According to a statement issued by
the Chinese government on Sunday, 80 people had died following the outbreak of
coronavirus in Chinese city of Wuhan. With the authorities stating that about
2,744 people have been infected as at Sunday evening.
This comes as Wuhan and other 16 surrounding
cities have been placed on lock down, isolating about 50 million people.
So far about five people have
been confirmed of the virus in United States, five cases reported in Hong Kong
and two in Macao with others also in Thailand, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea,
Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, Nepal, France, Canada and Australia.
The origin of the virus is
suspected to a food market said to have ‘conducted illegal transaction of wild
animals’. The Wuhan authorities have closed the Huanan Seafood wholesale market
where the first 41 cases were reported from.
Various governments are on high
alert following the outbreak of the virus with officials in the UK monitoring
flights from China.
In Kenya, health CS, Sicily
Kariuki reaffirmed that the ministry had enhanced screening at JKIA, confirming
no case has been reported even as the hospitals remain equipped to handle the
virus.
“We have activated our national
taskforce that is multi-sectoral that is now receiving updates from the Wealth
Health Organization in Geneva on how best we can respond, to safeguard the
Kenyan people,” the CS said during the 5th Beyond Zero Medical Safari
event presided by the First Lady Margaret Kenyatta at Uhuru park, Nairobi.
No death has been reported out of
China as the World Health Organization director general, Tedros Adhanom
Ghebreyesus, holds talks with the Chinese government and health experts in
Beijing.
The
coronavirus cause severe respiratory infection and there is no specific cure or
vaccine with most deaths reported being of elderly people or those with
pre-existing respiratory problems.
Chinese officials warned the virus
was able to spread during its incubation period as a result making it hard to
contain with the incubation period during which a person has the disease but
showing no symptoms ranging from between one and 14 days.
Wuhan Mayor Zhou Xian wang admitted
in a TV interview that the disclosure of information about the virus outbreak
was not timely as he needed further authorization in order to reveal relevant
information in the time of the epidemic.
This comes as part of the Chinese
population criticizes the authorities, drawing parallels with how the Soviet
authorities managed the nuclear disaster to how the Chinese authorities are
handling the outbreak.
Chinese authorities only reported on
Jan. 20 that the disease had spread to cities outside of Wuhan in Hubei
province, where the outbreak has been traced to. However, days before China
reported its first cases outside the central Chinese city, Thailand and Japan
both reported infections, prompting some Chinese to joke at the time that the
virus was ‘patriotic’ as it only seemed to infect foreigners.
“The spread of the
coronavirus has fully resembled the unfolding of the Chernobyl incident, but
with the Wuhan government making even more effort [than the Soviet Union] to
suppress information… some officials will eventually pay a heavy price for
withholding the truth for so long, let’s wait and see,” wrote another (link in
Chinese) in Weibo, China’s twitter like social network.
Some people
were also detained last month for spreading rumors after they posted about the
virus on social media.
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