Fear of ‘devastation’ for poor as coronavirus cases approach 100,000
THE number of people infected with the coronavirus is charging towards 100,000, with the global scare upending routines, threatening livelihoods and prompting quarantines in its spread.
Asian shares were down again yesterday following a rough day on
Wall Street and the consequences of the virus were becoming clear to people around the world.
Travel plans have been hit worldwide and a broader economic downturn linked to the outbreak is threatening to hit already-struggling communities for months to come.
“Who is going to feed their families?” asked Elias al-arja, the head of a hotel owners’ union in Bethlehem in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where tourists have been banned and the Church of the Nativity shuttered.
The head of the UN’S food agency, the World Food Programme, warned of the potential of “absolute devastation” as the outbreak’s effects ripple through Africa and the Middle East.
Across the West, there was a sense of deja vu as the virus’ spread prompted scenes that already played out in Asia, with workers leaving offices, vigorous sanitising in public places and runs on household basics.
Even the spectacle of a cruise ship ordered to stay at sea off the California coast over virus fears replicated that of a few weeks ago on the other side of the globe.
“The western world is now following some of China’s playbook,” said Chris Beauchamp, a market analyst at the financial firm IG.
Signs of the virus’ shift away from its origins in China were becoming clearer each day.
China reported 143 new cases yesterday, the same as a day earlier and about one-third what the country was seeing a week ago.
Just a month ago, China was reporting several thousand new cases a day, outnumbering infections elsewhere in the world about 120 to one.
The problem has now flipped, with the outbreak moving to Europe, where Italy, Germany and France had the most cases, and beyond.
The second hardest-hit country, South Korea, was also registering a notable decline in new infections, and the World Health Organisation’s leader said he was seeing “encouraging signs” there.
South Korea reported 505 additional cases yesterday, down from a high of 851 on Tuesday. The country has touted its “remarkable diagnostic and treatment abilities”, but Kim Gang-lip, its vicehealth minister, said: “It’s not easy to make predictions about how the situation ... would play out.”
Cases were increasing in Germany and France as French President Emmanuel Macron visited a retirement home in Paris, which has 94 residents, the oldest aged 107, in a move to reassure both the elderly and health workers about his country’s readiness to combat the spread of the virus.
The virus affects the elderly and the sick more than other groups of people.
Mr Macron said France will likely move to the highest level of epidemic alert “in the coming days” as Covid-19, as the virus is officially named, keeps spreading. French health authorities reported 577 confirmed cases, including nine deaths.
Mr Macron said: “The priority of the nation is to protect our elderly people.
“We must do it with responsibility, common sense and measures of discipline, and without any panic.”
But Italy remained the centre of Europe’s outbreak, particularly in its north. The country has had 148 fatalities, making it the deadliest site for the virus outside China.
The Italian government restricted visits to nursing homes and assisted living facilities to protect older people who have been more vulnerable to succumbing to coronavirus.
But with schools closed nationwide, many grandparents were called to duty as last-minute babysitters anyway.
The Vatican said it was working with Italian authorities to keep the virus from spreading in its tiny city-state, with a suspension of Pope Francis’ weekly audiences likely.
Iran’s government planned to set up checkpoints to limit travel and urged people to stop using paper money as the country has counted more than 4,747 cases and at least 124 deaths.
The threat may be to stop people from using the closed schools and universities as an excuse to go to the Caspian Sea and other Iranian holiday spots.
In Tehran, firefighters sprayed disinfectant on an 11-mile length of Tehran’s famous Valiasr Avenue, some from fire engines and others walking along its sidewalks, spraying ATMS and storefronts.
And in America, more than 230 cases were stirring anxiety around the country, nowhere more than its northwestern corner in Washington state, where officials are so concerned about having space to care for the sick they were expected to agree a deal to take over a roadside motel.
The plan to turn the 84-room Econolodge into a quarantine facility was not sitting well with everyone, including the police chief in the town, who called it “ill-advised and dangerous” and warned security would be needed to keep people from leaving the hotel and infecting others.
Covid-19 so far has killed 12 people in America, most of them in Washington state.
President Donald Trump’s visit to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta has been called off because of concerns a worker there may have been infected by Covid-19.
To the south, on the Pacific coast, California National Guard paratroopers were hoisted down from a military helicopter to deliver virus test kits to the bow of the Grand Princess cruise ship.
The vessel, with 3,500 aboard, was ordered to stay at sea after a traveller from its previous voyage died and at least four others were infected.
The cruise line said samples were collected from 45 passengers and crew members with results expected today.
The Grand Princess is operated by the same line as the Diamond Princess, which was quarantined at a Japanese port last month. More than 700 people on board were infected.
The western world is now following some of China’s playbook