Man lies dead in the street in crisis-hit coronavirus city of Wuhan
by Jimmy NsubugaWarning: Graphic content
The body of an elderly man has been pictured lying on a street at ground zero of China’s coronavirus epidemic.
The grey-haired man was wearing a face mask on the pavement in Wuhan – the city which had the first confirmed case for the virus.
The man lay straight on his back in front of a closed furniture store on Thursday.
Shortly after he was spotted an emergency vehicle arrived carrying police and medical staff in full-body protective suits.
Medical staff in blue overalls gently shrouded his body with a blue blanket before the ambulance left, and police stacked supermarket cardboard boxes to hide the scene.
The man’s cause of death has not yet been determined but the reaction of the police and medical staff in hazmat suits, as well as some of the bystanders, highlighted the fear pervading the city.
A woman standing near the man, wearing pink pyjamas and a Mao cap, said she believed he had died from the coronavirus.
She said: ‘It’s terrible.’
‘These days many people have died.’
The first cases identified were among people connected to the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan.
The precise source of the outbreak remains unknown.
The virus, which emerged late last year, has claimed at least 213 lives and infected thousands in China, with at least 159 deaths in Wuhan alone.
There are almost 10,000 confirmed cases in total in more than a dozen countries.
With the virus spreading to other countries, the World Health Organization has declared the crisis a global health emergency.
Meanwhile, in the UK the first two cases of coronavirus have been confirmed.
The Department of Health has declined to say where in England the patients, who are from the same family, are from but it is understood they are being treated at a hospital in Newcastle.
More than 80 Britons on the evacuation flight out of Wuhan – the epicentre of the outbreak – are due to land in the UK this afternoon.
What is the coronavirus and where did it start?
Coronaviruses are a family of diseases which include the common cold and the virus which caused Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), which originated in China in 2002 and killed nearly 800 people around the world.
The virus causing concern now is a new strain which has made the jump from animals to people.
It causes flu-like symptoms and can make it hard for people to breathe, causing viral pneumonia in severe cases.
Over 100 people worldwide have now died after contracting the illness.
The virus is more likely to progress into a severe illness or prove fatal among older patients or those with weakened immune systems.
As it is a viral illness, antibiotics will not help and there is no known cure or vaccine.
What are the symptoms of the virus? .
The Foreign Office has warned against all but essential travel to mainland China, and British Airways has subsequently suspended flights there.
They have not advised against travel to Thailand and Japan, which have both seen cases of the virus, but warned there are enhanced quarantine procedures at entry points to Japan such as airports and ports.
If you’re booked onto a flight with BA and are scheduled to fly between January 26 – February 23, you can request a refund.
In order to do this, get in touch with them directly through the BA website.
They also offer the option to rebook to the same destination, although it is not known when flights to mainland China will resume.
Can I get a refund on my BA flights?
Is it safe to travel to Thailand?
Is it safe to travel to Japan as the coronavirus spreads?
To avoid the illness, take usual hygiene precautions, such as using a tissue to cover coughs and sneezes, and making sure to wash your hands.
Do not touch your eyes, nose or mouth after touching things like poles on public transport and avoid close contact with people suffering an acute respiratory infection.
You should also avoid unprotected contact with wild or farm animals.
So far, no cases of coronavirus have been confirmed in the UK.
Almost 100 people have been tested for it here, with all of the tests coming back negative.
How many people in the UK have it?
The virus originated in the city of Wuhan in China, where it is believed to have made the jump from animals to people at a seafood market.
Wuhan is the capital of China’s Hubei province, a landlocked province in central China.
It is built along the Yangtze river, and is around 500 miles west of Shanghai and 690 miles north of Hong Kong.
It is the largest and most populous city in central China, although estimates over its population vary.