‘Wash Your Hands’: Tokyo Governor to Residents Ahead of Olympics as Coronavirus Spreads

New York City’s First Possible Coronavirus Patient Tested at Manhattan Hospital

New York City health officials said Saturday that a possible coronavirus patient is being treated at Manhattan’s Bellevue Hospital. The patient, who is under 40, recently traveled to China and had a “fever and cough or shortness of breath without another common cause, like influenza and other cold viruses,” the health department said in a statement. It’s not clear if that person, whose identity is being kept private, had traveled to coronavirus epicenter Wuhan, where Chinese regime officials have implemented lockdowns and quarantines. The patient didn’t spend extended time with friends or family after heading back to New York City, said Mayor Bill de Blasio, according to local media outlets. He, however, called on New Yorkers to go to the hospital if they believe they are showing symptoms related to…

TOKYO—Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike called on residents on Sunday to wash their hands and wear surgical masks to prevent the spread of a new coronavirus which has infected thousands around the world as the city prepares to host the 2020 Olympics.

“This is one of the things I’m very worried about,” said Koike on the sidelines of an opening ceremony for a 15,000-seat gymnasium in eastern Tokyo that will host volleyball and wheelchair basketball competitions this summer.

Japan on Saturday stepped up its response to the epidemic, classifying the coronavirus as a “designated infectious disease,” allowing compulsory hospitalization and the use of public funds for treatment, among other measures.

Koike said she was now working with local and national authorities on how to monitor the virus and to implement measures against its spread to protect the city’s residents.

“I would like you to wash your hands and fingers properly, and wear masks to protect yourselves. There are many ways to do it, but I’d like you to start yourselves with such small steps to control it,” said Koike.

The outbreak originating in the Chinese city of Wuhan prompted organizers to cancel Olympics qualifying events slated to take place in China such as boxing and badminton.

“Countermeasures against infectious diseases constitute an important part of our plans to host a safe and secure games,” Tokyo 2020 said in a statement responding to recent enquiries about the issue, pledging collaboration with authorities.

Casting a shadow over the opening was an announcement by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), which on Friday said it could remove wheelchair basketball from the games if its global body does not improve its athlete classification process.

The IPC said the International Wheelchair Basketball Federation defined “eligible impairments” differently to the mandatory list agreed on by the IPC’s general assembly.

“It’s a very popular discipline,” said Koike, calling on the parties involved to make an effort to resolve the impasse through discussions.

The Ariake Arena opening ceremony featured a presentation by Japan’s volleyball and wheelchair basketball teams. It boasts rich wooden paneling and a concave roof to reduce indoor space to save on air conditioning and lightning.

It is also designed to be accessible to the elderly, people with impairments, parents with young children, and those with guide dogs, the Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee said.

By Antoni Slodkowski

This article is from the Internet:‘Wash Your Hands’: Tokyo Governor to Residents Ahead of Olympics as Coronavirus Spreads

China Reports Bird Flu Outbreak in Hunan Province, 18,000 Chickens Killed

A city in China’s central Hunan province said it killed thousands of chickens following an outbreak of H5N1 bird flu, according to the Chinese regime. The country’s ministry of agriculture said Saturday that 18,000 chickens were culled in Shaoyang, Hunan Province. But that came after some 4,500 chickens were sickened and died, amounting to more than half the farm’s flock. The strain of influenza was the “poultry H5N1 subtype” of the “highly pathogenic bird flu,” the statement read. No human transmission of the bird flu was reported. Shaoyang is located about 300 miles south of Wuhan, the epicenter of the new mystery coronavirus strain that that has triggered lockdowns and quarantines across Hubei province. The coronavirus has prompted a number of countries to suspend flights to and from China and…