More signs of how serious Beijing is taking the epidemic
China reported 10 new coronavirus cases in Beijing today and there are now 51 cases in the city.
The latest restrictions prevent bus travel to Beijing from elsewhere. Private cars and trains are still allowed but passengers via those methods are more-often tracked.
As CNBC Beijing correspondent Eunice Yoon reports:
When Chinese get sick, they often make trip to a big city for care because health care system is lacking esp. in provinces. Beijing hospitals have best reputation. So China likely trying to prevent flood of coronavirus patients from showing up (which would be common practice.)
Given the reports of overcrowded hospitals in hotspots, expect that Beijing and other major centers are at a higher risk of outbreaks.
In other coronavirus news:
- Australian has reported 4 cases
- France, Malaysia, Pakistan, Singapore, the US and Nepal have confirmed cases
- Chinese President Xi Jinping empowered local governments and said teams from Beijing will be sent to severely impacted areas to strengthen front-line prevention and containment
- The US and France chartered planes to remove diplomats and nationals trapped in containment zones
- The director of the CDC says she expects cases of human-to-human transmission in the US
- China banned all domestic tour groups immediately and overseas group tours from Jan 27
- Starbucks and China said they were closing some stores in China
- Wuhan is building a second emergency hospital, this one with 1300 beds
- The official number of cases has risen to 1372 as of 10 hours ago
- President Xi said China faces a 'grave situation' as the spread is 'accelerating'
- 3 doctors in Beijing who visited Wuhan are confirmed to have the virus
This is translated from Chinese and shows the medical briefs of some of the early casualties of the virus. Many of them were in the community for more than a week (and as much as 15 days) with symptoms before they were hospitalized.
