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01/02/2020

Coronavirus declared global health emergency by WHO

The new coronavirus has been declared a global emergency by the World Health Organization, as the outbreak continues to spread outside China.

“The main reason for this declaration is not what is happening in China but what is happening in other countries,” said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

The concern is that it could spread to countries with weaker health systems.

Meanwhile, the US has told its citizens not to travel to China.

The state department issued a level four warning – having previously urged Americans to “reconsider” travel to China – and said any citizens in China “should consider departing using commercial means”.

China has said it will send charter plans to bring back Hubei province residents who are overseas “as soon as possible”.

A foreign ministry spokesman said this was because of the “practical difficulties” Chinese citizens have faced abroad. Hubei is where the virus emerged.

At least 213 people in the China have died from the virus, mostly in Hubei, with almost 10,000 cases nationally.

The WHO said there had been 98 cases in 18 other countries, but no deaths.

Most international cases are in people who had been to Wuhan in Hubei.

However in eight cases – in Germany, Japan, Vietnam and the United States – patients were infected by people who had travelled to China.

People wearing masks

Getty Coronavirus outbreak outside China
  • 18 The number of countries with cases
  • 14 Cases in Thailand and Japan
  • 13 Singapore
  • 11 South Korea
  • 8 Australia and Malaysia
  • 5 France and USA

Source: WHO and local authorities

Speaking at a news conference in Geneva, Dr Tedros described the virus as an “unprecedented outbreak” that has been met with an “unprecedented response”.

He praised the “extraordinary measures” Chinese authorities had taken, and said there was no reason to limit trade or travel to China.

“Let me be clear, this declaration is not a vote of no confidence in China,” he said.

But various countries have taken steps to close borders or cancel flights, and companies like Google, Ikea, Starbucks and Tesla have closed their shops or stopped operations.

The US Commerce Secretary, Wilbur Ross, has said the outbreak could “accelerate the return of jobs to North America”.

Presentational grey line

Preparing other countries

Analysis box by James Gallagher, health and science correspondent

What happens if this virus finds its way into a country that cannot cope?

Many low- and middle-income countries simply lack the tools to spot or contain it. The fear is it could spread uncontrollably and that it may go unnoticed for some time.

Remember this is a disease which emerged only last month – and yet there are already almost 10,000 confirmed cases in China.

The 2014 Ebola outbreak in West Africa – the largest in human history – showed how easily poorer countries can be overwhelmed by such outbreaks.

And if novel coronavirus gets a significant foothold in such places, then it would be incredibly difficult to contain.

We are not at that stage yet – 99% of cases are in China and the WHO is convinced the country can control the outbreak there.

But declaring a global emergency allows the WHO to support lower- and middle-income countries to strengthen their disease surveillance – and prepare them for cases.

Presentational grey line

How unusual is this declaration?

The WHO declares a Public Health Emergency of International Concern when there is “an extraordinary event which is determined… to constitute a public health risk to other states through the international spread of disease”.

It has previously declared five global public health emergencies:

  • Swine flu, 2009 – The H1N1 virus spread across the world in 2009, with death toll estimates ranging from 123,000 to 575,400
  • Polio, 2014 – Although closer than ever to eradication in 2012, polio numbers rose in 2013
  • Zika, 2016 – The WHO declared Zika a public health emergency in 2016 after the disease spread rapidly through the Americas
  • Ebola, 2014 and 2019 – The first emergency over the virus lasted from August 2014 to March 2016 as almost 30,000 people were infected and more than 11,000 died in West Africa. A second emergency was declared last year as an outbreak spread in DR Congo

Media caption Inside the US laboratory developing a coronavirus vaccine

How is China handling the outbreak?

A confirmed case in Tibet means the virus has reached every region in mainland China. According to the country’s National Health Commission, 9,692 cases have tested positive.

The central province of Hubei, where nearly all deaths have occurred, is in a state of lockdown. The province of 60 million people is home to Wuhan, the heart of the outbreak.

The city has effectively been sealed off and China has put numerous transport restrictions in place to curb the spread of the virus.

Coronavirus cases have spread to every province in China. There are now 7711 cases compared to 291 on 20 Jan. Hubei province has more than 4500 cases.
People who have been in Hubei are also being told to work from home until it is considered safe for them to return.

The virus is affecting China’s economy, the world’s second-largest, with a growing number of countries advising their citizens to avoid all non-essential travel to the country.

How is the world responding?

Voluntary evacuations of hundreds of foreign nationals from Wuhan are under way.

The UK, Australia, South Korea, Singapore and New Zealand are expected to quarantine all evacuees for two weeks to monitor them for symptoms and avoid contagion.

Australia plans to quarantine its evacuees on Christmas Island, 2,000km (1,200 miles) from the mainland in a detention centre that has been used to house asylum seekers.

In other recent developments:

  • Italy suspended flights to China after two Chinese tourists in Rome were diagnosed with the virus; earlier 6,000 people on board a cruise ship were temporarily barred from disembarking
  • In the US, Chicago health officials have reported the first US case of human-to-human transmission. Around 200 US citizens have been flown out of Wuhan and are being isolated at a Californian military base for at least 72 hours
  • Russia has decided to close its 4,300km (2,670-mile) far-eastern border with China
  • Two flights to Japan have already landed in Tokyo. Japan has now raised its infectious disease advisory level for China
  • Some 250 French nationals have been evacuated from Wuhan
  • India has confirmed its first case of the virus – a student in the southern state of Kerala who was studying in Wuhan
  • Israel has barred all flight connections with China
  • Papua New Guinea has banned all visitors from “Asian ports”
  • North Korea will suspend all flights and trains to and from China, said the British ambassador to North Korea

Source: The BBC

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01/02/2020

Japan seeks to contain economic impact of virus, new measures come into effect

Tokyo (Reuters) – Japan on Saturday moved to contain the economic impact of a coronavirus outbreak originating in China as strict new measures aimed at limiting the spread of the virus, including targeting foreign visitors, came into effect.

Japan had 17 confirmed cases as of Friday, including some without symptoms. One of the most recent was a bus guide who worked on a bus tour for tourists from China – the same tour as a bus driver who also came down with the virus.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told a Saturday meeting of a government task force coordinating Japan’s response to the virus to come up with steps aimed at easing the impact of the outbreak on Japan’s economy.

Abe has made tourism a key part of his economic policy, with a large proportion of foreign visitors from China, and major Japanese companies have a number of factories in China.

“I ask ministers to compile measures to use reserves (in the state budget) and implement them as soon as possible,” Abe was quoted by Kyodo news agency as saying.

“The new coronavirus is having a major impact on tourism, the economy and our society as a whole. The government will do its utmost to address the impact.”

No further details were given, though Abe stressed ensuring that Japanese residents have access to medical checkups and masks, which have been selling out around the nation.

New measures to fight the disease took effect on Saturday, including banning the entry of Chinese holding passports issued by Hubei, where the disease is thought to have originated, as well as all foreigners who had visited the province within two weeks, whether they show symptoms or not.

The government also brought forward implementing measures including compulsory hospitalisation and the use of public funds for treatment by six days to Saturday.

Of the 2.6 million tourists who came to Japan in December 2019, nearly 600,000 were Chinese, outnumbered only by South Koreans, government data shows. Japan aims to have 40 million tourists visit the country in 2020, up from 31.8 million in 2019.

On Friday, the president of Japanese airline ANA Holdings (9202.T) said it was considering suspending flights to China after February reservations plunged, Jiji news agency reported.

JTB Corporation, Japan’s largest travel agency, said it was suspending tours to China throughout February, Kyodo news agency reported.

Source: Reuters

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31/01/2020

Singapore closes borders to all Chinese travellers to stem spread of coronavirus

  • The island nation is the first Southeast Asian country to bar all visitors from the mainland
  • The visa suspension will come into effect immediately, while the travel restriction will start at 11.59pm on Saturday
Travellers wearing face masks at Changi International Airport in Singapore. Photo: AFP
Travellers wearing face masks at Changi International Airport in Singapore. Photo: AFP
Singapore

will close its borders to all new visitors from mainland China, including foreigners who have been there within the past 14 days, becoming the first Southeast Asian country to do so in a bid to stem the spread of the deadly coronavirus
.

The island nation has China as one of its biggest trading partners and is a popular destination for Chinese tourists. Figures from the Singapore Tourism Board showed that 248,000 travellers from the mainland entered Singapore last November, while 3.42 million mainland Chinese tourists visited in 2018.

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The visa suspension will come into effect immediately so travellers can be informed in advance, while the travel restriction will start at 11.59pm on Saturday.

As of Friday, Singapore has 13 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus, all of whom are travellers from the Chinese city of Wuhan. Health authorities have stressed that there is no evidence of community spread within the city state as of now.

The coronavirus has infected almost 10,000 people around the world, killing 213. The World Health Organisation has declared the outbreak an international public health emergency.

The move is an escalation of Wednesday’s announcement that Singapore was stopping the entry of new travellers who had been to Hubei province, the epicentre of the outbreak. Wuhan is Hubei’s capital.

China coronavirus: Singapore’s seven habits for good hygiene

30 Jan 2020

Residents and citizens of Singapore who have been to China will be able to come into the city state, but will be subject to a 14-day leave of absence during which they are encouraged to stay at home.

The move to close its borders to Chinese visitors comes on the back of local authorities’ assessment that more people in other parts of China are and will be affected by the virus.

The Singapore government will on Saturday announce a fiscal package to help businesses and citizens during the crisis.

Coronavirus: global travel restrictions imposed on Chinese travellers

31 Jan 2020

National development minister Lawrence Wong, who co-chairs a multi-ministry task force to deal with the virus, said the outbreak had already impacted the economy and “will be going on for some time”.

Said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong: “It’s going to hurt us. China is a very big source of tourists for Singapore. [With the outbreak], that’s tailed off already considerably.”

Lee said tourism from other sources would also be affected as people took precautions, pinpointing the food and beverage, travel and hotel industries as those that were “bound to be significantly affected”.

“I expect the rest of the economy also to be affected because with China in semi-lockdown mode now, their economy is bound to slow down and our economy is quite tightly engaged with theirs, they are our biggest trading partner.”

Source: SCMP

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31/01/2020

Travellers beat China virus lockdown via bridge over the Yangtze

JIUJIANG, China (Reuters) – People are leaving and entering China’s Hubei province by foot over a bridge spanning the Yangtze river, despite a virtual lockdown on vehicle traffic due to a coronavirus epidemic that has killed more than 200 people.The Yangtze divides Jiujiang in Jiangxi province and Huanggang in neighbouring Hubei, one of the cities hardest hit by the coronavirus outbreak and now sealed off from the rest of China to try to contain it.

But the foot traffic over the Yangtze shows gaps in the lockdown, adding to doubts over its effectiveness and providing a glimpse of life inside the epicentre of what the World Health Organization (WHO) has called a global emergency.

Wu Minzhou, a 40-year-old business owner who was fishing near the bridge on the Jiangxi side, said he was worried about exceptions being made for people leaving Hubei.

“Because there’s an … incubation period at play here, if they head out, for example, to cities in the north of China, then it’s highly possible they will infect those areas too,” he said.

While vehicles are not allowed over the bridge, it is open to some pedestrians. Police explained that people were still entering Hubei and they could still get out, but only in “special circumstances”.

Those included people who were in Hubei but booked train tickets to leave from Jiujiang before the Lunar New Year.

“Everyone’s panicking right now, but I think things are not that bad,” migrant worker Guan, 45, told Reuters after crossing from Hubei.

A 40-year-old woman, who only gave her surname as Li, said she was heading back to her home in Huizhou, Guangdong province, with her son.

She had to show their train tickets at the checkpoint and get their temperatures taken on the Hubei side of the bridge before being allowed to make the long trek into Jiangxi.

Another man told Reuters that he had driven to the bridge from Jiujiang with his friend, who was going the other way home to Hubei, a province of about 60 million people.

“But once you get back you cannot come out again,” said the man, who gave his surname as Tian. “You have to stay there, stay at home. You can’t come out.”

The epidemic, believed to have originated in a seafood market in the Hubei provincial capital of Wuhan, prompted the WHO to declare a global emergency on Thursday, only the sixth time it has done so.

Trains and other public transportation have been suspended, roads have been sealed off and checkpoints established at tollgates around Wuhan. The special measures have been extended to other cities in Hubei province.

Though Jiujiang itself has not officially been locked down, its streets were mostly deserted and its tourist sites closed on what was officially the last day of China’s Lunar New Year celebrations on Thursday.

“This year … we are all just following what the government has asked us to do. That is, we’re at home almost all the time,” said local taxi driver Guo Dongbo, 59. “We don’t go out and nobody else is out on the streets either.”

In one of the residential areas of Jiujiang, a city of nearly five million people, a man carried a loudspeaker playing a recorded message ordering anyone who has been to Hubei recently to go and register with the local residents’ committee.

By Friday, the city had 42 confirmed cases of infection.

Elsewhere, shops were mostly shuttered, and the few restaurants that remained open were nearly empty.

“Normally at this time of year a lot of people come here. Now there’s nobody,” said a vegetarian restaurant owner near the Donglin Buddhist temple in Jiujiang.

Source: Reuters

Posted in "global emergency", beat, Bridge, China, coronavirus outbreak, Donglin Buddhist temple, hubei province, Jiangxi Province, lockdown, travellers, Uncategorized, Virus, World Health Organization (WHO), Yangtze | Leave a Comment »

30/01/2020

Coronavirus: turbulent times ahead for air travellers as carriers cancel China flights

  • Lufthansa, British Airways, Air Canada among several big name airlines to halt flights, while others reduce services
  • Travel agents expecting slump in sales amid rising uncertainty over how epidemic will play out
Many airlines have cancelled flights into mainland China because of the coronavirus outbreak. Photo: AP
Many airlines have cancelled flights into mainland China because of the coronavirus outbreak. Photo: AP
International air travellers and ticketing agents are in for a turbulent time in the weeks ahead as airlines around the world react to the coronavirus epidemic by cancelling or limiting flights to and from the Chinese mainland.
Lufthansa, British Airways, Air Canada and Indonesia’s Lion Air have 
cancelled all of their flights

, while United Airlines, American Airlines, IndiGo, Finnair, Delta Air Lines and Jetstar Asia have significantly reduced their services.

“It’s going to be pretty bad for travel agencies. We’ve had a lot of cancellations. Everyone is afraid of coming to China,” said Annabelle Auger from Travel Stone in Beijing.
“Many of our European clients are very worried because of the media coverage they’ve seen. Still, people are willing to wait and see for a few weeks to see how things go,” she said.
For foreigners looking to leave China, Auger said they should contact their embassy to find out about repatriation flights.

“The situation is very unclear, so it’s difficult to give any general recommendations,” she said.

Already this week, the embassies of the United States, Japan, South Korea and Britain have cleared flights to evacuate their nationals from Hubei, the central China province at the heart of the outbreak.

Auger said she and her colleagues had been busy rearranging flights for China-based foreigners who had gone away for the holidays.

“The schools are closed, so families with children abroad are thinking, ‘OK, let’s extend our stay for another week’,” she said.

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The Beijing government said on Monday it would extend the Lunar New Year
holiday until Sunday to help stop the spread of the disease, while school breaks have also been extended.

Another travel agent in Beijing, who asked not to be named, said the virus outbreak had yet to have a significant impact on business but concerns were growing.

“We are a bit worried that things may get difficult in the coming months,” she said. “But we trust that the government is doing all it can and will take the appropriate measures to solve the problems.”

Zhu Tao, director of the flight standards department at the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), said at a press conference in Beijing on Thursday that the relevant authorities were working closely with airlines to help Chinese nationals trapped overseas to get home.

The government had already chartered flights from Japan, Myanmar and South Korea to bring Chinese nationals back to Hubei, he said.

While all flights out of Hubei have been suspended since last week, Zhu said air transport was playing its part in fighting the disease.

As of Wednesday, the CAAC had sent 86 flights carrying 5,129 medical workers and 115,000 items of equipment and other supplies into Wuhan, he said.

Wu Zunyou, the chief epidemiologist at the China Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, said that efforts to prevent the coronavirus spreading outside the country had been successful, as only about 1 per cent of the confirmed infections were outside China.

Despite the flight cancellations, Beijing’s Capital International Airport was operating as normal on Thursday.

Andre Muchanga, a student from Abu Dhabi at the Beijing Institute of Technology, said he made a late decision to fly home.

“I decided to buy my ticket last night,” he said. “At school, our dormitory is almost completely empty. I knocked on a friend’s door last night and found there was no one there, so I decided I better just go home and spend some time with my family.”

He said he decided not to buy a return flight as it he did not know when his classes would resume.

Signs at check-in counters reminded passengers who had travelled to Hubei or had a Hubei address to put themselves in isolation for 14 days.

While flights out of Hubei have been stopped, there was still plenty of inbound traffic.

“The number of domestic inbound travellers seems pretty normal for this time of year,” a man working on an information desk at Capital airport said.

“It’s the sixth day of the Lunar New Year. Lots of people have to return to work.”

An Air China employee, surnamed Hu, said that the airport had stepped up its disinfecting and general cleaning work. Body temperature checks had been installed at all access points and employees had been told to wear masks, he said.

“I don’t mind working during the Lunar New Year holiday,” he said. “I’m not afraid of the virus, I’m here to serve the people.”

SOurce: SCMP

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27/01/2020

Russian operators stop selling tours to China over coronavirus

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian tour operators have stopped selling package holidays to China due to the coronavirus outbreak there and are only bringing Russian tourists home, Dmitry Gorin, vice president of the Association of Russian Tour Operators, said on Monday.

The move was taken at the recommendation of Rosturizm, Russia’s state tourism agency, he said, as the death toll from the new virus in China rose to 81 with more than 2,740 people infected.

Russia, which does not have any confirmed cases of the new virus, has direct daily flights to several Chinese cities and has ramped up sanitary and quarantine control at all entry points.

“Tours are not being sold because there is a safety threat,” Gorin told Reuters. “Sales stopped on Friday.”

Moscow has been in talks with China about evacuating Russian nationals from the Chinese city of Wuhan and Hubei province that are at the centre of the outbreak, Russia’s embassy in China said on Saturday.

Wuhan, a city of 11 million people and capital of Hubei province, is in virtual lockdown and severe limits on movement are in place in several other Chinese cities. Much of Hubei, home to nearly 60 million people, is subject to some kind of travel restrictions.

Direct flights to Moscow from Wuhan were suspended last week. At least 140 Russians, 75 of them students, are known to be in Wuhan and Hubei, the Russian embassy in China said on Monday, the TASS news agency reported.

Around 7,000 Russian tourists who bought package holidays are currently still in China, Gorin said. Around 6,000 of those are on Hainan island with the rest on the mainland, he said.

Russians will be reimbursed for cancelled tours, while those being repatriated from China early will be partially reimbursed, Gorin said.

Russia is working to develop a vaccine against the coronavirus strain, the consumer safety regulator said on Wednesday.

Source: Reuters

Posted in Association of Russian Tour Operators, China, coronavirus, hubei province, Moscow, package holidays, Rosturizm, Russian embassy, Russian operators, state tourism agency, stop selling, TASS news agency, tours, Uncategorized, Wuhan | Leave a Comment »

26/01/2020

Xinhua Headlines: Quiet and busy — Lunar New Year’s Eve in Wuhan, center of coronavirus fight

The Lunar New Year’s Eve in Wuhan, ground zero of the novel coronavirus outbreak in central China, is nothing but special. Behind the seemingly quiet streets, people in all walks of life are racing against time to fight against the invisible enemy.

WUHAN, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) — There were far fewer cars on the streets and bustling crowds were not seen in the shopping malls in the central Chinese city of Wuhan on Jan. 24 — the Eve of the Chinese Lunar New Year.

The scene was quite different from the occasion in the previous years because of the novel coronavirus that has claimed over 40 lives and infected over a thousand nationwide. With a population of over 10 million, Wuhan, the capital city of Hubei Province, is the center of the epidemic.

Photo taken on Jan. 24, 2020 shows a medical aid team of Army Medical University leaving for Wuhan in southwest China’s Chongqing. On the Chinese Lunar New Year’s Eve, a group of 150 medical workers from the Army Medical University left for Wuhan, the center of the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) outbreak, to provide medical aid. (Xinhua)

Yang Yingchen, a volunteer of the Red Cross Society of China’s Wuhan branch, had a busy day answering calls.

“People from across the nation called to check on accounts and addresses to make donations,” said Yang. “Many would say ‘Come on, Wuhan’ to us, which makes me feel especially warm and deeply moved.”

Chen Li, a doctor in a Wuhan hospital, spent the Chinese Lunar New Year’s Eve at home to quarantine herself. She is a little bit worried about having had contact with infected patients, but luckily she has no signs of symptoms for the time being.

“Before joining the fight against the epidemic, I had sent my four-year-old son to my parents. I has disinfected all the articles in my house,” she said.

Chen’s husband is at the forefront of the fight against the epidemic. “We haven’t seen each other for over a week,” said Chen. On Saturday morning, she put on protective clothing again and returned to work.

“Actually, I can’t be isolated for too long. There’s still a lot of work to be done,” she said. “I just don’t know when I can see my boy again.”

Aerial photo taken on Jan. 24, 2020 shows mechanical equipment working at the construction site of a special hospital in the Caidian District of western suburb of Wuhan, central China’s Hubei Province. The central China metropolitan of Wuhan will follow Beijing’s SARS treatment model to build a special hospital for admitting patients infected in the outbreak of pneumonia caused by the novel coronavirus. (Xinhua/Xiao Yijiu)

The virus had resulted in 41 deaths in China by the end of Friday, mostly in Wuhan, according to the National Health Commission. Nationwide, a total of 1,287 cases were confirmed, including 237 in critical condition.

Confirmed cases were also reported in China’s Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, as well as Thailand, Japan, the Republic of Korea, the United States, Vietnam, Singapore, Nepal and France.

Wuhan is following Beijing’s SARS treatment model in 2003 to build a makeshift hospital with a capability of 1,000 beds for admitting infected patients. Construction on the facility began Thursday night. It will be completed and put into use prior to Feb. 3, less than 10 days away.

“It’s going to be another all-nighter. We need to speed up work and complete the hospital as soon as possible,” said Lyu Jun, a young truck driver at the construction site. This is his first Spring Festival away from home.

For ordinary people, this year’s Lunar New Year’s Eve lacks some gatherings but is still a time to extend greetings and wishes.

Yin Yeqiong, from Hunan Province, refunded her tickets back home after much debate. “I had it in my mind to still go home, but finally decided to stay in Wuhan,” she said. “Our stay will help reduce panic in other places.”

Liu Jie, a dough sculptor, put on a New Year costume and watched the Spring Festival Gala with his family. “We’re now at a critical period, so I texted New Year wishes to friends and relatives this year. I believe this is the best way,” he said.

Liu Jiapeng, a children’s book editor, stayed in Wuhan during the Spring Festival for the past four decades. “I always stayed with my family, and we would have every meal together,” said Liu. “But this year, I haven’t had one meal with them.”

On the day of the Lunar New Year’s Eve, he and his wife bought some goods for their parents, brought them to their house and briefly chatted. As they were waiting for the elevator, Liu looked back and saw his father standing at the windowsill, watching them leave.

Medical workers of Army Medical University assemble before leaving for Wuhan in southwest China’s Chongqing, Jan. 24, 2020. On the Chinese Lunar New Year’s Eve, a group of 150 medical workers from the Army Medical University left for Wuhan, the center of the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) outbreak, to provide medical aid. (Xinhua)

China is mobilizing medical resources nationwide to aid Wuhan and control the epidemic. Doctors, nurses and experts from across the nation have been selected to join the battle, and manufacturers have restarted their plants to produce medical consumables that have been running short in many places.

A national research team of 14 experts, headed by renowned respiratory scientist Zhong Nanshan, has been set up to help prevent and control the outbreak on Friday.

“This is going to be an unforgettable Spring Festival,” said Chen Ying, a writer. “Because I feel that at this moment, there are so many families that I do not know, in every corner of this city, praying for our home.”

“My New Year wish is simple,” said Liu Jie. “I hope the virus will soon be conquered and everyone in Wuhan and the whole nation would be safe and healthy.”

Source: Xinhua

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25/01/2020

China deploys 1,230 doctors and nurses to help fight coronavirus as private firms pledge money, supplies

  • Teams from Shanghai, Guangdong – including experts who helped tackle Sars – arrive in Wuhan to lend their support
  • Tencent, JD.com, Lenovo among raft of private firms offering financial aid to those battling deadly outbreak
Doctors and nurses from across China are being dispatched to help tackle the coronavirus epidemic in Hubei province. Photo: Xinhua
Doctors and nurses from across China are being dispatched to help tackle the coronavirus epidemic in Hubei province. Photo: Xinhua
Chinese authorities and private enterprises are stepping up their support for embattled medical teams in Hubei province as they continue to fight the coronavirus epidemic, while neighbouring governments ramp up their efforts to prevent its further spread.
Hospitals across Wuhan – the city at the centre of the outbreak – have been overwhelmed by the flood of patients and doctors are becoming increasingly frustrated at the lack of support, both in terms of supplies and personnel, they have received.
But national bodies say they are responding to the crisis.
On Saturday, China’s National Health Commission (NHC) said that six medical teams comprising 1,230 staff had been set up and dispatched to help fight the deadly virus in Hubei.
Three medical units from Shanghai, Guangdong and the armed forces had already arrived in the province, it said, though did not make clear if they were in addition to or part of the six teams.

Chen Dechang, a doctor from Ruijin Hospital in Shanghai who is among those sent to Hubei, said it was important there were more medical staff on the scene.

“We can help save more patients in the intensive care unit if we are on the front line,” he said.

Authorities in Shanghai have also sent 81 ECMO (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation) life-support machines to Jinyintan Hospital, which is one of the designated facilities treating patients in Wuhan.

The ECMO technique – which involves removing blood from a person’s body, removing the carbon dioxide and oxygenating red blood cells before pumping them back into the patient – has already been used on one critically ill patient at Wuhan University’s Zhongnan Hospital, according to Shanghai-based news outlet Thepaper.cn.

Though the report did not say how effective the treatment had been.

Medical teams in Wuhan have been under huge pressure since the outbreak began. Photo: Xinhua
Medical teams in Wuhan have been under huge pressure since the outbreak began. Photo: Xinhua
The team from Guangdong comprised 42 doctors and 93 nurses, the NHC said. The deployment came after a group of current and former medical staff from Southern Medical University in Guangzhou – who had helped tackle the Sars (severe acute respiratory syndrome) outbreak in 2002-03 – signed a petition saying they were willing to help in Wuhan.

“We are a team of experienced practitioners who fought Sars,” they said in the petition, a copy of which was posted on the social media accounts of Communist Party mouthpiece People’s Daily.

“We cannot back away from our responsibility to help 17 years later as people are facing the outbreak of a new coronavirus. We are willing to be deployed to the front line to make our contributions.”

A team of 135 doctors from Chongqing arrived in Wuhan on Friday evening, the NHC said, without elaborating.

A medical team from Guangdong province prepares to travel to Wuhan. Photo: Xinhua
A medical team from Guangdong province prepares to travel to Wuhan. Photo: Xinhua
As well as the wave of medical support, several private companies said they had provided financial support to help fight the epidemic.
According to Chinese media reports, Shanghai Ocean Forest Assets has donated 10 million yuan (US$1.4 million) to the cause, while Shanghai-based asset management firm, Jinglin Assets is coordinating efforts to buy urgently needed medical supplies from South Korea and Japan.
Shenzhen’s Fantasia Holdings said it would donate 6 million yuan and send medical supplies, including surgical masks, to Wuhan, while tech giant Tencent said it would donate 300 million yuan from its charity. E-commerce platform JD.com said it had donated 1 million surgical masks and 60,000 other medical items.
Chinese smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi said on Friday it had sent a first batch of medical equipment – masks and thermometers worth more than 300,000 yuan – to Wuhan, while tech firm Lenovo said on Saturday it would donate all of the IT equipment required by the new specialist treatment centre being built in the city.
Authorities set a target to have the 1,000-bed facility up and running within six days of starting construction.

Aside from the support from the private sector, state lender China Development Bank on Friday issued a 2 billion yuan emergency loan to Wuhan, while a day earlier, China’s finance ministry said it had allocated 1 billion yuan to authorities in Hubei to help tackle the epidemic.

Across the country, authorities have introduced a number of measures to help prevent the further spread of the coronavirus, including the closure of all cinemas in Shanghai.

Wuhan residents stockpile food, medical supplies
25 Jan 2020

Also on Saturday it was reported that Liang Wudong, a doctor at Xinhua Hospital in Wuhan, had become the first medical professional to die after treating people infected with the virus.

Liang, 62, was suspected of having contracted the virus last week and had been transferred to Jinyintan Hospital for treatment. He died at 7am on Saturday, Thepaper.cn reported.

According to official figures, 41 people have been killed by the coronavirus and there have been more than 1,280 confirmed cases. The vast majority are in the Chinese mainland, but there have also been confirmed cases in Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and eight other countries, including the United States and Europe.

Tens of millions of people in cities across Hubei are effectively on lockdown after the introduction of travel bans to help control the spread of the virus.

Source: SCMP

Posted in China, China Development Bank, chinese authorities, Chongqing, coronavirus, coronavirus epidemic, deploys, doctors and nurses, ECMO (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation) life-support machines, ECMO technique, Europe, Guangdong, help fight, Hong Kong, Hubei, hubei province, Japan, JD.com, Jinglin Assets, Jinyintan Hospital, Lenovo, Macau, money, National Health Commission (NHC), People’s Daily, pledge, private enterprises, private firms, Ruijin Hospital, SARs, Shanghai, Shanghai Ocean Forest Assets, Shenzhen’s Fantasia Holdings, smartphone manufacturer, South Korea, Southern Medical University, supplies, Taiwan, Teams, TENCENT, Uncategorized, United States, Wuhan, Wuhan University, Xinhua Hospital, Zhongnan Hospital | Leave a Comment »

25/01/2020

French citizens to be bused out of Wuhan to escape coronavirus, consulate says

  • Evacuation plan outlined in email as diplomats look for ways to protect foreign nationals
  • Paris earlier reports three cases on its soil – the first to be identified in Europe
The French consulate in Wuhan is planning to evacuate French nationals from the city to escape the deadly coronavirus. Photo: AFP
The French consulate in Wuhan is planning to evacuate French nationals from the city to escape the deadly coronavirus. Photo: AFP
Foreign diplomats in Wuhan are scrambling to assess the situation in the coronavirus
-plagued city, with French officials planning to evacuate French nationals trapped by the Chinese government’s lockdown.
The plan would allow French people who want to leave Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province, to travel by bus to Changsha in neighbouring Hunan province, according to an email seen by the South China Morning Post.
“The consulate general, in collaboration with local authorities, plans to set up a bus service to allow French nationals … and their Chinese and foreign spouses and children to travel from Wuhan to Changsha,” it said.
The email, sent by the French consulate, also asked anyone who received it to pass the notice on to other French nationals. It was not clear which bodies received the email and the date of the planned evacuation was not specified.

The consulate could not be reached for comment on Saturday.

France, the United States, Britain and South Korea all have consulates in Wuhan, according to China’s foreign ministry.

The South Korean consulate said in a post on its website that it would suspend all visa applications “indefinitely until further notice”.

A diplomatic source said several foreign embassies in China were considering plans to evacuate their nationals from Wuhan.

First coronavirus case ‘had no links to seafood market’

25 Jan 2020

It is not known how many foreigners remain in the city, which has a population of about 11 million and has been under a government-imposed lockdown since Thursday morning.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said in a statement on Friday that Paris was monitoring the crisis and “can increase the power [to respond] if necessary”.

There have so far been three confirmed cases of the new coronavirus in France, in Paris and Bordeaux.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on Friday that Paris was monitoring the crisis in China. Photo: AFP
French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on Friday that Paris was monitoring the crisis in China. Photo: AFP
The US said earlier that most of its consulate staff and their families had been pulled out of Wuhan.

An emailed inquiry to the British consulate in the city received only an automated reply, saying: “Wuhan is now in crisis mode. We may not be able to answer your emails for some time.”

The consulate would be closed for the Lunar New Year holiday until January 31, it said.

Meanwhile, British citizen Kharn Lambert told the BBC on Thursday how he had been “trapped” in Wuhan.

The PE teacher said he was afraid to leave his house for fear of catching the deadly virus.

“If you saw the street behind me at night time where I normally live … if I show you out there now, it’s dead,” he said.

More than 1,280 confirmed cases have been reported across China, of which more than 700 were in Hubei, according to local government figures released on Saturday.

The death toll in Hubei stands at 39, with two other fatalities reported in the provinces of Hebei and Heilongjiang.

Tens of millions of people in Hubei are effectively on lockdown since a travel ban was imposed on most of the province.

Flights, trains, buses and ferries connecting Wuhan to other cities in Hubei have been suspended. Rail authorities in Wuhan, which is a hub for several major high-speed lines, said operations at 61 stations and more than 400 train services had been suspended until further notice.

Source: SCMP

Posted in Bordeaux, Britain, British citizen, bused out, buses, Changsha, China’s Foreign Ministry, consulate, coronavirus, diplomats, escape, Europe, Evacuation plan, ferries, flights, foreign nationals, Foreigners, French citizens, French Foreign Minister, Hebei, Hebei province, Heilongjiang province, high-speed lines, hub, Hubei, hubei province, Hunan Province, Jean-Yves Le Drian, Lunar New Year holiday, Paris, Population, Rail authorities, south china morning post, South Korea, The BBC, trains, Uncategorized, United States, Wuhan | Leave a Comment »

25/01/2020

China virus toll hits 41; Australia reports first four cases

BEIJING (Reuters) – The death toll from China’s coronavirus outbreak jumped on Saturday to 41 as the Lunar New Year got off to a gloomy start, with Hong Kong declaring a virus emergency, scrapping celebrations, and restricting links to mainland China.

Australia on Saturday confirmed its first four cases, Malaysia confirmed three and France reported Europe’s first cases on Friday, as health authorities around the world scrambled to prevent a pandemic.

Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam on Saturday declared a virus emergency in the Asian financial hub, with five confirmed cases, immediately halting official visits to mainland China and scrapping official Lunar New Year celebrations.

Inbound and outbound flights and high speed rail trips between Hong Kong and Wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak, would be halted, and schools, now on Lunar New Year holidays, would remain shut until Feb. 17. The territory was also treating 122 people suspected of having the disease.

RELATED COVERAGE

  • U.S. to evacuate its citizens from Wuhan, China – WSJ
  • China’s President Xi holds politburo meeting on curbing virus outbreak – state TV

The death toll in China rose to 41 on Saturday from 26 a day earlier and more than 1,300 people have been infected globally with a virus traced to a seafood market in the central city of Wuhan that was illegally selling wildlife.

Hu Yinghai, deputy director-general of the Civil Affairs Department in Hubei province, where Wuhan is located, made an appeal on Saturday for masks and protective suits. Hospitals in the city have made similar pleas.

“We are steadily pushing forward the disease control and prevention … But right now we are facing an extremely severe public health crisis,” he told a news briefing.

Vehicles carrying emergency supplies and medical staff for Wuhan would be exempted from tolls and given traffic priority, China’s transportation ministry said on Saturday.

Wuhan said it would ban non-essential vehicles from its downtown starting Sunday to control the spread of the virus, further paralysing a city of 11 million that has been on virtual lockdown since Thursday, with nearly all flights cancelled and checkpoints blocking the main roads leading out of town.

Authorities have since imposed transport restrictions on nearly all of Hubei province, which has a population of 59 million.

In Australia, three men, aged 53, 43 and 35 in New South Wales were in stable condition after they were confirmed to have the virus after returning from Wuhan earlier this month.

A Chinese national in his 50s, who had been in Wuhan, was also in stable condition in a Melbourne hospital after arriving from China on Jan. 19, Victoria Health officials said.

State-run China Global Television Network reported in a tweet on Saturday that a doctor who had been treating patients in Wuhan, 62-year-old Liang Wudong, had died from the virus.

Police officers stand guard in front of the closed gate of Lama Temple where a notice saying that the temple is closed for the safety concern following the outbreak of a new coronavirus is seen, in Beijing, China January 25, 2020. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins

It was not immediately clear if his death was already counted in the official toll of 41, of which 39 were in the central province of Hubei, where Wuhan is located.

U.S. coffee chain Starbucks said on Saturday that it was closing all its outlets in Hubei province for the week-long Lunar New Year holiday, following a similar move by McDonald’s in five Hubei cities.

PROTECTIVE SUITS

In Beijing on Saturday, workers in white protective suits checked temperatures of passengers entering the subway at the central railway station, while some train services in eastern China’s Yangtze River Delta region were suspended, the local railway operator said.

The number of confirmed cases in China stands at 1,287. The virus has also been detected in Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Nepal, and the United States.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Friday it had 63 patients under investigation, with two confirmed cases. While China has called for transparency in managing the crisis, after cover-up of the 2002/2003 Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome spread, officials in Wuhan have come in for criticism over their handling of the current outbreak.

In rare public dissent, a senior journalist at a Hubei provincial newspaper run by the ruling Communist Party on Friday called for a “immediate” change of leadership in Wuhan on the Twitter-like Weibo. The post was later removed.

REINFORCEMENTS TO WUHAN

The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the new coronavirus an “emergency in China” this week but stopped short of declaring it of international concern.

Human-to-human transmission has been observed in the virus.

China’s National Health Commission said it had formed six medical teams totalling 1,230 medical staff to help Wuhan.

Hubei province, where authorities are rushing to build a 1,000 bed hospital in six days to treat patients, announced on Saturday that there were 658 patients affected by the virus in treatment, 57 of whom were critically ill.

The newly-identified coronavirus has created alarm because there are still many unknowns surrounding it, such as how dangerous it is and how easily it spreads between people. It can cause pneumonia, which has been deadly in some cases.

Symptoms include fever, difficulty breathing and coughing. Most of the fatalities have been in elderly patients, many with pre-existing conditions, the WHO said.

NEW YEAR DISRUPTIONS

Airports around the world have stepped up screening of passengers from China, though some health officials and experts have questioned the effectiveness of such screenings.

There are fears the transmission could accelerate as hundreds of millions of Chinese travel during the week-long Lunar New Year holiday, which began on Saturday, although many have cancelled their plans, with airlines and railways in China providing free refunds.

The virus outbreak and efforts to contain it have put a dampener on what is ordinarily a festive time of year.

Sanya, a popular resort destination on the southern Chinese island of Hainan, announced that it was shutting all tourist sites, while the island’s capital city, Haikou, said visitors from Wuhan would be placed under 14-day quarantine in a hotel.

Shanghai Disneyland was closed from Saturday. The theme park has a 100,000 daily capacity and sold out during last year’s Lunar New Year holiday.

Beijing’s Lama Temple, where people traditionally make offerings for the new year, has also closed, as have some other temples.

Source: Reuters

Posted in Asian, Australia, Beijing, Carrie Lam, celebrations, Chief Executive Carrie Lam,, China, China Global Television Network, China’s National Health Commission, Communist Party, coronavirus, financial hub, flights, France, health authorities, high speed rail trips, Hong Kong, hubei province, Human-to-human transmission, Japan, Lama Temple, lunar new year, Mainland China, Malaysia, McDonald's, Nepal, new coronavirus, pandemic, scrapping celebrations, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Uncategorized, United States, Victoria Health officials, Vietnam, virus emergency, virus toll, Weibo, World Health Organization (WHO), Wuhan, Yangtze River Delta | Leave a Comment »

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