Hong Kong on Tuesday became the second place outside mainland China to report the death of a coronavirus patient as restrictions on movement were imposed on two more cities far from the epicenter, including the home of Alibaba.
The death of the 39-year-old man in Hong Kong came as the semi-autonomous city closed all but two land crossings with the Chinese mainland to slow the spread of the virus.
Singapore on Tuesday also announced the first local transmissions of the deadly coronavirus as a major aviation conference was scrapped due to the escalating health scare.
The Ministry of Health said it had found six additional cases, four of them involving human-to-human transmission in Singapore, bringing the total infections to 24 in the city-state.
“Though four of these cases constitute a local transmission cluster, there is as yet no evidence of widespread sustained community transmission in Singapore,” the ministry said in a statement.
Two of the local transmission cases involved women working at health products shop primarily serving Chinese tourists. A third was one of the women’s Indonesian maid. Another was a female tour guide who had brought groups to the health shop.
On Sunday the Philippines reported the death of a Chinese man who had come from Wuhan, the first fatality outside of China.
China earlier Tuesday reported 64 more fatalities-a single-day high”•from the new coronavirus, raising the toll to 425, with more than 20,000 infections across the country.
With more than 20,400 confirmed infections, the mortality rate for the new coronavirus is much lower than the 9.6 percent rate for the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome.
In related developments:
As the deadly coronavirus has spread worldwide, it has carried with it xenophobia”•and Asian communities around the world are finding themselves subject to suspicion and fear.
When a patient on Australia’s Gold Coast refused to shake the hand of her surgeon Rhea Liang, citing the virus that has killed hundreds, the medic’s first response was shock.
But after tweeting about the incident and receiving a flood of responses, the respected doctor learned her experience was all too common.
Macau said Tuesday it will temporarily close all casinos as the gambling hub battles the deadly coronavirus, cutting off the lifeblood of the city’s economy.
The move came as the former Portuguese colony confirmed its tenth case of the virus, which has killed more than 400 people in China, infected tens of thousands, and spread to more than 20 countries.
More Chinese cities, including one just 175 kilometers from Shanghai, were put under lockdown on Tuesday, as the impact of a deadly new virus spread further from its epicenter.
Around 12 million people are affected by the new restrictions, adding to the tens of millions of people already quarantined in and around Wuhan, ground zero for 2019-nCoV.
A disabled boy has died after being left to fend for himself when his father was quarantined over the deadly new coronavirus in China’s Hubei province.
Yan Cheng, who was confined to a wheelchair because of cerebral palsy, was abandoned at home when his father was isolated because of a fever.
The 17-year-old, who could not speak, walk or eat by himself, and whose mother died several years earlier, had no one to feed him or help him with daily life.
The virus has so far spread to more than 20 countries, prompting the World Health Organization to declare a global health emergency, several governments to institute travel restrictions and airlines to suspend flights to and from China.
Hong Kong has been particularly on edge over the virus as it has revived memories of the SARS outbreak of 2002-03, which killed nearly 300 people in the financial hub and 349 people in the mainland.
China has struggled to contain the virus despite enacting unprecedented measures, including locking down more than 50 million people in Hubei province where the outbreak emerged. Restrictions have also been imposed far from the epicenter.
China’s Communist leadership made a rare admission of fallibility on Monday as it acknowledged “shortcoming and difficulties exposed in the response to the epidemic.”
The elite Politburo Standing Committee called for improvements to the “national emergency management system” at the meeting, according to the official Xinhua news agency.
“It is necessary to strengthen market supervision, resolutely ban and severely crack down on illegal wildlife markets and trade,” the Politburo said.
The government also said it “urgently” needed protective medical equipment such as surgical masks, protective suits, and safety goggles as it battles to control the outbreak.
A 1,000-bed field hospital in Wuhan built from scratch within two weeks to relieve overburdened medical facilities started receiving patients on Tuesday.
A second makeshift hospital is due to open later this week.
Global fears about the virus have risen, with cruise lines worldwide expected to deny boarding to passengers and crew who have recently traveled to China.
Japan has quarantined a cruise ship carrying 3,711 people and was testing those on board for the new coronavirus Tuesday after a former passenger was diagnosed with the illness in Hong Kong.
The virus is also taking an increasing economic toll, shutting down businesses, curbing international travel and impacting production lines of major global brands.
The Shanghai stock market plunged almost eight percent on Monday on the first day of trading since the holiday, but shares were on the rise by midday on Tuesday.
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