Covid-19 News & Updates (Thailand and Southeast Asia only)

[PeteC]

Chinese New Year sparks full alert for coronavirus (in Thailand)

Full story at link: https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/ge ... oronavirus

The Ministry of Public Health has implemented the highest level of precautionary measures at airports and hospitals across the country to minimise the possibility of a disease outbreak in response to the surge in Chinese tourists expected to arrive to celebrate Chinese New Year......

[oakdale160]

Following the SARS outbreak, WHO looked at how successful airport screening had been and decided that it had been worthless. In ANY viral infection, there is an incubation period, you have the virus on board but no symptoms so far, BUT you are infective and can give the virus to contacts. So if a person incubating the virus travels on a plane, you can see the risk.

[Bamboo Grove]

Let's see how this developes. I'm going to China in two weeks time.

[Big Boy]

Don't worry, half of China moved into the party house 2 door up the road from me overnight. Actually, they are very polite/civil.

[PeteC]

China reports 17 new cases of mystery virus

Two videos at link: https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/ge ... tery-virus

BEIJING: China reported 17 new cases of the mysterious SARS-like virus on Sunday, including three in a severe condition, heightening fears ahead of China's Lunar New Year holiday when hundreds of millions of people move around the country -- and thousands will come to Thailand.

The virus -- a new strain of coronavirus that humans can contract -- has caused alarm because of its connection to SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome), which killed nearly 650 people across mainland China and Hong Kong in 2002-2003.

Of the 17 new cases in the central city of Wuhan -- believed to be the epicentre of the outbreak -- three are described as "severe".

Thailand's second case of a Chinese national infected with Novel Coronavirus 2019 was confirmed on Thursday night while lab results for a Thai suspected of being infected are pending.

The virus has now infected 62 people in Wuhan, city authorities said, with eight in a severe condition, 19 cured and discharged from hospital, and the rest remaining in isolation receiving treatment.

Two people have died so far from the virus, including a 69-year-old man who died on Wednesday, with the disease causing pulmonary tuberculosis and damage to multiple organ functions.

Authorities said they had begun "optimised" testing of pneumonia cases across the city to identify those infected with the virus, and would begin "detection work... towards suspected cases in the city" as a next step.

A paper published Friday by scientists with the MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis at Imperial College in London warned that the number of cases in the city was likely to be closer to 1,700 than those officially identified.

Authorities said Sunday that some of the new cases had "no history of contact" with the seafood market believed to be the centre of the outbreak.

No human-to-human transmission has been confirmed so far, but Wuhan's health commission has previously said the possibility "cannot be excluded".

Three cases have also been reported overseas -- two in Thailand and one in Japan.

While mainland China has not yet announced any travel restrictions, authorities in Hong Kong have stepped up detection measures, including rigorous temperature checkpoints for inbound travellers from the Chinese mainland.

The US said from Friday it would begin screening direct flights arriving from Wuhan at San Francisco airport and New York's JFK, as well as Los Angeles, where many flights connect.

Thailand said it was already screening passengers arriving in Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Phuket and would soon introduce similar controls in the beach resort of Krabi.

Wuhan is a city of 11 million inhabitants that serves as a major transport hub, including during the annual Lunar New Year holiday, when hundreds of millions of Chinese people travel across the country to visit family.

[PeteC]

Let's see how this develops. I'm going to China in two weeks time.

On the tip of my tongue was to "get a flu shot.." but there really isn't any yet for this thing.

At least take a few good face masks from your sources there rather than trying to find a good one in China. You may need it for the air pollution anyway I would imagine.

[Bamboo Grove]

I'm going to Shanghai but will stay in downtown only a couple of days on. Most of the time I will be on an island near where Yangze-river runs to Yellow Sea and after two weeks of work, I plan to visit the Yellow mountain area.

I've had a flu shot in November but as you said, it won't be of any use to this. I will look for face masks before I leave.

[oakdale160]

Face masks help prevent the wearer from infecting other people, they do not protect the wearer from getting infected.

[PeteC]

China coronavirus: Number of cases jumps as virus spreads to new cities

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-51171035

Chinese authorities have reported 139 new cases of a mysterious virus in two days, marking the first time that the infection has been confirmed in the country outside of Wuhan city.

The new cases were identified in the cities of Wuhan, Beijing and Shenzhen.

The total number of confirmed cases now exceeds 200, and three have died from the respiratory illness.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said the number of cases rose because of "increased searching and testing".

The new coronavirus strain first appeared in Wuhan in December and has already spread abroad, with two cases in Thailand and one in Japan.

Experts in the UK told the BBC the number of people infected could still be far greater than official figures suggest.

What's the latest?
Authorities in the central Chinese city of Wuhan said 136 new cases had been confirmed over the weekend, and a third person there died from the virus.

As of late Sunday, officials said 170 people in Wuhan were still being treated in hospital, including nine in critical condition.

Health officials in Beijing's Daxing district said two people who had travelled to Wuhan were treated for pneumonia linked to the virus.

In Shenzhen, officials said a 66-year-old man showed symptoms of the virus following a trip to visit relatives in Wuhan.

The WHO said "increased searching and testing for [the virus] among people sick with respiratory illness" had led to the jump in confirmed cases.

Coronavirus feared to have infected more than initially thought according to scientists
It said an "animal source seems the most likely source" of the virus, while there was "some limited human-to-human transmission occurring between close contacts."

It added that people could reduce the risk of catching the coronavirus by taking measures such as avoiding "unprotected" contact with live animals, thoroughly cooking meat and eggs, and avoiding close contact with anyone with colds or flu-like symptoms.

China's National Health Commission earlier said the virus was "still preventable and controllable", while warning that close monitoring was needed given that the source, transmission and mutation methods were unknown.

The health body has promised to step up monitoring during this week's Lunar New Year celebrations, when millions of people will travel to be with their families.

What is this virus?
Viral samples have been taken from patients and analysed in the laboratory and officials in China and the WHO have concluded the infection is a coronavirus.

Coronaviruses are a broad family of viruses, but only six (the new one would make it seven) are known to infect people.

At the mild end they cause the common cold, but severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) is a coronavirus that killed 774 of the 8,098 people infected in an outbreak that started in China in 2002.

Analysis of the genetic code of the new virus shows it is more closely related to Sars than any other human coronavirus.

[PeteC]

China’s SARS-like virus spreading person-to-person: US

Full story and videos at link: https://www.bangkokpost.com/world/1839809

MELBOURNE: A pneumonia outbreak in central China has widened with more than 200 people now diagnosed with the new SARS-like virus, as health experts say there’s now evidence that the illness is spreading from person to person.

Amid increased searching and testing for the novel virus among people with symptoms like fever and coughing, the number of cases in China surged over the weekend. With the Chinese New Year just days away -- a holiday season during which Chinese citizens rack up 3 billion trips across the country to reunite with family -- the virus’s spread is likely to intensify.

Hundreds of thousands of Chinese tourists are expected to visit Thailand over the holiday.

Wuhan, the central Chinese city at the centre of the outbreak, now has almost 200 confirmed cases, including three fatalities. Cases were also reported in Beijing and the southern Chinese province of Guangdong. Across the region, South Korea detected its first case, adding to those found in Thailand and Japan last week.

The surge in incidences, after the World Health Organization released guidance for diagnostic detection of the virus Friday, confirmed that the new pathogen is being transmitted among humans, and not just from animals to humans as was originally hoped..........

[uncle tom]

I was in China when SARS was at it's height. The measures they took were dramatic, but possibly not very effective.

Can you imagine the UK authorities, in the face of a major epidemic, stopping every car on the M1 motorway to check that none of the occupants were running a fever?

- That's basically what they did in China..

[pharvey]

I too was in China at the height of SARS and saw some ridiculous things - from a taxi driver wearing a face mask with a hole cut in it for his cigarette!! To a plane full of Chinese wearing face masks only to remove them the moment the food trolley came around...

There were efforts at monitoring (body temperature mainly) at airports and numerous road and rail stops - this was deemed virtually pointless by a WHO "investigation" later on due to the "incubation period" - you could be a carrier but no show symptoms, still able to pass on the virus.

Still, one advantage was virtually deserted streets where I was in Chongqing...... peace & quiet for once!

[Crafack]

I remember arriving at BKK during either the SARS or the avian flu epidemic.

Everybody was herded through some very ad-hoc screening stations with an infrared camera and a monitor.

I wonder if the same will happen when we arrive next sunday :-)

If anybody had been watching the monitor, then they might have found people with a fever. But as a countermeasure against epidemics it is useless.

/Crafack

[oakdale160]

My favorite useless effort in Beijing during SARS.
At the entrance to gated communities they put blankets on the road soaked with disinfectants , this way the tires of the cars got covered in disinfectant. Presumably people were getting infected by kissing the tires of their cars.

[thecolonel]

I see some poor Brit lad has got it in Phuket(he was on phi phi)..... worrying times with Chinese New year coming!

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