Coronavirus death toll in China rises to 1,868

Credit to Author: Tempo Desk| Date: Tue, 18 Feb 2020 05:49:38 +0000

PATIENTS exercise inside the Wuhan Fang Cang makeshift hospital in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China on Monday. (EPA-EFE)

The World Health Organization has warned against a global over-reaction to the new coronavirus epidemic following panic-buying, event cancellations and concerns about cruise ship travel, as China’s official death toll neared 1,900 on Tuesday.

More than 72,000 people have now been infected in China and hundreds more abroad, although the WHO stressed the disease has infected a “tiny” proportion of people outside its epicenter and the mortality rate remains relatively low.

The outbreak is threatening to put a dent in the global economy, with China paralyzed by vast quarantine measures and major firms such as iPhone maker Apple and mining giant BHP warning it could damage bottom lines.

Trade fairs, sports competitions and cultural events have been disrupted, while several countries have banned travelers from China and major airlines have suspended flights.

The cruise ship industry has come into focus as hundreds of people became infected aboard a vessel off Japan. One passenger tested positive after disembarking another liner in Cambodia.

The WHO, which has previously said travel restrictions were unnecessary, rejected the suggestion that all cruises should be halted.

“Measures should be taken proportional to the situation. Blanket measures may not help,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters in Geneva.

The WHO has praised China for taking drastic measures to contain the virus.

Authorities have placed about 56 million people in hard-hit central Hubei under quarantine, virtually sealing off the province from the rest of the country.

Other cities far from the epicenter have restricted the movements of residents, while Beijing ordered people arriving to the capital to go into 14-day self-quarantine.

Cruise concerns

More than 450 people have tested positive for the virus aboard the quarantined Diamond Prince cruise ship off Yokohama in Japan.

On Monday, the US repatriated more than 300 Americans, who now face another 14 days under quarantine.

Attention was also turning to the Westerdam, a cruise ship in Cambodia, where many of the 2,200 people aboard passengers were allowed to disembark after all initially receiving a clean bill of health.

They were met by Cambodia’s premier, taken on a bus tour of the country’s capital, and allowed to fly around the world.

But an 83-year-old American woman was later diagnosed with the virus after arriving in Malaysia.

‘Less deadly’ than SARS

The official death toll in China hit 1,868 Tuesday after another 98 people died, most in Hubei.

There were nearly 1,900 new cases — a drop from the previous day and the lowest figure this month. Reported new infections have been falling in the rest of the country for the past two weeks.

Tedros warned that the trend “must be interpreted very cautiously”, adding that it was too early to tell if the decline would continue.

But with the mortality rate at around two percent, the novel coronavirus is “less deadly” t
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