Corona Virus

Prevention

The protocols to prevent infection vary depending on the likelihood of susceptible individuals making effective contact and general differences in medical philosophy between culture. Official advice has generally been limited to calls for good personal hygiene and regular hand washing. Those who suspect themselves to be infected are asked to wear surgical masks and call a doctor for medical advice. A significant number of countries have issued advisories warning against travel to either Mainland China, the province of Hubei, or just Wuhan.
The public has often taken precautions which are beyond what is advised by health authorities. There is widespread use of surgical masks by healthy people in Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and Malaysia. Reports that people are panic-buying sanitary products such as hand sanitizers and disinfectants relate to the public preferring to keep their hands and laundry "clean' with antiseptic products. Additionally people have been avoiding contact with Mainland Chinese people in places as far away as the United States. Japanese people have been reported to wear surgical masks and spray themselves with air disinfectants in areas where foreigners are more likely to be found.
The Government of Hong Kong ask that people maintain good personal hygiene and keep both hands clean. It furthermore warns anyone travelling outside the city that they "do not touch animals; do not eat game meat; and avoid visiting wet markets, live poultry markets or farms". Anyone who suspects themselves of infection are asked to wear a surgical mask and ring a doctor.
The Ministry of Health in Singapore asks that people practice a good standard of hygiene, such as washing hands regularly. Those who are unwell should wear a mask and see a doctor immediately.
The WHO recommends "regular hand washing, covering mouth and nose when coughing and sneezing… avoid close contact with anyone showing symptoms of respiratory illness (such as coughing and sneezing)."
Quarantine Measures
On 23 January 2020, a quarantine on travel in and out of Wuhan was imposed in an effort to stop the spread of the virus out of Wuhan. Flights and trains in and out of Wuhan, public buses, the metro system and long-distances coaches were suspended until further notice. Large-scale gatherings and group tours were also suspended. By 24 January 2020, a total of 15 cities in the Hubei, including Wuhan, were placed under similar quarantine measures. Thus, the entire Hubei province came under quarantine, save for Xiangyang and the Shennongjia Forestry District. Due to quarantine measures, Wuhan residents rushed to stockpile essential goods, food, and fuel. The prices of goods rose significantly. Medical staff faced difficulties in commuting to their hospitals, as they were now limited to walking and private cars. Taxis and private-hire vehicles shunned them upon learning of the destination. 5,000,000 people left Wuhan, with 9,000,000 left in the city. Guan Yi, an epidemiologist and SARS virologist with teams consisting of medical specialists who just flew back to Hong Kong after their one-day inspection in Wuhan told correspondents that "the Wuhan outbreak is at least 10 times larger than that of SARS, calling people to stay away from Wuhan as soon as possible." Some posts on Weibo showed that as early as 12 January, hospitals in Wuhan were already overwhelmed with patients suffering from fever, many of them having to sleep on the floor. Some were also highly critical of the reliability of the figures from the Chinese government as well as the government response, with some calling for quarantine, and post also showed sick people and three dead bodies covered in white sheets on the floor of a hospital on 24 January, although many such posts in Weibo about the epidemic have been deleted. On 26 January, the city of Shantou in Guangdong declared a partial lockdown, though this was quickly reversed only two hours later. This created chaos, as residents rushed to supermarkets to stock food as soon as the lockdown was declared, and the surge of stockpiling didn't come to an end until the authorities reversed their decision. Caixin said, that the wording of Shantou's initial declaration was "unprecedentedly strict" and will severely affect residents' lives, if implemented as-is. Shantou's Department for Outbreak Control later clarified, that they will not restrict travelling, and all they would do, is to sterilise vehicles used for transportation. Local authorities of the capital Beijing and several other major cities, including Hangzhou, Guangzhou, Shanghai and Shenzhen announced on 26 January, that these cities will not impose a lockdown similar to those in Hubei province. Rumours of these potential lockdowns had spread widely prior to the official announcements. A spokesperson of Beijing's Municipal Transportation Commission claimed, that the expressways and highways, as well as subways and buses are operating normally. To ease the residents' panic, the Hangzhou city government stressed that the city will not be locked down from the outside world, and both cities said that they will introduce precautions against potential risks. On 2 February 2020, the city of Wenzhou in Zhejiang also implemented a partial lockdown, closing 46 of the 54 highway checkpoints.

Evacuation of foreign citizens Due to the effective lockdown of public transport in Wuhan and Hubei, several countries have planned to evacuate their citizens and/or diplomatic staff from the area, primarily through chartered flights of the home nation that have been provided clearance by Chinese authorities. Japan, the United States, France, Australia, Sri Lanka, Germany and Thailand were among the first to plan the evacuation of their citizens. Pakistan has said that it will not be evacuating any citizens from China. Timeline of evacuations Vietnam permitted four exceptional flights to carry Wuhan passengers home in the period 24–27 January, and organised a flight to evacuate citizens and diplomats. On 29 January, Australia and New Zealand announced that they would team up to evacuate their citizens from Wuhan. There are between 50–82 New Zealanders in Wuhan and 600 Australians in Hubei including 140 Australian children in Wuhan. The New Zealand Government has also chartered a Boeing 777-200ER aircraft from the national carrier Air New Zealand to assist in evacuation efforts, subject to approval from Chinese officials. While priority will be given to New Zealand nationals, the plane will also be evacuating Australian and Pacific Island citizens. On 29 January, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced plans to quarantine Australian citizens evacuated from Wuhan, including children and the elderly, for a period of 14 days on Christmas Island. The decision to repatriate those citizens using controversial detention facilities formerly used to detain asylum seekers before they were shut down in 2018 has received criticism. Controversially, the government plan also necessitates those evacuees to pay a fee of AU$1,000 and would drop them off in Perth after the quarantine period, where they would need to arrange their own transportation back to their home cities. The Australian Medical Association, in a statement on the same day, stated that the decision to hold Australian citizens in "a place where has been previously the focus of populations under enormous mental and physical trauma and anguish, is not a really appropriate solution." On 29 January, South Korea made last-minute preparations to airlift about 700 South Korean nationals out of Wuhan, including finalising logistical details with the Chinese Government. South Korea officials prepared two planes with two sets of medical teams comprising about 20 doctors, nurses, and foreign ministry and quarantine officials for each team. On 29 January, the Indonesian Air Force (TNI-AU) prepared three aircraft including two Boeing 737 and one C-130 Hercules stationed in Halim Perdanakusuma Air Force Base, with a battalion of health experts to help evacuate Indonesian nationals and citizens from the city. As of 29 January, the TNI-AU was[needs update] waiting for instruction from the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and on standby for 24 hours in case the order was given. On 1 February the evacuation for as many as 243 Indonesians will commence, and they will be quarantined in Natuna Regency for 14 days, the evacuation process is planned to take around 9 hours, the 42-man team will evacuate about 245 Indonesians. They will depart at Soekarno Hatta International Airport, on Saturday (1/2/2020) at 13:00 WIB. The Indonesian government chartered an A330-300CEO (PK-LDY), Lion Air Group's Batik Air aircraft to evacuate around 200 Indonesian citizens from Hubei, China, including Wuhan City. Of the original 245 Indonesians in Wuhan, 4 refused to leave Wuhan, and 3 failed to pass the screening test by the Chinese in China. Before they landed in Batam, "All have been declared healthy according to World Health Organization standards".[196] The plane from Wuhan landed in Hang Nadim International Airport, Batam at around 8.45 am and they disembarked one by one, with long intervals.[196] Officers wearing yellow and white Hazmat suits checked, disinfect on the passengers and escorted them out, Antara news agency reported. Then they went to Natuna using TNI-AU aircraft consist of one Boeing 737-200 Advanced (AL-7304) from Skadron Udara 5, one Boeing 737-400 (A-7306) from Skadron Udara 17, and one Lockheed C-130 (A-1315) from Skadron Udara 33. The three aircraft landed in Raden Sadjad Air Force Base, Ranai.[197][198] However, the arrival of Indonesian citizens on Natuna was protested by the people on the island because they were worried that they would be infected by the corona virus. Hundreds of people then staged demonstrations and burned tires. As a result, Brimob troops were deployed to ensure stable security conditions. To protect and give health assurance to local people, Jokowi orders Health Minister to have an temporary office in Natuna.[201] On 30 January 92 Singaporeans were evacuated from Wuhan via a special Scoot flight, crewed by volunteers from the airline after co-ordination between Singapore and Chinese authorities facilitated the flights. However, there are still some Singaporeans left behind as they display symptoms, and it made no sense to have them evacuated with the rest who may not be infected. Two of the evacuees were later confirmed as the first Singaporeans to have the virus. Both were asymptomatic during the flight but were found to have a fever upon arrival.[202] On 31 January, a British plane carrying 110 EU nationals (83 Britons and 27 others, not including military medics from the UK on board) left Wuhan, arriving at RAF Brize Norton in England. The British passengers are quarantined at a segregated block of Arrowe Park Hospital on the Wirral; all passengers were tested before and during the flight, with none having the virus. The other EU nationals were flown on to Spain from Brize Norton. More Britons (up to 150) were supposed to be on the flight, which was planned to leave a day earlier; China initially declined permission, and then anyone who had a Chinese passport (including infants and a newborn to British parents) were told they could not leave. Shortly before the flight left, this decision was reversed, but too late for people to get to the airport even though the plane was also delayed for several hours. The British government plans to send another plane if necessary. On this day, the first cases of the virus were reported in the UK, but were unrelated. On 1 February morning, a chartered aeroplane departed from Thailand to Wuhan to evacuate 64 Thai nationals from the city led by Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul. The aeroplane includes a medical team specialised in respiratory tract infection and emergency medicine.[206] On 1 February 2020, a German Air Force plane was denied a stopover in Moscow after its starting point in Wuhan, according to the German Minister of Defense. Originally, the plane got an approval for a layover in Moscow. The plane needed a stop for refuelling and a change of crew personnel. The aircraft evacuated 102 German and 26 non-German citizens. The plane made a stopover in Helsinki on its way to Frankfurt Airport. The German Minister of Health stated that all passengers show no symptoms of the coronavirus. On its way to Wuhan the aeroplane carried 10,000 suits of protective equipment as requested by the Chinese government.[208] On 1 February 2020, an advanced team of officers from the Malaysian Embassy in Beijing headed to Wuhan by road to rescue and evacuate their 120 citizens from the city and the surrounding areas. The evacuation order was carried out after the decision of the Cabinet on 29 January 2020. On 2 February 2020, a French plane from Wuhan, carrying EU and some of the remaining British nationals, landed in Marseille. On the same day, the Brazilian government said it would send to China, a plane of the country's Air Force, with the mission of rescuing the 58 Brazilians who are in the city of Wuhan. Upon arrival in Brazil, they will be quarantined at a military base.[211] While 325 Canadians in Hubei province registered for evacuation, the Government of Canada was still awaiting clearance from China to allow a chartered flight to Wuhan and repatriate Canadians at CFB Trenton as of 2 February.
Vaccine research
Main article: Novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) § Vaccine research Several organisations around the world are developing vaccines or testing antiviral medicine. In China, the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CCDC) has started developing vaccines against the novel coronavirus and is testing existing drug effectiveness for pneumonia.[213][214] Also, Hong Kong researcher Yuen Kwok-yung and his team in the University of Hong Kong announced that a new vaccine is developed, but needs to be tested on animals before conducting clinical tests on humans.[215] The Russian consumer health watchdog Rospotrebnadzor started the development of a vaccine, relying on the WHO's recommendations.[216] In Western countries, The United States' National Institutes of Health (NIH) is hoping for human trials of a vaccine by April 2020, and the Cambridge, Massachusetts–based Moderna is developing a mRNA vaccine with funding from CEPI. Inovio Pharmaceuticals received a grant from CEPI and designed a vaccine in two hours after receiving the gene sequence. The vaccine is being manufactured so that it can be first tested on animals.[221] The Norwegian Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) is funding three vaccine projects and hopes to have a vaccine in trials by June 2020 and approved and ready in a year. The University of Queensland in Australia has received AU$10.6 million in funding from CEPI to develop a "molecular clamp" vaccine platform.



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