The rapid spread of the new coronavirus begins to cause serious problems in neighboring China. Japan and South Korea face crisis due to the pathogen: the first is in the spotlight for the management of the Diamond Princess , the cruise ship with more than 620 infections on board - the biggest focus outside of China - after two weeks of Quarantine already completed.
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- China investigates the first case of 'supercontainer' of the Wuhan coronavirus
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For its part, South Korea has urged a similar closure to the 2.5 million inhabitants of the city of Daegu, due to the risk of a collective infection from a focus on a church.
This is a "very serious" situation, warned the mayor of this city, the fourth largest South Korea, Kwon Young-jin. The mayor has asked the inhabitants of the city, located 240 kilometers from the capital, Seoul, to stay in their homes until further notice. And, of the 104 cases registered throughout the country, up to 70 are from Daegu or the surrounding area, and many have been linked to a 61-year-old woman. Described as "patient 31", it would be what the health authorities define as a "supercontainer."
The affected one belongs to the Christian church Shincheonji (New Heaven and Earth), which last Sunday celebrated a mass attended by a thousand people, of which at least 90 have symptoms of Covid-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus Up to 23 of the new infected, 53 according to the latest count of the South Korean Center for Disease Control Prevention (KCDC), were present at that ceremony.
In addition, South Korea reported Thursday of the first death by coronavirus in its territory, a man from Cheongdo County, bordering Daegu, who died of pneumonia on Wednesday and who has been detected after the presence of the virus in his body. "Patient 31" had also visited Cheongdo.
Another 12 people were diagnosed with the disease in the same hospital that treated the deceased, which is now temporarily sealed. Around 600 people, including patients and medical personnel, will be examined for coronaviruses, according to the Yonhap agency. The apparent connections with Daegu in most recent cases have turned the city into a ghost town.
“It's as if someone had dropped a bomb in the city center. It looks like a zombie apocalypse, ”Kim Geun-woo, a 28-year-old resident, told Reuters.
If the situation in Daegu brings reminiscences of what happened in other parts of China, paralyzed by the expansion of the coronavirus, Japan faces a new challenge: ensuring that the evacuation of thousands of passengers from the Diamond Princess, anchored in the port of Yokohama, is not going to provoke a major crisis inside and outside its territory.
Between Wednesday and Friday more than 2,000 passengers, half Japanese and the rest from more than 50 countries, will have abandoned the ship, after the end of the two-week quarantine imposed by Japan on its 3,771 occupants (2,666 passengers and 1,105 crew) . The Japanese authorities established it after a man who had been on board for five days, getting out in Hong Kong on January 25, received a positive diagnosis of Covid-19 on February 1.
Since then, more than 620 people have been infected, the largest wave of infections outside of China. Two Japanese, a man and a woman of 87 and 84 years, respectively, have become the first fatalities, as reported by the country's health authorities on Thursday. Criticisms increase against the measures taken by Japan, which defends only allow the evacuation of those who have tested negative for the coronavirus.
For experts like Kentaro Iwata, infection specialist at Kobe University Hospital, this is not enough. The doctor, who entered the ship on Tuesday, on the eve of the end of the quarantine, describes in a video on YouTube a "completely chaotic situation" on board. Iwata states that it is possible that some of the passengers who have tested negative will test positive later and spread the disease through their countries, which has caused a total of more than 2,000 deaths and about 75,000 infections.
Although difficult, because during these weeks passengers have been confined in their cabins, except for exceptional departures to cover by groups, it could happen if they had had contact with new infected (up to 79 more on Wednesday) after being examined. Passengers already evacuated contacted by THE COUNTRY said they were tested two weeks ago, with the incubation period set at 15 days. However, there are studies that raise it to 24.
To prevent further spread, Iwata advocates that evacuees go through a new quarantine when they return home. Many countries and regions, including the US, Australia and Hong Kong, have imposed them on their citizens in specific facilities. But it will not be so for many others, particularly the Japanese, or those of other nationalities who decide to stay in Japan, free to return directly to their homes or travel around the country.
Japan defends its management of the crisis. In a statement, the National Institute of Infectious Diseases in Tokyo says that most of the infections within the ship occurred before quarantine began. Secondary transmissions - followed during the subsequent fifteen days - are mainly limited to members of the crew and the sanitary team, who were not subject to the same restrictions as passengers, he adds. Crews still on board, because the sick are in hospitals, will begin a new quarantine after the last passenger leaves the ship.
Cruise management results can be crucial for Japan. The country, with 84 infections in its territory, outside the ship, is on the verge of recession, and what happens in the coming months could affect the planning of the Tokyo Summer Olympics. Immersed in its own crisis, South Korea has for the moment banned the entry of foreign passengers from the Diamond Princess to the country.