desperate times calls for desperate
measures at Beijing Airport children
waiting to board a flight the face is
shielded with makeshift helmets people
in China are taking no risks all too
aware of the consequences of catching
the deadly coronavirus at this medical
facility in Wuhan the epicenter of the
outbreak
the desperate wails of those working to
save people last week speaks a thousand
words
this nurse repeats I can't take it
anymore this woman in a video circulated
last week to begs to be seen help doctor
help she screams I also have a fever
both videos have since been taken down
by sensors but fears about the outbreak
have gone beyond China's borders
officially a hundred and seventy people
have now died from the virus almost
eight thousand cases have been confirmed
by officials and they say twelve
thousand more are suspected Michoud
opinion there are only 68 cases overseas
which is less than 1% of the total cases
globally this means our measures to
control the outflow of the virus are
effective under pressure this morning
the foreign secretary assured Britons in
China they were trying to get them out
we've been working tirelessly for office
work of the Department of Health I've
been working flat out 24/7 to try and
make sure that we can identify British
nationals in Wuhan and get them to a
muster point and then get a fly to
charter flight in and out on the way
through the
and after a full start yesterday the
evacuation is now underway since the
outbreak China is racing against time to
build two new hospitals in Wuhan to meet
the need caused by the virus at the
moment hospitals are overwhelmed the
whole city is under lockdown the strain
is on medical workers who have been
working under pressure for nearly three
weeks and the number of patients is
continuing to increase and it's not just
in China where people are trapped 6,000
passengers aboard this cruise liner in
Italy are unable to leave as medics
monitor a couple from China with a
suspected case of coronavirus she does
we spoke to my pregnant daughter on
board she's very agitated she was fine
until late morning because she didn't
know what was going on then they heard
the news 19 countries have reported
cases of the virus but no one yet has
died outside of China something that
experts say is thanks to a
transformation learnt from previous
global incidents what's changed
dramatically over the last five years at
least is how well International
Corporation has developed and all the
systems have been put in place from
internet from organizations like the
w-h-o but also there's a loss of
international committees that bring
countries together and networks that
make sure that everybody's prepared for
these outbreaks so we're in a completely
different place than we were say five
years ago before Ebola as governments
globally grapple with this tonight the
focus is on the World Health
Organization within the next hour
they're expected to announce whether to
declare this a public health emergency
of international concern and your pop
reporting mother joining us from
Liverpool now is dr. NIC beaching he's a
specialist on clinical infectious
diseases at the School of Tropical
Medicine in Liverpool
dr. beaching what will it mean if at
around half our suburbs what we think
might happen
the w-h-o do declare this a global
emergency well it will increase the the
way we restrict the movement of people I
think a lot of those measures are
already
taken place but it becomes a much more
formal measures in force to control
people coming out of China and what we
do with people coming back to let us say
the UK what does it tell you when we
learn that nobody has died outside China
yet from this virus well I think that's
very good news we really don't know what
the eventual mortality of this virus
will be the reports so far are quite low
about three to five percent but of
course the situation is changing but we
do think that many people will have a
relative mild illness but clearly those
that are older or have underlying
conditions may be more at risk will the
virus be a fixed entity or is it
something that could evolve within the
outbreak of the disease yeah so this is
a fairly new virus in people as far as
we know and it is quite likely to be
changing quite rapidly both in terms of
these symptoms it might cause and also
in its infectivity if we look at related
viruses such as the SARS virus 20 years
ago and the mers-cov virus which is in
the Middle East
SARS has disappeared it came and went
very rapidly mers-cov is still there in
the background so it's very difficult to
predict what will happen with this one
one can understand the humanitarian
desire to bring everybody home that is a
you know abroad as it were and not in
China not Chinese but what is more
difficult to to understand is whether
it's actually a very good idea in terms
of containing the disease well there has
been a lot of debate about that I think
the decision has been made and as a from
my personal point of view if I was one
of those people I'd be very pleased to
be coming back it's a relatively small
number of people being brought back
under control conditions and coming back
to a very old-fashioned quarantine which
means observing them for the maximum
possible incubation period and then
releasing them if there are no signs of
infection so so that group of people are
going to be very easy to hide
and monitor but the idea of keeping say
200 people in one place in quarantine
surely perhaps those who don't have any
sign of it and may never get it might be
exposed now to getting it by having to
be walled up with 200 other people you
see what I mean that you're absolutely
right but you could argue that they'd be
under the same risk if they stayed in in
Wuhan the the I don't know the details
of exactly how they're going to carry
out the quarantine but they'll be
monitored I'm sure at least twice a day
for things like temperature and any
symptoms I I presume that there will be
a certain amount of isolation within
what I understand is an old nursing home
or something similar I don't know how
much contact they'll have with each
other inside the quarantine facility
I'll be medicated or anything over there
we don't have any specific medication
against this virus and we don't have a
vaccine the normal thing would be just a
monitor for symptoms and I would draw
the distinction between quarantine
people who might have been exposed to
the virus and might develop symptoms
this is completely different from
isolating somebody that's actually got
clinical disease and that's a different
thing entirely
so this is a precautionary measure which
we have applied to many infections in
the past very successfully you
downplayed the importance of declaring
it kind of global at declaring this a a
global emergency but what is the
significance of it if the w-h-o do go
ahead and do it well it has a huge
effect not just on health but on on
trade and movement of people and
therefore it's of immense significance
to the countries that are involved and
potentially to others where the
infection may go too so I wouldn't
downplay that at all from the whole
global view of things not just from a
medical point of view the World Health
Organization has declared a global
public health emergency over the corona
virus outbreak after the number of cases
rose to more than 7800 our health
correspondent Victoria McDonald is with
me yes what we have just heard from the
director Jen
was a decision that was had been
expected but let's just listen to what
he said we don't know what sort of
damage this virus could do if it were to
spread in a country with a weaker health
system we must act now to help countries
prepare for that possibility for all of
these reasons I am declaring a public
health emergency of international
concern over the global outbreak of
novel : of a corona virus he was when it
was at odds to say this was not a vote
of no-confidence against China and over
the past week or so he has been saying a
great deal about how impressed he has
been with what China has done so far but
there is a problem there are a number of
cases now outside China where it's been
person-to-person contact that means
those people haven't been in China and
yet they have developed the virus those
numbers are growing we've just heard of
another one in France we've just heard
of another one in America in the past
few hours what this means is not
necessarily which it can do with some
outbreaks that there will be no
interference with something like
international travel but it does mean
that they can call on more money and
more coordination and yet in the funny
way there has been a great deal of
coordination already over this virus we
have just heard recently - in the past
few minutes that the hundred and fifty
people who are being flown back from
Wuhan Britain's flowing back from Wuhan
will land at Brize Norton sometime
tomorrow and that they will be taken to
arrow Park Hospital in the world where
they will be quarantined for 14 days
staying in in nursing accommodation