After cities, China quarantines cash
An elderly Chinese tourist who was hospitalised in France dies from the novel coronavirus infection
BEIJING:CHINA has “quarantined” and started sanitising large volumes of old bank notes for at least two weeks before redistributing them to contain the spread of coronavirus (covid-19) through infected currency.
China’s central bank, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), has also pumped in billions in new notes in the worst-hit province of Hubei for the safety of citizens and bank staff dealing with cash.
The central bank has given the order to “withdraw cash from key areas for epidemic prevention and control, disinfect them with ultraviolet or high temperature, and store them for more than 14 days before putting (back) them in the market,” Fan Yifei, the PBOC deputy governor said on Saturday.
Notes will also be “quarantined” in less riskier areas for a week, he said.
BEIJING/PARIS/MUNICH: An 80-yearold Chinese tourist infected with the novel coronavirus has died in France, the first fatality in Europe and the fourth outside mainland China.
The Chinese man died at the Bichat hospital in Paris of a lung infection due to the flu-like virus. “We have to get our health system ready to face a possible pandemic propagation of the virus, and therefore the spreading of the virus across France,” said health minister Agnes Buzyn.
The UN health agency’s director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, urged governments to step up their efforts to prepare for the virus, saying “it’s impossible to predict which direction the epidemic will take”.
OVER 140 DEAD IN CHINA
China reported a sharp jump of more than 140 deaths from the COVID-19 outbreak overnight as Beijing imposed a mandatory 14-day self-quarantine for people returning to the city.
The announcement comes as China continues to struggle to contain the epidemic, which has killed at least 1,523 and infected over 66,500 across the country.
On Friday, China had said that it “appreciates” India’s offer of help to fight the outbreak, but only after Beijing had surprisingly omitted New Delhi from a list it had released naming 57 countries that sent assistance and offered aid to Beijing.
The development came in the backdrop of a letter sent by Indian PM Narendra Modi to Chinese President Xi Jinping in which New Delhi offered assistance to Beijing.
CHINESE PRESIDENT SEEKS MORE POLICING
President Xi has called for tightened control over online discussion and increased policing.
The government must “strengthen the management and control of online media” and crack down on those who “create rumours” on the internet, Xi said in a recent speech now published by the state media.