Natural disasters have been happening in human history, either in the form of Earthquakes, Fire, Floods or epidemics, but in this age of globalization, the epidemic has been more dangerous.
In the most recent past outbreaks of infectious diseases, such as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in 2003, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) in 2012, Ebola virus in West Africa in 2013, ZIKA virus in 2016, and in 2018 the Nipah Virus in India, highlight the urgent need to change the current global status quo. Data from the past two decades highlight that some pathogens re-emerge or a member of the family causes a panic situation. Back in 2003, SARS caused much human suffering and their devastating effects have remained for the last two decades. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that a total of 8,098 people worldwide became sick with SARS-CoV during the 2003 outbreak, among these 774 died. Similarly, another outbreak of the closely related virus MERS-CoV of the same virus family was also recognized in Saudi Arabia back in 2012, and around 2,067 positive cases were reported.
Very recently, a newly contagious respiratory virus has sickened many people in China. The number of victims has been increasing rapidly, initial reports were about 200 patients, then increased to 400, 800, etc. and today morning it reached 2800 approximately. This number may increase by the time you will be reading this article. The confirmed deaths have reached 69 till this moment.
Confirmed cases were also reported in China’s Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan, as well as Thailand, Japan, the Republic of Korea, the United States, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, Nepal, France, and Australia. Suspected patients are also under investigation in other parts of the world too.
Initially, it is learned that the outbreak originated from the sea-food market in the city of Wu Han in Hubei province in the central part of China. Wuhan is a city with a population of around 11 million, and located in the central part of China, sounded with neighboring provinces of highly populated.
Chinese Government has taken appropriate measures to fight against this natural disaster. A meeting of the Communist Party of China leadership on Saturday demanded all-out efforts to treat infected patients, speed up the augmentation of medical personnel and coordinate civilian and military medical resources. The highest level of leadership is concerned and taking this issue on an emergency level.
More than half a million medical staff have joined the epidemic prevention, control and treatment of patients in Hubei, said Li Tao, an official with the Hubei Provincial Health Commission. Meanwhile, five medical teams with a combined number of 686 doctors and nurses dispatched by Shanghai, Guangdong, Hunan, Sichuan, and Zhejiang, have joined the treatment efforts in Hubei. Three teams of military staff totaling 450, who flew to Wuhan on 24 January (Friday) night, immediately started work in three designated hospitals in Wuhan. On 25 January (Saturday), 13 provincial-level regions, including Xinjiang, Qinghai, Gansu, Henan, and Shandong, joined 17 others to activate first-level public health emergency response to the epidemic situation, with government employees in the health sector canceling their Spring Festival holiday and returning to their posts.
Wuhan authorities decided to build two makeshift hospitals — Huoshenshan with 700 to 1,000 beds and Leishenshan with a capacity of 1,300 to 1,500 beds — to treat the new pneumonia patients. The construction of the two facilities is underway. The Huoshenshan and Leishenshan hospitals will be put into use on Feb. 3 and Feb. 5, respectively.
Beijing’s education authorities said kindergartens, primary, middle schools and universities in the city will postpone the opening of the spring semester.
The China Development Bank, one of the country’s major policy banks, offered emergency loans worth 2 billion yuan (about 288.3 million U.S. dollars) Friday to Wuhan for prevention and control of the novel coronavirus. The country’s finance ministry Thursday allocated 1 billion yuan to support Hubei’s battle against the disease. Over 2 million masks and related products are set to be provided for Wuhan, according to the Ministry of Commerce. As of Saturday, Hubei has allocated 1.03 billion yuan to guarantee the rescue and treatment of the patients.
The City is cordoned-off and sealed completely. All ways and means of transportation have been halted. Airports, railways, and Long Distance busses have been canceled, the public is not allowed to travel out of city or into the city. People are advised to stay at home and should not come out unnecessarily. Food habits must be changed and avoid eating meat, poultry or dairy products. Strengthen hygienic habits and clean hands and mouth several times a day with antiseptic hand-wash or simple soap with warm water. Highest level of preventive and hygienic measures to be taken.
Chinese Government is sharing the actual situation with the International Community and the whole world has extended full support to China to overcome this epidemic. Scientists are working hard to develop a vaccine and expected to overcome soon. We are optimistic that our joint efforts be successful.
Author: Prof. Engr. Zamir Ahmed Awan, Sinologist (ex-Diplomat), Non-Resident Fellow of CCG (Center for China and Globalization), National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST), Islamabad, Pakistan.