Coronavirus claims 250 lives in China, 11,000 infection cases confirmed

The death toll for the Wuhan 2019-nCoV has spiked to at least 250 and infection cases surged to over 11,000 by Saturday, February 1, confirmed China’s National Health Commission as per reports. The Communist Party officials in Wuhan, the epicenter in Hubei province where the virus emerged, reportedly expressed remorse over the local authorities’ lethargy in taking adequate containment measures to have prevented the epidemic in time.

According to reports, only last week, China’s central government took a dramatic step as it issued restraint orders, imposing mass coronavirus quarantine that now encompasses 12 cities with approximately 1.4 billion citizens on lockdown.

Several countries across the world, including the US, have suspended major airline services and immigration facilities placing travel restrictions on Chinese nationals. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), majority infection cases outside of mainland China are associated with global contagion outbreak that involved ‘travel’.

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WHO declared a global health emergency

The second meeting of the Emergency Committee convened by the WHO Director-General under the International Health Regulations (IHR) (2005) regarding the outbreak of novel coronavirus reportedly took place on Thursday, January 30, in the People’s Republic of China, with exportations to other countries.

The Director-General declared that the outbreak of 2019-nCoV constituted a PHEIC and calling the rapid contagion of the virus a “grave concern”, WHO reportedly declared a global health emergency at a news conference at the organisation’s Geneva headquarters. As per reports, WHO prompted a warning to the nations that sealing off the borders barring arrivals from China was ineffective in halting transmission of the virus.

Health and Human Services Secretary of the United States, Alex Azar, declared the health emergency in the US in view of UN Health Body’s recommendations in its rare declaration, suggest reports. Many countries are suspected to follow, who are currently placing citizen evacuees from China under mandatory quarantines to curb the risk of transmission.

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