Travellers wearing face masks arrive at the Beijing Capital International Airport as the country is hit by an outbreak of the new coronavirus February 2, 2020. — China Daily pic via Reuter
BEIJING, Feb 4 — China's top leadership has admitted “shortcomings and difficulties” in its response to the coronavirus outbreak, as state media said a new hospital built at breakneck pace began receiving patients in the epicentre of the crisis.
Sixty-four new deaths were confirmed today — surpassing yesterday's record to post the new biggest daily increase since the virus was detected late last year in the central city of Wuhan.
The death toll in China stood at 425, exceeding the 349 mainland fatalities from the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak of 2002-03, which killed nearly 800 globally.
The government in Beijing nevertheless hit out at the United States for sparking “panic” with its response to the coronavirus, including a ban on foreigners who have recently been to China.
The virus has so far spread to more than 20 countries, and several other nations have instituted tough travel rules.
The World Health Organisation has declared the crisis a global health emergency, and the first death outside China was confirmed in the Philippines on Sunday.
As it races to try to contain the spread of the virus, China's elite Politburo Standing Committee called for improvements to the “national emergency management system” following “shortcoming and difficulties exposed in the response to the epidemic,” according to the official Xinhua news agency.
“It is necessary to strengthen market supervision, resolutely ban and severely crack down on illegal wildlife markets and trade,” the Politburo said in a meeting yesterday, Xinhua reported.
The government also said it “urgently” needed protective medical equipment such as surgical masks, protective suits, and safety goggles as it battles to control the outbreak.
Authorities in provinces that are home to more than 300 million people — including Guangdong, the country's most populous in south China with 113 million people — have ordered everyone to wear masks in public.
But factories capable of producing around 20 million masks a day are only operating at 60-70 per cent of capacity, industry department spokesman Tian Yulong said, adding that supply and demand remained in "tight equilibrium" as a result of the Lunar New Year break.
Tian said authorities were taking steps to bring in masks from Europe, Japan and the United States, while the foreign ministry said countries including South Korea, Japan, Kazakhstan and Hungary had donated medical supplies.
Hospital open for business
Most of the deaths have been in Wuhan and the rest of surrounding Hubei province, most of which has been under lockdown for almost two weeks.
With more than 20,400 confirmed infections, the mortality rate for the new coronavirus is much lower than the 9.6 per cent rate for SARS.
In Wuhan, where the virus is believed to have jumped from animals at a market into humans, authorities have been racing to build two new hospitals to treat the infected.
The first of those — a 1,000-bed facility — “began to receive” patients yesterday, the People's Daily reported, just 10 days after construction began, but no details were offered about how many.
The second hospital is due to open later this week.
The virus is taking an increasing economic toll, shutting down businesses, curbing international travel and impacting production lines of major global brands. — AFP