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northern watch
TB Fanatic
Chinese city at center of virus outbreak a major crossroads
The central Chinese city at the center of an outbreak of a new virus that has sickened hundreds of people and killed at least 17 is one of the country's largest industrial hubs and a major crossroads
By ELAINE KURTENBACH Associated Press
23 January 2020
The central Chinese city at the center of an outbreak of a new virus that has sickened nearly 600 people and killed at least 17 is one of the country's largest industrial hubs and a major crossroads. Wuhan is a manufacturing center of 11 million with a long history, formed by the union of three adjacent cities, Hankou, Wuchang and Hanyang.
HISTORY: An inland port on the north bank of the Yangtze River, which stretches from far western China to Shanghai, Wuhan is said to be about 3,500 years old. It came under British control in the 1800s as a treaty port and like much of China was occupied by the Japanese during World War II. It was the site of the Wuchang uprising in 1911 that eventually brought on the downfall of the Qing dynasty and the founding of the modern Republic of China. That government was vanquished by communist forces in 1949, leading to the current People's Republic of China.
INDUSTRY: Wuhan is the birthplace of China's steel industry, drawing on iron ore and coal from nearby mines. It's also a major manufacturing center for textiles, machinery, trucks and consumer products. Given its central location, it's the main distribution point in central China for river, railway, road and other transport. The local government says 300 of the world's top corporations have invested in the city. That includes companies like Walmart and automakers such as Honda, Nissan and PSA Citroen Pugeot.
HIGHLIGHTS: The city has high levees protecting it from flooding along the Yangtze and one of its most famous landmarks is the scenic but heavily polluted East Lake. The ancient, five-story Yellow Crane Tower, rebuilt several times, is featured in famous Tang dynasty poems. Wuhan is called one of the “furnaces" of the Yangtze, thanks to its extremely hot and humid summers.
HAPPENINGS: Wuhan is one of the host cities for the 2021 FIFA Club World Cup. It is accelerating the construction of five national-level industrial bases, and is striving to build up its high-tech industries as the “Optic Valley" of China. The city is also the site of an annual swim across the Yangtze to commemorate revolutionary leader Mao Zedong's famous 1966 swim at age 72.
FOOD: Like the SARS virus in 2003, the new coronavirus is thought initially to have been transmitted from animals to people via consumption of exotic wildlife. Apart from such creatures, Wuhan is famed for peppery frog legs, braised crayfish and spicy duck necks, a favorite drinking snack.
Chinese city at center of virus outbreak a major crossroads
The central Chinese city at the center of an outbreak of a new virus that has sickened hundreds of people and killed at least 17 is one of the country's largest industrial hubs and a major crossroads
By ELAINE KURTENBACH Associated Press
23 January 2020
The central Chinese city at the center of an outbreak of a new virus that has sickened nearly 600 people and killed at least 17 is one of the country's largest industrial hubs and a major crossroads. Wuhan is a manufacturing center of 11 million with a long history, formed by the union of three adjacent cities, Hankou, Wuchang and Hanyang.
HISTORY: An inland port on the north bank of the Yangtze River, which stretches from far western China to Shanghai, Wuhan is said to be about 3,500 years old. It came under British control in the 1800s as a treaty port and like much of China was occupied by the Japanese during World War II. It was the site of the Wuchang uprising in 1911 that eventually brought on the downfall of the Qing dynasty and the founding of the modern Republic of China. That government was vanquished by communist forces in 1949, leading to the current People's Republic of China.
INDUSTRY: Wuhan is the birthplace of China's steel industry, drawing on iron ore and coal from nearby mines. It's also a major manufacturing center for textiles, machinery, trucks and consumer products. Given its central location, it's the main distribution point in central China for river, railway, road and other transport. The local government says 300 of the world's top corporations have invested in the city. That includes companies like Walmart and automakers such as Honda, Nissan and PSA Citroen Pugeot.
HIGHLIGHTS: The city has high levees protecting it from flooding along the Yangtze and one of its most famous landmarks is the scenic but heavily polluted East Lake. The ancient, five-story Yellow Crane Tower, rebuilt several times, is featured in famous Tang dynasty poems. Wuhan is called one of the “furnaces" of the Yangtze, thanks to its extremely hot and humid summers.
HAPPENINGS: Wuhan is one of the host cities for the 2021 FIFA Club World Cup. It is accelerating the construction of five national-level industrial bases, and is striving to build up its high-tech industries as the “Optic Valley" of China. The city is also the site of an annual swim across the Yangtze to commemorate revolutionary leader Mao Zedong's famous 1966 swim at age 72.
FOOD: Like the SARS virus in 2003, the new coronavirus is thought initially to have been transmitted from animals to people via consumption of exotic wildlife. Apart from such creatures, Wuhan is famed for peppery frog legs, braised crayfish and spicy duck necks, a favorite drinking snack.
Chinese city at center of virus outbreak a major crossroads
jward
passin' thru
Remember, you can now BOOKMARK and label individual post. This might help you keep track of prep lists, or professional resources that you wish to refer back to, for instance.
Also, recall there is a whole forum here on Infectious Diseases that will have information for you on basic flu care, prevention etc. It is a sub forum of timebomb 2000...
Also, recall there is a whole forum here on Infectious Diseases that will have information for you on basic flu care, prevention etc. It is a sub forum of timebomb 2000...
jward
passin' thru
AFP news agency (@AFP) Tweeted:
#UPDATE Beijing reacts to the #coronavirus outbreak by cancelling massive Lunar New Year gatherings that usually attract throngs at temples during the annual holiday China locks down two cities to curb virus outbreak View: https://twitter.com/AFP/status/1220330936837033984?s=20
#UPDATE Beijing reacts to the #coronavirus outbreak by cancelling massive Lunar New Year gatherings that usually attract throngs at temples during the annual holiday China locks down two cities to curb virus outbreak View: https://twitter.com/AFP/status/1220330936837033984?s=20
northern watch
TB Fanatic
Oil falls as spectre of China virus looms over fuel demand
Julia Payne
January 22, 2020 / 9:19 PM / Updated 16 minutes ago
LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices fell on Thursday on concern that the spread of a respiratory virus from China could lower fuel demand if it stunts economic growth in an echo of the SARS epidemic nearly 20 years ago.
Brent crude futures LCOc1 were down 88 cents, or 1.39%, at $62.33 a barrel by 1225 GMT, having earlier touched their lowest since December 4. They lost 2.1% in the previous session.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures CLc1 fell 89 cents, or 1.57%, to $55.85 a barrel after earlier falling to the lowest since Dec. 3. The contract declined 2.7% on Wednesday.
On Thursday, China put on lockdown two cities that were at the epicentre of a new coronavirus outbreak that has killed 17 people and infected nearly 600, as health authorities around the world scrambled to prevent a global pandemic.
The potential for a pandemic has stirred memories of the Sudden Acute Respiratory Syndrome outbreak in 2002-03, which also started in China and dented economic growth and caused a slump in travel.
“Fundamentals are really being driven by virus fears. On a technical basis, there’s been a fight over the past six sessions but oil finally broke the 200-day moving average when it closed below that level yesterday,” said Olivier Jakob, of consultancy Petromatrix.
Cases have been detected as far as away as the United States and global stock markets were also down in part due to fears of the virus spreading further as millions of Chinese prepare to travel for the Lunar New Year. <MKTS/GLOB>
Beijing said on Thursday that it had cancelled major public events, including two well-known Lunar New Year temple fairs, to curb the spread.
“We estimate a price shock of up to $5 (a barrel) if the crisis develops into a SARS-style epidemic based on historical oil price movements,” JPM Commodities Research said in a note.
The U.S. bank maintained its forecast for Brent to average $67 a barrel in the first quarter and $64.50 a barrel throughout 2020.
Amid all the demand concerns, however, supply remains plentiful.
U.S. crude stockpiles rose last week by 1.6 million barrels, against expectations of a drop, the American Petroleum Institute said late on Tuesday. [API/S]
Brazil also produced more than a billion barrels of oil in 2019, a first for the South American nation, the national oil regulator said on Wednesday.
China, meanwhile, released data on Thursday showing its gasoline exports rose nearly a third last year thanks to new refineries.
Additional reporting by Aaron Sheldrick in Tokyo; Editing by David Goodman and Bernadette Baum
Oil falls as spectre of China virus looms over fuel demand
Julia Payne
January 22, 2020 / 9:19 PM / Updated 16 minutes ago
LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices fell on Thursday on concern that the spread of a respiratory virus from China could lower fuel demand if it stunts economic growth in an echo of the SARS epidemic nearly 20 years ago.
Brent crude futures LCOc1 were down 88 cents, or 1.39%, at $62.33 a barrel by 1225 GMT, having earlier touched their lowest since December 4. They lost 2.1% in the previous session.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures CLc1 fell 89 cents, or 1.57%, to $55.85 a barrel after earlier falling to the lowest since Dec. 3. The contract declined 2.7% on Wednesday.
On Thursday, China put on lockdown two cities that were at the epicentre of a new coronavirus outbreak that has killed 17 people and infected nearly 600, as health authorities around the world scrambled to prevent a global pandemic.
The potential for a pandemic has stirred memories of the Sudden Acute Respiratory Syndrome outbreak in 2002-03, which also started in China and dented economic growth and caused a slump in travel.
“Fundamentals are really being driven by virus fears. On a technical basis, there’s been a fight over the past six sessions but oil finally broke the 200-day moving average when it closed below that level yesterday,” said Olivier Jakob, of consultancy Petromatrix.
Cases have been detected as far as away as the United States and global stock markets were also down in part due to fears of the virus spreading further as millions of Chinese prepare to travel for the Lunar New Year. <MKTS/GLOB>
Beijing said on Thursday that it had cancelled major public events, including two well-known Lunar New Year temple fairs, to curb the spread.
“We estimate a price shock of up to $5 (a barrel) if the crisis develops into a SARS-style epidemic based on historical oil price movements,” JPM Commodities Research said in a note.
The U.S. bank maintained its forecast for Brent to average $67 a barrel in the first quarter and $64.50 a barrel throughout 2020.
Amid all the demand concerns, however, supply remains plentiful.
U.S. crude stockpiles rose last week by 1.6 million barrels, against expectations of a drop, the American Petroleum Institute said late on Tuesday. [API/S]
Brazil also produced more than a billion barrels of oil in 2019, a first for the South American nation, the national oil regulator said on Wednesday.
China, meanwhile, released data on Thursday showing its gasoline exports rose nearly a third last year thanks to new refineries.
Additional reporting by Aaron Sheldrick in Tokyo; Editing by David Goodman and Bernadette Baum
Oil falls as spectre of China virus looms over fuel demand
jward
passin' thru
BNO News (@BNONews) Tweeted:
BREAKING: Singapore reports 1st confirmed case of new coronavirus Tracking coronavirus: Map, data and timeline View: https://twitter.com/BNONews/status/1220332843869536257?s=20
BREAKING: Singapore reports 1st confirmed case of new coronavirus Tracking coronavirus: Map, data and timeline View: https://twitter.com/BNONews/status/1220332843869536257?s=20
jward
passin' thru
WORLD
Tracking coronavirus: Map, data and timeline
Published
14 hours ago
on
January 22, 2020
The table below shows confirmed cases of coronavirus (2019-nCoV) in China and other countries. To see a distribution map and a timeline, scroll down. There are currently 640 confirmed cases worldwide, including 17 fatalities.
Last update: 23 January 2020 at 8:10 a.m. ET
Timeline (GMT)
23 January
Tracking coronavirus: Map, data and timeline
Published
14 hours ago
on
January 22, 2020
The table below shows confirmed cases of coronavirus (2019-nCoV) in China and other countries. To see a distribution map and a timeline, scroll down. There are currently 640 confirmed cases worldwide, including 17 fatalities.
Last update: 23 January 2020 at 8:10 a.m. ET
| CHINA | Cases | Deaths | Notes | Source |
| Hubei province (including Wuhan) | 444 | 17 | Dozens serious | Source |
| Guangdong province | 32 | 0 | 12 serious, 3 critical | Source |
| Zhejiang province | 27 | 0 | 3 serious, 1 critical | Source |
| Shanghai | 16 | 0 | 1 critical | Source |
| Beijing | 22 | 0 | Source | |
| Chongqing | 9 | 0 | 3 serious | Source |
| Hunan province | 9 | 0 | Source | |
| Anhui province | 9 | 0 | Source | |
| Sichuan province | 8 | 0 | All stable | Source |
| Shandong province | 6 | 0 | Source | |
| Henan province | 5 | 0 | Stable | Source |
| Guangxi Region | 5 | 0 | Source | |
| Hainan province | 5 | 0 | Stable | Source |
| Fujian province | 5 | 0 | Stable | Source |
| Tianjin | 4 | 0 | None critical | Source |
| Jiangxi province | 3 | 0 | 2 serious | Source |
| Liaoning province | 3 | 0 | All stable | Source |
| Guizhou province | 3 | 0 | Stable | Source |
| Shaanxi province | 3 | 0 | Stable | Source |
| Heilongjiang province | 2 | 0 | 1 critical | Source |
| Xinjiang | 2 | 0 | Stable | Source |
| Kunming (Yunnan) | 1 | 0 | Source | |
| Shanxi province | 1 | 0 | Stable | Source |
| Ningxia Region | 1 | 0 | Stable | Source |
| Hebei province | 1 | 0 | Source | |
| Jiangsu province | 1 | 0 | Source | |
| Jilin province | 1 | 0 | Stable | Source |
| Macau | 2 | 0 | Source | |
| Taiwan | 1 | 0 | Source | |
| Hong Kong | 1 | 0 | Source | |
| TOTAL | 632 | 17 |
| INTERNATIONAL | Cases | Deaths | Notes | Source |
| Thailand | 4 | 0 | Source | |
| Japan | 1 | 0 | ||
| South Korea | 1 | 0 | ||
| United States | 1 | 0 | Source | |
| Singapore | 1 | 0 | Source | |
| TOTAL | 8 | 0 |
23 January
- 13:09: First case in Singapore. (Source)
- 09:59: First 3 cases in Shaanxi province, China. (Source)
- 09:55: First 2 cases in Xinjiang Region, China. (Source)
- 09:50: 8 new cases in Beijing. (Source)
- 09:14: 1 new case in Fujian province, China. (Source)
- 08:18: 1 new case in Hainan province, China. (Source)
- 05:55: 1 new case in Heilongjiang province, China. (Source)
- 05:47: 17 new cases in Zhejiang province, China. (Source)
- 04:55: 1 new case in Jiangxi province, China. (Source)
- 04:47: 2 new cases in Guizhou province, China. (Source)
- 04:42: 8 new cases in Anhui province, China. (Source)
- 04:41: 1 new case in Macao. (Source)
- 04:24: 3 new cases in Chongqing, China. (Source)
- 03:45: 5 new cases in Hunan province, China. (Source)
- 03:44: 1 new case in Liaoning province, China. (Source)
- 03:18: 3 new cases in Fujian province, China. (Source)
- 03:12: First case in Jilin province, China. (Source)
- 02:45: 6 new cases in Guangdong province, China. (Source)
- 02:23: 3 new cases in Sichuan province, China. (Source)
- 02:15: 4 new cases in Shandong province, China. (Source)
- 01:00: 7 new cases in Shanghai, one of whom is in critical condition. (Source)
- 00:36: China’s National Health Commission has reported 20 new cases. Their locations have not yet been disclosed. Out of those hospitalized, at least 95 are in serious to critical condition. They have also released a list of fatalities, which shows 8 victims were in their 80s, 2 were in their 70s, 5 were in their 60s, 1 was in his 50s, and 1 was in her 40s. (Source)
- Total at the end of the day: 561 cases (+70%), 17 deaths (+183%)
- 17:13: 3 new cases in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China (Source)
- 16:58: First case in Heilongjiang province, China (Source)
- 16:03: First case in Jiangsu province, China (Source)
- 15:41: 4 new cases in Beijing (Source)
- 14:52: First case in Hebei province, China (Source)
- 14:39: 69 new cases and 8 new deaths in Hubei province, China (Source)
- 13:21: 1 new case in Shandong province, China (Source)
- 11:24: 4 new cases in Henan province, China (Source)
- 11:23: First 2 cases in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China (Source)
- 11:13: First case in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, China (Source)
- 10:54: First case in Shanxi Province, China (Source)
- 10:37: 3 new cases in Sichuan province, China (Source)
- 10:35: 1 new case in Chongqing, China (Source)
- 10:29: 3 new cases in Hunan province, China (Source)
- 10:26: First case in Guizhou province, China (Source)
- 10:18: First case in Fujian province, China (Source)
- 09:50: First 4 cases in Hainan province, China (Source)
- 09:32: First case in Hong Kong (Source)
- 09:25: First case in Anhui province, China (Source)
- 09:14: 103 cases for which the location was not yet known have been added to Hubei province, which includes the city of Wuhan. Two new cases have also been added. Updated figures for Wuhan alone are currently not available.
- 08:41: First 2 cases in Liaoning province, China (Source)
- 07:25: 2 new cases in Tianjin, China (Source)
- 05:19: 2 new cases in Thailand. (Source)
- 05:04: 5 new cases in Zhejiang province, China (Source)
- 04:30: 9 new cases in Guangdong Province, China (Source)
- 03:50: 3 new cases in Shanghai, China (Source)
- 03:13: 1st confirmed case in Macau, China (Source)
- 02:15: China’s National Health Commission reports 3 new deaths and 116 new cases. Their locations have not yet been disclosed.
- Total at the end of the day: 329 cases, 6 deaths
mzkitty
I give up.
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northern watch
TB Fanatic
China's mask makers cancel holidays, jack up wages as new virus spurs frenzied demand
Lusha Zhang, Brenda Goh
January 23, 2020 / 4:49 AM / Updated 2 hours ago
BEIJING / SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Chinese face mask manufacturers are reopening factories shut for a national holiday, promising workers up to four times their normal wages as consumers emptied out stock in stores in a race to protect themselves from the new coronavirus infection.
The flu-like virus, which has killed 17 and infected nearly 600, is expected to spread further as hundreds of millions of Chinese travel domestically and abroad during the week-long Lunar New Year holiday, a time when factories across China usually close.
Worried about the potential for a global pandemic, China is putting Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak and a city of 11 million, on lockdown. The decision was praised by the World Health Organization as a strong one that could limit contagion but has also heightened fears about the virus.
“From what I have heard, the mask shortage is much, much more severe than what the public knows,” said Cao Jun, general manager of mask manufacturer Lanhine, which has a factory in east China’s Ningbo city.
“Almost all hospital workers nationwide are facing a huge shortage of masks, not just in Wuhan. That’s very terrible.”
Cao said the firm’s clients are demanding a combined 200 million masks per day compared to its normal production rate of 400,000 a day.
“At the moment, we have 20-plus people in the factory, working 24 hours. We’re offering them quadruple their wages per day,” Cao told Reuters. “We aim to ramp up output on January 27 and be at full capacity on February 1, when we’d have nearly 200 workers.”
Another manufacturer, CMmask, in eastern China’s Jiande city, told Reuters it was offering workers triple their wages if they came back.
“Our factory is out of stock now, but we have extended our working hours by four hours to 8 a.m. to 9 p.m,” said Hu Qinghui, CMmask’s deputy general manager.
U.S. firms 3M and Honeywell International issued statements saying that they would make every effort to ensure a continuous supply of masks during the holiday and that their official stores would not raise prices.
China’s industry ministry on Wednesday launched an “emergency coordination effort”, asking local authorities to work with factories “to overcome labor difficulties during the Spring Festival, accelerate production and do their utmost to increase supply to the market,” state media reported.
Firms from drugmakers to makers of thermometers have also said they would step up production. Xinlong Holding, a manufacturer of filters and fabrics for masks, said some of its factories had “abandoned the Spring Festival holiday.”
Tech giant Alibaba Group told the state-backed China News Service it was working with 92 mask manufacturers, which currently have a combined supply of 42 million masks. Another 1.57 million more will be made before the week-long holiday officially starts on Friday, it said.
E-commerce platforms, including Alibaba’s Taobao, JD.com and Pinduoduo Inc have also pledged to crack down on any vendors who might try to raise prices of masks and disinfectant products.
Reporting by Lusha Zhang and Brenda Goh; Additional reporting by Sophie Yu and Roxanne Liu in Beijing; Editing by Edwina Gibbs
China's mask makers cancel holidays, jack up wages as new virus spurs frenzied demand
Lusha Zhang, Brenda Goh
January 23, 2020 / 4:49 AM / Updated 2 hours ago
BEIJING / SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Chinese face mask manufacturers are reopening factories shut for a national holiday, promising workers up to four times their normal wages as consumers emptied out stock in stores in a race to protect themselves from the new coronavirus infection.
The flu-like virus, which has killed 17 and infected nearly 600, is expected to spread further as hundreds of millions of Chinese travel domestically and abroad during the week-long Lunar New Year holiday, a time when factories across China usually close.
Worried about the potential for a global pandemic, China is putting Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak and a city of 11 million, on lockdown. The decision was praised by the World Health Organization as a strong one that could limit contagion but has also heightened fears about the virus.
“From what I have heard, the mask shortage is much, much more severe than what the public knows,” said Cao Jun, general manager of mask manufacturer Lanhine, which has a factory in east China’s Ningbo city.
“Almost all hospital workers nationwide are facing a huge shortage of masks, not just in Wuhan. That’s very terrible.”
Cao said the firm’s clients are demanding a combined 200 million masks per day compared to its normal production rate of 400,000 a day.
“At the moment, we have 20-plus people in the factory, working 24 hours. We’re offering them quadruple their wages per day,” Cao told Reuters. “We aim to ramp up output on January 27 and be at full capacity on February 1, when we’d have nearly 200 workers.”
Another manufacturer, CMmask, in eastern China’s Jiande city, told Reuters it was offering workers triple their wages if they came back.
“Our factory is out of stock now, but we have extended our working hours by four hours to 8 a.m. to 9 p.m,” said Hu Qinghui, CMmask’s deputy general manager.
U.S. firms 3M and Honeywell International issued statements saying that they would make every effort to ensure a continuous supply of masks during the holiday and that their official stores would not raise prices.
China’s industry ministry on Wednesday launched an “emergency coordination effort”, asking local authorities to work with factories “to overcome labor difficulties during the Spring Festival, accelerate production and do their utmost to increase supply to the market,” state media reported.
Firms from drugmakers to makers of thermometers have also said they would step up production. Xinlong Holding, a manufacturer of filters and fabrics for masks, said some of its factories had “abandoned the Spring Festival holiday.”
Tech giant Alibaba Group told the state-backed China News Service it was working with 92 mask manufacturers, which currently have a combined supply of 42 million masks. Another 1.57 million more will be made before the week-long holiday officially starts on Friday, it said.
E-commerce platforms, including Alibaba’s Taobao, JD.com and Pinduoduo Inc have also pledged to crack down on any vendors who might try to raise prices of masks and disinfectant products.
Reporting by Lusha Zhang and Brenda Goh; Additional reporting by Sophie Yu and Roxanne Liu in Beijing; Editing by Edwina Gibbs
China's mask makers cancel holidays, jack up wages as new virus spurs frenzied demand
Melodi
Disaster Cat
This is HUGE!!!! These festivities are just not ever shut down in China, especially not for the Year or the Rat - I mean it is a wise decision but pretty unprecedented at least in modern times that I am aware of (I have no idea what Mao did).Eunice YoonVerified account @onlyyoontv 43m43 minutes ago
Beijing joins Wuhan, Zhejiang, Macau in canceling#LunarNewYearcelebrations.
#China capital’s culture & tourism bureau says all public gathering activities, incl. traditional temple fairs, are off. (Holiday is normally major consumer spending time.
jward
passin' thru
ɪᴀɴ ᴍ ᴍᴀᴄᴋᴀʏ, ᴘʜᴅ (@MackayIM) Tweeted:
@marrrkyyy @V2019N @PneumoniaWuhan Better update the timeline ɪᴀɴ ᴍ ᴍᴀᴄᴋᴀʏ, ᴘʜᴅ on Twitter View: https://twitter.com/MackayIM/status/1220332999754911745?s=20
@marrrkyyy @V2019N @PneumoniaWuhan Better update the timeline ɪᴀɴ ᴍ ᴍᴀᴄᴋᴀʏ, ᴘʜᴅ on Twitter View: https://twitter.com/MackayIM/status/1220332999754911745?s=20
northern watch
TB Fanatic
China Quarantines Two More Cities As Experts Warn It's Too Late To Stop The Virus
by Tyler Durden
Zero Hedge
Thursday, 01/23/2020 - 07:15
Update (0700ET): Beijing is reportedly planning to quarantine a third city in Hubei Province, where the coronavirus outbreak originated, while a fourth city in the province is planning to shut down train travel.
Media reports claim that Chibi, a city with half a million Chinese, will be quarantined like Wuhan and Huanggang. Meanwhile, Ezhou, a city with 1 million people in Hubei, is seeing some transportation shut down.
Meanwhile, officials in Beijing have joined several other Chinese cities in cancelling Chinese New Year celebrations.
Conflicting report are alternatively claiming that Ezhou and Chibi will be the third Chinese city to face a quarantine. Does that mean officials are planning to quarantine the entire province?
There have also been reports about a third patient being identified in St. Petersburg, while other cities, including Hong Kong, stock up on facemask supplies.
* * *
As cases of the new coronavirus popped up around the globe, Chinese health officials managed to assuage the worries of the public, and the market, by insisting that the new, deadly coronavirus that emerged late last month in Wuhan had been 'contained' and that the outbreak would swiftly die down.
Despite imposing some draconian travel bans, it's becoming increasingly clear that this isn't going to happen. Even after quarantining an entire city of 11 million people - Wuhan is the 7th largest city in China and larger than any US city - experts are warning that it's too late: The cat is already out of the bag.
But that won't stop Beijing from trying: Now that Wuhan has been effectively cut off, Chinese officials announced another city-wide quarantine on Thursday: Huanggang city, which is in Hubei province and situated close to Wuhan, will suspend outbound train and bus services, as well as all bus services within the city effective Friday.
All public places, including movie theaters, have been ordered to close until further notice, practically guaranteeing that the quarantine will take a bite out of GDP. Though even after authorities cut off all flights, Reuters reports that a few airlines were still running flights out of Wuhan.
As the SCMP pointed out, Wuhan, the city at the center of the outbreak, is five times larger than London.
The decision comes as more than 600 cases of the virus have now been confirmed. The death toll has been steady since yesterday at 17, as the WHO ponders whether to label the outbreak as a global pandemic risk.
Chinese state broadcasters shared images of Wuhan’s ghostly transport hubs, including the Hankou rail station, with all gates barred or blocked. Highway toll booths were shutting down as guards patrolled major highways. Inside the city, residents crowded into hospitals and rushed to buy up essential supplies from supermarkets and gas stations.
Interestingly, at least one Western journalist is reporting from Wuhan. We imagine Beijing allowed ABC access to the city to try and calm the growing panic in the West.
As more barriers rise, one well-known public health expert known for his work on the SARS outbreak warned that the quarantines likely wouldn't be enough to stop the virus from becoming a global pandemic, according to the New York Times.
Dr. Guan Yi, a professor of infectious diseases at the University of Hong Kong who visited Wuhan earlier this week, warned there was a potential for the virus to spread rapidly despite the controls put in place Thursday morning.
"We have a chance to have a pandemic outbreak," said Dr. Guan, who was part of the team that identified the coronavirus that caused the deadly SARS outbreak in 2002 and 2003. SARS infected more than 8,000 people and killed nearly 800.
Dr. Guan also told Caixin, an influential Chinese magazine known for investigative reports, that he had traveled to Wuhan earlier in the week hoping to help track the virus’s animal source and control the epidemic. But he left, he said, feeling "powerless, very angry."
Dr. W. Ian Lipkin, an epidemiologist at Columbia University who advised the Chinese government and the World Health Organization during the SARS outbreak, said that infected people outside Wuhan would continue to spread the disease.
"The horse is already out of the barn," he said.
Another expert warned that there could already be as many as 4,000 cases of coronavirus in Wuhan, meaning that the vast majority of infections likely haven't yet been reported.
Meanwhile, regulators around the world are scrambling to cut off flights from Wuhan (even though Beijing has supposedly cut off all rail and plane travel out of the city): The Philippines is the latest country to cut off flights from the city. The country's Civil Aeronautics Board added that flights from elsewhere in China would be placed under 'strict monitoring', according to CNN Philippines. Manila, the Philippines' crowded capital city, has started handing out 100,000 face masks.
The director of the country's Civil Aeronautics Board explained that, even though Beijing is quarantining entire cities, it's up to the Philippines to take their own steps to curb the outbreak.
"When you look at the seriousness of the outbreak, Wuhan should be the focus of attention," CAB Executive Director Carmelo Arcilla told reporters.
"Even if they lift it, we have to look at our side first and make our own assessment. So our assessment is different from theirs, I mean, even their decision is different from ours," Arcilla said.
Experts have warned that quarantining an entire city of 11 million would be virtually impossible. But the nabobs in Beijing refuse to be deterred: Videos circulating on social media show Chinese police setting up barricades across roads leading out of the city. Anybody in Wuhan who had New Year's travel plans should probably cancel them and ask for a refund.
After a suspected case of coronavirus was discovered in Macau yesterday, officials in the special autonomous region warned that they might close all casinos in the territory, a move that would spoil the vacation plans of millions of Chinese planning to travel to Macau for the Chinese New Year. A second case was reportedly discovered on Thursday.
Across the world, a mildly risk-off mood is once again dominating markets. That means US stocks are one outbreak headline away from deeper declines.
China Quarantines 3rd City As Wuhan Virus Spreads To Singapore
by Tyler Durden
Zero Hedge
Thursday, 01/23/2020 - 07:15
Update (0700ET): Beijing is reportedly planning to quarantine a third city in Hubei Province, where the coronavirus outbreak originated, while a fourth city in the province is planning to shut down train travel.
Media reports claim that Chibi, a city with half a million Chinese, will be quarantined like Wuhan and Huanggang. Meanwhile, Ezhou, a city with 1 million people in Hubei, is seeing some transportation shut down.
Meanwhile, officials in Beijing have joined several other Chinese cities in cancelling Chinese New Year celebrations.
Conflicting report are alternatively claiming that Ezhou and Chibi will be the third Chinese city to face a quarantine. Does that mean officials are planning to quarantine the entire province?
There have also been reports about a third patient being identified in St. Petersburg, while other cities, including Hong Kong, stock up on facemask supplies.
* * *
As cases of the new coronavirus popped up around the globe, Chinese health officials managed to assuage the worries of the public, and the market, by insisting that the new, deadly coronavirus that emerged late last month in Wuhan had been 'contained' and that the outbreak would swiftly die down.
Despite imposing some draconian travel bans, it's becoming increasingly clear that this isn't going to happen. Even after quarantining an entire city of 11 million people - Wuhan is the 7th largest city in China and larger than any US city - experts are warning that it's too late: The cat is already out of the bag.
But that won't stop Beijing from trying: Now that Wuhan has been effectively cut off, Chinese officials announced another city-wide quarantine on Thursday: Huanggang city, which is in Hubei province and situated close to Wuhan, will suspend outbound train and bus services, as well as all bus services within the city effective Friday.
All public places, including movie theaters, have been ordered to close until further notice, practically guaranteeing that the quarantine will take a bite out of GDP. Though even after authorities cut off all flights, Reuters reports that a few airlines were still running flights out of Wuhan.
As the SCMP pointed out, Wuhan, the city at the center of the outbreak, is five times larger than London.
The decision comes as more than 600 cases of the virus have now been confirmed. The death toll has been steady since yesterday at 17, as the WHO ponders whether to label the outbreak as a global pandemic risk.
Chinese state broadcasters shared images of Wuhan’s ghostly transport hubs, including the Hankou rail station, with all gates barred or blocked. Highway toll booths were shutting down as guards patrolled major highways. Inside the city, residents crowded into hospitals and rushed to buy up essential supplies from supermarkets and gas stations.
Interestingly, at least one Western journalist is reporting from Wuhan. We imagine Beijing allowed ABC access to the city to try and calm the growing panic in the West.
As more barriers rise, one well-known public health expert known for his work on the SARS outbreak warned that the quarantines likely wouldn't be enough to stop the virus from becoming a global pandemic, according to the New York Times.
Dr. Guan Yi, a professor of infectious diseases at the University of Hong Kong who visited Wuhan earlier this week, warned there was a potential for the virus to spread rapidly despite the controls put in place Thursday morning.
"We have a chance to have a pandemic outbreak," said Dr. Guan, who was part of the team that identified the coronavirus that caused the deadly SARS outbreak in 2002 and 2003. SARS infected more than 8,000 people and killed nearly 800.
Dr. Guan also told Caixin, an influential Chinese magazine known for investigative reports, that he had traveled to Wuhan earlier in the week hoping to help track the virus’s animal source and control the epidemic. But he left, he said, feeling "powerless, very angry."
Dr. W. Ian Lipkin, an epidemiologist at Columbia University who advised the Chinese government and the World Health Organization during the SARS outbreak, said that infected people outside Wuhan would continue to spread the disease.
"The horse is already out of the barn," he said.
Another expert warned that there could already be as many as 4,000 cases of coronavirus in Wuhan, meaning that the vast majority of infections likely haven't yet been reported.
Meanwhile, regulators around the world are scrambling to cut off flights from Wuhan (even though Beijing has supposedly cut off all rail and plane travel out of the city): The Philippines is the latest country to cut off flights from the city. The country's Civil Aeronautics Board added that flights from elsewhere in China would be placed under 'strict monitoring', according to CNN Philippines. Manila, the Philippines' crowded capital city, has started handing out 100,000 face masks.
The director of the country's Civil Aeronautics Board explained that, even though Beijing is quarantining entire cities, it's up to the Philippines to take their own steps to curb the outbreak.
"When you look at the seriousness of the outbreak, Wuhan should be the focus of attention," CAB Executive Director Carmelo Arcilla told reporters.
"Even if they lift it, we have to look at our side first and make our own assessment. So our assessment is different from theirs, I mean, even their decision is different from ours," Arcilla said.
Experts have warned that quarantining an entire city of 11 million would be virtually impossible. But the nabobs in Beijing refuse to be deterred: Videos circulating on social media show Chinese police setting up barricades across roads leading out of the city. Anybody in Wuhan who had New Year's travel plans should probably cancel them and ask for a refund.
After a suspected case of coronavirus was discovered in Macau yesterday, officials in the special autonomous region warned that they might close all casinos in the territory, a move that would spoil the vacation plans of millions of Chinese planning to travel to Macau for the Chinese New Year. A second case was reportedly discovered on Thursday.
Across the world, a mildly risk-off mood is once again dominating markets. That means US stocks are one outbreak headline away from deeper declines.
China Quarantines 3rd City As Wuhan Virus Spreads To Singapore
Shooter
Veteran Member
I have a stock of masks, but my grandson has asthma but he likes to ride the big mower, ( what he likes to do. is chase the ground squirrels around) so I thought I would buy my yearly supply now, amazon is out of quite a few, the big lots were out, but bought 5 - 20packs, if you need them, get them now
northern watch
TB Fanatic
EHA News @eha_news 12m12 minutes ago
Breaking: The first case of#coronavirus from China is reported in #Singapore
Breaking: The first case of
TxGal
Day by day
That's exactly what I'm doing, thanks....we used them for cutting pastures, and in case something like this pops up they're good to have on hand.
ETA: Order them now, as Shooter said. Amazon supply appears to be dropping very, very fast. Check other places, too.
northern watch
TB Fanatic
China Quarantines 3rd City As Wuhan Virus Spreads To Singapore
by Tyler Durden
Zero Hedge
Thursday 01/23/2020 - 08:21
Update (0800ET): CNA, an English-language news website based across Asia, has just reported that Singapore has confirmed the first case of the Wuhan coronavirus.
In a media briefing on Thursday evening, the Ministry of Health said the carrier is a 66-year-old Chinese man from Wuhan. The man arrived in Singapore with his family on January 20 after flying in from Guangzhou via China Southern.
The man reported having a soar throat on the flight, but no fever.
Earlier, St. Petersburg reportedly confirmed its third case of the Wuhan virus.
The man traveled to Singapore General on Wednesday, and was immediately placed in isolation. He tested positive for the virus at 6 pm local time on Thursday. Singaporean authorities have already begun a contact tree, and are isolating all those with whom the suspect had contact.
The diagnosis is just the latest indication that, even as more Chinese cities cancel LNY celebrations, too many Chinese, including Chinese from Wuhan, have already traveled abroad.
This live NYT map of confirmed Wuhan cases appears to be out-of-date, despite having just been updated.
The number of confirmed cases is closer to 600. Still, it gets the point across.
* * *
China Quarantines 3rd City As Wuhan Virus Spreads To Singapore
by Tyler Durden
Zero Hedge
Thursday 01/23/2020 - 08:21
Update (0800ET): CNA, an English-language news website based across Asia, has just reported that Singapore has confirmed the first case of the Wuhan coronavirus.
In a media briefing on Thursday evening, the Ministry of Health said the carrier is a 66-year-old Chinese man from Wuhan. The man arrived in Singapore with his family on January 20 after flying in from Guangzhou via China Southern.
The man reported having a soar throat on the flight, but no fever.
Earlier, St. Petersburg reportedly confirmed its third case of the Wuhan virus.
The man traveled to Singapore General on Wednesday, and was immediately placed in isolation. He tested positive for the virus at 6 pm local time on Thursday. Singaporean authorities have already begun a contact tree, and are isolating all those with whom the suspect had contact.
The diagnosis is just the latest indication that, even as more Chinese cities cancel LNY celebrations, too many Chinese, including Chinese from Wuhan, have already traveled abroad.
This live NYT map of confirmed Wuhan cases appears to be out-of-date, despite having just been updated.
The number of confirmed cases is closer to 600. Still, it gets the point across.
* * *
China Quarantines 3rd City As Wuhan Virus Spreads To Singapore
northern watch
TB Fanatic
Chinese Stocks Slide, Weighing on Global Markets; Equities in China post their biggest decline in over eight months as the coronavirus weighs on airline, rail stocks
Thursday, January 23, 2020, 8:20 AM ET
By Steven Russolillo and Caitlin Ostroff
Wall Street Journal
Stocks in Shanghai slumped Thursday, weighing on global markets, as China grappled with a worsening viral outbreak that led investors to reassess the potential economic fallout world-wide.
Futures linked to the Dow Jones Industrial Average edged down 0.3%, while the pan-continental Stoxx Europe 600 slipped 0.5%. The Shanghai Composite Index sank 2.8%, its biggest drop since May, on the final day of trading before the market closes for the Lunar New Year holiday period.
The Chinese government on Thursday locked down Wuhan , where the new coronavirus originated, as well as a second city in a dramatic escalation of efforts to contain the outbreak that has killed at least 17 people and infected more than 500 so far. The lockdowns come shortly before one of the busiest travel periods for people in China and the region. Authorities feared that increased travel would enable the pneumonia-causing virus to spread further.
Concerns about what the outbreak may mean for economic growth in China and elsewhere weighed on European stocks, said Lars Kreckel, global equity strategist at Legal & General Investment Management .
The caution comes as investors look to past viral outbreaks , including severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, to assess how bad the damage could be on the economy and markets this time around.
"What's going on right now is it's the coronavirus in China: that's worse than expected," Peter Garnry , head of equity strategy at Saxo Bank . "What the market is trying to price in is what is the economic cost."
Airlines listed in Hong Kong and Shanghai fell sharply, including Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd . Airport operators such as Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport Co. also dropped.
Brent crude, the global benchmark for oil, fell 1.7% to $62.16 a barrel amid concern that the fallout from the outbreak may weaken economic growth and damp demand for the commodity.
Yields on European bonds also fell as investors looked to less risky assets. The rate on German 10-year bunds fell to minus 0.310% from minus 0.298% Wednesday. Italy's 10-year bond fell to 1.287% after climbing Wednesday on fears of political instability in the nation.
"From the point of view of a bond investor who needs to get some results, overlooking Italy is not going to be a straightforward decision," said Luca Cazzulani, a fixed income strategist at Italian bank UniCredit .
Ahead of the opening bell in New York, shares in Wynn Resorts dropped over 4% and Las Vegas Sands declined 3.3%. The outbreak in China has weighed on both stocks this week on concern that the coronavirus will disrupt Chinese consumers' travel plans and impact sales at hotels and casinos.
Shares of Procter & Gamble fell 1.4% in premarket trading after the consumer-products giant's sales in the latest quarter fell short of analysts' expectations.
Comcast gained 1.4% after the media company's revenue and earnings topped estimates for the fourth quarter.
Among European equities, STMicroelectronics rallied 8.3% after fourth-quarter revenue at the European chip maker beat expectations, and its guidance for the first quarter also exceeded estimates. Renault shares dipped 4.3% after Citigroup downgraded the French car maker and said it may need to sell part of its stake in Nissan Motor .
Later in the day, some of the biggest U.S. companies including Intel are scheduled to report results. Earnings so far have generally beaten analysts' expectations, according to Mr. Kreckel.
"This is not a part in the cycle where you get 10% earnings growth," Mr. Kreckel said. "But it's enough to keep equity markets where we are today."
Joanne Chiu contributed to this article.
Write to Steven Russolillo at steven.russolillo@wsj.com and Caitlin Ostroff at caitlin.ostroff@wsj.com
Chinese Stocks Slide, Weighing on Global Markets
Thursday, January 23, 2020, 8:20 AM ET
By Steven Russolillo and Caitlin Ostroff
Wall Street Journal
Stocks in Shanghai slumped Thursday, weighing on global markets, as China grappled with a worsening viral outbreak that led investors to reassess the potential economic fallout world-wide.
Futures linked to the Dow Jones Industrial Average edged down 0.3%, while the pan-continental Stoxx Europe 600 slipped 0.5%. The Shanghai Composite Index sank 2.8%, its biggest drop since May, on the final day of trading before the market closes for the Lunar New Year holiday period.
The Chinese government on Thursday locked down Wuhan , where the new coronavirus originated, as well as a second city in a dramatic escalation of efforts to contain the outbreak that has killed at least 17 people and infected more than 500 so far. The lockdowns come shortly before one of the busiest travel periods for people in China and the region. Authorities feared that increased travel would enable the pneumonia-causing virus to spread further.
Concerns about what the outbreak may mean for economic growth in China and elsewhere weighed on European stocks, said Lars Kreckel, global equity strategist at Legal & General Investment Management .
The caution comes as investors look to past viral outbreaks , including severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, to assess how bad the damage could be on the economy and markets this time around.
"What's going on right now is it's the coronavirus in China: that's worse than expected," Peter Garnry , head of equity strategy at Saxo Bank . "What the market is trying to price in is what is the economic cost."
Airlines listed in Hong Kong and Shanghai fell sharply, including Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd . Airport operators such as Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport Co. also dropped.
Brent crude, the global benchmark for oil, fell 1.7% to $62.16 a barrel amid concern that the fallout from the outbreak may weaken economic growth and damp demand for the commodity.
Yields on European bonds also fell as investors looked to less risky assets. The rate on German 10-year bunds fell to minus 0.310% from minus 0.298% Wednesday. Italy's 10-year bond fell to 1.287% after climbing Wednesday on fears of political instability in the nation.
"From the point of view of a bond investor who needs to get some results, overlooking Italy is not going to be a straightforward decision," said Luca Cazzulani, a fixed income strategist at Italian bank UniCredit .
Ahead of the opening bell in New York, shares in Wynn Resorts dropped over 4% and Las Vegas Sands declined 3.3%. The outbreak in China has weighed on both stocks this week on concern that the coronavirus will disrupt Chinese consumers' travel plans and impact sales at hotels and casinos.
Shares of Procter & Gamble fell 1.4% in premarket trading after the consumer-products giant's sales in the latest quarter fell short of analysts' expectations.
Comcast gained 1.4% after the media company's revenue and earnings topped estimates for the fourth quarter.
Among European equities, STMicroelectronics rallied 8.3% after fourth-quarter revenue at the European chip maker beat expectations, and its guidance for the first quarter also exceeded estimates. Renault shares dipped 4.3% after Citigroup downgraded the French car maker and said it may need to sell part of its stake in Nissan Motor .
Later in the day, some of the biggest U.S. companies including Intel are scheduled to report results. Earnings so far have generally beaten analysts' expectations, according to Mr. Kreckel.
"This is not a part in the cycle where you get 10% earnings growth," Mr. Kreckel said. "But it's enough to keep equity markets where we are today."
Joanne Chiu contributed to this article.
Write to Steven Russolillo at steven.russolillo@wsj.com and Caitlin Ostroff at caitlin.ostroff@wsj.com
Chinese Stocks Slide, Weighing on Global Markets
Hfcomms
EN66iq
2020-01-23 08:54 by Karl Denninger
in Editorial , 16 references
China Is Lying -- Again
Ready to have a spazz yet?
Well, I hope you are to at least a small degree.
China has now locked down at least one and perhaps as many as three cities -- large ones too -- over their latest outbreak of coronavirus. This has almost-certainly jumped to the United States and the odds that it is contained "over there" in China are nearly zero, given that we've got at least one person hospitalized here.
We don't have an accurate mortality rate for this thing yet. The one guarantee I can make is that the Chinese are freaking out in that they're locking down travel right in front of the Chinese New Year, which is their traditional travel time and a huge source of tourism revenue. For them to basically shut down cities and leisure activities, including Macau, into the maw of this period of time means they've got a problem they don't have a handle on and it's worse than they're reporting, perhaps by a lot.
Remember that the Spanish Flu killed somewhere around 10-20% of the people who got it, and about a third of the global population came down with the disease. This means it took out somewhere around 5% of the global population of humans!
What we do not know yet and there is no accurate reporting on it at this time, is whether the fatalities from this strain are of the "ordinary" sort from a flu virus (that is, the flu ends up resulting in a secondary pneumonia, which then kills you) or whether the nightmare scenario -- where the virus itself can trigger a cytokine storm that kills directly, is implicated.
Keep your nose to the ground on this one folks; if this was a "no big deal; it's a flu" thing the Chinese would not be locking down entire cities.
But they are.
China Is Lying -- Again
in Editorial , 16 references
China Is Lying -- Again
Ready to have a spazz yet?
Well, I hope you are to at least a small degree.
China has now locked down at least one and perhaps as many as three cities -- large ones too -- over their latest outbreak of coronavirus. This has almost-certainly jumped to the United States and the odds that it is contained "over there" in China are nearly zero, given that we've got at least one person hospitalized here.
We don't have an accurate mortality rate for this thing yet. The one guarantee I can make is that the Chinese are freaking out in that they're locking down travel right in front of the Chinese New Year, which is their traditional travel time and a huge source of tourism revenue. For them to basically shut down cities and leisure activities, including Macau, into the maw of this period of time means they've got a problem they don't have a handle on and it's worse than they're reporting, perhaps by a lot.
Remember that the Spanish Flu killed somewhere around 10-20% of the people who got it, and about a third of the global population came down with the disease. This means it took out somewhere around 5% of the global population of humans!
What we do not know yet and there is no accurate reporting on it at this time, is whether the fatalities from this strain are of the "ordinary" sort from a flu virus (that is, the flu ends up resulting in a secondary pneumonia, which then kills you) or whether the nightmare scenario -- where the virus itself can trigger a cytokine storm that kills directly, is implicated.
Keep your nose to the ground on this one folks; if this was a "no big deal; it's a flu" thing the Chinese would not be locking down entire cities.
But they are.
China Is Lying -- Again
northern watch
TB Fanatic
Aurora Intel @AuroraIntel 2h2 hours ago
Hong Kong Tourism Board have also made the decision to cancel the Chinese New Year Carnival.
Hong Kong Tourism Board have also made the decision to cancel the Chinese New Year Carnival.
northern watch
TB Fanatic
Russian MarketVerified account @russian_market 2h2 hours ago
WUHAN VIRUS SPREAD FASTER THAN CHINA EXPECTED - SINGAPORE'S LEE
WUHAN VIRUS SPREAD FASTER THAN CHINA EXPECTED - SINGAPORE'S LEE
northern watch
TB Fanatic
Russian MarketVerified account @russian_market 3h3 hours ago
INCREASING LIKELIHOOD OF CORONA VIRUS IN U.K. - HANCOCK
INCREASING LIKELIHOOD OF CORONA VIRUS IN U.K. - HANCOCK
From post #532
Really?! They haven't heard of putting on a second and third shift?
Sure glad I've still got most of the case of masks I bought back when Ebola was in the US!
Summerthyme
Really?! They haven't heard of putting on a second and third shift?
Sure glad I've still got most of the case of masks I bought back when Ebola was in the US!
Summerthyme
danielboon
TB Fanatic
My sister lives in cambodia I really wish she would leave
northern watch
TB Fanatic
Spreading Coronavirus Prompts Lockdown of More Chinese Cities; Huanggang, a city of about 7.5 million people, is about 35 miles east of Wuhan
Thursday, January 23, 2020, 8:07 AM ET
By Stephanie Yang and Yoko Kubota
Wall Street Journal
BEIJING— Two more Chinese cities were put on lockdown by the government on Thursday, as authorities in the Chinese gambling center of Macau said they were weighing closures of its casinos, expanding an unprecedented experiment to try to contain a fast-spreading virus that has killed 17 people and infected more than 600.
On Thursday, authorities in Huanggang—a city of 7.5 million people—said they wouldn't let long-distance trains and buses run from the urban center and would shut its public transportation system in the lockdown zone, effective midnight Friday local time. Ezhou, another neighboring city with just over a million residents, said it would enact similar restrictions, bringing the total number of cities with travel restrictions to three.
Huanggang is about 35 miles east of Wuhan, a city of 11 million and a major hub for travel, where the new pneumonia-causing coronavirus originated. Wuhan just hours earlier halted outbound trains and flights and shut down its public-transportation system.
The Huanggang local government, in a statement on its website, also said movie theaters, internet cafes and other entertainment and cultural facilities in the city center would temporarily halt operations and a central market would be shut down for an indefinite period. Starting Thursday, the local government said it would inspect every person and car entering and exiting the urban center.
Separately, the chief executive of Macau, the Chinese special administrative region that is the world's biggest gambling market, said Thursday he was considering closing all of the territory's 40-some casinos, following the confirmation of a second coronavirus infection case there, government-run broadcaster Radio Television Hong Kong reported.
By imposing blanket restrictions on people's movement, Chinese authorities are doubling down on a high-stakes strategy that experts say is an untested approach to dealing with infectious diseases.
"To my knowledge, trying to contain a city of 11 million people is new to science.
It has not been tried before as a public-health measure, so we cannot at this stage say it will or will not work," Gauden Galea, the World Health Organization 's country representative for China, said in an interview Thursday with the Associated Press, referring to the Wuhan lockdown.
Mr. Galea added that while such a radical measure "obviously has social and economic impacts that are considerable," it also "demonstrates a very strong public health commitment and a willingness to take dramatic action."
Tom Inglesby , an expert on epidemics who is director of the Center for Health Security at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health , said "large-scale quarantine efforts in the past have not been successful in changing the outcome of disease outbreaks."
Chinese authorities have suggested the coronavirus is spreading between people primarily through coughing, kissing or contact with saliva. It emerged from a seafood and livestock market in Wuhan and has spread across China and into the U.S ., Japan, South Korea and Thailand.
On Thursday, Chinese health authorities said the coronavirus had reached the northeastern and northwestern corners of China, including the provinces of Heilongjiang, which borders Russia, and Xinjiang, the majority Muslim region that borders Kazakhstan. Jilin province, in the country's northeast, and Jiangsu province, just north of Shanghai, also reported their first cases. The total confirmed cases in China rose to more than 600, according to state media.
The Hong Kong government confirmed its first two cases of the new coronavirus Thursday evening and said some people who had been in close contact with them were quarantined at one of the centers the government has set up at campsites. One close contact was suspected of being infected, the government said.
The decision to ban people from leaving or entering Wuhan rippled across China and beyond its borders, sparking confusion and elevating fears about a growing contagion ahead of the Lunar New Year, the busiest travel period of the year in China and many other parts of Asia.
In Tokyo and Seoul, face masks and hand sanitizer disappeared from some store shelves, while across China, seven movie openings were scrapped as film studios and theaters worried about moviegoers fearful of setting foot outside. In Wuhan, a boxing qualifier for this year's Olympic Games in Tokyo slated to take place starting Feb. 3 was canceled by the local organizing committee.
Primary and secondary schools in Hubei have postponed reopening after Lunar New Year to an undetermined date, according to the Communist Party newspaper People's Daily. In Beijing, major events over the holiday were canceled.
Japan and the U.S. each raised their alert levels for travel to Wuhan. Tokyo advised its citizens not to travel to the city unless necessary, while Washington recommended exercising caution but stopped short of advising travelers to avoid the city.
In Wuhan, local authorities urged calm, calling on citizens not to panic or hoard supplies. "With the close care of General Secretary Xi Jinping ," a government notice read, "Wuhan has sufficient reserves and smooth supplies of commodities, food and medical protection products."
Operators from the transportation-service hotline in Wuhan said more than 8,000 buses in the city and all nine subway lines had stopped running as of 10 a.m. Thursday. Many entrances to the highway from the Wuhan area were closed, while vehicles could still get off the highway and enter the city, according to the local highway information service early Thursday.
Meanwhile, a few flights continued to depart Wuhan's Tianhe International Airport even after the 10:00 a.m. lockdown began, according to the flight-tracking site FlightAware. Most of the flights were transiting through Wuhan from other cities, though some direct flights—including to Beijing and Paris—were among those allowed to take off after the lockdown deadline.
Within Wuhan's city limits, people expressed frustrations online over a lack of transportation services and dwindling resources at hospitals. The Wuhan Health Commission acknowledged long lines outside fever clinics and a shortage of hospital beds. It said the city was designating more hospitals as centers for fever patients.
The central government is shipping 10,000 sets of protective clothing and 50,000 sets of gloves to Wuhan from its reserve medical supplies, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information, which posted the information through its account on the Twitter -like Weibo service.
Lekai Liu, Yin Yijun and Bingyan Wang contributed to this article.
Write to Stephanie Yang at stephanie.yang@wsj.com and Yoko Kubota at yoko.kubota@wsj.com
Spreading Coronavirus Prompts Lockdown of More Chinese Cities
Thursday, January 23, 2020, 8:07 AM ET
By Stephanie Yang and Yoko Kubota
Wall Street Journal
BEIJING— Two more Chinese cities were put on lockdown by the government on Thursday, as authorities in the Chinese gambling center of Macau said they were weighing closures of its casinos, expanding an unprecedented experiment to try to contain a fast-spreading virus that has killed 17 people and infected more than 600.
On Thursday, authorities in Huanggang—a city of 7.5 million people—said they wouldn't let long-distance trains and buses run from the urban center and would shut its public transportation system in the lockdown zone, effective midnight Friday local time. Ezhou, another neighboring city with just over a million residents, said it would enact similar restrictions, bringing the total number of cities with travel restrictions to three.
Huanggang is about 35 miles east of Wuhan, a city of 11 million and a major hub for travel, where the new pneumonia-causing coronavirus originated. Wuhan just hours earlier halted outbound trains and flights and shut down its public-transportation system.
The Huanggang local government, in a statement on its website, also said movie theaters, internet cafes and other entertainment and cultural facilities in the city center would temporarily halt operations and a central market would be shut down for an indefinite period. Starting Thursday, the local government said it would inspect every person and car entering and exiting the urban center.
Separately, the chief executive of Macau, the Chinese special administrative region that is the world's biggest gambling market, said Thursday he was considering closing all of the territory's 40-some casinos, following the confirmation of a second coronavirus infection case there, government-run broadcaster Radio Television Hong Kong reported.
By imposing blanket restrictions on people's movement, Chinese authorities are doubling down on a high-stakes strategy that experts say is an untested approach to dealing with infectious diseases.
"To my knowledge, trying to contain a city of 11 million people is new to science.
It has not been tried before as a public-health measure, so we cannot at this stage say it will or will not work," Gauden Galea, the World Health Organization 's country representative for China, said in an interview Thursday with the Associated Press, referring to the Wuhan lockdown.
Mr. Galea added that while such a radical measure "obviously has social and economic impacts that are considerable," it also "demonstrates a very strong public health commitment and a willingness to take dramatic action."
Tom Inglesby , an expert on epidemics who is director of the Center for Health Security at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health , said "large-scale quarantine efforts in the past have not been successful in changing the outcome of disease outbreaks."
Chinese authorities have suggested the coronavirus is spreading between people primarily through coughing, kissing or contact with saliva. It emerged from a seafood and livestock market in Wuhan and has spread across China and into the U.S ., Japan, South Korea and Thailand.
On Thursday, Chinese health authorities said the coronavirus had reached the northeastern and northwestern corners of China, including the provinces of Heilongjiang, which borders Russia, and Xinjiang, the majority Muslim region that borders Kazakhstan. Jilin province, in the country's northeast, and Jiangsu province, just north of Shanghai, also reported their first cases. The total confirmed cases in China rose to more than 600, according to state media.
The Hong Kong government confirmed its first two cases of the new coronavirus Thursday evening and said some people who had been in close contact with them were quarantined at one of the centers the government has set up at campsites. One close contact was suspected of being infected, the government said.
The decision to ban people from leaving or entering Wuhan rippled across China and beyond its borders, sparking confusion and elevating fears about a growing contagion ahead of the Lunar New Year, the busiest travel period of the year in China and many other parts of Asia.
In Tokyo and Seoul, face masks and hand sanitizer disappeared from some store shelves, while across China, seven movie openings were scrapped as film studios and theaters worried about moviegoers fearful of setting foot outside. In Wuhan, a boxing qualifier for this year's Olympic Games in Tokyo slated to take place starting Feb. 3 was canceled by the local organizing committee.
Primary and secondary schools in Hubei have postponed reopening after Lunar New Year to an undetermined date, according to the Communist Party newspaper People's Daily. In Beijing, major events over the holiday were canceled.
Japan and the U.S. each raised their alert levels for travel to Wuhan. Tokyo advised its citizens not to travel to the city unless necessary, while Washington recommended exercising caution but stopped short of advising travelers to avoid the city.
In Wuhan, local authorities urged calm, calling on citizens not to panic or hoard supplies. "With the close care of General Secretary Xi Jinping ," a government notice read, "Wuhan has sufficient reserves and smooth supplies of commodities, food and medical protection products."
Operators from the transportation-service hotline in Wuhan said more than 8,000 buses in the city and all nine subway lines had stopped running as of 10 a.m. Thursday. Many entrances to the highway from the Wuhan area were closed, while vehicles could still get off the highway and enter the city, according to the local highway information service early Thursday.
Meanwhile, a few flights continued to depart Wuhan's Tianhe International Airport even after the 10:00 a.m. lockdown began, according to the flight-tracking site FlightAware. Most of the flights were transiting through Wuhan from other cities, though some direct flights—including to Beijing and Paris—were among those allowed to take off after the lockdown deadline.
Within Wuhan's city limits, people expressed frustrations online over a lack of transportation services and dwindling resources at hospitals. The Wuhan Health Commission acknowledged long lines outside fever clinics and a shortage of hospital beds. It said the city was designating more hospitals as centers for fever patients.
The central government is shipping 10,000 sets of protective clothing and 50,000 sets of gloves to Wuhan from its reserve medical supplies, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information, which posted the information through its account on the Twitter -like Weibo service.
Lekai Liu, Yin Yijun and Bingyan Wang contributed to this article.
Write to Stephanie Yang at stephanie.yang@wsj.com and Yoko Kubota at yoko.kubota@wsj.com
Spreading Coronavirus Prompts Lockdown of More Chinese Cities
northern watch
TB Fanatic
She would be smart to get out while she can.
Moms are health care professionals when necessary. It sounds like you are a good one too with the preps you are readying.
Thank you ainitfunny for the electrolyte recipe. I had forgotten about digging out the packages of the dry mix so it can be added to water. We have lots of Gatorade but sometimes I don't like the flavored when I feel ill.
Switchback
Veteran Member
I get the strong feeling that the number of cases and deaths is grossly understated. I feel the deaths are already in the tens of thousands and infections in the low millions at this point and rising exponentially. Considering the Wuhan level IV bio lab is only two miles from ground zero fish market, I'm not paying any attention to official numbers and statements.
Next, soon, I feel we will see a rapid pickup or even a run on supplies here in the US. The smart ones are already acting early and rightly so to be on the safe side of things early. Rule number one: governments and agencies always downplay and provide false numbers, statistics and information at all stages of a crisis. In other words, lies.
Next, soon, I feel we will see a rapid pickup or even a run on supplies here in the US. The smart ones are already acting early and rightly so to be on the safe side of things early. Rule number one: governments and agencies always downplay and provide false numbers, statistics and information at all stages of a crisis. In other words, lies.
Reasonable Rascal
Veteran Member
Bats, specifically fruit bats, are believed to be the natural reservoir for the Ebola virus. Bats are mammals, snakes are reptiles. Far, far more believable from a biological standpoint that bats would be the carriers rather than a cold-blooded reptile.
RR