The number of people infected with the new coronavirus in China surpassed 70,000 mark on Monday as international experts began meetings with their Chinese counterparts on how to tackle an epidemic that has caused global concern.
The death toll jumped to 1,770 in mainland China after 105 more people died in Hubei province, where the virus first emerged in December before spreading across the country and overseas.
Worries about its spread remain high and the epidemic’s reach was highlighted by the US announcing that more than three dozen Americans from a cruise ship quarantined off Japan were infected.
China reports 105 new deaths from coronavirus on mainland on Feb. 16 https://t.co/ps5VYeyHJX pic.twitter.com/DiCfYUzwgS
— Reuters (@Reuters) February 17, 2020
The number of new cases of the COVID-19 strain spiked last week when officials in Hubei changed their criteria for counting cases to include people diagnosed through lung imaging.
The number of new cases in the province on Monday was around 100 percent higher than those on Sunday but still sharply down from those reported on Friday and Saturday.
The latest figures came as the head of the World Health Organization said international experts in a WHO-led joint mission had arrived in Beijing and had their first meeting with their Chinese counterparts.
“We look forward to this vitally important collaboration contributing to global knowledge about the #COVID19 outbreak,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Twitter.
Read more: Pakistani Couple Joins Anti-Coronavirus Fight: Outpour of Love from China
Mi Feng, National Health Commission spokesman, said on Sunday that slowing case numbers nationally showed that China was controlling the outbreak. But Tedros has warned it is “impossible to predict which direction this epidemic will take”.
The UN health body has also asked China for more details on how diagnoses are being made.
Tightening movement
The scale of the epidemic ballooned on Thursday last week after authorities in Hubei changed their criteria for counting cases, retroactively adding 14,000 cases in a single day.
Chinese authorities have placed about 56 million people in Hubei and its capital Wuhan under quarantine, virtually sealing off the province from the rest of the country in an unprecedented effort to contain the virus.
Even as China insisted the epidemic was under control, Hubei authorities announced on Sunday a tightening of movement across the province.
Watch: American passengers have been evacuated from Diamond Princess cruise ship, where at least 44 Americans have tested positive for the coronavirus. The ship has been stuck in Yokohama since Feb. 3 https://t.co/iCGVVS8VMp pic.twitter.com/Ia5DGJeTkw
— TIME (@TIME) February 17, 2020
This includes broad instructions that residential compounds and villages be “sealed off” from unnecessary visitors, with tenants’ outings “strictly managed”.
Local authorities elsewhere in China have also introduced measures to try and stop the virus spreading.
Beijing’s municipal government has enacted a rule requiring people coming to the capital to self-quarantine for 14 days, according to official media.
Outside mainland China, Taipei officials reported the island’s first death from the new coronavirus on Sunday, as a 61-year-old man from central Taiwan with underlying health problems but no recent overseas travel history died in hospital.
He is the fifth person outside of the mainland to die from the virus, with the other deaths in the Philippines, Hong Kong, Japan and France.
Read more: Coronavirus death toll surges as China changes way it counts cases
The biggest cluster outside China is on a quarantined cruise ship off Japan, with 355 infections confirmed.
A top US health official on Sunday said 40 Americans from the ship have become infected and would be treated in Japan. Other Americans left the Diamond Princess into the early hours of Monday for chartered jets that would fly them home — and into further quarantine.
Social Stability
The virus spread last month as millions traveled across China for the Lunar New Year holiday, which was extended to try to prevent more infections.
People have slowly started to return to work in the past two weeks, though many are doing their jobs from home and schools remain closed.
Read more: Love boat: Valentine’s Day on a quarantine cruise
With the government facing criticism over its handling of the crisis, Chinese President Xi Jinping said the government must “increase use of police force” during the crisis. He made the comments in a February 3 speech published by state media on Saturday.
A number of local officials have been sacked for their role in mishandling the outbreak.
Paksitani parents protest for their students trapped in China
Protesting in Karachi, parents asked Pakistani government to “bring back our children” from Chinese province of Hubei.
Pakistani government ‘in larger interest of the country’ refused to evacuate 1,000 Pakistani students in the province. On Wednesday, Dr. Zafar Mirza (Minister for National Health Services) with his team has been asked to negotiate with the parents in Islamabad.
How much time will it take to develop vaccine?
The World Health Organisation said it may take 18 months for scientists to develop a coronavirus vaccine for public use.
There are challenges to develop vaccine for coronavirus. Firstly, no single institution has the capacity to develop a vaccine against this novel virus. Secondly, it usually takes five years to develop a vaccine. Lastly, developing and validating the right biological model for the virus is a challenge in itself.
Therefore, international cooperation among laboratories working on nCov is required.