Mass mobilization in China to battle epidemic – total of 80 deaths
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China extended the Spring Festival holiday and postponed school openings on Monday, while transport restrictions have been adopted in various areas to further contain the coronavirus epidemic.
The seven-day Spring Festival vacation, scheduled to end on Jan. 30, was extended to Feb. 2. Universities, primary and middle schools and kindergartens across the country will postpone the opening of the spring semester until further notice, according to the General Office of the State Council.
Entrusted by Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, Premier Li Keqiang on Monday arrived in Wuhan, central China’s Hubei Province, to inspect and direct the efforts for the prevention and control of the novel coronavirus outbreak.
In Wuhan, Li, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, thanked front-line medical workers for their all-out efforts in treating patients and urged them to pay attention to their own protection.
He required efforts to guarantee medical resources supply, race against time to treat patients and ensure adequate market supply and stable prices.
Chinese health authorities announced Monday that 2,744 confirmed cases of pneumonia caused by the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV), including 461 in critical condition, had been reported in the country by the end of Sunday.
The pneumonia situation has resulted in a total of 80 deaths.
Fifty-one people have recovered.
Besides the temporary closures of public venues such as tourist sites, museums and cinemas and cancellations of gatherings, transport restrictions have been imposed in various areas as the country is still in its Spring Festival travel rush period.
On Monday, the northern port city of Tianjin and the eastern provinces of Zhejiang and Anhui as well as the southwestern city of Chongqing began to suspend inter-provincial highway passenger bus services. Previously, Shanghai and Qinghai Province had halted similar bus services.
Beijing has also launched temperature detection at 55 subway stations, including stops at railway stations and the Beijing Capital International Airport. Passengers with abnormal body temperatures will be sent to the hospital.
Beijing’s subway stations and buses have also stepped up cleaning and disinfection work. Each carriage of the train is ordered to be disinfected every day. The entrances and exits, escalators, self-service machines, toilets and other public areas of subway stations are disinfected three times each day.
Tianjin has asked all taxi drivers and passengers to wear masks and taxi drivers to disinfect the car after each passenger.
The Lanzhou bureau of China Railway on Monday suspended 30.5 pairs of trains to cities such as Guangzhou, Zhengzhou and Xi’an until Feb. 8.
Shopping malls are also reacting to the epidemic. Several malls in Beijing have shortened business hours in an effort to battle the novel coronavirus.
China has stressed all-around community-based efforts to prevent and control the spread of pneumonia caused by the novel coronavirus.