Coronavirus scare: 6 people examined in Mongolia www.news.mn

On Wednesday (22 January), delegates from the World Health Organisation and the Mongolian Ministry of Health held a press conference about coronavirus, which is fast spreading from the Chinese city of Wuhan. According to yesterday’s reports, the mystery illness has infected almost 300 people, and six have died.

Mongolia invests in Steppe Gold www.akipress.com

New Mongolia-focused miner Steppe Gold has hailed an ‘historic partnership’, saying it was the first company to receive funding from the country’s National Investment Fund PIF SPV, the Mining Journal reports.

Mongolia and ADB to develop participatory food waste recycling www.zgm.mn

The Government of Mongolia and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) have signed a USD three million grant agreement to improve food waste recycling in local communities in the capital city, helping to keep Ulaanbaatar cleaner. “Discarded food waste sullies the city and can be unhealthy for the people living here. Implemented jointly with the government, the grant will help improve the living conditions in Ulaanbaatar by introducing participatory food waste recycling practices,” said ADB Country Director for Mongolia Mr. Pavit Ramachandran. Around 1.2 million tons of solid waste are generated annually in Ulaanbaatar. Although close to 20 percent of the waste is recycled, food waste is typically dumped in formal or informal landfills. The Ulaanbaatar Community Food Waste Recycling Project, with the participation of local communities, will identify food waste generation and composting options based on current food waste recycling practices. It will also pilot both smaller and larger food waste recycling activities, scale-up existing projects across Ulaanbaatar, and raise overall awareness of the need to recycle food waste, said the ADB report. The project is funded by the Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction, which has supported projects in Mongolia in poverty alleviation, improving livelihoods, and safeguarding the environment over the past 20 years.

Road Minister tasks to open new airport on time www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ Minister of Road and Transport Development B.Enkh-Amgalan met with representatives of the New Ulaanbaatar International Airport company that took over the management of the new airport in Khushig Valley.

President Kh.Battulga: Mongolia is ready to join the High Ambition Coalition for Nature www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/. President Kh.Battulga participated in the discussion under the theme, ‘Alliance of Governments for Nature and People’, co-organized by the National Geographic Society, the Wyss Foundation, and the Governments of the Republic of Costa Rica, and the French Republic.

In his remarks, the President said, “Mongolians have the great tradition of care and protection of mother nature, and respect towards the mountains and rivers, striving to live in harmony with nature as we have had a unique nomadic civilization closely related with animal husbandry. The concept of the special protection of areas, and its importance has also been passed down to us through many centuries.

The decision to have the Bogd Khan Mountain that is located in the northern part of Ulaanbaatar city was made by the Khaan of the Great Yuan Dynasty of Mongolia many centuries back in 1294. At the Nature and Development summit organized in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, Mongolia also officially declared to present a gift to mother earth by having 30 percent of our total territory under special protection, and transform the areas into biosphere reserves by conserving its untouched pristine nature.

As Mongolia is a land-locked country that is susceptible to climate change, one of the important methods to protect our environment, and pass it on to future generations is considered to be the increase of areas under special protection. Thus, the Government and citizens are working in cooperation towards this goal.

Certain measures have been taken in the framework of the implementation of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change as well as fulfilling the duties and promises that have been made with international organizations. To highlight, Mongolia has become one of the first countries to renew its Nationally Determined Contribution for the Paris Agreement by setting the reduction of greenhouse gases by 2030 from 14 percent to 22.7 percent. The goal to increase the specially protected areas by 30 percent in 2030 has also been reflected in the National Biodiversity Programme, and duties within the Sustainable Development Goals, creating a more favorable legal environment.

As of currently, the State Special Protected Area cover 20 percent of the total territory, and it nearly reaches 30 percent if locally protected areas are also taken into account.

In the 2019 study conducted by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) involving over 170 countries on calculating the contributions of specially protected areas in mitigating the negative impacts of climate change, Mongolia led the ranking with the highest score, which can be considered as the realized result of the work being done on the matter. Thus, Mongolia hereby expresses the readiness to join the High Ambition Coalition for Nature and People, supporting the initiative to have the State Specially Protected Areas reach 30 percent of the territory by 2030. We only have one earth, one nature, and one environment.”

Fake fuel hits Mongolian driver’s pockets www.news.mn

Delegates from the Mongolian Trade Union and Mongolian Petroleum Consumer’s Association held a press conference in 22 January on the imports of fake fuel. According to a survey, Mongolian consumers are suffering a loss of MNT 50-60 billion every year from using fake fuel that is blamed on damaging car engines. For example, expensive cars such as the Land cruiser-200 and Lexus-570 have been damaged after using fake fuel when travelling across the rugged Mongolian countryside; the repair cost comes to MNT 20-25 million per year. The survey has been conducted with the help of two auto repair companies.

Coronavirus: Wuhan to shut public transport over outbreak www.bbc.com

Wuhan, a Chinese city of eleven million people, is to temporarily shut public transport as it tries to halt the outbreak of a new strain of virus.

Those living in the city have been advised not to leave, in a week when millions of Chinese are travelling for the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday.

The respiratory illness has spread to other parts of China, with some cases in other countries including the US.

There are more than 500 confirmed cases and 17 people have died.

Known for now as 2019-nCoV, the virus is understood to be a new strain of coronavirus not previously identified in humans. The Sars (severe acute respiratory syndrome) virus that killed nearly 800 people globally in the early 2000s was also a coronavirus, as is the common cold.

All the fatalities so far have been in Hubei, the province around Wuhan.

Meanwhile, after a day of discussions in Geneva, the World Health Organization's (WHO) emergency committee has announced it will not yet declare a "global emergency" over the new virus.

Director general Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus said more information was needed about the spread of the infection. The committee of health experts will meet again on Thursday.

A global emergency is the highest level of alarm the WHO can sound and has previously been used in response to swine flu, Zika virus and Ebola.

What measures have been announced?
Chinese officials said that from Thursday, all flights and passenger train services out of Wuhan would be stopped.

Bus, subway and ferry services would also shut down from 1000 local time.

A special command centre in Wuhan set up to contain the virus said the move was meant to "resolutely contain the momentum of the epidemic spreading".

Those living in Wuhan had already been told to avoid crowds and minimise public gatherings.

State news agency Xinhua said tourist attractions and hotels in the city had been told to suspend large-scale activities while libraries, museums and theatres were cancelling exhibitions and performances.

A Lunar New Year prayer-giving ceremony at the city's Guiyuan Temple, which attracted 700,000 people last year, has also been cancelled.

The hashtag "Wuhan is sealed off" was trending on Chinese social media website Weibo.

The WHO's Dr Ghebreyesus described the latest measures as "very strong" and said they would "not only control the outbreak, they will minimise spread internationally".

Chinese officials said the country was now at the "most critical stage" of prevention and control.

"Basically, do not go to Wuhan. And those in Wuhan please do not leave the city," said National Health Commission vice-minister Li Bin in one of the first public briefings since the beginning of the outbreak.

Like shutting down London before Christmas
By James Gallagher, BBC health and science correspondent

Wuhan is starting to look like a city in quarantine.

Officials had already warned residents not to leave the city and visitors not to come.

Now the reported public transport ban - which includes flights - slams many of the routes in and out of the city shut.

It is a significant attempt to stop the spread of this new virus, which we now know can spread from person to person.

Limiting transport will cut the chance of the virus reaching other cities in China and other countries around the world.

This all comes just as millions of people are travelling across China for the week-long holiday that is Lunar New Year.

If you're struggling for context - imagine shutting down London in the week before Christmas.

The big question left is the roads - and whether any of Wuhan's 11 million inhabitants will be able to simply drive away.

What's the picture globally?
Officials in Hong Kong reported the territory's first two cases on Wednesday and one case was reported in the nearby city of Macau.

The patient in Macau is said to be a businesswoman who arrived from Wuhan over the weekend.

The first US case was confirmed on Tuesday. President Donald Trump said the situation was "totally under control" and that he trusted the information being provided by Chinese authorities.

There have been three cases in Thailand, one in Korea, one in Japan and one in Taiwan.

Although only about 500 cases have been confirmed, calculations by scientists at the MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis at Imperial College London suggest there are 4,000 people sick with the virus in Wuhan.
Our estimate at 4,000 cases is more than double the past estimate due to increase of number of cases outside China. This should not be interpreted as implying the outbreak has doubled in size.

The virus originated in a seafood market in Wuhan that "conducted illegal transactions of wild animals", authorities said. The market has since been shut down.

There is also evidence of human to human transmission with the new virus spreading to family members and healthcare workers.

But understanding how easily and how often the virus spread between people is one of the major outstanding questions in this outbreak.

The virus infects the lungs and symptoms start with a fever and cough. It can progress to shortness of breath and breathing difficulties.

President meets Gucci CEO Marco Bizzarri www.montsame.mn

Mongolia, ADB sign grant to develop participatory food waste recycling www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Government of Mongolia have signed a $3 million grant agreement to improve food waste recycling in local communities in the capital city, helping to keep Ulaanbaatar cleaner, reports ADB Resident Mission in Mongolia.

Credit rating agency to be established www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/. The Financial Regulatory Commission (FRC) is working in partnership with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) on diversifying financial instruments to develop the capital market of Mongolia.