By Tenzin Dharpo
DHARAMSHALA, Jan. 31: After a suspected Chinese man tested positive for the novel Coronavirus pneumonia (nCoV-2019) in the Tibetan Autonomous Region’s Lhasa city on Thursday, all provinces in occupied Tibet have now confirmed cases of the new pathogen that has since originated in Wuhan, China.
As of Jan 27, official media reports confirmed over 140 cases of nCoV-2019 outside of TAR in occupied Tibet’s Gansu, Qinghai, Sichuan and Yunnan province. The China Tibet Broadcasting website reported 90 confirmed cases in Sichuan, 26 in Yunnan, 19 in Gansu, and 6 in Qinghai. Although the four patients in Gansu were reported to be critical, no death has been reported in Tibet yet.
Chinese state media Xinhua on Jan. 29 stated that TAR is the last provincial-level region in the Chinese mainland to launch the top-level response to contain the novel coronavirus epidemic. All tourist attractions have been shut down including the Potala palace and Norbulinga. An amateur video shot most likely using a cell phone showed the streets of Lhasa city deserted and empty.
Despite China announcing “top-level” emergency level in TAR, Beijing based Tibetan writer wrote on her Facebook that buying a face mask is a difficult task in Lhasa. She said that she is “scared” and “worried” as to how Tibetans will cope without proper containment measures put in place if the outbreak spreads in a larger scale.
On Friday, the World Health Organisation declared the new coronavirus a global emergency as the spread of the disease continues outside China. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, “The main reason for this declaration is not what is happening in China but what is happening in other countries,” adding that he is confident of China’s ability to control the crisis.
As of Friday, at least 215 people have died from the virus and close to 10,000 people infected in China. While there have been no deaths reported outside of China, the number of people who tested positive for the virus jumped to 98 cases in 18 countries including Thailand, Germany, Japan, Vietnam and the United States among others.
