CHINA PLANS TO BAN SINGLE-USE PLASTIC BY 2022
Prez calls for ‘every possible measure’ to combat virus that has infected over 200 people
Beijing, Jan. 20: Chinese President Xi Jinping said Monday that it’s “extremely crucial” to take every possible measure to combat a new coronavirus that has infected more than 200 people in the country.
His remarks, cited by state broadcaster CCTV, came the same day that the country reported a sharp rise in the number of people infected by the novel form of viral pneumonia, including the first cases in the capital.
“The recent outbreak of novel coronavirus pneumonia in Wuhan and other places must be taken seriously,” Xi said, according to CCTV.
“Party committees, governments and relevant departments at all levels should put people’s lives and health first.”
Health authorities in the central city of Wuhan, where the viral pneumonia appears to have originated,
■ THE MYSTERIOUS SARS-like virus has killed a third person, spread around China and reached a third Asian country, authorities said on Monday, fuelling fears of a major outbreak as millions begin travelling for the Lunar New Year in humanity’s biggest migration.
said an additional 136 cases have been confirmed in the city, which now has a total of 198 infected patients.
As of the weekend, a third patient had died, bringing the death toll to three. Five individuals in Beijing and 14 in southern China’s Guangdong have also been diagnosed with the new coronavirus, state broadcaster CCTV reported Monday evening.
A total of seven suspected cases have been found in other parts of the country, including in Sichuan and Yunnan provinces in the southwest and in Shanghai.
The outbreak has put other countries on alert as millions of Chinese travel for Lunar New Year.
Authorities in Thailand and in Japan have already identified at least three cases, all involving recent travel from China.
South Korea reported its first case Monday, when a 35-year-old Chinese woman from Wuhan tested positive for the new coronavirus one day after arriving at Seoul’s Incheon airport. The woman has been isolated at a state-run hospital in Incheon city, just west of Seoul, the Korea Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention said in a statement. At least a half-dozen countries in Asia and three US airports have started screening incoming airline passengers from central China.
Videos posted online show people in protective suits checking one-by-one the temperatures of plane passengers arriving in Macao from Wuhan.
A man surnamed Yang who works for the Macao Health Bureau confirmed over the phone that such checks are taking place in the southern Chinese region. Many of the initial cases of the coronavirus were linked to a seafood market in Wuhan, which was closed as authorities investigated.
China’s National Health Commission said experts have judged the current outbreak to be “preventable and controllable.”
Beijing: China will ban plastic bags in major cities and single-use straws from restaurants by the end of this year in a bid to cut down on waste. The country is one of the world’s biggest users of plastic, and the plan targets a 30 percent reduction in disposable plastic utensils used by the takeaway food industry in major cities within five years. In a document, the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Ecology and Environment said the production and sale of disposable polystyrene and plastic tableware will be banned by the end of the year.