ADVERTISEMENTREMOVE AD

Cruise Turned Away From Japan as Virus Alarm Doctor Dies in China

Dr Li had worked at a hospital in the epicenter of the outbreak in the central city of Wuhan. 

Published
World
4 min read
story-hero-img
i
Aa
Aa
Small
Aa
Medium
Aa
Large
Hindi Female

Japan on Friday, 7 February, reported 41 new cases of a virus on a quarantined cruise ship and turned away another luxury liner while the death toll in mainland China rose to 636, including a doctor who got into trouble with authorities in the communist country for sounding an early warning about the disease threat.

Following an online uproar over the government's treatment of Dr Li Wenliang, 34, the ruling Communist Party said it was sending an investigation team to “fully investigate relevant issues raised by the public” regarding the case.

Two docked cruise ships with thousands of passengers and crew members remained under 14-day quarantine in Hong Kong and Japan.

Before Friday's 41 confirmed cases, 20 infected passengers were escorted off the Diamond Princess at Yokohama near Tokyo. About 3,700 people have been confined aboard the ship.

ADVERTISEMENTREMOVE AD

Shinzo Abe Ensures Border Control

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced on Thursday that Japan will deny entry of foreign passengers on another cruise ship – Holland America's cruise ship Westerdam, on its way to Okinawa from Hong Kong – because of suspected virus patients found on board. The Seattle-based operator denied anyone had virus.

Abe said the new immigration policy takes effect on Friday to ensure border control to prevent the disease from entering and spreading further into Japan.

The ship with more than 2,000 people was currently near Ishigaki, one of Okinawa's outer islands, and was seeking another port, said Overseas Travel Agency official Mie Matsubara.

“Everyone is starting to reject the ship and we are getting desperate,” she said. “We hope we can go somewhere so that passengers can land.” At least four other cruise ships, two foreign and two Japanese-operated, are headed to Japan by the end of the month, Transport Minister Kazuyoshi Akaba said, urging port authorities around the country to turn them away.

Dr Li had worked at a hospital in the epicenter of the outbreak in the central city of Wuhan. He was one of eight medical professionals in Wuhan who tried to warn colleagues and others when the government did not, writing on his Twitter-like Weibo account that on 3 December he saw a test sample that indicated the presence of a coronavirus similar to SARS, which killed nearly 800 people in a 2002-2003 outbreak that the government initially tried to cover-up.

0

Li wrote that after he reported seven patients had contracted the virus, he was visited on 3 January by police, who forced him to sign a statement admitting to having spread falsehoods and warning him of punishment if he continued.

A copy of the statement signed by Li and posted online accused him of making “false statements” and “seriously disturbing social order.” “This is a type of illegal behavior!” the statement said.

Li wrote that he developed a cough on 10 January, fever on 11 January, and was hospitalized on 12 January, after which he began having trouble breathing.

He also wrote that he had not in fact had his medical license revoked, a reference to the sort of extrajudicial retaliation the communist authorities meet out to rights lawyers and others seen as troublemakers.

“Please rest easy, I will most certainly actively cooperate with the treatment and seek to obtain an early discharge!” Li wrote on Jan. 31. He posted again on February 1, saying he had been confirmed as having the virus.

‘Owe Li An Apology’

On Friday, the Global Times, a Communist Party newspaper and usual staunch defender of the authorities, reported that “many said the experience of the eight 'whistleblowers' was evidence of local authorities' incompetence to tackle a contagious and deadly virus.”

ADVERTISEMENTREMOVE AD

It quoted Zeng Guang, chief epidemiologist at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, as telling the paper's editor that “we should highly praise the eight Wuhan residents. They were wise before the outbreak,” Zeng was quoted as saying. The paper also cited online voices saying local authorities owe Li an apology.

It quoted one posting as saying, “We lost a hero. If his warning could send an alarm, the outbreak might not have continued to worsen,” the posting said.

“Looking back, his professional sense of vigilance in particular is worthy of our respect,” the paper said in an editorial.

The police action against the eight whistleblowers also garnered a rare and extremely subtle rebuke from the nation's highest court. “We have the responsibility to express to society our legal thoughts about solving the problem of rumors,” a posting on the court's Weibo account said.

ADVERTISEMENTREMOVE AD

Baby Infected 36 Hrs After Birth

Meanwhile, a newborn discovered infected 36 hours after birth has become the youngest known patient.

Doctors said other infected mothers have given birth to babies who tested negative, so it is not yet known if the virus can be transmitted in the womb.

China's state media said on Friday that President Xi Jinping urged the US to “respond reasonably" to the virus outbreak in a phone call with President Donald Trump.

“A people's war against the virus has been launched,” Xi was quoted as saying by broadcaster CCTV, using timeworn communist terminology. “We hope the US side can assess the epidemic in a calm manner and adopt and adjust its response measures in a reasonable way.” Beijing has complained that the US was flying its citizens out of Wuhan but not providing any assistance to China.

The White House said Trump “expressed confidence in China's strength and resilience in confronting the challenge” of the outbreak.

(Published in an arrangement with PTI)

(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)

Read Latest News and Breaking News at The Quint, browse for more from news and world

Topics:  china   Japan   Beijing 

Speaking truth to power requires allies like you.
Become a Member
3 months
12 months
12 months
Check Member Benefits
Read More
×
×