Asian countries face possible second wave of
coronavirus infections
Daily numbers of confirmed cases rising again as
people rush home to beat border closures
Helen
Davidson
@heldavidson
Email
Thu 2 Apr
2020 08.44 BSTLast modified on Thu 2 Apr 2020 09.14 BST
Asian
countries that started to feel tentative hope that their responses to the
coronavirus pandemic were bearing fruit are now facing possible second waves,
brought by a rush of panicked people racing home to beat border closures and
quarantine orders.
As daily
numbers of confirmed cases start to rise again, and new evidence of
asymptomatic cases spark fear of unwitting community transmission, many have
now brought in far stricter measures.
Jason
Kindrachuk, assistant professor and Canada research chair at Manitoba
University’s department of medical microbiology & infectious diseases, said
it was hard to know how daily life could return to normal until there was a
vaccine and until governments know what the immunity levels are across the
population.
“The
concern with this virus … is how to reduce social distancing measures and
enforcement in such a way that you don’t reignite transmission chains for the
virus and find yourself back at square one with trying to get things
contained,” he said.
One of the
first affected by the virus, Hong Kong had already closed schools and some
buildings and parks but never enacted a full lockdown.
It has now
banned foreign arrivals, closed venues and restricted gatherings, strengthened
testing, opened quarantine centres, and handed out jail sentences for
non-compliance. Tracking bracelets ensure people mandatorily isolating don’t
leave their homes.
Prof Ben
Cowling, an epidemiologist at Hong Kong University’s school of public health,
said that while Hong Kong could claim to have prevented an epidemic so far,
there was still a risk of one with incoming travellers.
Hong Kong
never saw more than 11 cases confirmed in a day during the early stages of the
outbreak. After thousands of people flew home the number is now regularly above
50, and the city’s health system is strained.
Taiwan’s
response to the pandemic is considered one of the world’s most successful. It
maintains a ban on foreign entrants, and with its infection rate still low –
around 330 cases – is more focused on a spat with the World Health
Organization.
Singapore
is also considered to be an example of best practice but is facing a potential
second wave. Amid warnings of growing community “complacency”, all four of
Singapore’s deaths and more than 60% of its 1,000 or so confirmed cases have
been in the past three weeks.
Singapore
has introduced fines and jail terms for breaching stay-at-home orders, banned
all international short-term visitors and transits, cancelled mass gatherings,
and closed venues, places of worship and educational institutions.
This week
it announced all long term pass-holders needed approval before entering the
country, and cancelled the passport of a citizen who flouted stay-at-home
orders.
Japan’s
daily case reports grew slowly over January and February, not reaching more
than 50 until last month. While it has held off a major outbreak, Tokyo has
become a concern, reporting record high case numbers for four consecutive days
in late March.
The
country’s social distancing and lockdown measures appear far more lax than its
neighbours and there has been accusations of under-testing and speculation the
number of infected people is far higher than reported.
South Korea
was once one of the worst outbreak sites, but after implementing aggressive
contact tracing, quarantining and isolation, it appeared to get control. Amid
fears of a second wave, however, some health experts are calling for the
country to extend its entry ban, currently one of the most lax in the region.
In mainland
China the initial outbreak, which killed thousands, has slowed but there
remains concern over people who returned home from abroad and foreigners, all
of whom have been banned from entering, including those with residency visas.
Restrictions have been lifted in Hubei but across the country people’s
movements are policed by a colour-coded health app.
This week
authorities imposed lockdown on a Chinese county of 600,000 after a woman is
thought to have contracted the virus from asymptomatic doctors at a hospital.
A study in
the Lancet Public Health Journal said the extreme restrictions on Wuhan helped
control the outbreak, and lifting them now could see a second wave by August.
Dozens of
new cases are reported daily in mainland China, almost all imported. However,
there are accusations of coverups, and it was not until this week that Chinese
health authorities included asymptomatic people who tested positive – estimated
to be 18-31% of cases – among its reported number.
China’s
national health commission said that as of Tuesday, 20,000 people were under
observation as possible silent carriers, and the president, Xi Jinping, on a
visit to Zhejiang, called for more focus on asymptomatic cases.
Brazil confirms first indigenous case of
coronavirus in Amazon
Positive test for 20-year-old woman from Kokama tribe
comes amid fears virus could devastate remote communities
Bill and
Melinda Gates FoundationAbout this content
Reuters
Thu 2 Apr
2020 01.51 BST
An
indigenous woman in a village deep in the Amazon rainforest has contracted the
novel coronavirus, the first case reported among Brazil’s more than 300 tribes,
the Health Ministry’s indigenous health service Sesai has said.
The
20-year-old from the Kokama tribe tested positive for the virus in the district
of Santo Antonio do Iá, near the border with Colombia, 880km (550 miles) up the
Amazon river from the state capital Manaus, Sesai said in a statement on
Wednesday.
Four cases
of coronavirus have been confirmed in the same district, including a doctor who
tested positive last week, raising fears the epidemic could spread to remote
and vulnerable indigenous communities with devastating effect.
Sesai said
the woman was a medical worker who had been in contact with the doctor. She was
the only person to test positive among 15 health workers and 12 patients tested
after the doctor was found to have the virus, Sesai said. Their names were not
made public.
The doctor
had returned from vacation in southern Brazil to work with the Tikunas, one of
the largest tribes in the Amazon with more than 30,000 people who live in the
upper Amazon near the borders with Colombia and Peru.
The woman
has not shown symptoms of Covid-19 and has been isolated with her family, Sesai
said.
Health
experts warn that the spreading virus could be lethal for Brazil’s 850,000
indigenous people, who have been decimated for centuries by diseases brought by
Europeans, from smallpox and malaria to the flu.
They fear
indigenous peoples’ way of life in communal hamlets under large thatched
structures increases the risk of contagion if any single member contracts the
virus.
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