TheNewsGuru

Tag: China

  • Coronavirus claims more lives, death toll now exceeds 1,000

    Coronavirus claims more lives, death toll now exceeds 1,000

    The death toll from coronavirus, a disease which broke out in Wuhan, China, in December, has exceeded 1000.

    Chinese state media pegged the death toll at 1,011 as at time this report was filed by TheNewsGuru (TNG).

    One death each has been reported in Hong Kong and the Philippines while the number of infections in mainland China reached almost 42,300, bringing the total number of cases across the world to more than 42,700.

    Recall that China reported a record-breaking 97 deaths on Sunday. The current death toll topples the 774 deaths recorded in early 2000 during the outbreak of the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).

    Coronavirus has been confirmed in Singapore, UK, Malaysia, Taiwan, Spain, Vietnam, Germany, UAE, France, Japan, with the World Health Organisation declaring a global emergency.

    Other countries where cases of the disease have been reported are Thailand, Canada, Australia, Italy, Russia, Sweden, Finland, Cambodia, and the United States.

    Earlier, Li Wenliang, a Chinese ophthalmologist who raised the alarm on the disease, was confirmed dead after contracting the virus while treating an infected patient.

    China also recorded the youngest coronavirus patient when a 30-hour-old baby tested positive just a day after its infected mother was delivered of the child.

    But Chinese data shows that about 3,281 patients have been cured and discharged from hospital, and that millions are returning to work, albeit on staggering schedules.

    China has released a mobile app that tracks people and alerts them if they have been in “close contact with someone infected” with coronavirus.

    The “close contact detector” was released Saturday night, according to China’s state news agency Xinhua.

    Users scan a QR code on popular Chinese apps like WeChat and QQ, and submit their name, phone number and government-issued ID number to request information about whether they have been in close contact with anyone infected by the virus.

  • Coronavirus: China commences house-to-house arrest of sufferers

    Coronavirus: China commences house-to-house arrest of sufferers

    The Chinese authorities have allegedly started forcefully taking away people suspected of having coronavirus from their homes.

    The victims are being up in Wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak of the virus, and taken to camps, the London Mail reported yesterday.

    Video recordings show officials in protective suits holding onto two people by their arms before a third more resistive man is picked up from the floor and carried away in one shocking clip shared online.

    The footage, filmed in Wuhan, comes after China’s Vice Premier Sun Chunlan called on a ‘people’s war’ against the fast-spreading epidemic.

    Penultimate week the country’s central government ordered the city to round up all suspected patients as well as their close contacts in mass quarantine camps.

    At the last count yesterday, more than 700 lives had been claimed by the virus, with 86 people dying on Friday alone.

    More than 34,500 are said to have been infected across the world.

    In the video one person wearing a face mask is seen being quickly pulled along by officials and is soon followed by a woman in a winter jacket who is held underneath the arms by someone in a protective suit.

    However, the officials have more trouble in removing a third person who is laying in a doorway and refusing to be picked up.

    Two people try to lift him, but after having no luck they are joined by a man in a blue apron and then two other officials.

    Despite the manpower, the group still struggle to lift the man who kicks out at them and struggles from the floor. Eventually three of the men manage to pick him up and carry the suspected patient down the stairs.

    While in another video, said to have also been filmed in China, a woman is seen being detained by several police officers and struggling against them.

    The clip was shared on Twitter claiming to show the woman being ‘arrested and put in isolation for not wearing a mask against coronavirus.’

    It comes after it was revealed that China’s central government ordered Wuhan to round up all suspected patients and anyone they are thought to have been in close contact with in mass quarantine camps.

  • Coronavirus death toll reaches 811

    Coronavirus death toll reaches 811

    The number of deaths from the new coronavirus has risen to 811 in mainland China, the country’s National Health Commission said on Sunday.

    The death toll thereby surpassed that of SARS, a respiratory disease which caused a global health scare in the early 2000, and which also began in China.

    Across China, 89 new deaths and 2,656 new confirmed cases were reported, the vast majority in the province of Hubei.

    According to the commission’s figures, health authorities recorded a total of 33,738 confirmed cases of the new coronavirus since the beginning of the outbreak in December.

    The outbreak’s epicentre is located in the city of Wuhan in Hubei province.

    There, the number of new cases of pneumonia caused by the virus rose by 2,147, the provincial health commission said.

    Also 81 new deaths were reported over the last 24 hours in Hubei, bringing the total to 780.

    The virus, which has spread to about two dozen countries since first being identified, has only claimed the lives of two people outside mainland China, a Chinese man in the Philippines and a man in Hong Kong.

    Both victims had been to Hubei.

    The coronavirus broke out at a seafood market in Wuhan that reportedly sold exotic animals for consumption – similar to the outbreak of SARS.

    SARS infected 8,000 people and killed 800 globally between 2002 and 2003.

    It was linked to the consumption of civet cats, another exotic meat.

  • Coronavirus: U.S. announces $100m aid for China, others

    Coronavirus: U.S. announces $100m aid for China, others

    The United States Government on Friday announced its readiness to spend up to $100 million in assistance to China and other countries impacted by the deadly coronavirus.

    Secretary of State, Mr Mike Pompeo, who announced this in a statement, said the commitment would be met through existing funds.

    He said the fund would be spent “directly and through multilateral organisations, to contain and combat the novel coronavirus.”

    Pompeo said the Department of State had already facilitated the transportation of nearly 17.8 tons of donated medical supplies to the Chinese people.

    He listed the materials to include masks, gowns, gauze, respirators and other vital items, stating that the donations underlined “the generosity of the American people’’.

    As of Thursday evening, the disease has killed no fewer than 600 persons with more than 30,000 confirmed worldwide, most of them in China where it broke out in December.

    The respiratory disease has spread to no fewer than 25 countries, including the United States, Philippines, Hong Kong, the United Kingdom and Thailand.

    China is reported to have earlier refused two direct offers from the U.S. to send infectious disease experts to help fight the virus’s spread earlier, and a third made through the World Health Organisation.

    But the Chinese government later told the WHO it would receive foreign assistance.

    On Monday, the Chinese government accused the U.S. of “spreading panic” over the coronavirus outbreak by evacuating its citizens from the country and restricting travel instead of offering help.

    Pompeo said the U.S. government’s commitment, in addition to the hundreds of millions of dollars generously donated by the American private sector, “demonstrates strong U.S. leadership in response to the outbreak’’.

    “This assistance only adds to what the United States has done to strengthen health security programs around the world.

    “The United States is and will remain the world’s most generous donor. We encourage the rest of the world to match our commitment.

    “Working together, we can have a profound impact to contain this growing threat,’’ he said.

  • Chinese doctor who issued early warning on coronavirus dies

    Chinese doctor who issued early warning on coronavirus dies

    A doctor who became a hero in China after sounding the alarm early on about a new coronavirus outbreak has died of the disease, the Wuhan hospital where he was being treated, said on Friday.

    Li Wenliang, a 33-year-old ophthalmologist at a hospital in Wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak, triggered an outpour of support on social media as he was fighting the disease that has so far killed more than 600 people and infected tens of thousands.

    Li had told state media that he had been reprimanded by hospital management and party officials after alerting his colleagues about a cluster of infections tied to an animal market in the city of Wuhan.

    Li initially thought the disease was a resurgence of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), an illness that killed hundreds across China in 2002-2003.

    He became a national symbol of people’s attempts to find answers about authorities’ initial reactions to the coronavirus outbreak.

    The Wuhan government has been criticised for what many saw as a failure to disclose in a timely manner the severity of the new illness, leading to possibly more infections among medical staff and the public.

    A total of 31,161 infections and 636 deaths from the new coronavirus were reported across China as of Thursday, according to the National Health Commission.

    The disease has also spread to more than two dozen other countries around the world.

  • China’s Coronavirus not as dangerous as Nigeria’s Lassa fever – NCDC DG

    Director-General of Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu, has said despite global concerns about the outbreak of Coronavirus, the disease is not as deadly as the media has painted it.

    He said Lassa fever could be more deadly than Coronavirus.

    Ihekweazu stated this when he addressed members of the House of Representatives Committee on Health Services in Abuja.

    The disease was discovered in China but has spread to about 23 other countries across the globe.

    The NCDC chief said there was no need for travel restriction to and from China due to the fear about the virus.

    He told the lawmakers that the nation was faced with a more deadly disease in Lassa fever than the Coronavirus.

    According to him, Coronavirus is a global disease with far less effect than Lassa fever.

    Ihekweazu said about 364 cases of Lassa fever had been identified in 23 states with 47 deaths.

    The NCDC noted that there might be more of such cases as a result of environmental issues in the country.

    The director general said about one per cent of those affected by Coronavirus had died, adding that the victims were mostly aged persons or those with health-related issues.

    He said human-to-human transmission of the virus had been reported in only three countries outside China.

    Ihekweazu explained that there had been a coordinated international response to the disease, stressing that the World Health Organisation (WHO) had warned against imposing travel and business restrictions against China due to the outbreak of the disease.

    On Lassa fever, the director general said there were no vaccines to control the disease.

    He said the centre was working with some development partners to develop a vaccine for Lassa fever, adding that the first stage of its tests will begin soon.

  • Fear of coronavirus: Reps reject motion to evacuate Nigerians from China

    Fear of coronavirus: Reps reject motion to evacuate Nigerians from China

    Members of the House of Representatives on Tuesday rejected a motion calling for the evacuation of Nigerians in Wuhan, China over fears of contracting the dreaded coronavirus.

    Wuhan is the city where the dreaded coronavirus emanated from with Nigerians resident there reportedly sending in a Save Our Souls message to return home.

    Hon. Ben Kalu had sought the permission of the House to move a motion of urgent public importance on the need to evacuate Nigerians from the city.

    A stunned Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila fought to ensure the motion was moved by Kali but members moved against it as the Chamber became rowdy.

    Deputy House Leader however sought to withdraw the motion in view of the stand of the members.

    The Speaker appealed for the motion to be moved but members will not allow the motion, insisting that China has better facilities to take care of the virus.

  • Coronavirus: We are still issuing Visas to Nigerians -Chinese Embassy

    Coronavirus: We are still issuing Visas to Nigerians -Chinese Embassy

    The Embassy of China has said that it has not suspended visa issuance to Nigerians.

    The Press Officer, Embassy of China, Sun Saixiong, explained on Tuesday that the Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria, Dr Zhou Pingjian, only advised those who wished to travel to China “not to be in a rush if the trip was not urgent.”

    The diplomat said the government had reached out to about 60 Nigerians living in Wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak.

    Giving an update on the epidemic in Abuja on Monday, Pingjian had disclosed that China had found a cure for the epidemic, adding that 475 persons had been discharged from the hospital after recovery.

    He also said that the Coronavirus infection had risen to 17,205 from 14,380 confirmed cases while 361 persons had died from the disease which originated from Wuhan in China.

    About 21,558 individuals were also suspected of being infected with the virus in the Chinese mainland.

    He revealed that Chinese scientists are working to develop a vaccine for the virus which the World Health Organisation had declared as an international public health emergency.

    According to him, scientists have assured that the epidemic would lose its momentum in the next two weeks.

    The envoy said, “As of 7am Abuja time today (Monday), the total number of confirmed cases of novel coronavirus infection climbed to 17,205 and 21,558 people were suspected of being infected with the virus in the Chinese mainland, according to China’s National Health Commission.”

    “A total of 361 people had died, 475 people had been discharged from hospital after recovery. These are not numbers, these are lives, families, communities. This is going to be an unforgettable Spring Festival for the Chinese as families are separated but united to stand together in the face of the disease,” he added.

    Pingjian stated that the Chinese Premier, Xi Jinping had repeatedly given important instructions on prevention and control work and personally held a meeting on redeployment and remobilisation.

    The ambassador said China was willing to work with other countries, including Nigeria, to respond to the epidemic effectively.

    “We have informed the World Health Organisation, relevant countries and Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan about the latest epidemic situation, and have shared information on virus gene sequences with all parties at the first time,” Pingjian pointed out.

    He stated that there was no need for restriction of international travel and trade over the disease, adding that under the current circumstances, “solidarity is what the world needs.”

  • Coronavirus: China bows to pressure, agree to invite US health experts as death toll rises to 414

    Coronavirus: China bows to pressure, agree to invite US health experts as death toll rises to 414

    China has agreed to allow U.S. health experts into the country as part of a World Health Organization (WHO) effort to help fight the fast-spreading coronavirus, as the number of cases and mounted and deaths hit 414.

    In central China’s Hubei province, epicenter of the epidemic, China state TV reported there were 2,345 new cases of the virus and another 64 deaths, bringing the total of virus-related fatalities in Hubei to 414 by Monday.

    The Chinese stock market plunged about 8% on Monday, wiping $393 billion off the value of the Shanghai bourse, on the first day of trading following an extended Lunar New Year holiday in a bid to help keep people at home and contain the virus’ spread.

    The White House said on Monday China had accepted its offer to have U.S. experts as part of a WHO mission to study and help combat the virus that emerged in Hubei’s provincial capital of Wuhan.

  • Coronavirus death toll hits 350 in China

    Coronavirus death toll hits 350 in China

    Chinese state television reported on Monday that the death toll from the new coronavirus outbreak in China’s central Hubei province rose by 56 to 350.

    There were another 2,103 cases detected in Hubei, the epicentre of the outbreak, taking the total in the province to 11,177 as of Feb. 2.

    Hubei’s provincial capital of Wuhan, where the virus is thought to have originated, reported 41 new deaths. A total of 265 people in Wuhan have now died from the virus.

    New confirmed cases surged by 1,033 in Wuhan and climbed by 244 in nearby Huanggang on Feb. Two new deaths were reported in the city, about 60 km (37 miles) east of Wuhan.

    Hubei has been under virtual quarantine, with roads sealed off and public transport shut down. Elsewhere, China has placed growing restrictions on travel and business.

    The province extended its Lunar New Year holiday break to Feb. 13 in a bid to contain the outbreak.