Source: HangzhouTube, Xinhua news, China Daily
Good morning
China customs have found 6,728 inbound passengers who showed symptoms of possible novel coronavirus infections by the end of Tuesday, with 75 later confirmed as having infections, General Administration of Customs said on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, customs across the country found 227 passengers with symptoms entering the country. Five of them were tested positive as carrying the virus after screening, including four in Shanghai and one in Beijing, the administration said in a release.
As of Tuesday, the country's customs have found 6,728 symptomatic passengers arriving from other countries, with 779 suspected cases and 75 confirmed cases, the administration said, adding that all cases were handed over to health departments in accordance with the work requirements of the joint prevention and control mechanism.
As the number of new confirmed cases continues to rise internationally, the risk of infections from abroad is also rising, making curbing the spread of the epidemic through ports a top priority, it said.
Since the outbreak, the customs have launched a health declaration system to check and monitor the body temperature of all entries and conduct medical inspections. Passengers who show symptoms, come from affected countries or regions, or have been in contact with confirmed or suspected patients would go through medical testing. Confirmed patients would be transported to hospitals and suspected cases would be quarantined.
The administration said that in response to the increasing import risk of the epidemic, the customs have closely tracked the development of epidemics overseas. All vehicles coming from countries or regions with severe epidemics situation will be quarantined and disinfected to cut off transmission channels.
Ports have also enforced the entry quarantine of other infectious diseases including Ebola and Lassa fever.
Prevention and control measures on foreigners entering China
In the regular press conference held on March 2, China Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao answered the question on Chinas prevention and control measures on foreigners entering China.
Q: Many localities in China have strengthened their prevention and control measures on foreigners entering China. What is your comment?
A: Considering the current circumstances and the local needs for epidemic prevention and control, examination, quarantine and other prevention and control measures have been taken for people coming from countries and regions with grave epidemic situation, like temperature checks, quarantine at home or medical observation at designated places. These measures accord with Chinese laws and regulations. As a necessary part of our prevention and control measures, they are effective in stemming the cross-border spread of the virus and conducive to prevention and control efforts in China and other countries as well.
As the epidemic situation evolves, local governments in China will adjust their measures on foreigners after their entry accordingly. We treat Chinese and foreign nationals alike. We will implement these measures without any discrimination, take full consideration of the legitimate concerns of the persons involved and offer them necessary guarantees and assistance. The measures China has taken against the epidemic have effectively slowed down its spread, contained human-to-human transmission, and won well-deserved recognition from the WHO.
We hope that we can have the full understanding and cooperation of those coming from countries severely affected by the epidemic. Altogether we should guard against the relevant risks and protect the health and safety of ourselves and those around us.
Jack Ma donates 1 million masks to virus-hit Japan
Jack Ma, co-founder of Hangzhou-based e-commerce giant Alibaba, has donated 1 million facial masks to Japan in return for the generous help Japan gave China when the country was hit severely by novel coronavirus 20 days ago.
The Jack Ma Foundation and Alibaba Foundation announced on Monday that the masks will be donated to Japan to help alleviate suffering in the epidemic.
"Like the mountain range that stretches before you and me, let's share the same trials and hardships together. We hope everything will get better soon," Jack said through his Weibo account, citing an old Chinese poem.
The masks, weighing 49.4 tons, were transported by China Eastern Airlines and arrived in Tokyo on Tuesday.
Clinical trials approved for anti-viral medicine
With the public eagerly anticipating effective drugs to cure the novel coronavirus pneumonia, a medical ethics committee at the forefront of fighting the outbreak in Wuhan has quickened the pace of approving clinical trials.
Several programs related to the diagnosis and treatment of the disease have gained ethical approval from Huazhong University of Science and Technology and are being carried out by the university, including two drugs that are under clinical trials, said Chen Jianguo, vice-president of the university.
The two drugs are remdesivir, a drug being developed by US-based pharmaceutical company Gilead, and chloroquine phosphate, which is available on the market to treat malaria.
In addition to the university, other institutes in China are conducting clinical trials of the two drugs to test whether they are effective and safe for novel coronavirus infected patients. Currently, there is no single effective medicine available to treat the disease.
Ultraviolet light can kill the novel coronavirus!
According to the latest guideline on the diagnosis and treatment of the novel coronavirus released by the National Health Commission, the virus is sensitive to ultraviolet light and heat, so ultraviolet radiation can effectively eliminate the virus.
According to the guideline, indoor spaces should be disinfected with ultraviolet light with an intensity of over 1.5 watts per square meter. A UV lamp can disinfect objects within one meter for at least half an hour.
Longer exposure to radiation is needed when the temperature indoors is below 20 C or above 40 C and relative humidity is over 60 percent.
A room should be ventilated after UV disinfection, and people are suggested to enter the room half an hour later.
Although UV is effective in killing the virus indoors, UV lamps should not be used to sterilize hands or other areas of skin, as the radiation can cause skin irritation.
Can drinking tea prevent coronavirus infections?
An article claiming that drinking tea may help prevent novel coronavirus infections has raised questions among the public and academics.
According to the article, researchers from the Zhejiang Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention found through experiments that in cells cultured in vitro, tea, which is rich in polyphenols, works well in killing the virus extracellularly and suppressing its intracellular proliferation.
Based on this, the research team suggested that drinking tea could help prevent novel coronavirus infections.
An immunologist told The Paper that the novel coronavirus infects alveolar epithelial cells. But the tea we drink won't reach the lungs anyway. Even if the in vitro experiments prove that tea can inhibit or kill the virus, it doesn't mean that drinking tea can do the same, said the immunologist.
As of now, the article has been removed. The latest research findings will be published via the WeChat account of the center after finishing procedures.
Guideline for preventing novel coronavirus pneumonia
For Expats in Zhejiang
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