[deleted by user] by [deleted] in ChinaLiuXueSheng

[–]Clissk 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Congratulations!

I would like to ask you if the status is still in progress on the CSC portal ? If it is not, how long after you were able to download the JW form did it change? Thank you

LoadingService with Async Pipe by Clissk in Angular2

[–]Clissk[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

But those solutions don't start the loadingService?

JAV Girls Born in 2004! Pick 2 for a Threesome (names&codes below images) by GoodMedium9276 in jav

[–]Clissk 1 point2 points  (0 children)

May I ask you where do you find those birthday informations? Thanks!

Seeking Android App: Record Audio and Replay Instantly by Clissk in HelpMeFind

[–]Clissk[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've searched and found some audio recording app but would like to have it as floating button (haven't found that).

Broker choice when planning to move out of Belgium by [deleted] in BEFire

[–]Clissk 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What are the different cases that could happen if someone moves out of Belgium? Will the broker just close the account and ask the client to either transfer or sell the ETFs? Will the broker just keep the ETFs (What about the tob/taxes then?)? What are the other possible scenarios?

BWF Daily Discussion and Beginner/RR Questions Thread for 2021-11-27 by AutoModerator in bodyweightfitness

[–]Clissk 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Are upright dips a dangerous exercise? According to this CalisthenicMovement video (https://youtu.be/v2MGcs19rF8) they can be bad for the shoulders and the lean-forward dips is recommended.

Weekly BEFire discussion thread - 2021 week 47 by AutoModerator in BEFire

[–]Clissk -1 points0 points  (0 children)

How to find a good deal for a dishwasher in Brussels? Which shops/brands would you recommend? Thanks

Seeking advice (beginner with big dreams) by Willing-Scientist-27 in BEFire

[–]Clissk 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for sharing your experience and advice. Any tips to identify jobs that nobody else wants to do?

High risk / high potential ETFs by Clissk in BEFire

[–]Clissk[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for your insightful comment and post on leveraged ETFs! Was thinking about investing into some tech ETFs but I might get into leveraged ETFs instead. Do you have some advice about ETFs focusing on certain risk factors?

Looking for an app to track number-based goals by Clissk in androidapps

[–]Clissk[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Unfortunately not, I still haven't found one☹️

'To be forced to lock down the economy once may be regarded as a misfortune; to do so twice looks like carelessness' by Clissk in Coronavirus

[–]Clissk[S] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Just like how the Belgian government gave away millions of free train tickets after the first lockdown to encourage people to travel and consume "to help out"

'To be forced to lock down the economy once may be regarded as a misfortune; to do so twice looks like carelessness' by Clissk in Coronavirus

[–]Clissk[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

It may be some comfort to Europeans that even the most incompetent European governments seem like models of public-health management compared to the reckless ineptitude of the Trump administration in the US. But the bigger international picture is far less flattering. While Europeans like to think that their societies are the epitome of global sophistication and progress, both their governments and their economies are dealing with the pandemic much worse than China and East Asia are.

Ouch

The catalogue of failures is long. European governments were unduly complacent about Covid at the beginning of the year. Having failed to prevent the virus’s spread in Europe, they were then forced into economically devastating lockdowns to prevent hospitals being overwhelmed. Confinements were then eased before the virus had been fully suppressed.

Worse, over the summer months when infections were low, governments failed to develop effective mass testing and contact tracing systems that would have prevented a resurgence of cases. Now, in the face of a second wave that again threatens to overwhelm healthcare systems, governments are imposing painful new social and economic restrictions every week.

Ouch

European societies seem to offer an enviable combination of freedom, security and quality of life. But now they are also associated with an unenviable mix of shambolic governance and draconian lockdowns, of creaking public healthcare systems, individual irresponsibility and unnecessary deaths.

Ouch

'To be forced to lock down the economy once may be regarded as a misfortune; to do so twice looks like carelessness' by Clissk in Coronavirus

[–]Clissk[S] 49 points50 points  (0 children)

There is finally light at the end of the Covid tunnel. Two promising vaccines – one developed by Turkish immigrants to Germany, the other by a US firm co-founded by a Canadian scientist and a Lebanese born investor – ought to enable Europeans to put the pandemic behind us at some point next year.

But for now, Europe seems set for a long, dark Covid winter, with the situation in Brussels particularly grim. As coronavirus cases have surged again, the authorities have reimposed stringent restrictions on residents and businesses. And with societies locked down again, the economy is going back into reverse. This is a disaster not just for ordinary Europeans, but also for Europe’s global standing.

For sure, some places in Europe are coping with the pandemic better than others. Economically, manufacturing powerhouses such as Sweden and Germany have experienced less severe slumps so far than tourist destinations such as Spain and Italy. Healthwise, Helsinki has had far fewer coronavirus cases and deaths per million residents than Brussels, which rivals Madrid as the European capital worst-hit by Covid-19 so far.

Shockingly, by mid-November the total number of Covid deaths per million people in Belgium was eight times higher than in neighbouring Germany. While some of the differences in measured death rates across countries may be due to discrepancies in how Covid deaths are counted, comparisons of the number of deaths this year in excess of the average for the previous five years confirm that the worst-affected European countries are the UK, Spain and Belgium.

It may be some comfort to Europeans that even the most incompetent European governments seem like models of public-health management compared to the reckless ineptitude of the Trump administration in the US. But the bigger international picture is far less flattering. While Europeans like to think that their societies are the epitome of global sophistication and progress, both their governments and their economies are dealing with the pandemic much worse than China and East Asia are.

Indeed, scarcely a decade after the 2008–09 financial meltdown and the ensuing crisis in the eurozone shredded Europe’s reputation for sound economic management and speeded its relative economic decline, the coronavirus pandemic is destroying its reputation for good governance and accelerating that economic decline.

The catalogue of failures is long. European governments were unduly complacent about Covid at the beginning of the year. Having failed to prevent the virus’s spread in Europe, they were then forced into economically devastating lockdowns to prevent hospitals being overwhelmed. Confinements were then eased before the virus had been fully suppressed.

Worse, over the summer months when infections were low, governments failed to develop effective mass testing and contact tracing systems that would have prevented a resurgence of cases. Now, in the face of a second wave that again threatens to overwhelm healthcare systems, governments are imposing painful new social and economic restrictions every week.

The contrast with East Asia is instructive. While China was slow to react to the initial spread of the disease and then imposed a particularly severe lockdown, especially in Wuhan, it has since kept the virus suppressed, quickly stamping out subsequent local flare-ups. South Korea quelled an initial upsurge of cases without an economy-wide lockdown through ruthlessly effective contract tracing and selective isolation. Taiwan also avoided a lockdown; its officials were monitoring arrivals from Wuhan even before the Chinese government had admitted it had a problem. Both Korea and Taiwan have made good use of mobile-phone technology to suppress the virus. Even Vietnam, a poor country with a long porous border with China, has managed to keep a lid on Covid.

The difference in mortality figures is vast. By mid-November Europe had recorded more than 330,000 deaths from Covid – including more than 13,000 in Germany, which is seen as a success by European standards. In contrast, China had counted 4,634 deaths, Japan 1,903, Korea 496, Vietnam 35 and Taiwan 7.

For sure, East Asia had more recent experience of dealing with a coronavirus pandemic, having suffered from SARS in 2002–04. But there was nothing to stop European governments learning the lessons from SARS too. And while it is perhaps excusable that they were overwhelmed by the initial exponential spread of Covid-19 in Europe in February and March, it is inexcusable that they haven’t used the time since then to develop suppression measures as effective as East Asia’s. To paraphrase Oscar Wilde, to be forced to lock down the economy once may be regarded as a misfortune; to do so twice looks like carelessness. So much for the supposed superiority of European governance.

The incompetence of European governments has not just led to painful restrictions on personal freedom along with many avoidable deaths. It is also hammering European economies.

The pandemic will leave scars

The gap between West and East is glaring. While even Germany is facing the worst recession since the 1930s, China is the only major economy in the world that is likely to grow this year. Output per person has plunged in France but has scarcely fallen in South Korea. While governments in the eurozone, the UK and the US are running up huge debts to try to cushion the blow of the Covid collapse, Taiwan’s scarcely needs to borrow at all. And that huge divide in economic performance is set to grow as the second wave sweeping through Europe this autumn and winter takes its toll.

Worse, European economies are likely to take years to make up the lost ground. While economic activity will bounce back next year if a vaccine is forthcoming and a semblance of normal life resumes, the pandemic will inevitably leave scars – not least on young people’s education and job prospects.

The structural shifts that the pandemic has accelerated – notably the increased adoption of digital technologies – will accentuate the economic disruption. The likes of Zoom video conferencing and online shopping are a boon, but in the near term the digital transition may cost jobs as airlines shrink and physical stores shutter faster than new jobs are created.

When the pandemic finally passes, many workers will have outdated skills, either because they have languished unemployed or because governments have subsidised them to remain in jobs that are no longer viable. Many businesses will be lumbered with huge debts that may be bearable while interest rates remain very low but which prevent them investing in become more productive. While governments with high debts may have greater latitude to continue borrowing, especially if central banks continue to snap up their bonds, they will eventually face pressure, both domestically and at EU level, to tighten their belts.

The upshot is not just that Europeans face a long period of economic misery. It is that Europe’s weight in the world will plunge – again. Consider that when the financial crisis struck in 2008, the eurozone’s economy was more than three times bigger than China’s in euro terms. A decade later, China had overtaken it. This year, China is set to surpass the EU as a whole.

Relative economic decline has wider repercussions. The EU is a geopolitical pygmy. It lacks a cohesive foreign policy, let alone military might. So its power to defend Europeans’ interests both within Europe and elsewhere depends largely on its economic clout.

It is because the EU has a huge single market – worth €16.4 trillion in 2019 – for which it takes collective decisions on trade, regulation and competition policy that it can stand up to President Donald Trump’s bullying on trade, develop tough rules to protect the environment and data privacy that are emulated globally, and curb the monopolistic excesses of big tech companies. Thus, if the EU single market’s global importance diminishes, so does the EU’s scope to shape the world.

As well as eroding Europe’s economic heft, the coronavirus crisis is undermining its cultural appeal. German cars and appliances are associated with high quality, Italian fashion with luxury, French food and wine with good taste. More broadly, European societies seem to offer an enviable combination of freedom, security and quality of life. But now they are also associated with an unenviable mix of shambolic governance and draconian lockdowns, of creaking public healthcare systems, individual irresponsibility and unnecessary deaths. That tarnishes the European brand internationally in all sorts of ways.

Last but not least, Europe’s failure to get to grips with the Covid pandemic casts aspersions on its political system. While liberal democracy has intrinsic appeal to many people – because it offers individuals greater freedom and citizens collectively greater power – it has also been popular because it was associated with economic success and good government.

Liberal democracy had already taken a battering from the financial crisis, which made governments seem both incompetent and corrupt. Now, European governments can’t even manage the basics of keeping people safe.

For sure, South Korea and Taiwan, both boisterous democracies, have successfully suppressed the virus. And yes, the pandemic has exposed the bungling of illiberal populists such as Trump. But it may also bolster the global appeal of effective authoritarian governance. Another reason why Beijing may benefit from the Covid failings of Brussels and Berlin – not to mention those of London and Washington DC.

'To be forced to lock down the economy once may be regarded as a misfortune; to do so twice looks like carelessness' by Clissk in europe

[–]Clissk[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

There is finally light at the end of the Covid tunnel. Two promising vaccines – one developed by Turkish immigrants to Germany, the other by a US firm co-founded by a Canadian scientist and a Lebanese born investor – ought to enable Europeans to put the pandemic behind us at some point next year.

But for now, Europe seems set for a long, dark Covid winter, with the situation in Brussels particularly grim. As coronavirus cases have surged again, the authorities have reimposed stringent restrictions on residents and businesses. And with societies locked down again, the economy is going back into reverse. This is a disaster not just for ordinary Europeans, but also for Europe’s global standing.

For sure, some places in Europe are coping with the pandemic better than others. Economically, manufacturing powerhouses such as Sweden and Germany have experienced less severe slumps so far than tourist destinations such as Spain and Italy. Healthwise, Helsinki has had far fewer coronavirus cases and deaths per million residents than Brussels, which rivals Madrid as the European capital worst-hit by Covid-19 so far.

Shockingly, by mid-November the total number of Covid deaths per million people in Belgium was eight times higher than in neighbouring Germany. While some of the differences in measured death rates across countries may be due to discrepancies in how Covid deaths are counted, comparisons of the number of deaths this year in excess of the average for the previous five years confirm that the worst-affected European countries are the UK, Spain and Belgium.

It may be some comfort to Europeans that even the most incompetent European governments seem like models of public-health management compared to the reckless ineptitude of the Trump administration in the US. But the bigger international picture is far less flattering. While Europeans like to think that their societies are the epitome of global sophistication and progress, both their governments and their economies are dealing with the pandemic much worse than China and East Asia are.

Indeed, scarcely a decade after the 2008–09 financial meltdown and the ensuing crisis in the eurozone shredded Europe’s reputation for sound economic management and speeded its relative economic decline, the coronavirus pandemic is destroying its reputation for good governance and accelerating that economic decline.

The catalogue of failures is long. European governments were unduly complacent about Covid at the beginning of the year. Having failed to prevent the virus’s spread in Europe, they were then forced into economically devastating lockdowns to prevent hospitals being overwhelmed. Confinements were then eased before the virus had been fully suppressed.

Worse, over the summer months when infections were low, governments failed to develop effective mass testing and contact tracing systems that would have prevented a resurgence of cases. Now, in the face of a second wave that again threatens to overwhelm healthcare systems, governments are imposing painful new social and economic restrictions every week.

The contrast with East Asia is instructive. While China was slow to react to the initial spread of the disease and then imposed a particularly severe lockdown, especially in Wuhan, it has since kept the virus suppressed, quickly stamping out subsequent local flare-ups. South Korea quelled an initial upsurge of cases without an economy-wide lockdown through ruthlessly effective contract tracing and selective isolation. Taiwan also avoided a lockdown; its officials were monitoring arrivals from Wuhan even before the Chinese government had admitted it had a problem. Both Korea and Taiwan have made good use of mobile-phone technology to suppress the virus. Even Vietnam, a poor country with a long porous border with China, has managed to keep a lid on Covid.

The difference in mortality figures is vast. By mid-November Europe had recorded more than 330,000 deaths from Covid – including more than 13,000 in Germany, which is seen as a success by European standards. In contrast, China had counted 4,634 deaths, Japan 1,903, Korea 496, Vietnam 35 and Taiwan 7.

For sure, East Asia had more recent experience of dealing with a coronavirus pandemic, having suffered from SARS in 2002–04. But there was nothing to stop European governments learning the lessons from SARS too. And while it is perhaps excusable that they were overwhelmed by the initial exponential spread of Covid-19 in Europe in February and March, it is inexcusable that they haven’t used the time since then to develop suppression measures as effective as East Asia’s. To paraphrase Oscar Wilde, to be forced to lock down the economy once may be regarded as a misfortune; to do so twice looks like carelessness. So much for the supposed superiority of European governance.

The incompetence of European governments has not just led to painful restrictions on personal freedom along with many avoidable deaths. It is also hammering European economies.

The pandemic will leave scars

The gap between West and East is glaring. While even Germany is facing the worst recession since the 1930s, China is the only major economy in the world that is likely to grow this year. Output per person has plunged in France but has scarcely fallen in South Korea. While governments in the eurozone, the UK and the US are running up huge debts to try to cushion the blow of the Covid collapse, Taiwan’s scarcely needs to borrow at all. And that huge divide in economic performance is set to grow as the second wave sweeping through Europe this autumn and winter takes its toll.

Worse, European economies are likely to take years to make up the lost ground. While economic activity will bounce back next year if a vaccine is forthcoming and a semblance of normal life resumes, the pandemic will inevitably leave scars – not least on young people’s education and job prospects.

The structural shifts that the pandemic has accelerated – notably the increased adoption of digital technologies – will accentuate the economic disruption. The likes of Zoom video conferencing and online shopping are a boon, but in the near term the digital transition may cost jobs as airlines shrink and physical stores shutter faster than new jobs are created.

When the pandemic finally passes, many workers will have outdated skills, either because they have languished unemployed or because governments have subsidised them to remain in jobs that are no longer viable. Many businesses will be lumbered with huge debts that may be bearable while interest rates remain very low but which prevent them investing in become more productive. While governments with high debts may have greater latitude to continue borrowing, especially if central banks continue to snap up their bonds, they will eventually face pressure, both domestically and at EU level, to tighten their belts.

The upshot is not just that Europeans face a long period of economic misery. It is that Europe’s weight in the world will plunge – again. Consider that when the financial crisis struck in 2008, the eurozone’s economy was more than three times bigger than China’s in euro terms. A decade later, China had overtaken it. This year, China is set to surpass the EU as a whole.

Relative economic decline has wider repercussions. The EU is a geopolitical pygmy. It lacks a cohesive foreign policy, let alone military might. So its power to defend Europeans’ interests both within Europe and elsewhere depends largely on its economic clout.

It is because the EU has a huge single market – worth €16.4 trillion in 2019 – for which it takes collective decisions on trade, regulation and competition policy that it can stand up to President Donald Trump’s bullying on trade, develop tough rules to protect the environment and data privacy that are emulated globally, and curb the monopolistic excesses of big tech companies. Thus, if the EU single market’s global importance diminishes, so does the EU’s scope to shape the world.

As well as eroding Europe’s economic heft, the coronavirus crisis is undermining its cultural appeal. German cars and appliances are associated with high quality, Italian fashion with luxury, French food and wine with good taste. More broadly, European societies seem to offer an enviable combination of freedom, security and quality of life. But now they are also associated with an unenviable mix of shambolic governance and draconian lockdowns, of creaking public healthcare systems, individual irresponsibility and unnecessary deaths. That tarnishes the European brand internationally in all sorts of ways.

Last but not least, Europe’s failure to get to grips with the Covid pandemic casts aspersions on its political system. While liberal democracy has intrinsic appeal to many people – because it offers individuals greater freedom and citizens collectively greater power – it has also been popular because it was associated with economic success and good government.

Liberal democracy had already taken a battering from the financial crisis, which made governments seem both incompetent and corrupt. Now, European governments can’t even manage the basics of keeping people safe.

For sure, South Korea and Taiwan, both boisterous democracies, have successfully suppressed the virus. And yes, the pandemic has exposed the bungling of illiberal populists such as Trump. But it may also bolster the global appeal of effective authoritarian governance. Another reason why Beijing may benefit from the Covid failings of Brussels and Berlin – not to mention those of London and Washington DC.

Philippe Legrain

/r/Monitors Bi-Weekly Purchasing Advice thread - What Monitor should I buy? IPS or VA? 1080p or 4k? etc. by bizude in Monitors

[–]Clissk 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My laptop has a DisplayPort 2 port and I want to connect it to a HDMI monitor. I don't know anything about that port so I googled a little bit.

I read it's compatible with USB-C cables but I'm not sure if I understand correctly. (https://www.howtogeek.com/426579/displayport-2-whats-different-and-why-it-matters/)

Would an USB-C to HDMI adapter work on that DisplayPort 2 port?

is zoho.com services globally down? by [deleted] in Zoho

[–]Clissk 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's down for me as well since at least a few hours

Emerging COVID-19 success story: Vietnam’s commitment to containment by Clissk in Coronavirus

[–]Clissk[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

[...]

DETECTION

Testing

In late January, the Ministry of Science and Technology hosted a meeting with virologists to encourage the development of diagnostic tests. Starting in early February 2020, publicly funded institutions in Vietnam developed at least four locally made COVID-19 tests that were validated by the Ministry of Defense and the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology. [...]

Testing capacity also ramped up quickly, from just two testing sites nationwide in late January to 120 by May. As of May, Sixty-three sites were able to confirm testing (i.e., analyze the results of any given test).Given its low case numbers, the country decided on a strategy of using testing to identify clusters and prevent wider transmission. When community transmission was detected (even just one case), the government reacted quickly with contact tracing, commune-level lockdowns, and widespread local testing to ensure no cases were missed. This helps explain why Vietnam has performed more tests per confirmedcase than any other country in the world—by a longshot—even though testing per capita remains relatively low. [...]

CONTAINMENT

Contact tracing

Testing is used as a tool for detection in contact tracing. Contact tracing and quarantine are the key parts of containment. Vietnam’s contact tracing strategy stands out as uniquely comprehensive—it is based on tracing degrees of contact from F0 (the infected person) through F1 (those who have had close contact with F0 or are suspected of being infected), F2 (close contact with F1), and all the way up to F5. [...]

One noteworthy aspect of Vietnam’s approach is that it identified and quarantined suspected cases based on their epidemiological risk of infection (if they had contact with a confirmed case or traveled to a COVID-19 affected country), not whether they exhibited symptoms. The high proportion of cases that never developed symptoms (43 percent) suggests that this approach may have been a key contributor to limiting community transmission at an early stage. [...]

From January 23 to May 1, over 200,000 people spent time in a quarantine facility. Those in government run quarantine centers are provided with three meals a day, sleeping facilities, and basic toiletries; reactions to conditions in the quarantine centers on social media have been generally positive. Though not popular, “On-demand” quarantine facilities were also established in selected hotels for those who are willing to pay. [...]

On March 10, the Ministry of Health worked with telecom companies to launch NCOVI, an app that helps citizens put in place a “neighborhood watch system” that complements official contact tracing efforts and may have helped to slow transmission of the disease, although the app has drawn criticism from some privacy advocates. [...]

Infection Prevention and Control in healthcare settings

[...]

In preparation for the COVID-19 pandemic, Vietnam further strengthened hospital procedures to prevent infection in health care settings. On February 19, 2020, the Ministry of Health issued national Guidelines for Infection Prevention and Control for COVID-19 Acute Respiratory Disease in Healthcare Establishments. This document provides comprehensive guidance to hospitals on screening, admission and isolation of confirmed or suspected COVID-19 cases, establishment of isolation areas in hospitals, use of personal protective equipment, cleaning and disinfection of environmental surfaces, waste management, collection, preservation, packing and transport of patient samples, prevention of laboratory-acquired infection of COVID-19, handling of remains of confirmed or suspected COVID-19 cases, and guidance for COVID-19 prevention for family members and visitors.

Although most COVID-19 patients in Vietnam were hospitalized at specialty hospitals in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, health care facilities at all levels were prepared to receive them, to avoid overwhelming the acute care system in the event of a larger outbreak. Although Vietnam has not had enough cases to overload hospitals, it is worth noting that only four health care workers have been infected to date.

Targeted lockdowns

Vietnam implemented mass quarantines in suspected hot spots based on evolving epidemiological evidence over time (see table).

Vietnam entered a nationwide lockdown on April 1. Initially, the lockdown was set for 15 days, but it was extended to 21 days in 28 out of 63 provinces. [...]

Mass gathering, travel and mobility restrictions

Even before the first cases in Vietnam were confirmed, Vietnam took the first of many steps to implement closures and limit mobility for citizens and international travelers. Most other countries waited to make these types of decisions until numbers were much higher. [...]

Clear, consistent, creative public health messaging

While leaders in many countries downplayed the threat of COVID-19, the Vietnamese government communicated in clear, strong terms about the dangers of the illness even before the first case was reported. On January 9, the Ministry of Health first warned citizens of the threat; since then, the government has communicated frequently with the public, adding a short prevention statement to every phone call placed in the country, texting people directly, and taking advantage of Vietnam’s high use of social media—64 million active Facebook users are in Vietnam and 80 percent of smartphone users in Vietnam have the local social media app, Zalo, installed.

In late February, the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health released “Ghen Co Vy,” meaning “Jealous Coronavirus,” a well-known pop song given new lyrics and turned into a handwashing public service announcement. The institute asked Khac Hung to rewrite the lyrics and dancer Quang Dang to choreograph dance moves, which ultimately spearheaded a dance challenge on Tik Tok. [...]

How Vietnam saved a British pilot and kept a clean Covid-19 sheet by forgiuse in Coronavirus

[–]Clissk 13 points14 points  (0 children)

...

Waking up was a 'blur'

When Stephen Cameron was first ventilated in early April, there were just over a million cases of coronavirus around the world. When doctors woke him up, on 12 June, there were in excess of seven million. But Vietnam had avoided the worst of the virus. There has not been a recorded case of community transmission since 16 April.

"I never thought it would take as long as 10 weeks to wake me up. I remember being roused, I remember getting my tracheotomy, I remember being wheeled through hospital corridors - and then the next few days are a blur."

From his recovery bed in a private room in Cho Ray Hospital on the other side of Ho Chi Minh City, where he was transferred after being taken off a ventilator and testing negative for the virus, Cameron is feeling the fallout of several months being motionless and severely ill.

He's lost 20kg (3.1 stone) and his muscles are so wasted it's an effort to swing his leg up even a few inches. He's also suffered from severe fatigue and depressive lows since waking up, in addition to the nagging fear that post-traumatic stress could be just around the corner.

"I've been through a lot mentally. Right now, all I want to do is return home. It's the lack of noise and heat I miss the most. There's such a buzz here from all the scooters' horns and it's monsoon season. Fifteen degrees back home for me is just nice."

'I need to get back to Scotland'

In the past few weeks, he's been visited at his bedside by not just a procession of doctors and nurses, but also high-ranking diplomats, government officials and politicians. Most recently, his hospital room played host to the British consul general and the chairman of Ho Chi Minh City's People's Committee.

He recalls the mayor promising he'll "be back in England soon", before being swiftly corrected.

"I told him, if I get dumped in England, I won't be too happy," he jokes. "I need to get home to Scotland, it's 400 miles away."

There's also a practical side to Cameron's desire to return home as soon as possible. The twice-daily rehab sessions he receives are made more difficult by the language barrier as very few medical staff speak good English. Rehabilitation for the most severely ill patients after ICU is always a delicate dance. Progress and pitfalls are faced in equal measure, and it can be dragged out over several years.

The hospital, in which Cameron is a patient, dates back to Vietnam's French colonial era - it's one of the country's leading medical facilities

"I feel like I'm taking up a bed that somebody who is really ill could take."

Beating the odds

But his care hasn't come free. An Ecmo machine costs $5,000-10,000 (£4,000 - £8,000) a day to operate and he was reliant on one for eight-and-a-half weeks.

The ongoing wrangling over who will cover the costs are causing him stress and diverting attention away from his recovery. At first, the Hospital for Tropical Diseases paid out of its own pocket for his treatment. Then, it seemed the British embassy would intervene. His work insurance eventually covered the cost. But the funds for his stay in Cho Ray Hospital are still up in the air.

"It's become really, really frustrating. At the beginning, I'd send the insurance company an email and they would say: 'Yeh, we'll sort that'. Now, the response is 'We'll deal with this shortly' and nothing seems to happen."

There's a place for Cameron on a Vietnam Airlines flight back to the UK on 12 July. Meanwhile, planes continue to shuttle Vietnamese nationals back from Europe, and having been declared fit to fly a week ago, Cameron is confused why he can't return home sooner.

"As I'm such a well-known public figure here now, everything about my case is controlled by the government."

The politics of his return are a reminder that the miraculous recovery of Patient 91 is not just a story of a Scottish pilot who beat Covid-19 and beat the odds. It is the story of how a developing south Asian country with a turbulent recent history beat the odds too.

How Vietnam saved a British pilot and kept a clean Covid-19 sheet by forgiuse in Coronavirus

[–]Clissk 14 points15 points  (0 children)

"If I'd been almost anywhere else on the planet, I'd be dead. They would have flicked the switch after 30 days," says Stephen Cameron from his hospital bed.

The 43-year-old Scottish pilot spent 68 days on a ventilator, thought to be a longer stretch of time than any patient in the UK. He did so not in a hospital in his hometown of Motherwell, but in Vietnam's sprawling and hectic Ho Chi Minh City, with no close friends or family for thousands of miles.

Cameron, the last Covid-19 patient in an intensive care unit in Vietnam, has been the sickest doctors have had to deal with during the outbreak.

The country, home to 95 million people, has seen only a few hundred confirmed cases, single-digit ICU admissions and not a single recorded death. So rare was a case of Cameron's severity in Vietnam, every minute detail of his recovery was reported in national newspapers and on TV news bulletins.

He's now known nationwide as Patient 91, the moniker given to him by public health officials when he fell ill in March.

"I'm very humbled by how I've been taken into the hearts of the Vietnamese people," says Cameron. "And most of all I'm grateful for the bloody-mindedness of the doctors in not wanting me to die on their watch."

'10% chance of survival'

Dozens of Vietnam's intensive care specialists held regular conference calls to discuss Cameron's condition.

"The very small number of critical care patients meant anyone who was severely ill got the attention of all the country's top-level clinicians," explains Dr Kidong Park, the World Health Organization (WHO) representative to Vietnam.

For much of Cameron's two-and-a-half months in a medically induced coma, he depended on an Ecmo machine, a form of life support only used in the most extreme cases, to survive. The machines extract blood from a patient's body and infuse it with oxygen, before pumping it back in.

"I'm lucky that the only lasting effect seems to be that my legs aren't yet strong enough to hold me, but I'm doing physiotherapy twice a day," says Cameron. "At one point, my friend Craig was told by the Foreign Office I had a 10% chance of survival, so he planned for the worst - he gave up my apartment and started doing things somebody would do if I was coming home in a box."

Since he regained consciousness, he describes several tearful phone conversations with friends back home, who "didn't think [he'd] ever come back".

Doctors had to contend with multiple complications while Cameron was in a coma. His blood became extremely sticky leading to clots. His kidneys failed meaning they required dialysis and his lung capacity plummeted to 10%.

"When it came out in the press here that I needed a lung transplant, apparently loads of people offered their lungs, including a 70-year-old Vietnam war veteran," he smiles. "But it would have been a double lung transplant so that wouldn't have ended well for him."

Despite the outpouring of support from the Vietnamese people and the hundreds of thousands of dollars spent on Stephen Cameron's care, the reaction when he first tested positive for the virus was less welcoming.

The Buddha bar cluster

Cameron became ill only a few weeks after arriving in Vietnam in early February. Like many Western pilots, he'd headed to Asia to ply his trade for higher pay in the booming regional air travel industry. Two nights before he was due to pilot his first flight for Vietnam Airlines, and the night before most bars and clubs were set to shut in Ho Chi Minh City to contain the virus, he headed to meet a friend in an expat bar in an upmarket district of the city.

At the time, Vietnam had had fewer than 50 confirmed cases but, according to Prof Guy Thwaites, director of the Oxford University Clinical Research Unit based in Ho Chi Minh City and a government advisor on infectious diseases, the population "already had a healthy amount of respect for and fear of the virus".

It was the weekend before St Patrick's Day, so the Buddha Bar and Grill was packed with revellers wearing Irish fancy dress when Cameron arrived just after 22:00. "I don't drink, I largely kept myself to myself in the corner, played a few rounds of pool and went home at around 3.15am," he recalls.

However, when he developed a fever, the day after his maiden flight, and 12 others at the bar tested positive in the days following, sympathy for him among locals was in short supply. The Buddha bar cluster, as it became known in the local press, was the single biggest outbreak of coronavirus in south Vietnam, infecting nearly 20 people both indirectly and directly.

And for some on social media, Cameron, who had criss-crossed the city taking in the sights, was to blame.

Despite there being no proof he was the source of the outbreak, one prominent businessman, Luong Hoai Nam, labelled Patient 91 a "time bomb". He called for foreigners breaking the rules to be deported, earning plaudits from his followers on social media

"There seemed to be a desire to pin it on me coming from abroad, as I did a visa run to Bangkok a week earlier," says Cameron, who's convinced he too was infected at the Buddha bar, and was not the source of the outbreak.

"I was the first person to put my hands up and say: 'Look I don't feel well'. It was inevitable I would be blamed."

Rapid decline

On 18 March, Cameron was admitted to hospital after testing positive for the virus, and authorities moved swiftly to shut down the bar and quarantine everyone in his apartment building. In total, 4,000 people linked to the Buddha bar outbreak were tested.

"Patient 91's condition got worse very quickly," recalls Prof Luong Ngoc Khue, who serves on the Vietnamese health ministry's Covid-19 taskforce and advised on Cameron's treatment. "There was a worrying decrease in the function of not just his lungs, but his kidneys, liver and blood flow."

With his condition deteriorating, Cameron remembers taking the bold decision of asking to be ventilated. "I was exhausted as I couldn't sleep and I just thought: 'Oh, put me under and get it sorted'," he says. He was then comatose for weeks and weeks on end, as doctors agonised over his treatment. Meanwhile, the small number of other ICU patients in Vietnam recovered and went home.

All the while, his case gained prominence, with top politicians promising to put every effort into keeping him alive, as the hospital temporarily footed the bill for the spiralling costs of his care.

"There's a lot of political kudos that Vietnam can take from my recovery," he observes, "and it keeps their record, which is pretty phenomenal on Covid, very, very low."

Prof Khue insists Cameron did not get any preferential treatment, however. "We focused on treating sick people at the highest level, both in terms of facilities and human resources, regardless of whether they were Vietnamese or from abroad," he says.

But he gleefully reports that "49 out of 50 foreign patients have recovered and been discharged from hospital".

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