XI EXTENDS BEST WISHES TO NATION'S NURSES

President Xi Jinping encouraged the country's nurses on Monday to make new contributions to promote the building of the Healthy China initiative and maintain the security of global public health.

In greetings sent to nurses across the country ahead of International Nurses Day on Tuesday, Xi complimented the nurses for their brave fight against the novel coronavirus disease both in China and overseas.

Nurses have made significant contributions to disease prevention and control, and they have demonstrated the great spirit of respecting lives, saving patients, being dedicated to giving of themselves and showing great love for others across borders, Xi said.

More than 28,600 nurses have been sent to the front lines of disease prevention and control since the COVID-19 outbreak, according to the National Health Commission.

Noting that nursing is an important part of health services, Xi instructed Party committees and governments at all levels to care for nurses.

He stressed the importance of strengthening the building of nurse teams and improving mechanisms to help excellent nurses to remain focused on their careers. Society as a whole should understand and support nurses, he added.

The president said that he hoped nurses would uphold good traditions, develop their humanitarian spirit and make further efforts for the health of the Chinese people and the public health of the world.

In a report delivered during the Communist Party of China's 19th National Congress in late 2017, Xi, who is also general secretary of the CPC Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, put forward the Healthy China initiative.

Under the initiative, China will improve its national health policy, deepen reform of the healthcare system and develop a sound modern hospital management system.

International Nurses Day, which falls on May 12, was established in 1974 by the International Council of Nurses to commemorate the birth in 1820 of Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing.

SATELLITES LAUNCHED TO BUILD NATION'S 1ST IOT NETWORK IN SPACE

China Aerospace Science and Industry Corp used its rocket to launch two technology demonstration satellites on Tuesday morning, starting to build what it conceives to be the nation's first space-based network for the internet of things, according to the company.

The Xingyun 2-01 and Xingyun 2-02, the first satellites in the Xingyun, or Moving Cloud, network, were lifted atop a Kuaizhou 1A solid-propellant carrier rocket at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China and later placed in a sun-synchronous orbit 561 kilometers above the Earth, according to a statement from CASIC, a State-owned space and defense contractor.

The company said that the Xingyun 2-01 was also named Wuhan to honor the provincial capital of Central China's Hubei, a city that was hit hard by the new coronavirus outbreak. The rocket used in the mission was also painted with images of medical workers to salute doctors and nurses who fought against the highly infectious disease.

The two satellites are tasked with verifying technologies such as laser-enabled intersatellite communication and data transfer between satellites and ground-based internet of things.

In the next step, 12 Xingyun 2-series satellites will be launched to join the first two and then establish a small system for a trial run.

In CASIC's plan, the Xingyun network will have about 80 low-orbiting, narrowband communications satellites upon its completion around 2023 and will provide global coverage to users by that time.

Once the network becomes fully operational, it will offer users round-the-clock access to the internet of things, which is defined as a network of almost all physical items, bringing numerous advantages to users ranging from better control of their devices and higher operational efficiency to optimized utilization of resources, according to the State-owned conglomerate.

XI STRESSES DAYLILY GROWING IN POVERTY ALLEVIATION

Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, has stressed the role of daylily growing and processing in helping local people get rid of poverty.

Xi made the remarks while visiting an organic daylily farm in Yunzhou district of Datong city Monday afternoon during an inspection tour in North China's Shanxi province.

Xi walked into the daylily field and had a cordial conversation with villagers working there.

He was happy to know that in recent years, thanks to the guidance of major enterprises and cooperatives, the farm had a stable output and quality with a guaranteed market and price, helping lift a number of impoverished households out of poverty.

During his visit, Xi urged daylily growers in Datong to turn the edible flower into a cash cow in poverty relief efforts. He said daylily can develop into a big industry with great prospects.

In Yunzhou district, part of the extremely poor area in the Yanshan and Taihang mountains, growing daylilies -- a kind of edible flower and traditional Chinese medicine for soothing nerves -- has become a pillar industry.

The daylily growing has a history of 600 years in Yunzhou, but there was no large-scale plantation before 2010. Over the past 10 years, the area of daylily flowers in the district has grown tenfold to around 10,000 hectares.

"My life now blossoms thanks to the daylily," said Tang Wan, a local farmer. By growing 2.67 hectares of daylilies, the once poor Tang was able to support his three children in going to college.

"The flowers have changed the lives of many. And poverty no longer bothers us," said Tang, adding the village has many "daylily college students," "daylily cars" and "daylily houses" -- phenomena that were rare before the flower was found a cash cow.

Impoverished counties in Shanxi have developed the planting of apples, potatoes and daylilies into industries to guarantee farmers stable jobs and incomes. More than 1 million people have been lifted out of poverty, said Wang Zhiqiang, a poverty alleviation official with the provincial government.

China aims to eradicate absolute poverty this year. An increasing number of industries are hiring impoverished people, bringing them jobs as well as fortune.

In a workshop of the biotech company Haifa in Yunzhou, home to 32,000 registered poor people, workers were busy sorting, drying, disinfecting and packing worms.

The dried yellow mealworms, which are rich in protein, vitamins and minerals, have been exported to the Republic of Korea, the United States and other countries.

"All the process, including the worm raising and processing, is strictly monitored, with the nutrition, microorganism and other criteria meeting the edible standard," said company chairman Wang Xizhan.

Haifa is a leading company engaged in poverty alleviation in the district by hiring 300 workers from local poor households. Li Dongxin, 44, is one of them.

Suffering from partial paralysis after a traffic accident, Li is unable to toil in the field. He is assigned with easy work in Haifa, such as feeding the worms and cleaning the worm trays.

"It is not tiring at all. My health condition has improved since I came to work," said Li, who earns 2,000 yuan ($283) per month.

LEAK OF VIRUS IMPOSSIBLE, BIOSAFETY LAB CHIEF SAYS

A senior researcher at the biosafety lab and virology institute in Wuhan, Hubei province, said that strict security protocols have made it impossible for a virus to escape from the lab.

"Our lab not only has a high level of biosafety infrastructure, we also have established a set of rigorous biosecurity protocols to ensure the lab operates safely and efficiently," said Yuan Zhiming, president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences Wuhan Branch and head of the Wuhan National Biosafety Laboratory. Yuan spoke in an interview with Science and Technology Daily that was published late Sunday.

The remarks were made in response to conspiracy theories hyped by some US media and politicians. For months, some foreign media organizations and politicians have speculated that the novel coronavirus had escaped from the Wuhan Institute of Virology or its Bio-Safety Level 4 Lab, also known as the P4 lab. The Sino-French-built lab is believed to be the only facility in Asia capable of studying the world's most deadly and contagious pathogens, including the Ebola and Marburg viruses.

The conspiracy theories resurfaced when some United States politicians, such as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, recently claimed they had evidence showing poor management of the facilities that led to an accidental leak of the virus. The US has not released such evidence.

Yuan said the P4 lab is a flagship facility run by the Wuhan National Biosafety Laboratory, which also operates two lower-level, P3 labs. These three labs, along with a number of P2 labs at the institute, form a bioresearch cluster dedicated to basic research in general virology.

He said the core facility of the P4 lab is completely sealed off with stainless steel enclosure walls and pressurized environments to ensure no virus can escape from the "box-in-box" confinement.

All exhaust from the rest of the lab must go through two powerful filters, and all wastewater must be boiled and properly treated, he said. Every piece of contaminated waste must be sterilized in high temperature pressure chambers before delivery to authorized institutions for disposal.

As for personnel, candidates for positions at the lab go through meticulous training and pass annual physical and psychological assessments, Yuan said. They have to be screened and approved by the lab's director before starting work.

Before entering the facility, all researchers have to report their health condition, wear full-body hazmat suits, and go through several steps of sanitization. They must strictly follow access procedures after entry.

To eliminate human error, the lab must have at least two scientists working at any given moment. "Nobody can enter the lab alone," he said.

The entire lab environment is rigorously monitored with security cameras and myriad biosensors that immediately alert the supervision center in case of an emergency, Yuan said. All physical equipment in the lab is examined annually by third-party institutions, and the lab's operation must pass scrutiny by the nation's regulatory bodies every year.

SUSPENSION BRIDGE THAT VIBRATED 'IS SAFE'

Humen Bridge, a major artery linking the eastern and western parts of the prosperous Pearl River Delta in Guangdong province, is safe despite unusual vibrations noted earlier this month, according to an assessment report by a team of experts that was released on Tuesday.

The physical condition and load-bearing capacity of the suspension bridge are stable, and key components were not damaged the report said. It listed the bridge's steel box girder, sling, main cable saddle, splay saddle, bridge bearings, expansion joints and other components as being in good condition.

The experts attributed the vibrations mainly to barricades that had been placed on the bridge's surface by maintenance workers during repairs.

The assessment was published after nine experts in testing, inspection, design, scientific research and construction completed a thorough assessment of the bridge, which runs across the mouth of the Pearl River.

The inspection was organized by the Guangdong Department of Transportation.

"The Humen Bridge is still safe," the report said.

It called for measures to prevent and control vibrations in the future to improve the experience for drivers crossing the bridge. It also called for more long-term monitoring and regular evaluations.

Traffic was halted on the two-way, six-lane bridge after the vibration report. When the normally busy bridge will be open for vehicles again is under discussion by the experts.

Unusual vibrations were first reported at about 2:30 pm on May 5, with more small vibrations reported later that night. The vibrations have now ceased.

The bridge links the city clusters of Shenzhen, Dongguan and Huizhou in the eastern Pearl River Delta to Guangzhou's Nansha district and the cities of Foshan, Zhuhai, Zhongshan, Jiangmen and Zhaoqing on the west.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

As an organizer I start from where the world is, as it is, not as I would like it to be. - Saul Alinsky