Study says 3,000 medics infected; Two Sessions likely to be postponed

Troubling data comes as more than 100 new deaths pushed Covid-19 death toll in China to 1,770

BEIJING: More than 3,000 medical workers have likely been infected with the covid-19 virus by February 11, a new study by the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention has found.

Many cases among them were severe in nature, found the study, as more than 100 new deaths on Sunday pushed the death toll in China to 1,770.

Contrary to what was being assumed earlier, the virus is much more infectious than both the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and the middleeastern respiratory syndrome (MERS), the study said.

“Among the 422 medical institutions providing diagnosis and treatment services for patients with new coronary pneumonia (covid-19), a total of 3019 medical staff were infected with the new coronavirus,” said the CDC study conducted on more than 72,000 patients with both confirmed and suspected cases.

Some infections may have been through non-occupational exposures, said the study published on Monday in the Chinese Journal of Epidemiology.

The study titled Analysis of the

Epidemiological Features of New Coronavirus Pneumonia was written by the CDC’S Epidemiology Group of the Emergency Response Mechanism of New Coronavirus Pneumonia.

DEATH RATE OF 2%: WHO

The disease has a death rate of 2%, with death risk increasing with age, World Health Organization said on Monday based on a paper published by China.

According to WHO, the data gives a better understanding about the age range of people affected, the severity of the disease and the mortality rate.

“In 2% of reported #COVID19 cases, the virus is fatal & the risk of death increases the older you are. We see relatively few cases among children. More research is needed to understand why. These new data address some of the gaps in our understanding, but others remain,” tweeted WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

The data also appears to show a decline in new covid-19 cases.

TWO SESSIONS IN DOUBT

The Chinese government is set to make the unprecedented call to postpone its biggest political gathering held in Beijing every

March because of the covid-19 epidemic.

The standing committee of China’s rubber-stamp Parliament, the National People’s Congress (NPC), will meet later this month to discuss the postponement, state media reported, indicating that the decision to push it back is but a formality.

The official statement didn’t mention it but the postponement was likely caused by the risk of cross-infection among the thousands who gather for it inside the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

Thousands of members from all of China’s provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions gather in Beijing for two weeks in March for the session, commonly referred to as the Two Sessions.

It comprises two separate meetings: One of NPC deputies, and the other of delegates to the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Congress (CPPCC), the country’s top political advisory committee. The NPC has 2,980 deputies while the CPPCC has 2,158 delegates. The third annual session of the 13th NPC was originally planned to open on March 5 in Beijing at the Great Hall of the People. New dates for the meeting will be announced later.