The World Health Organization this morning declared the Chinese coronavirus outbreak a global health emergency as Thailand joined Malaysia in arresting citizens for allegedly spreading misinformation about the virus.
A man and woman were charged with violating the Computer Crime Act after posting information deemed false by the so-called Anti Fake News Center on social media. The posts included what was said to be a misleading video clip represented as a suspected Wuhan virus case at the coastal tourist destination of Pattaya. Each faces five years’ jail.
The center opened late last year to empower the national government to determine what is true and what is false and prosecute those it deems have spread the latter. In recent days it has gone into overdrive, churning out over a dozen items seeking to refute reports of infections, some of which strain credulity. The number of total confirmed cases in Thailand remained at 14 as of Friday morning.
With the Anti Fake News Center, Thailand gets its ‘Ministry of Truth’
Elsewhere, India, the Philippines, and Italy have confirmed their first cases.
In a reversal from just a week ago, the WHO cited the spread of the virus outside of China – U.S. officials said the virus has been transmitted between people there – for now declaring it an emergency.
“The [WHO)]Committee believes that it is still possible to interrupt virus spread, provided that countries put in place strong measures to detect disease early, isolate and treat cases, trace contacts, and promote social distancing measures commensurate with the risk,” it said in a statement. “The Committee agreed that the outbreak now meets the criteria for a Public Health Emergency of International Concern and proposed the following advice to be issued as Temporary Recommendations.”
Though it has no force of law, those recommendations included further areas of study, enhanced monitoring, rapid development of potential vaccines, and more. It said that no trade or travel restrictions were needed at this time.
Northwest of Rome, Italy forced more than 6,000 tourists to stay aboard a cruise ship due to two suspected cases that later tested negative. Passengers were allowed off after several hours. Nevertheless, two cases were confirmed to be at hospitals in the capital this morning, and Italy immediately cut off all air travel to China.
Sbarcati Taranto 403 #migranti da #OceanViking
216 uomini
38 donne
149 bambini
12 donne incinte
132 minori non accompagn
20 nuclei familProvenienza
Marocco
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Mali
Somalia#Lamorgese renderà conto dell’invasione ? https://t.co/DCJgGVbRUB— Sabrina Maggioni (@sabrimaggioni) January 29, 2020
The novel coronavirus, or 2019-nCoV, has sickened nearly 10,000 in China and killed 213 as of Friday morning, according to data sourced from China’s national and provincial health committees. At least 175 people have recovered.
At least 13 Chinese cities, including the epicenter Wuhan, are on lockdown in a bid to contain the spread of the disease. Several countries including Japan, the United States and Singapore have already evacuated its citizens while others like Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Australia, are still waiting for permission from Beijing.
New Zealand also announced yesterday they would charter an Air New Zealand aircraft to evacuate its citizens. There are at least 80 New Zealanders in Wuhan.
Singapore has had 13 confirmed cases after detecting three more, all from Wuhan, it was announced last night. The conditions of some of the confirmed patients were “improving,” the Health Ministry said.
One of the patients was in close contact with a previous case. The 31-year-old Chinese woman, who arrived Jan. 22 and came in close contact to the fourth case four days later, was admitted to the National Centre for Infectious Disease the next day.
The other patient, a 37-year-old woman, also arrived in Singapore on Jan. 22. She had stayed at several hotels in the city-state, including the Village Hotel Sentosa and Hotel 81 Princess in Geylang before going to Tan Tock Seng Hospital a week later where she tested positive for the virus.
The 13th confirmed case was a 73-year-old woman who arrived Jan. 21. She is being treated at the center, where patients have been treated in isolation.
Malaysia has formed a panel, including representatives from AirAsia and Malaysia Airlines, to organize the safe return of citizens currently in Wuhan. Malaysian ambassador to China Nushirwan Zainal Abidin said the embassy has located 96 citizens, mostly in Wuhan visiting families, The Star reported.
After days of false alarms, the Philippines announced its first confirmed case of the Wuhan coronavirus yesterday.
The 38-year-old Chinese woman arrived in the country on Jan. 21 via Hong Kong and had visited Cebu and Dumaguete. She went to a hospital in Manila on Jan. 25 for cough and later tested positive for the virus.
Tensions between Hong Kong’s government and its people continue to escalate following strikes demanding more border closures with mainland China amid fears the virus will spread further.
Seventeen people aged 13 to 26 were arrested in connection with roadblocks, rail obstructions and unrest following news of two more confirmed infections.
Hong Kong has had 12 cases as of Friday morning.
Indonesia is still in talks with Beijing to evacuate citizens out of Wuhan. Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said yesterday there are at least 243 Indonesians who have been sequestered in quarantined cities, mostly in Wuhan, Reuters reported.
They will be quarantined for two weeks when they return home.
Concerns that the novel coronavirus is linked to animals has also sparked calls for Indonesia to ban its wildlife trade. There are a number of wildlife markets in Indonesia, including one in Jatinegara, East Java, where vendors sell snakes and bats. Although it hasn’t been proven, epidemiologists say indicators suggest the virus leaped to humans from bats.
Animal rights coalition Dog Meat Free Indonesia this week wrote an open letter online to President Joko Widodo, calling for such markets to be closed. Similar to the wildlife markets in China, it said it is a “hotbed for disease transmission.”
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Duterte bans travel from Hubei province after first coronavirus patient found in PH
