(FILE PHOTO) Medical staff members carry a patient into the Jinyintan hospital, where patients infected by a mysterious SARS-like virus are being treated, in Wuhan in China’s central Hubei province on Jan 18, 2020: AFP
Mon 20 January 2020:
Chinese President Xi Jinping has warned the world to take China’s new mystery virus seriously as the first westerner believed to have been infected was identified as a British tourist in Thailand.
Xi issued his warning as Chinese citizens gear up for their busiest travel period, with Australia a leading destination.
“The recent outbreak of novel coronavirus pneumonia in Wuhan and other places must be taken seriously,” Xi said, according to state broadcaster CCTV.
“Anyone travelling to Asia I would say to you, get a mask. Everyone here is wearing masks, there are people coughing everywhere.
“It’s Chinese New Year so this flu is likely to be spreading. It is very serious.”
Xi instructed government departments to promptly release information on the virus and deepen international co-operation.
The outbreak comes as the country enters its busiest travel period, when millions board trains and planes for the Lunar New Year holidays.
The President’s remarks came the same day that the country reported a sharp rise in the number of people infected by the novel form of viral pneumonia, including the first cases in the capital.
US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention officials say they are taking temperatures and asking about symptoms of passengers from Wuhan arriving at airports in New York (JFK), Los Angeles and San Francisco.
At least a half-dozen countries in Asia have started screening incoming airline passengers from central China.
The list includes Thailand and Japan, which both have reported cases of the disease in people who had come from Wuhan. Travel is unusually heavy right now as people take trips to and from China to celebrate the Lunar New Year.
US CDC officials estimate roughly 5000 passengers will go through the virus screening process in the next couple of weeks.
The CDC’s Dr Martin Cetron said the CDC wanted to be prepared and take precautions, rather than wait for an outbreak.
“The earlier we detect a case, the better we can protect the public, and the more we can understand about this virus and its risk for spread,” he said.
The CDC is sending in 100 staffers to handle the airport screenings.
Passengers who seem like they might be infected will undergo testing for flu or other possible causes. The plan is to place them in isolation at a nearby hospital until doctors know what they’re dealing with, to prevent possible spread of the new virus.
Specialised testing for the virus can take a day for results, CDC officials said.
Doctors began seeing a new type of viral pneumonia – fever, cough, difficulty breathing – in people who worked at or visited a food market in the suburbs of Wuhan late last month.
Officials have said it probably spread from animals to people but haven’t been able to rule out the possibility that it spreads from person to person.
China’s National Health Commission said experts have judged the current outbreak to be “preventable and controllable.”
“However, the source of the new type of coronavirus has not been found, we do not fully understand how the virus is transmitted, and changes in the virus still need to be closely monitored,” the commission said.
Coronaviruses cause diseases ranging from the common cold to SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome.
SARS first infected people in southern China in late 2002 and spread to more than two dozen countries, killing nearly 800. The Chinese government initially tried to conceal the severity of the SARS epidemic, but its cover-up was exposed by a high-ranking physician.
“In the early days of SARS, reports were delayed and covered up,” said an editorial in the nationalistic Global Times.
“That kind of thing must not happen again in China.”
China has notified and maintained close communication with the World Health Organization and other relevant countries and regions, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said.
Wuhan has also adopted measures to control the flow of people leaving the city, Geng said.
The virus causing the current outbreak is different from those previously identified, Chinese scientists said earlier this month. Initial symptoms of the novel coronavirus include fever, cough, tightness of the chest and shortness of breath.
On the Weibo social media platform, which is widely used in China, people posted prevention advice such as wearing masks and washing hands. State broadcaster CCTV recommended staying warm, increasing physical activity, eating lightly and avoiding crowded places. Some people said they had cancelled their travel plans and were staying home for Lunar New Year.
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