“SEOUL: South Korea reported 52 new confirmed cases of the coronavirus on Friday (Feb 21), taking the national total to 156, with the majority in Daegu, the country's fourth-largest city.
Altogether 39 of the new cases were linked to the Shincheonji Church of Jesus in the southern city of Daegu, the Korean Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said.”
South Korea reports 52 new COVID-19 cases, brings total to 156
21 Feb 2020
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Live updates: Coronavirus outbreak in China prisons raises alarm; South Korea feared as new hot spot
https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...d2aa50-543e-11ea-b119-4faabac6674f_story.html
“Chinese authorities on Friday reported hundreds of new coronavirus infections inside prisons around the country, a dire revelation that undercut the government’s effort to show progress in containing the deadly epidemic.
A handful of prisons reported nearly 500 new cases, a significant portion of more than 1,100 new cases reported in mainland China on Friday — and a marked increase after several days of declines.”
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“Cases in South Korea doubled, with investigators focusing on a church and hospital in the southern city of Daegu.”
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“Officials in Wuhan have been disinfecting the city’s drainage pipes amid concerns that the virus could spread through the sewer system.”
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“Wuhan has dumped nearly 2,000 tons of disinfectant in the city’s drainage networks in a bid to prevent the coronavirus from spreading through the sewer system, which has been a growing concern with troubling historical precedent.
Since Jan. 29, Wuhan – the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak – has mobilized over 6,500 people to pour 1,936 tons of disinfectant down the drains, targeting pipelines, septic tanks and sewage wells in hospitals, centralized quarantine facilities and other “high risk” areas, the city’s water authority said on Thursday.
The move came after research showed the virus can survive in human feces and that the pathogen could be transmitted along the fecal-oral route, despite repeated assurances from the government in the early days that it is only transmitted through direct contact with virus-laden droplets from an infected person.
In 2003, over 300 residents in Hong Kong’s Amoy Gardens compound were infected with the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) virus due to the defective design of its sewer system.
Wuhan’s 26 water treatment plants and sewage pumping stations have taken similar measures in the past three weeks, having poured sodium hypochlorite into wastewater for extra disinfection and oxidation around the clock.
Renowned respiratory expert Zhong Nanshan, who was a leading medical adviser in China’s management of the coronavirus outbreak, on Tuesday had warned the public to keep their drainage pipes unblocked as the virus might spread through drainage systems.
“If a waste pipe is blocked, the contaminated air, or the aerosol carrying the novel coronavirus, may lead to infection,” Zhong said at a news conference in Guangzhou.
“I think the virus was spread and inhaled through aerosol that contained dried and contaminated feces, not taken in through the digestion tract,” Zhong added.
Two research teams, one led by Dr. Zhong, announced last week that they had isolated novel coronavirus strains from feces of infected patients.
Earlier this month, dozens of homes in Hong Kong’s Tsing Yi area were evacuated after two tenants from different floors of one building were infected. Authorities have yet to conclude whether the infections were caused by a modified drainage pipe, as suspected.”
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11:26 p.m.
Another Chinese doctor falls victims to coronavirus
“China is grieving the death of another young doctor in Wuhan, a 29-year old pulmonologist at Jiangxia District No. 1 People’s Hospital named Peng Yinhua.“
