There was little joy and growing fear in China Saturday, the first day of the usually happy Chinese lunar new year, as the deadly "Novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV)" killed 15 people on Friday alone, bringing the death toll to 41 and the number of victims to 1,287. Of the sick, 237 are in critical condition. On Saturday, there were 1,700 cases of the coronavirus with 47 deaths.
As of early Sunday morning, the official death count jumped to 56 with 1,975 persons in hospitals throughout the province of Hubei, the epicenter of this epidemic, and elsewhere in China, according to the National Health Commission (NHC). There were also five confirmed cases each in Hong Kong and Macau. NHC said 9,507 close contacts have been traced. Of this total, 8,420 persons are under medical observation. Another 1,087 persons have been discharged. The coronavirus has no known cure.
On Thursday, there were 830 cases of pneumonia caused by the virus and 25 deaths. On the other hand, NHC said 34 persons were cured and discharged from hospitals on Friday.
There are now 13 countries and other regions outside mainland China where cases of the deadly coronavirus have been confirmed as of Saturday. Countries reporting confirmed 2019-nCoV cases are Australia: 4 cases; France: 3 cases; Hong Kong: 5 cases; Japan: 3 cases; Macao: 5 cases; Malaysia: 3 cases; Nepal: 1 case; Singapore: 3 cases; South Korea: 2 cases; Taiwan: 3 cases; Thailand: 5 cases; United States: 2 cases and Vietnam: 2 cases
The rapidly expanding epidemic caused by the easily transmissible virus on Saturday saw Chinese president Xi Jinping tell a meeting of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee China faces a "grave situation" due to the 2019-nCoV epidemic.
Xi ordered CPC committees and governments at all levels make the prevention and control of the novel coronavirus outbreak the "top priority of their work. He said groups will be sent to Hubei Province to direct work on the ground. The meeting ordered Hubei provincial government officials to attach "paramount importance" to the prevention and control of the outbreak, and take tougher measures to prevent the further spread of the virus. It also urged all patients be placed in centralized quarantine for treatment.
"Life is of paramount importance," said Xi. "When an epidemic breaks out, a command is issued. It is our responsibility to prevent and control it."
National health authorities are bracing for the worst as the situation in Hubei and its capital Wuhan threatens to spiral out of control. Panicked residents and harassed medical personnel are doing all they can to cope with the horror inflicted by this sudden epidemic.
Local and international media are reporting hellish scenes playing out in Wuhan where sick patients are being turned away by overcrowded hospitals, and where people that died from the disease are left unattended along corridors because no one wants to move them and become infected. Some of the hospitals have admitted to have turned away persons that might have been sick with the coronavirus.
Wuhan was quarantined from the rest of the world on January 23 and some of its citizens are condemning the government for leaving them to die in their city. Wuhan is becoming a graveyard.
"You see family members fighting with doctors and nurses, trying to get a diagnosis or a bed ... we are desperate. Truly desperate," said a distraught wife whose husband, displaying symptoms of the disease, has been denied admission by already packed hospitals. There are unverified claims and video on social media showing dead people who are said to have died from the disease lying unattended on Wuhan's streets.
Overstretched and exhausted medical personnel working at the seven hospitals in Wuhan set aside to treat those infected by 2019-nCoV are warning of supply shortages and a shortage of beds for the sick. They've been overwhelmed by thousands of victims, many of whom have been asked to go home because of lack of beds for them.
Chinese state-controlled media is sharing posts from the seven Wuhan hospitals asking for public donations of medical supplies. One post quoted one hospital staff member saying the current supplies "are only able to sustain three or four days." A doctor agreed with this assessment but told Western media "Our bosses, our hospital suppliers will definitely find a way to get these stocks to us."
"In terms of resources, the whole of Wuhan is lacking," said one Wuhan-based healthcare worker to CNN.
Hospital staff caring for the sick are so overburdened some are said to have taken to wearing adult diapers to avoid taking-off the bulky and heavy hazmat suits that protect them from the coronavirus.
The shortage of hospital beds is alarming. Videos circulating on Chinese social media sites show a large number of people diagnosed with the virus packing a hospital corridor as a hospital staff member shouts at them to not be afraid.
The Wuhan Health Commission has requisitioned more than 10,000 beds from 24 hospitals for confirmed and suspected coronavirus cases.
"So far, we have 4,000 beds for suspected and confirmed patients, and the other 6,000 beds will be ready before the end of January," said the commission Saturday. "We will requisition more hospitals according to the development of the epidemic.
The national government on Saturday announced the construction of a second emergency hospital with 1,300 beds in Wuhan. It revealed construction of the first such hospital began Friday and said work on this facility should be finished by February 3.
The first special hospital, which will have a floor area of 25,000 square meters, will provide isolated and efficient treatment for infected patients exhibiting the pneumonia symptoms characteristic of 2019-nCov. The Wuhan headquarters overseeing the government's response to the coronavirus said the first hospital is being built near the Wuhan Workers' Sanatorium in the Caidian District in the western suburb. Workers at this hospital are being paid up to three times the standard daily wage to finish this hospital in two weeks.
