China Extends ‘Wartime’ Campaign To Round Up Infected People Beyond Epicenter As COVID-19 Death Toll Rises
Meanwhile, Chinese officials report that at least 1,716 health care workers tested positive for the coronavirus so far, and that six of them have died. Political unrest continues to ripple through the top echelons of the Communist Party as frustration mounts against the government.
The New York Times:
China Expands Chaotic Dragnet In Coronavirus Crackdown
China’s leaders expanded a mass roundup of people possibly sickened with the coronavirus on Thursday, widening their dragnet well beyond the epicenter of the outbreak to at least two more cities in what the government has called a “wartime” campaign to stamp out the epidemic. But the campaign, first announced last week in the city of Wuhan, already has been marred by chaotic conditions that have isolated vulnerable patients without adequate care and, in some cases, left them alone to die. The expansion of the decree to “round up everyone who should be rounded up” in the Wuhan area of central China has deepened the nation’s sense of anxiety. (Qin, 2/13)
Reuters:
China's Hubei Province Reports 116 New Coronavirus Deaths
The death toll from a coronavirus outbreak in China's Hubei province has risen by 116, with the total number of cases up by nearly 5,000, the province's health commission said on Friday. The commission did not disclose the total number of deaths from the newly identified virus, which stood at 1,310 on Thursday. (2/13)
The New York Times:
China Is Tracking Travelers From Hubei
The number of cases surged again in Hubei Province, the epicenter of the epidemic. The authorities are taking a high-tech approach to figuring out who has visited there. (2/13)
Reuters:
China Says 1,716 Health Workers Infected By Coronavirus
China National Health Commission Vice Minister Zeng Yixin said on Friday that 1,716 health workers have been infected by the coronavirus and six of them have died as of Tuesday. Zeng, at a press conference about protecting medical workers, said the number of infected medical staff is increasing. (2/14)
ABC News:
China Says 1,716 Health Workers Among Over 63,000 Infected By Novel Coronavirus
"At present, the duties of medical workers at the front are indeed extremely heavy," Zeng said at a press conference Friday. "Their working and resting circumstances are limited, the psychological pressures are great and the risk of infection is high." (Winsor, 2/14)
CNN:
Over 1,700 Frontline Medics Likely Infected With Coronavirus In China Presenting New Crisis For The Government
Zhu estimates that of the 500 medical staff at the hospital, more than 130 may have been stricken by the virus, which has so far infected more than 60,000 globally. She declined to publicize the name of her hospital and asked to use a pseudonym as she was not authorized to speak to the media. (Gan, Thomas and Culver, 2/14)
PBS NewsHour:
In China, Political Fallout From Novel Coronavirus Outbreak Continues
As novel coronavirus continues to plague China, the country’s president, Xi Jinping, fired two high-level Communist Party officials in the region at the outbreak's center. The move comes as both death toll and number of cases are surging, partly as a result of changes in the way infections are defined. (Yang, 2/13)
The Wall Street Journal:
China Ousts Senior Officials As Beijing Seeks Distance From Outbreak
China ousted two top Communist Party officials in Hubei province, the center of the coronavirus outbreak, demonstrating Beijing’s disapproval of how local officials handled a threat that has mushroomed into an epidemic killing more than 1,300 people and halting business across the country. ... Chinese leaders doled out similar punishments during the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, nearly two decades ago, when China’s health minister and Beijing’s mayor lost their jobs. But in those cases, top Communist Party leaders were largely left in place. (Woo, 2/13)
The New York Times:
How The Coronavirus Numbers Changed So Sharply
The number of cases and deaths in the coronavirus epidemic in China jumped sharply on Thursday as the authorities there changed how they keep track of the disease, and not, primarily, because of any change in the shape of the outbreak. There is still a lot of uncertainty about the true numbers — as with any new disease — and that will continue for the foreseeable future. Underscoring that point, hours after China revised its figures, the World Health Organization put out a lower set, saying that for now, it would not change the way it counts. (Perez-Pena, 2/13)
The New York Times:
A Timeline Of The Coronavirus
The coronavirus, which surfaced in a Chinese seafood and poultry market late last year, has spread to 24 countries, killing more than 1,000 and sickening tens of thousands of people in a matter of weeks. The World Health Organization has declared the situation a global health emergency. Here’s a timeline of what we know so far about the outbreak. (Bryson Taylor, 2/13)
Reuters:
Dying A Desperate Death: A Wuhan Family's Coronavirus Ordeal
There were no doctors, nurses or medical equipment at the Wuhan hotel converted into a temporary quarantine facility for suspected coronavirus patients when brothers Wang Xiangkai and Wang Xiangyou arrived two weeks ago. The next day, Xiangkai, 61, woke to find that Xiangyou, 62, had died. The Wangs are among tens of thousands of families devastated by the coronavirus in Wuhan, where the medical system has been overwhelmed by the outbreak, despite massive reinforcements and two speedily built new hospitals. (Chen and Munroe, 2/14)
Reuters:
Solo Lunches And Masks: Chinese Returning To Work Grapple With Coronavirus
Chinese government employee Jin Yang returned to work in Beijing this week to find his usual workplace rules upended as China battles a coronavirus epidemic. His office has banned the practice of eating lunch in its canteen with colleagues, in favor of boxed meals, packaged in house and eaten at desks, he said. "It's anything but normal," the 28-year-old told Reuters. (Yu, Sun and Goh, 2/14)
CBS News:
Coronavirus Death Toll Mounts In China As U.S. Braces For Long Fight, More Cases
The head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the new coronavirus, which has killed almost 1,400 people and is still spreading in China, could be around for at least another year. With the Chinese government reporting 121 more deaths and more than 5,000 new cases Thursday alone, the illness dubbed COVID-19 didn't even appear to have peaked. Chinese health officials in the epicenter province of Hubei changed the way they officially diagnosed the disease this week, leading early Thursday to a sudden, alarming jump of about 14,000 new cases recorded in the region. But the person in charge of managing emergencies for the World Health Organization said that jump in the Chinese statistics did not indicate "a significant change in the trajectory of the outbreak." (2/14)
CNN:
China's Coronavirus Numbers Highlight The Challenges Of An Evolving Epidemic
When China reported a drop in the number of new cases of the deadly coronavirus earlier this week, hopes were raised that the outbreak might be slowing down. But on Thursday, health authorities in Hubei, the province at the center of the epidemic, announced there had been nearly 15,000 new cases overnight -- almost 10 times the number of cases announced the previous day. (Kottasova, 2/14)
