3 more Asian nations confirm virus cases

Beijing, February 4

Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand confirmed coronavirus infections on Tuesday among citizens who had not travelled to China. Besides, Hong Kong reported its first death from the disease and millions more people in Chinese cities were ordered to stay indoor.

The toll in mainland China soared to 426 after 64 more people died, the biggest single day tally since the first fatalities emerged last month.

More than 20 countries have confirmed cases of the virus, prompting the World Health Organisation to declare a global health emergency, several governments to institute travel restrictions, and airlines to suspend flights to and from China.

But it has continued to spread with Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand on Tuesday reporting new infections that were not imported from China.

In a sign of growing concern about a spread to other densely-populated Chinese metropolitan areas, authorities in three cities in eastern Zhejiang province — including one near Shanghai — limited the number of people allowed to leave their homes.

Three districts in Hangzhou — including the area where the main office of Chinese tech giant Alibaba is based — now allow only one person per household to go outside every two days to buy necessities, affecting some three million people. The city is only 175 kilometres (110 miles) southwest of the financial hub of Shanghai, which has reported more than 200 cases, including one death, so far.

Similar measures were imposed in Taizhou and three districts in Ningbo, covering a total population of nine million people. Days before, similar restrictions were placed on Wenzhou, home to another nine million.

Zhejiang province has confirmed 829 cases — the highest number outside the central region of Hubei, whose capital, Wuhan, is the epicentre of the outbreak.

The disease is believed to have emerged in December in a Wuhan market that sold wild animals. — AFP

China readies thousands of hospital beds

Beijing: Hundreds of empty beds lined an exhibition centre converted into a makeshift hospital at the epicentre of China’s deadly virus epidemic on Tuesday, awaiting coronavirus patients. State media said the converted exhibition centre, along with a nearby gymnasium, will house an extra 3,400 beds and provide “emergency treatment and clinical testing” for those infected with the virus in Wuhan. AFP

Epidemic sparks fear, racism worldwide

Sydney: As the deadly coronavirus has spread worldwide, it has carried with it xenophobia — and Asian communities around the world are finding themselves subject to suspicion and fear. There has been a spike in reports of anti-Chinese rhetoric directed at people of Asian origin. Chinese tourists have reportedly been spat at in the Italian city of Venice, a family in Turin was accused of carrying the disease, and mothers in Milan have used social media to call for children to be kept away from Chinese classmates. AFP