Border closure and quarantine: how different countries fight the Chinese coronavirus

More and more countries close their borders to arrivals from China to prevent the rapid spread of the new coronavirus 2019-nCov, writes with the BBC.

Фото: Depositphotos

The Russian government has temporarily banned visa-free tourist trips between Russia and China and the issuance of work visas to Russia for Chinese citizens. At the disposal of Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, published on the official website government, this decision is explained by the goals of “ensuring the security of the state, protecting public health and preventing the spread of the new coronavirus infection.”

Starting February 3-4, Russian military aircraft will begin to evacuate Russian citizens who wish to leave Wuhan. Earlier, Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Government Tatyana Golikova, who heads the operational headquarters, said that “there are 300 Russians in the city of Wuhan, and 341 in Hubei province.”

Russian authorities also introduced serious restrictions on flights to China: Of the Russian airlines, only the state-owned Aeroflot will retain all regular flights to this country. Chinese airlines will also continue to operate flights.

In Russia two cases reported: in the Trans-Baikal Territory and in the Tyumen Region, both patients are Chinese citizens. Rospotrebnadzor сообщилthat they are in infectious hospital wards, and their condition is satisfactory.

Bans for Visitors to China

In total, the virus was found in 23 countries. In the United States, authorities have declared a public health emergency, which is quite rare. It implies a ban on the entry of all foreign nationals who have traveled to China over the past two weeks.

Russia closed its border with China, and also banned the entry of Chinese citizens through checkpoints on the border with Mongolia. Similar restrictions have also been imposed by Australia, Japan, Pakistan and Italy.

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However, the World Health Organization (WHO) does not yet recommend such measures. “Restrictions on movement can do more harm than good, hampering the exchange of information, the supply of medical equipment and medicines, and damaging the economy,” the WHO chief said.

WHO believes that it is necessary to inspect arriving passengers at official border points, such as airports and seaports. The organization warned that closing borders could actually lead to an accelerated spread of infection, as people will try to cross borders illegally, which means without any control.

Beijing also criticized the introduction of the restriction, while accusing the authorities of other states of ignoring WHO recommendations. “While the WHO recommends against imposing such restrictions, the US is hastily moving in the opposite direction,” said a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman. “We can’t call this a gesture of goodwill.”

How many dead from the virus

According to the latest data from the PRC State Health Committee, the total number of patients with pneumonia caused by coronavirus 2019-nCov was 14.

“As of midnight on February 1, 2 thousand 110 people are in serious condition, 304 have died, 328 people have been discharged from hospitals,” the message says.

About 100 cases of infection were recorded outside the PRC, including in Russia, Germany, Britain and the USA.

Meanwhile, the authorities in Hubei extended the New Year holidays until February 13 and announced that they were suspending marriage registration ceremonies in order to avoid crowding.

This year, the beginning of the Chinese New Year came on January 24th. Earlier, authorities have already extended the holiday season, trying to prevent the mass movement of people who return to work after traditional trips to relatives.

More people are already infected with the new virus than during the SARS virus epidemic, which swept more than 2003 countries in 25.

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However, mortality associated with the new virus is much lower than with SARS.

At the same time, epidemiologists from the University of Hong Kong indicate that the actual number of cases can far exceed official statistics. According to them, more than 75 thousand people could become infected with this virus in Wuhan, which is the epicenter of the outbreak.

Hospital employees in Hong Kong have decided to go on a five-day strike if local authorities do not close the border with mainland China by then. So far, the Hong Kong government has refused to take such measures, in accordance with WHO recommendations.

What is going on outside of China?

Americans who arrive home from Hubei, where the epidemic has begun, will be quarantined for up to 14 days. US citizens arriving from other parts of China will have to observe their condition and report it to the authorities within two weeks.

US medical authorities reported an eighth confirmed case of pneumonia caused by a new type of coronavirus, writes RBC.

The patient is an American who recently returned from the Chinese province of Hubei, which has been the epicenter of the spread of the disease since December last year.

According to authorities, in seven cases, the infected have traveled to Hubei or nearby areas of China, in only one case has the virus passed from person to person already in the United States.

The Pentagon said that the head of the US Department of Defense, Mark Esper, has approved a request from the Department of Health and Human Services for assistance in accommodating 1 people who may be quarantined upon arrival from abroad.

According to Robert Redfield, director of the Federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Center, 191 people are currently under medical supervision.

More than 300 Indian citizens who were evacuated from Wuhan arrived in Delhi on Saturday. Thailand is also planning to evacuate its citizens from this city in the coming days.

Britain, South Korea, Singapore and New Zealand introduce various forms of quarantine for a period of two weeks, during which experts will monitor the condition of arrivals from China.

Among other measures:

• China appealed to the European Union to expedite the supply of medical equipment and medicines to China.
• Vietnam Airlines has stopped all flights to China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
• Other companies, including the Australian Qantas, New Zealand's Air New Zealand, Canadian Air Canada and British British Airways, also canceled or reduced flights to China.
• The leader of the DPRK, Kim Jong-un, sent a letter of condolences to the President of the PRC.
• Multinational hotel companies, including Hyatt, Radisson and Hilton, are returning money to people who have booked hotels in China.
• The American company Apple announced the temporary closure of its stores in China.
• The British Foreign Office is evacuating diplomatic staff from British missions in the PRC.
• Singapore has closed its borders to all passengers arriving from China.

Country in isolation

The coronavirus epidemic in China has already led to a serious slowdown in economic growth in the country.

Taiyuan, an industrial port city with a population of 15 million people, has just announced that it stops all enterprises that are not vital. In such large cities as Shanghai, Beijing, Shijiazhuang, streets and avenues were empty.

There is a feeling that the whole country is in isolation. International airlines are reducing the number of flights to China or even canceling them, and the authorities of many countries prohibit the entry of Chinese citizens.

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However, we can say that in a sense, these countries are taking an example from China itself, which had previously announced measures to isolate Hubei province, where the epidemic began.

Most Chinese welcome the authorities' decisive action, given the circumstances.

However, there are accusations on social networks against the Wuhan city administration, which is blamed for the insufficiently quick reaction in the early stages of the outbreak. It turns out that some of them even prevented the spread of information about cases of virus infection.

It became known that the doctor, who was one of the first groups of doctors who reported the onset of the epidemic on social networks in December, now became ill himself. This was another confirmation of how quickly this virus spreads.

This doctor, named Li Wenlian, was initially arrested by local police for spreading false rumors and disturbing public order after he reported on social networks that patients infected with SARS were in quarantine in his hospital. In fact, these patients were infected with the new coronavirus.

The Supreme Court of China criticized Wuhan City Police for harassing doctors who were the first to sound the alarm.

Quarantine

Cities in the Chinese province of Hubei are quarantined to prevent the further spread of the new coronavirus, writes with the BBC.

Quarantine has long been used to combat the spread of disease. This term itself comes from the first known case of using isolation techniques.

When the plague ravaged Europe in the 40th century, Venice introduced a rule requiring arriving ships to remain at anchor for XNUMX days before the crew and passengers were allowed to disembark. This practice was called "quarantino" - a derivative of the Italian "forty".

It is unclear why this term was chosen, says Mark Harrison, professor of medicine at Oxford University. Perhaps the idea goes back to the 40 days described in the New Testament that Jesus spent in the wilderness.

Over time, the quarantine period has decreased, but this practice still plays a key role in limiting the spread of diseases.

In Britain, one of the most famous examples is the quarantine imposed on the village of Im due to the bubonic plague. From September to December 1665, 42 village residents died from it.

In June 1666, the newly appointed parish priest William Mompesson decided to quarantine the village.

He announced to the parishioners that the village should be closed - it could neither be visited nor left. The Duke of Devonshire offered to send food and supplies if the residents agreed to quarantine. Mompesson promised to do everything possible to alleviate the suffering of residents.

In August, mortality reached its peak - five to six people died a day, but the quarantine was observed. Over time, the mortality rate fell, and by November the epidemic was over. The quarantine worked.

These days, quarantine is usually imposed by governments or medical organizations.

“When quarantine measures are introduced, they are not based solely on medical calculations about whether they will be effective in stopping or slowing the spread of an infectious disease,” says Harrison. “Such measures are taken to reassure the governments of other countries and reassure their own populations.”

In 1900, Chinese immigrants were quarantined in San Francisco after a man from China was found dead in a hotel, and it turned out that he died from the plague.

Police fenced barbed wire Chinatown. Residents were not allowed to leave the fence, and only policemen and doctors could get inside.

The outbreak of the SARS coronavirus, known as SARS, in 2002-2003 ushered in a new era of disease control, Harrison said.

During an epidemic, people who came into contact with the virus were quarantined.

Chinese authorities threatened criminal liability for violation of quarantine conditions.

This disease has once again shown how important it is for different countries to work together on such problems.

When the virus came from Toronto Canada to China, 44 people died and hundreds more became infected. To stop the spread of the disease, 7 people were quarantined in Canada.

“During the 2003 epidemic, when the virus began to penetrate other countries, quarantine in various forms was used very actively. Without these measures, the pandemic could have been much worse,” says Harrison.

China is trying to contain the spread of the new coronavirus using traditional quarantine techniques. The World Health Organization acknowledges that the country is "taking extraordinary action in the face of an extraordinary challenge."

Read more about the situation with Chinese coronavirus read in our special section, which contains all the materials on the topic.

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