China, Desperate to Stop Coronavirus, Turns Neighbor Against Neighbor
“The authorities hunt for people from Wuhan, the center of the outbreak, encouraging citizens to inform on others. Even those without symptoms are being ostracized.”
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“GUANGZHOU, China - One person was turned away by hotel after hotel after he showed his ID card. Another was expelled by fearful local villagers. A third found his most sensitive personal information leaked online after registering with the authorities.”
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“All across the country, despite China’s vast surveillance network with its
facial recognition systemsand
high-end cameras that is increasingly used to track its 1.4 billion people, the government has turned to familiar authoritarian techniques — like setting up dragnets and asking neighbors to inform on one another — as it tries to contain the outbreak.”
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“Local officials offered no explanation but returned a few days later to fasten police tape to his door and hang a sign that warned neighbors that a Wuhan returnee lived there. The sign included an informant hotline to call if anyone saw him or his family leave the apartment. Mr. Tang said he received about four calls a day from different local government departments.
“In reality there’s not much empathy,” he said. “It’s not a caring tone they’re using. It’s a warning tone. I don’t feel very comfortable about it.””
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“In the eastern province of Jiangsu,
quarantine turned to imprisonment after authorities used metal poles to barricade shut the door of a family recently returned from Wuhan. To get food, the family relied on neighbors who lowered provisions with a rope down to their back balcony, according to a
local news report.”
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“Checkpoints to screen people for fevers have popped up at tollbooths, at the front gates of apartment complexes and in hotels, grocery stores and train stations. Often those wielding the thermometer guns don’t hold them close enough to a person’s forehead, generating unusually low temperature readings. Such checks were worthless, for instance, against one man in the western province of Qinghai, whom police are investigating on suspicion that he covered up his symptoms to travel.”
-more at link
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Coronavirus news and live updates: Cruise ship under quarantine - CNN
“A Princess Cruises ship is locked down in a Japanese port, with 3,700 people quarantined on board after it was revealed that an infected passenger flew into Tokyo and spent a few days on the ship.
Medical officials are going room-by-room to check each guests' temperature and medical condition, Japan's health ministry said in a statement.
So far 10 people on the ship, which is sitting in Yokohama Bay, have been confirmed with the coronavirus.
There are still more than 100 samples awaiting test results. There are 2,666 guests and 1,045 crew members on board, Princess Cruises said in a statement.”
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“The growing caseload "indicates significant risk of community transmission" and could portend a "large-scale" outbreak, said Chuang Shuk-kwan, head of the communicable disease branch at the Center for Health Protection.”
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“To treat the thousands of patients, China rushed to build hospitals and converted a gymnasium, exhibition hall and cultural center in Wuhan.
Patients were being moved into a new, 1,000-bed hospital with prefabricated wards and isolation rooms. A 1,500-bed hospital also specially built opens in days. The hospitals made from converted public spaces to treat patients with mild symptoms have a total of 3,400 beds, the simple cots placed in tight rows in cavernous rooms without any barriers between them.
One man, Fang Bin, said he saw wards so crowded during a visit to the city's No. 5 Hospital on Saturday that some patients were forced to sit on the ground.”
China coronavirus kills 490 as Japanese cruise ship reports new outbreak
More tests are pending
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United Airlines suspends all flights to Hong Kong amid coronavirus outbreak
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“The developments came as President Xi Jinping of China promised a toughened response. But the World Health Organization, worried that the epidemic could widen globally, asked donors on Tuesday for an immediate $675 million infusion and said it would ship 250,000 test kits around the world to help diagnose cases.
The money primarily is intended for poor countries with weak public health systems and regular arrivals of passengers from China; many African countries fall under that heading because more than one million Chinese expatriates work on the continent and thousands of African students are studying in China.”
Hong Kong Reports Its First Coronavirus Death as Outbreak Widens
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Coronavirus outbreak prompts church to remove missionaries from Hong Kong
The Hong Kong, China Temple.
LDS.org
“SALT LAKE CITY — The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is transferring 113 missionaries out of Hong Kong due to the coronavirus outbreak.”
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China virus claims second life off mainland, Macau casinos told to close
“The coronavirus outbreak claimed its first life in Hong Kong on Tuesday, compounding the international financial centre’s problems after anti-government protests, and Macau, the world’s biggest gambling playground, urged casinos to shut their doors.”
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Japan quarantined a cruise ship with 3,700 people onboard after one passenger contracted the Wuhan coronavirus. Here's what it's like onboard.
“Guests were allowed to resume their onboard activity after being screened, but the casino, shops, and photo studio have been shut, Reuters reported. It's not entirely clear what the other activities available are.
A passenger on board has been tweeting images of the ship amid the quarantine. They show heavily-protected medical workers in blue walking up and down the deserted hallways, and once-populated attractions — like the rooftop pool — totally empty.”