Xi talks of ‘devil’ virus as country isolated
China faced increasing international isolation yesterday as it battled a virus President Xi Jinping described as a ‘‘devil’’.
Neighbouring countries have imposed border restrictions and the United States has urged its citizens to avoid travel to the country. Xi met the head of the World Health Organisation to discuss countermeasures to contain the pneumonic coronavirus as Japan and Germany confirmed two cases in people who had not travelled to China, raising concerns that human-to-human transmission was beginning to take place internationally.
The two new cases, as well as one already detected in Vietnam, raised the prospect of independent secondary epidemics establishing themselves across the world. Until yesterday all but one of the 60 confirmed cases in 13 countries outside China had occurred in people who had recently been in Hubei province where the coronavirus, which spreads between people in droplets from coughs and sneezes, has been concentrated.
‘‘The virus is a devil and we cannot let the devil hide,’’ Xi said after meeting Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the directorgeneral of the WHO, in Beijing. ‘‘China will strengthen international co-operation and welcomes the WHO participation in virus prevention ... China is confident of winning the battle against the virus.’’
Beijing has quarantined about 45 million people in Hubei and the city of Wuhan, home to 11 million and the epicentre of the disease. The number of those killed by the virus rose to 132 yesterday, including the first death in the Chinese capital. According to European Union data, 4528 people in China were confirmed to have the disease, a 60 per cent increase on the day before.
Other countries took further steps to increase their own biosecurity, with Russia closing most of its 3600km border with China in the east until February 7 and barring organised tour groups arriving from China.
Carrie Lam, the chief executive of Hong Kong, who appeared wearing a face mask, said that high-speed trains and ferries connecting it with China would be suspended.
Taiwan advised its citizens against travel to the mainland.
The Philippines, which has not yet reported a coronavirus case, stopped issuing visas on arrival to Chinese passport holders. More than half a million South Koreans signed a petition calling for Chinese visitors to be banned, and Kazakhstan said that it would require medical certificates from Chinese visa applicants.
The US Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention advised travellers to avoid all nonessential travel to China.
America, which had five confirmed cases of coronavirus, was preparing to evacuate about 300 of its 1000 nationals from Wuhan by chartered aircraft. The US also asked China to work closely with the international health authorities over the outbreak. ‘‘We are urging China, more co-operation and transparency are the most important steps you can take toward a more effective response,’’ Alex Azar, the US secretary of health and human services, said.
Japan is to fly back 200 of its citizens trapped in the city today. Shinzo Abe, the prime minister, said that they would be allowed home after quarantine procedures at the airport but must remain inside for about two weeks. Similar charter flights are due to bring out French, German and British citizens over the next few days.
Mathematical models run at Northeastern University in the United States calculated that there were 25,000 infections in China, more than five times the amount officially tallied by the government.