Does China’s response to the coronavirus outbreak reflect lessons learned from SARS?
- Jan 24, 2020
- 1 min read
Updated: 4 hours ago
Fear of a global pandemic is one of the factors driving China’s surprising decision to shut down airports in the hope of containing a dangerous virus.
The Chinese government also appears to be influenced by the failure of its response in 2002-03 to the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome, says Jonathan Kaufman, director of the School of Journalism at Northeastern and former China bureau chief for The Wall Street Journal. The SARS epidemic resulted in the deaths of almost 800 people among the estimated 8,000 who were infected.
One dozen cities near the center of the current outbreak were included in the Chinese travel lockdown that was announced on Friday. The mysterious coronavirus, which is believed to have begun at a seafood market in Wuhan, a sprawling provincial capital in central China, has killed at least 100 of the more than 4,500 people who are known to be infected. The disease has spread to 15 countries, mostly in Asia, but also Europe, Australia, Canada, and the U.S., where five cases have been reported thus far. The travel limits are affecting more than 50 million people.