No patient unchecked
China steps up virus response as cases fall for second day
Inspectors in protective suits went door-to-door yesterday in the epicentre of China’s viral outbreak to try to find every infected person in an epidemic that is showing signs of waning as new cases fell for a second straight day.
The city of Wuhan, where the new form of coronavirus emerged, was in the final day of a campaign to root out anyone with symptoms whom authorities may have missed so far.
“This must be taken seriously,” said Wang Zhonglin, the city’s newly minted Communist Party secretary.
“If a single new case is found, the district leaders will be held responsible.”
Mainland China reported 1749 new cases and 136 additional deaths. While the overall spread of the virus has been slowing, the situation remains severe in Hubei province, whose capital is Wuhan. Infections in Hubei constitute more than 80 per cent of the country’s 74,185 total cases and 95 per cent of its 2004 deaths, according to data from China’s National Health Commission.
Cities in Hubei with a combined population of more than 60 million have been under lockdown since the Lunar New Year holiday last month, usually the busiest time of the year for travel. Authorities put a halt to nearly all transportation and movement except for quarantine efforts, medical care, and delivery of food and basic necessities. “Wartime” measures were implemented in some places, with residents prevented from leaving their apartments.
The stringent measures have followed public fury over Hubei authorities’ handling of the outbreak when it began in December. The risk of human-to-human transmission was downplayed, and doctors who tried to warn the public were reprimanded by police. Wuhan residents reported overcrowding in hospitals and futile attempts to seek treatment.
Many countries have also set up border screenings and airlines have canceled flights to and from China to
prevent further spread of the disease, which has been detected in around two dozen countries and caused about 1000 confirmed cases outside mainland China. Five deaths have been reported outside the mainland — in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, the Philippines and France.
Passengers began leaving the Diamond Princess cruise ship after the much-criticised two-week on-board quarantine in Japan ended yesterday, with 79 more virus cases confirmed for a total of 621 — the most in any place outside of China.
South Korea evacuated six South Koreans and a Japanese family member from the ship, and they began an additional 14-day quarantine yesterday. More than 300 American passengers were evacuated earlier and are being quarantined in the US, including at least 14 who had tested positive for the virus.
Passengers from the MS Westerdam, another cruise ship, have tested negative for the virus, Cambodia’s Health Ministry announced. Seven hundred of the Westerdam’s passengers had already left Cambodia after the ship docked last week, only to have one woman test positive for the virus when she arrived in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The discovery that the woman haboured the virus caused the suspension of plans to send home the other passengers still in Cambodia.
The dispersal of those who had already left for various countries has caused concern that they might be undetected carriers of the virus, and health authorities in several nations were tracing them to take protective measures.