Coronavirus Updates
The death toll from the coronavirus, which first emerged in late December 2019 in Wuhan, China, has now exceeded that of the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak in 2002 and 2003 in mainland China, and now stands at over 360 fatalities. The total number of those infected, at time of going to press, has risen to 17,205. While the data is more alarming by the day, resulting in the World Health Organization (WHO) declaring the coronavirus outbreak a ‘global health emergency’ last Thursday, there is still some positive news: nationwide, the number of people who have recovered has risen in recent days, which suggests that the mortality rate of the virus is still relatively low.
On Sunday came the first case of death from coronavirus outside China, in the Philippines.
Around 150 cases have been reported in other countries outside China so far: in Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, Japan, Macau, Russia, France, the United States, Taiwan, Australia, Malaysia, South Korea, Germany, the United Arab Emirates, Vietnam, Italy, India, the Philippines, Nepal, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Finland, Sweden, Spain, Canada and Britain.
Cases reported in Thailand, Taiwan, Vietnam, Germany, France, Japan and the United States involve patients who had not visited China, causing an increased level of global concern and affecting economies, seeing the stock market in the world’s second-biggest economy closed from January 24 until Monday, February 3.
More and more states are rushing to evacuate their citizens from Hubei province and its capital city, Wuhan. Many have also imposed travel restrictions on travellers to and from China, with Georgia among them.
Canada, Russia, and the US have recently reported that they plan to evacuate their citizens from China. The United States has already evacuated 200 of its citizens from the epicenter of the virus outbreak. Australia’s Foreign Minister Marise Payne said 243 of its citizens and permanent residents were evacuated from Wuhan on Monday on a government-chartered aircraft to Christmas Island, where they will spend 14 days under medical screening. France has also evacuated its citizens from China. On board the French plane were also two Georgian citizens. On January 31, three Georgian citizens were evacuated on a Turkish plane. Officials have reported that the health of the Georgian citizens is good. Those Georgian citizens will undergo a two-week quarantine before coming to Georgia. At present, there are three Georgian citizens remaining on the Chinese territories voluntarily.
On January 31, two cases of coronavirus were confirmed in Russia. Yet, despite its edging closer, health professionals in Georgia report that the country is still in the green, low-risk zone for spreading the coronavirus. The Georgian National Disease Control Center announced Wednesday that no cases of coronavirus have been detected in Georgia so far.
“Georgia spares no efforts to prevent coronavirus. Our health system is in full readiness to provide the necessary treatment in compliance with modern standards, even if the virus spreads,” the Center reported.
China accused the United States of spreading "fear" in its response to the deadly coronavirus, and of not providing "any substantial assistance".
China has designated 27 hospitals in Wuhan for the treatment of coronavirus, the state-run newspaper Global Times reported on Monday. The new hospitals started functioning on Monday, with hopes that they will be able to go some way to stopping the spread of the dangerous virus.
By Nini Dakhundaridze
Image source: The New York Times