China struggling to contain virus
Anxiety rising as further cases of the deadly infection appear around world
THE contrast could hardly be more stark. The usually bustling streets of Wuhan, a city of 11 million people, were ‘eerily quiet’ yesterday – while the wards and corridors of its hospitals were scenes of everincreasing chaos.
Anxiety grew when the state media reported an admission by Chinese President Xi Jinping that his country was facing a ‘grave situation’. Such candour is rare from a regime that prides itself on keeping problems out of public view.
‘Faced with the grave situation of an accelerating spread of the new coronavirus ... it is necessary to strengthen the centralised and unified leadership of the Party Central Committee,’ Xi said, according to official news agency Xinhua.
The horrors in Wuhan slipped through even the vicelike grip of Chinese censors. More and more social media video clips laid bare the appalling situation inside Wuhan’s overcrowded hospitals, including footage of a doctor apparently collapsing on the floor.
In other videos, staff were seen shouting at patients. Some exhausted medical workers were reported to be wearing adult nappies because demand meant they had no time to use the lavatory.
As the day wore on, observers have begun to believe that even the might of China is proving unable to
‘Local medical system in complete meltdown’
cope with coronavirus as the local medical system was in ‘complete meltdown’.
Britain, France and Germany have now begun to evacuate their citizens from Wuhan. One UK source said that leaving them there ‘could prove to be a death sentence. We need to get people out’.
For three days, Wuhan has been a city alone after the authorities closed bridges and tunnels connecting different districts. On Friday, the government announced an effective ‘curfew’ and all journeys by private car were banned from midnight last night.
Here, the HSE and Irish ports are said to be closely monitoring the spread of the deadly coronavirus as three cases have been confirmed in France. As of yet, there has been no update on the advice from the Department of Foreign Affairs given earlier this week and no additional precautions have been put in place at Irish airports.
In a statement issued by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control yesterday: ‘The first confirmed cases in Europe are not unexpected given the developments of the last few days with several cases reported in countries outside of China.
The fact that these cases were identified, proves detection and confirmation of this novel virus is working in France, showing a high level of preparedness to prevent and control possible infections of the virus. It added: ‘At this stage, it is likely there will be more imported cases in Europe. Even if there are still many things unknown about the coronavirus, European countries have the necessary capacities to prevent and control an outbreak as soon as cases are detected.’
The HSE’s Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) has issued a list of criteria to hospitals on how to treat potential cases. If a patient presents with fever, shortness of breath and a sore throat and has visited Wuhan, where the virus originated, the Hubei Province or China in the last two weeks – they will be classified as a possible case. To date, a small number of cases have been tested here but Ireland has no confirmed cases.
The Department of Foreign Affairs has maintained its advice to Irish citizens in China: ‘We advise you to exercise a high degree of caution due to the risk of arbitrary enforcement of local laws.’
A spokeswoman told the MoS the department is monitoring the situation closely. A spokesman for Dublin Airport and Cork Airport said that there has been no additional instructions yet to increase precautions or to introduce additional checks on passengers but
they are aware the situation is ‘fluid’ and could potentially change. There are no direct flights from the city of Wuhan to Ireland.
British PE teacher Kharn Lambert, who has lived in Wuhan for five years said: ‘It’s a complete ghost-town out there.’
He ventured out on Thursday to replenish stocks of food, but found many store shelves ‘picked clean’.
According to reports, America has arranged a charter flight for its nationals today.
Officials say 1,372 people across China have been infected. Few believe them – and the numbers of cases reported elsewhere around the world have begun to grow. As frantic efforts to erect two hospitals in less than a week in China continued, it emerged the dead included a doctor who had been treating patients in Wuhan.
Yesterday, Australia confirmed four cases, the same number as Malaysia. France has three and five were reported in Hong Kong.
The virus has also been detected across Asia.
‘It’s a complete ghost town out there’