Countries scramble to stop deadly virus
Credit to Author: Agence France-Presse| Date: Thu, 23 Jan 2020 16:18:47 +0000
WUHAN, China: China locked down two major cities in a province at the center of a deadly virus outbreak on Thursday, Hong Kong turned two holiday camps, including a former military barracks, into quarantine zones, and Dubai Airport, one of the world’s biggest aviation hubs, started carrying out thermal screening of all passengers arriving from China amid an outbreak of a novel deadly virus.
Countries scrambled to prevent the further spread of a novel coronavirus that had so far killed 17 people. In China, officials banned planes and trains from leaving Wuhan, where the virus emanated.
Residents in Wuhan, a major port city in central Hubei province with a population of 11 million people, were told Thursday not to leave “without a special reason,” and the order was backed by a transport shutdown.
Trains and planes out of Wuhan were indefinitely suspended, toll ways on roads out of the city were closed, leading to fear and panic for those who were trapped.
Hours later, authorities in neighboring Huanggang announced that public transport and train services would be suspended at midnight, while people were told to not leave the city of 7.5 million.
All of Huanggang’s cinemas, internet cafes and the central market will close.
A third city, 1.1 million-population Ezhou, announced the train station had been temporarily closed earlier in the day.
“We are feeling as though it is the end of the world,” said one Wuhan resident on China’s Twitter-like Weibo platform, voicing concerns about shortages of food and disinfectant.
“We really need everyone’s help.”
Another described being on the “verge of tears” when the de facto quarantine was announced, with the misery compounded by it coming on the eve of the Lunar New Year holiday.
Confusion, alarm
More than 570 people have been infected with the virus across China — with most cases found in Wuhan, where a seafood market that illegally sold wild animals has been identified as the epicenter of the outbreak.
The coronavirus has caused alarm because of its similarity to the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), which killed nearly 650 people across mainland China and Hong Kong in 2002 to 2003.
Like SARS, it can be passed among people through the respiratory tract.
The first case of the new virus was confirmed on December 31, and it has since been detected in Japan, Hong Kong, Macau, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and the United States.
The 17 people who died in China were from aged 48 to 89, and had pre-existing health conditions, Chinese health authorities said Thursday.
The World Health Organization (WHO) on Wednesday delayed a decision on whether to declare a global health emergency — a rare instrument used only for the worst outbreaks.
The emergency committee will meet again on Thursday, after its chairman, Didier Houssin, said the experts were split over declaring a public health emergency.
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said “more information” was needed, but he also praised China’s “very, very strong measures” that will help control the epidemic and “minimize the chances of this outbreak spreading internationally.”
Chinese authorities on Thursday reported dozens of new infections, bringing the confirmed total to 571. About 5,000 people remain under medical observation.
But scientists at the Imperial College in London estimate that 4,000 people have been infected in Wuhan.
Countries have intensified efforts to stop the spread of the pathogen — known by its technical name 2019 novel coronavirus.
Passengers are facing screening measures at airports around the world.
Don’t panic
In Manila, Malacañang called on the public not to panic, saying the government is on top of the situation.
Palace spokesman Salvador Panelo said there was no reason to panic because the spread of the new coronavirus “has not reached an alarming level.”
“I talked with [Health] Secretary Francisco Duque [3rd] and he said that we’re on top of the situation,” Panelo told reporters.
“It has not reached an alarming level that we have to do some drastic measures like prohibiting people from entering, especially those suspected to having that kind of virus,” he added.
The Civil Aeronautics Board on Thursday suspended indefinitely the Manila-Wuhan flight operations of Pan Pacific and Royal Air. The two airlines chartered passengers from Wuhan to Kalibo International Airport in Aklan.
Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines spokesman Eric Apolonio said the operators of the two-chartered flights are trying to locate their passengers to bring them back to Wuhan, China.
“They have the names of their passengers, kaya hindi mahirap hanapin (it’s easy to look for them),” Apolonio said.
The two-chartered flights were operating three times a week from Manila to Wuhan and vice versa.
Three Chinese were quarantined at a hospital in Kalibo, Aklan, but Duque said on Wednesday that their symptoms did not match WHO’s case definition on the novel coronavirus.
WITH CATHERINE VALENTE AND BENJIE VERGARA