CHINA – As China battles coronavirus outbreak, restrictions on 10 cities Hubei province – the centre of the outbreak have been placed for fear of the further spread of the virus.
According to Al Jazeera, after claiming lives of about 26 people and infecting at least 830, China has stepped up its response to the new coronavirus outbreak. Restrictions in several cities affect more than 40 million.
As reported by Al Jazeera, more than 40 million people are living in the cities affected, some of which have suspended public transport amid fears that the transmission rate will accelerate as hundreds of millions of Chinese travel for the Lunar New Year.
Cases of the virus have also been reported in Japan, Thailand, South Korea and the United States and so far, health authorities are said to be taking action. The World Health Organization (WHO) has acknowledged that the respiratory illness, which has been traced to the city of Wuhan, is an emergency in China but said it is too early to declare a global health emergency.
The deadly disease is said to have originated from animals and it’s symptoms include; fever, coughing and muscle aches.
Since the spread of the virus has not been cut off, local authorities how made efforts to curb the spread of the virus by shutting down public spaces and cancelling Lunar New Year events. Some prominent tourist attractions have been closed in Beijing and Shanghai with example of parts of the Great Wall and Shanghai Disneyland.
Some businesses have also been frozen in an attempt to curb the spread of deadly virus such as McDonald’s which is to suspend business in 5 cities in Hubei province.
As a resolution, China has made efforts to rush to build a 1,000-bed hospital in Wuhan in a period of 10days to treat patients of the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, reported state media. The 1,000-bed, 25,000-square-foot facility is expected to be in use by February 3 to serve the rising number of patients.
