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Beijing: More than 1700 Chinese medical workers have been infected by the new coronavirus that has killed nearly 1400 people and spread to other parts of Asia and as far as Australia, the US and Europe, a senior Chinese official has announced.
Six of the workers have died, Zeng Yixin, vice director of the National Health Commission, said at a news conference on Friday, local time.
Patients diagnosed with the coronavirus settle at a temporary hospital set up in an exhibition centre in Wuhan. CREDIT:AP
The health commission is "highly concerned about this issue" and has issued guidelines for the prevention and control of infection within medical institutions, he said.
Medical workers account for about 3.8 per cent of confirmed cases as of three days ago, Zeng said.
WHO virus probe to kick off
The news came as the World Health Organisation-led mission to China prepares to start its outbreak investigation this weekend and focus on how the new coronavirus is spreading and the severity of the disease, the WHO's director-general said.
The joint team, composed of 12 international members and their 12 Chinese counterparts, will seek more details on how, where and when the more than 1700 health workers infected so far contracted the new virus, WHO officials said.
"We expect the full team to touch down over the weekend," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.
"The goal of the joint mission is to rapidly inform the next steps in the COVID-19 response and preparedness activities in China and globally," he said, referring to the medical name for the acute respiratory disease caused by the virus.
"Particular attention will be paid to understanding transmission of the virus, the severity of disease and the impact of ongoing response measures."
Africa confirms first case
Egypt's Health Ministry also confirmed the first case of the new virus in the North African country.
In a statement on Friday, Health Ministry spokesman Khaled Mugahed said the person was a "foreigner" who was carrying the virus but not showing any serious symptoms.
Officials were able to confirm the case through a follow-up program the government implemented for travellers arriving from countries where the virus has spread. The ministry statement said the person was hospitalised and in isolation.
The statement did not specify the person's nationality or what port of entry he or she arrived at in Egypt.
New way of counting cases
China's health commission reported another sizeable rise in the number of infections as a result of a new way of counting adopted by Hubei province, the hardest-hit area.
Confirmed cases in mainland China rose to 63,851 by the end of Thursday, up 5,090 from the previous day. The death toll rose 121 to 1,380.
Hubei province is now including cases based on a physician's diagnosis before they have been confirmed by lab tests. Of the 5,090 new cases, 3,095 fell into that category.
The acceleration in the number of cases does not necessarily represent a sudden surge in new infections of the virus that causes COVID-19 as much as the revised methodology.
The health commission has said that the change was aimed at identifying suspected cases so they can be treated more quickly, though experts also saw it as a reflection of the crush of people seeking treatment and the struggle to keep up with a backlog of untested samples in Hubei and its capital, Wuhan, where the disease first surfaced in December.
In Taiwan, about 100 family members of people stuck in Hubei province protested outside Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council headquarters in the capital, Taipei.
About 1,000 Taiwanese hoping to fly home on charter flights have sparked a dispute between their government and China.
One flight brought 247 people back on February 4. Three were not on a passenger list that Taiwan gave to Chinese authorities and one tested positive for the virus, Taiwan's Central News Agency has reported.
Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council wants China to step up quarantine work and reach agreements with Taiwan on the names of people on priority lists for flights.
China's Taiwan Affairs Office accused Taiwan on Wednesday of "using all kinds of excuses to obstruct and delay" flights. China sees self-ruled Taiwan as part of its territory rather than an independent state.
"We don't want to politicise it, we want charter flights," said protester Chung Chin-ming, chairman of the Chinese Cross-Strait Marriage Coordination Association in Taipei.
Elsewhere, Japan confirmed seven more cases, a day after it reported its first death from the virus. Japan now has 258 confirmed cases, including 218 from a cruise ship, the Diamond Princess, that has been quarantined in Yokohama.
Health officials allowed 11 elderly passengers to leave the ship on Friday after they tested negative for the virus. They are the first group of dozens of older passengers expected to get off the vessel before their 14-day quarantine period ends on February 19 to reduce risks of their health deteriorating.
Japanese Health Minister Katsunobu Kato on Thursday said passengers aged 80 or older with chronic health issues or in cabins without windows that can open will be able to leave the ship if they pass the virus test.
More than 580 cases have been confirmed outside mainland China and three deaths, one each in the Philippines and Hong Kong and now a Japanese woman in her 80s. Health officials are investigating how she became infected.
In an unprecedented attempt to contain the disease, the Chinese government has placed the hardest-hit cities - home to more than 60 million - under lockdown. People are restricted from entering or leaving the cities, and in many places can only leave their homes or residential complexes for shopping and other daily needs.
AP, Reuters
https://www.theage.com.au/world/asi...workers-in-china-six-die-20200215-p54125.html
Six of the workers have died, Zeng Yixin, vice director of the National Health Commission, said at a news conference on Friday, local time.
Patients diagnosed with the coronavirus settle at a temporary hospital set up in an exhibition centre in Wuhan. CREDIT:AP
The health commission is "highly concerned about this issue" and has issued guidelines for the prevention and control of infection within medical institutions, he said.
Medical workers account for about 3.8 per cent of confirmed cases as of three days ago, Zeng said.
WHO virus probe to kick off
The news came as the World Health Organisation-led mission to China prepares to start its outbreak investigation this weekend and focus on how the new coronavirus is spreading and the severity of the disease, the WHO's director-general said.
The joint team, composed of 12 international members and their 12 Chinese counterparts, will seek more details on how, where and when the more than 1700 health workers infected so far contracted the new virus, WHO officials said.
"We expect the full team to touch down over the weekend," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.
"The goal of the joint mission is to rapidly inform the next steps in the COVID-19 response and preparedness activities in China and globally," he said, referring to the medical name for the acute respiratory disease caused by the virus.
"Particular attention will be paid to understanding transmission of the virus, the severity of disease and the impact of ongoing response measures."
Africa confirms first case
Egypt's Health Ministry also confirmed the first case of the new virus in the North African country.
In a statement on Friday, Health Ministry spokesman Khaled Mugahed said the person was a "foreigner" who was carrying the virus but not showing any serious symptoms.
Officials were able to confirm the case through a follow-up program the government implemented for travellers arriving from countries where the virus has spread. The ministry statement said the person was hospitalised and in isolation.
The statement did not specify the person's nationality or what port of entry he or she arrived at in Egypt.
New way of counting cases
China's health commission reported another sizeable rise in the number of infections as a result of a new way of counting adopted by Hubei province, the hardest-hit area.
Confirmed cases in mainland China rose to 63,851 by the end of Thursday, up 5,090 from the previous day. The death toll rose 121 to 1,380.
Hubei province is now including cases based on a physician's diagnosis before they have been confirmed by lab tests. Of the 5,090 new cases, 3,095 fell into that category.
The acceleration in the number of cases does not necessarily represent a sudden surge in new infections of the virus that causes COVID-19 as much as the revised methodology.
The health commission has said that the change was aimed at identifying suspected cases so they can be treated more quickly, though experts also saw it as a reflection of the crush of people seeking treatment and the struggle to keep up with a backlog of untested samples in Hubei and its capital, Wuhan, where the disease first surfaced in December.
In Taiwan, about 100 family members of people stuck in Hubei province protested outside Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council headquarters in the capital, Taipei.
About 1,000 Taiwanese hoping to fly home on charter flights have sparked a dispute between their government and China.
One flight brought 247 people back on February 4. Three were not on a passenger list that Taiwan gave to Chinese authorities and one tested positive for the virus, Taiwan's Central News Agency has reported.
Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council wants China to step up quarantine work and reach agreements with Taiwan on the names of people on priority lists for flights.
China's Taiwan Affairs Office accused Taiwan on Wednesday of "using all kinds of excuses to obstruct and delay" flights. China sees self-ruled Taiwan as part of its territory rather than an independent state.
"We don't want to politicise it, we want charter flights," said protester Chung Chin-ming, chairman of the Chinese Cross-Strait Marriage Coordination Association in Taipei.
Elsewhere, Japan confirmed seven more cases, a day after it reported its first death from the virus. Japan now has 258 confirmed cases, including 218 from a cruise ship, the Diamond Princess, that has been quarantined in Yokohama.
Health officials allowed 11 elderly passengers to leave the ship on Friday after they tested negative for the virus. They are the first group of dozens of older passengers expected to get off the vessel before their 14-day quarantine period ends on February 19 to reduce risks of their health deteriorating.
Japanese Health Minister Katsunobu Kato on Thursday said passengers aged 80 or older with chronic health issues or in cabins without windows that can open will be able to leave the ship if they pass the virus test.
More than 580 cases have been confirmed outside mainland China and three deaths, one each in the Philippines and Hong Kong and now a Japanese woman in her 80s. Health officials are investigating how she became infected.
In an unprecedented attempt to contain the disease, the Chinese government has placed the hardest-hit cities - home to more than 60 million - under lockdown. People are restricted from entering or leaving the cities, and in many places can only leave their homes or residential complexes for shopping and other daily needs.
AP, Reuters
https://www.theage.com.au/world/asi...workers-in-china-six-die-20200215-p54125.html
