“One cannot be a Christian without such frankness: if it doesn’t come about, one is not a good Christian. If one doesn’t have courage, if to explain one’s position one slides into ideologies or explanations from single cases, one lacks such frankness, one lacks the Christian style, the freedom to speak, to say everything [i.e.] Courage.”
The scientific community has not fully vetted trial results, but they offer good prospects in treating coronavirus patients.
Petr Mansurov, Orthodox bishop of Kalachinsk, graduated in biology in Moscow. He calls on the faithful to accept isolation measures during Orthodox Easter. He cites past examples, like the blessed Admiral Fyodor Ushakov, who fought the plague in Crimea; and Patriarch Pimen, who acted to curb a cholera epidemic in southern USSR. For the prelate, "Nobody is attacking our faith"; the current lockdown of churches is not like church closing during the Soviet era.
Up to 90,000 prisoners will be released, including paedophiles and sexual offenders. An organised crime boss is already free. The amnesty excludes people convicted or awaiting trial in connection with the failed 2016 coup or for criticising the country's leaders.
Vietnam has only 268 COVID-19 cases and no deaths. The secret of its success lies in the speed of intervention. Like China’s, Vietnam’s communist regime has used its vast surveillance system. The country's economy is among the few that will grow in 2020. Multinationals are leaving China.
