China says virus cases rise to 450, with 9 deaths

01/22/2020

Now China’s killer virus spreads to AMERICA: Man in his 30s is hospitalised as death toll from SARS-like coronavirus hits nine, cases reach 450 and health chiefs are poised to declare a worldwide public health EMERGENCY

Officials said the Washington man was hospitalized but in ‘good’ condition
The man had travelled from Wuhan – the city at the centre of the outbreak
China’s National Health Commission has urged travellers to not visit Wuhan

The killer Chinese coronavirus which has killed nine people and struck down at least 473 has reached the US, it has been confirmed today.

Health officials said the unidentified man in his 30s, from Washington, has been hospitalized but is in ‘good’ condition and is being closely monitored.

The man had travelled back from the Chinese city of Wuhan which is at the centre of the outbreak. The disease is said to have originated from a seafood market that ‘conducted illegal transactions of wild animals’, but the US patient is not believed to have visited the stalls.

The SARS-like outbreak has already spread to Japan, Taiwan, South Korea and Thailand. Australia has reported an as yet unconfirmed case.

An American man with the new coronavirus has been identified in Washington state, CDC officials said on Wednesday, bringing the total number of countries with cases of the deadly virus to five outside of China, including the US, Thailand, Japan South Korea and Taiwan

Thai medical staff wear protective suits transfer a 70-year-old patient, who is suspected of having coronavirus infected after traveling back from Wuhan

A child wears a face mask at Hong Kong’s international airport

Travellers wear masks in the arrival hall of the Hong Kong International Airport amid fears the coronavirus outbreak will spread

A Thai nurse works next to a campaign poster alerting patients of the coronavirus at a hospital in Bangkok. Four cases have been confirmed in Thailand

Staff move bio-waste containers past the entrance of the Wuhan Medical Treatment Center, where some infected with a new virus are being treated

Malaysian officials use thermal imaging scanners and cameras to check passengers for fevers upon their arrival at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport

A total of 456 people are confirmed to have caught the unnamed coronavirus, which has never been seen before. Six patients have died.

Most of the cases have occurred in Wuhan, a city in Hubei province home to 11million people. But patients have been diagnosed across China, including in Beijing and Shanghai.

The coronavirus, which is from the same family as SARS, has also spread to South Korea, Thailand, Japan and Taiwan.

Chinese officials yesterday confirmed the virus has spread between humans, suggesting it can be passed through coughs and sneezes.

The outbreak is believed to have started late last month among people connected to a seafood market in Wuhan, which has since been shut.

China is entering its busiest travel period due to the Lunar New Year, which sees many people travelling back to their home town or village.

Virologists fear the increased travel that will happen over the holidays will cause a surge in cases.

So where have cases been recorded?

IN CHINA

Hubei province, 375 cases, 9 deaths

Guangdong province, 26 cases

Chongqing province, 5 cases

Zhejiang province, 5 cases

Hainan province, 4 cases

Jiangxi, 2 cases

Henan province, 1 case

Hunan province, 1 case

Yunnan province, 1 case

Sichuan province, 2 cases

Shandong province, 1 case

Fujian province, 1 case

Shanxi province, 1 case

Shanghai, 9 cases

Beijing, 10 cases

Tianjin, 2 cases

Macau, 1 case

Hong Kong, 1 case

—

ABROAD

Thailand, 4 cases

South Korea, 1 case

Japan, 1 case

Taiwan, 1 case

US, 1 case

Scientists are desperately trying to contain the outbreak, which officials have confirmed has passed between humans. It can cause a fever and lead to pneumonia.

It comes as:

US President Donald Trump has said America has a plan in place to contain the coronavirus outbreak
The World Health Organisation (WHO) is poised to declare the outbreak a public health emergency in a meeting in Geneva this afternoon
Travellers from the area of China at the centre of the coronavirus outbreak will be separated from other passengers on arrival at Heathrow
China’s National Health Commission has urged travellers to not visit Wuhan, the city at the centre of the outbreak
Football and boxing qualifiers for the Tokyo Olympic Games will be moved from Wuhan to another location
China has been accused of under-reporting cases, with experts saying it has a ‘track record’ and warning the ‘true picture may be completely different’

Cases have risen nine-fold in the space of a few days, with just 48 confirmed cases on January 17. At least 20 healthcare workers have since been infected, including one doctor investigating the outbreak. Australia and the Philippines are investigating suspected cases of the coronavirus.

The virus outbreak has coincided with China’s Lunar New Year celebrations this weekend, when millions travel at home and abroad for holidays and family reunions.

Officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed the first American case yesterday.

Following the case, President Donald Trump today said that the US has a plan in place to contain the coronavirus outbreak.

Speaking on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, Trump said: ‘We do have a plan and we think it is going to be handled very well.

‘We’ve already handled it very well. The CDC is terrific. Very professional…’

The unidentified man, from north of Seattle, is currently hospitalized and in ‘good’ condition but is being closely monitored in isolation.

He traveled from Wuhan, but did not visit any of the markets at the epicenter of the outbreak, according to state health officials.

The man arrived at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport – but not directly from Wuhan – on January 15, the day before screening was in place, and before he developed symptoms.

But he reportedly recognized his own symptoms – which typically include cough, fever and runny nose – after seeing online coverage of the virus.

The patient reached out to doctors on January 16, was tested on the 17th and his diagnosis was confirmed Monday, health officials said.

The patient is a resident of Snahomish County in Washington State and is currently at Providence Regional Medical Center in Everett.

On the heels of the identification of this first US patient, all flights from Wuhan into the US are being rerouted to the three airports set up last week for screening – LAX, San Francisco and JFK – as well as an additional two locations: Chicago O’Hare and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

Vaccine experts at Baylor University are working on modifying a vaccine they designed to prevent SARS to protect against the new, related coronavirus.

But the school’s Dean of Tropical Medicine, which is developing the shot, Dr Peter Hotez, told DailyMail.com that it’s likely years away from deployment.

Travellers from the area of China at the centre of the coronavirus outbreak will be separated from other passengers on arrival at Heathrow Airport as UK health chiefs step up their response, it was announced today.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has said Public Health England is putting in place new precautions in relation to travellers to the UK from the region.

FOOTBALL AND BOXING QUALIFIERS ARE MOVED FROM WUHAN

Officials have today announced football and boxing qualifying matches held in Wuhan for the Tokyo Olympic Games will be moved from Wuhan.

Wuhan is at the centre of the ever-growing outbreak, which has sickened at least 450 people across Asia and spread to US.

The Asian Football Confederation today said the women’s qualifiers being held at Wuhan will be moved to the eastern city of Nanjing.

Wuhan was supposed to host China, Taiwan, Thailand and Australia for the Group B qualifiers between February 3-9.

The football confederation said the change was proposed by the Chinese Football Association.

Taiwan’s football association had warned earlier that it would withdraw from the qualifiers if they were held in Wuhan.

Before news of the cancellation, the Australian women’s soccer team said it was still preparing for its trip to Wuhan.

Japan’s Kyodo news agency today also announced a boxing qualifier held in Wuhan for the same Olympics would be cancelled.

Citing organisers, Kyodo said the qualifiers would be rescheduled and moved from Wuhan.

There was no independent confirmation from the organisers, and Japan’s boxing federation said it was waiting to hear from the International Olympic Committee on the reported cancellation.

Kyodo said the IOC was expected to announce a new host and schedule for the qualifiers.

Despite the outbreak, the Australian women’s soccer team is still preparing for a trip to Wuhan early next month for the Olympic qualifiers

CHINESE RESIDENTS TURN TO PLAYING A PLAGUE SIMULATOR GAME AMID OUTBREAK

Scores of Chinese residents have been turning to an online plague simulation game and a disaster movie called ‘The Flu’ amid the coronavirus outbreak.

Plague Inc, a strategy simulation app by UK-based Ndemic creations, was today the top-paid game on the iOS operating system on China’s Apple Store. It allows users to create and evolve a pathogen to destroy the world.

‘The best way to conquer fear is to confront fear,’ said one commentator on China’s Twitter-like Weibo.

‘Isn’t this actually joining the evil force if you cannot beat the evil force?’ joked another.

South Korean disaster flick ‘The Flu’ was also the most searched-for movie on Chinese media review and social networking site Douban.

A documentary on the 2003 SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) outbreak topped TV searches.

Furthermore, 11 out of 14 top-ranked articles on content platform Toutiao were related to pneumonia, as were over half of the 50 most-read topics on China’s Twitter-like Weibo.

‘There have been some announcements this morning about flights that come direct from the affected region to Heathrow with some additional measures there,’ he told Sky News.

‘At the moment Public Health England have moved this from ‘very low’ to ‘low’ but obviously we want to stay ahead of the issue so we are keeping a very close eye on it.

‘Initially this is to ensure that when flights come in directly into Heathrow there is a separate area for people to arrive in.’

Mr Shapps told BBC Radio 5 Live Health Secretary Matt Hancock will announce a package of precautionary measures later.

Though not confirmed, a Government source has reportedly told the BBC the measures will include:

Medics meeting each direct flight landing at Heathrow from Wuhan
Aircraft announcements telling passengers to report if they are ill before landing
Planes landing in an isolated area of Heathrow Terminal 4

Chinese officials have today urged travellers to stop visiting Wuhan, a city home to 11million people. Residents have even been urged to avoid getting into crowds to try and stop the spread of the virus.

China’s National Health Commission vice-minister Li Bin said: ‘Basically, do not go to Wuhan. And those in Wuhan please do not leave the city.’

In the same public briefing, he also warned there is a possibility the virus – which has yet to be officially named – will mutate, warning it could mean a further spread of the disease.

People wearing face masks at a metro station in Taipei, Taiwan. Taiwan recorded its first case of the coronavirus this morning

WHAT ARE THE ONLY OUTBREAKS TO HAVE BEEN DEEMED AN EMERGENCY?

2009 Swine flu epidemic

In 2009 ‘Swine flu’ was identified for the first time in Mexico and was named because it is a similar virus to one which affects pigs. The outbreak is believed to have killed as many as 575,400 people – the H1N1 strain is now just accepted as normal seasonal flu.

2014 Poliovirus resurgence

Poliovirus began to resurface in countries where it had once been eradicated, and the WHO called for a widespread vaccination programme to stop it spreading. Cameroon, Pakistan and Syria were most at risk of spreading the illness internationally.

2014 Ebola outbreak

Ebola killed at least 11,000 people across the world after it spread like wildfire through Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone in 2014, 2015 and 2016. More than 28,000 people were infected in what was the worst ever outbreak of the disease.

2016 Zika outbreak

Zika, a tropical disease which can cause serious birth defects if it infects pregnant women, was the subject of an outbreak in Brazil’s capital, Rio de Janeiro, in 2016. There were fears that year’s Olympic Games would have to be cancelled after more than 200 academics wrote to the World Health Organization warning about it.

2019 Ebola outbreak

Almost 4,000 people were struck down with the killer virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo last year. More than 2,000 patients died. WHO officials refused to declare it an emergency three times before making a U-turn.

Li said: ‘There has already been human-to-human transmission and infection of medical workers. Evidence has shown that the disease has been transmitted through the respiratory tract and there is the possibility of viral mutation.’

The World Health Organisation (WHO) is expected to declare the outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern in a meeting held in Geneva today.

If the UN body declares it an emergency, it will be just the sixth time in history that it has happened.

The only other outbreaks to have been granted such a status include the 2009 Swine flu epidemic, the resurgence of Polio in 2014, the worldwide spread of Zika in 2016 and the two most recent Ebola outbreaks in 2014 and last year.

Infectious disease scientists across Asia are concerned China could be covering up the true amount of cases of the coronavirus.

Piotr Chlebicki, at Mount Alvernia Hospital in Singapore, told South China Morning Post it was ‘hard to believe [the official number of] cases’.

He added: ‘China has a track record of under-reporting cases, so the true picture may be completely different.’

The newspaper reported experts are concerned about the number of bureaucratic steps – put in place after the 2003 SARS outbreak – before a case can be confirmed.

The virus has caused alarm because it is from the same family of viruses as SARS, which killed nearly 650 people across mainland China and Hong Kong in 2002-2003.

Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen today urged China to release all information about the outbreak of a new virus and work with Taiwan on curbing its spread.

At China’s insistence, Taiwan is not a member of the World Health Organization and is not allowed to participate in any of its meetings. However, large numbers of Taiwanese travel to and live in China.

Passengers leaving for Wuhan, waiting at the Leonardo Da Vinci airport in Fiumicino, Rome

Malaysia is one of many countries that have stepped up their passenger screening, with airport workers screening travellers for symptoms of the virus

TRAVELLERS FROM WUHAN TO BE SEPARATED FROM OTHER PASSENGERS AT HEATHROW

Travellers from the area of China at the centre of the coronavirus outbreak will be separated from other passengers on arrival at Heathrow Airport as UK health chiefs step up their response.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has said Public Health England is putting in place new precautions in relation to travellers to the UK from the region.

‘There have been some announcements this morning about flights that come direct from the affected region to Heathrow with some additional measures there,’ he told Sky News.

‘At the moment Public Health England have moved this from ‘very low’ to ‘low’ but obviously we want to stay ahead of the issue so we are keeping a very close eye on it.

‘Initially this is to ensure that when flights come in directly into Heathrow there is a separate area for people to arrive in.’

Mr Shapps told BBC Radio 5 Live Health Secretary Matt Hancock will announce a package of precautionary measures later.

Though not confirmed, a Government source has reportedly told the BBC the measures will include:

Medics meeting each direct flight landing at Heathrow from Wuhan
Aircraft announcements telling passengers to report if they are ill before landing
Planes landing in an isolated area of Heathrow Terminal 4

Tsai said: ‘I especially want to urge China, being a member of international society, that it should fulfill its responsibilities to make the situation of the outbreak transparent, and to share accurate information on the outbreak with Taiwan.’

One case of the coronavirus has been confirmed in Taiwan, which is home to 23million people.

Sharing information is also important for the health of the Chinese population and Beijing ‘should not put political concerns above the protection of its own people,’ Tsai said.

China regards Taiwan as its own territory and says it is not entitled to representation in most international bodies.

Taiwan, where one case of the coronavirus has been detected, has called on people not to visit Wuhan unless they absolutely have to.

Scores of Chinese residents have been turning to an online plague simulation game and a disaster movie called ‘The Flu’ amid the coronavirus outbreak, it can be revealed.

‘The best way to conquer fear is to confront fear,’ said one commentator on China’s Twitter-like Weibo.

‘Isn’t this actually joining the evil force if you cannot beat the evil force?’ joked another.

South Korean disaster flick ‘The Flu’ was also the most searched-for movie on Chinese media review and social networking site Douban.

A documentary on the 2003 SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) outbreak topped TV searches.

Pictured: A close-up of travellers on the thermal imaging camera at Kuala Lumpur International Airport

South Korean cleaners prepare to disinfect the facilities at the customs, immigration and quarantine area at Incheon International Airport

CHINESE COMPANIES HANDING OUT FREE FACE MASKS TO STAFF

Companies across China were today handing out masks and warning staff to avoid the central Chinese city of Wuhan.

At Foxconn’s Lunar New Year party on Wednesday, founder Terry Gou advised Taiwan-based employees not to visit mainland China during the week-long holiday period.

‘Colleagues and their families who have come back from Wuhan are all in isolation at home. The infection is spreading very fast,’ Mr Gou added.

Company workers in Wuhan, the centre of the outbreak, have been wearing facemasks and getting their temperature checked, the Apple supplier also said.

Huawei Technologies has asked staff to reduce travel to Wuhan and avoid contact with animals, adding that it had set up an outbreak prevention and control team in the city to carry out disinfecting activities.

Citic Securities and investment bank China International Capital Corp have asked employees to avoid trips to Wuhan and Hubei province, where the city is located, if they can.

Citic has also asked staff to voluntarily quarantine themselves if they do travel to Hubei. HSBC said it had advised employees that travel to Wuhan could continue but has asked them to be extra vigilant.

Didi Chuxing, China’s largest ride-hailing company, said this week it would issue masks and disinfectant to its drivers and would allow passengers and drivers in Wuhan to cancel trips for free in the days up to January 31.

Furthermore, 11 out of 14 top-ranked articles on content platform Toutiao were related to pneumonia, as were over half of the 50 most-read topics on China’s Twitter-like Weibo.

Companies across China were today handing out masks and warning staff to avoid the central Chinese city of Wuhan.

At Foxconn’s Lunar New Year party on Wednesday, founder Terry Gou advised Taiwan-based employees not to visit mainland China during the week-long holiday period.

‘Colleagues and their families who have come back from Wuhan are all in isolation at home. The infection is spreading very fast,’ Mr Gou added.

Company workers in Wuhan, the centre of the outbreak, have been wearing facemasks and getting their temperature checked, the Apple supplier also said.

Citic Securities and investment bank China International Capital Corp have asked employees to avoid trips to Wuhan and Hubei province, where the city is located, if they can.

Thai officials today confirmed a fourth case, a 73-year-old woman who developed a fever after returning from Wuhan.

Officials at Taiwan’s Center for Disease Control use thermal scanners to screen passengers arriving on a flight from China’s Wuhan province

A child wears a facemask at Daxing international airport in Beijing as he heads home for the Lunar New Year

DOCTOR INVESTIGATING OUTBREAK ADMITS HE HAS CAUGHT THE VIRUS

A leading Chinese doctor investigating the killer coronavirus yesterday admitted he has caught the SARS-like infection.

Wang Guangfa, who heads the department of pulmonary medicine at Beijing’s Peking University First Hospital, was part of a team of experts that earlier this month visited Wuhan, where the virus first emerged.

‘I was diagnosed and my condition is fine,’ Dr Wang told Kong’s Cable TV. He said he is receiving treatment and will have an ‘injection’ soon.

Dr Guangfa is one of the national experts that previously said the pneumonia-causing virus, which has never been seen before, was under control.

Wang Guangfa has been infected with the new virus in China after being part of a team of doctors investigating it in Wuhan, where the virus emerged

She was being monitored in an isolated ward in a hospital in Nakhon Pathom, 37 miles (60km) west of Bangkok.

In a message to the country, Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said: ‘We can control the situation.

‘There have not been cases of human-to-human transmission in Thailand because we detected the patients as soon as they arrived.’

Saying there are no reports of the infection spreading to others, he added: ‘We checked all of them: taxi drivers, people who wheeled the wheelchairs for the patients, doctors and nurses who worked around them.’

Two other Chinese patients in Thailand have recovered and been sent home, while a third will return once tests show he is clear of the virus. One of the four patients was a Thai national.

Thai officials have stepped up screening at airports to look for passengers with high body temperatures, coughs, headaches and trouble breathing.

The Chinese-ruled gambling hub of Macau today confirmed its first case of the coronavirus – A 52-year-old Wuhan businesswoman.

She took a high-speed train to the Chinese city of Zhuhai on January 19, then a shuttlebus to Macau. She had dinner with two friends, then went to the hotel and spent a long time in casinos.

She was in a stable condition in an isolation ward. Her two friends were also being monitored and were in isolation.

Officials quickly moved to tighten temperature screening measures in casinos and around the city. A total of 405 guest entrances and 47 staff entrances have been provided with portable screening devices and all casino staff have to wear surgical masks.

The outbreak is believed to have started late last month among people connected to a seafood market in Wuhan, where all six fatalities have happened

Chinese quarantine workers wearing protective suits and masks are posted at an entrance to the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan

DONALD TRUMP SAYS AMERICA HAS A PLAN TO CONTAIN THE SPREAD OF THE VIRUS

Donald Trump says America has a plan to contain the spread of a deadly new virus from China after the first case was confirmed in the states.

The President, speaking at Davos in Switzerland where he is attending the World Economic Forum, praised the Centers for Disease Control and said the situation was being handled ‘very well’.

The first case of coronavirus was confirmed in Washington state on Tuesday when an unnamed man in his 30s was hospitalized after returning home from China.

All performers and staff at the events hosted across Macau will be screened.

Entry points into Macau will also have temperature checks and visitors will be asked to fill in a health declaration form.

The tourist-magnet casino industry in Macau, which returned to Chinese rule in 1999, accounts for more than 80 per cent of the revenue in the city of 600,000 people. Macau is a popular Lunar New Year destination for mainland Chinese.

Officials have today announced football and boxing qualifying matches held in Wuhan for the Tokyo Olympic Games will be moved from Wuhan.

Wuhan is at the centre of the ever-growing outbreak, which has sickened at least 450 people across Asia and spread to US.

The Asian Football Confederation today said the women’s qualifiers being held at Wuhan will be moved to the eastern city of Nanjing.

An official uses an infrared thermometer on a traveler at a health screening checkpoint at Wuhan Tianhe International Airport. Wuhan is at the centre of the outbreak

Staff in biohazard suits hold a metal stretcher by the in-patient department of Wuhan Medical Treatment Centre, where patients are being treated for the new coronavirus

Inside the epicentre of the deadly Chinese virus: First pictures show Wuhan doctors in hazmat suits treating patients who are struck down with the life-threatening infection

A Chinese hospital has released first pictures of doctors treating patients who have been struck down by a new deadly virus.

Images shared by the Central Hospital of Wuhan, where the virus originated, show medics donning hazmat suits attending to the sufferers at the hospital’s intensive care units.

The never-before-seen pictures were taken inside the intensive care units of the Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine of the hospital in Wuhan.

This picture released by the Central Hospital of Wuhan shows a medic donning full-body hazardous material suit looking after one patient who has been infected by a new deadly virus

Another medic in hazmat suit is seen checking the medical equipment inside the hospital’s intensive care units. Nine people have been killed by the virus since it emerged last month

Doctors at the Central Hospital of Wuhan clench their fists to show their determination to fight the virus. ‘Salute to the medical workers who fight on the front line!’ the hospital said in a post

The never-before-seen pictures were taken inside the intensive care units of the Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine of the hospital in Wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak

THE KILLER VIRUS MAY HAVE COME FROM BATS, SCIENTISTS SAY

The killer coronavirus sweeping across the world may have come from bats, scientists have said.

Researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the People’s Liberation Army and Institut Pasteur of Shanghai came to the conclusion.

In a statement, the team said: ‘The Wuhan coronavirus’ natural host could be bats… but between bats and humans there may be an unknown intermediate.

Tests of the virus, which has yet to be named, have revealed it targets a protein called ACE2 – just like its cousin SARS, the South China Morning Post reported.

Tracing the evolution of the virus, the team of experts found it belonged to betacoronavirus, making it structurally similar to SARS.

Authorities have pointed the blame on food markets in Wuhan, the Chinese city at the centre of the outbreak that scientists are scrambling to contain.

Rodents and bats among other animals are slaughtered and sold in traditional ‘wet markets’, which tourists flock to see the ‘real’ side of the country.

Viruses – including ones carried by animals – are constantly changing and may over time become strong enough to infect humans.