u***r
发帖数: 4825 | 1 https://rt.com/news/489547-china-zero-new-cases-coronavirus/
China reports zero new Covid-19 cases for FIRST TIME as pandemic finds new
‘epicenter’ in South America
23 May, 2020
Beijing has reported no new Covid-19 infections for the first time since the
pandemic erupted last year, but as the virus dies out in its original
epicenter, South America has quickly emerged as a major hotspot.
China’s National Health Commission said it confirmed zero new cases of the
virus on Saturday – a first since the country began tallying infections in
January – and reported only two suspected cases, one of them imported from
abroad.
The lethal illness first emerged late last year in the Chinese city of Wuhan
, spreading across the country to infect some 84,000 people, killing in
excess of 4,600. But with aggressive containment measures that put tens of
millions of citizens under strict lockdown, Beijing appears to have largely
brought the contagion under control, reporting a only slow trickle of new
cases as the virus took hold elsewhere in the world.
While the United States remains the top epicenter with more than 1.6 million
infections, South America has quickly overtaken other regions for the
number-two spot, with the World Health Organization (WHO) warning of a
dramatic spike in cases there.
“In a sense, South America has become a new epicenter for the disease,” Dr
Mike Ryan, the WHO's top emergencies expert, told a press conference on
Friday, noting that Brazil is “clearly the most affected.”
Over the last week in Brazil, health officials have reported tens of
thousands of new infections each day, bringing its current disease toll to
more than 330,000, rapidly eclipsing Russia as the second-worst-affected
nation. Brazil has also counted more than 21,000 fatal cases, nearly seven
times more than Peru, the region’s next hardest-hit country.
Though no vaccine, or even a reliable treatment, currently exists for the
coronavirus, Brazilian authorities have approved widespread use of the anti-
malarial drug hydroxychloroquine as a therapy, after receiving shipments of
raw materials for the chemical from India last month. The drug has shown
early promise as a treatment, but its effectiveness has yet to be proven in
a clinical setting. A new study in the Lancet journal, meanwhile, suggests
the medicine could cause heart complications and even death, showing little
or no benefit to Covid-19 patients.
Since the pandemic broke out last December, more than 5.2 million people
have been sickened and some 338,000 killed worldwide, making it one of the
deadliest viral outbreaks since the 1918 Spanish Flu. | n*******g
发帖数: 4462 | | u***r
发帖数: 4825 | | N**********d
发帖数: 2466 | | u***r
发帖数: 4825 | |
|
