China continues to align new measures to fight the new coronavirus that has developed on its territory. While the assessment of this disease is daily revised upwards and that France has three patients, the health authorities call not to give in to panic.
2019-nCoV, the provisional name for this disease, comes from the large family known as coronaviruses. It can cause a simple cold as well as serious lung infections.
56 dead and 2000 cases. The latest report released this Sunday reports 56 people died and about 2000 infected for China alone. On Saturday, there were 41 victims and 1,300 official cases. Wuhan City accounts for 53 of the 56 deaths.
A dead man in Shanghai. The viral pneumonia epidemic has killed one person in Shanghai. He is the first victim of coronavirus in the large financial metropolis in the east of the country. The victim is an 88-year-old man who already had health problems. In the city, 40 people are infected so far.
READ ALSO> Coronavirus: is it risky to have packages delivered from China?
Disney closes in Hong Kong. Hong Kong Disneyland amusement park has announced that it will close this Sunday until further notice. On Saturday, the megalopolis was placed on maximum health alert. "As a precaution and in accordance with prevention efforts throughout Hong Kong, we are temporarily closing Disneyland in Hong Kong for the health and safety of our visitors and staff," said the park.
Newsletter - The essentials of the news
Every morning, the news seen by Le ParisienI'm registering
Your email address is collected by Le Parisien to allow you to receive our news and commercial offers. Find out more
Traffic restrictions. “Non-essential” car traffic has been banned since midnight in the center of Wuhan, where 2019-nCoV is said to have emerged. The city has become particularly silent. Wuhan and its region have been de facto quarantined since Thursday to prevent a further spread of the disease.
For its part, Shanghai has announced the suspension of long-distance coach lines after the announcement of the first fatal case on its territory. Other major cities in the north of the country (Beijing, Tianjin, Xian) have done the same. In the East, Shandong province (100 million inhabitants) made the same decision.
Conversely, Shantou (South) finally gave up blocking the access of vehicles and people.
VIDEO. Chinese virus in France: symptoms and prevention
No more organized trips. China suspends organized tours, whether on its territory or abroad. As of Monday, Chinese travel agencies will no longer be able to sell hotel reservations or group stays, the CCTV television channel said. This decision could strike a blow at the trade of cities like Paris, very popular with Chinese tourists.
Evacuation of foreign nationals. The United States is preparing to evacuate on Tuesday at least some of its nationals who are in Wuhan. For France, no date has been given for the moment.
Prohibition of trade in wild animals. China announced a temporary ban on wildlife trade this Sunday. The breeding, transport or sale of all wild animal species is prohibited "from the date of the announcement until the end of the national epidemic situation", according to a joint directive issued by three high-level agencies , including the Ministry of Agriculture. The epidemic is said to be part of a market where this type of animal is sold.
A weakly deadly virus so far. The study of the first cases tends to show that the mortality rate of the virus is quite low. This rate "is, for the moment, of less than 5%", judges the French professor Yazdan Yazdanpanah, expert near the WHO (World health organization), which took care of patients in France. Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), with 774 deaths worldwide in 2002-2003, had a mortality rate of 9.5%.
Interviewed Saturday by Le Parisien, Jérôme Salomon, Director General of Health, is more optimistic about the lethality of 2019-nCoV. He estimates that the number of infected people is much higher than the official figures. If in parallel the number of deaths is correct, mechanically the death rate would be even lower. It could "get closer" to that of the flu, about 1%.
