Virus spawns buying frenzy
Officials report first American, Japanese deaths in Wuhan
Hong Kong police question a shopkeeper (left) on Saturday as pallets of toilet paper block a road. As the coronavirus continues to spread, panic-buying of essentials has gripped Hong Kong. Deaths in mainland China rose to 811 as of this morning, surpassing the toll from the SARS epidemic in 2002-03. More photos at arkansasonline.com/29virus/.
BEIJING — Mainland China’s death toll from the coronavirus outbreak has risen to 811, surpassing the number of fatalities in the 2002-03 SARS pandemic.
On Saturday, the first deaths of an American and a Japanese citizen were recorded in Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak.
The number of new cases reported today fell significantly from the previous period, something experts see as a sign that the spread of the virus may be slowing.
Another 89 deaths were reported. Another 2,656 cases were added, for a total of 37,198. On Saturday, 3,399 cases were reported for the previous 24 hours.
SARS is widely considered to have killed 774 people and sickened 8,098, mainly in mainland China and Hong Kong. The response this time has been much quicker, and countries around the world are enforcing stricter measures to contain the spread.
A look at the latest developments:
■ A 60-year-old American citizen died Thursday at Jiny-intian Hospital in Wuhan, the U.S. Embassy said Saturday. His name has not been released.
■ A Japanese man in his 60s with coronavirus symptoms also died in Wuhan.
■ A World Health Organization-led international team is planning to leave for China on Monday or Tuesday to conduct an investigation of the coronavirus outbreak, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Saturday. Tedros said he “hopes” the team will include officials from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
■ Chinese authorities have labeled masks a “strategic resource” and experts call for the most protective masks to be reserved for medical workers amid global shortages.
■ Manufacturing companies have pivoted to mask production to try to boost supply of protective equipment.
■ Beijing authorities have said that lying about having contact with someone with coronavirus contacts could be punishable by death.
■ Hong Kong expands its quarantine orders to more than 160 people who arrived from the Chinese mainland. People who violate the quarantine face up to six months in jail, Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam said.
■ On Saturday, Japan reported three more cases for a total of 64 on one quarantined vessel and turned away another. The three are among 3,700 passengers and crew on the quarantined Diamond Princess. There are Americans on board. All passengers must remain on board for 14 days. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said foreign passengers on another ship, Holland America’s Westerdam, won’t be allowed into Japan. He said suspected virus patients were on board. The ship, with more than 2,000 people, was near Okinawa and was seeking another port, Overseas Travel Agency official Mie Matsubara said.
It’s not clear why the recently deceased U.S. citizen was unable to evacuate Wuhan, where the State Department extracted roughly 530 citizens on two flights last week.
A handful of those Americans recently evacuated have shown signs of fever and are being tested and treated at Travis Air Force Base in California, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. All returning Americans are being held in 14-day quarantine as soon as they land.
China’s leaders are trying to keep food flowing to crowded cities despite anti-disease controls and to quell fears of possible shortages and price spikes following panic buying after most access to Wuhan and nearby cities was cut off.
Employees at the Wushang Mart wore masks and protective suits. Customers washed their hands with disinfectant and were checked for the virus’ telltale fever, said the manager, who would give only her surname, Lu.
Food stocks in supermarkets ran low shortly after Beijing imposed travel curbs and extended the Lunar New Year holiday to keep factories, offices and other businesses closed and the public at home in an attempt to prevent the virus from spreading.
That also kept trucks off the road, disrupting supplies of food to markets, feed to farmers and poultry to slaughterhouses. As the shutdown of Wuhan expanded to cover cities with a total of 60 million people, villagers set up their own roadblocks to keep outsiders and possible infection away.
Only one member of each household is allowed out each day to shop for food in Hangzhou, an industrial metropolis of 10 million people southwest of Shanghai, and in Huanggang, a city of 1 million near Wuhan.
The virus has yet to be confirmed in Africa, but global health authorities are increasingly worried about the threat to the continent, where an estimated 1 million Chinese now live.
Countries are racing to take precautions as hundreds of travelers arrive from China every day. Safeguards include stronger surveillance at ports of entry and improved quarantine and testing measures across Africa, home to 1.2 billion people.