China gets back to work as coronavirus death toll reaches 1,018

BEIJING, Feb 11, 2020, SCMP. Health authorities in China reported on Tuesday 108 new fatalities attributable to the novel coronavirus, bringing the national death toll to 1,018. This is the first time more than 100 people have died from the disease in a single day on the mainland. The National Health Commission also reported 2,478 new confirmed cases of the illness, bringing that total to 42,638 as of Monday, South China Morning Post reported.

Of the new deaths, 103 were in Hubei province – the epicentre of the novel coronavirus epidemic – and five in other provinces.

As millions of people in China prepare to return to work, Beijing has made clear that the reopening of businesses must not be hampered by “crude and oversimplified” restrictions.

As many as 160 million people are expected to be returning to their cities of employment over the following week, according to Xu Yahua, director of the transport services department at the Chinese ministry of transport.

The coronavirus outbreak coincided with the Lunar New Year travel season, when millions of migrant workers traditionally travel to their homes to spend the holiday with their families. As part of China’s response to the outbreak, the holiday season was extended to February 18.

Many local authorities – from megacities like Beijing and Shanghai to remote villages – have curbed public transport provision and restricted people from moving outside their communities during the outbreak.

Many local governments have also adopted a registration system and prior approval requirements for companies planning to resume production. Some business owners have been detained for resuming work in advance.

But Beijing has now made clear these practices were not in line with the requirements and policies of the central authorities.

“Such a tendency must be stopped,” said Ou Xiaoli, director of social development at the National Development and Reform Commission, the country’s top economic planning agency.

“We will strictly stop restricting the production resumption in an oversimplified and crude way,” he said, at the same press conference on Tuesday.

Hospital clinics suspended in Guangzhou

Clifford Hospital in Guangzhou suspended all clinical services on Monday over the treatment of three novel coronavirus patients, who have now been transferred to a designated hospital for confirmed cases.

Clifford Hospital said an epidemiological investigation had identified 107 close contacts with the three patients, and all those affected, including hospital staff, had been placed under medical observation.

The hospital, a private and for-profit facility with 2,100 beds, was founded in 2001 with an investment by the Clifford Group, a real estate tycoon based in Hong Kong.

First new virus case found among evacuees from China to US

The first confirmed case of novel coronavirus has been found among hundreds of people who were evacuated from China to military bases around the United States, it was reported on Monday.

The adult and three other evacuees had been in hospital isolation after showing symptoms of the virus but on Sunday federal health officials said they had tested negative and been sent back to the base, where they joined more than 200 people under a 14-day quarantine.

On Monday morning, however, officials with the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention informed county health officials that “further testing revealed that one of the four patients tested positive” for novel coronavirus and the person had been returned to hospital isolation, according to a statement from UC San Diego Health in California.

Another evacuee from Miramar was also hospitalised for evaluation on Monday afternoon, it said. “Both patients are doing well and have minimal symptoms.”

This is the seventh confirmed case of novel coronavirus in California and the 13th in the US.

US President Donald Trump said on Monday he expected the coronavirus outbreak to disappear in April due to hotter weather.

“The virus … typically that will go away in April,” he told reporters at the White House, adding: “The heat, generally speaking, kills this kind of virus”.

Life inside China’s rapidly built hospitals in Wuhan, the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak
The Sars-like pathogen has infected 40,000 people since its emergence in China late last year, while the United States has seen 12 confirmed cases of varying severity.

Trump praised China – and its leader Xi Jinping – for the Asian giant’s efforts in containing the spread.

“(I) had a long talk with President Xi … two nights ago,” Trump said.

“He feels very confident … (that) during the month of April, the heat, generally speaking, kills this type of virus. That would be a good thing.”

Earlier on Tuesday, Hubei’s health authority reported 2,097 new confirmed cases, bringing the total announced by the province’s health commission to 24,953.

While the number of new cases in Hubei dropped from a day earlier, the number of new deaths reached a new high in the virus-stricken province. Hubei reported 2,618 new cases and 91 deaths on Sunday.

Some 1,552 of the new cases announced on Tuesday were confirmed in Hubei’s capital of Wuhan, where the virus is believed to have originated at a seafood and meat market.

The virus has spread to at least 24 countries, sickened more than 42,000 people worldwide, with tens of thousands more cases suspected.

To curb the rapidly spreading virus, Chinese authorities have partially locked down more than 80 cities in nearly 20 provinces since the epidemic. Stricter measures, including controlling the movement of residents and vehicles and restricting access to residential communities and compounds, are being taken across the country.

Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse and Associated Press