Coronavirus death toll hits 106 as it spreads to Beijing
Deaths from the coronavirus have now hit triple figures as China revealed the first death of a victim in Beijing today.
The ongoing outbreak has now claimed 106 lives while China’s National Health Commission has counted more than 4,515 confirmed cases. Yesterday the number stood at 81 deaths and 2,600 cases.
Most victims are people who were in Wuhan, where the outbreak began.
The city of 11m is now under lockdown, with China banning transport to other cities as well as public gatherings. Tens of millions of other Chinese citizens in Wuhan’s wider Hubei province are also subject to travel curbs.
There are reportedly around 300 Brits still in Wuhan and the Hubei province. The Foreign Office is set to evacuate the area in the coming days..
Transport secretary Grant Shapps told BBC Breakfast today: “We are working on it. For anybody who is there, one of the issues we have, working with our partners internationally on this, is actually identifying how many British citizens there are in Wuhan.
“One of the things we’re asking people to do is to contact the consulate there to make them aware. People have started to do that.
“If they actually contact the consulate where they are then that consulate is in fact gathering together all the information of the people who are there in order to help repatriate where that’s appropriate.”
Other countries are also repatriating citizens, with the first French flight to depart tomorrow. And the US consulate is readying diplomats and other US citizens out of the city shortly.
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While only China has reported deaths so far, coronavirus cases are much more widespread. Countries across Asia, North America and Europe have confirmed infections. Germany confirmed a case last night.
Meanwhile Hong Kong has counted eight cases as has Thailand. The US, Australia, Singapore, Taiwan and Macau have recorded five cases each while there are four in South Korea, Japan and Malaysia.
Canada and Vietnam have reported two confirmed cases. The UK has tested 73 people for the coronavirus but so far the tests have returned negative.
Chinese authorities warned yesterday the virus appears to be getting stronger. Health bodies have advised the virus can pass via human contact.
The incubation period can range between one and 14 days, during which time it is also infectious, China’s National Health Commission has warned.
“According to recent clinical information, the virus’s ability to spread seems to be getting somewhat stronger,” minister Ma Xiaowei said.
The spread of coronavirus crumbled global stocks yesterday. Germany’s Dax sank 2.75 per cent and the FTSE 100 fell 2.3 per cent.
Today European stocks have inched up, but are far off recovering their losses.
“We think it is better to wait for the rise in the number of cases to slow before getting positive about the markets again,” London Capital Group’s head of research, Jasper Lawler, said.
“We know there is an incubation period of 14 days and the virus can be passed on when the subject is not showing symptoms. Putting that together, we could be on the cusp of a plateau or a massive escalation in the number of cases.”