Anna Fifield, The Washington Post
Major Chinese cities, including the capital of Beijing and virus-hit Wuhan, banned all large gatherings over the coming Lunar New Year festival, the most important holiday on the Chinese calendar, in an expanding effort contain the rapidly spreading outbreak.The announcement Thursday came as authorities expanded travel restrictions imposed on Wuhan to surrounding municipalities, shutting down travel networks and attempting to quarantine some 25 million people - more than the population of Florida.
The extreme measures were accompanied by other indications that Communist Party authorities were struggling to control the outbreak, notably the aggressive censorship of any criticism or skepticism on social media.But some outspoken doctors warned that the controls would not be enough to stop the spread of the pneumonia-like virus, which has now killed 17 people in Wuhan and surrounding Hubei province.
"A bigger outbreak is certain," said Guan Yi, a virologist who helped identify severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in 2003. He estimated - "conservatively," he said - that this outbreak could be 10 times bigger than the SARS epidemic because that virus was transmitted by only a few "super spreaders" in a more defined part of the country."We have passed through the 'golden period' for prevention and control," he told Caixin magazine from self-imposed quarantine after visiting Wuhan. "What's more, we've got the holiday traffic rush and a dereliction of duty from certain officials."
The Lunar New Year holiday, a week-long period when millions of Chinese travel to their hometowns - the biggest human migration on the planet - officially begins on Friday.
Ahead of the holiday, authorities initially said that the virus, which began in a Wuhan food market selling exotic animals for consumption, was mild and could not be transmitted between humans. But that changed this week when the number of people infected by the virus, which has an incubation period as long as 14 days, began to rise rapidly.
Airports around the world, from London to Dubai to Atlanta, have put special screening measures in place to detect passengers arriving from China with fevers.
Beijing authorities said they were restricting public gatherings over the Lunar New Year holiday, which officially begins on Friday and is often celebrated with large fireworks displays and popular fairs at temples.
"In order to comply with epidemic prevention and control works, and to put people's lives, safety, and health in the first place, mass gatherings should be reduced in order to ensure a harmonious and peaceful Spring Festival," the Beijing Culture and Tourism Bureau said in a statement.
"It is decided that Beijing will cancel all large-scale events, including temple fairs, effective from today," it said.
The Forbidden City, the old imperial palace in the heart of Beijing and one of China's top tourist attractions, said it was closing its doors until further notice "in order to avoid cross-infection caused by the gathering of people."
- SARS-like disease first reported in China before spreading to Taiwan, Thailand, South Korea, Japan and US
- Major Chinese New Year events in Beijing have been cancelled, officials at the Chinese capital revealed today
- Today it emerged the infected US patient came into close contact with at least 16 people before quarantined
- Official figures show more than 600 patients have caught the infection, with cases cropping up all over Asia
- However, scientists yesterday warned as many as 10,000 people could have been infected in Wuhan alone
- Chilling footage has emerged from city of Wuhan, the outbreak's centre, showing quarantine tents and entire streets pumped with decontamination gas. Two neighbouring cities have also gone into lockdown
- European health officials said 'further global spread is likely' in a report, but World Health Organization meeting last night failed to declare the crisis a global emergency. Heath chiefs will meet again today
The deadly new coronavirus spreading across Asia is far more contagious than previously feared and can be spread third-hand via a simple cough or sneeze, medics have today confirmed.
Eighteen people with the virus are now confirmed to have died and more than 600 have been infected in at least 10 countries. But experts predict the true number of people with the disease could be as many as 10,000 as they warn it may kill as many as two in 100 cases.
A third city in China went into lockdown today while officials battle to stop the spread of the deadly new coronavirus. Major Chinese New Year events in Beijing have been cancelled, authorities in Ezhou have shut down train stations, and Huanggang has announced it will suspend public buses and trains.
The development comes as Wuhan – the city at the centre of the outbreak – remains in lockdown, with all flights in and outbound cancelled, residents banned from leaving and scenes of chaos as desperate families fight for food supplies.
The mainstream media in the western world isn’t telling you that Chinese hospitals are being absolutely overwhelmed by the number of sick people showing up for treatment. So the truth is that the official numbers that the Chinese government is putting out are almost meaningless at this point because hordes of sick people are being turned away from the hospitals because there is no room for them. On Wednesday, Chinese officials took the unprecedented step of attempting to quarantine the entire city of Wuhan, but what good is that going to do if most of the sick people are turned away by the hospitals and sent back to circulate among the general population? There are about 11 million people living in Wuhan, and there will only be about 2,000 hospital bedsavailable for those that have caught this mysterious new coronavirus. And considering the fact that officials are now admitting that this virus is being spread through “respiratory transmission”, it looks like this could become a complete and utter public health nightmare very rapidly.
Let’s start by discussing the latest official numbers. According to Reuters, Chinese authorities are claiming that there are 571 confirmed cases, 393 “suspected cases” and 17 confirmed deaths…
Authorities had confirmed 571 cases and 17 deaths by the end of Wednesday, China’s National Health Commission said. Earlier, it said another 393 suspected cases had been reported.Of eight known cases worldwide, Thailand has confirmed four, while Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and the United States have reported one each.
What this means is that the official death toll has nearly doubled since yesterday.
That isn’t good.
But what most people don’t know is that literally hundreds of sick people are lining up at hospitals in Wuhan wanting to see a doctor. The following comes from the South China Morning Post…
At Xiehe Hospital in the central Chinese city of Wuhan on Wednesday afternoon, hundreds of patients waited eagerly at the fever ward wanting to see a doctor.Many of them had symptoms of pneumonia but few got what they wanted – admission and free treatment in a quarantined environment.
In one very alarming case, a 55-year-old man was told to go home “even though he had a fever and other symptoms”…
On one side of the fever ward, a relative of a 55-year-old man said a doctor told her the hospital was full and she should take the man home, even though he had a fever and other symptoms.
“I almost got down on my knees to beg the doctor to admit him so he could stay in the hospital but the doctor said there was no space,” she said.
She was one of about 100 patients packing the ward’s waiting area, forming long queues outside the three consultation rooms. While the doctors and nurses were equipped with full-gear protective clothing, many patients only had face masks as they were hooked up to intravenous drips. Some patients coughed and spat openly in the hallway.
And what makes things even worse is the fact that experts are warning that the incubation period for this virus “is probably a week”…
With all indications that the virus has a relatively slow incubation time, however, these efforts may be insufficient to stop its spread.“You cannot absolutely prevent entry into the country of a disease like this. The incubation period is probably a week,” Australia’s chief medical officer, Brendan Murphy, said Tuesday. “It’s about identifying those with a high risk and making sure people with a high risk know about it and know how to get medical attention.”
And this comes at a really, really bad time, because “hundreds of millions” of Chinese citizens will be traveling around the country for the Lunar New Year celebrations in just a few days…
Health officials fear the transmission rate will accelerate as hundreds of millions of Chinese travel at home and abroad during week-long holidays for Lunar New Year, which begins on Saturday.
Professor Neil Ferguson, an expert at Imperial College London, said the new strain is currently “as deadly as the Spanish flu epidemic”.
The 1918 outbreak is the most severe pandemic in recent history, wiping out an estimated 50 million people across the world.
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