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China Central Television (CCTV) reported that, by 10 a.m. on March 2, according to Yonhap News Agency, a South Korean news agency,  Korea’s Ministry of National Defense reported that 28 infection cases of coronavirus had accumulated within the military staff. A total of 9,790 soldiers were put under quarantine.

It also mentioned that, by then, the U.S. soldiers stationed in Korea had their first infection cases. Korea and the U.S. announced that they would postpone the U.S.-Korea military exercises which they had planned for early March. Continue reading →

Radio France International reported that, on the next day after Shanghai researchers published the world’s first novel coronavirus genome on the virologic.org website on January 11, the shanghai authorities closed the lab for rectification.

On January 5, Profession Zhang Yongzhen of the Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center and School of Public Health, Fudan University, Shanghai, along with his research team, identified the genome of the coronavirus. They reported it to the National Health Commission and recommended proper measures to prevent it from spreading. However, they did not see any response from the government.

On January 11, Zhang’s team felt that the authorities did not want to take actions to help the public, so they decided to release the virus’ genome. “It is not about one’s fame, but rather facing a respiratory disease that was previously unknown, especially when there will be large-scale population travel during the Chinese New Year period,” a source familiar with Zhang’s team said.

It was said that the Shanghai Health Commission ordered Zhang’s lab to close. The lab is a biosafety level 3 lab (Chinese call it a P3 lab).

Related postings on Chinascope:

• Hiding Information: Liaoning Province Ordered to Destroy Files Regarding Epidemic
• Hiding Information: Media Not Allowed to Report Coronavirus Outside Party Messages

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Zhang Wenhong, the Director of the Department of Infectious Diseases, Huashan Hospital, at Fudan University, Shanghai and the head of the medical expert team to fight the novel coronavirus in Shanghai, expressed that he was worried to see Shanghai’s newly confirmed infection count was zero.

On February 27, Shanghai reported zero newly confirmed infection cases. “I’m concerned,” Zhang said. “How can it be zero with so many people coming into Shanghai? The more cases we find, the safer our city is.”

Related postings on Chinascope:

• Infection Count: Shandong Internal Report Had Much Higher Infection Counts Than the Published Numbers
• Infection Count: Caixin Showed Wuhan Civil Affairs Bureau Was Lying
• Infection Count: Changjiang Daily Reported a Coronavirus Case on a Day That the Government Reported Zero
• Infection Count: Over 230 Staffs at Wuhan Central Hospital Have Been Infected
• Infection Count: On February 13, Caixin Questioned Wuhan Infection Number

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Zhang Kejian, the Deputy Minister of Industry and Information Technology, stated that 32.8 percent or a little under one third, of small or mid-sized companies in China had resumed production.

The ratio was 43.1 percent for the manufacturing industry and more than 40 percent for the industries engaged in information transmission, software, and information technology services.

Zhang also said that the resuming production ratio for the small or mid-size companies has been increasing by 1 percent every day and the ratios for seven provinces is above 40 percent.

Related postings on Chinascope:

• Resuming Production: China’s Pollution Level Declined Due to Less Production and Travel
• Resuming Production: Xi Jinping Said Half of China’s Counties Do Not Have Coronavirus
• Resume Production: Hangzhou City Direction: Companies Can Punish Employees Refusing to Return to Work
• Resuming Production: E-Commerce Company Dangdang Found an Infection Case after Resuming Work
• Resuming Production: Guangdong, Zhejiang, and Sichuan Working on Resuming Production

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China Times Weekly (CTW), a Taiwan media, reported that some people (especially migrant workers from the farmlands) who were stranded in Wuhan became homeless after the Wuhan lockdown.

They did not have the money to pay for a hotel, so they stayed in the train station tunnel, under bridges, or next to trash bins. They went to hospitals or office buildings to search for the leftover food that was thrown out as trash. The local government stated that they would provide services to those who were stuck in Wuhan and faced difficulties in living, but the supply was insufficient. After their information was reported, some volunteers brought food and face masks to them.

Related postings on Chinascope:

• Local Government: Ying Yong Is in Full Control at Hubei Province
• Local Government: Xiaogan City, Hubei Province Sealed Residents’ Doors from Outside
• Local Government: Beijing Asked for “Protecting Patient’s Privacy”
• Local Government: Confiscating Each Other’s Medical Supplies
• Local Government: On February 13, a Few Cities in Hubei Issued “Wartime Control Orders”

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Chen Guoqiang, Dean of the Medical School, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, led the school’s medical team in publishing, “Reflections on the Novel Coronavirus Infection” in the magazine Scientia Sinica Vitae. The article listed the following problems and shortcomings in China’s handling of the coronavirus:

1. Didn’t report the national major public health epidemic promptly to the public; lacked plan to prevent and control the coronavirus at the early stage.
2. The public health and disease prevention and control system does not match the need to support the scale of economic development
3. The emergency response mechanism cannot respond to life-threatening, major public health emergencies
4. Scientific and technological innovation is disconnected from solving clinical problems, lacks channel for data sharing, transformation, and utilization, and lacks laboratory with relative safety level
5. Insufficient medical supplies and strategic reserves to respond to major public health emergency
6. Some officials do not have specialized skills and the capability to make decisions
7. There is a large deficiency in responding to the public’s sentiments regarding public health emergencies and in directing public opinion
8. Need to improve the response mechanism on studying and responding to the “secondary disaster” after epidemic outbreak
9. The ecological civilization concept is missing and wildlife market supervision is weak
10. The general public’s civilized quality and scientific knowledge need to be improved urgently.

Continue reading →

As the novel coronavirus outbreak continued in South Korea, news about South Koreans fleeing to China to seek a safe haven was spreading on China’s Internet. It would boost the confidence of the Chinese people in trusting the government’s handling of the epidemic.

The news said, “Due to the exploding number of novel coronavirus infections in South Korea, a large number of Koreans have rushed to Qingdao City, Shandong Province in China. Because the epidemic is under control in China and the treatment is free, many Koreans have fled to China. Airfare has jumped from a few hundred yuan to 6,000 yuan.”

Beijing News, a media based in Beijing, then inquired at the National Immigration Administration of China to verify the news. The office responded that, based on its statistics, airlines have cut some flights due to the coronavirus epidemic, which might have caused some increase in airfares, but overall, the number of people flying from Korea to China has increased only marginally and 70 percent of those people are Chinese citizens. “There is no sign that a large number of Koreans are rushing into China yet.”

SET News, a news media in Taiwan, reported this information.

Related posting on Chinascope:

• World Outbreak: Iran Vice President Confirmed with Coronavirus Infection

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Vice President Masoumeh Ebtekar, one of the four Vice Presidents of Iran and the highest-ranking woman in the government, was confirmed as having the coronavirus infection and quarantined at home on February 27, 2020.

Ebtekar, was known to Americans as “Mary” during the Iran hostage crisis from 1979 to 1981. As a young revolutionary, she was a spokeswoman for the captors of the 52 Americans held at the United States Embassy.

Besides Ebtekar, six other high-ranking Iranian officials are also infected with the virus:

• Mojtaba Zolnour, a member of Parliament from Qom and head of Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee
• Mahmoud Sadeghi, an outspoken member of Parliament from Tehran
• Iraj Harirchi, the Deputy Health Minister who had been leading the effort to contain the coronavirus
• Morteza Rahmanzadeh, the Mayor of a Tehran district
• Dr. Mohamad Reza Ghadir, head of Coronavirus Management in Qom and Director of the city’s State Medical University
• Hadi Khosroshahi, a prominent cleric and former Ambassador to the Vatican.

A search, revealed that Iran had total of 54 deaths from the coronavirus as of March 1, including Elham Sheikhi, who was in her early 20s, a professional athlete, and a member of the women’s national soccer team.

Source: New York Times, February 27, 2020