19/03/2020
China’s Virus Center Has No New Cases After Two-Month Ordeal
Wuhan Reports No New Virus Cases After Almost Two-Month Lockdown
The Chinese province at the center of the coronavirus outbreak reported no new infections for the first time since the pathogen emerged more than two months ago, marking a turning point in an epidemic that’s infected almost 81,000 Chinese and threatens to push the world’s second-largest economy into its first quarterly contraction in decades.
The milestone for Hubei province comes as China struggles to get back on its feet after being flattened by a disease that exploded out of the city of Wuhan in late January. It’s grappling with the aftermath of containment measures that have wrought enormous social and economic damage, most of all in the 60-million province of Hubei, which is still under mass quarantine.
CHINA-HEALTH-VIRUS
A worker disinfects a room at the Red Cross hospital in Wuhan, on March 18.Photographer: AFP via Getty Images
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And with the virus accelerating its spread worldwide and people within China resuming work and social activities, a second wave of infections is almost guaranteed, say experts, given how contagious the pathogen is and how easily it slips past country borders.
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Indeed, even as Hubei’s numbers have dwindled to zero, China is facing another concern as imported cases continue to add to the country’s tally of infections. The National Health Commission reported 34 new cases for March 18, all of them patients who brought the disease from other countries.
China should watch out for “very infectious” cases among travelers entering China from other countries, and some show no symptoms at first, prominent Chinese infectious disease expert Zhong Nanshan said in a press conference on Wednesday.
Globally, the coronavirus has sickened over 211,000 and killed 8,700. The outbreak has accelerated in the rest of the world, cutting a particularly deadly swathe in countries like Italy. Entire countries are closing their borders, canceling schools and shutting restaurants. Music festivals and sports events have been postpones, while travel and supply chains are disrupted. Economists see $2.7 trillion being wiped from the world’s gross domestic product.
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As its new cases dropped to zero on Thursday from a peak of 15,000 a month ago, Hubei also partially lifted the mass quarantine that’s been in place since Jan. 23, allowing some residents in lower-risk areas to leave the province for work. According to local media reports, people have to get a “green code” certification proving they are in good health in order to leave.
Hubei’s mass quarantine, which encompasses Wuhan and surrounding cities, was aimed at sealing off the region where the virus first emerged from the rest of the country and world. The unprecedented and draconian measures are now being replicated by some of the highly-infectious countries.
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