Coronavirus Outbreak: Death Toll Rises to 26 in China, With 830 Infected

By Staff, Agencies

At least 26 people have died from a new coronavirus in China following an outbreak in the central city of Wuhan.

Almost 830 cases have been reported, the vast majority in the Chinese city.

There are growing concerns about the spread of the virus as hundreds of millions of people travel for the Lunar New Year celebrations, which start on Friday.

Footage has emerged online of the quarantine measures being taken in China to halt the spread of the virus, including overcrowded hospitals, sick people collapsing, and barricades going up across Wuhan.

Meanwhile, the People’s Daily, the Chinese Communist party’s main newspaper, has called upon people who have recently been to Wuhan to isolate themselves at home, even if they don’t have symptoms.

The statement was made on Weibo, where people have shared panicked calls for those from Wuhan to take greater precautions to avoid infecting others.

Beyond China, Thailand has reported four cases, Singapore three, Japan two, while South Korea, Taiwan, and the United States have each confirmed one.

All the cases involve people who had either come from Wuhan or been there recently.

More information has been released regarding the second person to be confirmed with novel coronavirus in South Korea.

Seoul’s health ministry said on Friday that a South Korean man in his 50s started experiencing symptoms on 10 January while working in Wuhan, AFP reports.

The man was tested upon returning to South Korea earlier this week, and was confirmed to be South Korea’s second case of the virus on Thursday, the ministry said.

According to a statement from the ministry, “the patient was adequately aware of the situation in Wuhan... and cooperated well with the health authorities’ requests during the monitoring period after returning home.”

A new 1000-bed hospital is being built in Wuhan specifically to deal with the coronavirus outbreak and authorities plan to have it running by Monday, state media outlet Changjiang Daily reports.

Construction began on Thursday night with machinery, including 35 diggers and 10 bulldozers, arriving at the site.