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Washington DC - May 12-14, 2020
EPIDEMICS
New Chinese city locked down as first death abroad as toll passes 300
By Helen Roxburgh and Beiyi Seow
Beijing (AFP) Feb 2, 2020

China virus outbreak: how governments have reacted
Beijing (AFP) Feb 2, 2020 - The coronavirus outbreak has killed more than 300 people and infected more than 14,000 in mainland China and beyond, forcing governments around the world to take drastic measures.

From border closures to flight bans, here are some of the steps states have taken to limit the spread of the virus:

- Travel bans -

The United States on Friday temporarily banned the entry of foreign nationals who had travelled to China over the past two weeks.

Major restrictions were also placed on US nationals, with mandatory 14-day quarantines for those returning from the Chinese province at the epicentre of the outbreak.

The only foreign nationals exempted from the ban are immediate family members of American citizens and permanent residents.

Australia and Israel followed suit with a similar ban on non-citizens who have travelled to China in the last 14 days.

Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines and Mongolia have announced similar restrictions on people travelling from China.

- Border closures -

Some nations have closed their borders with China in a bid to protect their territory from the outbreak.

Russia said Thursday it was closing its frontiers with China in the Far East, while Kazakhstan has halted cross-border bus and passenger train services to China.

Mongolia has closed its border with China to cars, while North Korea -- an isolated nation which relies heavily on its links with China -- banned foreign tourists.

Vietnam on the weekend announced a suspension of all mainland China flights.

Nepal closed its Rasuwagadhi checkpoint on the Chinese border for 15 days starting January 29.

Papua New Guinea went further than the others: it shut its air and seaports on Wednesday to all foreign travellers coming from Asia. The impoverished nation also shut its only land border with the Indonesia-controlled province of West Papua.

- Visa bans for Chinese -

A number of countries have temporarily stopped issuing visas to Chinese nationals after the coronavirus outbreak.

Singapore has stopped issuing all types of visas to Chinese travellers, while Vietnam -- a popular destination for Chinese tourists -- has halted tourist visas.

Russia, a close Beijing ally, announced Saturday it would halt visa-free tourism for Chinese nationals and also stop issuing them work visas. It had already stopped issuing electronic visas to Chinese nationals that allowed them to cross the border in parts of the Far East and western Russia.

Similar visa restrictions of varying scale have been imposed by the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, and the African nation of Mozambique.

China imposed a lockdown Sunday on a major city far from the epicentre of the coronavirus epidemic, as its death toll from the disease soared to 304 and the first fatality outside the country was reported in the Philippines.

The events added to deepening concern about the potential for the virus to spread, as governments around the world closed their borders to people from China.

Struggling to contain the virus, authorities took action in eastern city of Wenzhou on Sunday -- some 800 kilometres (500 miles) from Wuhan, the metropolis at the heart of the health emergency -- closing roads and confining people to their homes.

Since emerging out of Wuhan late last year, the coronavirus has infected nearly 14,500 people across China and reached 24 countries.

In Thailand, which has 19 confirmed cases, doctors Sunday said an elderly Chinese patient treated with a cocktail of flu and HIV drugs had shown a dramatic improvement and tested negative for the virus 48 hours later.

Most of the infections overseas have been in people who had travelled from Wuhan, an industrial hub of 11 million people, or surrounding areas of Hubei province.

The man who died in the Philippines was a 44-year-old from Wuhan, according to the World Health Organization, which has declared the epidemic a global health emergency.

China has embarked on unprecedented efforts to contain the virus, which is believed to have jumped to humans from a Wuhan animal market, and can be transmitted among people in a similar fashion to the flu.

- Lockdowns -

Those efforts have included extraordinary quarantines in Wuhan and surrounding cities, with all transport out banned, effectively sealing-off more than 50 million people.

But 10 days after locking down Wuhan, authorities imposed similar draconian measures on Wenzhou, a coastal city of nine million people in Zhejiang province, part of the eastern industrial heartland that has powered China's economic rise over recent decades.

Only one resident per household is allowed to go out every two days to buy necessities, and 46 highway toll stations have been closed, authorities announced.

The city had previously closed public places such as cinemas and museums, and suspended public transport.

Zhejiang has 661 confirmed infections, with 265 of those in Wenzhou, according to the government.

This is the highest tally for any province in China after ground-zero Hubei.

- Closing borders -

Internationally, the United States, Australia, New Zealand and Israel have banned foreign nationals from visiting if they have been in China recently, and they have also warned their own citizens against travelling there.

Mongolia, Russia and Nepal have closed their land borders.

The number of countries reporting infections rose to 24 after Britain, Russia and Sweden confirmed their first cases this weekend.

The death toll in China climbed to 304 on Sunday after authorities reported 45 new deaths.

There were 2,590 new confirmed cases in China, bringing the total to nearly 14,500.

The number of confirmed infections in China is far higher than the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak of 2002-03.

SARS, caused by a pathogen similar to the new coronavirus and also originated in China, killed 774 people worldwide -- most of them in mainland China and Hong Kong.

With hospitals in Wuhan overwhelmed, China will Monday open a military-led field hospital that was built in just 10 days to treat people stricken by the virus.

And with the Chinese economy suffering, the central bank announced it would release 1.2 trillion yuan ($173 billion) Monday to maintain liquidity in the banking system -- the day markets re-open after the long holiday break.

- Holiday ending -

The emergence of the virus coincided with the Lunar New Year, when hundreds of millions travel across the country in planes, trains and buses for family reunions.

The holiday, which was scheduled to end on Friday, was extended by three days to give authorities more time to try to deal with the crisis.

With many due back at work on Monday, people were starting to return on planes and trains over the weekend, with almost everyone wearing face masks.

Custom authorities had ordered temperature checks at all exit-entry points in Beijing, according to state media.

Returning travellers were being checked and registered at residential compounds, while fever checks were in place in subway stations, offices and cafes.

One 22-year-old arriving at a Beijing train station from northeastern China said her family had urged her to delay her return.

"But I was worried it would affect my job," she said.

Security guard Du Guiliang, 47, said he would be starting back at work in Beijing on Sunday, after returning from northeast Liaoning province.

"Many colleagues (from Hubei) couldn't come back. Now, those who work the day shift at our company have to do the night shift as well," he said.

Many businesses were to remain closed for at least another week, however, while some major cities -- including Shanghai -- had also extended the holiday.

Many foreigners, meanwhile, have started to leave China to wait things out abroad.

"(My family) said I need to go home," said 22-year-old South African student Jamie Bosch as she waited for a flight out of Beijing on Sunday.

How the novel coronavirus developed
Paris (AFP) Feb 2, 2020 - A SARS-like coronavirus has spread around China and three other Asian countries since first emerging in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in late December last year.

A timeline taking into account latest developments through to Sunday:

- Alarm raised -

The World Health Organization (WHO) is alerted on December 31, 2019, by the Chinese authorities to a string of pneumonia-like cases in Wuhan, a city of 11 million people.

Patients are quarantined and work begins on identifying the origin of the pneumonia.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) identifies a seafood market believed to be at the centre of the outbreak. It is closed on January 1.

- Novel coronavirus -

On January 9, the WHO says the outbreak in Wuhan was caused by a previously unknown type of coronavirus, which is a broad family ranging from the common cold to more serious illnesses like SARS.

- First death -

China says a first person has died of the virus on January 11.

- Spreads beyond China -

On January 13, the virus spreads beyond China's borders for the first time with a case emerging in Thailand, according to the WHO. The victim is a Chinese woman diagnosed with mild pneumonia returning from a trip to Wuhan.

On January 15, China's health commission says no human-to-human transmission of the virus behind the Wuhan outbreak has been confirmed so far but the possibility "cannot be excluded".

The next day a first case of the virus is confirmed in Japan in someone who had stayed in Wuhan in early January.

- US controls -

On January 17, a second person, a 69-year-old man, dies in Wuhan and the CDC says it will begin screening passengers arriving from Wuhan at three airports: San Francisco, New York's JFK and Los Angeles.

- Human to human transmission confirmed -

On January 20, a third death and more than 100 new cases are announced in China, sparking concerns ahead of the annual Lunar New Year holiday from January 25 which sees hundreds of millions of Chinese people travel nationwide.

The virus is present in Beijing in the north, Shanghai in the east and Shenzhen in the south with more than 200 cases recorded. The virus is also detected in South Korea in a Chinese person who flew in from Wuhan.

Human-to-human transmission is "affirmative", a top Chinese expert on infectious diseases Zhong Nanshan tells state broadcaster CCTV.

The following day sees the first case announced in the United States.

- Wuhan isolated -

On January 23, trains and planes are no longer running in Wuhan and New Year festivities are scrapped in Beijing as the WHO declares an emergency.

On January 24, China reports two deaths far from Wuhan and France confirms three cases -- Europe's first.

- 56 million people confined -

January 25, Beijing orders control measures on public transport -- Hubei province is all but cut off with more than 56 million residents confined indoors. Hong Kong declares a maximum health alert.

The next two days see Beijing suspend trips organised both at home and abroad and the first death in the capital. Germany and the United States advise against travel to China.

- Transmission beyond China -

On January 28, Germany and Japan announce the first cases of direct transmission outside China. The US begins development of potential vaccines. January 29, total registered infections surpass those of SARS as the first cases emerge in the Middle East. The WHO urges a global response.

The world indoor athletics championships scheduled for March in Nanjing are pushed back to next year and many sports events are cancelled -- the Chinese football league is suspended.

- Repatriations -

Japan and the United States begin repatriations as airlines begin suspending flights to China. Several foreign companies in the world's third-biggest consumer market say they are suspending operations -- Apple announces temporary closures of its Chinese stores.

- Russia says shutting border -

As France announces a sixth case, Russia says it will close its border with China.

- EU targets research -

On January 30, the WHO declares a global virus emergency with the death toll having passed 200. In Britain, the first UK cases of the virus are confirmed, while Italy declared a state of emergency.

The EU says it is earmarking 10 million euros ($11 million) for research. The Pasteur Institute in Paris, along with Chinese and Australian researchers, isolates the virus culture -- a major step towards eventual production of a vaccine.

- First death outside China -

On February 2, the official toll stands at 304 deaths for more than 14,000 confirmed cases. Wenzhou, a city of nine million some 800 kilometres (500 miles) from Wuhan, becomes the second city to be locked down. Meanwhile, the WHO says the Philippines has reported the first virus death to occur outside China -- a man from Wuhan.

China says it will pump 1.2 trillion yuan ($173 billion) into the economy with the deadly virus expected to hit growth.


Related Links
Epidemics on Earth - Bird Flu, HIV/AIDS, Ebola


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New research from a team of Florida State University scientists shows that rapid weather variability as a result of climate change could increase the risk of a flu epidemic in some highly populated regions in the late 21st century. The research was published in the journal Environmental Research Letters. Zhaohua Wu, an associate professor in the Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Science and scientist with the Center for Ocean-Atmospheric Prediction Studies, and an international team looke ... read more

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