Coronavirus forces China to lockdown 25 million people
Ten countries have now confirmed cases of a new coronavirus strain as authorities in China shutdown at least eight cities.
Ten countries have confirmed cases of a new coronavirus strain as authorities in China shut down public transport systems and public events in at least eight cities to contain the deadly disease that has killed 26 people and infected 871.
Singapore and Vietnam were the latest to report new cases of the respiratory virus that scientists believe was first transmitted early last month from animals illegally sold at a seafood market in the central city of Wuhan but has since mutated into a strain transmitted through human to human contact.
Despite the disease having spread from Wuhan across China to Hong Kong, Japan, the US, Macau, Taiwan, Thailand, South Korea, Vietnam and Singapore, World Health Organisation officials said on Friday there was not enough evidence to declare a global health emergency.
“It’s a bit too early to consider the incident an international emergency because of a limited number of cases abroad, and also considering efforts presently made by Chinese authorities to try to contain the disease,” WHO emergency committee chairman Didier Houssin said. The committee would reconvene in 10 days.
Scientists are still struggling to understand how easily the virus is transmitted and say that until they work that out they won’t know the potential scale of the outbreak.
Most of the deaths from the pneumonia-like disease have so far been elderly patients with underlying illnesses such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
Chinese health officials on Friday declared the outbreak a full-blown community epidemic after a survey of 198 infected people found more than half had never been to the Wuhan market, or had contact with infected patients.
WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Gheybreyesus said the decision not to declare a global emergency “should not be taken as a sign that WHO does not think the situation is serious or that we’re not taking it seriously. Nothing could be further from the truth”.
“We know that there is human-to-human transmission in China but for now it appears limited to family groups and health workers caring for infected patients.
“At this time, there is no evidence of human-to-human transmission outside China, but that doesn’t mean it won’t happen.”
Authorities across Asia and elsewhere are not waiting to act.
Japan, Malaysia and the US became the latest governments to issue travel warnings advising against all but essential travel to Wuhan or Hubei Province. The State Department has also evacuated US diplomats and their families from its Wuhan consulate.
Air Asia, Malindo Air, Cathay Dragon, Singapore’s budget Scoot Airlines and all Philippines airlines have suspended direct flights into Wuhan, while Hong Kong suspended its high speed rail service to the city.
The Philippines aviation authority said it would also be returning 135 tourists who arrived in the country from Wuhan before the flight ban was announced on Thursday night.
Air Asia on Friday advised all its passengers in Wuhan “to abide by announcements made by the government and health authorities, and to contact their respective diplomatic missions or embassies in China for assistance”.
Wuhan, a university city of 11 million people, has been in lockdown since Thursday morning, with all transport in and out of the city suspended, highways shut, public events for Chinese New Year cancelled and cafes, cinemas, theatres and exhibitions closed.
Similar actions have been taken in seven neighbouring cities in Hubei Province; Huanggang, Ezhou, Chibi, Qianjiang, Zhijiang, Jingmen and Xiantao, effecting more than 25 million people.
Despite calls for calm by provincial authorities, there has been widespread panic buying of food and medical supplies and reports of local hospitals overwhelmed with patients.
“The hospitals have been flooding with thousands of patients, who wait hours to see a doctor. You can imagine their panic,” one doctor told the BBC.
Guan Yi, an infectious diseases expert at Hong Kong’s Chinese University, said Wuhan authorities missed the “golden time” to contain the spread of the disease as most people had already travelled home for the holidays by the time the blockade was enforced.
As a result, the new virus could far eclipse that of the 2002 SARS pandemic that killed 774 people.
“My conservative estimate is that this epidemic could end up at least 10 times the scale of SARS,” Dr Guan told Caixin Magazine.
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