"Maybe she was the reason Covid came along.". Trump bans funding for virus-related research

"Maybe she was the reason Covid came along.".

Trump bans funding for virus-related research

Yesterday, Monday, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order

prohibiting federal funding for scientific research and studies related to how

viruses acquire new functions and disease features.

"Many people believe [these]

• studies were one of the primary causes of the Covid pandemic that

• hit us in the last decade," a White House staffer told Trump

• as the document was signed in the Oval Office. 

This executive order provides, first and foremost, powerful new tools to enforce

the ban on federal funding for this type of research abroad.

It further allows for :

• the strengthening of other oversight mechanisms related to this issue

• and establishes a comprehensive strategy to ensure that biomedical

• research in general is conducted safely and in a manner that

ultimately better protects human health," he said.

For his part :

Trump :

1. speaking about the pandemic

1. emphasized that "this is very important.

1. If this decree had been signed earlier

this problem probably would not have arisen at all," he said.  

A source in the White House said that there is talk of some research in China

Iran and other countries, as well as studies that

may cause the emergence of a new pandemic.

The source stressed that the document "will significantly reduce the possibility of

laboratory accidents of the type that occurred

at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China.".

For his part :

1. US Health Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr.,
2. who was present in the Oval Office, claimed
3. without providing any evidence

that Russia and China are working to develop biological weapons. 

He said that :

"the world is witnessing a biological weapons arms race

China is involved in it :

and it is developing all kinds of weapons using artificial intelligence and CRISPR

[genome editing technology], which are very destructive weapons.Russia is deeply

involved in this process, as is Iran, and many other countries," he said.

Last April :

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian stated that the Chinese authorities

consider the White House’s politicization of the issue of the emergence of a new

type of Corona virus completely unacceptable.

5 years after the pandemic..

What do we know about "long Covid" so far?

Some 23 percent of those who contracted SARS-CoV-2 between 2021 and 2023

developed symptoms of "long Covid," and more than half

had symptoms lasting for two years, a study reveals.

After overcoming :

the initial infection with SARS-CoV-2 :

some experience long-term symptoms known as "long Covid."

• These symptoms include respiratory, neurological

• and digestive problems, as well as general symptoms such

• as fatigue and exhaustion, which last for at least three months. 

Being a woman :

being severely infected with COVID-19 :

• or having previous chronic conditions such as asthma

• are clear risk factors for long COVID," said study co-investigator

• Mariana Carachalio of the Barcelona Institute for Global Health.   

"We also observed that people who were obese or had high levels of IgG antibodies

before vaccination were more likely to develop long Covid,"

she added.

• The latter factor may reflect overactivity of

• the immune system after the initial infection

• which may contribute to the persistence of long-term symptoms. 

The study also :

identified protective factors that can reduce the risk of infectionsuch as vaccination

before infection and following a healthy lifestyle that includes regular physical

activity and getting enough sleep. 

Based on participants' reported symptoms and medical records, researchers

identified three clinical patterns of

"long Covid": 

1. Neurological and musculoskeletal symptoms. 
2. Respiratory symptoms. 
3. Severe symptoms involving multiple organs. 

The researchers found that 56 percent of those with

"long Covid" continued to have symptoms after two years. 

This study :

shows that "long-term Covid" remains a major health challenge

and that understanding risk and prevention factors can help reduce

its impact on individuals and communities.