ANONYMOUS - OUR VOICE

Why you might feel the urge to overspend right now

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Yes, I had a budget on the day I looked up when my favorite outdoor venue would again open for concerts.
Yes, I had a financial plan in place when I saw the words “Tame Impala rescheduled” and felt a memory flash of standing in a crowd listening to that same band, on that same stage.
Yes, though I have a financial accountability coach, I lost consciousness and came to 90 seconds later with a two-Tame-Impala-ticket-sized hole in my budget.
Yes, I am concerned.
After this year of no — no festivals, no plays, no shopping in stores without concern for a deadly virus — “no you can’t” is slowly transforming, with 60 percent of adults in the US now having at least one dose of the vaccine, to “yes you can.” Many of us, regardless of disposable income levels, will and will and will, budgets be damned, if we don’t prepare for the powerful emotions about to swoop through our experience-deprived brains.
Our minds, it turns out, are not spreadsheets. That’s the idea behind behavioral economics, the fairly new field that studies how humans operate around this invention we call money. Unlike previous thinking from the field of economics, our decisions don’t come from formulas, but a mishmash of the feelings, reactions, and mental shortcuts whittled by evolution to keep us alive in the wild, within small tribes, without consideration for targeted Instagram ads for peep-toe espadrilles.
Behavioral economics has identified more than 100 ways people of all financial backgrounds fail to think straight when it comes to money. And as the pandemic shifts in the US, our thinking is about to get much blurrier.
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<aside><q>Our minds, it turns out, are not spreadsheets</q></aside>
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One reigning factor that stands out as a determinant of how we behave is where we fall on the spectrum of cold state to hot state. Ever been hangry? That’s a hot state. Seen a <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/COF1jLbncn_/">thirst trap</a>? Hot state. It’s when emotions like fear or exhaustion take over.
“What has been building up for a year and what is about to be released is an enormous amount of pressure,” said Brooke Struck, research director at <a href="https://thedecisionlab.com/">the Decision Lab</a>, a behavioral design think tank. “We are all about to enter a massive hot state, more or less at the same time.”
Hot states aren’t necessarily a bad thing. They can be, as Struck describes them, some of the richest experiences we have. They’re intense and powerful, and they exacerbate other biases. They reduce us to something less like adults and more like toddlers.
“If you think you can talk yourself out of a hot state,” said Struck, “you don’t understand a hot state.”
In Daniel Kahneman’s Thinking, Fast and Slow, he describes our cold, higher thinking as slow thinking, and the hot thinking I did (or didn’t do) before buying those tickets as fast thinking. They’re not discrete, explains Struck, but a wrestling match inside our brains.
“That’s where humanity lives. We’re all struggling with these two things at the same time, all the time,” he said. “So when you see those tickets, what comes to mind is this extremely vivid, positive memory of having been in that place and having that experience … you just have this overwhelming desire of I want.”
The tsunami of want that’s about to crash over us as the country reopens is going to be, as Struck says, very dangerous for our budgets. The hot states will strike intensely, perhaps set off by songs, smells, or the sight of a cafe where you used to meet up for lunch with the friends you haven’t hugged in a year. He talks about it as though we’re all about to get very drunk, and the only thing we can do is make sure we put away the sharp objects ahead of time.
A drunk person, for example, isn’t known to carefully consider the future repercussions of their actions. Similarly, hot states exacerbate our present bias, which makes us overvalue what we have now and devalue what that stranger known as us in the future will have, a trait familiar to anyone with vacation credit card debt.
If you think this doesn’t apply to you and you’ll be fine, that could be your restraint bias talking, the bias that makes you overestimate your ability to resist impulsive behavior. If you think that because you’ve been so good, perhaps by spending an entire year wearing your mask and forgoing public displays of Bon Jovi karaoke, you deserve to be a little bad now, that’s moral licensing. It’s the bias that serves as a little devil on your shoulder, convincing you you’re still doing good, even if you sin just a bit.
You might want to watch out for the bandwagon effect, where you jump into the Roaring Reopening spending just because all the cool kids are doing it, in your real friend group and in the groups you just watch on your social media feeds. Worse, there won’t be a designated financial driver among us, because though our experiences have varied widely, with many Americans continuing to work in public during lockdown, chances are that nearly everyone you know will have some kind of wild emotions about the opportunity to gather in a bar booth, enjoy a funny movie in a sea of IRL laughter, or dance in a laser-light crowd of fellow humans. (Though of course, there will be some who are so traumatized by the last year that they’ll hold on to everything they have, the same way Nana saves the used Glad Press’n Seal bits because of how she was shaped by the Great Depression.)
But we can work with these biases, says Amanda Clayman, financial therapist and host of <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/deathsexmoney/articles/financial-therapy-amanda-clayman-death-sex-money">Financial Therapy</a>. We just have to understand them first. “With awareness comes an opportunity for self-agency,” she says.
Biases didn’t evolve to trip us up. They originally came about to help us.
“Just the idea of a cognitive ‘bias,’ I think it’s a bit pejorative. It’s a shortcut. And when we call it a bias, it’s just us identifying where we consistently run into problems,” Clayman told me. “I think we should have as much affection and humor for these cognitive biases as we can.”
One of these mental shortcuts we can admire like a bumbling toddler is our availability bias: the illusion that the more we see something, the more likely it is to occur, and the less we see something, the scarcer it is. The scarcer we sense something is, the <a href="https://iaap-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1464-0597.2009.00401.x">higher</a> we value it.
“Our sense of availability has been really reset. You acted as if a concert ticket is completely scarce because your availability heuristic has been reset around when something is going to be an option,” said Clayman. “Our entire sense of what is available when and what is normal has been skewed by this experience.”
You know who has studied your biases? Marketers. And they know exactly where to poke them. Clayman adds that capitalist society trains us from an early age to think that if we have a negative feeling, we can find a product to fix it. We’re all going to be tempted to “solve” the trauma of the last year, as if a wild night at Target on the credit card could cheer us right up after living through a plague that’s killed more than 3 million people and continues to rage in many parts of the world.
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<aside><q>Capitalist society trains us from an early age to think that if we have a negative feeling, we can find a product to fix it</q></aside>
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“There’s a very natural human tendency to just try to fill that hole with positive stuff, without acknowledging that a lot of positive stuff is going to go straight [through] the hole,” said Clayman. “It’s not the same thing as healing.”
She says that what we’ll really need is human connection, safe spaces to talk about what we’ve gone through, and the uncomfortable experience of sitting with our feelings. Without processing the emotions of the last year, we’ll just try to shovel fun, novelty, and pleasure into the pit, and the expense is going to add up before we realize it’s not working.
<a href="https://paxplanning.ca/my-story/">Natasha Knox</a>, a certified financial planner and chair of the board of directors for the Financial Therapy Association, says to listen for the moral licensing words, “I deserve it because …” It might be because you’ve been through so much or you’ve worked so hard.
“This sort of permission-giving has truth to it. It is true, collectively we have been through a lot and many people do work really hard,” said Knox. “You’re not wrong. You do deserve it. But then there’s future you. What does that person deserve?”
In order to reconnect and enjoy a bit more freedom while also protecting your future self, start setting aside some cash now that is, as Knox describes it, “safe to spend” without putting yourself in financial danger. Then create some cooling space between you and spending. Unsubscribe from all those sale emails. Turn off one-click pay. Don’t save your credit card in your web browser. Try to wait 24 hours before buying something unplanned. Most importantly, keep close the deeper reasons you don’t want to go financially wild (whatever that means to you) over the next few months, in addition to simply not causing yourself more stress and chaos.
“It really does have to boil down to that first, because if we’re just denying ourselves for no reason, that’s not sustainable and it usually doesn’t work,” said Knox. “The bigger why has to be front and center. Because it’s hard, and it’s been a terrible year.”
She recommends finding a photo that represents something you’re working toward getting a year to a few years out and making that your phone’s home screen or otherwise keeping it close.
“When something has been as dramatic as this year, the longer-term picture gets a little fuzzy,” Knox said, “So we have to bring that back into focus.”
Like biases, spending itself is not a bad thing. I’m happy to support the venue, the band, and even, if they open in time, Scott and Cindi, the owners of the nearby private <a href="https://wildhorsecampground.com/">campground</a>, whom I’ve been worried about because I watched their business grow for so many years. This is an inextricable truth: Our spending is part of what will alleviate the Covid-19-inflicted financial suffering of our fellow humans. Consumer spending constitutes <a href="https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/DPCERE1Q156NBEA">about 70 p</a><a href="https://apps.bea.gov/iTable/iTable.cfm?reqid=19&step=2#reqid=19&step=2&isuri=1&1921=survey">ercent</a> of the GDP, after all. So I’ll spend, but, knowing what I know now, I’ll spend as slowly as I can, at places I care about, tentatively finding ways to enjoy the new normal, and without causing another crisis for myself.
Paulette Perhach writes about creativity, finances, tech, psychology, and anything else that inspires awe for places like the New York Times, Elle, and Glamour. She posts regularly at <a href="http://www.welcometothewriterslife.com/">WelcomeToTheWritersLife.com</a>.
 
 
source <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-goods/22445613/behavioral-economics-budget-post-pandemic">https://www.vox.com/the-goods/22445613/behavioral-economics-budget-post-pandemic</a>

vox Why you might feel the urge to overspend right now

Yes, I had a budget on the day I looked up when my favorite outdoor venue would again open for concerts. Yes, I had a financial plan in pl...

Joe Biden Orders Intelligence Report On Covid Origins Within 90 Days

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<div class="ins_instory_dv_cont"><img alt="Joe Biden Orders Intelligence Report On Covid Origins Within 90 Days" src="https://c.ndtvimg.com/2021-04/7hh5irlg_joe-biden-afp_625x300_07_April_21.jpg" title="Joe Biden Orders Intelligence Report On Covid Origins Within 90 Days" /></div>
Biden's order signals an escalation in mounting controversy over how the virus first emerged(FILE)
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Washington:
President Joe Biden on Wednesday ordered US intelligence agencies to report to him in the next three months on whether the Covid-19 virus first emerged in China from an animal source or from a laboratory accident.
Agencies should "redouble their efforts to collect and analyze information that could bring us closer to a definitive conclusion, and to report back to me in 90 days," Biden said in a statement released by the White House.
According to Biden, agencies are currently split over the two possible sources for the virus that swept the planet over the past year, killing more than 3.4 million people -- a figure experts say is undoubtedly an underestimate.
Biden's order signals an escalation in mounting controversy over how the virus first emerged -- through animal contact at a market in Wuhan, China, or through release of the coronavirus from a highly secure research laboratory in the same city.
The answer has immense implications both for China, which says it is not responsible for the pandemic, and for US politics, where the lab theory has been used by Republicans to attack Beijing.
Biden said that in March he asked for a report on the origins of the virus, including "whether it emerged from human contact with an infected animal or from a laboratory accident."
"As of today, the US intelligence community has 'coalesced around two likely scenarios' but has not reached a definitive conclusion on this question," he said.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
 
 
source <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/joe-biden-orders-intelligence-report-on-covid-origins-within-90-days-2449951">https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/joe-biden-orders-intelligence-report-on-covid-origins-within-90-days-2449951</a>

news world Joe Biden Orders Intelligence Report On Covid Origins Within 90 Days

Biden's order signals an escalation in mounting controversy over how the virus first emerged(FILE) Washington: President Joe Biden ...

"Super Blood Moon" Dazzles Stargazers, Thousands Share Pictures On Twitter

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<div class="ins_instory_dv_cont"><img alt="'Super Blood Moon' Dazzles Stargazers, Thousands Share Pictures On Twitter" src="https://c.ndtvimg.com/2021-05/tmobonns_supermoontwitter650_625x300_26_May_21.jpg" title="'Super Blood Moon' Dazzles Stargazers, Thousands Share Pictures On Twitter" /></div>
Super Moon: The eclipse could be seen directly without any visual aid, unlike solar eclipse
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Millions of people in many countries witnessed a "Super Blood Moon" event today. It was the first lunar eclipse in two years, which took place when the Moon was closest to Earth. The celestial event may not take place in the near future, experts say.
Anyone living between Australia and the United States was able to see an enormous, bright, red Moon if the skies were clear.
The eclipse was visible in Western United States, Canada, Mexico, most of Central America and Ecuador, western Peru, southern Chile and Argentina. It was also witnessed in eastern Australia and New Zealand.
The eclipse could be seen directly without any visual aid, unlike solar eclipse.
Thousands of people shared spectacular photos of the Moon, which appeared larger and brighter than usual.
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Today's blood moon and the scope I used to shoot it! <a href="https://t.co/SOr3qIN4eX">pic.twitter.com/SOr3qIN4eX</a>
— Bray Falls (@astrofalls) <a href="https://twitter.com/astrofalls/status/1397558802631708679?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 26, 2021</a></blockquote>
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Guys the blood moon 😍😍😍😍 <a href="https://t.co/4uwNQ4qrui">pic.twitter.com/4uwNQ4qrui</a>
— shangaan prince👑 (@chrisreymond89) <a href="https://twitter.com/chrisreymond89/status/1397584777268670466?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 26, 2021</a></blockquote>
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A friend of mine who works at the Goldendale Observatory took some fantastic photos of the bloodmoon. <a href="https://t.co/wKu3MQXCfI">pic.twitter.com/wKu3MQXCfI</a>
— Tigerbot_Hesh (@TigerBotHesh45) <a href="https://twitter.com/TigerBotHesh45/status/1397602510492213248?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 26, 2021</a></blockquote>
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Today was the day of lunar eclipse, blood moon and super moon. Beautifully captured by Dr Vivek Banerjee. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BloodMoon?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BloodMoon</a><a href="https://t.co/lXRqmrkoFi">pic.twitter.com/lXRqmrkoFi</a>
— Ramesh Pandey (@rameshpandeyifs) <a href="https://twitter.com/rameshpandeyifs/status/1397579715917991936?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 26, 2021</a></blockquote>
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The crew aboard the <a href="https://twitter.com/Space_Station?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Space_Station</a> observed today's supermoon and lunar eclipse! <a href="https://twitter.com/JAXA_en?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@JAXA_en</a> astronaut <a href="https://twitter.com/Aki_Hoshide?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Aki_Hoshide</a> captured photos from orbit ⤵️ <a href="https://t.co/fX4X9hUsrw">https://t.co/fX4X9hUsrw</a>
— NASA (@NASA) <a href="https://twitter.com/NASA/status/1397577714849271813?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 26, 2021</a></blockquote>
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Red Blood Lunar Eclipse "Super moon" ????????????<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LunarEclipse2021?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#LunarEclipse2021</a><a href="https://t.co/cwtd6xTRgx">pic.twitter.com/cwtd6xTRgx</a>
— ɖɦɛռ???? (@dhendennnn) <a href="https://twitter.com/dhendennnn/status/1397520238380339202?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 26, 2021</a></blockquote>
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Blood moon 2021. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/bloodmoon2021?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#bloodmoon2021</a><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/supermoon?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#supermoon</a><a href="https://t.co/x8AOh02JH8">pic.twitter.com/x8AOh02JH8</a>
— Jamal ???????? | Anisha ???? (@asstheticssss) <a href="https://twitter.com/asstheticssss/status/1397575429179981831?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 26, 2021</a></blockquote>
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Here's a Super Blood Moon that you might enjoy<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/supermoon?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#supermoon</a><a href="https://t.co/CEX6awa1KK">pic.twitter.com/CEX6awa1KK</a>
— Steveon (@Steveon15) <a href="https://twitter.com/Steveon15/status/1397515518681051140?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 26, 2021</a></blockquote>
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The first Lunar Eclipse of 2021 - the Super Flower Blood Moon ????
Isn't she pretty? ????<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LunarEclipse2021?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#LunarEclipse2021</a><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SuperFlowerBloodMoon?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#SuperFlowerBloodMoon</a><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LunarEclipse?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#LunarEclipse</a><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SuperMoon?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#SuperMoon</a><a href="https://t.co/zIz9DVOpCg">pic.twitter.com/zIz9DVOpCg</a>
— Moon Omens ???? (@MoonOmens) <a href="https://twitter.com/MoonOmens/status/1397536075220914179?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 26, 2021</a></blockquote>
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A rare phenomenon happened today: the super blood moon lunar eclipse- we have the supermoon, the blue moon, the lunar eclipse which is the blood moon and on top of that my birthday. <a href="https://t.co/ppp8nM5JWL">pic.twitter.com/ppp8nM5JWL</a>
— Gladiz May Latiza (@Giadre) <a href="https://twitter.com/Giadre/status/1397589805647634435?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 26, 2021</a></blockquote>
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Sooooo dreamy <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BloodMoon?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BloodMoon</a> ♥️ <a href="https://t.co/0zAvmPiexP">pic.twitter.com/0zAvmPiexP</a>
— Lang Leav (@langleav) <a href="https://twitter.com/langleav/status/1397530651914502149?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 26, 2021</a></blockquote>
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a composite photo of tonight's super blood moon <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LunarEclipse2021?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#LunarEclipse2021</a><a href="https://t.co/nTjojI53hF">pic.twitter.com/nTjojI53hF</a>
— ry (@Ryencxz) <a href="https://twitter.com/Ryencxz/status/1397541679096164354?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 26, 2021</a></blockquote>
During a "Super Moon" event, the Moon passes just 3,60,000 kilometres from Earth. It can appear 30 percent brighter and way larger.
The next Super Blood Moon is expected to take place in 2033, news agency AFP reported.
With inputs from AFP
 
 
source <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/super-blood-moon-dazzles-stargazers-thousands-share-pictures-on-twitter-2449918">https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/super-blood-moon-dazzles-stargazers-thousands-share-pictures-on-twitter-2449918</a>

news world "Super Blood Moon" Dazzles Stargazers, Thousands Share Pictures On Twitter

Super Moon: The eclipse could be seen directly without any visual aid, unlike solar eclipse Millions of people in many countries witness...

India-Dominant Covid Variant Found In At Least 53 Territories: WHO

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<div class="ins_instory_dv_cont"><img alt="India-Dominant Covid Variant Found In At Least 53 Territories: WHO" src="https://c.ndtvimg.com/2020-08/99plu6pg_whoafp_625x300_18_August_20.jpg" title="India-Dominant Covid Variant Found In At Least 53 Territories: WHO" /></div>
WHO said, "The more SARS-CoV-2 circulates, the more opportunities it has to evolve".
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Geneva, Switzerland:
The coronavirus variant first detected in India has now been officially recorded in 53 territories, a World Health Organization report showed Wednesday.
Additionally, the WHO has received information from unofficial sources that the B.1.617 variant has been found in seven other territories, figures in the UN health agency's weekly epidemiological update showed, taking the total to 60.
The report said B.1.617 had shown increased transmissibility, while disease severity and risk of infection were under investigation.
Globally over the past week, the number of new cases and deaths continued to decrease, with around 4.1 million new cases and 84,000 new deaths reported -- a 14 percent and two percent decrease respectively compared to the previous week.
The WHO's European region reported the largest decline in new cases and deaths in the past seven days, followed by the southeast Asia region.
The numbers of cases reported by the Americas, Eastern Mediterranean, Africa, and the Western Pacific region were similar to those reported in the previous week.
"Despite a declining global trend over the past four weeks, incidence of Covid-19 cases and deaths remain high, and substantial increases have been observed in many countries throughout the world," the document said.
The highest numbers of new cases in the past seven days were reported from India (1,846,055 -- down 23 percent); Brazil (451,424 -- up three percent); Argentina (213,046 -- up 41 percent), the United States (188,410 -- down 20 percent), and Colombia (107,590 -- down seven percent).
Variant detection
The update gave information on the four mutations classed as variants of concern: those first reported in Britain (B.1.1.7), South Africa (B.1.351), Brazil (P.1) and India (B.1.617).
When counting up the total number of territories reporting each variant, the WHO added together those from which it had official and unofficial information.
B.1.1.7 has now been reported in 149 territories; B.1.351 in 102 territories and P.1 in 59 territories.
The WHO split up figures for the B.1.617 variant into three lineages (B.1.617.1, B.1.617.2 and B.1.617.3).
The first has been reported in a total of 41 territories, the second in 54 and the third in six: Britain, Canada, Germany, India, Russia and the United States.
Together, lineages of the B.1.617 variant were officially recorded in 53 territories and unofficially in another seven.
The update also listed six variants of interest that are being monitored.
One was first discovered in multiple countries, two of them were first found in the United States, while the three others were first discovered in Brazil, the Philippines and France.
"Virus evolution is expected, and the more SARS-CoV-2 circulates, the more opportunities it has to evolve," the report said.
"Reducing transmission through established and proven disease-control methods... are crucial aspects of the global strategy to reduce the occurrence of mutations that have negative public health implications."
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
 
 
source <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/india-dominant-covid-variant-found-in-at-least-53-territories-who-2449897">https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/india-dominant-covid-variant-found-in-at-least-53-territories-who-2449897</a>

news world India-Dominant Covid Variant Found In At Least 53 Territories: WHO

WHO said, "The more SARS-CoV-2 circulates, the more opportunities it has to evolve". Geneva, Switzerland: The coronavirus var...

US Health Secretary Calls For "Transparent" Phase 2 Of Covid Origins Probe

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<div class="ins_instory_dv_cont"><img alt="US Health Secretary Calls For 'Transparent' Phase 2 Of Covid Origins Probe" src="https://c.ndtvimg.com/2020-04/fuje0e1c_coronavirus-generic-reuters-650_625x300_21_April_20.jpg" title="US Health Secretary Calls For 'Transparent' Phase 2 Of Covid Origins Probe" /></div>
WHO Director-General has also agreed further studies were needed into virus' origins.(Representational)
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Washington:
US Health Secretary Xavier Becerra has urged the WHO to ensure that the next phase of investigation into COVID-19's origins are more "transparent" and "science-based", amidst media reports here suggesting growing evidence that the virus could have emerged from a laboratory in China.
In March, the World Health Organisation (WHO) issued a report written jointly with Chinese scientists on the origins of COVID-19, saying the chances of it having started in a lab were "extremely unlikely".
But the US and some other countries have raised concerns about the way the mission of the WHO experts was carried out in China, including in Wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak, and the lack of adequate cooperation from Beijing.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has also agreed that further studies were needed into the virus' origins.
In a video message on Tuesday at the annual ministerial meeting of the WHO''s World Health Assembly, Becerra called for a second phase of the investigation to be launched "with terms of reference that are transparent, science-based and give international experts the independence to fully assess the source of the virus and the early days of the outbreak."
In his address, Becerra did not mention China directly, but his remarks came days after a Wall Street Journal report in which US intelligence officials are quoted saying three researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in the central Chinese city of Wuhan sought hospital care in November 2019, several weeks before China acknowledged the first case of the new highly infectious disease in the community.
China has angrily rejected the US media reports, repeatedly suggesting the virus may have come from a US laboratory instead.
On Monday, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian said that the Wuhan Institute of Virology in a statement on March 23 had said that the premier lab had not been exposed to COVID-19 before December 30, 2019, and a "zero-infection" record is kept among its staff and graduate students so far.
"What is the real purpose for the US to continue to play up the so-called "lab leak theory"? Does it really care about the origin-tracing of the virus or just want to divert attention? We hope that the relevant departments in the US will make a clarification and explain that to the world as soon as possible," Zhao said in response to a question at a foreign ministry briefing in Beijing.
Dr Anthony Fauci, senior White House health adviser and director of the National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases, said recently that he was also not convinced about the natural origins of the coronavirus and called for further investigations.
In his address to the World Health Assembly, Becerra noted that the COVID-19 pandemic "not only stole a year from our lives, it stole millions of lives."
"Now we must honour our departed by taking urgent action this year - to strengthen health security and pandemic preparedness so that we are better prepared for the next global health crisis," he said.
This means improving global triggers, so all countries take swift action toward the next biological threat, he said, underlining the importance of establishing a global health security financing mechanism that is sustainable - with strong accountability and oversight.
It would also mean developing surge capacity for the global manufacturing of personal protective equipment, vaccines, therapeutics, diagnostics, and the healthcare workforce, the US health secretary said.
Becerra also said the countries must also do more to understand our current pandemic and look forward toward detecting, preparing, and responding to future biological threats.
As member states of the WHO, "we need to come together and finish this fight against COVID, our greatest test," he said, adding that all must fully implement and adhere to obligations under the International Health Regulations.
"We need to improve transparency, immediately share critical information about outbreaks with pandemic potential, and strengthen health systems to withstand shocks," Becerra said, while calling for a "strong and agile" WHO.
The White House said on Tuesday that it expected from the WHO an "expert-driven evaluation of the pandemic's origins that is free from interference or politicisation".
"We need access to the information that the Chinese government has in order to make a determination through the international bodies that would do this investigation. And that's something we have called for many, many times, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said.
"And we have pressed, with our international partners for the WHO to support an expert-driven evaluation of the pandemic's origins. We would certainly participate in that with all of our research - resources from the United States," she said in response to a question at a White House briefing.
The lab leak claims were dismissed last year as a fringe conspiracy theory, after then-President Donald Trump said COVID-19 had originated from the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
On Tuesday, Trump sought to take credit in a statement to the New York Post newspaper. "To me it was obvious from the beginning but I was badly criticised, as usual," he said. "Now they are all saying: ''He was right.''"
Meanwhile, a group of prominent scientists with relevant experience recently criticised the WHO report for not taking the lab-leak theory seriously enough -- it was dismissed in a few pages of a several hundred page report.
"We must take hypotheses about both natural and laboratory spillovers seriously until we have sufficient data," the scientists wrote in Science Magazine earlier this month.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
 
 
source <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/us-health-secretary-calls-for-transparent-phase-2-of-covid-origins-probe-2449885">https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/us-health-secretary-calls-for-transparent-phase-2-of-covid-origins-probe-2449885</a>

news world US Health Secretary Calls For "Transparent" Phase 2 Of Covid Origins Probe

WHO Director-General has also agreed further studies were needed into virus' origins.(Representational) Washington: US Health Secre...

8 Killed By Gunman At California Rail Yard: Police

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<div class="ins_instory_dv_cont"><img alt="8 Killed By Gunman At California Rail Yard: Police" src="https://c.ndtvimg.com/2018-09/hms9qqjc_us-police-generic_625x300_14_September_18.jpg" title="8 Killed By Gunman At California Rail Yard: Police" /></div>
Police said some of the victims were employees at the site. (Representational)
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San Francisco:
Eight people were killed in a shooting Wednesday at a light rail yard in California in which the suspected gunman also died, police said.
The incident took place at a public transit maintenance yard in San Jose, a Silicon Valley tech hub of almost a million people south of San Francisco.
"I can confirm with you at this point that there are eight victims that are pronounced deceased at this point. And there's one suspect that's pronounced deceased," said Russell Davis, a Santa Clara County Sheriff's deputy, warning that the numbers could rise.
The United States has a long and painful history of deadly gun violence, in the form of a steady daily toll of shootings as well as high-profile mass killings that have targeted schools, work places and shopping centers
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
 
 
source <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/multiple-fatalities-in-california-shooting-suspect-dead-police-2449877">https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/multiple-fatalities-in-california-shooting-suspect-dead-police-2449877</a>

news world 8 Killed By Gunman At California Rail Yard: Police

Police said some of the victims were employees at the site. (Representational) San Francisco: Eight people were killed in a shooting We...