoy nature. So much!

Then the fear that builds, feeds itself until this particular threat ‘dies down’ and those who created it, sit happily in the knowing that once again their mission was successful.

Most of you who are aware KNOW all this.

May we ask … whenever you have heard about this virus or anything else, or seen it on your news, what have you felt? How have you reacted?

Well, to be honest … I very rarely watch the news, yet, if someone mentions it, I feel very unsympathetic, for I know it is just a ploy. Even though people are dying, I feel unattached somehow. It is just another part of the game and I am on the winning team. Of course, the I AM THE LIGHT. I AM THE LOVE. I AM. mantra comes into play at all times. For that which I cannot fully understand or accept is so very much ‘eased in strength’ by doing so. Saying this mantra allows me to stop questioning and pondering about it all and just BE (the Light and the Love.) Over and over again in every situation I say it and I know many, many are doing the same.

Yet, what you do not know, is the difference it is making to yourselves, each other and your Planet. When you continue to do so, you realise that you are not ‘falling for/under the spell’ that is deliberately designed to trap you. YOU ARE FREE OF IT … just by saying/feeling these few simple, yet so very Powerful words.

Dearest Blossom and all Souls of Earth who are struggling through these times … let the strength that lies within the coding of this mantra, guide you safely home. Use it as you are doing throughout … not just your daily circumstances … yet, use it throughout your Entire Being.

Let it become you. For you are THE LIGHT. THE LOVE. THE I AM presence in human form. Here to make the change into your Brighter world.

The particular Energies that are around at the moment shall subside and settle for a short time, yet, then, Dearest Ones …  A STORM OF GREAT MAGNITUDE SHALL BREAK and THEN shall you gather forces to see yourselves through.

I am assuming you mean storm, metaphorically?

Yes. Yet, when it arrives you will know why we used this as its sign.

Is this to come soon? I don’t believe I just asked that! I should know so much better.

We cannot give dates as you know. This ‘storm’ is a build up of events … and as each one ‘becomes exposed’ … the bigger the uproar which then leads to ‘the final straw’ … for want of an easy way of description.

Yet, it is to be this year?

We feel quite sure of this … yet, as you know Blossom … nothing is written in stone.

This year is to be the year of all years from the point of view of changes on a massive scale.

We trust your hats are firmly secured …

They will obviously need to be … judging from all that is going on for everyone in one way or another at the moment. It’s a strange feeling of surrendering to what is. No point in fighting it. It seems to be a one day at a time scenario and then I get into bed and the minute I close my eyes, my mind says, I AM THE LIGHT. I AM THE LOVE. I AM … Happy to have got through another day … somehow. Yet, knowing also, this is just the beginning.

You Know your strength. Each one of you can FEEL it from deep within. You can FEEL now that al the preparation you have ‘endured’ was leading up to these times, as you walk into the unknown/known segments of this journey of your lives.

We LOVE you. We are excited to watch the Glorious outcome unfold.

And so many Love you. Hope to bump into you one day … perhaps hitch a ride? In Gratitude. In Loving service. I AM.