Coronavirus toll touches 81, measures fail to slow spread
There have been 2,840 confirmed cases and 5,794 suspected cases in the Chinese mainland
NEW DELHI/SHANGHAI: The death toll from a coronavirus outbreak in China rose to 81 on Monday, while the number of people infected with the deadly virus reached 3,000.
Authorities in Delhi isolated three people at the Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) hospital with flu-like symptoms after they returned from China.
A confirmed coronavirus case is yet to be discovered in India but a series of similar hospitalisations in four cities – Kolkata, Jaipur, Chandigarh and Patna – as well as the death of a Thai national in West Bengal’s capital on Monday raised fears of the pathogen having arrived on Indian soil.
VIGIL STEPPED UP AT NEPAL BORDER
NEWDELHI: With a confirmed case
of novel coronavirus (2019ncov) reported from its neighbouring Nepal, India has stepped up vigil at the Nepal border, and is screening people travelling across the border.
Union health secretary Preeti Sudan on Monday chaired a meeting through video conference with chief secretaries of the five states bordering Nepal — Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and Sikkim, to review their preparedness. Meanwhile, the Chinese authorities have extended the Lunar New Year holiday in an effort to contain an infection whose spread accelerated around the globe.
BEIJING: Premier Li Keqiang on Monday became the highestranking Chinese leader to visit Wuhan, the ground zero of the novel Coronavirus outbreak, as he took charge of the complex efforts to curb the spreading pathogen which has claimed 81 lives and infected 2,840.
The toll included the first death reported in Beijing on Monday. The virus has spread to at least 12 countries, and all regions of China except Tibet Autonomous Region. Cambodia confirmed its first case on Monday.
US President Donald Trump offered China any help needed to control the outbreak. “Very few cases reported in USA, but strongly on watch. We have offered China and President Xi (Jinping) any help that is necessary,” Trump tweeted.
Li’s visit to Wuhan came amid the city’s top official admitting there had been a problem with the timely public disclosure of information about the Coronavirus.
China announced an unprecedented extension of the Lunar New Year holidays. Health experts said the seven-day holiday window – which started on January 25 – was a “critical period” to contain the virus as hundreds of millions of Chinese will begin their return journey home at the end of it.
The World Health Organization’s
(WHO) director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is meeting officials in Beijing on Monday to support the response. His team would understand the latest developments there and strengthen the partnership with China in providing further protection against the outbreak.
The WHO has stopped short of calling the outbreak an international public health emergency but said it was an emergency for China. Before departing from Geneva, the WHO chief had said his agency was working 24/7 to support the Chinese people during this difficult time and to remain in close contact with affected countries.
The WHO is updating all countries on the situation and providing specific guidance on what to do to respond, he added.
Ahead of Li’s arrival in Wuhan, city mayor Zhou Xianwang said he was ready to resign.
Zhou made the remarks in an interview on Monday with state broadcaster CCTV amid rising public anger over managing the crisis by the local government of the city, which is under an unprecedented civil lockdown to prevent the virus from spreading.
“If people want to pursue accountability (about the lockdown) and the public has a strong opinion, we are willing to step down,” he said. Zhou, reports said, admitted that the city government’s disclosure of information had been “unsatisfactory”.
Li, who is heading the highlevel group charges with fighting the outbreak visited patients and medical personnel while also directing virus prevention work in the city, capital of the central province of Hubei.
“You are trying every means to save lives,” Li told medical staff.
PAKISTAN REPORTS FIVE SUSPECTED CASES
A new suspected case of novel coronavirus has surfaced in Multan, taking the overall tally of in Pakistan to five, local daily The Express Tribune reported.
According to the paper, two samples from Multan have been sent to Hong Kong for confirmation as there are no laboratories in Pakistan equipped to diagnose the pathogen. The National Institutes of Health received samples.
SRI LANKA CONFIRMS FIRST CASE OF VIRUS
Sri Lanka has confirmed the first case of coronavirus in the country, a senior Sri Lankan health official said on Monday.
“A Chinese lady, who is in her 40s, arrived on the 19th as a tourist and fell ill on the 25th and was confirmed as having the coronavirus following a test on Monday,” Sudath Samaraweera, the chief epidemiologist with Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Health, told Reuters, adding that this marks the first confirmed case in the island nation.