Issei Kato Reuters
Japanese medics continued to evacuate passengers and crew members from the Diamond Princess on Tuesday, after 65 more people on board the cruise ship tested positive for the virus a day earlier. Deaths from the virus have topped 1,000, nearly all in China. So far 135 people on board the ship have been diagnosed as infected, and have been or will be sent to local hospitals for treatment.
In China, authorities in the virus-hit city of Wuhan have announced fresh restrictions on residents, making millions of people virtual prisoners in their own homes. Two provincial health bosses have been fired as the Communist Party struggles to contain widespread anger over the spread of the virus. Here’s what we know:
● The death toll from the new coronavirus surged beyond 1,000 in mainland China, with more than 100 deaths in a single day, a record. The number of confirmed infections continues to rise but the rate of growth is slowing.
● Authorities in Wuhan tightened restrictions on citizens, with just one member of a household allowed to make one shopping trip every three days, and entire buildings placed under quarantine.
● More than a dozen ambulances are lined up alongside the Diamond Princess in Yokohama as medical staff evacuate passengers and crew confirmed as carrying the virus.
● China has removed the two top provincial health bosses in the province of Hubei at the center of the virus epidemic, as Communist officials seek to assuage public anger.
2:45 AM: China calls for privacy protection after leaks of Wuhan residents’ data
BEIJING — China’s Internet supervisor called on Tuesday for stricter controls on personal information, after the widespread leaking of the personal details of people from Wuhan, those who had visited the city and anyone else infected with coronavirus.
People returning from Wuhan are asked to register with local authorities, but many of them found forms with their personal information — name, home address, ID, phone number, and even college entrance exam scores — being passed around in WeChat groups, sometimes marked as “suspected cases.”
Many people have complained about getting threat messages or harassment calls as a result, and the hashtag #WuhanReturneesInfoLeak has been a trending topic on the Weibo social media platform since late January.
The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) said on Tuesday that no organization or individual other than authorized health departments should collect personal information “for disease treatment and prevention” without permission, let alone share them on social media,
Hong Yanqing, a Peking University researcher and senior CAC official said “big data” analysis of epidemic control involves collecting large amounts of personal information, but said not everyone had the right or capacity to do so.
One student studying at a college in Wuhan returned to his home in Hebei on Jan. 11 for the winter holiday, and voluntarily isolated himself for over 20 days at home, without showing any symptoms.
But in late January his details appeared on a list widely circulated on social media of nearly 1,000 people who had either studied, worked in, or been to Wuhan.
“I cooperated with the government and answered their questions because I understood it was standard practice. But how on earth did my detailed personal information get leaked online?” he asked in a social media post.
“I already knew that there were people illegally collecting personal information and trading them for one yuan [14 U.S. cents] per 10 names. Imagine how many more people’s information is going to get leaked if such documents continue to be shared online, and imagine these getting into the hands of criminals.”
Another Wuhan university student from Hunan province said he had stopped going out or meeting anyone since his personal information was leaked.
By: Lyric Li with Simon Denyer in Tokyo
1:57 AM: Ambulances wait to take patients off virus-ravaged cruise ship
TOKYO — More than a dozen ambulances were waiting near the Diamond Princess in the Japanese port of Yokohama on Tuesday, as medical staff continue to evacuate passengers from the quarantined cruise ship confirmed as being infected with the virus.
Japan’s health ministry said on Monday that 65 more people on board the ship have tested positive for the virus, bringing to 135 the total number infected. Many of the passengers are elderly, posing additional health risks as the virus has proved much deadlier among elderly people and those with existing health problems.
Charly Triballeau
Afp Via Getty Images
People wearing protective suits walk from the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Yokohama port on Tuesday.
The sharp rise in infected people appeared to take Japanese authorities by surprise, and they were unable to organize evacuations for most of the new cases on Monday.
The Health Ministry had been busy talking to hospitals as far away as the city of Nagano northwest of Tokyo to find beds for people, according to a local paper in the city.
Japanese media reported that further tests will be carried out Tuesday on passengers over the age of 80. But given that nearly one in three people who have been tested have been found to be carrying the virus, pressure is mounting on Japan to test everyone.
However, if those tests showed more infected people, it would place a significant burden on Japan’s health system. The ministry says 410 hospitals across the country have the facility to deal with infectious diseases, with a total of 1,871 beds.
There are also fears that the virus could still be transmitted on board the ship, especially among the crew — who have not been quarantined from each other, continue to work and are starting to fall sick in greater numbers.
Read more here: Cruise ship coronavirus infections double, exceeding the total for any country but China
By: Simon Denyer
1:30 AM: Renowned Chinese kidney doctor dies of coronavirus
A Chinese doctor and leading expert in kidney transplants has died of coronavirus at the age of 62, Chinese media reported Tuesday.
Lin Zhengbin, a professor at Tongji Hospital in Wuhan, had practiced kidney transplants for 30 years before dying of the virus on Monday morning.
Co-workers and friends describe him as gentle, slow-tempered, and low profile.
“We had been close friends for years,” his colleague Song Jianxin told the Health Times, a twice-weekly newspaper owned by People's Daily. “He had been in good health and had no existing illnesses, so no one expected his condition to worsen so fast and to get so severe.”
Song, director of the infectious diseases department at Tongji, said he received a message from Lin asking for help after he was admitted to intensive care, but by then he was already on oxygen and was too weak to speak.
“It took less than a month for Lin from getting confirmed [as having the virus] to passing away,” Song said.
Health Times quoted an anonymous doctor as saying that Lin might have got infected during a health checkup at the crowded outpatient department.
“It was the time when staff from our outpatient department were having a group checkup,” the doctor was quoted as saying. “The checkup center is on the third floor, sharing the same floor with the super-crowded pediatrics department. Many people were coming and going, and there weren’t the quarantine measures that are in place now."
Chinese authorities have not disclosed how many medical staff have come down with the virus, but many are believed to have fallen sick.
By: Simon Denyer and Lyric Li
1:15 AM: China tightens restrictions on residents of virus-hit city of Wuhan
Authorities in Wuhan have announced fresh restrictions on residents, effectively making millions of people virtual prisoners in their own homes, as they struggle to control the spread of the epidemic.
Many districts in the city now only allow one member of each household to go shopping every three days. Previously one person had been allowed out every two days.
In a notice issued Monday, the city also said all residential areas will be put under “closed management” and all buildings with suspected or confirmed cases of coronavirus will be placed entirely under quarantine.
China Daily
Reuters
Customers wearing face masks shop inside a supermarket following an outbreak of the novel coronavirus in Wuhan, Hubei province, China Feb. 10, 2020.
The closed management system entails tight controls such as strict controls on entry and exit, including registration and temperature checks, and the banning of outside vehicles.
Wuhan’s epidemic control command center also urged residents to seek medical treatment in hospitals near their residence and banned fever patients from going to hospitals in other districts.
On Sunday alone, 103 people died in the province of Hubei, of which Wuhan is the capital, China’s National Health Commission said. Of the total 1,016 deaths in China, more than 95 percent have occurred in Hubei.
More than 17,000 health workers from around the country have come to Hubei to help in treatment of infected patients, according to Chinese media reports.
By: Simon Denyer and Lyric Li
12:50 AM: Taiwan travelers caught in Philippine travel ban
MANILA — The Philippines widened travel restrictions amid the coronavirus outbreak to include a ban on arrivals from Taiwan, the self-ruled island over which China asserts sovereignty, leaving hundreds of Taiwanese reportedly stranded.
Philippine immigration officials late Monday clarified that a ban on arrivals from China and its special administrative regions, Hong Kong and Macao, also applied to Taiwan. A memo from the Civil Aeronautics Board said this was in line with Manila’s adherence to the “one China” policy.
“While not explicitly stated, we have confirmed with the Secretary of Justice that Taiwan is indeed part of the ban, and this expansion shall be implemented immediately,” said Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente.
A Philippine health official said the policy was clarified last week, but airlines including Cebu Pacific Air and Philippine Airlines only canceled flights between Manila and Taipei on Monday night.
Taiwan News reported that around 500 Taiwanese were consequently stranded in the Philippines.
Philippine officials stressed that the ban is temporary and does not apply to Filipino citizens and permanent residents.
Taiwan has recorded 18 cases of the coronavirus. Some critics see its inclusion in the Philippines’ ban as playing into China’s hands, even as Taiwan has fewer reported cases than Singapore, Thailand, South Korea, and Japan. China, meanwhile, has recorded more than 1,000 deaths and 40,000 cases.
The dispute over Taiwan’s status dates from the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949, when the defeated Kuomintang fled to the island and Communist leader Mao Zedong proclaimed the People’s Republic of China on the mainland.
China considers Taiwan a rogue province to be captured by force if necessary, while Taiwan says it has never been part of the People’s Republic. But the “one China” policy widely observed internationally means the democratic island is often unable to participate fully in global bodies such as the World Health Organization.
By: Regine Cabato
12:28 AM: China dismisses health chiefs in virus-hit Hubei province
China’s Communist Party has dismissed the two most senior officials in the provincial health commission in the virus-hit province of Hubei, as anger continues to reverberate around the country over the authorities’ handling of the epidemic.
Hubei’s provincial government announced that Zhang Jin, the Communist Party secretary of the provincial Hubei’s health commission, along director Liu Yingzi, were both fired on Monday, for unspecified reasons. Their roles will be filled by Wang Hesheng, a member of the provincial committee of the Communist Party and former deputy director of the National Health Commission.
They are among the most senior officials to be fired over the handling of the coronavirus outbreak, with dozens of lower level officials also losing their jobs.
Stringer
Reuters
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang wearing a mask and protective suit speaks to medical workers as he visits the Jinyintan hospital in Wuhan, Hubei province, Jan. 27, 2020.
The central government in Beijing also urged members of the public to report any examples of dereliction of duty among local governments.
Experts say the central and provincial governments share responsibility for initially covering up the epidemic, in ways that made the outbreak far tougher to control. But the central government has tried to shift the blame onto local governments.
The death of doctor Li Wenliang, who tried to warn people about the virus but was silenced by Communist Party authorities and then died of the disease himself, has sparked an outpouring of anger among Chinese citizens.
By: Simon Denyer
12:16 AM: China death toll tops 1,000, with record daily rise of 108
The death toll from the new coronavirus rose to 1,016, with a new daily record rise of 108 deaths on Monday, China’s National Health Commission announced on Tuesday,
More than 700 people were discharged from hospital, bringing to 3,996 the number of people officially classified as cured.
But while the daily death toll continues to accelerate, the rate of growth of new infections has begun to slow slightly. The number of new cases recorded on Monday fell slightly, to 2,478, with the majority in the virus-hit province of Hubei and only 381 in other parts of mainland China.
The number of new cases per day had peaked at 3,887 on Feb. 4, while the number of new infections outside Hubei reached a daily high of 890 on Feb. 3.
But experts say it is too early to say the virus has peaked, especially with many people around China going back to work after the extended Lunar New Year holiday.
Excluding those who have been cured or died, mainland China has a total 37,626 people confirmed as infected with the virus, including 7,333 in serious condition, and 21,675 suspected cases.
Some 428,000 people have been classified as having come into close contact with infected people, and 188,000 are under medical observation.
By: Simon Denyer
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiiwFodHRwczovL3d3dy53YXNoaW5ndG9ucG9zdC5jb20vd29ybGQvYXNpYV9wYWNpZmljL2Nvcm9uYXZpcnVzLWNoaW5hLWxpdmUtdXBkYXRlcy8yMDIwLzAyLzExLzJiOGRlM2JhLTRjNWMtMTFlYS1iNzIxLTlmNGNkYzkwYmMxY19zdG9yeS5odG1s0gEA?oc=5
2020-02-11 07:54:00Z
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