CHINA-HEALTH EMERGENCY: CORONAVIRUS CASUALTIES

i) By February 13, China's Coronavirus (2019-nCoVpatient cases had reached 44,763 and the death toll to 1,115. A total of 24 other countries have confirmed a combined more than 398 cases of infections.

ii) CCTV reported that the Chinese Communist Party Standing Committee in Hubei Province decided on Monday to remove Zhang Jin and Liu Yingzi, Party chief and Director of the Provincial Health Commission, from their positions. Both positions have been filled by Wang Hesheng, 58, a former deputy director of China’s National Health Commission, who is also a newly appointed member of the province’s communist party standing committee.

 iii) Meanwhile, Dr. Zhong Nanshan, a leading epidemiologist who won international fame for his role in combating the SARS epidemic in 2003, in an interview with Reuters in Beijing was cautiously optimistic in his forecast for the Coronavirus. In an exclusive interview with Reuters in Guangzhou Medical University, Zhong Nanshan, a leading epidemiologist who won international fame for his role in combating the SARS epidemic in 2003, said the situation in some provinces was already improving, with the number of new cases declining. He said “So, we suppose maybe, the peak time may be reached at the, maybe middle or late this month, February ... and then keep a little bit plateau or something like that and, then going down” adding “I hope this outbreak or this event may be over in something like April.” Nonetheless, the central government is clearly very concerned about the economic impact and appears to be pushing local governments to get business back up and running as fast as possible. Dr. Zhang Wenhong told Caixin that there is the risk if that people go back to work too quickly there could be a second wave of cases.  Zhang Wenhong, leader of a Shanghai medical team working on the virus, estimated the proportion of the country’s total cases in the province at the heart of the outbreak is still rising, reaching 81% last week as it also continues to spread in cities apart from Wuhan.  Zhang Wenhong warned that even as growth in the virus outside Hubei seems to be slowing, the outbreak is on track to enter a stage of second-generation local infections. This stage involves the virus spreading to people who have neither traveled to Wuhan nor been in contact with anyone who has. Moreover, as people return to work, this kind of infection will become more likely, so local governments will have to improve their screening and diagnosis capabilities. Wang Chen, Director of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, said in an interview with CCTV on February 6, that there isn’t enough reliable data yet to predict when the inflection point will come, as it still remains unclear how many people are infected presently, especially in the worst-hit areas.






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