Tag: Coronavirus

International

After Reporting 2,345 Death, Chinese Counting Shows A Drop In New Coronavirus Cases

HT News

According to the National Health Commission, the fatalities in China due to novel coronavirus has increased by 109. The new number of new coronavirus death cases is 2,345.

Novel coronavirus cases in China

397 new cases of coronavirus infection cases were reported nationwide and it is down from nearly 900. The total number of coronavirus cases is 76,000. The drop in the cases was found while the officials in Hubei province were revising the figures to clear the data.

The National Health Commission said that the data of new cases for February 19 was revised up to 820 that was up from 394 previously reported. The new numbers also increased the confirmed coronavirus cases for February 20. The new figure was 75,891 that was up by 400 numbers.

Data revision ordered

The local authorities in Hubei decided to change the past data announced on Friday. It was done to introduce a new counting technique to clear the doubts over data. But the new way would further complicate the efforts of tracking the spread of illness.

Last week, patients diagnosed via clinical methods including lung imaging in addition to those confirmed by lag tests were added in the final list of coronavirus cases.But on Thursday, the Chinese officials backtracked the decision of adding the new cases. Also, they deducted 279 cases but soon the cases were re-added to the count on Friday.

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News & Politics

Finally, US Scientists Find Breakthrough In Coronavirus Treatment

HT News

US scientists have created the first 3D atomic scale map of the part of the novel coronavirus. And this breakthrough came after the death count from the virus jumper past 2,000, while the number of infected persons in China is said to be 74,185.

Breakthrough in coronavirus

The COVID-19 virus attaches to and infects human cells. But a team of scientists from the University of Texas at Austin and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) developed a stabilized sample of a key part called the spike protein of the virus after studying its genetic code made public by the Chinese researchers.

Spike protein

UT Austin scientist Jason McLellan, who led the research, said that it was the antigen that can activate the response system in the human body. It would make antibodies against this virus. In the event of virus attack or infection. He added that the breakthrough was the result many years of studies on coronavirus family including SARS and MERS. He gave the credit of keeping the spike protein stable to the past research.

Coronavirus vaccine

The team will the share the map of the molecular structure of coronavirus to collaborators around the world so that they can work on the map and get a bigger response for this virus. This model is expected to help scientists in developing new proteins to bind to different parts of the spike and disable it to provide an effective treatment option to those infected with coronavirus.

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International Today's Special

Xi Jinping Visits Hospitals After Coronavirus Killed Over 1,000 And Infected Over 40,000 Across China

HT News

With 103 new deaths reported from the hard-hit Hubei province, the total number of fatalities due the coronavirus in China crosses the one thousand mark. According to the latest figures it is 1,011. Also, Hubei health commission confirmed 2,097 new cases in its latest update.

Chinese President Xi Jinping visits hospitals

The president called for “more decisive measures” to contain the outbreak. He made this statement after meeting the medical workers and patients admitted in hospitals.

WHO sent team to China

World Health Organization sent an international expert mission under the leadership of Bruce Aylward to check China’s response to the coronavirus. Bruce had supervised the organization’s 2014-2016 response to the Ebola epidemic in West Africa.

Meanwhile WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned that there had been some “concerning instances” of coronavirus infection with no travel history to China. Britain said that the coronavirus in UK had been doubled from 4 to 8. It also said that the outbreak of novel coronavirus was a “serious and imminent threat”.

The US President Donald Trump expressed his belief that the novel coronavirus would disappear with onset of summer in April. But the top health officials in the US don’t agree with this prognosis.

Novel coronavirus

The virus is considered to have come out from the market that sells wild animals. Hubei in Wuhan province is the epicentre of the virus outbreak. The first cases of viral infection started coming in December last year and today there are more than 42,200 confirmed cases across China.

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International

With 213 Deaths And 9,692 Infected, Coronavirus Is Declared Global Health By WHO

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World Health Organization (WHO)has declared coronavirus, a global health emergency after the death toll in China from coronavirus reached 213. According to Chinese health authorities, maximum number of deaths were reported from Hubei and there were close to 10,000 infected cases in the country.

Lockdown in Wuhan, China

With 204 deaths, Hubei has become the centre of epidemic. Also, the Chinese authorities have detected 1,220 new cases in Hubei. The total number of persons infected with coronavirus has reached 6,000 with the new cases. In a hurry, China has placed some 60 million people in Hubei under virtual lockdown stage.

WHO is worried about coronavirus

The world health body said it declared coronavirus a global emergency because the potential of the virus to strike the countries with weaker health system. Coronavirus has already spread to 18 countries with Italy joining the list of coronavirus infected countries.

Italy found virus in to Chinese tourists afterwards the Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Contetook a more drastic measure that others. Italy closed all air traffic to and from China. But WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that the organization opposes such restrictions.

Other countries are rescuing their citizens from Hubei but Air France, American Airlines and British Airways have stopped flying to mainland China. The airline employees were worried about the exposure to the virus.

Stocks around the world also plunged fearing the economic fallout from Coronavirus in China that is the second-biggest economy of the world. Meanwhile, Chinese authorities are assessing the situation.

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International

Coronavirus: Why The World Is Scared Of This Virus Outbreak?

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The latest tally of coronavirus is 106 fatalities and over 4,000 infected worldwide. But the good thing is that the world has come together to contain the spread of the deadly virus. 

In India, the Union Health Ministry has already sounded alert at international airports and has asked its officials to do a thermal screening of those coming from China. Several cases of coronavirus from Delhi, Mumbai and other states have been reported.

Members of security wear facemasks inside the high-speed train station connecting Hong Kong to mainland China during a public holiday in celebration of the Lunar New Year in Hong Kong on January 28, 2020, as a preventative measure following a virus outbreak which began in the Chinese city of Wuhan. – China on January 28 urged its citizens to postpone travel abroad as it expanded unprecedented efforts to contain a viral outbreak that has killed 106 people and left other governments racing to pull their nationals from the contagion’s epicentre. (Photo by Anthony WALLACE / AFP) (Photo by ANTHONY WALLACE/AFP via Getty Images)

An emergency helpline number has been set up to attend to queries about the deadly virus. The call center is active 24×7. The Union Health Ministry provided information about the helpline number in a Tweet. Anyone looking for help can call 011-23978046. He will be directed to the concerned district and state officials for help. 

Let’s check what is this virus and where it came from

Origin

Origin of the coronavirus can be traced to Wuhan city in central China and it is suspected that the virus took birth in the crowded seafood market of the sprawling capital of … Read the rest

International

Wuhan Virus Claims 41 Lives; With Over 1,000 People Infected, 14 Cities Locked Down

HT News

The deadly virus outbreak in China has already claimed 41 lives with 15 new fatalities reported by authorities on Saturday. It was further reported that over 1,000 people are infected from the virus.

China virus spread

The new fatalities due to the deadly virus were reported from provincial capital of Wuhan where the deadly virus first emerged. 11 lack residents of Wuhan and millions of 13 more cities are facing quarantine like situation because the cities have been locked down to contain the spread of deadly respiratory contagion that has already spread nationwide and to several other countries.

New cases emerged

So far, 180 new cases have been reported and they will take the national tally of 830 confirmed cases to above 1,000. Also, most of the new cases are from Wuhan but what is more worrying is bulk of the rest of the cases is from the smaller cities outside the locked down cities.

Difficult time for China

The country is passing through the worst phase in history because millions of people are travelling within and outside the country for major Lunar New Year holiday. And this mass movement has increased the risk of further spreading of the virus.

This virus has many things similar to SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) that caused ripples in the global health in 2002-03. At that time, it killed hundreds of people in Hong Kong and mainland China.

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International

China Sealed Wuhan To Contain The Threat Of Coronavirus Outbreak

HT News

China has put Wuhan under quarantine after the outbreak of deadly coronavirus claimed 17 lives and infected 500 people. The outbreak started in Wuhan that was called “the main battlefield” against the disease.

Outward flights and trains from the city had been suspended, subways halted and large public gatherings cancelled. Also, the doctors were busy treating patients with full-body protective suits.

Wuhan outbreak

The city was a major transport hub and a seafood market visited by millions of people every day. But what is more worrisome is that some people that visited Wuhan were seen in the US and some Asian countries.

The government has clamped curfew on the movement of transport systems and people who are ordered not to move out of their homes without specific reasons.

The notice said that it was necessary to effectively cut off the virus spread and guarantee health and safety of the people. And the decision came at a time when millions of people were planning to travel across China for the Lunar New Year holiday starting Friday. But there was a ban on all group tours by tourism and cultural department of the city. It would remain in effect until 8th February.

Guiyuan Temple had also scrapped its annual prayer-giving that attracted 700,000 people last year also scrapped the major lunar year event. Meanwhile the hashtag “Wuhan is sealed off” started trending on Weibo that was called China’s Twitter.

The government is keeping a close watch over the development. The comments seemed politically sensitive are regularly censored to keep things in control.

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