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China may postpone annual congress because of virus Chinese health report says 80% of virus cases have been mild
(about 13 hours later)
BEIJING — China said Monday it may postpone its annual congress in March, its biggest political meeting of the year, as the military dispatched hundreds more medical workers and extra supplies to the city hit hardest by a 2-month-old virus outbreak. Health officials in China have published the first details on nearly 45,000 cases of the novel coronavirus disease that originated there, saying more than 80% have been mild and new ones seem to be falling since early this month, although it’s far too soon to tell whether the outbreak has peaked.
Japanese officials, meanwhile, confirmed 99 more people were infected by the new virus aboard the quarantined cruise ship Diamond Princess, bringing the total to 454. Monday’s report from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention gives the World Health Organization a “clearer picture of the outbreak, how it’s developing and where it’s headed,” WHO’s director-general said at a news conference.
The standing committee for the National People’s Congress said it believes it is necessary to postpone the gathering to give top priority to people’s lives, safety and health, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. “It’s too early to tell if this reported decline will continue. Every scenario is still on the table,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.
It noted that one-third of the 3,000 delegates are provincial and municipal-level cadres with important leadership roles working on the front line of the battle against the epidemic. The new disease, called COVID-19, first emerged in late December in Wuhan, the capital of China’s Hubei province, and has spread to more than two dozen other countries. China says more than 70,000 people have been infected and 1,770 have died in mainland China, but numbers are squishy because the country is counting many cases based on symptoms rather than the methods WHO uses.
The standing committee said it would meet on Feb. 24 to further deliberate on a postponement. The meeting is due to start on March 5. The new study reports on 44,672 cases confirmed in China as of Feb. 11. The virus caused severe disease such as pneumonia in 14% of them and critical illness in 5%.
Health authorities reported 2,048 new cases of the virus and 105 more deaths. Another 10,844 people have recovered from COVID-19, a disease caused by the new coronavirus, and have been discharged from hospitals, according to Monday’s figures. The death toll is 1,770. The fatality rate for these confirmed cases is 2.3% — 2.8% for males versus 1.7% for females.
With fears of the virus spreading further, Chinese and residents of nearby countries and territories have begun hoarding supplies of everything from masks and other personal protective gear to instant noodles, cooking oil and toilet paper. That’s lower than for SARS and MERS, two similar viruses, but COVID-19 ultimately could prove more deadly if it spreads to far more people than the others did. Ordinary flu has a fatality rate of 0.1% yet kills hundreds of thousands because it infects millions each year.
In Hong Kong, local media reported that police had arrested two men and were seeking three others who allegedly stole a load of 60 packs of toilet paper at knifepoint early early Monday morning. Supplies of the commodity have become extremely scarce, with often only low-quality imports still available. Police were expected to discuss the matter later. The COVID-19 cases include relatively few children, and the risk of death rises with age. It’s higher among those with other health problems — more than 10% for those with heart disease, for example, and higher among those in Hubei province versus elsewhere in China.
Another 1,200 doctors and nurses from China’s military began arriving in Wuhan on Monday, the latest contingent sent to help shore up the city’s overwhelmed health care system with more than 32,000 additional personnel. The city has rapidly built two prefabricated hospitals and converted gymnasiums and other spaces into wards for those showing milder symptoms, but residents still say they are being wait-listed for beds and even ambulance rides. Cases seem to have been declining since Feb. 1, but that could change as people return to work and school after the Chinese holidays, the report warns.
Wuhan has accounted for the vast majority of mainland China’s 70,548 cases. Some 60 million people in that area and other parts of China are under lockdown in a bid to prevent the virus from spreading further. Also Monday, Chinese officials said they may postpone the country’s annual congress in March, its biggest political meeting of the year. The standing committee for the National People’s Congress said it believes it is necessary to postpone the gathering to give top priority to people’s lives, safety and health, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.
At a daily news briefing, National Health Commission official Guo Yanhong said attempts to contain the virus appeared to be bearing fruit, with the number of new cases reported daily outside of Hubei province, of which Wuhan is the capital, falling for 13 days straight, and growing numbers of recovered people. The standing committee said it would meet Feb. 24 to deliberate on a postponement. The meeting is due to start March 5.
“These are all extremely good signs that show our prevention work is very effective,” Guo said, citing early detection and treatment alongside quarantines and travel restrictions as largely responsible for the result. Japanese officials, meanwhile, confirmed 99 more people were infected by the new virus aboard the quarantined cruise ship Diamond Princess, bringing the total to 454. The Health Ministry said it has now tested 1,723 people on the ship, which had about 3,700 passengers and crew aboard. Outside China, the ship has the largest number of cases of COVID-19.
Japan’s Health Ministry has been carrying out tests on passengers and crew on the Diamond Princess, which is docked in Yokohama, a port city near Tokyo. Officials said they Monday they had confirmed 99 more cases on the ship, bringing the total to 454. The 14-day quarantine for those on the ship was due to end Wednesday. On Sunday night and Monday, 328 American cruise ship passengers arrived in the U.S., including 14 who tested positive for the virus and were taken to hospitals in California and Nebraska. Others were being quarantined at military bases in California and Texas.
Outside China, the ship has the largest number of cases of COVID-19. A charter plane dropped off 170 passengers at Travis Air Force Base in the San Francisco Bay Area late Sunday, while another took about 145 passengers to Lackland Air Force Base in Texas early Monday.
The Health Ministry said it has now tested 1,723 people on the ship, which had about 3,700 passengers and crew aboard. Four of the Americans who tested positive for the virus were taken to California hospitals. Ten others, along with three spouses, were flown to Omaha, Nebraska, to get care at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, officials said.
Two chartered planes flew 340 Americans who were aboard the Diamond Princess out of Japan late Sunday. About 380 Americans had been on the ship. Chris Kratochvil, an official at the Nebraska medical center, said 12 are in quarantine with no current symptoms. One man is in a different area getting a higher level of care because he had a cough and other symptoms plus a chronic illness that raises his risk for complications. All will remain at the university hospital for at least 14 days.
The State Department announced later that 14 of the evacuees were confirmed to have the virus in tests given before they boarded their planes. They were taken to the U.S. because they did not have symptoms, and were being isolated from other passengers, it said. During the flights, the 14 cruise passengers who tested positive for the virus were placed in isolation in the tail of the planes, said William Walters, director of the State Department’s operational medicine staff, a unit created to respond to emergencies such as those requiring large-scale evacuations.
Australia, Canada, Hong Kong and Italy were planning similar flights for their citizens. Walters said none of the 14 showed symptoms when they were checked by American personnel before disembarking the cruise ship. While headed to Tokyo’s Haneda airport, officials were informed a test for the coronavirus done by Japanese authorities two or three days earlier had come back positive.
New cases in other countries are raising more concern about containment of the virus. Though only a few hundred cases have been confirmed outside mainland China, some recent cases lacked obvious connections to China. “When we received the results, these people were already on a bus and they were already on a pipeline,” Walters said Monday. “The next step was to move them to an isolation area and frankly once they were in an isolation area it was safest to keep them in that isolation area and complete the evacuation.”
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention spokesman Scott Pauley said in a statement that the group of passengers who arrived at Lackland Air Force Base will remain quarantined there for 14 days and will have no contact with Department of Defense personnel as the CDC is responsible for all parts of the quarantine operation.
Any of the quarantined passengers who shows symptoms of the virus will be taken to a hospital off the base “for containment and specialized care,” according to the statement.
In Asia, with fears of the virus spreading further, Chinese and residents of nearby countries and territories have begun hoarding supplies of everything from masks and other personal protective gear to instant noodles, cooking oil and toilet paper.
New cases in other countries, meanwhile, raised concerns about containment of the virus. Though only a few hundred cases have been confirmed outside mainland China, some recent cases lacked obvious connections to China.
Taiwan on Sunday reported its first death from COVID-19, the fifth fatality outside of mainland China. Taiwan’s Central News Agency, citing health minister Chen Shih-chung, said the man who died was in his 60s and had not traveled overseas recently and had no known contact with virus patients.Taiwan on Sunday reported its first death from COVID-19, the fifth fatality outside of mainland China. Taiwan’s Central News Agency, citing health minister Chen Shih-chung, said the man who died was in his 60s and had not traveled overseas recently and had no known contact with virus patients.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe convened an experts meeting to discuss containment measures in his country, where more than a dozen cases have emerged in the past few days without any obvious link to China.Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe convened an experts meeting to discuss containment measures in his country, where more than a dozen cases have emerged in the past few days without any obvious link to China.
“The situation surrounding this virus is changing by the minute,” Abe said.“The situation surrounding this virus is changing by the minute,” Abe said.
Japanese Health Minister Katsunobu Kato said the country was “entering into a phase that is different from before,” requiring new steps to stop the spread of the virus.Japanese Health Minister Katsunobu Kato said the country was “entering into a phase that is different from before,” requiring new steps to stop the spread of the virus.
Japan has 518 confirmed cases, including the 454 from the cruise ship, and one death from the virus.Japan has 518 confirmed cases, including the 454 from the cruise ship, and one death from the virus.
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Associated Press writers Yanan Wang in Beijing, David Pitt in Des Moines, Iowa, Maria Cheng in London, Olga R. Rodriguez in San Francisco and Ken Miller in Oklahoma City contributed to this report.
Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.