Tag: coronavirus

  • Coronavirus: Let’s do what needs to be done

    According to the National Health Commission’s latest figures, coronavirus has so far killed 636 people and infected 31,161 in mainland China. The death toll includes 73 new ones reported Thursday. Two people have died in Hong Kong and the Philippines, while 25 countries have confirmed cases of the novel virus.

    Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) is also ringing alarm bells to address the global outbreak.

    Although Pakistan has not yet confirmed any case of coronavirus, panic is running through the country due to trade worth over $15 billion between Islamabad and Beijing, besides China being a geographical neighbour. Pakistan has around 500 students in Wuhan — the epicentre of the coronavirus — and multiple video messages from Pakistanis in the Chinese city, who want the government to extract them, have also flooded the internet. Many other countries have rescued their nationals from Wuhan, while Pakistan, so far, hasn’t officially done so even though flights from China have resumed.

    The reason Pakistani health officials have been reluctant to bring Pakistanis back from Wuhan is not only because they feel that Pakistan is not capable of providing basic medicare to coronavirus patients and/even suspected cases, but also maybe because they know that not everyone would be risking their lives to save others, as seen in China. An evidence of this remains the Sindhi youth, who was not even provided necessary aid after doctors suspected he had contracted the virus from China.

    We don’t have proper quarantine facilities either. Others feel that these are just excuses and if countries like India and Bangladesh can bring back their citizens and quarantine them, so can Pakistan. It was quite insensitive of our embassy officials in China to tell those stuck there that death can come anywhere, be it Pakistan or China. Even if we could not evacuate them, there is a way of saying it in a more sensitive way rather than telling them that “one could die anywhere”. Our diplomatic staff definitely needs a crash course in diplomacy!

    It would be a tragedy if something were to happen to any corona-infected Pakistani in China. They and their loved ones deserve the full support of our government. Given the proximity to China and the presence of the Chinese workforce in Pakistan, we should definitely be prepared to deal with the virus in any case. We should not just be ready to deal with coronavirus cases, but we should also have special quarantine facilities ready in every major city. Our airports should have proper monitoring systems in place for people coming back from China. Preemptive measures should be our top priority.

    While this is what The Current believes should be done in times of this global health emergency, another thing — a rather social aspect — remains the apparently unintentional racism against Chinese nationals. At a time when certain people are antagonising the Chinese on the basis of their nationality, the least we can do is to not let our inner racist take over us as we try to help the world deal with the menace that is the coronavirus.

  • Chinese doctor who raised alarm about coronavirus dies

    Chinese doctor who raised alarm about coronavirus dies

    The coronavirus crisis in China has extended as the number of people infected by the virus hits 31,000 and the doctor who issued an early warning about the outbreak died from the virus on Friday.

    According to reports, more than 630 people have died by the virus that ophthalmologist Li Wenliang and his colleagues had first brought to light in late December.

    The disease has since spread across China, forcing the government to lock down cities with of tens of millions of people. Global panic has also risen in wake of the disease as more than 240 cases have emerged in two dozen countries.

    Li, 34, died early Friday, Wuhan Central Hospital said in a post on China’s Twitter-like Weibo platform. The news triggered grief on social media and the doctor was hailed a hero for his services in his field.

    Earlier on December 30, Li had sent out a message about the new coronavirus to colleagues in Wuhan, the central city where the virus was born but was later called by police for spreading rumors. He later contracted the disease while treating a patient.

    State-run newspaper Global Times and state broadcaster CCTV first reported on Weibo that Li had died late Thursday, only to delete their posts after the death rapidly surged to be among the top topics on the popular platform.

  • Newborn diagnosed with coronavirus within 30 hours of birth

    A Chinese newborn has been diagnosed with the novel coronavirus just 30 hours after birth, in what was reported as the youngest case recorded so far, state media outlet Xinhua said.

    According to reports, the baby was born on February 2 in Wuhan — the epicentre of the virus — and the mother had earlier been tested positive. It is unclear how the disease was transmitted — in the womb, or after birth.

    Only a handful of children have come down with the virus, which has killed 563 people and infected 28,018.

    The report further said that the baby, who weighed 3.25kg at birth (7lbs 2oz), was now in a stable condition and under observation.

    Medical experts say it could be a case where the infection was contracted in the womb.

    “This reminds us to pay attention to mother-to-child being a possible route of coronavirus transmission,” chief physician of Wuhan Children Hospital’s neonatal medicine department, Zeng Lingkong, told Reuters.

    But it is also possible that the baby was infected after birth from having close contact with the mother.

    “It’s quite possible that the baby picked it up very conventionally — by inhaling virus droplets that came from the mother coughing,” Stephen Morse, an epidemiologist at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University, told Business Insider.

  • Chitral man booked for spreading coronavirus rumours

    Chitral man booked for spreading coronavirus rumours

    Amid growing fears of the deadly coronavirus in Pakistan, a man in Chitral has been booked on charges of spreading misinformation on social media.

    An FIR has been registered against Irshad Mukarer, a resident of the Darosh area of Chitral district, in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

    According to Wali Khan, the SHO of Darosh Police Station, a Chinese citizen working on the Lawi Hydro Power Project in Chitral visited a local hospital for having pain in his stomach where doctors prescribed him some medicines.

    Irshad took his picture at the hospital and posted it on social networking websites saying the Chinese man was infected with coronavirus, medically named ‘2019-nCoV’, SHO Khan added.

    The wrong information circulated spreading fear among the locals. Authorities took serious notice of the incident and the police registered FIR against Khan, who managed to get pre-arrest bail.

    While Irshad denied sharing any post on social media. “I was visiting the hospital to meet an ailing relative where I saw the Chinese man who was in severe pain and I asked for his proper diagnosis. ”Irshad went on to add that the charges against him were baseless and that the police twisted his words and registered the FIR against him.

    The coronavirus originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan has claimed many lives and the World Health Organization (WHO) also declared a global health warning.

  • Coronavirus: JI woman leader trolled for comparing hazmat suit to burqa

    Amid global coronavirus fears, Jamaate Islami (JI) leader Dr Samia Raheel Qazi on Wednesday was trolled for what appeared to be a comparison between a hazmat suit and burqa on her Twitter.

    “Food for thought,” the women wing leader of the religio-political party wrote as she tweeted two images, one of which showed a person in a hazmat suit and the other a burqa-clad woman.

    The tweet that came as the world battles the deadly coronavirus that has so far claimed at least 500 lives and left over 24,000 others infected, met with trolling on the micro-blogging website, as people reacted to what they said was an absurd comparison.

    Meanwhile, China’s National Health Commission has said the number of confirmed infections in the country rose to 24,324 after an additional 3,887 people were diagnosed with the virus.

    Other countries have rushed to evacuate their citizens from Hubei and its capital city, Wuhan, while many have also imposed extraordinary travel restrictions on travellers to and from China, Al Jazeera reported.

    Countries outside China continue to report more cases, with Hong Kong and the Philippines reporting one death each from the disease.

    The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) has called for greater solidarity among the international community, and criticised governments for being “well behind” in sharing data on virus cases. He said he had received complete case report forms for only 38 per cent of the cases outside China.

    THE CURRENT LIFE WITH DR SAMIA RAHEEL QAZI:

  • Coronavirus: Sick Pakistani student from China shifted to isolation ward

    A Pakistani student, who was extracted from coronavirus-hit China as flights operations resumed between the two countries, has been quarantined since his return as he showed suspected symptoms of the novel epidemic, The Express Tribune has reported.

    According to reports, Shahzaib Rahujo studies petroleum at a Chinese university around 1,000 kilometres (km) away from Wuhan where the deadly coronavirus originated. He reached his village, Nangerji, late on Saturday night and was shifted to an isolation ward on Monday after he fell ill.

    “He was experiencing a headache, flu and cough when he reached Qatar. He took some medicine to relieve the symptoms and was able to reach the village safely,” Rahujo’s elder brother, Irshad Ali, told the media outlet. He added that his brother cleared medical screening at Jinnah International Airport in Karachi, but once he reached his village, he started experiencing fever, flu, cough and fatigue.

    Kept in isolation, Rahujo is reportedly facing neglect at Civil Hospital in Khairpur where he is admitted, as medics there are not ready to perform tests on him. Ali posted a video over the internet showing how his brother Rahujo was being neglected in spite of his ill health and nose bleeding.

    “We were on our way to Karachi when they told us to come back to the civil hospital. There, they put him in a dengue ward. But there is no doctor and we are not being treated properly,” Ali said. 

    Several Pakistani citizens, a large number of which are students, are still reportedly stuck in China.

  • Pakistani doctor wins hearts for volunteering to treat coronavirus patients in Wuhan

    A Pakistani doctor from Jhelum has won appreciation for volunteering to treat coronavirus patients in Wuhan, China.

    Dr Usman, a Pakistani teacher at Changsha Medical College, is the first foreign doctor who stepped forward to volunteer to treat infected people in Wuhan.

    The Chinese Embassy thanked the doctor saying, “We appreciate Dr Muhammad Usman Janjua, a foreign doctor to join the fight against coronavirus in China as a volunteer. He is a teacher from Changsha Medical University, China and hails from Deena, Jhelum, Pakistan”.

    On January 27, Usman formally applied to the Foreign Experts Service office of the Hunan Science and Technology department, hoping that he could go to the Wuhan for medical assistance.

    Usman told media that when the outbreak of pneumonia caused by the new coronavirus began in China, he kept an eye on the continuously updated figures and situations every day.

    “The staff of the foreign expert service sent me the methods of epidemic prevention every day asking me to protect myself and solving many difficulties for me.”

    Usman, 29, had dreamed of becoming a doctor since he was a child. He graduated from Hunan University of Traditional Chinese Medicine with a bachelor’s degree in 2012 and returned to Pakistan to practice medicine for four years.

    During the four years of stay in his hometown, he had always been unable to forget China and Changsha. He said that China had provided him with good opportunities for education and employment.

    In 2016, he returned to China and began studying for a Master’s degree in medicine at Central South University in Changsha. After graduation, he became a foreign teacher at Changsha Medical College.

  • Coronavirus: PM’s assistant reaches airport to screen passengers himself

    Coronavirus: PM’s assistant reaches airport to screen passengers himself

    Special Assistant to Prime Minister (SAPM) on National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination Dr Zafar Mirza on Monday paid a visit to Benazir International Airport in Islamabad to screen passengers arriving in Pakistan, himself.

    According to reports, the special assistant monitored the screening process of passengers from different countries in the wake of deadly coronavirus. Dr Zafar reportedly said that a strong screening system has been installed at all airports across the country.

    “We are ready to deal with any kind of emergency,” he added.

    Earlier, Dr Zafar Mirza had expressed satisfaction over the protective measures taken by the Chinese government to curb the spread of Wuhan novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV).

    This came as three flights carrying passengers from China arrived in Islamabad on Monday as government resumed flight operations to the virus-hit country. Meanwhile, the coronavirus death toll in China soared past 360, with deepening global concern about the outbreak and governments closing their borders to people from China.

    The fresh toll came a day after China imposed a lockdown on a major city far from the epicentre and the first fatality outside the country was reported in the Philippines.

    Authorities in Hubei province reported 56 new fatalities, with one reported in the southwestern megalopolis of Chongqing. That took the toll in China to 361, exceeding the 349 mainland fatalities from the 2002-3 SARS outbreak.

  • Coronavirus causes fright for Indian phone, carmakers

    Coronavirus causes fright for Indian phone, carmakers

    Coronavirus outbreak in China could start to disrupt India’s production of smartphones. This spread can delay component shipments that are important for the production of smartphones, reports have said.

    India is the world’s biggest smartphone maker after China but is still largely dependent on China for supplies of parts such as cells, displays panels, camera modules and printed circuit boards.

    “Those disruptions were already planned but if it gets prolonged, for March and April, production will have serious trouble,” said S N Rai, the co-founder of homegrown smartphone maker Lava.

    China’s OnePlus said its Indian operations could manage, in the short term at least.

    “We are well covered because we have the entire production in India, we already have enough stock, and even going forward many of the components will anyway be coming directly from other markets,” said Vikas Agarwal, the India head of OnePlus.

    However, Beijing has expressed confidence in uprooting the “devil” virus that has been declared a global emergency by the World Health Organization (WHO).

    Giants like Alphabet Inc’s Google and Sweden’s IKEA have closed operations in China.

    India’s Tata Motors, which counts China as a major market for its luxury Jaguar Land Rover cars, said on Thursday it was worried about the coronavirus and warned that the outbreak could impact productions and profits.

    For now, the industry just hopes the outbreak can be contained within the next two weeks. “If the problem persists beyond February 10, we have a real problem at hand,” said Pankaj Mohindroo, head of the India Cellular & Electronics Association, an industry lobby group.

  • Coronavirus: Eight Chinese nationals deported from Islamabad airport

    As many as eight Chinese nationals have been deported from the Islamabad International Airport as coronavirus fear grips the entire world following the World Health Organization’s (WHO) declaration of a global emergency over the spreading virus and Chinese authorities increasing the toll to 213 dead and nearly 10,000 infections.

    According to reports, a flight from Dubai with eight Chinese passengers on board landed in Islamabad on Friday. The Chinese nationals — five men and three women — were screened and later sent back to Dubai after being disallowed from boarding a Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight from the federal capital to Beijing. 

    All eight individuals, reports said, were deported through a private airline carrier.

    The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has partially suspended all direct flight operations between Pakistan and China amid fear of the deadly coronavirus. According to a notification issued by CAA, the direct flight operations between two countries will remain suspended till February 2.

    CORONAVIRUS:

    In mid-December, some people in the central Chinese city of Wuhan began complaining of flu and pneumonia-like symptoms. Some had a high fever. Doctors were perplexed. To find out what might be causing their illness, geneticists analysed the DNA of the virus that had infected them.

    At once, the scientists realised the virus was new to science.

    As of January 23, experts at WHO in Switzerland estimated that at least 557 people have contracted the rapidly spreading disease. All countries have since been taking precautionary measures to curb the menace of the deadly disease.