China\u2019s death toll from the coronavirus
\nepidemic soared past 360 on Monday, with deepening global concern about the
\noutbreak and governments closing their borders to people from China.<\/p>\n
The fresh toll came a day after China imposed a lockdown on a major city
\nfar from the epicentre and the first fatality outside the country was
\nreported in the Philippines.<\/p>\n
Authorities in Hubei, the province at the epicentre of the outbreak,
\nreported 56 new fatalities, with one reported in the southwestern megalopolis
\nof Chongqing. That took the toll in China to 361, exceeding the 349 mainland
\nfatalities from the 2002-3 SARS outbreak.<\/p>\n
Struggling to contain the virus, authorities took action in the eastern
\ncity of Wenzhou on Sunday, closing roads and confining people to their homes.<\/p>\n
Wenzhou is some 800 kilometres (500 miles) from Wuhan, the metropolis at
\nthe heart of the health emergency.<\/p>\n
Since emerging out of Wuhan late last year, the new coronavirus has
\ninfected more than 17,200 people across China and reached 24 nations.<\/p>\n
The G7 countries \u2014 Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United
\nKingdom and the United States \u2014 have all confirmed cases of the virus. They
\nwill discuss a joint response, Germany\u2019s health minister Jens Spahn said on
\nSunday.<\/p>\n
In Thailand, which has 19 confirmed cases, doctors said Sunday an elderly
\nChinese patient treated with a cocktail of flu and HIV drugs had shown
\ndramatic improvement and tested negative for the virus 48 hours later.<\/p>\n
Most of the infections overseas have been detected in people who travelled
\nfrom Wuhan, an industrial hub of 11 million people, or surrounding areas of
\nHubei province.<\/p>\n
The man who died in the Philippines was a 44-year-old from Wuhan, according
\nto the World Health Organization, which has declared the epidemic a global
\nhealth emergency.<\/p>\n
China has embarked on unprecedented efforts to contain the virus, which is
\nbelieved to have jumped to humans from a Wuhan animal market, and can be
\ntransmitted among people.<\/p>\n
\u2013 Wenzhou lockdown \u2013<\/p>\n
China\u2019s efforts have included extraordinary quarantines in Wuhan and
\nsurrounding cities, with all transport out banned, effectively sealing off
\nmore than 50 million people.<\/p>\n
But 10 days after locking down Wuhan, authorities imposed similar draconian
\nmeasures on Wenzhou, a coastal city of nine million people in Zhejiang
\nprovince, part of the eastern industrial heartland that has powered China\u2019s
\neconomic rise over recent decades.<\/p>\n
Only one resident per household is allowed to go out every two days to buy
\nnecessities, and 46 highway toll stations have been closed, authorities
\nannounced.<\/p>\n
The city had previously closed public places such as cinemas and museums,
\nand suspended public transport.<\/p>\n
Zhejiang has more than 660 confirmed infections, with several hundred of
\nthose in Wenzhou, according to the government.<\/p>\n
This is the highest tally for any province in China after ground-zero
\nHubei.<\/p>\n
\u2013 Closing borders \u2013<\/p>\n
The United States, Australia, New Zealand and Israel have banned foreign
\nnationals from visiting if they have been in China recently, and they have
\nalso warned their own citizens against travelling there.<\/p>\n
Mongolia, Russia and Nepal have closed their land borders.<\/p>\n
The number of countries reporting infections rose to 24 after Britain,
\nRussia and Sweden confirmed their first cases this weekend.<\/p>\n
There were 2,829 new confirmed cases nationally on Monday, bringing the
\ntotal infected to 17,205, health officials said.<\/p>\n
With hospitals in Wuhan overwhelmed, China will open a military-led field
\nhospital Monday that was built in just 10 days to treat people stricken by
\nthe virus.<\/p>\n
And with the Chinese economy suffering, the central bank announced it would
\nrelease 1.2 trillion yuan ($173 billion) on Monday to maintain liquidity in
\nthe banking system \u2014 the day markets re-open after the long holiday break.<\/p>\n
\u2013 Holiday ending \u2013<\/p>\n
The emergence of the virus coincided with the Lunar New Year, when hundreds
\nof millions travel across the country in planes, trains and buses for family
\nreunions.<\/p>\n
The holiday, which was scheduled to end on Friday, was extended by three
\ndays to give authorities more time to deal with the crisis.<\/p>\n
With many due back at work on Monday, people were starting to return on
\nplanes and trains over the weekend, with almost everyone wearing face masks.<\/p>\n
Customs authorities had ordered temperature checks at all exit-entry points
\nin Beijing, according to state media.<\/p>\n
Returning travellers were being checked and registered at residential
\ncompounds, while fever checks were in place in subway stations, offices and
\ncafes.<\/p>\n
One 22-year-old arriving at a Beijing train station from northeastern China
\nsaid her family had urged her to delay her return.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I was worried it would affect my job,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Security guard Du Guiliang, 47, said he would be starting back at work in
\nBeijing on Sunday, after returning from northeast Liaoning province.<\/p>\n
\u201cMany colleagues (from Hubei) couldn\u2019t come back. Now, those who work the
\nday shift at our company have to do the night shift as well,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Many businesses were to remain closed for at least another week, however,
\nwhile some major cities \u2014 including Shanghai \u2014 had also extended the
\nholiday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
China\u2019s death toll from the coronavirus epidemic soared past 360 on Monday, with deepening global concern about the outbreak and governments closing their borders to people from China. The fresh toll came a day after China imposed a lockdown on a major city far from the epicentre and the first fatality outside the country was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8362","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-4","category-14"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/deshnews24.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8362","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/deshnews24.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/deshnews24.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deshnews24.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deshnews24.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8362"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/deshnews24.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8362\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8363,"href":"https:\/\/deshnews24.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8362\/revisions\/8363"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/deshnews24.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deshnews24.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deshnews24.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}