China’s efforts to control the deadly outbreak of a new coronavirus “are working”, Beijing’s top diplomat said Thursday, attributing an easing in new cases to his country’s “forceful action” against the illness.

Speaking in Laos after talks with peers from the 10 Southeast Asian (ASEAN) countries, Wangi Yi said the outbreak was “controllable and curable” despite the global panic it has seeded.

“China is not only protecting its own people but also the rest of the world,” he told the summit in Vientiane, referencing a recent sharp drop in new cases of the virus inside China, where it has killed more than 2,100 people.

The hastily-convened summit with ASEAN neighbours comes as a region dependent on the flow of Chinese goods and tourists faces a steep bill following restrictions on movement from China.

A similar meeting was held in 2003 following the outbreak of SARS.

Originating in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, the new coronavirus — known as COVID-19 — has infected more than 74,000 people inside China.

The government has locked down tens of millions of people in several virus-hit cities, extended Lunar New Year holidays and pulled flights in a scramble to contain the virus.

Still the health scare has cascaded across Southeast Asia, with cases recorded in the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

The Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam have restricted flights from mainland China and suspended visa-free arrivals as health screening ramps up at entry points.

Thailand, which has imposed no such restrictions, reported a 90 percent slump in arrivals from the mainland this month, a gut punch to an already beleaguered tourist sector which makes up nearly a fifth of the economy.

Thailand anticipates a loss of more than $8 billion by year’s end from the tourist tail-off.

In Laos, Beijing will be eager to “project regional solidarity with its anti-pandemic efforts” a Southeast Asian diplomat told AFP, declining to be named.

China sees ASEAN as its backyard and has ramped up economic, diplomatic and cultural influence over recent years with billions of dollars of investment, tourist outflows and a bigger presence at regional summits.

There are fears prolonged disruption by the virus could slow work on the massive China-backed “Belt and Road” infrastructure schemes which criss-cross ASEAN.

Philippine Foreign Minister Teodoro Locsin Jr thanked China for its “unprecedented domestic measures and quick action” — apparently referring to the lockdowns of several large cities as the virus billowed out.

But he recognised the “massively detrimental” economic impact of the disease, which has constricted global trade and tourism vital to many Southeast Asian economies.

 Source: AFP

In early 2020, an outbreak of new coronavirus in Wuhan, China, sparked fears that the virus could cause a pandemic. It also inspired a significant amount of misinformation.

For example, on Feb. 17, 2020, the website Cityscrollz.com falsely reported that a Cameroonian college student studying in China contracted coronavirus but recovered “because of his blood genetic composition which is mainly found in the genetic composition of subsaharan Africans.”

If such a claim, that people from African backgrounds are more resistant to coronavirus than others, were true, one would expect it to be a major news story. Instead, it’s being reported exclusively in viral social media posts and junk sites. That’s because it’s not true.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), anyone who comes into close contact with someone infected with the coronavirus is at risk for contracting it.

That said, it is true that Kem Senou Pavel Daryl, a 21-year-old Cameroon national studying in China, became ill after contracting coronavirus and was hospitalized. His recovery was not the result of a superior immune system possessed by people hailing from African countries but, according to news reports, rounds of antibiotics and other drugs.

As BBC News reported, Senou recovered after being placed in isolation for 13 days. “The CT scan showed no trace of the illness. He became the first African person known to be infected with the deadly coronavirus and the first to recover. His medical care was covered by the Chinese state.”

As of this writing, the coronavirus outbreak has killed 1,770 people in mainland China. Millions of people are currently quarantined in and around Wuhan in an effort to contain the virus. So far, more than 71,000 people have been sickened worldwide. In mid-February, Egypt announced it had the first-reported case in Africa.

Source: Snopes.com

The toll from China’s coronavirus epidemic jumped to 1,868 on Tuesday after 98 more people died, according to the National Health Commission.

Nearly 72,500 people nationwide have been infected by the new COVID-19 strain of the virus, which first emerged in December before spiralling into a nationwide epidemic.

There were 1,886 new cases reported Tuesday — a decline on Monday’s figure, and the lowest single-day figure of new cases so far this month.

Most of the deaths were in Hubei province, the hard-hit epicentre of the outbreak, with five reported elsewhere in the country.

Hubei has been locked down to try to contain the virus, with tens of millions of people placed under effective quarantine in the province.

The number of new cases reported outside Hubei province was just 79, down from 890 on February 4.

It marks the lowest number of new cases outside the virus-struck province since January 23.

China’s national health authority has said the declining numbers are a sign that the outbreak is under control.

However, World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the trend “must be interpreted very cautiously”.

“Trends can change as new populations are affected. It is too early to tell if this reported decline will continue. Every scenario is still on the table,” he told reporters on Monday.

Chinese health officials have urged patients who recovered from the coronavirus to donate blood so that plasma can be extracted to treat others who are critically ill.

Plasma from patients who have recovered from a spell of pneumonia triggered by COVID-19 contains antibodies that can help reduce the virus load in critically ill patients, an official from the National Health Commission told a press briefing Monday.

More than 12,000 people have recovered and been discharged, according to health commission figures.

(AFP)

The death toll from China’s new coronavirus epidemic jumped to 1,770 after 105 more people died, the National Health Commission said Monday.

More than 70,500 have now been infected nationwide by the virus, which first emerged in December in central Hubei province before spreading across the country.

Chinese authorities have placed about 56 million people in Hubei and its capital Wuhan under quarantine, virtually sealing off the province from the rest of the country in an unprecedented effort to contain the virus.

New cases outside of the epicentre have been declining for the last thirteen days

There were 115 fresh cases outside the central province, according to the commission on Monday — sharply down from nearly 450 a week ago.

Local authorities elsewhere in China have introduced measures to try and stop the virus spreading, including a rule in Beijing requiring people coming to the capital to self-quarantine for 14 days, according to official media.

Most cases are still in Hubei, where nearly 2,000 were reported Monday.

The number of reported infections ballooned on Thursday last week after Hubei authorities changed their criteria for counting cases, retroactively adding 14,000 cases in a single day.

Monday’s figures for new cases were around 100 higher than those on Sunday but still sharply down on those from Friday and Saturday.

A spokesman for China’s national health authority said that the slowdown was a sign the outbreak was being controlled.

However, World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has warned it is “impossible to predict which direction this epidemic will take”.

International experts have arrived in Beijing and begun meeting with their Chinese counterparts over the epidemic, Tedros said on Twitter.

Global worries about its spread remain high and the epidemic’s reach was highlighted by the US announcing that more than three dozen Americans from a cruise ship quarantined off Japan were infected.

Source: AFP

The number of people infected with the deadly new coronavirus on a quarantined ship off Japan has risen to 355, the country’s health minister said Sunday, as the United States, Canada and Hong Kong prepare to repatriate their residents on board.

The figure is a jump of 70 cases from a government tally released Saturday and comes as Katsunobu Kato voiced worries that the rising infection count among the nation’s general population could mean the virus’s spread has entered a new phase.

“So far, we have conducted tests for 1,219 individuals. Of those, 355 people tested positive,” Kato told a roundtable discussion for public broadcaster NHK on conditions aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship.

The vessel has been in quarantine since February 5 at the port of Yokohama near Tokyo and Japan’s efforts to control the viral infections on board have prompted international concern.

The ship was carrying more than 3,700 passengers and crew from more than 50 countries and territories when it docked and was placed in isolation, after authorities found a passenger who got off in Hong Kong during the voyage had tested positive for the virus.

Japanese officials continued to find new infections among the passengers and crew and rushed them to local hospitals, while others have been told to stay inside their cabins during the 14-day quarantine period set to end Wednesday.

The US was preparing Sunday to evacuate some of its citizens but said those repatriated will go through another two-week quarantine period at home.

– Limited supplies –

“Based on the high number of COVID-19 cases identified on board the Diamond Princess, the Department of Health and Human Services made an assessment that passengers and crew members on board are at high risk of exposure,” the US embassy said in a letter to its citizens on the boat.

Hong Kong has also said it will offer its 330 city residents on board the chance to take a charter flight back.

Canada announced a similar decision to repatriate its nationals.

Japan has not been able to test all those on board due to limited supplies of testing kits, facilities and manpower, which are also needed by authorities tracking the spread of the virus on land.

But the health ministry said Saturday that passengers older than 70 are being examined and those testing negative and in good health will be allowed to leave the ship from Wednesday.

Tests on younger passengers were expected to start Sunday and healthy people will be allowed to get off after Wednesday, it said.

Meanwhile, Japan has seen 53 infections across the nation, including a dozen new cases reported on Saturday and 13 cases among more than 760 Japanese nationals and their relatives repatriated from Wuhan, China, the epicentre of the outbreak.

Kato said Japan will boost efforts to encourage people with possible infections to quickly seek medical care.

“If you look at the figures, we are seeing changing situations compared with before,” Kato said on the NHK show.

“What we have to think about now is preventing cases from becoming severe and preventing deaths.”

Source: AFP

The death toll from China’s virus epidemic neared 1,400 on Friday, with six medical workers among the victims, underscoring the country’s struggle to contain a deepening health crisis.

Nearly 64,000 people are now recorded as having fallen ill from the virus in China, with officials revealing that 1,716 health workers had been infected as of Tuesday.

The scale of the epidemic swelled this week after authorities in central Hubei Province, the epicenter of the contagion, changed their criteria for counting cases, adding thousands of new patients to their tally.

The health emergency in China has caused fears of further global contagion, with more than two-dozen countries reporting hundreds of cases among them. Three people have died outside mainland China.

The majority of cases of infections among health workers was in Hubei’s capital, Wuhan, where many have lacked proper masks and gear to protect themselves in hospitals dealing with a deluge of patients.

Battling the epidemic is a “big test for the country’s governance system and governance ability,” said Chinese President Xi Jinping, who chaired a political meeting on government reforms, according to state broadcaster CCTV.

The outbreak has exposed “shortcomings,” Xi acknowledged, adding that China needed to reform its public health and epidemic prevention and control systems.

New count

Authorities in Hubei on Thursday started counting patients who were “clinically diagnosed” via lung imaging, in addition to those who undergo lab tests.

The revision added nearly 15,000 patients to Hubei’s count in a single day, with officials explaining that past cases were included. The first cases emerged in December last year in Wuhan.

On Friday, Hubei’s health commission said another 116 people had died and more than 4,800 new cases were reported. Of those cases, more than 3,000 were “clinically diagnosed.”

The WHO said the numbers included cases going back weeks.

The sharp one-day increase “does not represent a significant change in the trajectory of the outbreak,” said Michael Ryan, head of the WHO’s health emergencies program.

The move will ensure patients get treated as early as possible, instead of having to wait for laboratory tests, health officials said.

“There have been some backlogs in testing and this is also going to help in ensuring that people get adequate care,” Ryan said.

The National Health Commission said the new criteria would only apply to Hubei.

The commission reported five other deaths and 217 new cases elsewhere in China, as the number of new patients outside Hubei fell for a 10th straight day.

It also disclosed a statistical error, saying it removed 108 previous deaths in Hubei that had been double-counted. The nationwide toll still rose to 1,380.

Authorities have placed some 56 million people in Hubei under quarantine since late last month, in an unprecedented effort to stop the new coronavirus from spreading.

Some cities in Hubei tightened restrictions this week, sealing off neighborhoods in what they liken to “war-time” measures.

Several countries have banned arrivals from China, while major airlines have halted flights to and from the country.

(Source: AFP)

Hunkered down at the epicentre of China’s virus epidemic and cut off from the world, the remaining foreigners in Wuhan are eking out a life in fear.

A coronavirus outbreak that has killed more than 1,300 people and locked down the central Chinese city has left thousands of foreigners trapped as authorities impose an unprecedented quarantine.

“We want to go back. We can’t survive any more,” said Gaurab Pokhrel, a Nepali doctoral student in Wuhan and one of 200 from his country yet to be evacuated.

He said food was in short supply and foreign students were competing with locals at the few stores that were open.

As of Monday, 27 foreigners in China had been infected with the virus — 22 of whom were in quarantine, officials said. Two of those have died — an American and a Japanese man.

While many have managed to escape on government-chartered planes, a dwindling group of the unlucky — or in some cases hardy — remain, either adapting to life or still seeking a way out.

They told AFP of their plight via phone, email, text messages and social media.

Ruqia Shaikh, a Pakistani postdoctoral researcher stranded at Wuhan’s Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, said most students at the school were confined to their dormitories, watching TV.

She said the university was providing students with essential commodities, but at double the usual price.

“We are fed up of eating the same food –- boiled rice and vegetables –- over and over again. The only physical activity we have is a walk on the terrace, and that exposes us to the risk,” Shaikh said.

“Last week I went to Walmart. It was the first time I had gone out in weeks. It was scary…

“Since I came back I have been counting the days until I was very sure I didn’t have any virus.”

– No plans for evacuation –

She added that while many Pakistani students wanted to leave, there were risks in returning to their country.

“We are worried about how the authorities are going to treat us when we go back to Pakistan — some students who went back told us the officials treated them very badly,” she said.

Pakistani authorities say more than 500 students from the country are in Wuhan, but they have not announced any plans for an evacuation effort.

Unlike many countries, Islamabad has maintained flights to and from other cities in China. The health ministry justifies the move with assurances that all passengers are screened on landing in Pakistan.

Yemen too has no plans to evacuate its 115 nationals from the virus-hit city.

Fahd al-Tawili, a 31-year-old Yemeni under quarantine at the China University of Geosciences, said conditions were desperate.

“Everybody’s being evacuated except us. The latest are the Sudanese,” al-Tawili said.

“When we are allowed to go out, the few shops open are crowded and we have to wait in line for a long time to make rare purchases.”

Al-Tawili said Yemen’s government had turned a deaf ear to requests to leave, and financial aid promised to scholarship holders had not been sent.

Another Yemeni student, a 23-year-old studying at Huazhong University of Science and Technology, said students were living in “total terror for fear of being infected”.

Bangladesh last week evacuated 312 people, mostly students, and planned a second flight for another 171 until pilots for national carrier Biman refused to fly for fear of catching the virus.

“No crew wants to go there. The crew who went there earlier don’t want to go either,” Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen told reporters Saturday.

He said the government was trying to charter a Chinese-run flight, but so far without success.

France has left a group of between 30 and 50 citizens in Wuhan after evacuating hundreds on three earlier flights.

Its consul general in the city, Olivier Guyonvarch, said some want to leave, but Paris has no plans to send another plane.

“We have no way to get you out,” Guyonvarch says he told them.

Others are choosing to stay the course to minimise the risk of contracting the virus on the road.

Australian Edwin Reese said his wife was in the city and he was reluctant for her to leave.

“If she stays where she is, they have a small garden with fruit and vegetables… they have everything they need,” he said.

“Why would they go out and expose themselves? They would be crazy to do that.”

Source:  AFP