Faced with the spread of the epidemic, the Chinese army was called in to help. The first cases have been confirmed in Europe, France, while the virus has now reached Australia.
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TheThe Chinese army deployed its doctors on Saturday to the heart of the epidemic of viral pneumonia, whose toll has further increased and which now affects Europe, with three cases confirmed in France.
Among these patients, at least two had recently visited China, according to French health authorities. Hospitalized in Paris and Bordeaux (south-west), they were placed in solitary confinement. In addition to the Asian countries already affected, notably Japan and Thailand, a second case has been reported in the United States and a first in Australia.
Serious results in China
The epidemic is spreading rapidly in his country of origin, with 1,300 cases of contamination, including 41 fatalities identified on Saturday. China thus entered the year of the Rat under the sign of the coronavirus which left in December from the city of Wuhan, placed in de facto quarantine.
No firecrackers, no dragon dances. For New Years, the streets of the metropolis in central China are as if dead, the few passers-by covering their faces with a mandatory protective mask, as an AFP team observed on the spot. Trains and planes have not been allowed to leave the city since Thursday.
Besides Wuhan, virtually the entire province of Hubei is cut off from the rest of the world, bringing the total number of confined people to over 56 million, almost the population of South Africa.
237 critical cases
The military sent three planes to the prohibited area which landed 450 military doctors and other medical personnel on Friday evening. Some of them have had experience fighting Ebola and SARS, a strain similar to the new coronavirus, which killed 650 people in mainland China and Hong Kong between 2002 and 2003.
Military doctors are to be dispatched to hospitals in the city, which receive large numbers of viral pneumonia patients, the China news agency said.
With hospitals overwhelmed, construction of a site to accommodate a thousand beds began on Friday. It must be completed … in 10 days, February 3, according to public media. All but two deaths have been recorded in Wuhan or elsewhere in Hubei, a province as large as Syria.
Outside Hubei, authorities have announced plans to screen the country for the virus. Inspection points will be set up and all travelers with symptoms of pneumonia will be “immediately transported” to a medical center, the National Health Commission said.
The balance sheets are increasing daily, from 26 dead Friday to 41 Saturday. The total number of contaminations increased from 830 to 1,287. Of this total, 237 cases are considered “critical”, according to health authorities. Most of the patients who have died so far have either been over the age of 65 or have pre-existing illnesses.
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