China faces bigger epidemic than Sars in ‘complicated and grave’ coronavirus outbreak
- Number of cases of the pneumonia-like illness has surpassed the total for severe acute respiratory syndrome in the mainland 17 years ago
- Hubei governor says the situation is ‘particularly severe’ in Huanggang, where a makeshift hospital has been set up
And as the pneumonia-like illness – also known as the novel coronavirus – continues to spread six days after authorities took the unprecedented step of locking down Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province and epicentre of the outbreak, more cases of human-to-human transmission have been reported outside China.
Meanwhile, the only region in China that had yet to be affected, Tibet, reported a suspected case, and Sichuan reported its first death from the virus – the seventh province outside Hubei to report a fatality. The first confirmed cases of foreigners in China contracting the virus were also reported on Wednesday.
As of 6pm on Wednesday in Beijing, China had reported 6,061 confirmed cases and 132 deaths. That was more than the total of 5,327 Sars infections in mainland China 17 years ago. But some 1,755 people in Hong Kong were sickened during the Sars outbreak, and there were more deaths – 349 people died in the mainland and 299 in Hong Kong.
In Hubei province, governor Wang Xiaodong said the epidemic in the cities of Huanggang, Xiaogan, Jingmen and Xianning was acute. “It is particularly severe in Huanggang. There are over 1,000 confirmed and suspected cases, and we cannot allow Huanggang to become a second Wuhan,” he said.
The provincial government has sent a team to handle the crisis in the city, which has a population of 7.5 million and is 78km (48 miles) away from Wuhan. A makeshift hospital similar to those in Wuhan has been set up with 1,000 beds.
