During a meeting of China' Politburo on Saturday, President Xi not only urged disparate ethnic groups to work together and suppress the virus, but added that the "grave situation" seemed to be "accelerating," according to the BBC and SCMP.
"Party committees and governments at different levels have to make proper plans to contain the virus under the guidance of the Central Committee," he was quoted as saying."Hubei province has to regard virus prevention work as the most important task, and enforce stricter measures to stop the virus from spreading inside the province and spilling out into other areas. Isolation treatment should be provided for all infected patients."
As we mentioned earlier, Beijing has dispatched medics and other medically-trained PLA soldiers to Wuhan and other cities to help the overwhelmed hospitals. This headline passed without much scrutiny from the Western media, but we wouldn't be surprised to learn that the situation on the ground is closer to a PLA takeover of all the hospitals in Wuhan. In China, one doesn't simply send in the PLA to 'help with the logistics'.
As for Wuhan, it'll soon be under complete lock down: Beginning Sunday private vehicles will be banned from its streets. To enforce that kind of a ban, one would need more than just the local police.
All events have been canceled, travel into and out of the city has been shut down, and, as we showed below, crude roadblocks have been set up to essentially seal off the city - a city of 11 million people - off from the rest of China. At least some form of travel restrictions are in place in some 18 cities in central Hubei. Restrictions include cutting off access to public transit and highways. Already, the economic fallout from the outbreak is being estimated in percentage points of local GDP, as we've previously discussed. The disruption of the holiday travel season will hammer China's tourism industry, possibly even worse than 17 years ago during the SARS outbreak.
Horrifying images of patients infected with the virus have popped up on Twitter.
#coronavirus in action.pic.twitter.com/af7w2Z4Uu7— Darren of Plymouth 🇬🇧 (@DarrenPlymouth) January 25, 2020
As the situation grows increasingly serious, the senior Communist Party leadership, which has formed a group of top officials to oversee the crisis response, is giving local authorities carte blanche to take any necessary action to ensure hospitals remain fully staffed and supplied. There has reportedly been talk of punishing local officials who may have been slow to respond to the crisis during its early days.
After confirming its fifth case, Hong Kong has declared a state of emergency - the highest tier of public alert, according to the HKFP.
South Korea, which has confirmed at least two cases of the virus, said Saturday that it would declare all of China a "coronavirus watch zone" as local public health officials work to protect the public and suppress the virus. Several dozen people have already been tested for the virus in SK and come back negative, per Korea Times.
As we move into Saturday evening on the ground in Wuhan, it's becoming increasingly obvious to the broader global community that China's authoritarian government has failed to contain this viral outbreak.
Chinese authorities expanded the travel restrictions on Saturday to cover 56 million Chinese, Al Jazeera reports. At least 18 cities in central Hubei are now dealing with at least some level of travel restrictions.
In order to control the Chinese virus, rural Hubei is conducting such a road closure... #CoronavirusOutbreak #coronavirus pic.twitter.com/LwMvSFniRc
— Corona vÃrus News (@NoticiasVirus) January 25, 2020
Though China has pledged transparency, some suspect that the true tally of cases within Wuhan is much higher. With the epidemic spiraling out of control, President Xi called a meeting of the Politburo Standing Committee, a group of China's top leaders, to discuss a response to the virus. At the meeting, the Communist Party set up a group to manage the response to the virus. The group will comprise members of the Party's Central Committee, while being directed by the Standing Committee. During the meeting, President Xi said various ethnic groups must work together to contain the spread of the deadly virus. Xi also ordered party authorities to ensure that there are enough medical supplies in Wuhan - the capital of Hubei province and a city of 11 million five times the size of London and bigger than any US city.
"Party committees and governments at different levels have to make proper plans to contain the virus under the guidance of the Central Committee," he was quoted as saying.
Following reports last night of a suspected case in Sydney, Australian authorities have confirmed the first case of the virus. Yesterday, several cases were also identified in France. But that's not all: Malaysia has confirmed that three cases of the virus have been detected. Japan is now up to three cases, all Chinese nationals, according to the Nikkei Asian Review.
In Wuhan, the horror stories are getting worse: One woman told the SCMP that her husband was turned away by several hospitals despite coughing up blood, a sign of very advanced pneumonia.
"I have nothing. No protective clothing, only a raincoat, and I am standing outside the hospital in the rain," said the woman, who gave her name as Xiaoxi."I am desperate, I have lost count of time and days. I don’t know if we will both live to see the new year."
Video from inside Wuhan, a city that has been nearly entirely sealed off from the outside world, the situation appears increasingly dire.
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