NE NEWS SERVICE
BEIJING, FEB 17
The number of new cases from China’s coronavirus epidemic dropped for a third consecutive day on Sunday, as the World Health Organisation (WHO) chief warned it was “impossible” to predict how the outbreak would develop. On Sunday, authorities reported 2,009 new cases and 142 more deaths nationwide.
Global concern remains high about the spread of the virus, with the first death outside Asia reported in France this weekend. The death toll jumped to 1,665 in mainland China on Sunday after 142 more people died from the virus. Close to 70,000 people have now been infected, but the number of new cases of the COVID-19 strain continues to decline.
In hardest-hit Hubei, the number of new cases slowed for a third consecutive day and at 139, the number of deaths was level with Saturday’s toll. The number of new cases in other parts of the country has dropped for twelve straight days.
Mi Feng, National Health Commission spokesman, said Sunday that the figures were a sign that China was controlling the outbreak. “The effects of epidemic prevention and control in various parts of the country can already be seen,” he told reporters.
But the WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has warned that it was “impossible to predict which direction this epidemic will take”. Speaking at the Munich Security Conference, he said, “We ask all governments, companies, and news organisations to work with us to sound the appropriate level of alarm without fanning the flames of hysteria.”
The UN health body has asked China for more details on how diagnoses are being made. The scale of the epidemic ballooned on Thursday after authorities in Hubei changed their criteria for counting cases, retroactively adding 14,000 cases in a single day.
Chinese authorities have placed some 56 million people in Hubei and its capital Wuhan under quarantine, virtually sealing off the province from the rest of the country in an unprecedented effort to contain the virus.
Hong Kong protesters rally against planned virus quarantine centres.
The virus has opened a new front for protesters after months of anti-govt demonstrations in Hong Kong
Hundreds of demonstrators rallied for a second day in Hong Kong on Sunday to protest against plans to turn some buildings into coronavirus quarantine centres, reviving anti-government protests in the city.
The virus has opened a new front for protesters after months of demonstrations over the perceived erosion of freedoms had largely fizzled out over the past month, as people stayed at home amid fears of a community outbreak of the virus.
About 100 people braved rain in the New Territories district of Fo Tan, where authorities plan to use a newly built residential development that was subsidized by the government as a quarantine centre. Riot police stood by.
A 38-year-old mother of two said she had waited eight years for her home in the Chun Yeung estate and was expecting to get her keys by the end of this month. “There’s no consultation and we don’t know how long they’ll use Chun Yeung estate. That’s why we are so mad,” said the woman.
Father-of-two Koby, 36, also expressed frustration at not being told for how long the public housing might be used for quarantine.
“I’ve waited eight years. I have two children studying in kindergarten and have already transferred them to the school in Fo Tan,” he said.
With Hong Kong property prices among the most expensive in the world, owning a home is a distant dream for many, and frustration over housing has triggered protests in the past. On Friday, the government sought to appease families that have been allocated a flat in the Fo Tan estate by pledging a special subsidy.
Hong Kong has had 57 confirmed cases of the coronavirus. One person has died of it in the city. – Agencies
