The number of confirmed cases in China increased to 11,791, exceeding the number of infections during the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)
The death toll from a new virus in China rose to 259 on Saturday, and an official from the World Health Organization (WHO) said other governments should prepare for “control of domestic outbreaks” if the disease spreads by their countries.
Beijing criticized Washington’s order to prevent the entry of the majority of foreigners who visited the Asian country in the last two weeks.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced similar measures on Saturday, after Japan and Singapore.
On the other hand, South Korea and India evacuated hundreds of their citizens from Wuhan, the city that is in the center of a region where some 50 million people are prohibited from leaving in a broad government effort to control the disease. Indonesia also sent a plane.
The number of confirmed cases in China increased to 11,791, exceeding the number of infections during the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in 2002-2003. The rapid spread of the virus in just two months led WHO to declare a global emergency on Thursday.
This statement meant moving from prior caution to recommending governments to prepare for the possibility that the virus could spread, said the representative of the United Nations health agency in Beijing, Gauden Galea. The majority of cases reported at the moment are from people who visited China or from relatives.
WHO acted out of concern that the poorest countries might not be equipped to respond to the situation, Galea said. Such a declaration requires a coordinated international response and can contribute more money and resources.
The agency said it was especially concerned about some cases abroad in which there was contagion from person to person.
The United States declared a public health emergency on Friday and President Donald Trump signed an order that will temporarily ban foreign citizens – except for direct family members of Americans and permanent residents – who have traveled to China in the past 14 days, which according to scientists is the longest incubation period for the virus.
The Chinese government criticized the measure, which he said contradicts the World Health Organization’s call to avoid travel bans, and the “hostile comments” that Beijing was not cooperating.
“Just when WHO recommended not to restrict travel, the United States hastened to act in the opposite way. It is certainly not a gesture of goodwill, ”said Hua Chunying, spokesman for the chancery.
On the other hand, the ruling Communist Party postponed the end of the Lunar New Year holiday in Hubei Province, where Wuhan is located, during an unspecified “appropriate extension”, and urged the population there to remain in their homes.
Another city in the quarantined region, Huanggang, on Saturday prohibited most residents from leaving their homes in the toughest control imposed to date. One person per home may go abroad to buy food once every two days, the government said.
“Others will not be allowed to leave except to receive medical treatment, perform epidemic control and prevention work or work in supermarkets and pharmacies,” the announcement explained.
The isolation measures, which are increasingly drastic, began on January 23 with the suspension of air, bus and train trips to Wuhan, an industrial center with 11 million inhabitants. The quarantine was extended to nearby cities.
The holiday of the new year concludes Sunday in the rest of the country after an extension of three days to postpone the return of hundreds of millions of Chinese workers to factories and offices. The state news agency Xinhua said that people in Hubei who work outside the province were also allowed to extend the holiday.
The party’s decision “highlights the importance of preventing and controlling the epidemic among travelers,” Xinhua said.
Americans returning from China may enter the country, but they will be checked at certain ports of entry and asked to monitor for 14 days. Those who return from Hubei will have to be in quarantine that same number of days.
As of Sunday, the United States will also send all flights from China to seven major airports where passengers can be checked.
The United States issued its order following a trip recommendation to the Americans to consider leaving China. Japan and Germany also recommended avoiding nonessential travel, just like Britain, except for Hong Kong and Macau.
At least 23 countries reported cases of the disease since China informed WHO about the existence of the new virus at the end of December.
Spain reported its first case on Friday night. This is a German citizen who was in contact with an affected person in Germany and then traveled to the Canary Islands with some friends. The four people who were hospitalized with him had no symptoms of the disease.
The death rate in China is going down, but the number of confirmed cases will continue to grow because thousands of samples are still suspected cases to be analyzed, said Galea, the WHO official.
“The case mortality rate is being set at a much lower level than the one reported three, now four, weeks ago,” he added.
Both the new virus and SARS belong to the coronavirus family, which also includes those caused by the common flu.
With information from Diario Libre.
