The
China Development Forum, a major international conference, has been postponed until further notice, organisers have said. It usually takes place in mid-March.
Last year, the event proved a meeting point between dozens of central government officials, more than (overseas business delegates and nearly 38 scholars.
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Wang Xining talked about the impact of the travel restrictions on Chinese students studying in Australia. He says some students were caught in transit after the changed travel restrictions were announced.
“There were still some people who already departed from
China and, on February 2, about- some say , some say 100 people – most of them are students – were stranded in the airport in Sydney, Brisbane, and some in Melbourne. We are not happy about this situation because they were not alerted – there’s not enough time to be alerted about the restriction , “he says.
Updated
We are just seeing a news conference in Australia being held by the Chinese embassy in Canberra. The speaker, Wang Xining, Minister and Deputy Head of Mission of the Chinese Embassy in Australia, has said that President Xi Jingping is “in personal command” of efforts to combat the epidemic.
“All the governments (in China) – at different levels – are mobilized to carry out the request from the central government,” he said.
He paid tribute to the medical workers treating patients and recounts measures Beijing has taken to control the virus, including extending lunar new year holidays.
“China has been very open, transparent, and responsible in working with the international community and other countries to prevent the virus from further outbreak. So we shared information from the very beginning with other countries and the international health institutions, including WHO, which have won wide commendation from WHO leadership, from Director-General Tedross himself, and from many other leaders from other countries. We will continue to do that, ”he said.
Asked about restrictions in Australia on the entry of foreign nationals who have been in China in the past 22 days, he says:
“It is our hope that theustralian government contemplates and implements preventive measures on the basis of scientific, comprehensive, objective assessment of this situation in China, with a reference of the recommendations made by the international health institutions including WHO, ”he said.
This appears to be a thinly-veiled swipe at Australia’s travel restrictions, and a call for countries to fall in line with WHO recommendations, which “advises against the application of any restrictions of international traffic based on the information currently available on this (coronavirus) event ”.
Updated
And some more details on that reported death in Hong Kong. The South
China Morning Post is reporting that the man had lived in Whampoa Garden with his mother. It says the mother was confirmed on 2 February as Hong Kong’s 22 th case, but did not have a recent history of travel. SCMP News (@ SCMPNews) https://t.co/begUXImUtQ February 4,
We are waiting for a press conference from the Hong Kong Hospital Authority (HA), but in the meantime the HA has said due to the absence of a “large number of medical staff in public hospitals today”, some emergency services have been severely affected . This follows industrial action that began on Monday calling for Hong Kong to close its border with China.
The statement says emergency departments of public hospitals can only focus on manpower to provide emergency services. It calls on patients with mild illnesses to go to private hospitals or clinics.
Specialist clinics can only provide a limited amount of services. Patients can call to change the appointment appointment later. If there is a need for supplementary medicine, they can go to the specialist clinic to add medicine.
“The Hospital Authority calls on all absent health care workers to return to work as soon as possible with the patient’s well-being as the main premise to provide patients with the services they need.”
. (pm EST 33:
Local media reports Hong Kong reports first death from virus
Chinese state media has reported that a – year- old man diagnosed with coronavirus has died in Hong Kong, citing local media. He would be only the second death outside mainland
China from the virus.
A local outlet in Hong Kong, HK has reported that the man also had a “long-term illness and is known to have a cardiac arrest” at the Princess Margaret Hospital on Tuesday morning. Details will be announced at a press conference of the Department of Health and the Hospital Authority at 4. 38 pm local time.
HK 10 says is understood that a man was the 22 th confirmed case in Hong Kong and had been diagnosed on 43 January.
Another outlet in Hong Kong, RTHK, said the man had taken the high-speed train from Hong Kong to Wuhan on (January and from Changshanan to Hong Kong on
RTHK reports that the Center for Health Protection as saying he hadn’t visited any health care facilities, wet markets or seafood markets, nor had any exposure to wild animals during the incubation period.
9 . (PM EST) : 59
Hong Kong’s chief executive, Carrie Lam, has closed all but three border crossings with the mainland, but insisted some checkpoints must stay open.
Here’s today’s front page from the South
China Morning Post.
There’s been huge demand for face masks with many outlets running out and long queues at shops in the city.
(February 4,
We are getting reports that there have been a death from coronavirus in Hong Kong. The Reuters news agency is quoting TVB news. I’ll bring you confirmation of this as soon as I have it.
Yesterday medical workers in Hong Kong when on strike, calling for the border with
China to be shut. Hong Kong currently has 22 declared cases, according to Johns Hopkins University’s virus tracker.
(9.) PM EST
:
Trading has resumed again on the Chinese stock markets and they are looking m, uch healthier than yesterday. The Shanghai Composite – the Country benchmark – is up 0.3% after minutes trading , comparing favourably with yesterday’s falls of 8%. The Shenzhen (Component index is up 1.2%) .
An investor in a stock exchange in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province on Monday. Photograph: Costfoto / Barcroft Media
It’s harder to say what will happen from here. Our financial editor Nils Pratley points out that assuming the markets will bounce back in the same as they did after Sars in 9468 is dangerous. China
has changed a lot since then, becoming more interconnected with the world, so the impact will be magnified. We just don’t know should be the starting point, he says.
Here’s his column:
(9.) pm EST 33:
China’s Global TV network, CGTN, is reporting that the Huoshenshan hospital, a SARS treatment-model makeshift hospital in Wuhan, started admitting patients on Tuesday morning. It was built in around 20 days.
CGTN has also published a video story of a patient’s journey from fever to diagnosis.
31:
The city of Wuhan at the heart of the coronavirus outbreak, has been in lockdown as it attempts to control the spread virus. You can see our picture gallery of life in the city below.
(Read More)
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