China yesterday said it urgently needed medical equipment and masks, as the death toll from 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) jumped above 360, making it deadlier than the SARS crisis nearly two decades ago.
The 57 new deaths confirmed yesterday was the single-biggest daily increase since the virus was detected late last year in the central city of Wuhan, where it is believed to have jumped from animals to humans at a market.
The virus has since spread to more than 24 countries, despite many governments imposing unprecedented travel bans on arrivals from China.
Photo: AFP
“What China urgently needs at present are medical masks, protective suits, and safety goggles,” Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Hua Chunying (華春瑩) told a press briefing.
Authorities in provinces that are home to more than 300 million people — including Guangdong, the most populous — have ordered everyone to wear masks in public in an effort to contain the virus.
However, factories capable of producing about 20 million masks a day are only operating at 60 to 70 percent of capacity, industry department spokesman Tian Yulong said, adding that supply and demand remained in “tight equilibrium” as a result of the Lunar New Year break.
Tian said authorities were taking steps to bring in masks from Europe, Japan and the US, while the foreign ministry said countries including South Korea, Japan, Kazakhstan and Hungary had donated medical supplies.
All but one of the 57 new deaths reported yesterday were in Wuhan and the rest of Hubei Province, most of which has been under lockdown for almost two weeks.
The national death toll reached 361 — exceeding the 349 mainland fatalities from the 2002-2003 SARS outbreak. The number of infections also jumped significantly, passing 17,200.
SARS, caused by a pathogen similar to the new coronavirus and which also originated in China, killed 774 people — with most other deaths in Hong Kong and Taiwan.
The G7 countries have all confirmed cases of the virus. The US, Australia, New Zealand and Israel have banned foreign nationals from visiting if they have been in China recently, and they have also warned their own citizens against traveling there.
Many nations have evacuated hundreds of their citizens from China — with some forcing them into quarantine on their return — and more airlines are canceling services to the mainland.
China criticized the US for being the first to evacuate nationals without providing “substantial assistance” to China.
“The US government hasn’t provided any substantial assistance to us, but it was the first to evacuate personnel from its consulate in Wuhan, the first to suggest partial withdrawal of its embassy staff, and the first to impose a travel ban on Chinese travelers,” Hua said.
The Cruise Lines International Association, which represents some of the world’s largest operators, yesterday said that vessels would deny boarding to passengers and crew who have recently traveled to China.
Additional reporting by Bloomberg
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique