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China heads into Lunar New Year on shutdown as virus spreads to Europe

rooster59

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rooster59

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China heads into Lunar New Year on shutdown as virus spreads to Europe

By Judy Hua and Cate Cadell

 

2020-01-24T082736Z_1_LYNXMPEG0N0MH_RTROPTP_4_CHINA-HEALTH.JPG

People line up outside a drugstore to buy masks in Shanghai, China January 24, 2020. REUTERS/Aly Song

 

BEIJING (Reuters) - A new coronavirus that has killed 26 people in China was confirmed in Europe for the first time on Friday as it spreads despite Chinese attempts to quarantine the city at the heart of the outbreak.

 

China closed Shanghai Disneyland and part of the Great Wall and suspended public transportation in 10 cities as it rushed to contain the virus, stranding millions of people at the start of the country's Lunar New Year holiday.

 

France reported two cases on Friday evening, the first ones discovered in Europe. More were likely, Health Minister Agnes Buzyn said.

 

Wuhan, a city of 11 million where the virus was first identified, is in virtual lockdown. Nearly all flights at Wuhan's airport have been canceled and checkpoints block the main roads leading out of town.

 

As the city slides into isolation, pharmacies have begun to run out of supplies and hospitals have been flooded with nervous residents. The city is rushing to build a 1,000-bed hospital by Monday, state media said.

 

Despite the lockdown, the virus is already spreading further afield.

 

The vast majority of the cases and all of the deaths have been in China, but it has also been detected in Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Nepal and the United States. There is no vaccine or specific treatment for the new virus.

 

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Friday it had 63 patients under investigation, with two confirmed cases, both in people who had traveled to Wuhan.

 

Following a congressional briefing by health officials, Republican U.S. Senator John Barrasso, a former physician, said people in the United States with the virus may have been infected up to 14 days ago in China.

 

"We want to try to stop and prevent people from coming to the United States if they have it," Barrasso told reporters, without providing details of how that might be accomplished.

 

Airports around the world have stepped up screening of passengers from China.

 

The newly identified coronavirus has created alarm because there are still many unknowns surrounding it such as how dangerous it is and how easily it spreads between people.

 

It can cause pneumonia, which has been deadly in some cases.

 

Symptoms include fever, difficulty breathing and coughing. Most of the fatalities have been in elderly patients, many with pre-existing medical conditions, the World Health Organization said.

 

As of Thursday, China's National Health Commission said there were 830 confirmed cases and 26 deaths.

 

'SENSE OF URGENCY'

 

Most cases have been in Wuhan, where the virus is believed to have originated in a market that traded illegally in wildlife.

 

As China scrambles to contain the outbreak, it has suspended transportation in 10 cities in the central province of Hubei, where Wuhan is located, the Hubei Daily reported.

 

The country will take further, more targeted measures, state television reported, citing a State Council meeting on Friday. It did not give further details.

 

"Local authorities should take more responsibility and have a stronger sense of urgency," state broadcaster CCTV said.

 

Week-long celebrations to welcome the Year of the Rat began on Friday, raising fears that the infection rate could accelerate as hundreds of millions of people travel to see family at home and abroad.

 

In Wuhan, a handful of people got off a high-speed train that pulled into the city's station on Friday but nobody boarded.

 

"What choice do I have? It's Chinese New Year. We have to see our family," said a man getting off the train who gave his family name Hu.

 

As part of the restrictions, some sections of the Great Wall near Beijing will be closed from Saturday, state media said.

 

Beijing's Lama Temple, where people traditionally make offerings for the new year, has closed, as have some other temples and the Forbidden City, the capital's most famous tourist attraction.

 

Shanghai Disneyland will close starting on Saturday. The theme park has a 100,000 daily capacity and sold out during last year's new year holiday.

 

Film premieres have been postponed and McDonald's suspended business in five cities in Hubei province.

 

"There's so much news, so much data, every 10 minutes there's an update, it's frightening, especially for people like us in a severely hit area," Lily Jin, 30, a resident of Wuhan, told Reuters by phone.

 

VACCINE QUEST

 

The WHO said on Thursday it was a "bit too early" to designate the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern, which would require countries to step up their response.

 

That decision could well be reassessed in coming days as the situation evolves, said Anthony Fauci, the U.S. National Institutes of Health's top infectious disease official, adding that it was "open to question" whether shutting down travel would have a major effect.

 

"The mass involuntary quarantine in Wuhan and its neighboring cities is counterproductive," added Lawrence Gostin, a public health expert at Georgetown University Law School in Washington. "A lockdown of Wuhan will drive the epidemic underground, provoking fear and panic."

 

Some experts believe the virus is not as dangerous as the one that caused the 2002-03 outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), which also began in China and killed nearly 800 people, or the one that caused Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), which has killed more than 700 people since 2012.

 

Three international research teams - using different approaches - have begun work on vaccines, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations said.

 

Markets have been roiled this week on fears that the outbreak will curb travel and hurt economic demand. Shares in luxury goods companies have been particularly hard hit on fears of a drop in demand from China.

 

(Reporting by Roxanne Liu, David Stanway, Martin Pollard, Tony Munroe, Muyu Xu, Engen Tham, Cate Cadell, Judy Hua and Ben Blanchard; Additional reporting by Susan Heavey in Washington, Writing by Michael Perry, Robert Birsel and Rosalba O'Brien; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore, Alison Williams, Bill Berkrot and Will Dunham)

 

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-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-01-25

 

 

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Samui Bodoh Advanced Member

Samui Bodoh

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Posted (edited)

Okay, this is starting to get scary.

 

I think it would be nice to spare a thought for all the health workers in Wuhan specifically and China/the World in general for their courageous actions. If I knew that my workplace had a contagious disease, I'd likely head for the hills, but they go to work each and every day, risking getting sick themselves.

 

There isn't much else to say. I hope that the professionals who study this kind of thing are making progress, and that the disease doesn't manage to mutate into something even worse; Mother Nature has a way of making herself heard when SHE is not respected.

 

And, as before, I am giving Chinese people a wide berth. It may well be unfair, but there it is.

 

Time for a bit of vitamin C with my breakfast...

 

PS CNN has a good story;

 

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/01/24/china/wuhan-coronavirus-update-intl-hnk/index.html

 

 

 

 

Edited by Samui Bodoh
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jastheace Silver Member

jastheace

Posted
Posted (edited)
2 minutes ago, ChipButty said:

Just looked in my email 

 

Bangkok - Wuhan From ฿4040

China Southern Airlines Special Offer, Book Trips Now to Enjoy China

bargain.... go for it !!!!!

stock up on face masks before though.... they 've run out...

Edited by jastheace
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tifino Ruby Member

tifino

Posted
Posted
1 minute ago, ChipButty said:

Just looked in my email 

 

Bangkok - Wuhan From ฿4040

China Southern Airlines Special Offer, Book Trips Now to Enjoy China

ahhh 4040 - might be a One Way ticket? ???? 

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tifino Ruby Member

tifino

Posted
Posted
2 minutes ago, jastheace said:
6 minutes ago, ChipButty said:

OK getting there the place is in lock down cant get back

so much negativity about thailand now. why come back....?

did you @jastheance mean 'china' ?    (as in, it is the subject, of lockdown)

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URMySunshine Gold Member

URMySunshine

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This articles goes into detail about how the officials in Wuhan deliberately downplayed the virus, medical staff were banned from speaking publicly about it, police admitting they had arrested people for spreading “rumours”, doctors in the city told not to report cases, etc., etc.

 

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/world/article-weeks-before-lockdown-wuhan-authorities-used-refrigerating-strategy/

 

We are fast approaching global pandemic. 


Chinese tourism continues to be affected by the spread of the virus.

All domestic and foreign tour group operations are to be suspended from Monday. The move follows the closure of Shanghai’s Disneyland, and all tourist sites in the popular Sanya city.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/science/live/2020/jan/25/coronavirus-china-death-tolls-rises-to-41-as-france-confirms-three-cases

 

Edited by URMySunshine
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URMySunshine Gold Member

URMySunshine

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Chinese president warns of 'grave situation'


The Chinese president, Xi Jinping, has held a special government meeting to address the spread of the virus.

The president warned of a “grave situation” at a meeting with the politburo on the lunar new year public holiday, state television reported. He also said the virus was “accelerating its speed”.

According to the TV report, resources and experts will be channelled to designated hospitals to tackle the virus. Supplies to Hubei province will be guaranteed and cost won’t be a hindrance.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/science/live/2020/jan/25/coronavirus-china-death-tolls-rises-to-41-as-france-confirms-three-cases

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Isaanbiker Gold Member

Isaanbiker

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The city is rushing to build a 1,000-bed hospital by Monday, state media said.

 

Thailand is rushing to build a 100,000,000 bed hospital by yesterday, because Pinocchio can't make the right decision, the left media said. 

Edited by Isaanbiker
China keep your <deleted> in your country, please.
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White Christmas13 Gold Member

White Christmas13

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Posted

OK I will get blasted for that but there is no way to build a hospital in a few days.

Yes you can build a shed in Africa with the help of hundreds of people, but not a

real hospital with 1000 beds. Where does all the equipment comes from and how

many capable doctors do they have? In my city they just completed a children's

hospital which took about 4 years or more.OK I don't expect that hospital toy be

to the same standard like in the west but never in 4 days( now I read it is 10 days) 

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JimmyTheMook Platinum Member

JimmyTheMook

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, White Christmas13 said:

OK I will get blasted for that but there is no way to build a hospital in a few days.

Yes you can build a shed in Africa with the help of hundreds of people, but not a

real hospital with 1000 beds. Where does all the equipment comes from and how

many capable doctors do they have? In my city they just completed a children's

hospital which took about 4 years or more.OK I don't expect that hospital toy be

to the same standard like in the west but never in 4 days( now I read it is 10 days) 

 

No you're correct.

Impossible.

 

More like a quarantined triage shed at best. 

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GeorgeCross Gold Member

GeorgeCross

Posted
Posted
On 1/25/2020 at 6:15 AM, rooster59 said:

"What choice do I have? It's Chinese New Year. We have to see our family," said a man getting off the train who gave his family name Hu.

 

what choice? how about stay at home and not risk spreading it to your extended family dumbass

 

 

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rabas Platinum Member

rabas

Posted
Posted (edited)
9 hours ago, White Christmas13 said:

OK I will get blasted for that but there is no way to build a hospital in a few days.

Easy! A Chinese company specializes in ultra fast prefab skyscrapers. 57 floor skyscraper in 19 days. Watch the time-lapse video. Hospital equipment and personnel will be sent in from other regions.

 

 

 

Edited by rabas
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