The World Health Organization director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said at a briefing on Wednesday that although the number of newly confirmed cases of coronavirus reported from China had stabilised over the past week, the outbreak 'could still go in any direction'. He also confirmed that Cambodia has agreed to accept the Westerdam cruise ship, which has been stranded at sea for several days over virus fears
Category Archives: Coronavirus outbreak
African countries braced for ‘inevitable’ arrival of coronavirus
Health centres step up preparations as World Health Organization raises fears about ability to cope with major outbreak
African health authorities are stepping up preparedness for coronavirus after the head of the World Health Organzation described the outbreak as a “very grave threat for the rest of the world”.
The number of African countries that can test for the virus tripled to 15 this week, with more expected to have testing labs up and running in the coming days. The head of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said health centres were on “high alert” for new cases.
Continue reading...What China’s empty new coronavirus hospitals say about its secretive system
Even after declaring a crisis, government seemed focused on managing its image as well as the outbreak
China’s two new hospitals built in as many weeks were the official face of its fight against the coronavirus in Wuhan. As the city was locked down, authorities promised that thousands of doctors would be on hand to treat 2,600 patients on the facilities’ wards.
Timelapse videos tracked the almost incomprehensibly fast construction of the hospitals, and state media celebrated their opening in early February. The only thing missing a week later? Patients.
Continue reading...Floating for two weeks: passenger describes life onboard cruise ship refused port – video
Thailand has become the fifth country to deny the MS Westerdam permission to dock over fears that some of its more than 2,000 passengers and crew may be infected with the new coronavirus. A passenger describes life onboard, with no cases of the virus yet found
Continue reading...Coronavirus: Cruise ship turned away from five countries allowed to dock in Cambodia – latest news
MS Westerdam, which has 1,455 passengers and 802 crew, will dock on Thursday as WHO chief warns coronavirus threat is greater than terrorism
- F1’s Chinese GP called off due to coronavirus
- WHO chief says threat of virus is greater than terrorism
- Worthing hospital healthcare worker contracts coronavirus
- Share your stories
A paper in the Lancet medical journal, published online, should dispel some of the worries around reported deaths of some babies born to women who have fallen ill with what is now being called COVID-19 infection.
The authors say preliminary evidence suggests the new coronavirus cannot be passed to the baby in the womb.
Hi, Amy Walker here taking over the blog from my colleague Simon Murphy.
Patients who were treated by the two Brighton GPs who have been diagnosed with coronavirus are being traced by health officials, the BBC has reported.
Continue reading...Coronavirus a test of global solidarity, says WHO director – video
Tedros Adhanom, head of the World Health Organization, calls the coronavirus outbreak a 'test of political solidarity' against a 'common enemy that does not respect borders or ideologies', as well as a test of financial and scientific solidarity. The epidemic has killed more than 1,000 people and infected more 40,000.
Continue reading...Coronavirus live updates: Thailand bars cruise ship as deaths in China pass 1,000 – latest news
Hong Kong’s Carrie Lam tells people to stay at home as nervous global investors turn to safe havens like gold. Follow updates live
- ‘Come back soon’: coronavirus wreaks havoc on global tourism hotspots
- Number of confirmed UK cases rises from four to eight
- Could the coronavirus mutate if a vaccine can’t be found in time?
Chinese state media is reporting that party secretary of Health Commission of Hubei Province, Zhang Jin, and the director of the Hubei Provincial Health Commission, Liu Yingzi, have been fired.
Party Secretary of Health Commission of Hubei Province Zhang Jin and director of the Hubei Provincial Health Commission Liu Yingzi were removed from their posts. The two posts will be taken over by Wang Hesheng, a Standing Committee member of the CPC Hubei Provincial Committee. pic.twitter.com/AnGOVOvDOw
The BBC’s correspondent in China, Stephen McDonell, has tweeted about the China’s national health commission changing the way it counts confirmed cases of the virus.
I have seen a lot of this on social media today.
There does however seem to be a suggestion that a change in definition from #China’s National Health Commission re “confirmed case” could’ve soaked up some of the reduction. Patients with no #coronavirus symptoms not counted as “confirmed” any more even if they test positive.
Continue reading...Xi Jinping appears in public as China returns to work after holiday
President greets workers in Beijing as WHO chief warns cases could be ‘tip of iceberg’
China’s president, Xi Jinping, has made his first public appearance in weeks, as some people began to return to work following the lunar new year holiday, which was extended as authorities grappled with the coronavirus outbreak.
Xi, who has been absent from public view as the crisis worsened, visited a neighbourhood in Beijing’s Chaoyang district. The president had his temperature taken and greeted residents and workers, according to a brief video posted by the state broadcaster CCTV.
Continue reading...Coronavirus live updates: China goes back to work as cases exceed 40,000 – latest news
Death toll inside China rises to 908 as the WHO dispatches a team of experts to Beijing
A memorial for whistleblower doctor Li Wenliang has been held in New York. Li’s death sparked an outpouring of anger inside China. Li was silenced by the government for trying to warn people over the threat of the new virus, and later died after contracting it.
The memorial for Doctor #LiWenliang at Central Park, NYC. The crowd repeated his famous line three times: “一个健康的社会不应该只有一种声音 There should be more than one voice in a healthy society,” followed by a long whistle. pic.twitter.com/fIERhUowH0
Some welcome news for the 3,700 people onboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship, which is quarantined in Yokohama harbour after several cases of coronavirus among passengers.
The quarantine period of the #DiamondPrincess will come to an end on 19 February.
The period will be extended beyond the 19 Feb as appropriate only for close contacts of newly confirmed cases. They need to remain in quarantine for 14 days from last contact with a confirmed case pic.twitter.com/SlaPaKFfwE
Philippines coronavirus patient has recovered, authorities say
Woman, 38, who travelled with the only victim to die outside China and Hong Kong, is no longer infectious, says doctor
The first case of novel coronavirus in the Philippines – a Chinese tourist from Wuhan who had been travelling with a man who died of the virus – is no longer showing symptoms and may be discharged soon.
The last test on the 38-year-old woman, conducted on 6 February, showed she was negative for the virus, according to the health department. Two consecutive negative tests are required before a patient may be discharged.
Continue reading...‘Contact is limited’: inside the world’s coronavirus quarantines – video
People who are being held in facilities in dozens of countries explain what daily life is like and their hopes for returning home soon. China's Hubei province, where the coronavirus originated from, is under lockdown to limit contagion. The death toll has risen to 724, with 86 more people dying in mainland China, according to officials. This is the highest one-day jump so far
- Coronavirus: two deaths in Wuhan thought to be first of foreign nationals
- Wuhan facing 'wartime conditions' as global coronavirus deaths reach 724
- 'Some idiot moaned about breakfast': life in coronavirus quarantine
If China valued free speech, there would be no coronavirus crisis
Country could have contained spread of disease if only it had learned lessons from Sars outbreak
The death of the whistleblower Chinese doctor Li Wenliang has aroused strong emotions across China. Social media is awash with posts mourning the death of a martyr who tried to raise alarm over the coronavirus but was taken into a police station instead for “spreading false rumours” and “disrupting social order”.
Grief quickly turned into angry demands for free speech. The trending topic “we want freedom of speech”, which attracted millions of views, and links to Do You Hear the People Sing, a song popularised in recent Hong Kong protests, were quickly censored by police.
Continue reading...Coronavirus: five new cases in France are British nationals
Child among ski chalet group who came into contact with Briton who had been in Singapore
Five British nationals including a child have been diagnosed with the coronavirus in France, after staying in the same ski chalet and coming into contact with a Briton who had been in Singapore, the French health minister said.
Agnès Buzyn said none of the patients were in a serious condition.
Continue reading...Coronavirus economic impact: Australia could be among world’s hardest hit nations
Australia’s economy is unusually dependent on China, and a coronavirus-driven slowdown could mean billions in lost revenue
Australia could be one of the countries worst affected by the economic impact of the coronavirus outbreak as factories in China remain shuttered and millions of people are confined to their homes and banned from travelling.
The Reserve Bank of Australia on Friday stuck to its forecast of strong growth this year thanks to a rising housing market, and the stock market – along with others around the world – has largely shrugged off concerns about the global impact of the virus to remain close to all-time highs.
Continue reading...China trials anti-HIV drug on coronavirus patients
News of Kaletra being tested as a possible treatment for the disease sparks panic buying
A drug used to treat people with HIV, the virus that causes Aids, is being trialled in patients in China as a possible therapy against the coronavirus.
News that HIV drugs are being deployed in hospitals, however, has led to panic buying on the black market by people who fear they are ill or are going to get sick. They have been obtaining the drug, Kaletra, from generics companies in India and even from people with HIV in China willing to sell or donate their own stocks.
Continue reading...Briton tells of life on cruise ship as fellow passenger tests positive for coronavirus – video
David Abel says in video update on Facebook that he had been dining with fellow Briton who tested positive for coronavirus on a cruise ship docked in Japan. He said Alan Steele was on honeymoon and would be separated from his wife as he was taken off the ship for treatment. Abel has been sharing videos on social media of life under quarantine on the Diamond Princess
Continue reading...South Korean mass wedding defies virus fears – in pictures
Thousands of couples – many in face masks – wed in a mass Unification Church ceremony on Friday despite concerns over the spread of the coronavirus
Continue reading...Concerns coronavirus is going undetected in Indonesia
World’s fourth most populous country says it has no confirmed cases despite close links to China
There is growing concern that the new coronavirus may be going undetected in Indonesia, where officials have not confirmed a single case of infection among the 272 million-strong population despite the country’s close links to China.
As of Thursday, Indonesia said it had no confirmed cases of the coronavirus and that 238 people evacuated from Wuhan, the centre of the outbreak, had not shown symptoms, although it said they hadn’t been tested.
Continue reading...Coronavirus live updates: cruise ship cases rise to 61 as China mourns whistleblower doctor – latest news
Li Wenliang’s death in Wuhan comes as Hong Kong prepares to impose quarantine on mainland travellers. Follow live updates
- Doctor who blew whistle over coronavirus has died, hospital says
- Profile of whistleblower doctor
- First British national to contract coronavirus had been in Singapore
- Share your stories
Toyota has extended the closure of its 12 factories in China by a week.
Officials at the Beijing press conference said they had confidence in the economic system and that the impact on the economy from the outbreak would be “temporary. It will be limited and will not affect the fundamentals, and the economy is sound and stable”.
They added:
The outbreak has taken place during the spring festival and the impact on services is notable. The holiday has been extended and the construction sector and other sectors will be affected. There will be an impact on economic performance in Q1 but the economy will return to productivity when the epidemic is over. Look at 2003 Sars outbreak. There was disrupted growth in Q2 but in Q3 it rebounded. When the epidemic is controlled, the economy will rebound and pent-up investment and consumption released. The Chinese econony will have a quick recovery. it is promising and resilient. The funadmentals will not change. There is ample room for macro regulation – China is one of the few major economies that have normal monetary policy so we have sufficient tools to repsond.
Continue reading...Reserve Bank boss says coronavirus likely to be worse than Sars for Australian economy
Philip Lowe says China’s economy is now bigger and more integrated into the world economy so the impact is likely to be greater
The coronavirus outbreak could do more damage to the Australian economy than 2003’s Sars outbreak, governor of the Reserve Bank Philip Lowe has said.
Appearing before the House of Representatives economics committee in Canberra on Friday, Lowe said China’s economy was now much bigger and more integrated into the world economy.
Continue reading...