Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
As Coronavirus Cases Rise In China, Researchers Forecast Outbreak Is Headed In Direction Of Global Pandemic
The New York Times: Wuhan Coronavirus Looks Increasingly Like A Pandemic, Experts Say
The Wuhan coronavirus spreading from China is now likely to become a pandemic that circles the globe, according to many of the world’s leading infectious disease experts. The prospect is daunting. A pandemic — an ongoing epidemic on two or more continents — may well have global consequences, despite the extraordinary travel restrictions and quarantines now imposed by China and other countries, including the United States. Scientists do not yet know how lethal the new coronavirus is, however, so there is uncertainty about how much damage a pandemic might cause. (McNeil, 2/2)
Stat: Top WHO Official Says It's Not Too Late To Stop Coronavirus Outbreak
There is still reason to believe the growing coronavirus outbreak in China can be contained, a top World Health Organization official said Saturday, pointing to some evidence that the disease may not be spreading as rapidly as is feared. He also downplayed reports that people infected with the virus may be contagious before they show symptoms — a feature that, if true, would make it much harder to control. “Until [containment] is impossible, we should keep trying,” Dr. Mike Ryan, head of the WHO’s Emergencies Program, said in an interview with STAT. The WHO declared the outbreak a global health emergency on Thursday. (Branswell, 2/1)
The New York Times: SARS Stung The Global Economy. The Coronavirus Is A Greater Menace.
In 2002, when a lethal, pneumonialike virus known as SARS emerged in China, the country’s factories were mostly churning out low-cost goods like T-shirts and sneakers for customers around the world. Seventeen years later, another deadly virus is spreading rapidly through the world’s most populous country. But China has evolved into a principal element of the global economy, making the epidemic a substantially more potent threat to fortunes. International companies that rely on Chinese factories to make their products and depend on Chinese consumers for sales are already warning of costly problems. (Goodman, 2/3)
The Washington Post: China’s Reopened Stock Markets Plunge As Coronavirus Outbreak Set To Become Pandemic
Coronavirus cases continue to surge in China while new infections are being reported around the world. Stock markets in China, reopening after the Lunar New Year holiday, recorded their sharpest falls in more than four years on Monday, reflecting increasing concern about the damage the outbreak is inflicting on the local economy. (Denyer, 2/3)
The Wall Street Journal: Coronavirus Kills Its First Victim Outside China As Toll Grows
The newly identified coronavirus claimed its first life outside China, as the number of U.S. cases ticked up to eight and the Pentagon said it was setting up quarantine centers for travelers who screened positive for the illness. A 44-year-old man in the Philippines from the Chinese city of Wuhan, where the outbreak began in December, died on Saturday, the Philippine Department of Health said on Sunday. The man was one of two confirmed cases in the Philippines, the other being his 38-year-old female companion. (Yang, Solomon and Lubold, 2/2)
The Hill: First Coronavirus Death Reported Outside China
Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has reportedly temporarily banned travelers from China and its autonomous regions from entering the country. The U.S., Japan, Singapore and Australia have taken similar measures as the virus spreads. Delta Airlines and American Airlines last week announced they would suspend all flights between the U.S. and China starting in February.(Wise, 2/2)
ABC News: Global Death Toll From New Coronavirus Outbreak Rises To 362
Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam on Monday announced additional border closures, severing all but three links between the semi-autonomous Chinese city and mainland China. The Hong Kong International Airp[ort, the Shenzhen Bay border and the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau bridge remain open. (Winsor, 2/3)
The New York Times: As New Coronavirus Spread, China’s Old Habits Delayed Fight
A mysterious illness had stricken seven patients at a hospital, and a doctor tried to warn his medical school classmates. “Quarantined in the emergency department,” the doctor, Li Wenliang, wrote in an online chat group on Dec. 30, referring to patients. “So frightening,” one recipient replied, before asking about the epidemic that began in China in 2002 and ultimately killed nearly 800 people. “Is SARS coming again?” (Buckley and Myers, 2/1)
The Washington Post: Early Missteps And State Secrecy In China Probably Allowed The Coronavirus To Spread Farther And Faster
It was almost the Lunar New Year and Pan Chuntao was feeling festive. He knew there were reports of a virus in his city, Wuhan. But local officials urged calmness. There was no evidence it was transmitted person to person, they said. They had not reported a new case in days. On Jan. 16, the 76-year-old left his two-bedroom apartment to attend a government-organized fair. “We told him not to go because we saw some rumors on WeChat of doctors getting infected,” said Pan’s son-in-law, Zhang Siqiang. “But he insisted on going. He said, ‘The government says it’s not a problem, there are no cases anymore.’ ” (Shih, Rauhala and Sun, 2/1)
The Associated Press: Built In 10 Days, China's Virus Hospital Takes 1st Patients
The first patients arrived Monday at a 1,000-bed hospital built in 10 days as part of China's sweeping efforts to fight a new virus that is causing global alarm. Huoshenshan Hospital and a second 1,500-bed facility due to open this week were built by construction crews who are working around the clock in Wuhan, the central city where the outbreak was first detected in December. Some 50 million people are barred from leaving Wuhan and surrounding cities. (McDonald, 2/2)
The Wall Street Journal: New Coronavirus Hospital Is Completed As Cases, Deaths Keep Climbing
The hospital, built in 10 days, is one of two going up to treat virus patients in the stricken central Chinese city of Wuhan. A video on the website of state-controlled news agency Xinhua, which reported the completion, showed a crowd of construction workers—all wearing face masks—applauding during the inauguration ceremony. Roughly 1,400 military medical workers will staff the 1,000-bed Huoshenshan (“Fire God Mountain”) hospital, Xinhua said. (Li, 2/3)
NBC News: China's Coronavirus Hospital Built In 10 Days Opens Its Doors, State Media Says
It’s not the first time China has had to build a specialized medical facility on a tight deadline. During the SARS epidemic in 2003, a hospital in Beijing was constructed in just a week. Wuhan has been on lockdown for nearly two weeks with millions of its inhabitants barred from leaving the city. The Chinese government has not yet signaled when the lockdown could be lifted. (Talmazan, 2/3)
The New York Times: Coronavirus Pummels Wuhan, A City Short Of Supplies And Overwhelmed
Weak with fever, An Jianhua waited in line for seven hours outside the hospital in the cold, hoping to get tested for the new coronavirus, which doctors suspected she had contracted. Ms. An, 67, needed an official diagnosis from a hospital to qualify for treatment, but the one she and her son raced to last week had no space, even to test her. The next hospital they were referred to here in Wuhan, the city of 11 million people at the center of the outbreak, was full, too, they said. They finally got an intravenous drip for Ms. An’s fever, but that was all. (Qin, 2/2)
The Wall Street Journal: Avian Influenza In China Adds To Economic Concerns Amid Coronavirus Spread
Chinese authorities announced Saturday a recurrence of avian influenza in chickens in central China, adding fresh economic concerns for a country reeling from an outbreak of coronavirus that has sickened nearly 12,000 people since it emerged in December. In a sign of the pressure already on China, Australia and Vietnam joined the U.S. and others in distancing their citizens from the country over the coronavirus, while Apple Inc. shut its stores on the Chinese mainland and Beijing pledged more support for embattled businesses. (Mendell and Cheng, 2/1)
Bloomberg: Coronavirus Latest News: China Fatalities Up, Travel Restrictions
Chinese officials are evaluating whether the target for economic growth this year should be softened, according to people familiar with the matter. The death toll from the coronavirus outbreak rose past 360 and total confirmed cases reached almost 17,400.Global efforts to contain the spread escalated after the Philippines reported the first fatality outside China and the U.S. confirmed more infections. Trading resumed in China after the Lunar New Year holidays, with stocks plunging the most since 2015 as they caught up with declines elsewhere. U.S. equity futures rallied. (Bloomberg News, 2/2)
Bloomberg: Coronavirus Forces World’s Largest Work-From-Home Experiment
While factories, shops, hotels and restaurants are warning about plunging foot traffic that is transforming city centers into ghost towns, behind the closed doors of apartments and suburban homes, thousands of businesses are trying to figure out how to stay operational in a virtual world. “It’s a good opportunity for us to test working from home at scale,” said Alvin Foo, managing director of Reprise Digital, a Shanghai ad agency with 400 people that’s part of Interpublic Group. “Obviously, not easy for a creative ad agency that brainstorms a lot in person.” It’s going to mean a lot of video chats and phone calls, he said. (Banjo, Yap, Murphy and Chan, 2/2)
