Evacuees fly back from coronavirus-hit Wuhan
WARNING ISSUED US advises citizens not to travel to China; UK confirms first coronavirus cases; spread overtakes SARS
BEIJING/NEW DELHI: A special Air India jet left Wuhan with 366 Indians on Friday, the first of two flights that will evacuate Indian citizens stranded in the central China city that is the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak.
The departures took place on a day when the number of deaths due to the pathogen reached 213 and confirmed infections globally neared 10,000. The speed of the spread — coronavirus infections have now surpassed the total number of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) cases seen in 2003 — prompted World Health Organization (WHO) late on Thursday to declare the outbreak a global health emergency.
According to Indian aviation officials, a Boeing 747-400 — one of the largest in Air India’s fleet — arrived in Wuhan on Friday evening with a team of doctors to take back the Indians who had been stranded in a city of nearly 11 million people now completely locked down over the outbreak. The jet left India with 20 crew members, five doctors from Delhi’s Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) hospital and an Air India paramedic with stocks of medicines, masks, protective gear and packed food. The aircraft, which can seat 423 people, also had on-board a team of engineers and security personnel.
“No service will take place in the plane. Whatever food is there will be kept in seat pockets. As there will be no service, there will be no interaction between the cabin crew and passengers,” said Ashwani Lohani, the chairman and managing director of Air India who was present during the departure.
Among the 366 are 280 men while the rest are women and children. All of these passengers will be allowed to board the plane only if they do not show symptoms of an infection — cough, fever, etc. Once they reach Delhi, the men will be taken to an Indian Army-managed camp in Manesar that has been turned into a special quarantined facility. The women and children will be taken to the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) operated Chhawla Camp in southwest Delhi.
“They can be monitored for a duration of two weeks by a qualified team of doctors and staff members to watch for any signs of infection,” an official in the defence ministry aware of the plans said, asking not to be identified.
HT reported on Thursday that defence forces were preparing special facilities to isolate the people being brought back from Wuhan on the request of the Union health ministry.
A joint team of the Armed Forces Medical Services (AFMS) and Airport Health Authority will screen the evacuees in a two-step process at the Delhi airport.
“The first one being screening at the airport followed by quarantine at Manesar and if any individual is suspected to be infected, he/she will be shifted to the isolation ward at Base Hospital Delhi Cantonment (BHDC),” said an army press release. The passengers will be classified into three groups: “suspect cases” showing any sign of fever, cough, or respiratory distress; “close contact and non-contact cases” which will include anyone who has no symptom but visited the Wuhan seafood and animal market.
BEIJING/ WASHINGTON: The novel coronavirus outbreak in China has killed 213 people and infected nearly 10,000, health officials said on Friday, as the country grapples with the fast-spreading epidemic.
The outbreak has now surpassed the total from the 20022003 SARS epidemic. More than 130 cases have been reported in at least 24 countries.
As many as 43 deaths were reported overnight, the largest number in a day since the epidemic broke out, in the central Chinese province of Hubei, which at the centre of the outbreak, has millions of people under an unprecedented lockdown to contain the disease.
Officials said over 1,200 were critical while around 170 have recovered from the infection until now.
The US on Thursday became the first country to issue a travel advisory for China in view of the spreading outbreak. “Do not travel to China due to the novel coronavirus first identified in Wuhan, China,” the US state department said, issuing a “Level 4: Do Not Travel” advisory.
Later, Beijing sharply criticised the US for issuing the travel advisory. “Certain US officials’ words and actions are neither factual nor appropriate,” China’s foreign affairs ministry spokesman Hua Chunying said.
Also, two patients in the UK, members of the same family, tested positive for the coronavirus, the British government said. The patients are receiving special care in Newcastle.
“We are already working rapidly to identify any contacts the patients had, to prevent further spread,” chief medical officer Chris Whitty said.
More countries, including South Korea and the UK, evacuated their citizens from Hubei’s capital, Wuhan, which is where the virus originated.
More than 100,000 people mostly family and friends of the infected - in China are said to be under medical observation.
Reports say there’s been a gradual rise in the number of cases outside the province of Hubei. The five major cities of China - Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Chongqing - are likely to see a sharp rise in cases.
Many airlines have suspended flights to China to slow the spread of the coronavirus. Wuhan has been cut off since January 23, as also the Hubei province. A sanitary cordon by means 56 million people living in the region are unable to leave.