0
Zut !
France confirms first three cases of coronavirus in Europe
France has confirmed the first three cases of coronavirus in Europe: two cases in Paris and one in Bordeaux.
They have been hospitalised and are currently isolated, the health ministry confirmed to Euronews.
It's likely there are other cases in Europe, France's health minister Agnès Buzyn told reporters, as she warned people who have travelled to China to avoid going to emergency rooms in the case that they have symptoms."It’s in emergency rooms in reality that people risk being in contact with others," Buzyn told reporters. People should instead call France's health service so that emergency workers can help them and isolate them from other people. It comes after China put as many as 36 million people on lockdown across 13 cities.
The death toll stands at 26.
Hundreds of cases have been confirmed in China, with South Korea and Japan both announcing second cases and Singapore two more for a total of three.
A 36-year-old man has died of the illness after suffering fever for three days in the Chinese province of Hubei, of which Wuhan is the capital. A total of 13 cities across the landlocked Chinese province have halted all flights, buses, trains and ferries leaving their environs in an attempt to contain the virus.
Meanwhile, the director-general of the World Health Organization Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the outbreak was not yet a global health emergency. Ghebreyesus was speaking after WHO's emergency committee met for a second day on Thursday to debate the epidemic.
Travel lockdown in China
In Hubei, bustling streets, shops, restaurants and other public spaces in the city were eerily empty.
The city of Wuhan announced this morning that it will build a designated hospital with space for 1,000 beds by February 3, in the style of a facility that Beijing constructed during the SARS epidemic in 2003.
Police, SWAT teams and paramilitary troops guarded the city's train station, where metal barriers blocked the entrances.
“To my knowledge, trying to contain a city of 11 million people is new to science," Gauden Galea, the World Health Organization's representative in China, told the AP.
“It has not been tried before as a public health measure. We cannot at this stage say it will or it will not work." Similar travel restrictions have applied in locked down cities this Friday.
As a symbol of the concern that has gripped China, the authorities have announced the closure of sections of the famous Great Wall, as well as Disneyland resort site in Shanghai.
At least 830 people have been diagnosed with the virus and 26 people have died, National Health Commission confirmed this morning.
Outside of China, there have been cases in the United States, Japan, Thailand, South Korea, Singapore and Vietnam.
Ghebreyesus said that the measure in Wuhan was "strong" but that China would "minimise the chances of this outbreak spreading internationally".
"We commend their actions," he added, stating that the WHO will get more information from their team on the ground.
Global health officials are preparing for it to spread
The virus' incubation period is between two and 12 days, French Minister of Health Agnès Buzyn said at a press conference. Buzyn said the country stepped up efforts to inform the public, adding flyers in international airports on what to do if you suspect you have the virus.
But they do not plan to screen people for the fever in airports which she said was an ineffective method.
Health officials in Paris and in Lyon, however, will also be able to do a diagnostic test in health centres for the virus.
Experts at WHO warned the public not to underestimate the severity of the epidemic, stating that there were many sick people in the hospital in China right now.
The first case of coronavirus in Macao was confirmed on Wednesday, according to state broadcaster CCTV. The infected person, a 52-year-old woman, was a traveller from Wuhan.
Many of those who died were elderly or had other health risks, infectious disease epidemiologist Dr Maria D Van Kerkhove said at a WHO press conference. "The original source of the outbreak remains unknown and therefore further cases and deaths are expected in Wuhan, and in China. It is possible that further cases will also be detected among travellers from Wuhan to other countries."
According to the ECDC, China reported a cluster of pneumonia cases linked to a fish and live animal market in the city on December 31, 2019. Ten days later, China confirmed that the coronavirus was the cause. Three airports in the European Union (EU) have direct flight connections to Wuhan, while there are indirect flight connections to other European hubs.
Chinese New Year celebrations at the end of January will cause an increased travel volume to and from China and within China, the EDC said, increasing the likelihood of arrival in the EU of possible cases.
Bookmarks