Excessive panic in the Chinese capital, the few vehicles on the roads and the fear of another epidemic spreading • Itzik Xi in a special report

• Police officer gauges heat for civilian in Beijing // Photo: Reuters

As of yesterday (Saturday), around 11,889 people were diagnosed with the Corona virus and about 17,988 more were under medical supervision for fear of contracting the disease.

Most patients are currently in Wuhan City, the capital of Hubei Province, located in central China. Where I am in Beijing, some 168 people have been diagnosed so far, and, of course, the number of people everywhere is also derived from the residents' sense of crisis.

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Bohan stopped public transport services on January 23 to curb the spread of the virus. We are in exactly the Chinese New Year period, during which mass migration involves about 3 billion trips across the country. The city of Wuhan is as mentioned in the center of China and therefore serves as one of the most important centers of transportation in the country, both in terms of bus traffic and in terms of rail and aircraft traffic. In my opinion, the decision to close the city was necessary to slow down the outbreak.

The corona virus caused a great, perhaps a little exaggerated, panic. Let's take Beijing, for example. It is a town of about 22 million inhabitants, with a few millions left during the holiday season, of which 168 patients have been diagnosed so far. This is a near zero percentage of the city's total population, which shows that the situation is in total control. This may also be one of the main reasons why the city was not closed to traffic. The second reason is that, unfortunately, China has gained considerable experience in dealing with the SARS epidemic, which attacked the country some 17 years ago in 2003. At the same time, the government established a dedicated hospital for the treatment of patients, and the epidemic was finally halted.

The main difference between the current virus and the SARS virus is that Wuhan's corona virus is much more contagious, but less deadly. The mortality rate for SARS was about ten percent, while Wuhan's corona virus has so far killed about 259 people, out of about 12,000 people. The virus has erupted in China, but there is a chance it will spread to other countries. Two of the Chinese who arrived in Israel in recent days were suspected of carrying the virus because of high fever, but tests carried out in a hospital have removed the concern and showed that they had normal flu. It is good and correct that the system in the country reacted more cautiously, and that they were isolated and tested to make sure they do not carry the virus.

I personally went out of the house twice to buy things at the supermarket. I noticed that there were very few people on the street and also few vehicles on the roads. Anyone who comes out is careful to wear a mask.