Asia steps up defences as China confirms sixth coronavirus death

Nations increase fever checks at airports amid fears of a bigger outbreak of the virus that causes pneumonia.

Asian countries have ramped up measures to block the spread of a new virus as the death toll in China rose to six and the number of cases jumped to almost 300, raising concerns in the middle of a major holiday travel rush.

From Australia to Thailand and as far as Nepal, nations stepped up fever checks of passengers at airports to detect the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)-like coronavirus, which first emerged in the central Chinese city of Wuhan.

Footage from Twitter reportedly shows checks occurring on aircraft in Wuhan: "[A scary sentence] I just returned from Wuhan!"

Zhou Xianwang, mayor of Wuhan, told state broadcaster CCTV on Tuesday that the death toll had risen from four to six.

Fears of a bigger outbreak increased after a prominent expert from China's National Health Commission confirmed late on Monday that the virus can be passed between people.

Zhong Nanshan, head of the National Health Commission, said there was no danger of a repeat of 2002's SARS epidemic that killed nearly 800 people across the world, as long as precautions were taken.

"It took only two weeks to identify the novel coronavirus," state news agency Xinhua quoted Zhong as saying late on Monday.

Earlier, Zhong acknowledged patients may have contracted the new virus without having visited the central city of Wuhan where the infection is thought to have originated in a seafood market.

"Currently, it can be said it is affirmative that there is the phenomenon of human-to-human transmission," he said in an interview with state broadcaster CCTV.

China said it would attend a special World Health Organization (WHO) meeting on Wednesday which will determine whether to declare a rare global public health emergency over the disease, which was detected in Thailand, Japan and South Korea among four people who had visited Wuhan.

Outbreak spreads

Almost 80 new cases have been confirmed, bringing the total number of people hit by the virus in China to 291, with the vast majority in Hubei, the province where Wuhan lies, and others in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong, according to the National Health Commission.

State media said one case was found in Zhejiang province.

Australia on Tuesday said it would screen passengers on flights from Wuhan amid rising concerns that the virus will spread globally as Chinese travellers take flights abroad for the Lunar New Year holiday that starts this week.

A man showing symptoms of the new disease who had travelled to Wuhan was in isolation as health officials awaited test results, public broadcaster ABC reported on Tuesday

"The outbreak could perhaps not have come at a worse time," said Al Jazeera's Katrina Wu, who is in Beijing.

"This is the peak travel season in China. The government has always boasted that during the Lunar New Year you see two to three billion trips being made across the country and Wuhan is not a small city; it's about 11 million people who will be travelling not only in China, but overseas. It's a major transport hub."

Authorities around the globe, including in the United States and many Asian countries, have stepped up the screening of travellers from Wuhan.

Zhong, the head of the National Health Commission, said two people in Guangdong province in southern China caught the disease from family members who had visited Wuhan.

He added that 14 medical staff helping with coronavirus patients had also been infected.

The Wuhan virus causes a type of pneumonia and belongs to the same family of coronaviruses as SARS. Symptoms include fever and difficulty in breathing, which are similar to many other respiratory diseases and pose complications for screening efforts.

SARS originated in southern China in 2002 and spread to 26 countries across the world over the following months, infecting more than 8,000 people before it was brought under control, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

The WHO, which is due to hold an emergency meeting on the outbreak on Wednesday, has said an animal source appeared most likely to be the primary origin of the Wuhan outbreak

Enhanced screening

South Korea on Monday reported its first case of the new coronavirus - a 35-year-old woman who had flown in from Wuhan.

Thailand and Japan previously confirmed a total of three cases - all of whom had visited the Chinese city.

© Aly Song/ReutersThe outbreak is spreading as China gears up for the Lunar New Year festival when hundreds of thousands of people visit family or take holidays

WHO has said the jump in new cases was the result of "increased searching and testing for [the virus] among people sick with respiratory illness".

Wuhan authorities said they have installed infrared thermometers at airports, and railway and coach stations across the city. Passengers with fever were being registered, given masks and taken to medical institutions.

Chinese state media moved to calm the mood as discussion swelled on social media about the coronavirus spreading to other Chinese cities.

Weighing in on the matter for the first time, China's President Xi Jinping said on Monday that safeguarding people's lives should be given "top priority" and that the spread of the epidemic "should be resolutely contained", according to CCTV.

Xi said it was necessary to "release information on the epidemic in a timely manner and deepen international cooperation", and ensure people have a "stable and peaceful Spring Festival", the broadcaster said.

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Thousands of gun-rights supporters and militia members have gathered at the Virginia State Capitol in Richmond, in an armed show of defiance against a slew of gun laws proposed by Governor Ralph Northam.

Northam - who shot to international infamy last year when a yearbook picture of him in blackface surfaced - has proposed a bevy of new gun laws in the wake of a mass shooting at Virginia Beach last May. Democrats took control of the state's House of Representatives and Senate in November, giving Northam the political path to passing these laws. The proposed measures include universal background checks, 'red flag' laws, and a restriction on handgun purchases. A highly controversial ban on AR-style semi-automatic rifles was struck out by the State Senate last week.

© Reuters / Jonathan DrakeArmed militia members stand with people dressed in American revolution-era attire at a rally near Virginia's Capitol

President Donald Trump has lent his support to the gun activists, warning Virginians: "The Democrat Party in the Great Commonwealth of Virginia are working hard to take away your 2nd Amendment rights. This is just the beginning. Don't let it happen, VOTE REPUBLICAN in 2020."

Talking heads in the media and Hollywood tried to paint the pro-Second Amendment supporters in Richmond, Virginia as racist or potentially violent, creating a much gloomier image than the one that transpired in reality.

Folks walking around the Virginia State Capitol in Richmond with semi-automatic weapons strapped over their shoulders had anti-gun activists up in arms and concerned, but the pro-Second Amendment protest — which was against new anti-gun measures proposed by Governor Ralph Northam — ended up being quite peaceful.

'Westworld' actor Jeffrey Wright was similarly bothered by the gun-wielding protesters. He tweeted that the protest was "gun circle jerk" and said it had a "Klan-like rally smell" to it. This is despite the fact that plenty of videos and pictures showed minorities protesting for gun rights too.

"This is what's happening in Virginia right now. Trump's America," Democrat activist and Charmed actress Alyssa Milano tweeted in response to a video of protesters showing up, sporting rifles and tactical gear.

Mainstream media outlets got serious pushback from supporters of the rally and rally attendees for their coverage of the day's events.

MSNBC correspondent Gabe Gutierrez found himself in hot water when he tweeted a video of a large group of protesters saying the pledge of allegiance and captioned the video with: "Chants of 'we will not comply' from gun rights protesters in Richmond."

Since the audio in the video did not match what Gutierrez was saying, commentators like Ben Shapiro and Dana Loesch immediately descended on the man.

"We all have ears, dude. That's not what they're chanting," Shapiro tweeted.

Hours after his original post, Gutierrez posted the actual video of protesters chanting, "we will not comply." This video was of a much smaller group and its delayed posting led to more criticism.

"This should have been first with the proper context. I see no problem with law-abiding Americans peacefully assembling, as is their right, stating that they will not comply with unlawful orders that rob them of constitutionally protected rights," Loesch wrote in response to the new video.

MSNBC, Huffington Post and other outlets promoted the idea that thousands of "extremists" and "white nationalists" would descend on Virginia in support of gun rights, the coverage ended up being a far cry from the predicted doom.

MSNBC reporter Ben Collins deleted a tweet where he called the rally a "white nationalist rally."

CNN said ahead of the rally that the FBI was working with law enforcement to prepare for"threats of violence." They later had to report that the event ended "peacefully."

One video even showed protesters cleaning up after themselves as the rally came to a close.