BEIJING
(AP) — Hong Kong hospitals cut services as medical workers were
striking for a second day Tuesday to demand the border with mainland
China be shut completely to ward off a virus that caused its first death
in the semi-autonomous territory.
All
but two of Hong Kong’s land and sea crossings with the mainland were
closed at midnight after more than 2,000 hospital workers went on strike
Monday. As many as 9,000 medical workers could join the bigger walkout
Tuesday to demand closure of the border across which tens of thousands
of people continue to travel daily.
Hong
Kong’s Hospital Authority said it was cutting back services because “a
large number of staff members are absent from duty” and “emergency
services in public hospitals have been affected.”
Hong
Kong was hit hard by SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, in
2002-03, an illness from the same virus family as the current outbreak.
Trust in Chinese authorities has plummeted following months of
anti-government protests in the Asian financial hub.
Also
Tuesday, the leader of the nearby gambling enclave of Macao asked the
city’s casino bosses to suspend operations to prevent further infections
after a worker at one of resorts tested positive for the virus. Macao
has recorded 10 cases in all.
The
mainland’s latest figures of 425 deaths and 20,438 confirmed infections
of the new coronavirus were up from 361 deaths and 17,205 cases the
previous day. Outside mainland China, at least 180 cases have been
confirmed, including two fatalities, in Hong Kong and the Philippines.
The
patient who died in Hong Kong was a 39-year-old man who had traveled to
Wuhan, the mainland city that has been the epicenter of the outbreak,
before being hospitalized. The Hospital Authority said Tuesday he had
existing health conditions but did not give details.
Most
cases of the illness have been mild, but most who died have been older
people with other ailments such as diabetes or heart disease.
China
has struggled to maintain supplies of masks to filter out the virus,
along with protective suits and other key articles, as it seeks to
enforce temperature checks at homes, offices, shops and restaurants,
require masks be worn in public and keep more than 50 million people
from leaving home in Wuhan and neighboring cities.
To
help meet demand, the European Union office in Beijing said member
states have shipped 12 tons of protective equipment to China, with more
on the way.
Late
Monday, China’s President Xi Jinping presided over a special meeting of
the top Communist Party body for the second time since the crisis
started, saying “we have launched a people’s war of prevention of the
epidemic.” Xi threatened punishments for those who neglect their duties
will be punished, state broadcaster CCTV reported.
Other
countries are continuing evacuations and restricting the entry of
Chinese or people who have recently traveled in the country. A plane
carrying Malaysians from Wuhan arrived in Kuala Lumpur and the 133
people on board were to be screened and quarantined for 14 days, the
maximum incubation period for the virus.
Taiwan
on Monday flew home 247 of its citizens from Wuhan and had sent three
passengers for treatment after they were found to have fever or sore
throats. The other passengers are being quarantined at medical
facilities for the next two weeks.
Germany’s
Lufthansa became the latest international airline to suspend flights to
China, and several countries are barring Chinese travelers or people
who passed through China recently.
In
Wuhan, patients were being transferred to a new 1,000-bed hospital that
officials hope will improve isolation to stem the virus’s spread. It
was built in just 10 days, its prefabricated wards equipped with
state-of-the-art medical equipment and ventilation systems. A 1,500-bed
hospital also specially built for patients infected with the new virus
is due to open within days.
Elsewhere
in Wuhan, authorities are converting a gymnasium, exhibition hall and
cultural center into hospitals with a total of 3,400 beds to treat
patients with mild symptoms of the virus. Television footage of those
facilities showed beds placed in tight rows in large rooms without
dividers or any barriers to keep patients isolated.
With
no end to the outbreak in sight, authorities in Hubei and elsewhere
extended the Lunar New Year holiday break, due to end this week, well
into February to try to keep people at home and reduce the spread of the
virus. All Hubei schools are postponing the start of the new semester
until further notice, as a many in Beijing, Shanghai and elsewhere.
Chinese
scientists said they have more evidence the virus originated in bats.
In a study published in the journal Nature, Shi Zhen-Li and colleagues
at the Wuhan Institute of Virology reported that genome sequences from
seven patients were 96% identical to a bat coronavirus.
Full Coverage: Virus Outbreak
On
Tuesday, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said a
42-year-old South Korean woman tested positive for the virus, days after
she returned from a trip to Thailand with chills and other symptoms.
It is South Korea’s 16th case. Thailand has confirmed 19 cases, mostly Chinese tourists but also in a Thai taxi driver.
A
passenger on a Japanese-operated cruise ship tested positive after
leaving the vessel while it was in Hong Kong, and Japanese officials
were conducting medical checks on the more than 3,000 people on board
Tuesday.
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Associated Press writers Maria Cheng in London and Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo contributed to this report.
