A report at the Epoch Times on Thursday found appalling conditions at the hotels in Wuhan, China, where coronavirus patients have been quarantined. Whistleblowing family members of the quarantined patients said they have been left to die without medical care.
Over 140 Russians have been quarantined in Siberia after returning from the coronavirus outbreak area in Hubei province. The detainees are confined to their rooms but have been putting on a lively social media show, chatting with well-wishers and posting photos and videos of their situation.
Chinese officials in Xinjiang province, home of the oppressed Uyghur Muslims, said on Thursday that at least 99 residents of Wuhan are under quarantine in the city of Atush.
The Communist Party of China scrambled on Friday to contain political damage from the death of Dr. Li Wenliang, who was initially arrested and abused for daring to give an early warning about the Wuhan coronavirus, but was retroactively recognized as a hero.
Several Chinese state media outlets reported the death of Dr. Li Wenliang on Thursday, only to delete their reports a few hours later and publish new bulletins indicating he remains in critical condition at Wuhan Central Hospital.
China’s state-run Global Times ran an editorial on Wednesday calling for the Chinese people to unite against the Wuhan coronavirus epidemic, which of course means “trust and obey the Communist Party” in practice.
Beijing has begun sacking local officials in Hubei province over the coronavirus outbreak, including two Communist Party officials who left a teenager with cerebral palsy without care for six days while his family was placed in quarantine. The teenager died as a result of this neglect.
On Thursday, the Global Times announced the death of doctor Li Wenliang from the virus, a development widely taken as evidence the coronavirus is more dangerous than the Chinese government is willing to admit
Defiant protesters continue to fill the streets of Iraq despite attacks from security forces and Iran-backed militias that may have killed 550 demonstrators, according to the Iraqi Commission for Human Rights (ICHR).
Reuters on Wednesday reported on the exploits of Charming Kitten, a hacker group linked to the Iranian government that poses as journalists and attempts to trick victims into divulging passwords and other security information.
Russia announced on Tuesday that it will establish a quarantine zone in Siberia for planeloads of Russian nationals evacuated from China’s Hubei province, epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak.
Governments across Asia are increasing censorship efforts and media controls to suppress “fake news” about the Wuhan coronavirus epidemic, a problem the World Health Organization (WHO) also expressed concerns about on Tuesday. Free speech advocates are worried about rising censorship levels in a region that already had serious problems with authoritarianism.
A Chinese official in the troubled Xinjiang province, where China has been herding millions of Uyghur Muslims into concentration camps, told Radio Free Asia (RFA) this week that information about the spread of the Wuhan coronavirus is a “state secret” that cannot be discussed with the public.
A South African court issued an arrest warrant for former president Jacob Zuma on Tuesday after the 77-year-old skipped a court date for his fraud and racketeering trial, ostensibly because he needed medical treatment. Zuma’s warrant was stayed until the scheduled resumption of his trial on May 6.
The South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported that numerous popular business applications crashed in China on Monday due to the enormous surge in demand from employees who decided to work from home after the Lunar New Year holiday ended, rather than return to their offices and risk infection by the Wuhan coronavirus.
Chinese officials announced the total number of people infected by the Wuhan coronavirus now exceeds 20,000, with 427 fatalities reported worldwide. Officials reported 64 new deaths in China on Tuesday, making it the deadliest day of the epidemic so far.
North Korea on Friday temporarily suspended “all air and train routes” to China due to the coronavirus outbreak, in addition to closing off its land border.
Tanzania mourned at least 20 people killed in a stampede at a Pentecostal church on Saturday, plus another 20 killed by floods caused by torrential rains.
Hong Kong healthcare workers launched a five-day strike as threatened on Monday to protest their government’s refusal to completely seal the border with China until the coronavirus epidemic is under control. Hong Kong chief executive Carrie Lam responded by announcing more travel restrictions, closing down all land crossings except the bridges to Shenzhen and Zhuhai.
A 55-year-old Chinese man living near Beijing was diagnosed with the Wuhan coronavirus on Thursday, almost two weeks after he was hospitalized with a fever. Three previous tests had indicated he did not carry the Wuhan virus, but the fourth test confirmed he did.
Angry Filipinos criticized the government of President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday for refusing to ban travel to and from China after the first confirmed case of the Wuhan coronavirus was reported in the Philippines.
Chinese state media on Friday denounced the U.S. State Department for advising against travel to China, calling it an “overreaction which would greatly hurt global tourism and hinder people-to-people exchanges.”
The Indian Medical Association (IMA) on Friday criticized the Ministry of Ayurveda, Yoga & Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, Sowa Rigpa and Homeopathy (AYUSH) for recommending homeopathic treatments to combat the Wuhan coronavirus. The IMA said it was “immature, premature, and irresponsible” to promote untested homeopathic remedies against the rapidly spreading epidemic, which reached India this week.
A Hong Kong-based news outlet called Initium Media alleged on Wednesday that the Chinese Communist government is secretly cremating victims of the Wuhan coronavirus to keep the death toll down.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi boasted to a gathering of military officers in New Delhi on Tuesday that his country could defeat Pakistan in less than a week if war broke out, as it perpetually threatens to do in the disputed Kashmir province. The Pakistani Foreign Ministry denounced Modi’s “irresponsible and warmongering” remarks on Wednesday.
Communist China’s relentless effort to diplomatically isolate Taiwan is bearing particularly bitter fruit this week as Taiwan prepares to battle China’s rapidly spreading coronavirus epidemic with limited assistance from the international community, since China has resolutely blocked Taiwanese membership in bodies like the World Health Organization (WHO).
Chinese doctor Zeng Guang, chief epidemiologist at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CCDC), praised eight Wuhan residents for giving an early warning about the dangers of the coronavirus outbreak in their city, even though they were arrested in early January for “spreading rumors” about the disease.
Zhang Wenhong, the leader of Shanghai’s effort to battle the Wuhan coronavirus, made some waves on Wednesday by suggesting Chinese Communist Party officials should be working on the frontlines against the disease, in keeping with their “oath to put the public welfare first.” On Thursday the state-run Global Times reported Zhang has indeed “replaced all frontline doctors with Party members and the decision is non-negotiable.”
Researchers in Hong Kong say they have developed a vaccine for the coronavirus epidemic spreading from Wuhan, China, but they need several months to conduct testing on animals and at least a year to complete clinical trials on humans.
An editorial by China’s state-run Xinhua news service on Wednesday strove to portray the Chinese Communist Party as a noble victim of unfair criticism, striving to control the Wuhan virus epidemic with measures so draconian they have been unreasonably denounced as human rights violations.
Iranian state media is claiming a senior CIA officer named Michael D’Andrea, who it alleges planned the airstrike that killed Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Gen. Qasem Soleimani in December, was killed when an American plane went down in Afghanistan on Monday.
Over 15,000 medical workers in Hong Kong announced on Wednesday their newly-formed union will go on strike unless the border to China is completely sealed to prevent the spread of the Wuhan coronavirus.
The U.S. Navy announced on Tuesday that the USS Montgomery, an advanced littoral combat ship, sailed near the disputed Spratly Islands in the South China Sea on Saturday to “assert navigational rights and freedoms consistent with international law.” It was the first Freedom of Navigation Operation (FONOP) of 2020.
A report issued by the U.S. Air Force Central Command (AFCENT) on Monday said 7,423 munitions were released by American aircraft over Afghanistan in 2019, the highest number since the publication of bombing statistics began in 2006.
Pakistani security officials are reportedly concerned that over 10,000 police personnel delegated to protect Chinese engineers working on Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) infrastructure projects could be at risk of contracting the Wuhan coronavirus.
World Health Organization (WHO) Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Tuesday and expressed confidence in the measures China has taken to control the spread of the Wuhan coronavirus.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif gave an interview to Germany’s Der Spiegel on Saturday in which he said Iran would be willing to negotiate with the United States if the U.S. unconditionally drops its economic sanctions.
The people of Taiwan have been largely sympathetic to the protest movement in Hong Kong, not least because the Taiwanese see Hong Kong as a cautionary tale about Beijing’s “one country, two systems” assimilation offer.
A new and unoccupied residential building in Hong Kong that was designated as a quarantine facility for people infected by the rapidly spreading Wuhan coronavirus was attacked by vandals with firebombs on Sunday, prompting the authorities to postpone plans to expand the quarantine operation.
Reuters filed an exclusive report on Monday citing three “senior Western security officials” who blamed a recent wave of cyberattacks in Europe and the Middle East on “hackers acting in the interests of the Turkish government.”