US should help ‘as soon as possible’ as China death toll hits 425 and cases rise to 20,438

Medical staff in protective suits treat a patient with pneumonia caused by the new coronavirus at the Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, in Wuhan on Jan 28, 2020. PHOTO: REUTERS. Sketched by the Pan Pacific Agency.

BEIJING, Feb 4, 2020, SCMP. Health authorities in China announced on Tuesday that coronavirus fatalities had risen to 425 nationwide and that total confirmed cases hit 20,438 as of Monday. The global death toll is now 427, with a fatality reported in Hong Kong on Tuesday morning, South China Morning Post reported.

The updated numbers follow 64 new deaths attributable to the illness in the mainland and 3,235 confirmed cases, according to the country’s National Health Commission.

Hubei province, the epicentre of the outbreak, announced that coronavirus fatalities there had risen to 414 after 64 deaths – another daily record.

In figures current as of midnight on Monday, the health commission of Hubei also reported 2,345 new cases of infection. Of those, 1,242 were reported in Wuhan, the province’s capital and where the contagion, also known as 2019-nCoV, began.

US should provide help as soon as possible

With new infections reported, the spat between China and the US over the outbreak continues to intensify. The White House said China has agreed to allow American health experts into the country to help, but China just gave a very brief response.

“China is aware that the US has said many times it is willing to offer assistance to China. We hope the assistance can be delivered as soon as possible,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Hua Chunying said in a statement.

Hua said the US should assess the situation of the outbreak in a calm and objective manner. The US should respect and work with China to contain the outbreak, she said.

On Monday, Hua made a toughly worded statement against the travel ban on Chinese travellers imposed by Washington, accusing the US of not helping China but of creating fear.

Chinese airlines ordered not to suspend routes

The Civil Aviation Administration of China ordered Chinese airlines not to suspend routes going to and from countries that had not imposed a travel ban on Chinese travellers.

A notice from the administration said 46 foreign airlines had suspended flights to and from mainland China, with some countries also imposing a ban on Chinese travellers.

“In order to meet the needs of passengers in and out of the country and international transportation of supplies during this special period, the administration requires domestic airlines – in addition to cutting down the number of flights because of market demand – to ensure continued transportation to nations that have not imposed travel restrictions,” it said.

Dozens of countries have restricted travel to China. Singapore, Australia, Indonesia and the US have all banned entry of non-citizens who have travelled to China within the past 14 days.

First patients admitted to Wuhan military hospital

Wuhan’s first makeshift military hospital, built specifically to care for coronavirus patients, started taking in its first batch of 50 patients on Tuesday morning, in a first step to relieve the overburdened Wuhan hospitals.

Constructed in eight days and formally handed over to military control on Sunday, the Huoshenshan hospital is being operated by a total of 1,400 army medical personnel.

A second temporary hospital, Leishenshan, is also going up at top speed in the city and is expected to be operational on Wednesday.

Youngest patient recorded

The public health authority in southwest China’s Guizhou province reported on Monday that a one-month-old infant was infected by the novel coronavirus. She is the youngest known patient in the virus outbreak and is now in stable condition. No details were provided on how she was infected.

There have been previous cases of infant infections reported nationwide, including from Beijing, Shanghai, and the provinces of Guangdong and Zhejiang. Most remain in a stable condition. Public health officers have warned that pregnant women and children are susceptible to the virus and need to intensify protection.

Race for medical supplies continues

A hospital in southwestern China’s Yunnan province is looking for tailors to make protective suits in a last-ditch effort to support medical staff in the face of the spreading coronavirus.

In a message widely circulated on the Chinese social media platform Weibo, the People’s Hospital in Chuxiong autonomous prefecture said the desperate decision was made after the hospital tried several supply channels without success.

“To ensure normal operation of disease control and patient treatment, the hospital has decided to self-make protective clothing,” it said in the message.

The hospital said zips, between 60 to 80 centimetres long, were also greatly needed.

Chuxiong, in the central part of Yunnan province, has a population of nearly 2.8 million people, about 40 per cent of whom are ethnic minorities.

On Sunday, a 42-year-old man travelling from Wuhan became the first confirmed coronavirus case in Chuxiong.

China has continued to increase overseas purchases of medical protective gear and other equipment to battle the coronavirus. The customs agency said imports reached 810 million yuan (US$115 million) from January 24 to February 2, with protective gear accounting for 75 per cent.

Quarantine for Taiwanese back home

Taiwan has sent three of its 247 citizens to hospital overnight for isolated quarantine soon after they returned from coronavirus-struck Wuhan where they had been stranded due to the city lockdown.

The 247 took a China Eastern Airlines’ charter flight back to the island and arrived at Taoyuan International Airport at around 11.50pm Monday. Except for three passengers, the rest were sent to three quarantine centres – two in northern Taiwan and one in central Taiwan – after a series of quarantine and disinfection procedures which lasted till 3am on Tuesday, according to health minister Chen Shih-chung.

“The three sent for isolated wards include one who has fever and two who have throat and respiratory problems,” Chen said, adding the military had sent its chemical troops to help in disinfecting the plane, baggage and 14 buses which took the evacuees to the three quarantine centres where they will be isolated for 14 days.

Chen said all crew members of the chartered plane remained abroad and the plane returned to the mainland without passengers after the disinfection and fuel supply.

Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Office said the island would continue to communicate with relevant authorities on the mainland for the evacuation of Taiwanese people stuck in Wuhan and other locked down cities. More than 250 people from Taiwan are still in Hubei province, according to a Taiwan business association based in Wuhan.

Casualties and fear rise sharply

The latest figures come as the number of daily casualties – and levels of global fear – rise sharply.
The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, America’s leading public health institute, on Monday defended what it called “aggressive actions” it is taking to control the US spread of the coronavirus These include tough warnings against travelling to China and mandatory federal quarantines for those arriving from the Wuhan area where most of the cases come from. Beijing has criticised the US steps.

Meanwhile, the economic fallout from the virus continued amid growing concern that global growth could suffer. CNBC reported Monday that Goldman Sachs was cancelling its annual partner meeting in New York this week over concern that Asia-based partners wouldn’t be able to travel. The US Department of Health and Human Services notified Congress that it may need to tap some US$136 million to combat the outbreak.

On other economic fronts, oil fell to its lowest level in over a year during the US trading day Monday on declining Chinese demand.

The CDC has called the outbreak in China “explosive” and “unprecedented”. In response, Beijing has criticised Washington’s quarantine decision and its “unfriendly comments”.

Also on Monday, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the World Health Organisation, warned that the world may be “dangerously” unprepared for the next pandemic. He urged the UN agency’s 196 member countries to “invest in preparedness” not “panic”, adding that funding for outbreak preparedness in surrounding countries “has remained grossly inadequate” in the past.

Additional reporting by Mark Magnier

Robert Delaney is the Post’s North America bureau chief. He spent 11 years in China as a language student and correspondent for Dow Jones Newswires and Bloomberg, and continued covering the country as a correspondent and an academic after leaving. His debut novel, The Wounded Muse, draws on actual events that played out in Beijing while he lived there.

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