Wuhan Coronavirus: A Look At The Patients, A City In Quarantine, WHO’s Hesitation On Emergency Designation, And More

The New York Times: Coronavirus Deaths Are So Far Mostly Older Men, Many With Health Issues
When the man finally went to a hospital, he had been sick for a week. It was Dec. 26, and Mr. Zeng, 61, was weak with a cough. He got worse. A day later he was transferred to intensive care and on Dec. 30 he was put on a ventilator to help his deteriorating ability to breathe. He was moved to another hospital and attached to another machine that oxygenated his blood. Still he got worse, and on Jan. 9, his heart stopped. Mr. Zeng, who the authorities have only identified by his last name, became the first confirmed death from the new coronavirus that emerged in the central city of Wuhan and has spread around the country and beyond. (Ramzy, 1/23)

Bloomberg: Coronavirus: The Symptoms, Sex And Age Of All The Victims
Several people who’ve died from a new virus in China didn’t display symptoms of fever, potentially complicating global efforts to check for infected travelers as they arrive at airports and other travel hubs. Details released by China’s National Health Commission show five of the 17 people who died after being infected with novel coronavirus displayed other symptoms such as breathing difficulty, chest tightness and coughing. The joint-oldest victim, an 89-year-old male, was suffering from drowsiness and incontinence, as well as a fever. He sought medical help on Jan. 5 and died on Jan. 18. He had pre-existing conditions, including hypertension. (Davies and Tan, 1/22)

The New York Times: Scale Of China’s Wuhan Shutdown Is Believed To Be Without Precedent 
In closing off Wuhan, a city of more than 11 million people, China is deploying a centuries-old public health tactic to prevent the spread of infectious disease — this time, a mysterious respiratory infection caused by a coronavirus. Experts said the stunning scale of the shutdown, isolating a major urban transit hub larger than New York City, was without precedent. (Levenson, 1/22)

Reuters: China Orders 'Unprecedented' Lockdown Of Two Cities At Virus Epicenter
China is putting on lockdown a city of 11 million people considered the epicenter of a new coronavirus outbreak that has killed 17 and infected nearly 600, as health authorities around the world scramble to prevent a global pandemic. Health officials fear the transmission rate will accelerate as hundreds of millions of Chinese travel at home and abroad during week-long holidays for Lunar New Year, which begins on Saturday. (Chen and Lee, 1/23)

The Washington Post: Travel Ban Goes Into Effect In Chinese City Of Wuhan As Authorities Try To Stop Coronavirus Spread
All outbound trains and bus services from Wuhan — larger than any city in the United States — were suspended starting at 10 a.m. Thursday, causing chaos for some of the 400 million people hitting the road for the Lunar New Year holiday, which officially begins Friday. Armed police guarded the entrance to Wuhan's biggest railway station, less than a mile from the market where the virus originated, to stop people trying to get onto the last trains out of the city. (Fifield and Sun, 1/22)

The Washington Post: Here’s How The Unprecedented Quarantine Of One Of China’s Largest Cities Could Play Out
The quarantine comes at a troublesome time for the roughly 400 million people who are traveling in China for the Lunar New Year festival, which begins Saturday. Almost 25 million passengers were expected to travel through the three main stations of China Railway’s Wuhan branch, and the number of flights to and from the airport were expected to increase from 600 to 800 each day. Even before the quarantine, authorities had required people to wear medical masks in public places. Many stores had sold out on Wednesday. (Iati and Thebault, 1/22)

The Hill: Chinese Government Quarantines City Of Wuhan Over Coronavirus Outbreak
Dozens of cases have been identified in other major Chinese cities, including Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, with cases also appearing in Japan, Thailand, South Korea, Taiwan and the United States. A man in Washington state was the first person in the U.S. to have a confirmed case of the virus. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Tuesday that the 30-year-old man had recently traveled from Wuhan.  (Axelrod, 1/22)

The New York Times: China Silences Critics Over Coronavirus Outbreak
The SARS disaster was supposed to drag China into a new era of openness and responsibility. The deadly disease rippled across the world 17 years ago, abetted by a Chinese government that covered up its spread. As the scope of it became clear, China’s journalists, intellectuals and other critics helped shame Beijing into opening up about the problem. “SARS has been our country’s 9/11,” said Xu Zhiyuan, then a young newspaper columnist and a fierce critic of the government’s handling of SARS, in a 2003 interview with The New York Times. “It has forced us to pay attention to the real meaning of globalization.” (Yuan, 1/22)

The Washington Post: A Coronavirus Spreading In China Is New. But Efforts To Stop It Began Nearly 20 Years Ago.
A new coronavirus that has killed at least 17 people in China and spread to several other countries is already putting global measures designed to fend off epidemics to the test. The looming question is whether the international community will try to stem its spread by implementing what it learned during the deadly outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, between 2002 and 2004, which also began in China. At the time, China denied the existence of the SARS virus, even as it spread across the country and abroad, eventually killing more than 770 people worldwide. (Noack and O'Grady, 1/22)

Reuters: Chinese Listed Companies Ramp Up Virus Efforts After President's Call
A number of Chinese listed companies - ranging from biotech firms, drugmakers, mask producers and thermometer manufacturers - announced efforts in response to a national call to fight the outbreak of the Wuhan coronavirus. The new, flu-like virus, first discovered in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, has killed 17 and infected nearly 600 people. Cases have been detected in other major population centers, including Beijing and Shanghai, as well as overseas, triggering a public scramble for face masks and flu medicines. (1/23)

The Wall Street Journal: Virus Sparks Chinese Panic Buying, Travel Cancellations And Social-Media Misinformation
Surgical masks flew off shelves, travelers canceled plans and rumors flooded social media as the number of confirmed infections of a new, pneumonia-causing coronavirus topped 500 cases across China. In drugstores and at airports, and on the online marketplaces increasingly at the heart of Chinese commerce, fear and confusion manifested themselves in shortages or long lines for suddenly scarce products promising protection from the deadly but still largely mysterious respiratory disease. (Wernau, 1/22)

The Wall Street Journal: Investors Rattled By China’s Coronavirus Look To Past Epidemics For Clues
Investors fixated on the mysterious pneumonia-causing virus that originated in China are looking to past viral outbreaks to assess how bad the damage could be on the economy and markets this time around. Seventeen people have died, with more than 500 confirmed cases of the coronavirus that authorities say is spreading between people primarily through the respiratory tract. Federal health officials said Tuesday a man in Washington state has the first case to be confirmed in the U.S. (Russolillo and Chiu, 1/22)

Stat: WHO Postpones Decision On Whether To Declare China Outbreak A Global Public Health Emergency
The World Health Organization on Wednesday delayed a decision on whether to declare the ongoing outbreak of a novel virus that originated in China a global health emergency, with agency officials saying they needed more information to reach a consensus.Following a meeting of a WHO emergency committee, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO’s director-general, said he had asked the committee to continue the discussion Thursday. “This is an evolving and complex situation,” said Tedros, as he is known. He said declaring the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern, or PHEIC, was a decision “I’m only prepared to make with appropriate consideration of all the evidence.” (Joseph, 1/22)

Bloomberg: WHO Head Says Must Consider All Evidence Before Virus Decision
The Director-General of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus tweeted: "The decision about whether or not to declare a public health emergency of international concern on new #coronavirus is one I take extremely seriously, and one I am only prepared to make with appropriate consideration of all the evidence." (Valero, 1/22)

Bloomberg: Coronavirus News: China Bans Travel From Outbreak City Wuhan
Health officials expanded travel restrictions beyond the epicenter of a SARS-like virus outbreak that’s killed at least 17 and infected hundreds in China while spreading around the world. After travel from the central city of Wuhan was halted, nearby Huanggang suspended bus services and closed public sites including movie theaters, the local government said Thursday. Another city, Ezhou, also imposed restrictions, according to municipal officials. The dramatic steps came as pressure grows on China to contain the outbreak. (Bloomberg News, 1/22)

MPR: How Does Wuhan Coronavirus Compare With MERS, SARS And The Common Cold?
A new strain of coronavirus — named 2019-nCoV — has been discovered in China. Viruses in the coronavirus category can cause fever, breathing difficulties, pneumonia and diarrhea. Some are potentially fatal. Others can cause the relatively mild common cold.Here is a look at the most well-known coronaviruses: what they have in common and how they differ. (Huang, 1/22)

Bloomberg: Coronavirus News: Fear Spreads Through China Virus Ground Zero
In Wuhan, the central Chinese city that’s ground zero of the deadly new virus spreading through the country, a sense of fear is rapidly taking hold. On Thursday morning, the city’s some 11 million residents woke to learn it’s now in lockdown, with public transport halted, flights out canceled and trains not running right on the eve of the Lunar New Year holiday that traditionally unites families for days of feasting. It’s a dramatic escalation for Wuhan, which has found itself at the epicenter of a potentially global health crisis after a market selling freshly slaughtered meat and live animals was identified as the source of an outbreak that’s killed 17 people and infected hundreds. (Bloomberg News, 1/22)

PBS NewsHour: Track The Spread Of Novel Coronavirus With This Map
A map created by U.S. researchers is tracking in real-time a virus in China that has sickened hundreds of people and resulted in at least 17 deaths. Novel coronavirus, which is linked to an outbreak of pneumonia, has global public health officials concerned about its potential to spread around the world. (Santhanam, 1/22)