Tag: Wuhan virus

Do onion uthappams cure Coronavirus?

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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I was hiking in Yunnan when the confusion about coronavirus blew up. All the shops were sold out of surgical masks. One night, while I was picking up supplies at a grocery store, they luckily stocked up on masks: Yellow, purple, patterned with ice-creams and clouds. “Were these even the masks we needed?” I asked my friend. We didn’t know but we ended up buying a pack of ten masks each. The store was sold out of masks in fifteen minutes.

By the time I returned to Beijing, WeChat groups were buzzing with advice and information. Here is a sample of what’s on Chinese social media: Planes will be disinfecting cities, snow and pets can be infected with the new virus, the city of Beijing will be quarantined, a plethora of DIY videos on homemade masks, and cures for the virus including (but not limited to) red wine, garlic water, aspirin, strawberries hot baths and paediatric urine.

Beijing generally empties out during Spring Festival but coronavirus made it so that roads would have hardly one other person walking through (a rare sight in a city of 20 million people). Temple festivals were cancelled, as were events and any gatherings of people. Temperature checks became a regular feature of life. When I flew back to India (a day before Hong Kong announced that it would halve flights from Beijing), a woman chided another passenger for not wearing a mask.

Racial prejudice amid outbreak

Fears and misinformation within China are understandable but the Indian counterpart is far worse. From pepper rasam to onion uthappams to homeopathy (backed by the Ministry of Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy, no less), Indians have spun their own concoctions on how to deal with the epidemic. For its part, the Indian administration has risen to the occasion with the evacuation of two batches of Indian citizens (and seven Maldivians) who were unable to leave Wuhan. Health check and quarantining of passengers from East and South East Asia led to the detection of the two cases of the virus in India.

The suspension of e-visas for Chinese travellers, while following the global trend does not bode well as a confidence-building measure. (for which it was instituted). Meanwhile, the Indian internet is spewing racism (and casteism) through hashtags such as NoMeat_NoCoronavirus. Accounts of racism against Chinese people have been evident in countries all over the world particularly in light of the virus. The assumption that Chinese people contract diseases because they eat wild and exotic meats is racist and creates a norm for what meats are “normal”. We already live in a country that is prejudiced against anyone who does not fit an Indian ideal and is obsessed with the ideas of purity. Couple this with a lack of knowledge and a relative sense of envy, and we have the perfect recipe for discrimination – one that has no place in a multicultural nation. These attitudes fuelling a torrent of misinformation to deal with the coronavirus outbreak (often with the backing of influencers and the government) will only further complicate relations between India and China.

Hamsini Hariharan is the host of the States of Anarchy podcast and is currently based in Beijing.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Coronavirus: Air India’s B747 ‘Ajanta’ to bring back Indians from Wuhan after 2 am on Saturday

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Air India on Friday commenced evacuation programme for Indians stuck in the Coronavirus-hit Chinese city of Wuhan as its double-decker jumbo ‘Ajanta’ B747 aircraft took off from Delhi to bring them back to the country.

Wuhan is the epicentre of coronavirus which has been linked to 213 deaths so far in China. The vast majority of the cases have been in Hubei province and its provincial capital, Wuhan. No deaths have been reported outside China.

The scheduled departure time for ‘Ajanta’ was 12:30 pm and it was airborne around 1:17 pm. The aircraft is expected to return after 2 am on Saturday. The national carrier may operate another evacuation flight on Saturday if required.

The 423-seater plane, VT-ESP, has 15 cabin crew and 5 pilots with the rescue mission being led by Captain Amitabh Singh, who is Director Operations at Air India. A team of five doctors from Delhi’s Ram Manohar Lohia hospital, one paramedical staff from Air India with prescribed medicine, masks, overcoats and packed food are also onboard the special plane. A team of engineers and security personnel have also been sent on the evacuation flight.

Chairman and Managing director Ashwani Lohani was also present for the departure of the flight.

“The national carrier once again comes to the rescue – this time to evacuate Indians from Wuhan, the site of the outbreak of coronavirus. This mission begins today with a Jumbo 747 operating between Delhi and Wuhan” Lohani wrote on Twitter.

As the Indians who will be evacuated will have to be screened for coronavirus on arrival in India, there will be no interaction between the cabin crew and passengers on the flight. No service will take place and food will be kept in seat pockets for the passengers on board.

“Masks have been arranged for the crew and passengers. For our crew, we have also arranged complete protective gear,” Lohani said before the aircraft’s departure.

Flag carrier Air India was also involved in evacuation programmes from Libya, Iraq, Yemen, Kuwait and Nepal.

In August 1990, Air India and erstwhile Indian Airlines evacuated more than one lakh Indians from Iraq and Kuwait via 488 flights in 59 days, creating a world record for the largest aerial evacuation since 1948-49.

India detected its first case of coronavirus in Kerala on Jan 29. The patient is a student at Wuhan and is currently stable and has been kept in isolation in a hospital.

The passengers arriving from Wuhan will be kept under quarantine at state-run facilities.

#ITBP has created a facility at Chhawla Camp, New Delhi for quarantine of approximately 600 people arriving from #Wuhan #China with all basic requirements. A team of ITBP doctors will be available 24×7. #CORONAVIRUS#Himveers pic.twitter.com/VPdpwdwZyw

— ITBP (@ITBP_official) January 31, 2020

The Indian government has asked its citizens to avoid travel to China unless absolutely essential. Passengers coming from China and Hong Kong are being subjected to thermal screening at Indian airports to detect any signs of the respiratory virus.

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

China is doing all it can but coronavirus outbreak may get worse before it gets better

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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With the WHO declaring the novel 2019 Coronavirus (nCoV) acute respiratory disease as a global public health emergency, the virus has affected over 9,700 people leading to 213 deaths though 170 people have recovered from it (figures by the Chinese National Health Commission). The nomination of the disease as a public health emergency does not alleviate the seriousness of it, rather it signals support for the Chinese establishment in dealing with the crisis. However, with the end of the extended Spring Festival holiday on February 2, the largest annual human migration in the world will unfold and lead to another spike in the number of infections.

The incidence of the virus began in early December, supposedly in a seafood market in Wuhan (though this has not been established) when a patient exhibited pneumonia-like symptoms. In a span of two weeks, Chinese scientists had managed to isolate and identify the genetic sequence of the virus – a laudable feat. The virus is structurally similar to the one that caused the 2003 SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) crisis and even the common cold. Further, it has a low fatality (approximately 2 percent) rate and its infectiousness is thought to be low (with each case infecting 2.6 other people). However, these numbers are subject to change as new cases come to light and policies to restrict the spread are enforced.

The major problem with the outbreak is that it coincides with the week-long Spring Festival holiday – possibly the most important holiday in the Chinese calendar when millions of people travel back to homes and villages. At first, the Wuhan government downplayed the seriousness of the outbreak. Then came the abrupt quarantine of not only Wuhan but also two other cities, followed by a travel ban that now covers a population of six crore people across the Hubei region. The Chinese government has announced that it would build two hospitals in 10 days and is live-streaming it — supposedly has 40 million viewers. The start of the new semester in schools and universities has been postponed indefinitely. Public spaces including metros are being sprayed with disinfectant regularly. Spring Festival Holiday was extended by two more days to delay people from travelling.

However, even with the government doing all it can to signal that the situation being tackled, the fear pervading Chinese society is evident. In a press conference, the Wuhan mayor incorrectly wore his mask while the governor of Hubei province stumbled over a question about the number of masks produced in the region leading an online furore. From fake sellers of preventive masks to fake news about planes spraying disinfectant, grocery stores running out of supplies and areas of cities being under lockdown, Chinese social media is buzzing with misinformation.

Crackdown on misinformation

The Chinese government has tried to crack down on the misinformation. In the beginning of January, forty people were supposedly arrested for misinformation. However, these efforts are often murky because of the Chinese government’s record in censoring news that portrays it in a bad light. Indeed, the investigation of eight doctors in Wuhan, the censorship of videos and posts does not bode well for the government’s efforts.

Economists will tell you that asymmetric information leads to suboptimal decisions for the people who do not possess the information. In times of epidemics, this is even more true. Comparisons with the 2003 SARS crisis are rife primarily because of the deliberate limiting of information that led to the panic. It took 86 days then for the Chinese government to notify the World Health Organisation about the outbreak. It was this environment of curtailed information that led to an outpouring of citizens’ frustration – the first major political crisis since the 1989 Tiananmen riots. However, the Chinese government is better equipped than it was 17 years ago to put out information. It took only 23 days to notify the WHO about the outbreak. After the initial suppression of information, daily updates on wechat and weibo, and press conferences by various authorities, photos of various teams sent from all over the country to Wuhan, as well as photos of on-ground medical staff and volunteers present an image of a government that has stepped up.

Amidst this, there are also stories of the people whose lives have been irrevocably changed by the virus: The man who spent 20,000 yuan on his pregnant wife’s treatment only to pull her off the ventilator; the autistic child who died from neglect because his caretakers were quarantined; doctors in Wuhan who are having breakdowns from overwork and lack of resources. These stories are heart-breaking but there are too few of them in the current media landscape. For the time being though, this state of limbo is set to continue. As the Chinese government is scrambling to deal with the crisis, the internet will continue to reverberate with conspiracy theories, mired in fear and racism.

Hamsini Hariharan is the host of the States of Anarchy podcast and is currently based in Beijing.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

India to evacuate its citizens from virus-hit Wuhan today

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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India was preparing to evacuate its citizens on Friday from China’s Wuhan city, the epicentre of the deadly choronavirus that has killed 170 people, infected 7,711 others and spread to at least 17 countries.

India had requested China for permission to operate two flights to bring back its nationals from worst-affected central Hubei province.

“We are preparing for air evacuation from Wuhan tomorrow in the evening,” Indian Embassy in Beijing said.

The first flight will carry those Indian nationals who are in and around Wuhan and have conveyed consent for their evacuation, it said.

“There will be another flight subsequently which will carry those who are from other parts of Hubei province,” the mission said.

The nationwide death toll from novel coronavirus has jumped to 170 with 38 more fatalities reported mainly from Hubei province, the government said on Thursday, while confirming more than 1,700 new infections.

China’s National Health Commission said on Thursday that 7,711 confirmed cases of pneumonia caused by the novel coronavirus had been reported in 31 provincial-level regions and in the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps by the end of Wednesday.

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Is India ready to tackle a pandemic like Coronavirus?

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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While India is preparing to evacuate its citizens from China in the wake of the deadly coronavirus outbreak in Hubei province, many health experts point to the country’s ill-preparedness to deal with a public health emergency of such magnitude.

Though no case has been detected so far in the country, nearly 450 people are currently under observation, most of them in Kerala, following screening for potential exposure to the virus. Many of them have returned from China in recent weeks.

To be sure, the 2019 Global Health Security Index report examined the ability of 195 countries to prevent, detect and respond to public health emergencies. The report showed that the national health security of various countries is fundamentally weak and that no country is fully prepared for epidemics.

The average overall global health security score, based on 140 norms, was only 40.2 out of 100. India scored 46.5 – placing it at 57 in the ranking. In the Southeast Asia region, even Thailand and Indonesia performed better than India with scores of 73.2 and 56.6, respectively.

How prepared is India?

An optimist would take heart from the manner in which Kerala responded to the outbreak of another deadly virus in Kerala. That state’s handling of the Nipah outbreak in Kerala two years back offers lessons for other states in the areas of coordination among responders, proper communication of risk and ensuring timely interventions.

Weeks before the presence of Nipah in Kozhikode district was reported in the media in May 2018, the virus had been identified by the healthcare system there. But that response would surprise few familiar with Kerala’s robust public health network and readiness.

What about other states?

Official figures reveal the dismal state of India’s healthcare infrastructure. There are only 23,582 government hospitals with 710,761 beds in the country, according to the National Health Profile 2018. These include 19,810 hospitals in rural areas with 279,588 beds and 3,772 hospitals in urban areas with 431,173 beds.

There are a total of 2,900 blood banks, which means less than three blood banks for every 1 million population. With more than 70 percent of India’s population living in rural areas, healthcare delivery will be an uphill task, particularly in case of a disease outbreak.

Since there is no cure in sight for coronavirus and an outbreak can quickly turn uncontrollable, clinicians in India stress the importance of preventive measures.

For its part, the Union health ministry said it is fully aware of the situation on the ground and Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba is reportedly reviewing the country’s preparedness to deal with the virus amid mounting global concern over the increasing number of cases in China.

Wuhan and 12 other Chinese cities have already been completely sealed by the authorities to stop the virus from spreading. The death toll has climbed to 80 with 2,744 confirmed cases. Over 250 to 300 Indian students are remaining stuck in Wuhan, according to media reports.

Minister of Health and Family Welfare Harsh Vardhan has held a review meeting this week and the government is planning to expand passenger screening to 20 airports. At present, thermal screening of passengers coming from China is being done at the seven big airports, including Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Chennai, and Kochi.

The government also plans to test the virus at 10 laboratories across the country. Currently, only the National Institute of Virology in Pune is conducting the tests. Four new laboratories — the Indian Council of Medical Research’s viral research and diagnostics lab network — at Alapuzha, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Mumbai are activated for testing samples.

Sudarshan Ballal, a nephrologist and director of Manipal Institute of Nephrology and Urology, said he doesn’t think India can expect cures soon, but almost all doctors practising in the country are familiar with respiratory viruses, whether it be Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), or the regular H1N1.

Deadly virus

“It is true that coronavirus is a lot more deadly. Firstly, it is a new virus, which means there is no innate immunity in people who have not been exposed to it in the past. Secondly, the disease can be transmitted even before the symptoms manifest, which means one may not know that the person sitting next to you has the infection,” he said.

Sandeep Budhiraja of Max Healthcare also emphasised the need for strict monitoring and preventive measures. “A few days back, the thought process was that it may not be highly infectious since the infection would get passed only after the symptoms start. However, now that has been proven to be wrong, and the transmission is likely much before the symptoms start. That is a big worry,” he observed.

Some hospitals in the country have already introduced a screening programme as a precautionary step. “Since this is a novel strain of the Coronavirus, there is no herd immunity against it. Moreover, it is a contagious virus affecting the respiratory system which spreads by the droplet method. We have created a screening programme for all patients with Influenza-like illness (ILI). These patients are screened in the Emergency, then examined by Internal Medicine Consultant and categorised into A, B1, B2 and C. If there is a history of travel to China or South East Asia within the last 14 days, the patient will be admitted to the isolation room. Tests will be conducted and treatment will be started,” Dr Ashutosh Shukla, Senior Consultant-Internal Medicine at Artemis Hospitals in Gurugram, said.

The kind of coronavirus that is spreading now, called NCoV, is common in non-human animals. However, these viruses are zoonotic, which means they can spread from animals to humans sometimes and since they are antibiotic resistant, clinicians don’t know how to tackle them.

This is a major concern for medical practitioners and researchers here. “Anti-microbial resistance has serious implications for a country like India where misuse of “last-resort” antibiotics for common health conditions is rampant,” a patient advocacy group representative pointed out.

Many microorganisms such as bacteria and fungi have an exceptional capacity to survive in adverse surroundings. Antibiotic resistance arises when such bacteria, referred to as ‘superbugs’, evolve mechanisms to resist the effects of multiple antibiotics targeted to destroy them. When superbugs develop resistance to a particular antibiotic used to treat infections such as diarrhea or tuberculosis, the drug therapy becomes ineffective.

Medical practitioners say the situation in the country is especially alarming, stacked against this grim vantage. A study conducted in the intensive care units of 20 tertiary care hospitals showed that 7 percent of critically ill patients are resistant to antibiotics. Drug resistance to first-line antibiotics also results in 58,000 neonatal deaths each year.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Coronavirus unlikely to take a toll on Indian stock market, says Credit Suisse

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Coronavirus has taken the entire world by storm and till now over 130 in China have succumbed to this disease. The rapid spread of coronavirus has also shaken the stock markets around the world. In fact, market participants have been making cautious bets in the equities after the virus began to spread to different countries, claiming lives.

Credit Suisse in its recent research report cited vulnerable sectors that might be affected by the disease.  “Among sectors, the virus reinforces our confidence in existing ‘overweights’ in IT and internet and ‘underweights’ in consumer ex-internet and banks. The virus should not greatly affect global IT demand and could help internet names with e-commerce businesses,” it stated.

“Among sectors, we feel comfortable with our positions in the biggest sectors. Our key ‘overweights’ among large sectors are IT and Internet. Global IT demand and production should be largely unaffected by the virus, and fear of shopping malls could enhance e-commerce purchases,” the report further added.

The global brokerage has also expressed its view on the equities. It believes moderate optimism to linger about 6-12 months on an expected recovery in the regional economy, but the coronavirus worsens the risk-reward trade-off. China, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Thailand remain to be the most vulnerable countries, said Credit Suisse.

The brokerage largely believes that the Asian economies will normalise quickly after the Wuhan virus recedes. The main impact is on the sentiment rather than the disease itself, consumption and travel patterns can recover as soon as people feel safe to fly and shop.

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Disclaimer: CNBCTV18.com advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Saudi Arabia, UAE caution oil market against gloom over China virus

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Saudi Arabia, the world’s top oil exporter, urged caution on Monday against “gloomy expectations” regarding the possible impact of the spread of the coronavirus on the global economy and oil demand.

The death toll from the coronavirus outbreak in China rose to 81 with more than 2,700 infected, while health authorities around the world stepped up screening of passengers from China.

Crude prices fell about 3% on the day as the rising number of cases and China’s city lockdowns and extension of its Lunar New Year holiday deepened concerns over oil demand.

But Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said the impact being seen on oil and other markets was “primarily driven by psychological factors and extremely negative expectations adopted by some market participants despite its very limited impact on global oil demand.

“Such extreme pessimism occurred back in 2003 during the SARS outbreak, though it did not cause a significant reduction in oil demand,” the minister said in a statement.

Fellow Gulf OPEC oil producer United Arab Emirates echoed the Saudi minister’s comments.

“It is important that we do not exaggerate projections related to future decreases in oil demand due to events in China,” UAE Minister of Energy Suhail al-Mazrouei said.

“OPEC and OPEC+ member countries will discuss market conditions (in March) and, if required, all options to ensure continued market balance,” he said.

GLOBAL IMPACT

The Saudi minister also said OPEC and its allies could respond to any impact on the oil market, adding he was confident China and international authorities could contain the virus.

Algeria’s Energy Minister and current President of OPEC Mohamed Arkab, also referring to the outbreak, said that “the impact on the outlook for global oil demand would … be small”.

Brent crude futures were down around 2.8% at $59.01 by 1402 GMT having earlier dropped to $58.50. U.S. crude was down by 2.6% at $52.77, having earlier eased to $52.13. Both hit their lowest levels since October.

Prince Abdulaziz said he was confident the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and other producers, a group known as OPEC+, “have the capability and flexibility needed to respond to any developments.”

Oman’s oil minister told Reuters on Monday he fully supported Saudi Arabia’s readiness to react to any impact the virus has on the market.

OPEC+, which includes Russia, has been reducing oil supply to support prices and has agreed to hold back 1.7 million barrels per day (bpd) of output until the end of March.

Prince Abdulaziz said all options were open when OPEC+ meets in Vienna in March.

An OPEC source said there were preliminary discussions within OPEC+ for an extension of current oil supply cuts beyond March, and a possible deeper cut was also an option if there was a need, and if the China virus spread impacted oil demand.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Xi Jinping says China faces ‘grave situation’ as virus death toll hits 42

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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President Xi Jinping said China was facing a “grave situation” as the death toll from the coronavirus outbreak jumped to 42, overshadowing Lunar New Year celebrations that began on Saturday.

China also announced further transport restrictions.

With more than 1,400 people infected worldwide, most of them in China, Hong Kong declared a virus emergency, scrapped celebrations and restricted links to mainland China.

Australia confirmed its first four cases and Canada its first on Saturday, after Malaysia confirmed four and France reported Europe’s first cases on Friday, as health authorities around the world scrambled to prevent a pandemic.

The United States is arranging a charter flight on Sunday to bring its citizens and diplomats back from Wuhan, the central Chinese city at the epicentre of the outbreak, the Wall Street Journal reported.

In Hong Kong, with five confirmed cases, the city’s leader Carrie Lam said flights and high speed rail trips between the city and Wuhan will be halted. Schools in Hong Kong that are currently on Lunar New Year holidays will remain closed until Feb. 17.

Xi held a politburo meeting on Saturday on measures to fight the “accelerating” outbreak, state television reported.

As of 8 p.m. local time (1200 GMT) on Saturday, the death toll in China had risen to 42, authorities reported. Some 1,372 people in China have been infected with the virus – traced to a seafood market in Wuhan that was illegally selling wildlife.

The virus has also been detected in Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Nepal, and the United States.

In Hubei province, where Wuhan is located, officials appealed for masks and protective suits.

“We are steadily pushing forward the disease control and prevention … But right now we are facing an extremely severe public health crisis,” Hu Yinghai, deputy director-general of the Civil Affairs Department, told a news briefing.

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.

Ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing said it was halting inter-city services to and from Beijing from Sunday, while the capital will also stop running inter-province shuttle buses.

State broadcaster CCTV, citing an announcement from China‘s tourism industry association, said the country would halt all group tours, both at home and abroad, from Monday.

Wuhan said it would ban non-essential vehicles from its downtown starting Sunday, further paralysing a city of 11 million that has been on virtual lockdown since Thursday, with nearly all flights cancelled and checkpoints blocking the main roads leading out of town.

Authorities have since imposed transport restrictions on nearly all of Hubei province, which has a population of 59 million.

PROTECTIVE SUITS

Australia confirmed its first four cases in two different cities on Saturday, and the country’s chief health official said he expected more cases as Australia is a popular destination for Chinese tourists.

Canada on Saturday identified its first case in a Toronto resident who recently returned from Wuhan.

State-run China Global Television Network reported on Saturday that a doctor who had been treating patients in Wuhan, 62-year-old Liang Wudong, had died from the virus.

U.S. coffee chain Starbucks said it was closing all its Hubei outlets for the week-long Lunar New Year holiday, following a similar move by McDonald’s in five Hubei cities.

Workers in white protective suits checked temperatures of passengers entering the subway at Beijing’s central railway station on Saturday, while some train services in the eastern Yangtze River Delta region were suspended, the local railway operator said.

‘GLOBAL HEALTH THREAT’

There are fears transmission could accelerate as hundreds of millions of Chinese travel during the holiday, although many have cancelled their plans.

Airports around the world have stepped up screening of passengers from China, although some health officials and experts have questioned the effectiveness of such screenings.

In an illustration of how such efforts could miss cases, doctors at a Paris hospital said two of the three Chinese nationals in France who have been diagnosed with the virus had arrived in the country without showing any symptoms.

The World Health Organisation this week stopped short of calling the outbreak a global health emergency.

A report by infectious disease specialists at Imperial College, London on Saturday said that despite this, the epidemic “represents a clear and ongoing global health threat,” adding: “It is uncertain at the current time whether it is possible to contain the continuing epidemic within China.”

While China has called for transparency in managing the crisis, after a cover-up of the 2002/2003 Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) spread, officials in Wuhan have been criticised for their handling of the current outbreak.

In rare public dissent, a senior journalist at a Hubei newspaper run by the ruling Communist Party wrote on Friday on the Twitter-like Weibo social media platform that there should be an “immediate” change of leadership in Wuhan. The post was later removed.

Hubei province, where authorities are rushing to build a 1,000-bed hospital in six days, announced on Saturday that there were 658 patients affected by the virus in treatment, 57 of whom were critically ill.

Shanghai Disneyland was closed from Saturday. Beijing’s Lama Temple, where people make offerings for the New Year, has also closed, as have some other temples.

Britain advised against all travel to Hubei and told its citizens in the province to leave.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow