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A8 WORLD NEWS
Wednesday 12 February 2020
China still mostly closed down as virus deaths pass 1,000

By JOE McDONALD said of the central Chinese
Associated Press city where the outbreak
BEIJING (AP) — The daily started.
death toll in China from Speaking by teleconfer-
a new virus topped 100 ence to doctors in Wuhan,
for the first time, pushing Zhong said the priority is to
the total fatalities above separate the infected from
1,000 Tuesday as the World the healthy in their city.
Health Organization an- "We have to stop more
nounced a new name for people from being infect-
the disease caused by the ed," he said. "The problem
virus. of human to human trans-
Despite the official end of mission has not yet been
the extended Lunar New resolved."
Year holiday, China re- Without enough facilities to
mained mostly closed for handle the number of cas-
business as many remained es, Wuhan has been build-
at home, with some 60 mil- ing prefab hospitals and
lion people under virtual converting a gym and oth-
quarantine. er large spaces to house
In Geneva, WHO director- patients and try to isolate
general Tedros Adhanom them from others.
Ghebreyesus announced RISKS OF RESTARTING BUSI-
a new name for the dis- Personnels wearing protective suits wait near an entrance at the Cheung Hong Estate, a public NESS
ease caused by the virus — housing estate during evacuation of residents in Hong Kong, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2020. The crossing of more grim
Associated Press
COVID-19 — saying officials thresholds has dimmed
wanted to avoid stigmatiz- also gives us a standard opments: the top health officials in optimism that the near-
ing any geographic loca- format to use for any future PROVINCIAL HEALTH OFFI- Hubei province, home to quarantine of some 60 mil-
tion, group of people or coronavirus outbreaks," the CIALS SACKED the epicenter of Wuhan, lion people and other dis-
animal that might be linked WHO chief said, adding With the death toll reach- have been relieved of their ease-control measures are
to the disease and to make that the name was agreed ing 1,016 in mainland China duties. No reasons were working. The restart of busi-
it clear it was a new coro- upon by officials at WHO, and no end in sight, heads given, although the prov- ness poses a risk of further
navirus discovered in 2019. the World Organization are beginning to roll. ince's initial response was spreading the virus, but
"Having a name matters for Animal Health and the While no central govern- deemed slow and inef- China has little recourse,
to prevent the use of other Food and Agriculture Or- ment-level officials have fective. Speculation that said Cong Liang, secretary
names that can be inac- ganization. lost their jobs, state me- higher-level officials could general of the National
curate or stigmatizing. It Here are the latest devel- dia reported Tuesday that be sacked has simmered, Development and Reform
but doing so could spark Commission, the country's
political infighting and be main economic planning
a tacit admission that the body. "Without the reopen-
Communist Party dropped ing of businesses, in the
the ball. short term, it will affect the
The virus outbreak has be- supply of medical mate-
come the latest political rial and ... in the long run,
challenge for the party it will affect the supply of
and its leader, Xi Jinping, all kinds of production and
who despite accruing life materials and will make
more political power than the control and prevention
any Chinese leader since efforts on the front line un-
Mao Zedong, has strug- sustainable. The target of
gled to handle crises on defeating the epidemic
multiple fronts. These in- will not be reached," Cong
clude a sharply slowing do- said at a news conference.
mestic economy, the trade HONG KONG
war with the U.S. and push- In Hong Kong, authorities
back on China's increas- evacuated some residents
ingly aggressive foreign of an apartment block af-
policies. ter two cases among those
A total of 42,638 virus infec- living there raised suspi-
tions have been recorded cion that the virus may be
on the Chinese mainland. spreading through the
MAJOR CHALLENGES building's plumbing.
AHEAD It was reminiscent of the
Zhong Nanshan, a leading SARS outbreak that killed
Chinese epidemiologist, hundreds in the semi-au-
said that while the virus out- tonomous Chinese city. The
break in China may peak biggest number of con-
this month, the situation at nected cases in that out-
the center of the crisis re- break were in one apart-
mains more challenging. ment complex where the
"We still need more time of virus spread through sew-
hard working in Wuhan," he age pipes.q