© Reuters / Carlos Garcia RawlinsPeople wearing face masks exit a subway station following an outbreak of Covid-19, in Beijing, China. March 30, 2020.
No new cases of Covid-19 have been recorded in China's central Hubei Province and its capital Wuhan, where the outbreak originally began, the National Health Commission (NHC) told reporters during a press briefing on Monday.
Overall, 81,470 people have tested positive for the coronavirus in mainland China since the beginning of the outbreak, and 75,770 of them have subsequently recovered and were discharged from the hospitals, a health official said. This makes the recovery rate in the country close to 93 percent.
Chinese doctors have recorded 31 new cases and four deaths in the past 24 hours, with
all but one of the new cases are linked to people arriving from overseas.
Imported cases of Covid-19 are now the government's main concern since NHC spokesperson Mi Feng said on Saturday that the domestic transmission of the disease had "basically been stopped."
There are
currently 723 imported cases of Covid-19 in China after Beijing banned foreigners from visiting the country earlier this week.
Comment: The Chinese embassy in France
says that haters "envy the efficiency of our political system and hate the inability of their own nations to perform as well. So they try to stick the 'dictatorship' label on China." If the disease isn't as bad as everyone thinks, then the "efficiency" of the Chinese response is self-congratulation over nothing (or not much, at least). As Dr. John Lee
puts it:
If we take drastic measures to reduce the incidence of Covid-19, it follows that the deaths will also go down. We risk being convinced that we have averted something that was never really going to be as severe as we feared.
Around the world, global cases
passed 700k. The European death toll
passed 25k (though actual deaths caused by Covid-19 are probably a fraction of that). Spain's rate of fatalities
fell (though health chief Fernando Simon tested
positive, like several other health ministers worldwide). Germany recorded another 4,751
cases (around 800 more than the day before). The UK spread of the virus shows signs of
slowing. (PM Johnson's top adviser Dominic Cummings also came down with
symptoms and is self-isolating. Prince Charles is out of isolation, health
improved.) US cases have almost
reached 150k, with 2,500+ deaths. NYC first responders have had a record number of emergency calls. Athony Almojera, a Fire Department lieutenant and supervisor,
told RT:
"In the last few days we've done over 44,000 calls. Just to give you some perspective, we normally do only about 4,000 calls a day," he explained. "9/11, which was the busiest day for the EMS, we've done 6,300 calls roughly. For the last couple of days we've done over 7,000."
US stocks
rose, but global markets are
sinking. Netanyahu decided to
self-isolate after confirmation that one of his aides tested positive (and after initial reports that Netanyahu wouldn't self-isolate). Iran's FM Zarif says US
sanctions on life-saving drugs are leading Iran into a 'humanitarian catastrophe'. In India, Modi
denied that the lockdown there would be extended past April 14.
And in Russia, the Orthodox Church has told worshipers to
stay at home. In Moscow, data shows that
almost half of Covid-19 patients are between 18 and 40 years old.
See also:
Comment: "Psychopath" and "cash-induced brain disease" victim - just about describes a whole segment of the elite population that have utterly no insight whatsoever, and a near-total lack of ability to empathize with the far greater numbers of individuals who are struggling through this time.