BEIJING: The Chinese capital Beijing yesterday imposed a 14-day self-quarantine on people returning to the city from holidays to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus, and threatened to punish those who failed to comply.
It was not immediately clear how the restriction, relayed by the official Beijing Daily newspaper, would be enforced, or whether it would apply to non-residents of Beijing or foreigners arriving from abroad.
China is struggling to get its economy going after the annual Lunar New Year holiday, which was extended for 10 days to help contain the outbreak of the new and highly contagious respiratory virus, officially called 2019-nCov.
Restrictions
Authorities reported 5,090 new cases in mainland China, including more than 120 deaths, taking the number of infected to 63,851, and the number of deaths to 1,380.
The figures give no sign that the outbreak is nearing a peak, said Adam Kamradt-Scott, an infectious diseases expert at the Centre for International Security Studies at the University of Sydney.
But with 500 million people already affected by movement and travel restrictions, President Xi Jinping warned top officials last week
that efforts to contain the virus had gone too far and were threatening the economy, sources said.
In cities such as Beijing and the business hub Shanghai, streets and subways remain largely deserted with many shops and restaurants empty or shut.
Government employee Jin Yang, 28, made it to his Beijing office but found it “anything but normal”.
Canteen lunches are banned in favour of boxed meals eaten at desks. Meetings are held online, not in person. Employees must wear masks all day and report their temperature twice a day.
Outside mainland China, there have been nearly 450 cases in some 24 countries and territories, and three deaths. Japan confirmed its first coronavirus death on Thursday. One person has died in Hong Kong and one in the Philippines.
Measures
The virus is killing around two per cent of those it infects, but is able to spread faster than other respiratory viruses that have emerged this century.
“From now on, all those who have returned to Beijing should stay at home or submit to group observation for 14 days after arriving,” read the notice from Beijing’s virus prevention working group cited by the Beijing Daily.
“Those who refuse to accept home or centralised observation and other prevention and control measures will be held accountable under law.”
A World Health Organisation-led joint mission with China will start its outbreak investigation work soon, focusing on how the new coronavirus is spreading and its severity, WHO Director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.
The mission will also seek more details on how, where and when the more than 1,700 healthworkers infected contracted the new virus, WHO officials said.
Vietnam has imposed 20 days’ quarantine on Son Loi, a rural community outside Hanoi that is home to 11 of the 16 coronavirus cases reported in the country, two local officials said.
The cruise liner MS Westerdam, carrying 1,455 passengers and 802 crew, was allowed to dock in Cambodia after being rejected by five countries though no cases had been reported on board.
With thousands of flights to and from China cancelled, the International Civil Aviation Organisation forecast global airline revenue could fall by $4 billion to $5bn in the first quarter.
But the WHO has told the International Olympic Committee there is no cause to cancel or relocate the Tokyo Olympics, which start in July, the head of the IOC’s Coordination Commission said.
&uuid=(email))