Chinese Lunar New Year 2020 under the shadow of Wuhan Pneumonia
At the beginning of the Lunar New Year, a new type of coronavirus-induced pneumonia epidemic is still spreading, emergency epidemic prevention measures have been adopted around the world, and a central epidemic prevention work leading group has been set up in Beijing.
On january 25th (the first day of the year), a number of chinese media reported that the entire national travel team was suspended from now on, and beijing suspended all travel team operations and air-ticket plus hotel services including outbound tours from january 27th. Affected visitors and travel agents may negotiate and resolve follow-up matters in accordance with the terms of the contract and related law.
China`s Xinhua news agency reported that Xi Jinping, the general secretary of the Communist Party of China`s central government, presided over a standing meeting of the Politburo on Tuesday and announced the establishment of a leading group for the work of the epidemic, led by the Politburo.
According to the report," Xi Jinping pointed out that in the face of the serious situation of rapid spread of pneumonia with new coronavirus infection, we must strengthen the central and unified leadership of the Party ".
In addition, the Hong Kong Chief Executive, Mrs Carrie Lam, announced on Tuesday that Hong Kong`s response plan to the "Wuhan Pneumonia" epidemic had escalated to an emergency, extended winter holidays for schools, and announced six epidemic prevention measures, including the indefinite suspension of flights to and from Wuhan, high-speed rail, health declaration for passengers from mainland, China, and suspension of all exchange activities from the HKSAR to mainland.
Previously, U.S. media reported that the U.S. was arranging charter flights to evacuate Chinese consular staff and American citizen in Wuhan.
The multinational airport immigration department has stepped up health checks for passengers from Wuhan, China. Pictured is Indonesia`s Jakarta airport.
As of january 24th, china`s state health and health commission said that as of 24th,1287 cases had been diagnosed in china,41 cases in death and 38 cases had been cured and discharged.
For the first time, a medical worker died of a suspected infection. Liang Wudong, an otolaryngologist at the Hubei Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine Hospital in Wuhan, died of a suspected new type of coronary virus, several Chinese media reported. In addition, on January 25, the youngest infected person was a 2-year-old girl in Guangxi.
Outbreaks have been reported in 30 provinces (districts and municipalities) in China, of which Hubei is the worst, with 729 confirmed cases and 39 death cases. As of the 25th,30 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions have started the first-level response mechanism.
There have been 5 confirmed cases in Hong Kong,2 cases in Macau and 3 cases in TW.
The new corona has spread to Europe. France confirmed three confirmed cases, including the first in Bordeaux and the other two in the Paris region, health minister said late Friday.
Virus dilutes Spring Festival
At present,30 provinces (districts and municipalities) have reported the epidemic, of which Hubei is the most serious. The picture shows medical staff treating patients in the intensive isolation unit of Wuhan Central South Hospital.
As the epidemic spread, many places in China cancelled the Spring Festival celebrations. Hubei except Xiangyang city and Shennongjia forest area, the rest of the cities have been closed. Beijing closed the Forbidden City, the Great Wall and other scenic spots, and cancelled large-scale celebrations including temple fairs. China`s seven Spring Festival films have also announced the withdrawal of all, and Guangdong Province has announced the suspension of cinemas during the Spring Festival.
Chinese media quoted the Shanghai Railway Administration as saying that in order to prevent and control the new coronavirus epidemic, several railway trains in the Yangtze River Delta region will be suspended from Saturday (January 25), and the terminal stations include Shanghai, Hangzhou, Wuhan, Nanjing, Zhengzhou, Nantong, Hefei, Qingdao and Wenzhou.
On New Year`s Eve, January 24, China`s social media were also overwhelmed by the pneumonia outbreak, with videos of some health care workers collapsing and depressed being heavily retweeted on Weibo. Many other netizens said they had reduced their plans to celebrate the New Year.
Chris Buckley, a New York Times runner-up in Wuhan, said on Twitter that most of the patient`s family members were in no mood for a holiday and just wanted more information.
Hubei radio and television official social app account 24 night said that the current Wuhan hospital protection supplies are tight, the stock may only be enough to maintain 3-5 days, now accept social donations.
China`s China Health and Key Commission has sent six 1230-strong medical aid teams to Wuhan for support, CCTV said.
A total of 450 people from three Chinese Liberation Army medical teams, from Shanghai, Chongqing and Xi`an respectively, went to Wuhan to receive hospital support with more cases.
Wuhan is in the construction of a special hospital in Caidian District officially named the Fire God Hill Hospital. The new hospital is scheduled to be completed on february 3, focusing on patients with new coronavirus infections.
To ease bed strain and better contain the epidemic, Wuhan plans to set up within six days a hospital dedicated to treating new cases of coronary pneumonia. The special hospital under construction in Caidian District is officially named Vulcan Mountain Hospital, and the new hospital is scheduled to be completed on February 3.
This is similar to the small Tangshan model of the 2003 SARS epidemic. At that time, Beijing built a small Tangshan Hospital in the suburbs of the city for seven days, with X-ray room, CT room, aggravated ward and laboratory facilities, each with a separate toilet. In a two-month period, mr. tsan once treated nearly one-seventh of china`s "SARS" patients.
First confirmed case in Europe
As China`s epidemic worsened, many countries have stepped up quarantine of aircraft from China. A group of Chinese passengers wear masks as they arrive at London`s Heathrow Airport on January 24.
France`s Ministry of Health said the third of the three confirmed cases in France were relatives of one of the first two. At least two of the three have been to China. One person is currently hospitalized in Bordeaux and the other two are in Paris.
The first confirmed case was a 48-year-old chinese male who went to wuhan, according to french health minister buzan. Mr Buzan said other cases were expected in Europe.
Singapore confirmed a third confirmed case on Friday, which is believed to be the son of another confirmed patient. Malaysia says it has three confirmed cases, all of which are relatives of singapore`s first.
In addition, the United States has two diagnoses, Thailand five, Japan, Vietnam and South Korea each have two, Nepal one.
At the same time, there were 5 confirmed cases in Hong Kong,2 cases in Macau and 3 cases in TW.
The World Health Organization this week chose not to characterize the outbreak as an "international emergency," in part because the number of diagnoses outside China is still low.
But Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director general, said the future epidemic could still develop into an international emergency.
What does the first-level response mean?
China has 18 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government) that have initiated a first-level response to major public health emergencies, including Guangdong, Hunan, Zhejiang, Hubei, Tianjin, Anhui, Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing, Sichuan, Jiangxi, Yunnan, Guizhou, Shandong, Fujian, Guangxi, Hebei and Jiangsu.
In China, the response mechanism of major public health events is divided into one to four levels, and the corresponding severity is respectively In particular Major, significant, large and general.
The Beijing Health and Health Commission was quoted in the Chinese media as saying that the first-level response should focus on the implementation of the four responsibilities, including the local government at all levels, health, education, drug supervision and other departments, various social organizations and public places, and the epidemic prevention responsibilities of individuals in the region.
At the same time, there are plenty of social media in china that see people unhappy about how authorities in wuhan responds.
On January 24, the party`s "Hubei Daily," journalist Zhang Ouya, wrote in Weibo that" Wuhan`s "top leaders" must "change their heads instantly ". ""for Wuhan, hope to change immediately! ! ! "
This post caused many netizens to agree, but can no longer be found on Zhang Eurasian Weibo. According to a red-headed document sent by the Hubei Daily to the Wuhan Municipal Party Committee, the municipal government and the municipal defense and control headquarters on the Internet on the 24th, the Hubei Daily reported that Zhang Eurasia`s "false remarks" had caused some of the media to "bad spread ", and he had been ordered to delete them and apologize to various units.
Source of article: The British Broadcasting Corporation
