The death of a patient coincided with the beginning of China’s annual travel rush on Friday for the CNY holidays comprising some 3 billion trips in 2020.
China on Saturday reported the first known death from a new virus which has infected dozens in a central Chinese province, sparking concern as hundreds of millions of Chinese get ready to travel for the Chinese New Year (CNY).
The death of a patient coincided with the beginning of China’s annual travel rush on Friday for the CNY holidays comprising some 3 billion trips in 2020.
Over the next 40 days, more than half-billion people will pack into trains, buses and passenger aircraft to travel home and elsewhere amid the lurking fear of the pneumonia outbreak – and whether the passengers will become vectors for the disease.
Chinese state media on Saturday said a 61-year-old man was the first person to die from viral pneumonia in Wuhan, the capital of central China’s Hubei Province, and seven others were in critical condition.
There is no evidence yet to suggest the virus can spread between humans but the first death has sparked concerns among Chinese citizens getting ready to travel for the CNY, also known as the Spring Festival, the biggest festival in China, and in the east and southeast Asia.
As many 3 billion trips are expected in the travel rush – the largest temporary migration of people worldwide annually – in the 40-day period between Jan 10 and Feb 18 for family reunions and travel.
China is yet to announce any travel restriction as the mass movement of people picks up pace.
Scientists and doctors are continuing research on the virus.
“Tentative diagnoses showed 41 cases suffer from pneumonia caused by a preliminarily determined new type of coronavirus by Friday,” the Wuhan municipal health commission said.
“A total of 739 close contacts, 419 of which are medical staff, have been placed under medical observation and no related cases were found,” the commission said.
“The episode has caused alarm in light of public memories of Sars, or Sudden Acute Respiratory Syndrome, which in 2002-03 killed 349 people in mainland China and another 299 in Hong Kong, whose economy was hit hard by the epidemic’s devastating impact on tourism,” news agency, AFP reported.
Hong Kong authorities have said 48 people have been admitted to hospital in recent days after returning from Wuhan and displaying flu-like illnesses, but none have yet been confirmed to have contracted the new coronavirus.
“Preliminary lab results showed a new-type coronavirus had caused the viral pneumonia in central China’s Wuhan,” Xu Jianguo, a Chinese expert who led a team to evaluate the pathogen test results told state media.
The newly detected coronavirus is different from known human coronavirus species, including the viruses that had caused SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) and MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome), Xu, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering said.
