Tag Archives: Japan

New Measures To Block Omicron Variant From Malaysia!

With the Omicron variant rapidly spreading across the globe, Malaysia has initiated new measures to block it from reaching our shores.

Here is what you need to know…

New Measures To Block Omicron Variant From Malaysia!

On 1 December 2021, the Malaysia Minister of Health Khairy Jamaluddin announced a series of new measures to block the Omicron variant from reaching our shores.

This decision came after 20 countries reported over 200 cases of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 :

Country	Omicron Cases	Country	Omicron Cases
South Africa	128	Austria	4
Botswana	19	Brazil	2
Portugal	13	Canada	2
The Netherlands	12	Japan	2
United Kingdom	9	Denmark	2
Australia	6	Spain	1
Hong Kong	5	Reunion Island (France)	1
Germany	5	Belgium	1
Italy	4	Czech Republic	1
Israel	4	Sweden	1

How Malaysia Intends To To Block Omicron Variant!

Temporary Travel Ban

Malaysia will no longer allow flights from or transiting through countries with Omicron variant transmission, or high risk countries, will be blocked.

These are the eight (8) countries that the Malaysia Ministry of Health (KKM) has listed under the travel ban :

South Africa
Botswana
Eswatini
Lesotho
Mozambique
Namibia
Zimbabwe
Malawi

There is also a temporary travel ban for non-Malaysian citizens from those countries, including travellers who have been in those countries during the last 14 days prior to arrival.

Malaysian citizens and holders of long-term passes (PR status, spouse visa, MM2H and resident pass) are still ALLOWED to return to Malaysia, subject to these restrictions :

Irrespective of their vaccination status, they must undergo a 14-day mandatory quarantine at a quarantine station.
They must undergo three RT-PCR COVID-19 tests :
– within 72 hours before departure,
– on arrival in Malaysia, and
– on the 10th day of the mandatory quarantine
A risk assessment will be conducted on the 14th day of quarantine, which may be extended if the traveller is symptomatic.

Malaysian citizens who are planning to visit the listed countries are NOT ALLOWED to continue with their travel plans.

Vaccinated Travel Lane

Arrangements to create a Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) with countries with Omicron variant transmission, or high risk countries, have been postponed.

In addition, the Malaysia-Singapore VTL programme for both air and land travel has been amended to require travellers to undergo additional COVID-19 self-tests on the 3rd and 7th day after arrival.

They must then report their test results in MySejahtera.

Monitoring Of Countries With Omicron Variant Cases

The Ministry of Health (KKM) will monitor and provide the other government ministries with a DAILY LIST of countries with Omicron variant cases, or at high risk.

Strengthening Of International Gateways

The Immigration Department of Malaysia has immediately STOPPED the use of the Autogate system.

Flights carrying passengers from the listed countries with Omicron variant transmission, or high risk countries, are only allowed to enter Malaysia through KLIA.

Airlines are responsible for identifying passengers travelling from countries with Omicron variant transmission, or high-risk countries. This information must be submitted to the KLIA Health Office for easier handling of the arrivals.

MAHB is required to create a special “gate” and path for travellers from countries with Omicron variant transmission, or high-risk countries, to undergo a health screening before undergoing their special quarantine.

International Students + Foreign Workers

International students and foreign workers from countries with Omicron variant cases, or high-risk countries, will be temporarily BANNED from entering Malaysia.

Langkawi International Tourism Bubble

Tourists from countries with Omicron variant transmission, or high-risk countries; or those with history of travel to those countries in the past 14 days, are NOT ALLOWED to participate in the Langkawi International Tourism Bubble.

Malaysian citizens (Langkawi residents) returning from countries with Omicron variant transmission, or high-risk countries, are ALLOWED to return to Malaysia, but only through KLIA and must undergo a mandatory 14-day quarantine in a special quarantine station.

Foreign tourists who are confirmed to be positive with the Omicron variant of COVID-19 will be isolated and treated in a private hospital, at their own cost.

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He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.

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Did Japan Use Ivermectin To Successfully Control COVID-19?

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Did Japan use ivermectin to successfully control COVID-19, cutting down new cases to only 140 per day?

Take a look at the viral claim, and find out what the facts really are!

Claim : Japan Used Ivermectin To Successfully Control COVID-19!

This is the message that people are sharing on WhatsApp. It claims that Japan used ivermectin to successfully control COVID-19.

😃😃😃😃

Japan has allowed its doctors to prescribe ivermectin for Covid and is widely used to control Covid. You can check Japan’s figures in Worldometer. On average, the figures are 140 daily now, a far cry from 24,000 cases daily in August. It is certainly not because of vaccination.

Gibraltar – the vaccinated country in the world has cancelled its Christmas plans cause of the increase in Covid cases. Fullfact fact checkers are funded by those who are responsible for this pandemic as is the news agency Reuters. Thnx 🤫

Truth : Japan Did NOT Use Ivermectin To Successfully Control COVID-19!

This is yet another example of ivermectin fake news that is being constantly created and spread through messaging apps and social media, and here are the reasons why…

Fact #1 : Japan Never Used Ivermectin Against COVID-19

This oft-repeated lie has been repeatedly proven false time and time again, and was concocted around “suggestions” by the Chairman of the Tokyo Medical Association, Dr. Haruo Ozaki, that doctors should be allowed to prescribe ivermectin and dexamethasone to their COVID-19 patients.

He made this suggestion twice – on 9 February 2021, and on 13 August 2021. However, that advice was not accepted by the Japanese government on both occasions.

As of 1 November 2021, the Japan Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare has NOT approved the use of ivermectin against COVID-19. Only these drugs have been approved :

Remdesivir (Veklury)
Dexamethasone
Baricitinib (olumiant)
Casirivimab / Imdevimab (Ronapreve)
Sotrovimab (XEVUDY)

Therefore, it is FALSE to claim that “Japan has allowed its doctors to prescribe ivermectin“.

It is also FALSE to claim that ivermectin “is widely used” to control COVID-19 in Japan.

Fact #2 : Japan’s Success Not Due To Ivermectin

The National Institute of Infectious Diseases (NIID) of Japan has been regularly publishing its evaluations of the COVID-19 situation in Japan.

In the last few weeks, it stated consistently that the massive drop in cases was due to :

the cooperation of many citizens and businesses toward infection control,
an improvement in the vaccination rate – persons who have completed the second vaccination account for more than 70% of all citizens, and approximately 70% of persons aged 12 to 19 years have already received one vaccination
delayed vaccinations – in foreign countries where vaccinations started earlier, breakthrough infections have occurred due to a decrease in neutralizing antibody titers, and infection rebounds have occurred during the course of significant relaxations of regulations

As such, the NIID said that “vaccination should be promoted continuously, and each person must take actions to prevent the spread of the infection“.

Ivermectin was never mentioned even once in any of the NIID’s reports going back to 10 December 2020. That’s because ivermectin was never used to treat COVID-19 in Japan.

Fact #3 : Kitasato University Cannot Recruit Enough Participants For IVM Trial

Ivermectin was discovered by Satoshi Ōmura of the Kitasato University, and William Campbell of Merck.

So it comes to no surprise that the Kitasato University would try to conduct a clinical study to examine the efficacy of ivermectin against COVID-19.

The study, CORVETTE-01 (Study in COvid-19 Patients With iveRmectin), kicked off on 16 September 2020 with the aim of recruiting 240 participants.

However, as of the latest 26 October 2021 update, the study was still NOT able to recruit its target of 240 participants.

That would suggest that interest in ivermectin’s use against COVID-19 is VERY LOW in Japan, even in people with COVID-19!

Fact #4 : Gibraltar Proves Vaccination Works!

Antivaxxers are pointing out that Gibraltar is fully-vaccinated, and yet they were “forced” to cancel their official Christmas celebrations after a spike in COVID-19 cases.

It is true that Gibraltar cancelled their official Christmas celebrations because of a surge in COVID-19 cases.

But like the devious little liars they are, antivaxxers use that small fact to mislead you on the truth – that COVID-19 vaccinations are working.

If you look at this comparison I created, you can see that the large spike that started in December 2020 was wiped out once Gibraltar vaccinated about 56% of their population.

More importantly, they suffered only FOUR (4) deaths since their population was 97% vaccinated against COVID-19.

Gibraltar is proving that even though protection against infections may wane after a few months, the vaccines are protecting their people against death from COVID-19.

Fact #5 : Antivaxxers Are Responsible For Pandemic Continuing

Are fact checkers being funded by those responsible for the pandemic. Where’s the evidence? Is it possible for the SARS-CoV-2 virus to fund websites?

That’s how STUPID and DESPICABLE antivaxxers really are. They have no qualms making up ridiculous stories to fool you.

I can’t speak for Reuters, but fact checking websites like Tech ARP are funded by ads (and only if you click on them) and possibly, donations.

The truth is antivaxxers want to distract you from the fact that they are RESPONSIBLE for the persistence of this pandemic.

If everyone gets vaccinated like the residents of Gibraltar, COVID-19 may become endemic (there will always be new cases), but VERY FEW people will get terribly sick or die from it!

Antivaxxers do NOT care about your health, or your family’s lives. Protect yourself and your family – get vaccinated against COVID-19!

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Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.

He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.

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China Provided 2 Billion Vaccine Doses To The World?!

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Did China provide 2 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses to the world, while America dropped hundreds of thousands of bombs instead?

Take a look at the new viral photo, and find out what the FACTS really are!

Did China Provide 2 Billion Vaccine Doses To The World?

Sinophiles have been sharing an infographic comparing Chinese President Xi Jinping to the last three American Presidents – Donald Trump, Barack Obama and George W. Bush.

It shows that China under Xi Jinping provided 2 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses to the world, while America under President Bush, Obama and Trump dropped over 240,000 bombs.

Truth : China Did Not Provide 2 Billion Vaccine Doses To The World

The truth is this is just Chinese propaganda and well, FAKE NEWS, and here are the reasons why…

Fact #1 : China Did Not Provide 2 Billion Vaccine Doses To The World

The Chinese Foreign Ministry announced on 23 September 2021 that “China has provided 1.2 billion doses of finished and bulk vaccines to more than 100 countries and international organisations“.

So even if we take their word for it, China most definitely has NOT provided 2 billion doses of their COVID-19 vaccines to the world.

Data analytics company, Airfinity, puts China’s worldwide COVID-19 vaccine exports slightly lower – at just 1.1 billion doses to 123 countries, as of 8 October 2021.

No matter how you slice this salami, China has not come close to providing the world with 2 billion vaccine doses.

Fact #2 : Provided Does Not Mean Donated

The misleading “infographic” tries to imply that China “donated” 2 billion doses of vaccines to the world.

Note how it uses the same word – “provided” just like the Chinese Foreign Ministry. It is a curious use of the word, since other countries would have either used “exported” or “donated”.

The use of the ambiguous word “provided” is no coincidence, as China wants the world to think of it as benevolent and generous. The truth is much less impressive.

Most Chinese-made COVID-19 vaccines were SOLD for profit, not donated for the good of their fellow men.

There’s nothing wrong in selling vaccines. It is simply FALSE to imply or claim that China donated 2 billion vaccine doses.

Fact #3 : China Is A Stingy Vaccine Donor

Despite their implied benevolence, China is a notably stingy donor.

China only started donating to COVAX on 3 February 2021, pledging 10 million doses of their Sinopharm vaccine.

Not only was that a paltry 0.3% of the 3.3 BILLION doses secured by COVAX at that time, it took them almost 3 months to manufacture those 10 million doses.

China pledged to donate a total of 100 million vaccine doses, with around 37 million doses delivered by 1 October 2021.

That pales in comparison to the United States, which donated more than 190 million doses as of 13 October and has pledged to donate more than 1.1 BILLION vaccine doses – 11X more than China.

Fact #4 : China Is A Stingy COVAX Donor

COVAX – the worldwide initiative for equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines – does not rely on donated vaccines. It relies primarily on financial aid, which allows it to directly purchase vaccines to distribute.

You can check how much each country or organisation donated in the latest COVAX donor list.

China did not contribute a single dollar to the COVAX Facility until 6 August 2021, when they announced a single US$100 million contribution.

That may sound impressive, until you actually compare their contribution with what the rest of the world is contributing…

COVAX Donors	Contribution In USD
United States	3,500 million
Germany	1,070 million
Japan	1,000 million
United Kingdom	733 million
Sweden	538 million
European Commission	489 million
Italy	470 million
Canada	384 million
Sweden	296 million
France	242 million
South Korea	210 million
B&M Gates Foundation	206 million
Switzerland	162 million
Saudi Arabia	150 million
Norway	141 million
Spain	122 million
Netherlands	108 million
Australia	100 million
China	100 million

China could only match Australia, donating LESS THAN HALF what South Korea donated and just 10% of what Japan donated donated to COVAX, despite being the world’s second largest economy.

Even more embarrassingly, China donated LESS THAN HALF what the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation – a private organisation – donated to COVAX.

But not to worry – Russia didn’t contribute a single cent to COVAX. So Chinese propagandists would do better to compare China’s contributions against their northern brethren, instead of their western rivals.

Fact #5 : CCP Government Is No Angel

China under the CCP government may not have dropped bombs on other countries like the United States, but it is no angel.

While the United States dropped bombs on terrorists and sometimes innocents caught in “The War On Terror”, the CCP government conducted its own “War on Terror” in its Xinjiang Province by rounding up between 1-3 million Uyghur Muslims and putting them into internment camps, which they call “vocational education and training centres”.

Now, there is no equivalence between dropping bombs on people, and imprisoning them to use as slave labour. But it would be foolish for anyone to believe that China is an angel.

The CCP government has aggressively threatened Taiwan, continuously sending flights of military planes into their ADIZ (Air Defence Identification Zone).

The CCP government also took over islands and features in the Paracel and Spratly Islands that belonged to other countries, and built military installations on them, including airfields, radar and radio stations as well as missile defences, and actively use them to threatened passing ships.

The CCP government even sent its troops to engage the Indian army in aggressive melee and face-off skirmishes on their border, resulting in deaths of 20 Indian soldiers and approximately 43 Chinese soldiers in 2020.

China’s conduct within their own country and internationally, has shown that the Middle Kingdom has no qualms ignoring international laws and destroying people’s lives, to get what they want.

That makes China no different from other superpowers abusing their economic and military strength to bully smaller and less powerful nations.

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Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.

He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.

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Did Japan Approve Ivermectin For Use Against COVID-19?

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Did Japan approve ivermectin for use against COVID-19?

Take a look at the new viral claim, and find out what the FACTS really are!

Claim : Japan Approved Ivermectin For Use Against COVID-19!

People are sharing an article by GNEWS claiming that Japan approved ivermectin for use against COVID-19!

The article link (removed) is often shared with one of these comment :

IVERMECTIN APPROVED IN JAPAN!

Japan Approved Ivermectin For COVID-19!

Truth : Japan Did Not Approve Ivermectin For Use Against COVID-19!

The truth is that this is a rehash of earlier fake news. As of 28 August 2021, Ivermectin is NOT approved in Japan for use against COVID-19.

Here are the FACTS…

Fact #1 : Dr. Haruo Ozaki Wanted Off-Label Use Of Ivermectin

Dr. Haruo Ozaki suggested that doctors be allowed to prescribe ivermectin and dexamethasone “off-label” at a press conference on 9 February 2021.

He said, “I would like the government to consider treatment at the level of the family doctor.”

On 13 August 2021, he stated that “It is necessary to thoroughly study the clinical trials, but it seems that we are at the stage where it is okay to have the patient give an informed consent, and get permission to use it“.

Dr. Haruo Ozaki may be the Chairman of the Tokyo Medical Association, but he can only make suggestions. He is not the Japanese Health Ministry and cannot approve ivermectin for use against COVID-19.

Fact #2 : Ivermectin Still NOT APPROVED In Japan For Use Again st COVID-19

As of 28 August 2021, Japan still does NOT allow Ivermectin to be used to treat or prevent COVID-19.

In their July 2021 edition of COVID-19 treatment guidelines, Ivermectin is still listed in the category of drugs whose “efficacy and safety have not been established“.

Only two drugs have been approved (as of 28 August 2021) by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare for use against COVID-19 in Japan :

Remdesivir
Baricitinib

It is therefore FALSE for anyone to claim that Japan approved ivermectin for use against COVID-19.

Fact #3 : Tokyo Metropolitan Government Does NOT Recommend Ivermectin

Even the Tokyo Metropolitan Government itself does NOT recommend the use of ivermectin.

In their latest 28 June 2021 FAQ on COVID-19, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government states :

There are currently no antiviral drugs that are known to be effective against the coronavirus disease, so treatment aims to relieve symptoms.

In other words, the same Metropolitan government that Dr. Haruo Ozaki advises did NOT accept his suggestion to allow the off-label use of ivermectin.

Fact #4 : Japan Health Ministry Warns Against Taking Ivermectin

On 21 February 2021, the Japanese Health Ministry warned against importing ivermectin for use against COVID-19.

The Health Ministry warned that even if people are taking ivermectin at their own risks, its side effects may not be covered by government relief.

“Generally speaking, no one guarantees what’s inside imported medicines. It’s extremely dangerous to take them on one’s own judgment,” said an official of the ministry’s Tuberculosis and Infectious Diseases Control Division.

Fact #5 : Kitasato University Still TRYING To Conduct Ivermectin Trial

Ivermectin was discovered by Satoshi Ōmura of the Kitasato University, and William Campbell of Merck.

So it comes to no surprise that the Kitasato University would try to conduct a clinical study to examine the efficacy of ivermectin against COVID-19.

The study, CORVETTE-01 (Study in COvid-19 Patients With iveRmectin), kicked off on 16 September 2020 with the aim of recruiting 240 participants.

However, as of the latest 24 June 2021 update, the study has not even recruited its target of 240 participants.

Fact #6 : Ivermectin Is Not 100% Safe

Ivermectin is generally a safe and well-tolerated drug, but it has not actually been widely used.

Ivermectin proponents like to tell us that 3.7 billion doses of ivermectin have been prescribed over the last 40 years. That’s just 92 million doses a year.

In 2018, 41 billion doses of Atorvastatin were prescribed – 11X more doses in a single year than all ivermectin doses ever sold in the last 40 years.

On top of that, the ivermectin protocols being promoted by FLCCC, Professor Thomas Borody, Dr. Amir Farid and random people on social media have NEVER been tested for safety or efficacy.

So no one really knows whether the dosage or treatment regimen they are advocating are safe, or even work against COVID-19!

In fact, when people started self-medicating with ivermectin, doctors started to see cases of liver damage, which even resulted in at least one liver transplant.

Patients treated with ivermectin was also shown to require invasive mechanical ventilation EARLIER than those who did not take ivermectin.

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Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.

He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.

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Fact Check : Greenlight For Ivermectin In Japan?

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Did ivermectin receive the greenlight to be used to treat or prevent COVID-19 in Japan?

Take a look at the new viral claim, and find out what the FACTS really are!

Claim : Greenlight For Ivermectin In Japan!

People are sharing an article by GNEWS claiming that the ivermectin received the greenlight to be used to treat and prevent COVID-19 in Japan!

The article link (removed) is often shared with this comment :

Dr. Ozaki declared that ivermectin has demonstrated significant benefits in reducing infections and deaths where the regimen is prophylactically administered for another indication. With the encouraging medical data from ivermectin clinical trials’ reports worldwide, especially the one from FLCCC of US and BIRD of UK, the head of the Metropolitan Medical Association declared that while clinical trials were important, it was time to greenlight doctors to prescribe ivermectin in association with giving the patient informed consent.

Truth : Still No Greenlight For Ivermectin In Japan!

The truth is that ivermectin did NOT receive the greenlight to be used to treat or prevent COVID-19 in Japan.

Here are the FACTS…

Fact #1 : Haruo Ozaki Wanted Off-Label Use Of Ivermectin

Dr. Haruo Ozaki suggested that doctors be allowed to prescribe ivermectin and dexamethasone “off-label” at a press conference on 9 February 2021.

He said, “I would like the government to consider treatment at the level of the family doctor.”

Dr. Haruo Ozaki may be the Chairman of the Tokyo Medical Association, but he can only make suggestions. He is not the Japanese Health Ministry and cannot approve ivermectin for use against COVID-19.

Fact #2 : Japan Still Does NOT Allow Ivermectin To Be Used For COVID-19

As of 24 August 2021, Japan still does NOT allow Ivermectin to be used to treat or prevent COVID-19.

In their July 2021 edition of COVID-19 treatment guidelines, Ivermectin is still listed in the category of drugs whose “efficacy and safety have not been established“.

Only two drugs have been approved (as of 24 August 2021) by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare for use against COVID-19 in Japan :

Remdesivir
Baricitinib