Virus death toll in China rises
THE DEATH toll from a new virus in China has risen to 56 with 1 975 total cases reported, as China’s leader called the accelerating spread of the disease a grave situation.
The figures reported on Sunday cover the previous 24 hours and mark an increase of 15 deaths and 688 cases.
The government also reported five cases in Hong Kong, two in Macao and three in Taiwan. Small numbers of cases have been found in Thailand, Japan, South Korea, the US, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, Nepal, France and Australia.
Canada said it discovered its first case, the man is his 50s who recently flew from Wuhan to Guangzhou, China, and then on to Toronto.
President Xi Jinping called the spreading illness a grave situation in remarks reported by state broadcaster CCTV. He spoke at a meeting of Communist Party leaders convened on Lunar New Year – the country’s biggest holiday whose celebrations have been muted – and underlined the government’s urgent, expanding efforts to control the outbreak.
Travel agencies have been told to halt all group tours, the stateowned English-language China Daily newspaper reported, citing the China Association of Travel Services.
Millions of people traveling during the holiday have fueled the spread of the outbreak nationwide and overseas after it began in the city of Wuhan in central China. The vast majority of the infections and all the deaths have been in mainland China, but fresh cases are popping up.
Singapore reported its fourth case on Sunday, a 36-year-old man from Wuhan. The Health Ministry said he did not exhibit any symptoms on his flight. He developed a cough the next day, sought treatment on January 24 and was immediately isolated.
South Korea confirmed its third case, according to Yonhap news agency.
Lockdown
In the heart of the outbreak where 11 million residents are already on lockdown, Wuhan banned most vehicle use, including private cars, in downtown areas, state media reported. Only authorised vehicles would be permitted, the reports said.
The city will assign 6 000 taxis to neighbourhoods, under the management of resident committees, to help people get around if they need to, China Daily said.
In Hong Kong, leader Carrie Lam said her government will raise its response level to emergency, the highest one, and close primary and secondary schools for two more weeks on top of next week’s Lunar New Year holiday.
Lam said direct flights and trains from Wuhan would be blocked.
In a sign of the growing strain on Wuhan’s health care system, the official Xinhua News Agency reported that the city planned to build a second makeshift hospital with about 1 000 beds. The city has said another hospital was expected to be completed February 3.
The new virus comes from a large family of what are known as coronaviruses, some causing nothing worse than a cold. It causes cold- and flu-like symptoms, including cough and fever, and in more severe cases, shortness of breath. It can worsen to pneumonia, which can be fatal.
China cut off trains, planes and other links to Wuhan last week, as well as public transportation within the city, and has steadily expanded a lockdown to 16 surrounding cities with a combined population of more than 50 million – greater than that of New York, London, Paris and Moscow combined.
China’s biggest holiday, Lunar New Year, unfolded on Saturday in the shadow of the virus. Authorities canceled a host of events, and closed major tourist destinations and movie theaters.
Closed
Temples locked their doors, Beijing’s Forbidden City and Shanghai Disneyland closed, and people canceled restaurant reservations ahead of the holiday, normally a time of family reunions, sightseeing trips and other festivities in the country of 1.4 billion people.
“We originally planned to go back to my wife’s hometown and bought train tickets to depart this afternoon,” said Li Mengbin, who was on a stroll near the closed Forbidden City. “We ended up canceling. But I’m still happy to celebrate the new year in Beijing, which I hadn’t for several years.”
Temples and parks were decorated with red streamers, paper lanterns and booths, but some places started dismantling the decor.
People in China wore medical masks to public places like grocery stores, where workers dispensed hand sanitiser to customers. Some parts of the country had checkpoints for temperature readings and made masks mandatory.
French automaker PSA Group said it will evacuate its employees from Wuhan, quarantine them and then bring them to France. The Foreign Ministry said it was working on “eventual options” to evacuate French citizens from Wuhan “who want to leave”. It didn’t elaborate.
The National Health Commission said it is bringing in medical teams to help handle the outbreak, a day after videos circulating online showed throngs of frantic people in masks lined up for examinations and complaints that family members had been turned away at hospitals that were at capacity.
The Chinese military dispatched 450 medical staff, some with experience in past outbreaks, including SARS and Ebola, o help treat many patients hospitalised with viral pneumonia, Xinhua reported.
Xinhua also said medical supplies are being rushed to the city, including 14 000 protective suits, 110 000 pairs of gloves and masks and goggles.
The rapid increase in reported deaths and illnesses does not necessarily mean the crisis is getting worse but could reflect better monitoring and reporting of the virus.
It is not clear how lethal the new coronavirus is or even whether it is as dangerous as the ordinary flu, which kills tens of thousands of people every year in the US alone.
THE FAMILY of a 91-year-old woman, Mary Moiloa, are at their wits’ end as their plan to erect a tombstone for their deceased father has been delayed indefinitely because there is another person buried on top of their father’s grave.
In addition, it is Mary’’s wish to one day be buried with her husband.
According to the family they informed the Sol Plaatje Municipality in January 2016 about a deceased person that was buried on top of their loved one, however, nothing has since been done about the matter.
The daughter of the deceased, Elizabeth Seepamore, said they noticed that the grave was “tampered” with when they went to pay their respects to their father.
“My father died in 1977 and was buried in ABC Cemetery. We went to visit my father’s grave and were shocked to see someone else’s name on the grave. This person was buried in 2013. We went to tell the administrator at the cemetery and went through the burial register. We noticed that our father’s name was erased with Tipp-ex. I enquired why the name was wiped out, but the administrator did not want to take responsibility for the incident and indicated that the previous administrator had resigned,” said Seepamore.
Seepamore’s sister, Faith Moiloa, said they have followed up on the matter numerous times but can still not find any answers.
“We went to the municipality several times and had been in communication with officials regarding this matter. We have made phone calls and sent e-mails but there is no response from the municipality. We also managed to trace the family of the other deceased person who was buried on top of my father in an attempt to find a resolution to this,” said Faith.
She added that they had requested that the other deceased person be exhumed, as their mother’s wish is to be buried with their father.
“My mother is already in her 90s and has told us several times that she wishes to be buried with our father. We also want to erect a tombstone for my father but are not able to do so as there is someone else buried with him. We want the other person to be exhumed as this burial took place without our knowledge.
“We have been faced with this problem for more than three years and we are afraid that we might be running out of time and we might not be able to grant our mother her wish.”
A family representative for the other family involved in the matter, indicated that the entire family needs to meet and consult on the matter before they can give any comment.
The Sol Plaatje municipal spokesperson Sello Matsie said they are investigating the matter.