Coronavirus Outbreak: More Countries are Infected

January 24, 2020, is Chinese New Year’s eve, which is supposed to be a time of each year for family reunion and happiness in China. But a novel coronavirus spread across China before the Spring Festival. Due to the coronavirus outbreak, staying at home has become an important way for ordinary people to fight against the epidemic. This Spring Festival is very tough for Chinese people.

COVID-19

The general director of the World Health Organization (WHO) has named the novel coronavirus disease COVID-19 (Corona Virus Disease 2019). CO refers to Corona, VI means Virus, D means Disease, and 19 stands for 2019.

Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses, including those that cause the common cold and those that have caused coronavirus outbreaks:

• Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) coronavirus;
• Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) coronavirus.

Why did the World Health Organization name the novel coronavirus disease COVID-19? An improper name can also cause potential problems.

For example, names that refer to geographical locations can lead to unnecessary regional discrimination. After all, the virus just happened to be discovered in a region, and it might also exist elsewhere in the world.

In 2015, best practices were issued by the World Health Organization for naming new human infectious diseases. It is required that the names of new viruses do not refer to the following information:

• Geographical locations
• People’s names
• The name of an animal or a kind of food
• References to a particular culture or industry

Infected countries and regions

As the outbreak spread, all provinces and regions in China were infected by the outbreak. In addition to China, a growing number of countries have also reported confirmed cases of the new coronavirus, including Thailand, Japan, Cambodia, Australia, Malaysia, France, Nepal, South Korea, Singapore, Britain, Germany, the United Arab Emirates, the United States, Italy, India, the Philippines, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Russia, Spain, Canada, and Finland.

Impact of COVID-19

China’s health system gets overwhelmed

Owing to the rapid spread of COID-19, medical supplies shortage gradually appeared throughout China. Confirmed cases go untreated, and many die without even being conformed.

Nurses, doctors and other medical workers surfer from severe medical supply shortages. In order to save protective clothing, goggles, face masks and other resources, many of them choose to work for a long time without drinking and eating.

Masks are urgently needed in more and more regions and countries.

Holiday extension

Affected by the outbreak, new semester opening dates for schools are postponed again and again. Companies and factories in some provinces extend holidays to February 17. It is hard to say whether they will continue to remain shut.

Many schools began to offer online classes to students. And employees are advocated to work remotely at home.

Besides, many Chinese overseas students were refused to go back to school. For example, the Australian government locks Chinese students out of Australia. So, Chinese students couldn’t go back to study in Australia.  

Hurt global economy

What’s happening in China not only has a severe impact on the Chinese economy but also the global economy. Because China has been playing an important role in the world economy. As the world’s big manufacturer, China supplies companies across the world. Once China’s production is closed, it is hard for them to find other suppliers in a short time. Tourism in the Asia-Pacific region was also disruptively affected.

A number of events have been postponed or cancelled

Some international sports events scheduled for China have been postponed or cancelled because of the outbreak of COVID-19.

For example, the Hong Kong marathon scheduled for February 9 and the Formula E Grand Prix scheduled for March 23 in Hainan were cancelled. The Formula 1 Heineken Chinese Grand Prix 2020, scheduled for April 19 in Shanghai, was postponed. The domestic football season had been suspended by the Chinese Football Association.

This coronavirus outbreak continues to pose negative impacts on the international business calendar. Chinese women’s football team was also quarantined as they arrived in Australia for Olympic qualifying tournaments. In addition, Mobile World Congress, one of the world’s largest technology fairs, was cancelled.  

City lockdown

As the situation got worse, many cities were on lockdown. People had problems with eating because food supply was also in shortage. All of them have to stay home and cancel all travel plans. What’s worse, the lockdown of cities and extension of holidays leave many pets unattended. Pet owners have to ask for help online.

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