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Quick burials and lack of tests raise fears coronavirus outbreak is much bigger than China admits
A Chinese woman takes a photo of the Forbidden City, which was ordered closed by authorities CREDIT: KEVIN FRAYER/GETTY
The corpse of Chen Min was wrapped in a yellow body bag with tape when it was delivered to the funeral home by workers in hazmat suits. The staff disinfected the van they travelled in and disposed of protective gear.
Despite being pressured into a quick cremation by authorities, the grieving family did not know if the 65-year-old had died from the novel coronavirus sweeping China. And they still don't.
Official figures estimate that 41 people have died so far and 1,300 have been infected. But experts at Imperial College reckon as many as 9,700 could have come down the disease.
The swift disposal of Ms Chen's body raises further questions about the scale of the problem.
Ms Chen’s fever and cough had set in only ten days before. Visits to three hospitals in Wuhan – the epicentre of the outbreak that by then had killed at least one person and spread overseas – all ended the same way, diagnosed with a cold and sent home with basic medicine.
Her symptoms were consistent with the new virus infection, but doctors didn’t test for the mystery disease, nor quarantine her from others – not even when a CT scan showed shadows in her lungs.
By the time she was placed in isolation at a hospital on January 15, she was in critical condition. Six hours later, she died.
Her death certificate lists the cause as “severe pneumonia.” But doctors told her family she had “that” type of pneumonia, “highly likely” from a coronavirus infection.
“Those words are very obvious hints to patients and relatives, but there are no written records or reports,” Ms Chen’s stepson, Kyle Hui, 40, told The Telegraph.
Communist Party leader Xi Jinping has ordered “all-out” efforts to handle the epidemic, the latest in a string of political crises challenging his leadership.
China's healthcare system struggles to support the population of 1.4 billion. With a major health crisis, the strain is even more visible.
A worker dispenses hand sanitizer to a shopper at the entrance of a supermarket in Wuhan CREDIT: CHINATOPIX
Socialised medicine improved life expectancy as China’s economy rose to become the world’s second-largest, and the government has ambitious reform plans.
But China lacks robust primary care – the first line of defence – and resources for recovery and rehabilitation are scarce, said Chen Xi, a professor at the Yale School of Public Health.
The country has one GP per 7,000 people, compared to the international standard of one for every 1,500 to 2,000 people, as recommended by the World Health Organization.
In practice, this means patients are sick by the time they queue – sometimes before dawn – at overcrowded and understaffed hospitals to seek treatment, from basic to chronic ailments. Rural residents have even greater difficulty accessing quality care.
Years of scandals – faulty vaccines, expired meat, tainted baby formula – have added to frustrations. Grievances have ended with patients or their relatives stabbing doctors to death. Security checks at hospitals try to combat the phenomenon, dubbed “yinao,” or “healthcare disturbance.”
In Wuhan, hospitals are already running out of medical supplies, patient beds and coronavirus diagnostic test kits.
“Some people with fevers and colds are being persuaded to go back home,” said Mr Chen. “They have no capacity…[and] that is worrisome, when the virus develops faster than the capacity of the health system.”
People are posting complaints online, along with photos of long hospital lines, though such comments are being deleted quickly by Chinese government censors, seeking to control the flow of information.
Mr Hui’s social media post about his mother’s funeral – in which he detailed meeting three other families who suspected their relatives also died because of the coronavirus – has been scrubbed off the internet.
At least eight people have been called to a police station in Wuhan for “spreading rumours” after they posted online about the virus – a common tactic by the ruling Chinese Communist Party for silencing dissidents.
Difficulty getting access to information and care could exacerbate the outbreak, and eventually become a source of casualties, warned Mr Chen. And if China’s response is ineffective, that could complicate disease spread globally.
“I already had a cold,” said Tina Wang, 25, an international school teacher from Wuhan.
Dozens of diggers work to build a new hospital in Wuhan CREDIT: ANADOLU AGENCY
But after hearing about trouble getting treatment, “I thought there would be a higher risk of getting infected if I go to the hospital, so I stayed at home and am taking medicine on my own.”
China is scaling up for more patients, announcing plans Friday to build two new hospitals dedicated to treating those infected by the virus.
The local government, however, is already under pressure for what residents and public health experts say was a botched initial response. While authorities knew of cases as far back as early December, it wasn’t announced to the public for weeks.
And when the outbreak source was traced to a seafood market in Wuhan, the government ordered vendors to shut and disinfected the facility. That left little for scientists, looking to pinpoint how the virus was transmitted to humans, a key piece of information that could inform prevention and treatment.
Resignation calls are mounting for Zhou Xianwang, the mayor of Wuhan, who “made no mention of a health crisis brewing” in a recent government forum, said Dali Yang, professor of political science at the University of Chicago.
Part of the slow trickle of information may have been due to an annual local government meeting that ended January 17, after which the number of confirmed coronavirus cases began to spike.
During key political events, “they want to project the air that everything is all right and try to hide the situation,” said Mr Yang. Concerns of being upstaged could have led to a “deliberate decision not to release cases until after.”
Local officials may also have been worried that involving senior Chinese leaders would mean missing out on the next promotion.
Over the last week, Beijing has taken over handling emergency response as the number of confirmed cases ticked rapidly upward, spreading as far away as the US.
A lockdown has affected tens of millions in hopes of containing disease spread, though without more information disseminated regarding health risks, many people had already travelled ahead of the Chinese New Year holiday.
And while screening checkpoints have gone up in transport hubs as part of wider detection efforts, people keep slipping through the cracks.
Mr Hui says he wasn’t tested before departing Wuhan a few days ago, though such procedures were put in place more than a week before.
Upon arrival in Shanghai, where he works as an architect, he also didn’t undergo any disinfecting treatment. Despite explaining he might have been exposed to the virus, the local health ministry told him he couldn’t be tested for the coronavirus unless he developed a fever.
Information disclosed by the Chinese government, however, has shown that some of the infected patients who died didn’t have fevers when they were admitted. Researchers outside of China have since confirmed that there aren’t always telltale symptoms of infection.
So Mr Hui is in a self-imposed quarantine, staying in a different place from his wife and son for the next two weeks, while he monitors his health.
Doctors haven’t advised him or his family how to manage their exposure, and a medical bill hasn’t been issued – consistent with a government guarantee to cover costs for coronavirus-infected patients.
Worrryingly, his sister-in-law, 42, has fallen ill. As his mother was never checked for the virus, Mr Hui and his father have lobbied hard for her to be evaluated.
“It’s like a pyramid,” he said. “Only a small amount of people on the top are tested for the virus. The rest don’t stand a chance.”
She has since been tested, and doctors say the worst of the virus has cleared, though they’ve kept her in hospital for monitoring.
“The whole holiday week is ruined,” said Mr Hui, who has been going through the motions – arranging his mother’s funeral, cancelling her bank accounts. Her death hasn’t quite sunk in.
Sighing deeply, he also hasn’t figured out how to tell his son that nainai – “grandma“ – is gone.
“I don’t have any energy to think about that right now.”
Additional reporting by Yiyin Zhong
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/20...k-tests-raise-fears-cornavirus-outbreak-much/
A Chinese woman takes a photo of the Forbidden City, which was ordered closed by authorities CREDIT: KEVIN FRAYER/GETTY
- Sophia Yan, china correspondent, beijing
The corpse of Chen Min was wrapped in a yellow body bag with tape when it was delivered to the funeral home by workers in hazmat suits. The staff disinfected the van they travelled in and disposed of protective gear.
Despite being pressured into a quick cremation by authorities, the grieving family did not know if the 65-year-old had died from the novel coronavirus sweeping China. And they still don't.
Official figures estimate that 41 people have died so far and 1,300 have been infected. But experts at Imperial College reckon as many as 9,700 could have come down the disease.
The swift disposal of Ms Chen's body raises further questions about the scale of the problem.
Ms Chen’s fever and cough had set in only ten days before. Visits to three hospitals in Wuhan – the epicentre of the outbreak that by then had killed at least one person and spread overseas – all ended the same way, diagnosed with a cold and sent home with basic medicine.
Her symptoms were consistent with the new virus infection, but doctors didn’t test for the mystery disease, nor quarantine her from others – not even when a CT scan showed shadows in her lungs.
By the time she was placed in isolation at a hospital on January 15, she was in critical condition. Six hours later, she died.
Her death certificate lists the cause as “severe pneumonia.” But doctors told her family she had “that” type of pneumonia, “highly likely” from a coronavirus infection.
“Those words are very obvious hints to patients and relatives, but there are no written records or reports,” Ms Chen’s stepson, Kyle Hui, 40, told The Telegraph.
Communist Party leader Xi Jinping has ordered “all-out” efforts to handle the epidemic, the latest in a string of political crises challenging his leadership.
China's healthcare system struggles to support the population of 1.4 billion. With a major health crisis, the strain is even more visible.
A worker dispenses hand sanitizer to a shopper at the entrance of a supermarket in Wuhan CREDIT: CHINATOPIX
Socialised medicine improved life expectancy as China’s economy rose to become the world’s second-largest, and the government has ambitious reform plans.
But China lacks robust primary care – the first line of defence – and resources for recovery and rehabilitation are scarce, said Chen Xi, a professor at the Yale School of Public Health.
The country has one GP per 7,000 people, compared to the international standard of one for every 1,500 to 2,000 people, as recommended by the World Health Organization.
In practice, this means patients are sick by the time they queue – sometimes before dawn – at overcrowded and understaffed hospitals to seek treatment, from basic to chronic ailments. Rural residents have even greater difficulty accessing quality care.
Years of scandals – faulty vaccines, expired meat, tainted baby formula – have added to frustrations. Grievances have ended with patients or their relatives stabbing doctors to death. Security checks at hospitals try to combat the phenomenon, dubbed “yinao,” or “healthcare disturbance.”
In Wuhan, hospitals are already running out of medical supplies, patient beds and coronavirus diagnostic test kits.
“Some people with fevers and colds are being persuaded to go back home,” said Mr Chen. “They have no capacity…[and] that is worrisome, when the virus develops faster than the capacity of the health system.”
People are posting complaints online, along with photos of long hospital lines, though such comments are being deleted quickly by Chinese government censors, seeking to control the flow of information.
Mr Hui’s social media post about his mother’s funeral – in which he detailed meeting three other families who suspected their relatives also died because of the coronavirus – has been scrubbed off the internet.
At least eight people have been called to a police station in Wuhan for “spreading rumours” after they posted online about the virus – a common tactic by the ruling Chinese Communist Party for silencing dissidents.
Difficulty getting access to information and care could exacerbate the outbreak, and eventually become a source of casualties, warned Mr Chen. And if China’s response is ineffective, that could complicate disease spread globally.
“I already had a cold,” said Tina Wang, 25, an international school teacher from Wuhan.
Dozens of diggers work to build a new hospital in Wuhan CREDIT: ANADOLU AGENCY
But after hearing about trouble getting treatment, “I thought there would be a higher risk of getting infected if I go to the hospital, so I stayed at home and am taking medicine on my own.”
China is scaling up for more patients, announcing plans Friday to build two new hospitals dedicated to treating those infected by the virus.
The local government, however, is already under pressure for what residents and public health experts say was a botched initial response. While authorities knew of cases as far back as early December, it wasn’t announced to the public for weeks.
And when the outbreak source was traced to a seafood market in Wuhan, the government ordered vendors to shut and disinfected the facility. That left little for scientists, looking to pinpoint how the virus was transmitted to humans, a key piece of information that could inform prevention and treatment.
Resignation calls are mounting for Zhou Xianwang, the mayor of Wuhan, who “made no mention of a health crisis brewing” in a recent government forum, said Dali Yang, professor of political science at the University of Chicago.
Part of the slow trickle of information may have been due to an annual local government meeting that ended January 17, after which the number of confirmed coronavirus cases began to spike.
During key political events, “they want to project the air that everything is all right and try to hide the situation,” said Mr Yang. Concerns of being upstaged could have led to a “deliberate decision not to release cases until after.”
Local officials may also have been worried that involving senior Chinese leaders would mean missing out on the next promotion.
Over the last week, Beijing has taken over handling emergency response as the number of confirmed cases ticked rapidly upward, spreading as far away as the US.
A lockdown has affected tens of millions in hopes of containing disease spread, though without more information disseminated regarding health risks, many people had already travelled ahead of the Chinese New Year holiday.
And while screening checkpoints have gone up in transport hubs as part of wider detection efforts, people keep slipping through the cracks.
Mr Hui says he wasn’t tested before departing Wuhan a few days ago, though such procedures were put in place more than a week before.
Upon arrival in Shanghai, where he works as an architect, he also didn’t undergo any disinfecting treatment. Despite explaining he might have been exposed to the virus, the local health ministry told him he couldn’t be tested for the coronavirus unless he developed a fever.
Information disclosed by the Chinese government, however, has shown that some of the infected patients who died didn’t have fevers when they were admitted. Researchers outside of China have since confirmed that there aren’t always telltale symptoms of infection.
So Mr Hui is in a self-imposed quarantine, staying in a different place from his wife and son for the next two weeks, while he monitors his health.
Doctors haven’t advised him or his family how to manage their exposure, and a medical bill hasn’t been issued – consistent with a government guarantee to cover costs for coronavirus-infected patients.
Worrryingly, his sister-in-law, 42, has fallen ill. As his mother was never checked for the virus, Mr Hui and his father have lobbied hard for her to be evaluated.
“It’s like a pyramid,” he said. “Only a small amount of people on the top are tested for the virus. The rest don’t stand a chance.”
She has since been tested, and doctors say the worst of the virus has cleared, though they’ve kept her in hospital for monitoring.
“The whole holiday week is ruined,” said Mr Hui, who has been going through the motions – arranging his mother’s funeral, cancelling her bank accounts. Her death hasn’t quite sunk in.
Sighing deeply, he also hasn’t figured out how to tell his son that nainai – “grandma“ – is gone.
“I don’t have any energy to think about that right now.”
Additional reporting by Yiyin Zhong
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/20...k-tests-raise-fears-cornavirus-outbreak-much/
