CURRENT EVENTS - Keeping Track Of The Corona Virus (204019 views)

From:	WEBELIAHU	2/6/20 9:09 AM
To:	All	(20 of 6486)

10301.20 in reply to 10301.19

February 6, 2020

"the number of cases in China jumped by nearly 4,000 on Tuesday alone to more than 24,300, with another 65 deaths bringing the total to 490."

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-51381594

Coronavirus: Ten passengers on cruise ship test positive for virus

At least 10 people on board a cruise ship docked in the Japanese port of Yokohama have tested positive for coronavirus, health authorities say. Almost 300 of the 3,700 people on the Diamond Princess have been tested so far. The number of infected could rise.

The checks began after an 80-year-old Hong Kong man who had been on the ship last month fell ill with the virus. Some 3,600 people on a second cruise ship docked in Hong Kong are also being tested.

Chinese health authorities are stepping up efforts to control the spread of the virus, with approximately 18 million people in the east of the country now required to stay at home.

In Wuhan, the epicentre of the virus, 11 large public venues including sports arenas are being turned into makeshift hospitals to provide an additional 10,000 beds for the sick. Two new hospitals have already been built there since the outbreak started.

President Xi Jinping said China's preventive measures were "achieving a positive effect", state media reported. He said China was confident and capable of winning the war against the virus, after authorities were criticised for their initial handling of the outbreak.

The WHO has declared a global health emergency over the outbreak but said it did not yet constitute a "pandemic", or the worldwide spread of a new disease.

However, the number of cases in China jumped by nearly 4,000 on Tuesday alone to more than 24,300, with another 65 deaths bringing the total to 490. The new coronavirus causes severe acute respiratory infection and symptoms usually start with a fever, followed by a dry cough. Most people infected are likely to fully recover - just as they would from a flu.

What happens to the passengers now?

Passengers and crew on the ship will now be under quarantine for 14 days. The incubation period of the virus is believed to be around two weeks.

All 10 cases are in those over the age of 50 and one is in their 80s, Japanese broadcaster NHK said.

Two of them are said to be Japanese, and none are in "serious condition", it added.

"We had them [the ones who tested positive] get off the vessel and... we are sending them to medical organisations," Japanese Health Minister Katsunobu Kato said at a news conference on Wednesday.

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From:	WEBELIAHU	2/6/20 9:10 AM
To:	All	(21 of 6486)

10301.21 in reply to 10301.20

February 6, 2020

“On late Saturday evening (Feb. 1), Tencent, on its webpage titled ‘Epidemic Situation Tracker,’ showed confirmed cases of novel coronavirus (2019nCoV) in China as standing at 154,023, 10 times the official figure at the time. It listed the number of suspected cases as 79,808, four times the official figure...Netizens noticed that Tencent has on at least three occasions posted extremely high numbers, only to quickly lower them to government-approved statistics.”

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/02/epidemic-tracker-in-china-may-have-accidentally-leaked-real-data-on-wuhan-virus-deaths-and-theyre-bad/

Epidemic Tracker In China May Have Accidentally Leaked Real Data On Wuhan Virus Deaths — And They’re Bad

Tencent, a multinational conglomerate holding company in China, may have accidentally leaked the real data on the Wuhan virus.

The real spread and death toll of the coronavirus is unknown, as China controls all information on the deadly pneumonia-like virus. But some interesting numbers recently appeared that might give a real clue to its spread.

But that report didn’t last long.

“Moments later, Tencent updated the numbers to reflect the government’s ‘official’ numbers that day. Netizens noticed that Tencent has on at least three occasions posted extremely high numbers, only to quickly lower them to government-approved statistics,” the news site reported.

Theories quickly emerged about the differing numbers. Some speculated that Tencent has two sets of data, the “real data” and “processed” data., and that some sort of coding problem caused the “real” data to accidentally appear on its webpage.

Others speculate that the numbers are even worse than Tencent said, noting that as the virus sweeps across rural parts of China, many coronavirus patients die outside of hospitals and are thus not counted.

A U.S. site connected to Johns Hopkins put the numbers far lower, with 24,631 infected, 494 dead and 1,029 “recovered.”

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From:	WEBELIAHU	2/6/20 9:20 AM
To:	All	(22 of 6486)

10301.22 in reply to 10301.20

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From:	WEBELIAHU	2/7/20 8:53 AM
To:	All	(23 of 6486)

10301.23 in reply to 10301.22

February 7, 2020

"The WHO's director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, again said travel bans were unnecessary..."The chance of getting this (virus) going to anywhere outside China is very low, and even in China when you go to other provinces, it's very low," he added."

The purpose of travel bans are to make sure the chances of contracting this virus REMAIN very low...especially when we know so little about how this virus can spread, and with a pandemic remaining a possibility.

https://www.jpost.com/International/China-to-allow-in-US-health-experts-as-virus-shows-no-sign-of-slowing-616419

China to allow in U.S. health experts as virus shows no sign of slowing

The White House said on Monday China had accepted its offer to have U.S. experts as part of a WHO mission to study and help combat the virus that emerged in Hubei's provincial capital of Wuhan.

China has agreed to allow U.S. health experts into the country as part of a World Health Organization (WHO) effort to help fight the fast-spreading coronavirus, as the number of cases and deaths continued to mount.

In central China's Hubei province, epicenter of the epidemic, China state TV reported there were 2,345 new cases of the virus and another 64 deaths, bringing the total of virus-related fatalities in Hubei to 414 by Monday.

The Chinese stock market plunged about 8% on Monday, wiping $393 billion off the value of the Shanghai bourse, on the first day of trading following an extended Lunar New Year holiday in a bid to help keep people at home and contain the virus' spread.

The White House said on Monday China had accepted its offer to have U.S. experts as part of a WHO mission to study and help combat the virus that emerged in Hubei's provincial capital of Wuhan. A 1,000-bed hospital built in eight days to treat people with the virus in Wuhan was due to receive its first patients on Monday, state media said. A second hospital with 1,600 beds is due to be operational later this week.

With Wuhan and some other Chinese cities in virtual lockdown, travel severely restricted and China facing increasing international isolation, fears of wider economic disruption are growing. Sources at the OPEC oil cartel told Reuters producers were considering cutting output by almost a third to support prices.

The WHO last week declared the flu-like virus a global emergency. It has spread to 23 other countries and regions. The Philippines reported the first coronavirus death outside of China. Airlines around the world have stopped flights to parts of China. A suspension by the United Arab Emirates on Monday will affect the Gulf airlines Etihad and Emirates.

Earlier on Monday, China accused the United States of spreading fear by pulling its citizens out and severely restricting travel.

Washington has "unceasingly manufactured and spread panic," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told reporters, noting that the WHO had advised against trade and travel curbs.

"It is precisely developed countries like the United States with strong epidemic prevention capabilities and facilities that have taken the lead in imposing excessive restrictions contrary to WHO recommendations," she said.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) defended the measures taken by the United States, including suspending the entry of foreign nationals who had visited China within the past 14 days.

"We made an aggressive decision in front of an unprecedented threat that action now had the biggest potential to slow this thing down. That's what the theory is here," said Nancy Messonnier, director of the CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, as she noted that there are already some 17,000 cases of a virus for which the population does not have immunity.

'NO REASON' FOR TRAVEL CURBS

The WHO's director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, again said travel bans were unnecessary.

"There is no reason for measures that unnecessarily interfere with international travel and trade," he told the WHO's executive board in Geneva.

"The chance of getting this (virus) going to anywhere outside China is very low, and even in China when you go to other provinces, it's very low," he added.

The outbreak is reminiscent of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), a virus from the same family that emerged in China in 2002 and killed almost 800 people around the world out of the roughly 8,000 who were infected.

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From:	WEBELIAHU	2/7/20 8:53 AM
To:	All	(24 of 6486)

10301.24 in reply to 10301.23

February 7, 2020

"Our goal is first to delay the arrival of the virus to Israel – I say 'delay' because it is inevitable that it will arrive here – and then to treat, to identify those infected, to isolate them and treat them."

https://m.jpost.com/HEALTH-SCIENCE/Netanyahu-No-room-for-bureaucracy-when-it-comes-to-treating-coronavirus-616229

Netanyahu approves plan for coronavirus vaccine research base

"Nothing should be spared, and there is no room for bureaucracy when it comes to treating the virus," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu instructed health authorities to work toward a vaccination against the novel coronavirus and approved plans to establish a vaccine factory in the country on Sunday, amid the continued spread of the illness across the globe.

Plans to build a local vaccine production facility were presented by Health Minister Ya'acov Litzman at an emergency meeting on Sunday to discuss the threat posed by the virus, together with ministers and representatives from the Health, Finance, Foreign and Justice Ministries.

"Our preparations [for the virus] will include all branches of the Israeli government," said Netanyahu following the meeting. "Our goal is first to delay the arrival of the virus to Israel – I say 'delay' because it is inevitable that it will arrive here – and then to treat, to identify those infected, to isolate them and treat them."

Netanyahu paid tribute to the Chinese authorities for their efforts to contain the virus, and added that Israel was working with the Palestinian Authority to ensure the implementation of necessary health measures.

"I am making it clear that the State of Israel is currently ahead of the world in many things, even in addressing this issue and we intend to lead in another aspect. I have instructed the Israel Institute for Biological Research and the Ministry of Health to act to create a vaccine for the virus as well as establish a vaccine factory," Netanyahu said. "It is possible that even on this issue, if we work fast enough, with an appropriate budget and the talented people that we have, that Israel will be ahead of the world here too."

The death toll from the coronavirus has now exceeded 300, with over 14,000 confirmed infections worldwide. The first death outside of China was reported on Sunday, when a 44-year-old Chinese resident of Wuhan – the origin and epicenter of the virus – traveling in the Philippines died after developing "severe pneumonia."

Dozens of Israelis arrived on Sunday morning on the last two flights into the country from China before a ban on flights. Those passengers included employees of the Israeli Embassy in China, who swore to stay in isolation for two weeks after landing. At noon, new rules came into force prohibiting foreign nationals who had been to China in the past two weeks from entering Israel.

Following the World Health Organization's declaration of a global health emergency, Israel's Foreign Ministry released a statement recommending that citizens "refrain from flying to China." They also recommended that anyone currently in China leave and return to Israel via a third country due to the cessation of direct flights.

Litzman and Interior Minister Arye Deri toured Ben-Gurion Airport on Sunday afternoon to evaluate measures implemented by the Population and Immigration Authority to prevent the entry of foreign nationals who have recently spent time in China.

"We will not permit anything that will result in harm to public health," said Litzman at the airport. "We are almost certain that the virus will unfortunately arrive in Israel, and we are prepared to do everything that is necessary to take care of it."

Deri said that there was no need for hysteria but that Israel would not be taking "any risks where it concerns human lives" and there was no room for discretion in measures decided by the health authorities. A total of 35 Chinese citizens who arrived on a flight from Moscow on Saturday were refused entry, he said.

Across Israel, several individuals who returned to the country from China in recent days were admitted for tests amid suspicion that they may have contracted the virus. A woman in her fifties from the Golan Heights was sent to the Baruch Padeh Medical Center in Poriya on Sunday after having returned from a business trip to China 10 days prior. She was subsequently instructed to remain in isolation at home and is awaiting test results.

"Our measures are very responsible and are in strict accordance with the new recommendations of the Health Ministry in Israel," said Chen. "The panic is more harmful than the virus itself and can cause greater damage. We appreciate the help from the Israeli government, and we hope this will continue."

The Manufacturers Association of Israel announced that it would open a situation room on Sunday evening to assist Israeli businesses who have not received supplies or payments from Chinese customers.

"The coronavirus that is currently paralyzing the Chinese economy proves that the State of Israel must not lose its manufacturing and economic independence," said president Dr. Ron Tomer, who was appointed to head the association on Thursday.

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From:	WEBELIAHU	2/7/20 9:01 AM
To:	All	(25 of 6486)

10301.25 in reply to 10301.20

February 7, 2020

"The Global Times also reported on Thursday that “a type of herbal soup” has allegedly cured 90 percent of coronavirus patients who drank it and that the Chinese government is issuing awards to doctors who initially responded to the outbreak."

What happened to the other 10%? At this time, over 90% of coronavirus patients are being cured even without the herbal soup.

https://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2020/02/06/coronavirus-death-toll-breaks-record-again-with-73-dead-in-one-day/

Coronavirus Death Toll Breaks Record Again with 73 Dead in One Day

China logged the deadliest day on record on Wednesday since the novel coronavirus outbreak afflicting the nation began in December, breaking a record set only on Tuesday and defying clamor from state propaganda outlets last week that the rates of infection and death were declining.

At press time, Chinese and global health officials have confirmed 28,396 cases of the coronavirus, identified only on January 20, and 566 patients dying from the disease. Only three of these have died outside of China. Officials also claimed that 1,341 people have recovered from coronavirus infection, suggesting that a significant number of those infected do overcome the illness.

The South China Morning Post noted on Thursday that Chinese officials documented 73 deaths between Wednesday and Thursday, the highest recorded in one day. That number was 64 deaths on Tuesday, the previous record.

The number of documented cases on Wednesday fell compared to Tuesday, however.

“The last time the rise in new infection figures slowed was January 28, after the daily increase in confirmed cases again rose on Tuesday – 3,887 in China, of which 3,156 were in Hubei,” the Post noted.

Among the new patients are newborn infants whose mothers are carriers of the virus, suggesting that the virus may infect in utero. Doctors have emphasized the potential that the children contracted the virus after being born, as the first patient tested positive for the virus 30 hours after being born, so no confirmation exists yet that the new infection route in the mother’s womb exists.

The current official mortality rate of the virus is hovering around two percent and includes a significant percentage of older patients and at-risk patients with prior illnesses. This number may be significantly inflated by the fact that Chinese officials did not tell health workers in Wuhan, the city where the virus originated, that the virus was contagious through the breath of a carrier, so hospitals did not isolate potential carriers, spreading the disease to people already hospitalized. The Chinese government also held a banquet for 130,000 people the weekend before it announced it had identified the virus, targeting older “empty nest” residents of Wuhan.

“Be cautious and say no to family banquet amid coronavirus outbreak: a family reunion among 9 people in Nanjing, East China’s Jiangsu, contaminated 8 while 1 initially became a virus spreader,” the Chinese state propaganda outlet Global Times warned on Thursday, over two weeks after the state-sponsored banquet.

The Global Times also reported on Thursday that “a type of herbal soup” has allegedly cured 90 percent of coronavirus patients who drank it and that the Chinese government is issuing awards to doctors who initially responded to the outbreak.

While the government hands out rewards, locals in Wuhan report “severe” hospital bed shortages despite the alleged construction of an entirely new hospital in Wuhan in little over a week.

“Despite authorities building a hospital from scratch and converting public buildings to accommodate thousands of extra patients, there was still a ‘severe’ lack of beds, said Hu Lishan, an official in Wuhan,” the Hong Kong Free Press (HKFP) reported. “There was also a shortage of ‘equipment and materials,’ he told reporters, adding that officials were looking to convert other hotels and schools in the city into treatment centres.”

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From:	WEBELIAHU	2/7/20 9:16 AM
To:	All	(26 of 6486)

10301.26 in reply to 10301.20

February 7, 2020

"Li was one of eight people notoriously arrested in December for “rumor-mongering” by warning colleagues about the highly contagious nature of the Wuhan virus. He went on to contract the virus in January from one of his patients and has been hospitalized for several weeks."

https://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2020/02/06/china-reports-deletes-again-reports-death-wuhan-virus-whistleblower-doctor/

China Reports, Deletes, Then Again Reports Death of Wuhan Virus Whistleblower Doctor

Several Chinese state media outlets reported the death of Dr. Li Wenliang on Thursday, only to delete their reports a few hours later and publish new bulletins indicating he remains in critical condition at Wuhan Central Hospital.

No explanation was offered for why the death of Li, who was arrested for “spreading rumors” after providing one of the earliest warnings about the true danger of the coronavirus epidemic, was incorrectly reported by state-controlled media.

Li was one of eight people notoriously arrested in December for “rumor-mongering” by warning colleagues about the highly contagious nature of the Wuhan virus. He went on to contract the virus in January from one of his patients and has been hospitalized for several weeks.

“We are deeply saddened by the passing of Dr Li Wenliang. We all need to celebrate work that he did,” said the World Health Organization in a tweet that was also subsequently deleted.

Foreign Policy anointed Li the “first virus martyr” when news of his death was published, noting that a large-scale scrubbing of news and social media posts about him commenced immediately.

FP was skeptical of the subsequent claims that Li is still alive, suspecting Beijing is trying to determine whether it can sell angry citizens on the image of Li as a Party hero who gave his life trying to protect the people:

His death was widely reported on Thursday morning, to the great dismay of the Chinese public, which expressed anger that a heroic whistleblower died from the coronavirus after suffering mistreatment by the authorities, and fear that a 34-year-old man in seemingly good health could die from the disease. According to official Chinese government reports, most of the roughly 560 people who have died from the Wuhan virus to date were elderly or had serious medical conditions before they contracted the disease.

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From:	WEBELIAHU	2/9/20 8:23 AM
To:	All	(27 of 6486)

10301.27 in reply to 10301.20

February 9, 2020

"The infant suggests yet another avenue for the virus to spread. Currently, the virus is believed to spread most commonly through moisture particles in the area, meaning the breath of a carrier could infect someone. This makes the virus significantly more contagious than Ebola, for example, that can only be transmitted through extensive exposure to a carrier’s blood."

https://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2020/02/05/china-diagnoses-30-hour-old-baby-with-coronavirus/

China Diagnoses 30-Hour-Old Baby with Coronavirus

Doctors in Wuhan, China, identified the youngest known carrier of coronavirus on Wednesday: a 30-day-old infant whose mother tested positive for the virus while pregnant.

China is confronting a rapidly accelerating outbreak of a previously unknown coronavirus that it acknowledged publicly on January 20, a month after locals in Wuhan said they began hearing of an illness spreading rapidly. Over 20,000 people have been diagnosed as carrying the new coronavirus and nearly 500 people have died, the majority of them in China. The virus has begun spreading from human to human in several Asian countries, however, including Thailand and Singapore.

The new coronavirus is believed to be a relative of the common cold and the Sudden Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) virus, producing similar symptoms like fever, cough, and body aches. Those who have died have developed advanced pneumonia and are believed to be largely elderly people and those already suffering from prior illness. As China did not alert its health workers of the highly contagious nature of the virus, hospitals did not adequately isolate patients with flu-like symptoms before January 20, likely leading to widespread infection in at-risk populations already hospitalized.

The South China Morning Post cited the Communist Party’s CCTV broadcaster Wednesday in confirming that a 30-hour infant tested positive for the virus in Wuhan, where it originated. The baby’s mother also tested positive for the virus before giving birth, suggesting that the child could have been infected in the womb. Doctors are not yet certain, given the 30 hours in between birth and confirmation of infection, if the child was already carrying coronavirus in the womb or became infected after contact with the mother following birth.

The infant suggests yet another avenue for the virus to spread. Currently, the virus is believed to spread most commonly through moisture particles in the area, meaning the breath of a carrier could infect someone. This makes the virus significantly more contagious than Ebola, for example, that can only be transmitted through extensive exposure to a carrier’s blood. If the virus can reach a baby in the womb, it may also have the potential to complicate pregnancies like the Zika virus, which results in mild symptoms when passed to adults but severely deforms an unborn child’s brain.

The Wuhan newborn is among the 3,887 people confirmed as carriers of the new coronavirus on Wednesday, the highest number in any one day since the outbreak began. The total number of confirmed cases worldwide is currently at 24,629 and 492 people have died, all but two within China. The death toll between Tuesday and Wednesday, 65 people, is also the largest number in a single day, calling into question adamant assertions by Chinese state media and government officials last week that the rate of infection had started to decline.

Outside of China, health authorities are concerned with preventing the virus from spreading in the wild, isolating individuals coming into outside countries from China. Hong Kong, Singapore, and Thailand have all documented cases of human-to-human transmission – that is, infections that occurred outside of the epicenter of the outbreak – alarming locals who fear they can become infected by being out in public in their home countries. Japan is also handling an outbreak that occurred on a cruise ship housing 3,700 passengers, quarantining the ship after a passenger tested positive for the virus upon returning from a vacation on the ship.

Unrest in Hong Kong, already at near-peak levels before the viral outbreak due to increasingly belligerent political moves by Beijing, has swept the virus response into its storm. Thousands of health workers in the city are currently on strike in protest against Chief Executive Carrie Lam refusing to shut Hong Kong’s border with China, choosing instead to keep some smaller points of entry open for those who commute to and from China regularly. As of Tuesday, 7,000 health workers were on strike. Health workers fear that they do not have the resources possible to adequately do their jobs if the border remain open, potentially flooding Hong Kong hospitals with patients from China. Tens of thousands of people crossed the border into Hong Kong on Tuesday, according to Hong Kong broadcaster RTHK. One of two deaths outside of China occurred in Hong Kong; the other was a traveler from Wuhan in the Philippines.

“If we don’t stop the virus at its source, even if we have more manpower, resources or more isolation wards, the problem cannot be solved,” Winnie Yu of the Hong Kong Hospital Authority Employees Alliance said on Tuesday.

The strike has yielded minimal results as Lam, inch by inch, has conceded some policy changes. On Wednesday, Lam announced that the government would quarantine any individual crossing the border from China for 14 days as of next Saturday.

While Hong Kong residents demand to be sealed off from China, Taiwan has moved to seal itself off from Hong Kong, citing the open border as a security risk.

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From:	WEBELIAHU	2/9/20 8:25 AM
To:	All	(28 of 6486)

10301.28 in reply to 10301.27

February 9, 2020

"More than 700 families have asked the association for help. It estimated that the city had at least 600,000 to 800,000 pet cats and dogs."

https://www.breitbart.com/asia/2020/02/03/wuhan-volunteers-rush-to-save-pets-left-home-alone-in-virus-city/

Wuhan Volunteers Rush to Save Pets Left Home Alone in Virus City

Volunteer groups have begun working in virus-hit Wuhan, China, and rescued more than 200 animals left alone at home by owners who failed to return before the city’s lockdown on Jan 23.

The hashtag “save the pets left behind in Wuhan” became the third-most searched term on the Twitter-like Weibo platform Monday.

It drew millions of views from those unable to return to the city, where the virus is believed to have originated, and others willing to help them save their animals from starving to death in locked apartments.

“Please help me feed my cat”, one user posted on January 30.

On Monday, he used the hashtag to post the happy news he had found a “young man” who had agreed to go and feed his cat Maomao.

“In the video chat, after the man opened the door Maomao meowed so miserably, no one has been home for more than a dozen days…” he said.

More than 2,000 people also joined a group created by the Wuhan Small Animal Protection Association on Chinese chat app QQ to look for “kind-hearted people” willing to feed pets left behind by fleeing owners or those simply unable to return.

The China Daily/Asia News Network reports not all residents are as keen to help as others in a city that has now become the ground zero of the coronavirus outbreak.

“If we didn’t offer help, the dogs and cats would have decomposed at home before their owners returned, ” Du Fan, president of the Wuhan Small Animal Protection Association, was quoted as saying by Red Star News.

“It’s our responsibility to help the animals.”

In some residential communities where coronavirus patients have been found, those checking on animals were refused entry out of fear of spreading the disease.

“We understand why they rejected us, ” Du said. “But we feel sad and helpless.”

More than 700 families have asked the association for help. It estimated that the city had at least 600,000 to 800,000 pet cats and dogs.

The drive to save pets comes after multiple Chinese media reports said apartment complexes had banned pets to stop the spread of the virus, as well as unverified reports that people had thrown animals to their deaths for similar reasons.

While the coronavirus is believed to have crossed over from animals to humans at a Wuhan market known for selling live wildlife, the World Health Organization has said on its Weibo account there is “no evidence that dogs, cats and other pets can catch the novel coronavirus.”

China is home to a growing population of pet owners, with pet-related spending in China reaching 170.8 billion yuan ($23.7 billion) in 2018, according to a report by Pet Fair Asia and pet website Goumin.com.

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From:	WEBELIAHU	2/9/20 8:36 AM
To:	All	(29 of 6486)

10301.29 in reply to 10301.20

February 9, 2020

"Barkai said she envisions that if and when the virus comes to Israel, there might be multiple patients who are diagnosed with it at the same time. Sheba has only a limited number of isolation rooms, and if there are too many coronavirus patients, staff and patients could be at risk, even if extreme precautions are taken."

This does not apply only to Israel, it applies everywhere.

https://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Israels-Sheba-unveils-first-known-coronavirus-telemedicine-program-616632

Israel’s Sheba unveils first known coronavirus telemedicine program

“By minimizing direct contact between the patients and medical personnel, we reduce the percentage risk of healthcare staff contacting the virus.”

Sheba Medical Center has launched the first known coronavirus telemedicine program in the world this week, according to the hospital. The program, which is being tested on Israeli patients suspected of having the respiratory virus, is twofold, according to Dr. Galia Barkai, head of telemedicine services at Sheba.

First, the hospital is using a Vici telemedicine solution designed by California-based virtual healthcare company Intouch Health, which looks like a robot and can enter the infected person’s room and be controlled by doctors or nurses from the outside. The robot can monitor the patient’s vital signs, including heart rate.

“This is one way to use telemedicine to protect our staff,” Barkai explained. “By minimizing direct contact between the patients and medical personnel, we reduce the percentage risk of healthcare staff contracting the virus.”

In addition, the hospital plans to provide its Datos Health-designed telemedicine application to less severely ill patients, who can then be monitored by medical professionals from the comfort and isolation of their own homes.

Barkai said she envisions that if and when the virus comes to Israel, there might be multiple patients who are diagnosed with it at the same time. Sheba has only a limited number of isolation rooms, and if there are too many coronavirus patients, staff and patients could be at risk, even if extreme precautions are taken.

“Less severe patients could be monitored outside the hospital,” she explained. “We would give them our telemedicine application and communicate with them via video at least twice a day. This would allow them to stay more comfortably in their homes and reduce risk within the hospital.”

Barkai noted that, so far, Israel does not have patients who have tested positive for the new coronavirus, but that the hospital started testing the system Tuesday on those people who returned from China, reported to the hospital and were put on home quarantine for 14 days – the incubation period of the virus.

“Although we don’t have any positive patients in Israel, we are always dealing with suspected patients and preparing for the worst-case scenario,” she said. “So, we are creating all these systems to help us deal with the occasion when we might have to deal with many patients.”

The death toll from the monthlong virus outbreak has risen to close to 500 worldwide, all except a few occurring in China, and there continues to be a surge of new cases. Figures released Tuesday by the World Health Organization showed that, so far, 20,630 people in 23 countries are known to have been infected with the coronavirus. A Wednesday report by China’s Health Commission reported nearly 4,000 additional confirmed cases.

On Tuesday, Sheba ran the first drill in its new field hospital, which could be used as a dedicated external unit for treating coronavirus patients. The modular unit can be erected quickly in a nearby open area, much like a military field hospital, and would include a special area for examining those people suspected of having the virus, as well as an isolation area for those who test positive.

Doctors working in the unit, according to a release by Sheba, would be able to provide all the medical services available in the inpatient hospital building. However, patients hospitalized at Sheba for other reasons would benefit from keeping coronavirus patients outside the main building, as sick people are often immunosuppressed and could be more susceptible to catching the potentially lethal virus.

OVER THE past week, the country has convened several high-level meetings to discuss the coronavirus threat. On Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with senior government, health and emergency service executives to help ensure that the country is prepared to protect itself from and combat the spread of the virus.

Edited February 12, 2020 8:01 am by WEBELIAHU

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