well the corona virus continues to
spread at speed this time a week ago
they were under 3,000 cases in China
there are now more than 17,000 and more
than 360 people have died outside China
there are more than 150 confirmed cases
and we now have a fatality in the
Philippines - and in a bid to contain
this virus some countries are denying
entry to any people from Wuhan the city
where this virus began and China's
accusing some countries of overreacting
and stoking panic for example it's
unimpressed that the US has declared a
public health emergency and it's denying
entry for all foreign nationals who
visited the whole of China in the past
two weeks and if that's the Americans
this is what the World Health
Organization is saying is no reason for
measures that unnecessarily interfere
with international travel and trade we
call on all countries to implement
decisions that are evidence-based and
consistent well in China millions of
people are going back to work after the
Lunar New Year holiday we have these
pictures first of all you can see people
well these are public areas being
disinfected and we know that there have
also been fever checks at Transport
Hobbs to try and spot people with raised
temperatures you may have the virus
workers are also trying to disinfect
these public spaces and China is urging
and issued an urgent appeal for more
protective suits goggles and masks
because it's running low most of these
pictures from Manila in the Philippines
there's been a rush to buy face masks
they're after a man from Wuhan died and
then this is Hong Kong where hospital
staff are going on strike they want the
border with mainland China to be
completely shot well next let's focus on
the experience of being in the city of
Wuhan it remains on lockdown people
aren't being allowed to leave or come in
and those who are there are being
encouraged to stay at home we spotted
this one Russian man who works there and
film this one around 5:00 p.m. Sunday on
his 3d can see only fake people say
people here
eight people there and remember that new
hospital that was promised in Wuhan well
it's finished this is a time-lapse of it
being constructed in nine days it's now
admitting patients and these images have
been enthusiastically distributed by a
Chinese state TV it's also been showing
this graphic as well a cartoon with the
machinery involved in that construction
being hailed as heroes there are other
images circulating on Chinese social
media fan art featuring these machines a
lot of it created by people stuck inside
cities currently locked down so here's
one digger with a big love heart in
front of it or you've got this one here
and this one's been given a nickname the
cement king now several countries are
trying to get their citizens out of
Wuhan let's focus on Australia these are
Australian evacuees waiting for hours at
we had an airport before eventually
being flown out eighty nine children
were among those on board that's the
first plane of Australian citizens and
permanent residents to be flown out and
this is where the plane landed in
Western Australia but before passengers
were put onto those what they'd landed
there they were put onto smaller planes
and immediately taken here to Christmas
Island it's very much known for a large
immigration detention center which you
can see there this will be used to house
the Australians in quarantine they're
expected to be there for two weeks
you also have these images released by
channel 7 which shows some of the
medical facilities that have been put up
there you can see here an inflatable
room to be used for isolating any
potential confirmed cases of the virus
it's known as a negative pressure
because it allows fresh air in but stops
potentially contaminated air from
getting out well since 2003 asylum
thousands of asylum seekers have been
detained on Christmas Island well off
the mainland of Australia under
Australia's refugee policy at the moment
though it just houses a family of four
Sri Lankans who are fighting deportation
so the plan here is to house the
Australians who've been taken out of
Wuhan and house them on the island in
the short term but there are concerns
particularly
whether there are adequate medical
facilities indeed not all of the 600
Australians and Wuhan have chosen to
leave his woman who did woman who did
leave explaining why she said I got a
lot of pressure from my husband he said
the situation is not very good all the
other countries have starts to close the
borders he said if we stay over here
would probably take a couple of months
to get out of Wuhan so he started to get
really nervous and she got on the flight
four flights carrying evacuees are now
scheduled for the rest of this week now
two other important parts of this story
are misinformation and racism we spotted
this post it's been widely shared in
Australia supposedly from an
organization called the department of
disease geology Parramatta except that
it doesn't exist and the information in
it advising people to stay away from
suburbs with large Chinese populations
is baseless I saw this from a doctor in
Australia she tweeted a patient made
jokes about not shaking my hand because
of coronavirus in frota might my team
had not left Australia this is not
sensible Public Health precautions this
is racism well on infamous information
and conspiracy theories around the
coronavirus here's will summer a tech
journalist from The Daily Beast
we're seeing a lot of these these fake
claims you know whether it's you know
drinking bleach to ward it off or the
idea that this is spread from Chinese
people eating bats you know these
frankly you know many of these these
ideas are frankly very racist that are
blowing up on social media so so it's
it's tricky you know we've seen some
tweets from even epidemiologist people
who are experts in this field get taken
out of context and really blow up online
by people who are you know can very
concerned about coronavirus so you know
the solution I think is very responsible
reporting and in people really you know
going to the experts on this rather than
you sort of seeing what's going viral
and running with that boy so this
article by journalist called
Angela hoy written in the metro
newspaper in this article she highlights
some of the media coverage she's taken
exception to for instance this is the
Herald Sun in Australia it has the
headline Chinese virus pandemonium with
the word panda highlighted and she's
also written about her personal
experiences here in London in particular
one incident on the underground a white
man about in their twenties thirties
sits down next meme and then immediately
shoots back up and gets up and then like
mutters under his breath like oh not so
next to a corona virus and then sits a
croc goes across the carriage and then
sits somewhere else and at the time I
was just like kind of taken aback
beligum that really just happened and
not really thinking too much about it
and didn't really say anything at the
time because it's a little bit in shock
and also I didn't really want to kick up
a fuss about anything because is this
yeah I think that's what happened
and now you've shared this story have
other people come to you and said well
actually I've experienced something
similar
yeah actually like quite a few people
have you know experienced the same thing
the problem was when the corona virus
like broke out it was around like Lunar
New Year as well so a lot of people
weren't allowed to go back to go back
home and visit family because a lot of
people were locked down and it was quite
sad as well in Chinatown many people in
Chinatown like London yeah a London
Chinatown a lot of people didn't you
know we're avoiding the area because of
you know fear of Oh catching something
or catching coronavirus and I never girl
that I spoke to she was also on the tube
and then she saw a man that she
witnessed man like holding a newspaper
and then there was like a group of East
Asians
that just got on the tube and he was
just like using a newspaper tonight
covered his face and like like this kind
of thing getting away from them and then
as soon as they got off the tube and he
just kind of relaxed and it was just
this I think it's just kind of really
sad that everyone's being lumped
together it doesn't really matter if
you're East Asian Southeast Asian you
know everyone's kind of lumped together
it doesn't mean you know regardless
maybe if you're trying to use a lot
which is the sad thing I think and in
your article you were just talking about
your personal experience you're also
highlighting some of the media coverage
that you've taken issue with have you
been surprised by the tone that you've
seen in some newspapers I'm surprised
because I feel like a lot of like East
Asian like it's just
nation is just not really reported on
and it's always is often ignored and I
think these scare mongering headlines
are just you know thinking the worst and
it's making everyone think and think
irrationally and do irrational things
and it's just you know cause I look like
a frenzy where everyone's just scared
and yeah I think it's just very unfairly
the way that everything's been reported
and there's much more information on the
coronavirus via the BBC News website