Coronavirus death toll in China crosses 1,000
Beijing: Global efforts to contain the coronavirus outbreak intensified on Tuesday with a team of WHO experts holding in-depth exchanges with specialists here, as the death toll from the deadly infection in China crossed 1,000 while the confirmed cases rose to 42,708.
The World Health Organisation convened a meeting in Geneva on Tuesday to fast-track promising tests, drugs and vaccines to help slow the outbreak that has spread to over 20 countries, including India.
The death toll on Monday rose to 1,017 with confirmed cases totalling to 42,708 in China. The confirmed cases abroad have gone up to 390, health officials here said.
A 15-member advance team of the WHO specialists led by Bruce Aylward, a veteran of past public health emergencies which arrived here on Monday night, began consultations with their Chinese counterparts on Tuesday.
They will join with Chinese experts to conduct in-depth exchanges on the situation and epidemic prevention and control, China's Health Commission spokesman Mi Feng said.
"We welcome experts from all countries, including the United States, to participate in the team of experts. We believe that after consultation and communication, we can make appropriate arrangements for the joint team in China," he said.
Some 400 scientists will be meeting on February 11-12 in Geneva to discuss all aspects of the virus, the WHO announced.
"On 11-12 February, WHO is convening a global research and innovation forum to mobilize international action, and identify knowledge gaps and research priorities to contribute to the control of #2019nCoV, a WHO tweet said.
This is the biggest gathering of specialists to evaluate the coronavirus which surfaced in December last year and wreaked havoc in China.
The Chinese government has sealed 18 cities with over 50 million people in the virus-hit Hubei province including its provincial capital Wuhan to prevent its spread.
Michael Ryan, executive director of the WHO told the media in Geneva that it is important to have risk management procedures associated with the virus are worked out at the earliest.
"You can't shut the world either and normal activity must go on," he said.
The two-day forum in Geneva will try to work out a roadmap to deal with the coronavirus in China and around the world. This includes the development of medication and vaccines, state run CGTN TV reported on Tuesday.
The world's leading experts will bring together all their expertise from around the globe to focus their attention on how best to try and defeat the coronavirus, the report said.
They will examine issues like how to fill the knowledge gaps of virus, focus their discussions on specifics like how it is transmitted in particular. Most crucial is to develop medicine in particular and a vaccine to contain it.
Meanwhile, the Chinese government has removed several senior officials in Wuhan, the epicentre of the epidemic, for their mishandling of the coronavirus outbreak.
Those sacked included the party secretary for the Hubei Health Commission, and the head of the commission, official media reported.
Last week, three Chinese officials of the Red Cross Society in Hubei province were punished for improperly dealing with donations for the prevention and control of the epidemic.
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Unruly scenes witnessed in Punjab Assembly
Chandigarh (PTI): The Punjab Assembly on Friday witnessed high drama on Friday after Congress MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira made an allegedly objectionable remark against Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann during an intense argument over the alleged use of mobile phone in the house by the legislator.
During the one-day special session of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha here, Mann accused Khaira of using a mobile phone when Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan was reading out an official resolution on the revision of wages.
After rising from his seat, the chief minister pointed to the speaker, claiming that Khaira is busy on his mobile phone and urged him to ask the Congress MLA what Sandhwan had said about the resolution.
The speaker then asked Khaira to maintain order in the house and listen to the resolution carefully.
Mann then asked Khaira, "Why don't you go out and then use it (mobile phone)," which led to a strong verbal altercation during which the opposition MLA hurled an accusation against the chief minister. Meanwhile, the speaker appealed for order and insisted that the chair be addressed.
However, both Mann and Khaira continued arguing and could be seen pointing fingers at each other as the proceedings of the house were disrupted.
The AAP MLAs also rose from their seats with Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema condemning Khaira for his conduct and demanded action against him.
Cheema further alleged that Khaira "always tries to disturb the house" as he spoke about his conduct in the assembly.
The incident occurred as an official resolution on the revision of wages was presented at the special session by Labour Minister Tarunpreet Singh Sond who said it paid homage to labourers on the International Workers' Day.
"Workers are the axis of construction of the nation, the community, the state and society. Every construction project succeeds only through their blood and sweat," the resolution read.
As per the resolution, "The base rate of minimum wages for the working class in Punjab was last revised in the year 2012. Although the dearness allowance has continued to increase since 2012, there has been no increase in the base rate of minimum wages.
On this sacred occasion of May Day, in this special session of the legislative assembly, this house proposes to revise and increase the minimum wages of labourers and strongly recommends to the government to take a decision regarding the increase of minimum wages for workers, so that the contributions of the workers can be acknowledged." PRK
