- Zhong, a pivotal figure in Chinese response to Sars crisis, says involvement of Hong Kong infectious disease expert Yuen Kwok-yung shows Beijing has no secrets
- Yuen has warned that the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan has taken a step closer to a full-blown community epidemic
Chinese officials have been transparent in handling the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak and the participation of a Hong Kong professor through the process indicates that Beijing has no secrets to hide, said one of the country's leading experts on communicable diseases.
Dr Zhong Nanshan, whose team is advising the leadership on how to handle the crisis, told a news conference in Guangzhou on Tuesday that China had not held back information in reporting the outbreak in Wuhan, which has sickened more than 300 people across the country since early December.
China virus death toll rises to 6 as Wuhan steps up controls
As of Tuesday night, Chinese authorities said, at least six people " all in Wuhan " have died after contracting the virus and a total of 15 medical personnel, also in Wuhan, have been infected.
Zhong cited the involvement of Professor Yuen Kwok-yung, a top infectious-disease expert at the University of Hong Kong, as proof that Chinese leaders understand the importance of transparency in handling the public health emergency.
Yuen was among a group of experts who visited Wuhan on Sunday to assess the situation in the central China city, which has a population of 11 million. Speaking in Hong Kong on Tuesday, Yuen warned that the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan has entered the stage of transmission among families and hospitals, taking it a step closer to a full-blown community epidemic.
Wuhan virus in transmission stage among families and hospitals, expert warns
"This time I worked together with Professor Yuan to determine how the infection has spread (in China)," said Zhong, who was China's best-known expert during the 2002-2003 Sars crisis, which killed more than 700 people globally.
"Phase one of the transmission is from animals to human … and we are now in phase two, which is about human to human."
"According to Professor Yuen, we will be in phase three if we have a clear spreader of the virus," he added.
Zhong said that Yuen's participation should help allay concerns among that China would cover up the epidemic or was reluctant to share information.
China's credibility raised as it tries to dispel fears it will cover up spread of virus
"There are people in Hong Kong who believed that China would not report the infections truthfully," Zhong said. "But Professor Yuen has now participated in a number of our major meetings (about the outbreak) including the one chaired by Vice-Premier Sun Chunlan and he (Yuen) had even offered some suggestions in the meetings."
"He has very good ideas of what's happening in China," Zhong added.
"So he has taken part in our highest level of discussions and he has knowledge of how we are handling the situations," Zhong said. "(This) also enables us to have relatively good cooperation with the authorities in Hong Kong, both in the government and technical levels."
Regarding criticism that Wuhan had been slow in publicising information about the outbreak, Zhong defended the municipal government, saying that local officials had tried their best to report suspected cases as fast as possible and that they could only confirm cases after test results had been verified by higher authorities.
He supported the decision by the Wuhan government to impose a travel ban on travellers who have been detected with high temperatures " a symptom of infection.
"The leadership in Wuhan is very concerned about outbound travel and has taken serious steps to monitor passengers' temperature," he said. "The government would stop any passengers who have developed a fever, and I fully support such measures."
First Wuhan coronavirus case confirmed in United States
Reports that the virus was spreading raised particular concern, as more than 450 million Chinese are expected to travel over the Lunar New Year holiday period, according to official estimates. On Tuesday the US Centres for Disease Control and protection confirmed that the first known case of Wuhan coronavirus had been identified in the United States.
Zhong warned that the current outbreak could exacerbate if more medical personnel catch the virus.
"We must pay special attention to hospitals so they would not fall to human-to-human transmission," he said. "The consequence can be very serious if infection happens between patients and doctors."
"We must keep up our guard so our hospitals would not become the venues where the disease spreads," he added.
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