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Workers in protective gear spray disinfectant at a subway station in the South Korean capital Seoul. Photo: AP

Coronavirus: central Chinese city of Wuhan targets price gougers

  • Deputy mayor says vendors in nearly 300 cases ordered to rectify charges for their goods; metropolis has enough food for a month
  • China reports 427 new cases, only four outside Hubei province
Coronavirus infections in South Korea have passed the 3,000 mark, with new figures on Saturday afternoon adding 219 more cases. Earlier, the country reported 594 new infections, exceeding China’s for three straight days.

Beijing announced 427 new cases on Saturday, a day after China’s National Health Commission reported a record low in new infections for February, at 327.

Only four of the new cases on the mainland were recorded outside Hubei – where Covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus emerged – the lowest figure recorded outside the province since January 23, when lockdowns and other massive emergency measures were implemented.

A further 47 new deaths were reported in China, bringing the total to 2,835. Mainland China has now recorded 79,251 infections, with 39,002 patients recovered. South Korea has now reported 3,150 cases.

Wuhan tackles price gougers

Xu Honglan, the deputy mayor of the central Chinese city of Wuhan, said on Saturday that the government had “cracked down” on more than 300 cases of price inflation since the start of the city’s lockdown on January 23.

Of the 339 cases, the accused in 298 instances were ordered to correct their “irregular pricing”.

Xu admitted there were still “shortcomings” in a community-based system to ensure people under lockdown could buy food and supplies, but said the city had enough food to last for a month.

Officials added that amid worker shortages, the costs of logistics and labour had tripled, resulting in rises in food prices.

But Xu also said the government would sell some of it reserves of frozen meat at 15 per cent below the market rate.

Xi takes aim at local government

Chinese President Xi Jinping lashed out at some local governments for their failure to impose adequate prevention and control efforts, in an article in the Communist Party journal Qiushi on Saturday.

Xi said party committees and governments at all levels actively carried out prevention and control work under the central government’s leadership, but some local governments took inappropriate measures and changed policies frequently.

“In some places, there are even crimes that seriously impeded prevention and control work, and the public is dissatisfied with that,” he said, adding that containment efforts were at a critical moment.

Coronavirus hits Chinese economy

The first official economic data confirmed fears that the Chinese economy has been badly hit by the coronavirus, with a February plunge in manufacturing activity.

The official manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) slowed to 35.7, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Saturday, having slipped to 50.0 in January when the full impact of the coronavirus was not yet evident.

A PMI reading of 50 marks the point between expansion and contraction.

China’s factories activity plunges to all-time low amid coronavirus

First ‘reinfection’ case in South Korea

A South Korean woman has tested positive for Covid-19 for a second time, after she was released, fully recovered, from hospital on February 22. This is the first time in South Korea that a person has been “reinfected” with the disease.

The Korea Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) said the 73-year-old woman had been diagnosed with the virus earlier in the month, according to news agency Yonhap. She started showing symptoms again on Thursday and tested positive on Friday.

The report said the woman had not travelled abroad, although her son and daughter-in-law had recently been to China's Guangdong province, and both had contracted the virus

US reports fourth infection of unknown origin

US health officials on Friday reported a fourth case of a coronavirus infection of unknown origin, indicating the disease was spreading in the community.

The latest case, in Washington state, is a boy who tested “presumptive positive” and is currently in home isolation. Local health authorities said the boy’s high school would be closed until March 3 while it is deep cleaned.

‘Don’t discriminate’ China says to Russia

China has responded to reports that its citizens are being targeted in Russia’s hardline precautions against the coronavirus, with a reminder to Moscow of the close political and military ties between the two countries in recent years.

The Chinese embassy in Russia said on Friday that there should be “no discrimination” against its citizens and that measures applied to Chinese living in the country should be “moderate”.

“We hope the measures will be in line with the friendship and the high-level relationship of China and Russia,” an embassy spokesman said.

Virus’ link between bats and humans still unknown

The World Health Organisation published a report on Friday which said bats appeared to be the reservoir for the new coronavirus, but the intermediate host which transmitted the disease to humans had not yet been identified.

Coronavirus adds to long-term challenges for North American Chinatowns

The report – prepared by a joint mission of 25 national and international experts, as well as the WHO – said more than 2,000 health care workers from 476 hospitals across China had contracted the illness, but added hospitals were not major centres for transmission.

Military exercises suspended

China’s defence ministry has said some major military exercises will be suspended because of the coronavirus.

“Since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, the military has been focused on epidemic prevention and control on the one hand, and military training and war preparation on the other, seeking to minimise the impact to our military training,” spokesman Wu Qian said on Saturday.

No details were provided of what exercises would be affected as part of the adjustment to the annual training schedule.

US raises travel warning for Iran, Italy

The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has raised the travel advisory for Italy and Iran to Warning Level 3, recommending travellers avoid all non-essential travel to those countries due to “limited access to adequate medical care in affected areas”.

South Korea and China are in the same category, but the CDC’s advice does not apply to Hong Kong, Macau or Taiwan.

Italy is Europe’s worst-affected country, while Iran has the highest coronavirus death toll outside China.

Iran outbreak raises fears of mass Middle East contagion

China offers help to Tehran, Rome

Test kits, medical supplies and a team of infectious disease experts have been offered by China to Iran, where the numbers of infections and deaths continue to surge, with 388 total infections and 34 deaths reported, as of Friday.

Iran’s health ministry denied a report by BBC Persian that at least 210 people in the country had died from the new coronavirus.

Chinese diplomats try to stop coronavirus fallout on Beijing’s agenda

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has spoken to his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif by telephone and said China was willing to help Iran by sending test kit and medical supplies.

Global Times, a nationalist newspaper affiliated to Communist Party mouthpiece People’s Daily, reported that China would be sending a team of four infectious disease experts to Iran.

Wang also spoke with Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio on Friday to offer Chinese aid to Italy over the outbreak, including cooperation on medicine and vaccine development and exchanges for epidemic prevention and controls.

Italy has the highest number of cases in Europe, with a death toll of 21, as of early on Saturday, and confirmed cases growing to 888 from 650 one day earlier.

Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse

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