China has gone into lockdown today as authorities and businesses scramble to shut tourist attractions and public transport systems in a bid to stop the spread of the deadly new Wuhan coronavirus that has killed at least 26 people.
China is struggling to deal with the outbreak of the Wuhan coronavirus that has the potential to breakout globally, 26 people are dead and thousands more infected. The current panic over the Wuhan coronavirus reminds me of a few years ago and the very
similar situation of the Ebola virus. Remember that one?
Sadly, we live in an age where a pandemic is no longer a pandemic, but something that could also be caused by the intentional release of micro bio-agents created in government laboratories. No
tin foil hat here, just a honest acknowledgment of the truth of times we live in. In the 21st century, everything is weaponized, from the sickness to the cure. I don't trust any of it.
China lockdown of 14 cities as Wuhan coronavirus outbreak worsens
FROM DAILY MAIL UK: In a drastic turn of events, part of the Great Wall of China and Disneyland in Shanghai have been closed as authorities desperately try to stop people spreading the Wuhan coronavirus amid fears as many as 10,000 are already infected with the killer virus.
Fourteen cities, home to around 40 million people, are reported to have gone into some form of lockdown in the past two days, with public transport halted and roads closed.
And a report written by researchers from England, Scotland and Florida, has predicted that a staggering 350,000 people may be infected just in Wuhan – the city where the outbreak started – by the beginning of February.
In the US, one man in Washington State is being monitored after being confirmed to have the disease and other suspected cases are being tested in California and Texas. Across the Atlantic, British authorities have tested 14 people but no cases have been confirmed yet.
Other shocking developments in the outbreak today include:
- Chinese New Year celebrations, planned for the following week, have been cancelled in Beijing and Hong Kong
- Officially, at least 850 people around the world have been infected with coronavirus and 26 have died
- Footage has emerged reportedly showing military personnel guarding a train station
- Videos from inside hospitals show patients crammed into overcrowded corridors and laid on the floor
- In the UK, the Government will meet later today to discuss its response after 14 patients were tested for the virus
- In the US, 12 people have been tested for the virus but still only one case has been confirmed – on Monday
Shanghai Disney Resort posted on its website: 'In response to the prevention and control of the disease outbreak and in order to ensure the health and safety of our guests and cast, Shanghai Disney Resort is temporarily closing Shanghai Disneyland, Disneytown. We will continue to carefully monitor the situation and... announce the reopening date upon confirmation.'
A section of the Great Wall known as the Badaling section – one of the most visited parts – has been closed to tourists, Al Jazeera reports.
The following measures have been taken to control the disease's spread in and around China:
- Beijing's Forbidden Palace, which hosts the Palace Museum, will be closed to visitors from tomorrow, Saturday
- The Beijing National Stadium, also known as the Bird's Nest, has been closed
- A four-day carnival planned in Hong Kong, from January 25 to 28, has been cancelled by the state tourism board
- Hong Kong's Lunar New Year World Cup football tournament has been called off
- All public Lunar New Year events in Macau, home to more than half-a-million people, have been cancelled
A report shared with MailOnline after being produced yesterday by researchers from Lancaster University in England, the University of Florida and the University of Glasgow, estimated that only five per cent of all the coronavirus cases are being diagnosed.
Dr Jonathan Read, a biostatistics researcher at Lancaster, wrote with colleagues: 'If no change in control or transmission happens, then we expect further outbreaks to occur in other Chinese cities, and that infections will continue to be exported to international destinations at an increasing rate.
'In 14 days’ time (4 February 2020), our model predicts the number of infected people in Wuhan to be greater than 250 thousand (prediction interval, 164,602 to 351,396).
'We predict the cities with the largest outbreaks elsewhere in China to be Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Chongqing and Chengdu. We also predict that by 4 Feb 2020, the countries or special administrative regions at greatest risk of importing infections through air travel are Thailand, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and South Korea.'
Businesses around China – the world's biggest nation and home to more than one billion people, a seventh of the world's population – are already having to take drastic measures.
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