Johor police chief Comm Datuk Mohd Kamaruddin Md Din said that the trio was detained on Saturday night (Jan 25).

“They have been sent to the hospital for quarantine and further examination as well as treatment,” he said when contacted here.

It was earlier reported that the two-year-old’s parents had avoided being quarantined despite instructions from the hospital.

According to a police report filed by a doctor from Hospital Sultanah Aminah, the two-year-old patient who was referred to the hospital by a private hospital had influenza-like symptoms and was suspected to have the Wuhan coronavirus.

The doctor, along with another paediatrician had told the parents that the child had to be sent for quarantine at Hospital Permai and for further examination but the parents refused as they had to catch a flight the next day.

Johor Health director Dr Aman Rabu said that the department is investigating the case and would send a result of the report to the Health Ministry.

As of 11 pm on Saturday, Beijing had confirmed 51 cases of novel coronavirus pneumonia, according to the Beijing Municipal Health Commission.

It confirmed three medical workers contracted novel coronavirus pneumonia, according to a statement on Sunday saying that the three medical workers have been put on medical quarantine in designated hospitals.

A medical worker surnamed Wang went to Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak, for a business trip on Jan 8 and returned Beijing on Jan 16. He was sent to a medical institution in the capital on Monday and was confirmed with the illness the next day.

A doctor surnamed Lu had a fever on Jan 14, three days after he went back to Beijing from a business trip in Wuhan, where he stayed for one day from Jan 10 to Jan 11.

Another medical worker surnamed Yan was confirmed as having novel coronavirus pneumonia on Saturday. He sat beside the doctor surnamed Lu at a conference on Jan 14. From Jan 3 to Jan 10, he traveled to Dalian, Northeast China’s Liaoning province, and Baishan and Changchun in Northeast China’s Jilin province.

All three doctors showed symptoms of fever before being confirmed with the virus. People who had close contact with the three are now under medical observation.

The number of confirmed cases increased by 688 on Saturday, resulting in a total number of 1,975 cases reported in the Chinese mainland as of Saturday midnight, the commission said. Another 2,684 suspected cases also had been reported.

Central China’s Hubei province reported 13 new fatalities caused by a novel coronavirus on Saturday, bringing the total number of deaths from the pneumonia-related disease to 52 as of Saturday night, the provincial health commission said on Sunday morning.

The number of confirmed cases increased by 323 on Saturday, resulting in a total number of 1,052 cases reported in the province.

The US government is arranging a charter flight for Sunday to bring back its employees and their families from the US Consulate General in Wuhan, The Wall Street Journal said, quoting a person familiar with the operation. The plane will carry around 230 people, and those evacuated will be responsible for the costs.

According to the Journal, the operation came after negotiations with China’s Foreign Ministry and other government agencies in recent days. Roughly 1,000 American citizens are thought to be in Wuhan.

The US will also temporarily shut down its consulate general in the city.

The plane will have US medical personnel abroad to ensure that anyone infected with the coronavirus is cared for and doesn’t spread it.

It’s not immediately clear where the plane is headed.

The US State Department on Thursday raised its travel advisory to Level 4, warning its citizens to not travel to Hubei province.

On the same day, the State Department ordered the departure of all non-emergency US personnel and their family members. The US government has limited ability to provide emergency services to US citizens in Hubei province.

Also on Thursday, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention raised its travel warning to level 3, instructing travelers to avoid all nonessential travel to Wuhan.

As of Saturday, the US has confirmed two cases of coronavirus, which includes a Chicago woman in her 60s and a Seattle man in his 30s.

The Chicago woman traveled from Wuhan to Chicago on Jan 13, but wasn’t showing symptoms then. She is being treated in a hospital in isolation and was reportedly in good condition Friday night.

The Seattle man arrived at the Seattle-Tacoma Airport from Wuhan on Jan 15, before any health screenings began at US airports. He went to an urgent care facility Jan 19 and was diagnosed with the coronavirus Monday. He is also reported to be in good condition.

Wuhan is home to the business operations of a number of US corporations, including auto maker General Motors Co.

As of Saturday, the coronavirus outbreak has been blamed for the deaths of at least 41 people and infected more than 1,000 people in China, the United States, South Korea, Japan, Vietnam, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Nepal, Australia and France.

However, the new virus is neither SARS nor MERS, but a relative that belongs to a different class called the betacoronavirus, a single-strand RNA virus that can infect wild animals, livestock and humans. The new virus may have originated from bats like SARS, but there might be more intermediate hosts between bats and humans, according to the study.

The paper was published by the journal of Science China Life Sciences by researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Beijing Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology, and Guangzhou Medical University.

The researchers also found that the new virus may share a similar transmission mechanism with that of SARS, which is infecting cells of the respiratory tract. However, the paper suggests the infectiousness of the new virus might be lower than SARS and its structure is easier to break apart due to some of its genetic features.

A Beijing expert in the sector who requested anonymity said the paper’s model was based on test examples from the early period of the outbreak, and mutations can occur that may lead to different results.

“The purpose of the paper is not to give a definitive answer on what the new virus is, but rather to offer a direction and basic groundwork for the international scientific community to look deeper into the pathogen,” he said.

“It is still too early to say how deadly or contagious the new virus is, and we should not let fear and speculations get in the way of our understanding of the situation.”

South Korean President Moon Jae-in last week called for a renewed drive on various inter-Korean projects, such as cooperation on the border area, a joint bid to co-host the 2032 Summer Olympics, an inter-Korean railway and road project and individual tourism.

Ever since he floated plans for Seoul to assume an active role — and be less of a bystander — in dealing with Pyongyang, key officials have been calling for more engagement with North Korea, with plans to allow South Korean tourists to the North receiving the most spotlight so far.

“I believe the project we should push for most urgently, and is doable, is connecting the railway network between South Korea and the North because it will take the longest (time) to complete,” Lee Soo-hyuck, South Korean Ambassador to the US, told reporters in Washington.

“The overarching principle of the projects the government is pushing is that we should do the most we can within the framework of international sanctions.”

His comments come amid a rare display of a rift between Seoul and Washington on Moon’s renewed engagement policies with Pyongyang. The US has called on the South to discuss its plans, including on allowing individual tourism to the North, first through its working-level group to avoid weakening the allies’ united front on North Korea.

“As far as I know, the US has never rejected any (of our proposals at the working group),” he said, adding the US’ stance is that inter-Korean cooperation could help in denuclearizing North Korea.

The highly publicized project to modernize North Korean railways and roads and connect them with the South ceremonially broke ground in December 2018, following an agreement reached during the inter-Korean summit in April that year. The two Koreas carried out a joint inspection of the North’s railway and roads, but the project has been stalled due to UN-led sanctions against the North.

The government has started updating a list of equipment and supplies for the railway project, as it will need to request an exemption from the UN Security Council’s North Korea sanctions committee, to go ahead and take the materials to the North.

It plans to talk with the US, possibly through the joint working group on North Korea, for exemption on US-led sanctions if needed. During the joint inspection in 2018, the UNSC had granted an exemption for some materials that the South needs to send to the North for the project.

When asked on the process of inter-railway project, the Unification Ministry said “additional inspection is required at the moment.”

“On areas that need to be prepared internally and independently, we are continuing to prepare at working levels,” the ministry’s spokesman Lee Sang-min said in a regular briefing Wednesday.

But the main question remains as to whether North Korea will respond to Seoul’s ambitious plans.

Pyongyang has kept mum on Seoul’s latest proposals, including the resumption on individual tourism — which the government reiterated it does not violate US-led sanctions, nor require a nod from Washington.

Following Moon’s call, the Unification Ministry has drawn up possible scenarios on individual tourism to North Korea, with allowing Koreans to use a travel agency in the third country to visit North Korea as the most realistic option.

By Ahn Sung-mi (sahn@heraldcorp.com)

Mayor Zhou Xianwang said during an interview with CCTV on Tuesday that reducing the flow of people will also decrease the possibility of the virus spreading and lighten the pressure on disease prevention and control efforts.

Wuhan set up a prevention and control center to combat the outbreak on Monday, the city’s health authorities said.

Led by Zhou, the center heads eight task forces made up of authorities involved in emergency management, publicity, transport, market regulation, medical treatment and epidemic control and prevention, according to the Health Commission of Wuhan.

The city will strengthen measures to scan passengers for higher body temperatures at airports, train and bus stations and ports, and reduce or cancel all unnecessary large gatherings.

Patients with serious symptoms should be treated by a team of medical workers with a specific plan, and hospitals should strengthen the protection of their staff to prevent infection within hospitals.

The city will promptly and objectively release information about disease prevention and control.

Traffic management authorities in Wuhan are searching vehicles entering or leaving the city for live poultry or wild animals. Health experts say animals are the likely source of the new coronavirus responsible for the disease.

All exit ports in the city have installed temperature monitoring devices, and all passengers traveling abroad will be required to undergo body temperature checks. Passengers with higher temperatures will be placed under observation or persuaded not to travel, the city’s tourism authorities said on Tuesday.

The city has installed 35 infrared thermometers and more than 300 portable infrared thermometers in the city’s airports, railway and bus stations since Jan 14, the commission said.

All passengers with higher than normal temperatures will be registered and transferred to nearby medical facilities. They will get a full refund of their tickets and rescheduling charges, it said.

All modes of public transportation in the city have been subject to daily sterilization and ventilation since Sunday, the health commission added.

He Houpeng, deputy director of the commission, said that the government will pay for the remaining medical bills of all confirmed pneumonia patients not covered by medical insurance.

Three hospitals in Wuhan have allocated 800 beds to receive pneumonia patients, and other medical facilities have allocated 1,200 beds, he said.

The city will delay its annual festival at the city’s major tourism attractions for the upcoming Spring Festival amid the ongoing outbreak, the city’s tourism authorities said on Tuesday. The bureau did not specify how long the event will be delayed.

Q&A with experts

A high-level expert team organized by the National Health Commission on Monday answered some of the most concerning questions about the new coronavirus that has caused the pneumonia outbreak in Wuhan, Hubei province, which has spread to multiple provincial regions across China and some overseas locations.

Origin of the virus

Zhong Nanshan, a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and a prominent expert in respiratory diseases, said the virus very likely originated from wild animals.

Gao Fu, head of the Chinese Center for Disease and Control and Prevention: We have collected evidence that the virus is linked with wild animals in a seafood market in Wuhan, which was closed following the report of the outbreak. We have identified the new coronavirus in the market. We are not certain of the source of infection, as we have not found out which particular animal is responsible. All six coronaviruses known to humans, including the one that caused severe acute respiratory disease, originated from wild mammals.

Yuan Guoyong, a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering: We should not eat wild animals. We must respect the life of wild animals and their habitats, because we share the same Earth.

Comparison with SARS

Yuan Guoyong: The new coronavirus is different from SARS, and the two viruses result in different clinical conditions and infectiousness. At present, it is not clear how the new virus will develop and how it affects humans, and a lot of work needs to be done.

Li Lanjuan, a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering: Since the SARS outbreak, China has built a very good disease prevention and control system, and our capacity to prevent and control diseases has greatly increased. This is why we successfully developed testing methods for the new virus soon after the start of the outbreak.

Zhong Nanshan: I am very confident the SARS outbreaks 17 years ago will not repeat. We successfully identified the new coronavirus within two weeks of the outbreak, and we have very good disease monitoring and quarantine systems. So I do not think the new virus will result in damage to society and the economy as SARS did.

Means of disease control and prevention

Zhong Nanshan: The best way to prevent and control the disease is to identify and diagnose cases as early as possible, and put them under quarantine for treatment. Various authorities, including those in health authorities, should take responsibility. For Wuhan, it is important to minimize the exportation of the virus. The city will take strict measures to identify cases at its airport and railway stations. Temperature measuring should be applied, and we suggest residents in the city with abnormal temperatures not leave, which is very important.

Zeng Guang, chief epidemiologist at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention: For Wuhan, all the public should act, and all government departments should join efforts for disease control.

Availability of effective drugs for the disease

Zhong Nanshan: Similar to SARS, there is no effective drug for the disease at present, but we are doing animal research and trying some traditional Chinese medicines.

Impact on the peak traffic season around the Spring Festival holiday

Zhong Nanshan: Now it is a critical state. We estimate the number of cases will continue rising during the 40-day travel season, which started on Jan 10.

Zeng Guang: We hope we can take measures so the number of cases will not rise too much and can decrease rapidly after the peak traffic season.

Global communities need to seek ways to advance a hydrogen society based on three aspects — cost reduction through technological innovation, expansion of public receptivity and establishment of a safety management system — according to Hyundai Motor chief Chung Euisun, who attended a CEO event of a global alliance for hydrogen technologies in Paris on Monday.

“There is a no shortcut to the future hydrogen society. It is most important for the hydrogen industry to establish a specific execution plan step by step, industry by industry, and act with continuity,” Hyundai Motor Group Executive Vice Chairman Chung said in his welcome speech at the annual event, according to Hyundai Motor Group.

To make hydrogen energy a realistic solution and an answer to future energy transformation, the abovementioned three aspects should come first, said Chung, who took up the role of Hydrogen Council co-chair in January last year.

He has called on the governments of each country and businesses around the world to jointly make efforts to create a hydrogen society.

According to a McKenzie report, the hydrogen industry is expected to be worth 280 billion won ($240 million), to create 30 million jobs and to satisfy 18 percent of overall energy demand, by 2050.

Until now, hydrogen production has involved the use of byproduct hydrogen derived from the petrochemical process. Another way involves directly extracting hydrogen from natural gas or separating hydrogen from water.

But all three methods have come under criticism, as using fossil fuel to create hydrogen could contribute to global warming and using water to get hydrogen has low transfer efficiency but high production cost.

Touching on the latter method, Chung said all sectors in the hydrogen industry should cut cost through technological innovation and secure momentum for sustainability.

He stressed the need to cut cost in terms of production, storage and use, as hydrogen has been evaluated as an alternative energy source to replace fossil fuel thanks to its high efficiency and eco-friendliness.

According to market data, the average hydrogen fuel price came to between 6,000 to 8,000 won per kilogram as of last year.

Chung also highlighted the need to expand public receptivity toward hydrogen.

The industry “must effectively suggest the practical value of a hydrogen society, to expand public receptivity and tap into the new market,” Chung said.

He urged the industry to take action to increase public understanding and awareness toward hydrogen energy and the industry’s vision and value.

As for safety management, Chung suggested mutual efforts to create a safety system across industries.

Established in Davos, Switzerland, in 2017, the Hydrogen Council is a first-of-its-kind global CEO initiative and alliance of hydrogen technologies. It promotes the energy transition from fossil fuels and fosters the role of hydrogen technologies. Its members comprise 81 leading multinational companies, including Saudi Aramco, British Petroleum, Shell and Total.

Hyundai Motor said Chung will participate in the World Economic Forum on Tuesday in Davos, to discuss and exchange ideas for the role of mobility in a hydrogen society with world leaders.

By Kim Da-sol (ddd@heraldcorp.com)

In the week ending Jan 17, four companies listed on the US exchanges, including three Chinese issuers and a US mortgage lender, according to IPO information platform Renaissance Capital.

Phoenix Tree Holdings, a leading Chinese apartment rental service provider operating under the name of Danke Apartment, rang the New York Stock Exchange opening bell in celebration of its IPO.

The company, trading under the ticker symbol of “DNK,” announced its IPO of 9.6 million American depositary shares (ADSs) at a price to the public of $13.5 apiece. The stock closed flat on Friday.

Founded in 2015, the Beijing-based company adopts a business model featuring centralization, standardization and online experience. It had established operations in 13 cities across China as of Sept 30, 2019, becoming one of the largest co-living platforms in the country with rapid growth, the company said its prospectus, citing consulting firm iResearch.

Gao Jing, CEO of Danke Apartment, told Xinhua that China’s residential rental market is huge and fast-growing, providing tremendous opportunities for his startup.

Calling the company’s debut on the US exchanges “a milestone,” Gao also expects the move would help the company’s brand building and attract more talents.

“After a long time of preparation, we finally made the listing,” Marco Lai, founder and CEO of LIZHI, a Chinese interactive podcast platform for user-generated content, told Xinhua.

LIZHI, rang the opening bell at the Nasdaq MarketSite in Times Square on Friday in celebration of its IPO. The company announced its IPO of 4.1 million ADSs at a price to the public of $11 apiece.

The stock, trading under the ticker symbol of “LIZI,” jumped 5.73 percent to end at $11.63 apiece on Friday.

Founded in 2010, the Guangzhou-based company launched the Lizhi app in 2013 to allow users to record and share their lives with voices on mobile devices with the help of intuitive recording, and to reach their audience through various discovery tools.

Lai said the public listing is a key step of the company’s global strategy, adding the company plans to use the proceeds from this offering to invest in product development and its Artificial Intelligence technology.

Also on Friday, I-Mab, clinical-stage biopharma company in China, made its debut on the Nasdaq.

The company announced its offering of approximately 7.4 million ADSs at $14 per share, assuming the underwriters do not exercise their option to purchase additional ADSs. Traded under the symbol of “IMAB,” the stock opened on an upbeat note while finishing the session lower.

The number of Chinese firms listed on the US exchanges has increased in recent years. As of Friday, the S&P US Listed China 50 index, which is designed to track the performance of the 50 largest Chinese companies listed on US exchanges by total market cap, stood at 3,418.51, marking a 7.93-percent gain for year-to-date returns.

The international advisory firm said in the report that public confidence in China and Chinese business continued to gain momentum in emerging markets, with 84 percent of respondents expressing positive opinions of China. Only 16 percent of respondents in these markets expressed negative opinions.

Brunswick found perceptions in developed countries were more mixed, with 58 percent of respondents stating positive opinions of China, and 42 percent holding negative views.

As per the report, positive opinions of China remained stable in the United States at 48 percent, the United Kingdom at 60, Germany and the Czech Republic at 68.

The Select Findings are based on a survey of 9,700 respondents in 23 countries, ranging from developed markets like the US, UK and Germany, to emerging countries across Africa, Asia, Europe and the Middle East.

The findings showed that the divide of public perceptions between developed and emerging countries is impacted by differing outlooks on China’s rising economic and political leadership.

Emerging countries are seeing economic opportunities in China’s rise, while developed countries are offering a more cautious assessment.

The survey findings also indicate that China’s economic and technological leadership is expected to grow, which may create new areas for competition and tension in the future.

“China has a vision for the future and has found support along the Belt and Road,” said Mei Yan, Brunswick Group’s chair of China. “Now, the developed world must take into account the reality of China as a leading economic and technological power.”