Second Case Of Coronavirus Declared In California As NYT Suggests Pandemic

Summary:

• There are currently 16,758 confirmed cases worldwide, including 361 fatalities.

• China’s central bank will pump 150 billion yuan ($21.7 billion) into markets, and has banned short selling on Monday to prevent a sell-off.
• First death outside China recorded in the Philippines
• 24 countries reporting cases
• Philippines, New Zealand join list of countries several restricting travelers from China
• 20 French citizens evacuated from Wuhan show coronavirus symptoms.

* * *

Update(1700ET): Santa Clara County health officials on Sunday afternoon have confirmed a second coronavirus case, reported KRON 4 News. 

Officials said this is unrelated to the first case that was confirmed on Friday.

KRON 4 News said health officials would hold a news conference at 2 p.m. to inform the public about the new case.

The confirmed case is a woman who recently traveled to Wuhan, China, the epicenter of the outbreak. Officials have so far said, she arrived in the U.S. on Jan. 23 to visit family during the Chinese New Year.

Officials are unclear on her exact movements and how many people she could have infected.

Her family was also quarantined on concerns they have contracted the deadly virus. 

The first case was confirmed in Santa Clara County on Friday, was a man who recently traveled to Wuhan. 

This is the ninth confirmed case in the U.S., with cases expected to rise in the days and or weeks ahead. 

Earlier on Sunday, The New York Times suggested coronavirus “looks increasingly like a pandemic…”

“It’s very, very transmissible, and it almost certainly is going to be a pandemic,” said Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease. “But will it be catastrophic? I don’t know.”

* * *

Update (1500ET): According to AFP, 20 French citizens evacuated from Wuhan, China have symptoms of Coronavirus. Earlier in the day, officials said that when the flight left Wuhan, none of the passengers had symptoms of coronavirus. They include French, Belgians, Dutch, Danes, Czechs, Slovaks and some citizens of African countries, the Associated Press reported. The happens as around 500 people, including hospital staff, form a human chain in front of the Robert Debré Hospital in Paris to denounce a lack of resources in French public hospitals.

VIDEO: 🇫🇷 Around 500 people, including hospital staff, form a human chain in front of the Robert Debré Hospital in Paris to denounce a lack of resources in French public hospitals pic.twitter.com/r2IlukbvxL

— AFP news agency (@AFP) February 2, 2020

Meanwhile, WBZ reports that two plans from Wuhan landed at Boston’s Logan airport just hours before the nationwide travel ban on flights landing from China is set to begin.

At the same time, half way across the world, Beijing has reported that between Feb 1 and Feb 2, at least 23 new coronavirus cases have been confirmed, the biggest increase to date, bringint the total number to 191.

In other news, according to an unconfirmed report citing TV Peru, a 72-year-old Peruvian woman died from coronavirus in Los Angeles, and his body was repatriated to Peru. According to the death certificate, the cause of his death is the deadly virus of Chinese origin that triggered pneumonia and other complications in his health.

According to the doctor Marco Almeri, the transfer of the body will not generate any type of epidemic. “When a body dies it changes the temperature and all the chemical conditions. Therefore, it is impossible for the virus to survive, ”he told TV Peru.

AS previously reported, US flights carrying citizens who visited China will be redirected to one of seven international airports to be screened for possible coronavirus symptoms, as part of new restrictions to stem the outbreak. Flights will only land in Atlanta, Chicago, Honolulu, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco and Seattle, the DHS said. Once on the ground, passengers will be subject to enhanced health screening.

Finally, according to Reuters, Russian railways has suspended passenger trains to China as the entire world gradually implement a Chinese quarantine.

* * *

Update (1100ET): In a report that has since been deleted from the Chinese Internet, Chinese media company Caijing reported that many deaths and suspected cases of the virus haven’t been counted due to intentional mislabeling, according to Bloomberg.

Many people suspected of being sick with the coronavirus in Wuhan aren’t being counted as having been infected, and some suspicious deaths haven’t been checked and included in the death toll due to a shortage of tests, according to Caijing, a Chinese media company. The Saturday report was deleted from the internet Sunday. The deaths were recorded as due to viral pneumonia and not pneumonia caused by the coronavirus, Caijing wrote.

An unidentified doctor from a Wuhan hospital designated for coronavirus treatment said that they have admitted about 600 severe cases, but none of these patients were confirmed as having coronavirus due to a lack of tests.

Meanwhile, there are whispers that the regime is quietly cremating the bodies of some deceased patients to hide them from the official death toll.

Hong Kong’s executive council has also reportedly hinted at tighter travel curbs.

A Hong Kong executive council member said that residents should avoid traveling to the mainland or risk having difficulties returning to the city, according to an RTHK report, a sign the government could ramp up border control restrictions. Lam Ching-choi said on Sunday that possible measures include shortening opening times for ports, limiting transportation and introducing laws to curb cross border traffic, the report said.

This after health-care workers threatened to strike if the city refused to shut down travel to Beijing.

* * *

Local officials in Hubei weren’t kidding when they warned that Saturday would be the worst day so far for confirmed cases/deaths related to the coronavirus outbreak. China’s body count climbed above 300, and the first death outside the mainland was recorded in the Philippines. Scientists predict that exponentially more cases are active in China, but the true number either haven’t yet been diagnosed, or the Chinese government is simply suppressing it for obvious PR purposes. Anecdotal reports also claim the death toll is higher than the 304+.

Even though the man who died in Manila was from Wuhan, now that the virus has proved lethal outside the confines of China’s deeply overburdened health-care system, even more countries have decided to defy the WHO and restrict entry for travelers from China. New Zealand, Iraq, Indonesia and the Philippines have joined the growing list of countries – including the US, Japan, Australia, Canada, Taiwan, etc. – who are imposing travel restrictions on people who have either recently been to China, or recently traveled to Hubei Province (or if they have a passport from Hubei).

“This is the first reported death outside China,” Rabindra Abeyasinghe, the World Health Organisation representative to the Philippines, said.

But that wasn’t all we heard from the WHO on Sunday. The organization, which just declared the outbreak a dangerous global pandemic, warned governments around the world to prepare for controlling domestic outbreaks.

“Countries need to get ready for possible importation in order to identify cases as early as possible and in order to be ready for a domestic outbreak control, if that happens,” WHO official Gauden Galea told The Associated Press in Bejing on Saturday.

Though the virus is the enemy, the people who carry it are also often treated with suspicion during outbreaks, and it appears this trend has finally peaked both inside and outside China. Two days ago, the New York Times published a story documenting what it described as ‘growing xenophobia’ in Japan, directed at Chinese whom locals feared might carry the virus. Inside China, videos have shown mobs surrounding families from Hubei. Government propaganda has directed a large swath of the country to stay inside until the outbreak subsides. It could be weeks before that happened. Businesses inside China have posted signs warning people from Hubei to stay away; in Japan and Hong Kong, signs are directed at all mainlanders.

Across China, the total number of cases under observation is now a whopping 137,594, an increase of over 19,000 from 118,478.

Outside China, the WHO reports roughly 130 confirmed cases of the virus in more than 20 countries outside of China and Taiwan. The Philippines reported the first death attributable to the virus outside of China. Other tallies put the number of confirmed cases outside China higher. Late Saturday in the US, new cases were confirmed in South Korea and India.

Chinese doctors are now claiming that the virus can be spread via fecal matter, as well as droplets passed through the air.

Expecting a bloodbath when markets open tomorrow (late Sunday evening in the US), Chinese financial regulators have already announced a massive $173 billion (Rmb1.2 trillion) support package. According to the FT, China’s central bank said on Sunday that it would provide the lending facilities to money markets as stock markets reopen following the LNY extended holiday, during which western markets logged heavy selling. Hong Kong markets also took a beating when they reopened for the second half of the week. BBG noted that the sum will come to $21 billion on a net basis, practically nothing, after covering the roll of previous liquidity injections.

The Huoshenshan Hospital, one of two hospitals being rapidly constructed in Wuhan, has finished construction, according to Chinese state media. It will begin admitting coronavirus patients on Monday, hopefully relieving some of the overwhelming burden on the city’s existing medical infrastructure. The Global Times reported that the hospital will be run by Huawei’s “remote consultation platform” which will improve efficiency. Nearly 2,000 PLA personnel are reportedly being dispatched to run a hospital that reportedly has been outfitted with what appear to be jail cells.

Wuhan #Huoshenshan Hospital has finished construction and will admit #coronavirus patients on Monday. #Huawei‘s “remote consultation platform” will also put into use there, improving the efficiency of diagnosis and treatment. #2019CoV pic.twitter.com/4zUDXjts75

— The Business Source (@GlobalTimesBiz) February 2, 2020

Across China, typically busy streets are empty. Several pointed out the eerie silence in one of the most popular nightlife neighborhoods in Beijing.

Wow check out 太古里！This #Beijing shopping area is normally rammed with people on a Sunday evening. Dead as! #Coronavirus #China https://t.co/k6TZ8UKs8w

— Stephen McDonell (@StephenMcDonell) February 2, 2020

When it’s all said and done, economists inside and outside China have warned that the outbreak could shave a percentage point or more off of GDP, potentially pushing the rate of growth below 5% – not that many economists trust the Chinese data anyway.

Back in the US, the country is waiting with baited breath to see whether a suspected 9th case of the virus – this time, in NYC – will be confirmed. The Pentagon recently approved a request for quarantine housing for 1,000 people, according to Epoch Times.

Across the world, dozens of airlines have suspended flights to and from China, some as far out as April.

Does that sound like everything is under control to you?