HEALTH
Coronavirus: Chinese use social media as preventative medicine
Feb 24, 2020, 5:20 PM | Updated: Mar 12, 2020, 9:12 am
SALT LAKE CITY — A viral video showing a Chinese SWAT team “dealing with” a person unwilling to be examined for coronavirus is making the social rounds
If you haven’t seen the video, check it out:
‘SWAT’ team in China practices taking down ‘uncooperative victims’ of coronavirus in staged incident at official checkpoint. https://t.co/OIKfNh0IlX pic.twitter.com/9yKGnPmFmq
— ABC News (@ABC) February 24, 2020
In it, Chinese health officials and police are practicing what they will do to apprehend what they call “uncooperative” victims of coronavirus.
The event shown in the video was staged. It was filmed in Henan province. It shows a man approaching a checkpoint where he is then asked to get out of the car and allow himself to be examined for the virus.
As the video continues, officers holding firearms approach him. He is restrained when one of the officers throws what looks like a butterfly net over his head.
The speculation is that this video is intended to show residents of China how serious the government is in trying to contain a coronavirus that has dominated the news for weeks.
The Henan province is very close to Wuhan, the epicenter of the virus. The concern of police and health officials is understandable.
Worldwide concern
This version of coronavirus, being called COVID-19, seems to have everybody spooked. On Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by more than one thousand points, its worst day in more than a year according to reports from ABC News. A sign, reported the news agency, of the growing importance of the Chinese economy on the rest of the world.
The Associated Press reports that the United States and South Korea may curtail joint military activities because of the growing fear of a spreading coronavirus.
And concern spiked in Italy on Monday when the country reported 229 confirmed cases and six deaths. Italy has become the worst-hit country in Europe.
The numbers so far
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as of February 24th, 2020, there are 53 confirmed cases of this coronavirus in the United States.
That number doesn’t sound very scary, and comparatively speaking, it’s not. Worldwide, the total number of confirmed cases has risen to 77,150.
And China is feeling the brunt of this virus the most, recall it originated in Wujan, China. as of February 24, China has reported more than 77,000 cases of the virus. The death toll in China is now at nearly 2,600.
Official figures released Monday showed there had been 409 new cases of the novel coronavirus and 150 new deaths from the outbreak in China by the end of Sunday, bringing the total confirmed cases to 77,150, with a cumulative death toll of 2,592. The majority of the new cases — 398 — were in Hubei province, as were all but one death.
