More polio virus detected in upstate New York wastewater

The virus that causes polio has been found in wastewater samples from another upstate New York county, prompting state health officials to warn of expanding “community spread” of the life-threatening virus

ALBANY, N.Y. -- State health officials in New York are warning of expanding “community spread” of the polio virus after it was found in wastewater samples from another upstate county.

The state Department of Health said Friday the polio virus was detected in four samples from Sullivan County, two each in July and August. Sullivan County is several dozen miles northwest of Rockland County, where officials on July 21 announced the first case of polio in the United States in nearly a decade. The unidentified young adult was unvaccinated.

The Sullivan County samples are genetically-linked to the case of paralytic polio in Rockland County.

State Health Commissioner Dr. Mary T. Bassett again urged residents to make sure they are immunized, saying “one New Yorker paralyzed by polio is already too many."

“The polio in New York today is an imminent threat to all adults and children who are unvaccinated or not up to date with their polio immunizations," Bassett said in a prepared release.

The virus has now been identified in wastewater samples in three contiguous counties north of New York City: Rockland, Orange and Sullivan. The polio virus also has been found in New York City sewage.

Officials have said that it is possible that hundreds of people in the state have gotten polio and don’t know it. Most people infected with polio have no symptoms but can still give the virus to others for days or weeks.

Polio was once one of the nation’s most feared diseases, with annual outbreaks causing thousands of cases of paralysis. The disease mostly affects children.

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Chinese jets, warships detected around Taiwan

Fast News

China concluded its more than a week-long massive military exercises surrounding Taiwan after US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited the self-ruled island, bucking Beijing’s warnings.

China views Taiwan as a “breakaway province” despite Taipei having governed itself since 1949. (AP)

Taiwan has reported detecting 24 Chinese aircraft and 6 warships around the island.

Of the 24 planes, 10 – four Sukhoi Su-30 fighters, four Shenyang J-16 jets and two Chengdu J-10s – “had flown on the east part of the median line of the Taiwan Strait,” the Defence Ministry tweeted on Friday.

Taiwanese forces “monitored the situation and responded to these activities with aircraft … naval vessels, and land-based missile systems,” the ministry added.

China on Wednesday concluded its more than a week-long massive military exercises surrounding Taiwan after US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited the self-ruled island on August 2, bucking Beijing’s warnings.

Provocative and destabilising

US Indo-Pacific coordinator Kurt Campbell said on Friday that China overreacted to US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan and used it as a pretext to try to change the status quo in the Taiwan Strait.

Campbell told reporters in a call that the American response would be patient and effective, and that its presence and posture would "account for China's more provocative and destabilising behaviour." 

READ MORE: Taiwan continues military drills amid tensions with China

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIfIDo1LWUg[/embed]

'Breakaway province'

China views Taiwan as a “breakaway province” despite Taipei having governed itself since 1949.

Beijing has vowed to reunify the island, including by force if necessary.

Apart from the show of military might, Beijing has downgraded military dialogue with the US and suspended cooperation on climate change issues, along with six other countermeasures.

READ MORE: China 'will not renounce the use of force' to unify Taiwan with mainland

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2a4yR4P_Vk[/embed]

Source: AA

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Taiwan says it detected 66 Chinese aircraft, 14 warships in strait

BEJING

Taiwan said it had detected 66 Chinese aircraft and 14 warships conducting exercises in and around the Taiwan Strait on Sunday.

“14 PLAN (People's Liberation Army Navy) vessels and 66 PLA (People's Liberation Army) aircraft around our surrounding region were detected today until 1700 (GMT+8). #ROCArmedForces have monitored the situation and responded to these activities with aircraft in CAP, naval vessels, and land-based missile systems,” Taiwan’s Defense Ministry tweeted.

It added that “22 of the detected aircraft had flown on the east part of the median line of the Taiwan Strait and our SW ADIZ (Air Defense Information Zone).”

Taiwan, however, rejected allegations that a Chinese destroyer entered its territorial waters.

Taiwan’s CNA news agency, citing the Defense Ministry, said it is not true that the Chinese ship cruised off the coast of eastern Hualien County.

It is merely part of China’s psychological operations campaign, it argued.

Earlier Sunday, China announced that it would conduct live-fire military exercises in the Yellow and Bohai seas.

The drill in the Bohai Sea will be held from Aug. 8 to Sept. 8, while the one in the Yellow Sea will be conducted from Aug. 7-15, the Maritime Safety Administration said in a statement.

China launched massive military exercises surrounding Taiwan last week after US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited the self-ruled island, bucking Beijing’s warnings.

China views Taiwan as a "breakaway province" despite Taipei having governed itself since 1949. Beijing has vowed to reunify the island, including by force if necessary.

As part of its major military exercises near Taiwan and eight countermeasures to respond to the situation, China on Friday dispatched the largest number of military aircraft across the Taiwan Strait this year, according to Taiwan's Defense Ministry.

*Writing by Ahmet Gencturk

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