Economically, this is a global meltdown. So what if China really recovers? the rest of the world is ruined, there is no export market.
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[COVID-19 Virus] The PRC Situation Thread
- Thread starter laksaboy
- Start date
Hawaii Department of Health recommended at least 14 days supply in the event that supermarkets affected by the virus.
https://www.staradvertiser.com/2020...mergency-kit-in-case-of-coronavirus-outbreak/
Stock up supplies gradually. Does anyone think Singapore can really out-buy China and USA?
https://www.staradvertiser.com/2020...mergency-kit-in-case-of-coronavirus-outbreak/
Stock up supplies gradually. Does anyone think Singapore can really out-buy China and USA?
‘It’s all fake!’ Angry residents shout at Chinese vice-premier in coronavirus-hit Wuhan
Jun Mai
Published: 9:30pm, 6 Mar, 2020
1.3k
Vice-Premier Sun Chunlan on an earlier visit to a social welfare institute in Wuhan. She is leading the government’s response to the crisis in the city. Photo: Xinhua
A visit by a senior Chinese official to a community in Wuhan – ground zero of
the coronavirus epidemic
which remains in lockdown – was disrupted by angry residents shouting at her that what she was seeing was staged.
“It’s all fake!” a handful of locals yelled from their apartment windows at Vice-Premier Sun Chunlan and her entourage as they visited the Kaiyuan Gongguan estate on Thursday morning, according to videos of the dramatic scene posted on social media.
Sun, 70, is
the most senior Chinese official in Wuhan
– she has been in the city since late January leading the government’s response to the crisis.
But as she walked through the grounds of the complex, residents protested, saying the management company responsible for the estate had quickly cleaned up before she came and arranged for fake volunteers to deliver groceries to its locked down households, according to Taoran Notes, a social media account linked to the official Economic Daily.
Sun Chunlan and her entourage seen in a still from a video walking through the grounds of the estate as residents shout from their windows. Photo: Weibo
The episode has been much discussed online and, unusually, it was also covered by Chinese state media – including Communist Party mouthpiece People’s Daily, which ran a commentary slamming the estate manager for trying to deceive the visiting officials.
Advertisement
Wuhan, a city of 11 million people where the new virus strain first emerged in December, has been in lockdown since January 23 in a bid to limit the spread of the disease. All residents have been barred from leaving the city since then, and from February 10, with some exceptions, they have had to get approval to even leave their homes. Other cities in Hubei province, where Wuhan is located, have also been locked down in an unprecedented mass quarantine effort.
The coronavirus continues to sweep the globe and has so far
infected more than 98,000 people and claimed over 3,300 lives
.
Wuhan residents return home to coronavirus epicentre in China
Vice-Premier Sun had been inspecting the distribution of daily necessities to residents at the estate in Wuhan when she was heckled. Afterwards, she told local officials to face up to the real problems and do away with bureaucratic formalities, according to official news agency Xinhua.
LUNAR NEWSLETTER
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SUBSCRIBE
By registering, you agree to our T&C and Privacy Policy
Zhu Lijia, a professor at the government-affiliated Chinese Academy of Governance, said there was a general agreement in Beijing to put an end to staged inspections by politicians.
“There is a wide consensus to chip away at such bureaucratic formalities,” Zhu said. “But it has been the practice for a long time, and getting rid of it will be a long-term task.”
Inspections of factories and neighbourhoods by senior Chinese officials have long been criticised as staged and an ineffective way to gather information on the ground.
Read more
In the firing line: the women in China’s war on the coronavirus
Read more
Why did a ‘cured’ coronavirus patient die in China? His widow wants answers
Read more
‘My salary has stopped, but not my rent’: China’s migrant workers take a hit
Beijing has allowed more public criticism of such inspections in recent years, as President Xi Jinping has repeatedly vowed to get rid of bureaucratic formalities and fake reports by lower level officials.
In this year’s annual Lunar New Year gala, broadcast live on state-run CCTV, a comedy routine even poked fun at the inspections, with an official making a staged visit to a hospital and only caring about posing for a publicity shot.
Advertisement
But there is no sign that this much-criticised practice has stopped, even with the country facing what Xi has called its
worst public health crisis since 1949
.
Premier Li Keqiang visits workers at the construction site of a new hospital in Wuhan in January. Photo: EPA-EFE
Ying Yong, the new party chief of Hubei province
brought in to handle the crisis
, was taken aback during a similar visit to a residential compound in Wuhan on February 26, according to a video carried by local media.
When he shouted up to residents asking if there were any problems that needed to be resolved, the reply was loud and clear: “There’s no problem at all.”
Puzzled, he tried again. “I’m sure there are problems, but let’s solve them together,” he said.
Premier Li Keqiang got the same response in late January when he asked workers rushing to build a new hospital for virus patients in Wuhan if they needed anything.
“We don’t have any problems,” Li was told, according to local media footage of the exchange.
It was later reported that some of the workers at the site had not been given enough masks to wear during the construction and a few had contracted the disease after they joined the project.
Purchase the China AI Report 2020
brought to you by SCMP Research and enjoy a 20% discount (original price US$400). This 60-page all new intelligence report gives you first-hand insights and analysis into the latest industry developments and intelligence about China AI. Get exclusive access to our webinars for continuous learning, and interact with China AI executives in live Q&A. Offer valid until 31 March 2020.
This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Angry residents yell ‘it’s all fake’ at senior official during visit to Wuhan community
- As Sun Chunlan walks through locked down estate, locals yell out that it was cleaned up and grocery deliveries arranged in time for her visit
- She had been inspecting the distribution of necessities to households and afterwards told officials to face up to the real problems
Jun Mai
Published: 9:30pm, 6 Mar, 2020
1.3k
Vice-Premier Sun Chunlan on an earlier visit to a social welfare institute in Wuhan. She is leading the government’s response to the crisis in the city. Photo: Xinhua
A visit by a senior Chinese official to a community in Wuhan – ground zero of
the coronavirus epidemic
which remains in lockdown – was disrupted by angry residents shouting at her that what she was seeing was staged.
“It’s all fake!” a handful of locals yelled from their apartment windows at Vice-Premier Sun Chunlan and her entourage as they visited the Kaiyuan Gongguan estate on Thursday morning, according to videos of the dramatic scene posted on social media.
Sun, 70, is
the most senior Chinese official in Wuhan
– she has been in the city since late January leading the government’s response to the crisis.
But as she walked through the grounds of the complex, residents protested, saying the management company responsible for the estate had quickly cleaned up before she came and arranged for fake volunteers to deliver groceries to its locked down households, according to Taoran Notes, a social media account linked to the official Economic Daily.
Sun Chunlan and her entourage seen in a still from a video walking through the grounds of the estate as residents shout from their windows. Photo: Weibo
The episode has been much discussed online and, unusually, it was also covered by Chinese state media – including Communist Party mouthpiece People’s Daily, which ran a commentary slamming the estate manager for trying to deceive the visiting officials.
Advertisement
Wuhan, a city of 11 million people where the new virus strain first emerged in December, has been in lockdown since January 23 in a bid to limit the spread of the disease. All residents have been barred from leaving the city since then, and from February 10, with some exceptions, they have had to get approval to even leave their homes. Other cities in Hubei province, where Wuhan is located, have also been locked down in an unprecedented mass quarantine effort.
The coronavirus continues to sweep the globe and has so far
infected more than 98,000 people and claimed over 3,300 lives
.
Wuhan residents return home to coronavirus epicentre in China
Vice-Premier Sun had been inspecting the distribution of daily necessities to residents at the estate in Wuhan when she was heckled. Afterwards, she told local officials to face up to the real problems and do away with bureaucratic formalities, according to official news agency Xinhua.
LUNAR NEWSLETTER
Get updates direct to your inbox
SUBSCRIBE
By registering, you agree to our T&C and Privacy Policy
Zhu Lijia, a professor at the government-affiliated Chinese Academy of Governance, said there was a general agreement in Beijing to put an end to staged inspections by politicians.
“There is a wide consensus to chip away at such bureaucratic formalities,” Zhu said. “But it has been the practice for a long time, and getting rid of it will be a long-term task.”
Inspections of factories and neighbourhoods by senior Chinese officials have long been criticised as staged and an ineffective way to gather information on the ground.
Read more
In the firing line: the women in China’s war on the coronavirus
Read more
Why did a ‘cured’ coronavirus patient die in China? His widow wants answers
Read more
‘My salary has stopped, but not my rent’: China’s migrant workers take a hit
Beijing has allowed more public criticism of such inspections in recent years, as President Xi Jinping has repeatedly vowed to get rid of bureaucratic formalities and fake reports by lower level officials.
In this year’s annual Lunar New Year gala, broadcast live on state-run CCTV, a comedy routine even poked fun at the inspections, with an official making a staged visit to a hospital and only caring about posing for a publicity shot.
Advertisement
But there is no sign that this much-criticised practice has stopped, even with the country facing what Xi has called its
worst public health crisis since 1949
.
Premier Li Keqiang visits workers at the construction site of a new hospital in Wuhan in January. Photo: EPA-EFE
Ying Yong, the new party chief of Hubei province
brought in to handle the crisis
, was taken aback during a similar visit to a residential compound in Wuhan on February 26, according to a video carried by local media.
When he shouted up to residents asking if there were any problems that needed to be resolved, the reply was loud and clear: “There’s no problem at all.”
Puzzled, he tried again. “I’m sure there are problems, but let’s solve them together,” he said.
Premier Li Keqiang got the same response in late January when he asked workers rushing to build a new hospital for virus patients in Wuhan if they needed anything.
“We don’t have any problems,” Li was told, according to local media footage of the exchange.
It was later reported that some of the workers at the site had not been given enough masks to wear during the construction and a few had contracted the disease after they joined the project.
Purchase the China AI Report 2020
brought to you by SCMP Research and enjoy a 20% discount (original price US$400). This 60-page all new intelligence report gives you first-hand insights and analysis into the latest industry developments and intelligence about China AI. Get exclusive access to our webinars for continuous learning, and interact with China AI executives in live Q&A. Offer valid until 31 March 2020.
This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Angry residents yell ‘it’s all fake’ at senior official during visit to Wuhan community
The city didn't report a single case for several days. Are the suspected cases murdered so that they are not counted?
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/03/07/china/china-coronavirus-hotel-collapse/index.html
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/03/07/china/china-coronavirus-hotel-collapse/index.html
They control the numbers same in Singapore. Anyone counter their numbers surely will get in trouble. The State mechanism will hit you so hard.
In a dictatorship, bad things happen if your economy falters and you can no longer pay your soldiers and police their wages.
Since you can't be voted out, they'll have to remove you with another way.
Just like Singapore. China citizens can be replaced or diluted. Government is rich to pay the generals and soldiers. What ever bad happen will affect the nomal people onlyIn a dictatorship, bad things happen if your economy falters and you can no longer pay your soldiers and police their wages.
Since you can't be voted out, they'll have to remove you with another way.
How to control the spread of the coronavirus: Lessons from Taiwan
Experts say 'hard and bitter' lessons in dealing with SARS helped Taiwan quickly respond when new virus emerged.
07 Mar 2020 GMT+3
Taipei, Taiwan - With some 850,000 Taiwanese living and working in China, Taiwan could have been one of the hardest hit when the coronavirus outbreak emerged in late December in Wuhan, a central Chinese city of 11 million people and the epicentre of the outbreak.
But Taiwan, an island democracy with a population roughly the size of Australia, has so far managed to keep confirmed cases to 45 and one death, even as infection rates in China have topped 80,000 and the virus has mushroomed in places like South Korea, Japan, Iran and Italy.
Coronavirus: All you need to know about symptoms and risks
The timing of the outbreak was devastating for China and the rest of the world, as it began to accelerate around Lunar New Year, a time when hundreds of millions of Chinese travel.
Taiwan's success so far in handling the infection has largely been due to its early response at a time when the virus was still poorly understood and its transmission rate unclear.
It also relied on historical experience rather than waiting for cues from the World Health Organization (WHO), which continues to deny Taiwan observer status for political reasons.
"Taiwan was hard hit by SARS and, with that hard and bitter lesson, Taiwan came very prepared," said Chunhuei Chi, a professor in the College of Public Health and Human Sciences at Oregon State University.
After the SARS epidemic, Taiwan established a central command centre for epidemics the following year, putting it a few steps ahead of other places in Asia before the coronavirus hit, Chi said.
The command centre made it easier for medical authorities to gather data, redistribute resources, investigate potential cases and follow up on their contact history, while they also were able to quickly isolate patients found to be carrying the virus.
Learning from SARS, Taiwan also quickly implemented health checks on passengers from Wuhan in early January, well before it was understood that the virus could pass between humans.
'Super alert'
By the first week of February, Taiwan began rationing surgical masks and restricting the entry of passengers with a travel history in China, while requiring a 14-day quarantine for those who had been to Macau and Hong Kong.
Hand sanitiser and fever checks became customary in many public buildings, while the Taiwan Centers for Disease Control and other agencies issued daily mobile phone alerts about the latest cases and information on the places they had visited.
Jason Wang, director of the Center for Policy, Outcomes and Prevention at Stanford University, said the Taiwanese government "was really super-alert" in its response.
Taiwan - coronavirus
Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen speaks about the coronavirus situation in Taiwan during a news conference at the Centers for Disease Control in Taipei in early February [File: Fabian Hamacher/Reuters]
"When it became clear it was going to become a big issue, they started to do more. They were prepared."
Experts said Taiwan's success is comparable to Singapore's. While there are now more than 100 coronavirus cases in Singapore, early action kept the illness from spreading further despite its high-risk status as a major Asian transit hub and strong trade ties with China and Hong Kong.
Learning from SARS, Singapore also moved quickly to impose health checks before closing its borders in late January to most travellers from China, as well as imposing heavy fines on anyone found violating self-quarantine orders. It also closed schools and universities.
Both Taiwan and Singapore also offered large stimulus packages as the economy felt the impact of the coronavirus and a loss of tourism from China.
In an article published in The News Lens, Roy Ngerng wrote that Taiwan's handling of the crisis was even "better than Singapore".
'Others slow to act'
While Taiwan and Singapore's leadership acted swiftly, other countries hit by the virus were slower to act, or to be open with the public about possible risks.
"My impression is - [although] I'm at some distance - that the political leadership [in Singapore and Taiwan] took this cue and advice from the ministry of health, from the scientists and the clinicians. I think that's a very good formula," said William Schaffner, infectious diseases specialist at Vanderbilt University.
He said places like the US have been slow to act.
Taiwan's actions contrast sharply with China's, where decisive action came only after the outbreak had already spread.
Japan and South Korea have also been criticised for their response. Infections in both countries have now reached 1,045 and 6,767 respectively, as of Saturday.
South Korea's outbreak picked up following infections at the Shincheonji Church of Jesus megachurch in February, while Japan saw a spike from the large group of people on board the Diamond Princess cruise ship, which was quarantined in Yokohama.
Virus still spreading
Critics say Japan's Shinzo Abe may have been slow to respond because he was also preoccupied with preparations for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in July and the now-delayed visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping in April.
South Korea's Moon Jae-in has also come under scrutiny as he downplayed the threat of coronavirus, saying in mid-February that the worst appeared to be over shortly before cases began to skyrocket.
As the coronavirus continues to spread east and west, many other countries are finding themselves unprepared to deal with a large-scale epidemic, the likes of which has not been seen for decades.
Official records say at least 124 people have died of coronavirus in Iran as of Friday [WANA via Reuters]
In Iran, political infighting and restricted access to information have been cited by experts as reasons why cases have now reached 4,744, with at least 124 deaths, after the virus reportedly first broke out in the holy city of Qom.
Narimon Safavi, an Iranian American entrepreneur and frequent commentator on Iran, said powerful conservative clerics prevented government health authorities from quarantining the city or halting travel there, including from China.
Top leaders and regime insiders have also continued to travel to Qom, an important political and religious centre, Safavi said, spreading the virus even among the Iranian elite, including Deputy Health Minister Iraj Harirchi and an adviser to Supreme Leader Ali Hosseini Khamenei.
Dilemma in Europe
In Italy, authorities were forced to scramble as the coronavirus spread rapidly across its northern towns. There were at least 4,646 cases and 197 deaths in Italy as of Saturday.
Europe's Schengen Treaty, however, presents several challenges to EU health authorities, as it guarantees the free movement of people, according to Claire Standley, assistant research professor at Georgetown University's Center for Global Health Science and Security.
Matthew Kavanagh, also a global health expert at Georgetown University, added that many world leaders, including US President Donald Trump, have repeated the mistakes of their Asian counterparts.
At least 197 deaths linked to the coronavirus have been reported in Italy as of Saturday [Yara Nardi/Reuters]
"We had an opportunity to really robustly get out there ... Instead, Trump focused on a policy that was purely containment - keeping it out of the US through travel bans and quarantine," Kavanagh said.
Delayed action from the US and much of Europe means that effective but laborious options that were available to Taiwan and Singapore, such as isolating anyone in contact with the virus, are no longer available because it is already spreading within the community.
The US Congress's emergency $8.3bn coronavirus fund will go to initiatives such as rapid testing to assess how far the virus has already spread, public information campaigns, and offsetting economic losses as large scale gatherings and events are cancelled.
'Community spread is happening'
"At this point in China, in Italy, in South Korea and in the US, we are moving into a place where community spread is happening, which means you can't quarantine all the people, you can't stop things through a travel ban," Kavanagh said.
As new challenges from the coronavirus continue to emerge and community infections take root, political leaders who have struggled to act quickly to contain the virus could face more trouble ahead.
In South Korea, more than 1.5 million people have signed a petition calling for Moon to resign, while approval ratings for Japan's Abe fell eight points to 41 percent in February - the steepest decline in nearly two years - according to Kyodo News Agency.
US President Trump, who has faced several concurrent political scandals, could also face more serious questions about his handling of the crisis, threatening his bid for a second term in November.
Commentators say even Iran's seemingly impenetrable leadership is under fire, while China's all-powerful Communist Party has been forced to allow some public criticism over its handling of the outbreak.
Meanwhile, Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen, who was re-elected by a landslide in January, may find that even as the island remains isolated from the WHO, her position may emerge even stronger.
SOURCE: Al Jazeera News
Experts say 'hard and bitter' lessons in dealing with SARS helped Taiwan quickly respond when new virus emerged.
07 Mar 2020 GMT+3
Taipei, Taiwan - With some 850,000 Taiwanese living and working in China, Taiwan could have been one of the hardest hit when the coronavirus outbreak emerged in late December in Wuhan, a central Chinese city of 11 million people and the epicentre of the outbreak.
But Taiwan, an island democracy with a population roughly the size of Australia, has so far managed to keep confirmed cases to 45 and one death, even as infection rates in China have topped 80,000 and the virus has mushroomed in places like South Korea, Japan, Iran and Italy.
Coronavirus: All you need to know about symptoms and risks
The timing of the outbreak was devastating for China and the rest of the world, as it began to accelerate around Lunar New Year, a time when hundreds of millions of Chinese travel.
Taiwan's success so far in handling the infection has largely been due to its early response at a time when the virus was still poorly understood and its transmission rate unclear.
It also relied on historical experience rather than waiting for cues from the World Health Organization (WHO), which continues to deny Taiwan observer status for political reasons.
"Taiwan was hard hit by SARS and, with that hard and bitter lesson, Taiwan came very prepared," said Chunhuei Chi, a professor in the College of Public Health and Human Sciences at Oregon State University.
After the SARS epidemic, Taiwan established a central command centre for epidemics the following year, putting it a few steps ahead of other places in Asia before the coronavirus hit, Chi said.
The command centre made it easier for medical authorities to gather data, redistribute resources, investigate potential cases and follow up on their contact history, while they also were able to quickly isolate patients found to be carrying the virus.
Learning from SARS, Taiwan also quickly implemented health checks on passengers from Wuhan in early January, well before it was understood that the virus could pass between humans.
'Super alert'
By the first week of February, Taiwan began rationing surgical masks and restricting the entry of passengers with a travel history in China, while requiring a 14-day quarantine for those who had been to Macau and Hong Kong.
Hand sanitiser and fever checks became customary in many public buildings, while the Taiwan Centers for Disease Control and other agencies issued daily mobile phone alerts about the latest cases and information on the places they had visited.
Jason Wang, director of the Center for Policy, Outcomes and Prevention at Stanford University, said the Taiwanese government "was really super-alert" in its response.
Taiwan - coronavirus
Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen speaks about the coronavirus situation in Taiwan during a news conference at the Centers for Disease Control in Taipei in early February [File: Fabian Hamacher/Reuters]
"When it became clear it was going to become a big issue, they started to do more. They were prepared."
Experts said Taiwan's success is comparable to Singapore's. While there are now more than 100 coronavirus cases in Singapore, early action kept the illness from spreading further despite its high-risk status as a major Asian transit hub and strong trade ties with China and Hong Kong.
Learning from SARS, Singapore also moved quickly to impose health checks before closing its borders in late January to most travellers from China, as well as imposing heavy fines on anyone found violating self-quarantine orders. It also closed schools and universities.
Both Taiwan and Singapore also offered large stimulus packages as the economy felt the impact of the coronavirus and a loss of tourism from China.
In an article published in The News Lens, Roy Ngerng wrote that Taiwan's handling of the crisis was even "better than Singapore".
'Others slow to act'
While Taiwan and Singapore's leadership acted swiftly, other countries hit by the virus were slower to act, or to be open with the public about possible risks.
"My impression is - [although] I'm at some distance - that the political leadership [in Singapore and Taiwan] took this cue and advice from the ministry of health, from the scientists and the clinicians. I think that's a very good formula," said William Schaffner, infectious diseases specialist at Vanderbilt University.
He said places like the US have been slow to act.
Taiwan's actions contrast sharply with China's, where decisive action came only after the outbreak had already spread.
Japan and South Korea have also been criticised for their response. Infections in both countries have now reached 1,045 and 6,767 respectively, as of Saturday.
South Korea's outbreak picked up following infections at the Shincheonji Church of Jesus megachurch in February, while Japan saw a spike from the large group of people on board the Diamond Princess cruise ship, which was quarantined in Yokohama.
Virus still spreading
Critics say Japan's Shinzo Abe may have been slow to respond because he was also preoccupied with preparations for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in July and the now-delayed visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping in April.
South Korea's Moon Jae-in has also come under scrutiny as he downplayed the threat of coronavirus, saying in mid-February that the worst appeared to be over shortly before cases began to skyrocket.
As the coronavirus continues to spread east and west, many other countries are finding themselves unprepared to deal with a large-scale epidemic, the likes of which has not been seen for decades.
Official records say at least 124 people have died of coronavirus in Iran as of Friday [WANA via Reuters]
In Iran, political infighting and restricted access to information have been cited by experts as reasons why cases have now reached 4,744, with at least 124 deaths, after the virus reportedly first broke out in the holy city of Qom.
Narimon Safavi, an Iranian American entrepreneur and frequent commentator on Iran, said powerful conservative clerics prevented government health authorities from quarantining the city or halting travel there, including from China.
Top leaders and regime insiders have also continued to travel to Qom, an important political and religious centre, Safavi said, spreading the virus even among the Iranian elite, including Deputy Health Minister Iraj Harirchi and an adviser to Supreme Leader Ali Hosseini Khamenei.
Dilemma in Europe
In Italy, authorities were forced to scramble as the coronavirus spread rapidly across its northern towns. There were at least 4,646 cases and 197 deaths in Italy as of Saturday.
Europe's Schengen Treaty, however, presents several challenges to EU health authorities, as it guarantees the free movement of people, according to Claire Standley, assistant research professor at Georgetown University's Center for Global Health Science and Security.
Matthew Kavanagh, also a global health expert at Georgetown University, added that many world leaders, including US President Donald Trump, have repeated the mistakes of their Asian counterparts.
At least 197 deaths linked to the coronavirus have been reported in Italy as of Saturday [Yara Nardi/Reuters]
"We had an opportunity to really robustly get out there ... Instead, Trump focused on a policy that was purely containment - keeping it out of the US through travel bans and quarantine," Kavanagh said.
Delayed action from the US and much of Europe means that effective but laborious options that were available to Taiwan and Singapore, such as isolating anyone in contact with the virus, are no longer available because it is already spreading within the community.
The US Congress's emergency $8.3bn coronavirus fund will go to initiatives such as rapid testing to assess how far the virus has already spread, public information campaigns, and offsetting economic losses as large scale gatherings and events are cancelled.
'Community spread is happening'
"At this point in China, in Italy, in South Korea and in the US, we are moving into a place where community spread is happening, which means you can't quarantine all the people, you can't stop things through a travel ban," Kavanagh said.
As new challenges from the coronavirus continue to emerge and community infections take root, political leaders who have struggled to act quickly to contain the virus could face more trouble ahead.
In South Korea, more than 1.5 million people have signed a petition calling for Moon to resign, while approval ratings for Japan's Abe fell eight points to 41 percent in February - the steepest decline in nearly two years - according to Kyodo News Agency.
US President Trump, who has faced several concurrent political scandals, could also face more serious questions about his handling of the crisis, threatening his bid for a second term in November.
Commentators say even Iran's seemingly impenetrable leadership is under fire, while China's all-powerful Communist Party has been forced to allow some public criticism over its handling of the outbreak.
Meanwhile, Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen, who was re-elected by a landslide in January, may find that even as the island remains isolated from the WHO, her position may emerge even stronger.
SOURCE: Al Jazeera News
origins of covid uncovered. it's a massacre of unknown proportions.
As Beijing claims credit for beating coronavirus, Chinese people are outraged: 'Fake! It's all fake!'
Alice Su
2 hrs ago
© STR/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS This photo taken on Feb. 3, 2020 shows a doctor being disinfected by his colleague at a quarantine zone in Wuhan, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak, in China's central Hubei province.BEIJING — The high schooler was lying in his hotel bed, playing a video game, when he heard the sound of rushing sand.
Then the world seemed to cave in.
The ceilings and floors cracked open, people’s screams mixing with the sudden roar of a building tumbling in upon itself. Smoke and dust billowed from the collapsed hotel where Xiang had been isolated on the fourth floor for 12 days, quarantined after traveling from Hubei province, where China’s coronavirus epidemic began.
1/101 SLIDES © Thomas Peter/Reuters
People wear face masks as they walk outside an office building during morning rush hour in Beijing, China, on March 9.
Xiang’s mother and uncle, also under quarantine, were trapped under the rubble. Xiang managed to climb out, grabbing a rope thrown by firefighters who then moved him to a hospital bed from which he recounted what had happened in a video interview with Chinese newspaper Beijing News. His full name was not reported.
At least 10 people were killed in the hotel’s collapse Saturday night, according to Chinese authorities, out of 71 people trapped in the building, 58 of whom were under quarantine after returning from other parts of China heavily affected by the coronavirus. As of Monday, 38 people had been rescued and 23 remained missing.
It was a tragedy that resounded in a nation still largely under self-quarantine and isolation, a preventable disaster on top of more than 80,000 coronavirus infections and 3,000 deaths that have ravaged entire families on the frontlines.
It was also a disturbing reminder of the repeated systemic failures — innocent deaths amid collapse of poorly constructed buildings without proper legal supervision, viral outbreaks exacerbated by political cover-ups for the sake of saving face — that prick holes in China’s desired image as a wealthy superpower poised to lead the world.
As China’s coronavirus numbers drop, with a slowing rate of daily new infections and deaths, Beijing is pushing the narrative of a Communist Party-led victory. Instead of acknowledging initial missteps that allowed the spread of a virus now threatening the world, Chinese diplomats are boasting that China’s authoritarian system produced a superior disease control model that the rest of the world should emulate.
But many Chinese people, especially those who have suffered the most from the outbreak, have a different story to tell about the failings of their government.
While no official reason has been declared for the Quanzhou hotel collapse, police have detained the building’s owner and are investigating whether ground-floor renovations were to blame. On Monday, central authorities released a report about the mismanagement of construction projects in Fujian province.
Among an online outpouring of grief for the victims, many comments cited the term “tofu-dreg construction,” referring to shoddy construction more concerned with profits than building codes.
The term was coined in 2008 during the Wenchuan earthquake in Sichuan province, when thousands of children died in collapsed “tofu-dreg” schools. Families and schoolteachers who sought accountability for the bad construction were silenced through detention and police threat.
“The reason is still unclear, it’s corruption and ‘tofu construction’ again, when can our nation become more rational?” wrote a user on Weibo.
“I feel despair after getting locked into a room for just one hour. I can’t imagine those people trapped under rocks for many hours. Hope they are all surviving and strong,” wrote another, evoking the frustration of hundreds of millions of people in China who have been largely confined to their homes for the last 1½ months.
Chinese diplomats have meanwhile begun a campaign — giving more than 400 media interviews and publishing more than 300 articles in recent weeks, according to China’s Foreign Ministry — to praise China’s virus control methods. State media recently celebrated the publication of a book by the central propaganda department about China’s successes against the coronavirus, titled “A Battle Against Epidemic: China Combatting COVID-19 in 2020.”
The book will be published in English, French, Spanish, Russian and Arabic, according to a Feb. 26 Xinhua news release, so that the world could learn from China’s disease control methods. But at home, skepticism and anger run deep, so much so that the party has been forced to backtrack several times on its propaganda.
Critics on WeChat circulated images of the “Battle Against Epidemic” book cover with the comment “Totally shameless,” possibly prompting a reconsideration of timing for the book’s publication. As of Monday, it still was not available for purchase.
Backlashes have surfaced in other places too. Vice Premier Sun Chunlan, one of the party’s highest-ranking officials, was touring a residential compound in Wuhan last week, the epidemic’s ground zero, when residents began shouting from their apartment windows: “Fake! Fake! It’s all fake!”
Local news media reported that residents were protesting because the compound’s management had done a last-minute cleanup and orchestrated a fake setup of grocery delivery to locked-down apartments, when in reality residents were being confined and neglected.
In an unusual move, both the state newspaper People’s Daily and state broadcaster CCTV published videos of the incident, but added commentary saying the central government was against such staged inspections and criticizing local officials’ cover-up of real problems.
Journalist Chu Zhaoxin criticised Sun in a post that was later deleted: “You are a public servant, and your job is to serve the people. Now the people you serve are broken, the dead are still cold, and the tears of the living have not yet dried. The sick have not yet recovered, and much of their dissatisfaction is completely reasonable.”
Then over the weekend, Wuhan’s recently installed party secretary Wang Zhonglin ignited public fury again when he called for citywide “gratitude education” on the Wuhan Communist Party newspaper’s front page. Wang was quoted saying Wuhan’s citizens should be educated “so that they thank the General Secretary (Xi Jinping), thank the Chinese Communist Party, heed the Party, walk with the Party, and create strong positive energy.”
Wang’s missive was quickly deleted. Hubei’s party secretary Ying Yong made new headlines with a public statement saying, “I express sincere gratitude to the people of Wuhan and the people of Hubei.”
Meanwhile, volunteer groups in and outside of China have begun archiving their own histories of the COVID-19 outbreak, saving and posting Chinese investigations, interviews, personal essays and social media posts on Google Docs and github. They are building a people’s narrative of the epidemic, captured in screenshots taken faster than the censors can delete them.
Others have gone further: Li Zehua, a 25-year-old CCTV news anchor, resigned from his job so he could report independently from Wuhan.
Inspired by Chen Qiushi, a lawyer who’d also filmed videos of hospitals in Wuhan and then was detained, Li made video dispatches, often in a Los Angeles Lakers sweatshirt. He reported from a Wuhan crematorium, among migrant workers who’d become homeless under lockdown at the train station, and in the neighborhood where officials had allowed 40,000 families to gather for a Chinese New Year potluck instead of warning them about an infectious outbreak.
He was reportedly detained on Feb. 26. As state security officers knocked on his door, Li recorded a final message, declaring his “clear conscience” toward his family, his country, and the Communication University of China, where he’d studied journalism.
“I’m not willing to disguise my voice, nor am I willing to shut my eyes and close my ears,” he said, adding that he sympathised even with the security officers at the door: “When you support such a cruel order unconditionally, the day will come when the same cruel order falls on your own heads.”
He quoted a line from revolutionary Chinese writer Lu Xun: “In this China of ours there have always been those who speak for the people, who fight tenaciously, who abandon their bodies in search of the truth … . In these people we discover China’s spine.”
Then he opened the door. Two men entered, and the screen went dark.
———
(Gaochao Zhang and Nicole Liu of the Times’ Beijing bureau contributed to this report.)
———
©2020 Los Angeles Times
Visit the Los Angeles Times at www.latimes.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Alice Su
2 hrs ago
Then the world seemed to cave in.
The ceilings and floors cracked open, people’s screams mixing with the sudden roar of a building tumbling in upon itself. Smoke and dust billowed from the collapsed hotel where Xiang had been isolated on the fourth floor for 12 days, quarantined after traveling from Hubei province, where China’s coronavirus epidemic began.
1/101 SLIDES © Thomas Peter/Reuters
People wear face masks as they walk outside an office building during morning rush hour in Beijing, China, on March 9.
Xiang’s mother and uncle, also under quarantine, were trapped under the rubble. Xiang managed to climb out, grabbing a rope thrown by firefighters who then moved him to a hospital bed from which he recounted what had happened in a video interview with Chinese newspaper Beijing News. His full name was not reported.
At least 10 people were killed in the hotel’s collapse Saturday night, according to Chinese authorities, out of 71 people trapped in the building, 58 of whom were under quarantine after returning from other parts of China heavily affected by the coronavirus. As of Monday, 38 people had been rescued and 23 remained missing.
It was a tragedy that resounded in a nation still largely under self-quarantine and isolation, a preventable disaster on top of more than 80,000 coronavirus infections and 3,000 deaths that have ravaged entire families on the frontlines.
It was also a disturbing reminder of the repeated systemic failures — innocent deaths amid collapse of poorly constructed buildings without proper legal supervision, viral outbreaks exacerbated by political cover-ups for the sake of saving face — that prick holes in China’s desired image as a wealthy superpower poised to lead the world.
As China’s coronavirus numbers drop, with a slowing rate of daily new infections and deaths, Beijing is pushing the narrative of a Communist Party-led victory. Instead of acknowledging initial missteps that allowed the spread of a virus now threatening the world, Chinese diplomats are boasting that China’s authoritarian system produced a superior disease control model that the rest of the world should emulate.
But many Chinese people, especially those who have suffered the most from the outbreak, have a different story to tell about the failings of their government.
While no official reason has been declared for the Quanzhou hotel collapse, police have detained the building’s owner and are investigating whether ground-floor renovations were to blame. On Monday, central authorities released a report about the mismanagement of construction projects in Fujian province.
Among an online outpouring of grief for the victims, many comments cited the term “tofu-dreg construction,” referring to shoddy construction more concerned with profits than building codes.
The term was coined in 2008 during the Wenchuan earthquake in Sichuan province, when thousands of children died in collapsed “tofu-dreg” schools. Families and schoolteachers who sought accountability for the bad construction were silenced through detention and police threat.
“The reason is still unclear, it’s corruption and ‘tofu construction’ again, when can our nation become more rational?” wrote a user on Weibo.
“I feel despair after getting locked into a room for just one hour. I can’t imagine those people trapped under rocks for many hours. Hope they are all surviving and strong,” wrote another, evoking the frustration of hundreds of millions of people in China who have been largely confined to their homes for the last 1½ months.
Chinese diplomats have meanwhile begun a campaign — giving more than 400 media interviews and publishing more than 300 articles in recent weeks, according to China’s Foreign Ministry — to praise China’s virus control methods. State media recently celebrated the publication of a book by the central propaganda department about China’s successes against the coronavirus, titled “A Battle Against Epidemic: China Combatting COVID-19 in 2020.”
The book will be published in English, French, Spanish, Russian and Arabic, according to a Feb. 26 Xinhua news release, so that the world could learn from China’s disease control methods. But at home, skepticism and anger run deep, so much so that the party has been forced to backtrack several times on its propaganda.
Critics on WeChat circulated images of the “Battle Against Epidemic” book cover with the comment “Totally shameless,” possibly prompting a reconsideration of timing for the book’s publication. As of Monday, it still was not available for purchase.
Backlashes have surfaced in other places too. Vice Premier Sun Chunlan, one of the party’s highest-ranking officials, was touring a residential compound in Wuhan last week, the epidemic’s ground zero, when residents began shouting from their apartment windows: “Fake! Fake! It’s all fake!”
Local news media reported that residents were protesting because the compound’s management had done a last-minute cleanup and orchestrated a fake setup of grocery delivery to locked-down apartments, when in reality residents were being confined and neglected.
In an unusual move, both the state newspaper People’s Daily and state broadcaster CCTV published videos of the incident, but added commentary saying the central government was against such staged inspections and criticizing local officials’ cover-up of real problems.
Journalist Chu Zhaoxin criticised Sun in a post that was later deleted: “You are a public servant, and your job is to serve the people. Now the people you serve are broken, the dead are still cold, and the tears of the living have not yet dried. The sick have not yet recovered, and much of their dissatisfaction is completely reasonable.”
Then over the weekend, Wuhan’s recently installed party secretary Wang Zhonglin ignited public fury again when he called for citywide “gratitude education” on the Wuhan Communist Party newspaper’s front page. Wang was quoted saying Wuhan’s citizens should be educated “so that they thank the General Secretary (Xi Jinping), thank the Chinese Communist Party, heed the Party, walk with the Party, and create strong positive energy.”
Wang’s missive was quickly deleted. Hubei’s party secretary Ying Yong made new headlines with a public statement saying, “I express sincere gratitude to the people of Wuhan and the people of Hubei.”
Meanwhile, volunteer groups in and outside of China have begun archiving their own histories of the COVID-19 outbreak, saving and posting Chinese investigations, interviews, personal essays and social media posts on Google Docs and github. They are building a people’s narrative of the epidemic, captured in screenshots taken faster than the censors can delete them.
Others have gone further: Li Zehua, a 25-year-old CCTV news anchor, resigned from his job so he could report independently from Wuhan.
Inspired by Chen Qiushi, a lawyer who’d also filmed videos of hospitals in Wuhan and then was detained, Li made video dispatches, often in a Los Angeles Lakers sweatshirt. He reported from a Wuhan crematorium, among migrant workers who’d become homeless under lockdown at the train station, and in the neighborhood where officials had allowed 40,000 families to gather for a Chinese New Year potluck instead of warning them about an infectious outbreak.
He was reportedly detained on Feb. 26. As state security officers knocked on his door, Li recorded a final message, declaring his “clear conscience” toward his family, his country, and the Communication University of China, where he’d studied journalism.
“I’m not willing to disguise my voice, nor am I willing to shut my eyes and close my ears,” he said, adding that he sympathised even with the security officers at the door: “When you support such a cruel order unconditionally, the day will come when the same cruel order falls on your own heads.”
He quoted a line from revolutionary Chinese writer Lu Xun: “In this China of ours there have always been those who speak for the people, who fight tenaciously, who abandon their bodies in search of the truth … . In these people we discover China’s spine.”
Then he opened the door. Two men entered, and the screen went dark.
———
(Gaochao Zhang and Nicole Liu of the Times’ Beijing bureau contributed to this report.)
———
©2020 Los Angeles Times
Visit the Los Angeles Times at www.latimes.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
'It's like someone's hit pause on life': China turns to therapy amid virus lockdown
As the crisis drags on and quarantine orders remain in place, many in China are struggling with the uncertainty over how long they will be kept in isolation. (Photo: AFP/STR)
10 Mar 2020 11:35AM
Bookmark
BEIJING: Therapists, counselling hotlines and online wellness groups in China are struggling to cope with surging demand for emotional help as the coronavirus outbreak upends normal life.
A shortage of mental health providers is exacerbating the problem in the country where unprecedented measures to contain the deadly outbreak have left tens of millions in lockdown and many more fearful to go outside.
"Every day we have about 20 callers. Some have watched their relatives perish without access to medicine in the early days of the virus, when there weren't enough hospital beds," said a psychologist surnamed Xu, who works at a hospital in Wuhan, the epicentre of the epidemic.
"Most calls are from coronavirus patients worried about slow results after medical treatment or those anxious about being infected."
READ: China quarantine hotel collapse death toll jumps to 20
As the crisis drags on and quarantine orders remain in place, many are struggling with the uncertainty over how long they will be kept in isolation.
That is fuelling boredom, loneliness, and anger, said Chee Ng, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Melbourne.
"The longer the quarantine, the worse the mental health outcomes," Ng said.
While frontline workers have borne the brunt of the mental stress caused by the virus, which has infected more than 80,000 people in China, many others are feeling the strain.
Students stuck at home taking online courses, pregnant women and couples grappling with a lack of childcare are all reaching out for help to vent their fears and frustration.
China's National Health Commission said more than 300 hotlines have been set up by universities, local governments and mental health organisations.
But China has just 2.2 psychiatrists for every 100,000 people, according to the World Health Organization.
Amid a severe shortage of trained professionals, the government has only been able to muster a team of 415 counsellors to go to Hubei to serve an army of health workers and tens of thousands of patients.
READ: China has no new local COVID-19 cases outside Hubei for third day
Volunteers at several hotlines in Beijing and Shanghai told AFP that they were not given crisis intervention training, making them vulnerable to secondary trauma.
"Some volunteers cry after their session is over," said Ming Yue, a trainee psychiatrist who volunteers with a nationwide hotline run by Beijing Normal University.
"They feel sad and overwhelmed."
Xu the psychologist told AFP she does half an hour of meditation every day before starting work at the hospital.
"That's how I cope," she said.
"Otherwise, the emotional burden is too heavy."
"TIRED AND IRRITABLE"
Doctors and nurses treating virus patients are particularly vulnerable to mental stress - especially if they have to take care of sick colleagues.
"During the SARS outbreak, nearly 89 per cent of health workers reported some form of psychological impact," Ng said, referring to another coronavirus in China in 2002-2003.
More than 3,400 health workers in China had been infected with COVID-19, according to officials.
And state media propaganda - which portrays health workers as heroes and martyrs - could actually prevent them from getting the help they need, Ng warned.
"When you are supposed to live a certain expectation - of someone who is strong, committed and dedicated as a health profession - it is hard to really reveal the vulnerabilities that they experience," he said.
Du Mingjun, secretary general of Hubei Psychological Consultant Association, said he has only received a handful of calls from frontline doctors and nurses.
"Many who call say they feel tired and irritable," Du said.
"But many are too busy or too shy to seek help."
The shortage of trained professionals has led to online groups with hundreds taking part. Therapists share recorded meditations, stories and soothing music.
"It feels like someone has hit the pause button on life, and it's unclear when they'll hit play again," said one of the participants from Wenzhou, an eastern city also under lockdown.
Even after the outbreak is over, however, the mental scars from the ordeal could linger for a long time, Ng warned.
"Studies have shown that even at three months or one year (after the epidemic) the psychological impact persists," he said.
As the crisis drags on and quarantine orders remain in place, many in China are struggling with the uncertainty over how long they will be kept in isolation. (Photo: AFP/STR)
10 Mar 2020 11:35AM
Bookmark
BEIJING: Therapists, counselling hotlines and online wellness groups in China are struggling to cope with surging demand for emotional help as the coronavirus outbreak upends normal life.
A shortage of mental health providers is exacerbating the problem in the country where unprecedented measures to contain the deadly outbreak have left tens of millions in lockdown and many more fearful to go outside.
"Every day we have about 20 callers. Some have watched their relatives perish without access to medicine in the early days of the virus, when there weren't enough hospital beds," said a psychologist surnamed Xu, who works at a hospital in Wuhan, the epicentre of the epidemic.
"Most calls are from coronavirus patients worried about slow results after medical treatment or those anxious about being infected."
READ: China quarantine hotel collapse death toll jumps to 20
As the crisis drags on and quarantine orders remain in place, many are struggling with the uncertainty over how long they will be kept in isolation.
That is fuelling boredom, loneliness, and anger, said Chee Ng, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Melbourne.
"The longer the quarantine, the worse the mental health outcomes," Ng said.
While frontline workers have borne the brunt of the mental stress caused by the virus, which has infected more than 80,000 people in China, many others are feeling the strain.
Students stuck at home taking online courses, pregnant women and couples grappling with a lack of childcare are all reaching out for help to vent their fears and frustration.
China's National Health Commission said more than 300 hotlines have been set up by universities, local governments and mental health organisations.
But China has just 2.2 psychiatrists for every 100,000 people, according to the World Health Organization.
Amid a severe shortage of trained professionals, the government has only been able to muster a team of 415 counsellors to go to Hubei to serve an army of health workers and tens of thousands of patients.
READ: China has no new local COVID-19 cases outside Hubei for third day
Volunteers at several hotlines in Beijing and Shanghai told AFP that they were not given crisis intervention training, making them vulnerable to secondary trauma.
"Some volunteers cry after their session is over," said Ming Yue, a trainee psychiatrist who volunteers with a nationwide hotline run by Beijing Normal University.
"They feel sad and overwhelmed."
Xu the psychologist told AFP she does half an hour of meditation every day before starting work at the hospital.
"That's how I cope," she said.
"Otherwise, the emotional burden is too heavy."
"TIRED AND IRRITABLE"
Doctors and nurses treating virus patients are particularly vulnerable to mental stress - especially if they have to take care of sick colleagues.
"During the SARS outbreak, nearly 89 per cent of health workers reported some form of psychological impact," Ng said, referring to another coronavirus in China in 2002-2003.
More than 3,400 health workers in China had been infected with COVID-19, according to officials.
And state media propaganda - which portrays health workers as heroes and martyrs - could actually prevent them from getting the help they need, Ng warned.
"When you are supposed to live a certain expectation - of someone who is strong, committed and dedicated as a health profession - it is hard to really reveal the vulnerabilities that they experience," he said.
Du Mingjun, secretary general of Hubei Psychological Consultant Association, said he has only received a handful of calls from frontline doctors and nurses.
"Many who call say they feel tired and irritable," Du said.
"But many are too busy or too shy to seek help."
The shortage of trained professionals has led to online groups with hundreds taking part. Therapists share recorded meditations, stories and soothing music.
"It feels like someone has hit the pause button on life, and it's unclear when they'll hit play again," said one of the participants from Wenzhou, an eastern city also under lockdown.
Even after the outbreak is over, however, the mental scars from the ordeal could linger for a long time, Ng warned.
"Studies have shown that even at three months or one year (after the epidemic) the psychological impact persists," he said.
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