News Desk :
Dozens of people are dead in China as the Wuhan coronavirus continues to spread throughout the country.
China’s National Health Commission says the death toll from the new virus has jumped to 41, with more than 1287 infections in 29 provinces across the country.
Besides, fifteen medical workers are among those who have been infected. One doctor has died.
Hundreds of medical personnel have been deployed to Wuhan in Hubei province, the epicenter of the outbreak, where the virus emerged late last year.
China has locked down 18 cities in an effort to contain the coronavirus.
The lockdowns on new cities affect more than 56 million people.
The local government of the virus-hit city said Saturday, “Motor vehicles shall be prohibited from driving in the central urban areas.”
Beijing’s Forbidden City and Shanghai Disneyland have been closed indefinitely. Popular tourist destination Sanya city in Hainan province has closed all tourist sites to prevent the spread of the virus.
Hong Kong has declared a state of emergency, canceling the official Lunar New Year celebration and closing schools.
The virus is also slowly making its way around the world, with five cases have been reported in Thailand, four cases in Australia, each three cases in France, Japan, Malaysia and Taiwan and two cases in United States and Vietnam and one case reported in Nepal. . The UK is investigating a number of suspected cases, with officials trying to trace around 2,000 people who have recently flown to the UK from Hubei province. China’s neighbours in the Asia region are on high alert, with cases reported also in Singapore, and South Korea.
The World Health Organization (WHO) acknowledged that the respiratory illness is an emergency in China, but said it was too early to declare it a global one, partly because of the low number of overseas cases.
Meanwhile, some Bangladeshi students currently staying in Wuhan province in China have made a humanitarian appeal to the Bangladesh authorities to save them from the crisis created after the outbreak of Coronavirus that has already claimed over 40 lives.
On behalf of some students, Sajib Hossain, an Assistant Teacher at Yangtze University in Wuhan province, posted a letter on Facebook addressing the Foreign Ministry in which he sought assistance from the Bangladesh authorities.
Sajib said, “Wuhan city remained shut for the last three days. No car is moving in the town. No food and masks are arriving.”
He wrote, “We cannot go out outside, we have been suffering from food crisis for the last one week and this situation will continue.”
“Over 500 Bangladeshi students are living here. We don’t know what will happen to us. Pray for us,” he added.
They provided mobile numbers bellow their names as-Sajib Hossain +86-155272131514, Naeem Hasan+86-18602736396, Reza Sultanuzzaman +86-13129915142.
Bangladesh Embassy in Beijing has said its officials are in regular contact with the Bangladeshi students living there to assist them following an outbreak of deadly Coronavirus.
“We already have spoken to some of the students at Hubei University in China,” Bangladesh Ambassador to China Mahbub Uz Zaman told media yesterday adding that the Bangladesh Embassy in Beijing opened a hotline number – + (86)-17801116005 for smooth communication round the clock.
Besides, the Deputy Director of the Chinese Foreign Ministry who is the contact and liaison officer is regularly updating the Bangladesh Embassy in Beijing about the situation.
Deputy Chief of Mission (DCM) and Head of Chancery (HOC) of Bangladesh Mission have also added themselves to Wuhan We Chat Group containing 245 students in Wuhan who have apparently been confined as a result of the outbreak of Coronavirus.
Due to Chinese New Year holidays, the Embassy said, most of the Bangladeshi students are on leave and have gone home for vacation.
The Mission is regularly updating the Foreign and Health Ministries here on the situation.
