by Sébastien Ricci

President Xi Jinping warned Saturday that China was facing a “grave” situation as authorities took urgent action to halt the spread of a virus that has killed 41 people and is overwhelming hospitals at the epicentre of the health emergency.

The world’s most populous country scrambled to contain the disease that has already infected nearly 1,300 people, building a second field hospital to relieve overwhelmed medical facilities and closing more travel routes as the country marked the Lunar New Year holiday.

“As long as we have steadfast confidence, work together, scientific prevention and cures, and precise policies, we will definitely be able to win the battle,” Xi said, after more countries reported cases.

In Wuhan, the epicentre of the emergency, 450 military medics were deployed to help treat patients in the central city, where a seafood and live animal market has been identified as the centre of the outbreak.

On Saturday, when they should have been celebrating, people waiting at one hospital in the city were angry and frustrated.

“It takes at least five hours to see a doctor,” one woman, who didn’t want to be named, told AFP.

One man in his 30s said some people had to queue for two days.

Wuhan authorities will race to build a second new hospital within a fortnight, state media reported, adding 1,300 new beds.

They have already begun building a new field hospital to deal with the outbreak, which state media said could be ready in just over a week.

Official news agency Xinhua said the two new hospitals in Wuhan would be similar in size to the temporary facility that was built to tackle SARS in Beijing in 2003, when 650 people died from the disease in the mainland and Hong Kong.

The medics, who arrived on military aircraft late Friday, include doctors with experience combating SARS or Ebola and will be dispatched to hospitals that are reportedly short on beds due to a crush of infected patients and worried locals.

The country’s most important celebration has been all but cancelled for at least 56 million people as authorities expanded travel bans across central Hubei province to try and contain the spread of the virus.

On the eastern outskirts of Wuhan, police manning a roadblock turned away a handful of vehicles trying to exit the city.

“Nobody can leave,” an officer told AFP.

But the police allowed some medical workers who had gone home for the holidays to re-enter the city to help at crowded hospitals.

“They need us to go there, otherwise they will be too exhausted,” said one of the women, pulling a suitcase.

The government says most of the cases have been in Hubei and most of the deaths involved people who already suffered pre-existing health conditions.

Underscoring fears that the virus could spread further, Beijing will suspend long-distance bus service entering and leaving the capital of 20 million people from Sunday due to “requirements of epidemic prevention and control,” the official People’s Daily newspaper reported.

The National Health Commission also ordered nationwide measures to detect and isolate people carrying the virus on planes, trains and buses across the country.

Xinhua said Saturday that temperature screening checkpoints have been set up in 387 railway stations across the country.

Meanwhile, tourists from Hubei in Haikou, capital of the island province of Hainan, were told by the city government they had to spend 14 days in a hotel for centralised medical observation, and were forbidden to leave.

Foreign citizens were set to be evacuated from the virus-hit Wuhan within the next few days.

Protect yourself

Residents in Wuhan were stocking up on masks, gloves and disinfectant.

“Everyone is just trying to protect themselves,” said a man in a surgical mask at a busy pharmacy.

But the man expressed confidence in the Communist authorities.

“The government is handling this. It’s not a problem.”

The virus has caused global concern because of its similarity to SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome).

The new virus has now infected people nationwide and in nearly a dozen other countries, with France saying three cases were confirmed there — the first known European infections.

Beijing’s Forbidden City, Shanghai Disneyland and a section of the Great Wall are among many attractions that have closed as a precaution. China’s film box-office earnings for Lunar New Year’s Eve on Friday were just one-tenth of last year as people shunned crowds.

“Usually we celebrate as a family. Now, because of the virus I’m not even visiting my parents,” said Wang Fang, a 49-year-old Wuhan native.

“It’ll be great just to be able to make it through (the outbreak).”

Trump praise

Xi chaired a Communist Party leadership meeting which urged regional governments to make “the safety of the masses’ lives and their physical health a top priority”, state media said.

Xinhua said the Standing Committee agreed to set up a working group that would visit Hubei.

In Hong Kong, where five people have tested positive for the virus so far, city leader Carrie Lam declared the situation an “emergency” and schools, currently on holiday, will remain closed until February 17.

China’s aggressive response has won praise, especially compared to the SARS outbreak, when it was accused of reacting sluggishly and stonewalling the international community.

“China has been working very hard to contain the Coronavirus,” US President Donald Trump tweeted, hours after the United States confirmed its second case.

“The United States greatly appreciates their efforts and transparency,” he added.

The World Health Organization on Thursday stopped short of declaring a global emergency, which would have prompted greater international cooperation, including possible trade and travel restrictions.

– AFP