Overview of the events day 32

Cordon Corona

Day 32 (January 31, 2020) - Europe increasingly infected

After a few days in which the number of infected countries remained more or less the same, the virus seemed to be taking over Europe today.

The first 2 infections in Russia are a fact. Moments later, the Russian authorities reported that the border with China will remain closed until at least March 1.

The Brexit could not prevent that England also found 2 infections within a Chinese family.

It did not stop there, also in Sweden a patient tested positive for the Corona virus.

Italy, where yesterday 6,000 people on a cruise ship were released as no infections were found, also reported its first two infections. Two Chinese tourists, who arrived at Milan airport on January 23 and traveled to Rome with a tourist bus during the week were tested positive. This is probably one of the reasons why Italy is the first country in Europe to declare the state of emergency and initially to release 5 million euros to tackle the virus.

More and more of the countries surrounding China are closing their borders after Mongolia, Laos and Kazakhstan followed Russia and Singapore. All other border countries have now introduced measures such as screening and non-issuance of visas.

People do not have to worry about their packages from Aliexpress or Amazon. Even when it is packed by infected hands, the virus cannot survive the journey outside the human body.

The Huanggang Communist Party Committee fired Tang Zhihong, the head of the health committee of the central Chinese city of Huanggang. This happened after Tang was unable to answer important questions on the national television, such as the number of available hospital beds or the ability of the city to test for the corona virus.

Earlier this week, the mayor of Wuhan announced that he had received orders not to disclose information. He understands that the population is "dissatisfied" with the communication from the local government and that he has failed to "provide relevant information in a timely manner". He had the information, but was not "allowed" to share it. The mayor said at the time that local leaders would be fired if necessary if that would help to alleviate indignation among the population.

This means that as is usual in China, those who followed the orders are removed, while those who gave the orders remain at their position.

The official number of infections and deaths has increased tenfold in a week

Are people really locked up in their houses alive?“

¨In hospitals there is not enough capacity to accommodate everyone. People must therefore stay at home in quarantine. In China, every apartment complex has a person in charge who checks whether people abide by quarantine and whether they are taken to the hospital on time if necessary. In normal times there are some reservations about these supervisors. But in this crisis, that enormous state apparatus is a force. The measures are rigid and radical, but also effective. The incubation period is two weeks. In theory, anyone who is not sick in two weeks can go outside again if they manage to keep all the sick people in, "said a Belgian journalist in Wuhan.

This statement provides a better picture of the videos that circulate about people being locked up in their homes. The 14-day rule remains to be seen now that Chinese health experts are warning that patients who have overcome the corona virus can be reinfected.

However, China is beginning to repatriate Wuhan residents "abroad as quickly as possible," because of the "practical problems that Chinese citizens of Hubei, in particular Wuhan, have faced abroad".

Now that almost all major airlines have stopped flying to China, it is difficult for Chinese to travel back home. In addition, Chinese people abroad, faced with fear of the virus due to the world wide scare, are confronted with many prejudices and extreme security measures. And to be honest, even here in a country where no contamination has yet been established (yet), I got jitters yesterday when two Chinese boys were walking in front of me in the supermarket. Completely unfair, but the human instinct remains focused on survival.

What happens to those who do not survive?

William Yang, a reporter for Deutsche Welle, claims that China hides the real number of deaths by sending people to crematoriums without identifying them. Which means that there are patients who died of the virus but did not add it to the official file.

This is completely inline with photos and stories about people who work in crematoriums and have worked many hours overtime every day for more than a week. With the images of the smog, because the crematoria run overtime. And the stories that seem to be taken directly from the street, because there are no possibilities to identify everyone and add them to the official registers.

The focus is on the living, the dead can no longer be helped, is a sentence I have read several times in reactions on social media posts coming from the infected cities.