SCMP: Beijing battles ‘crisis of Chernobyl proportions’ in coronavirus outbreak
* Public fury is growing, with calls for more freedom of speech, but observers don’t expect any dramatic changes
* Xi Jinping has been mostly absent from view, as heads start to roll in Hubei province
Right in the centre of China, the city of Wuhan in Hubei province has also been at the heart of some key political events in the country’s modern history.
It was where a nationalist revolution began in 1911 that overthrew the Qing dynasty, ending thousands of years of imperial rule. And from where supreme leader Mao Zedong famously swam across the Yangtze River in 1966 at the age of 72, as he launched the Cultural Revolution – a decade of social and political turmoil which left wounds that remain unhealed.
This winter, it was the starting point for an outbreak of a new coronavirus – which causes the disease now officially known as Covid-19 – that has rapidly spread across the country and beyond, claiming the lives of more than 1,300 people and infecting over 59,000 so far.
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Covid-19 News Updates -- February 13, 2020
Coronavirus latest updates: death rate in China's Hubei slows after spike – live news -- The Guardian
Latest on coronavirus spreading in China and beyond -- Reuters
WHO scrambling to get details of new cases – as it happened -- The Guardian
China coronavirus outbreak: All the latest updates -- Al Jazeera
China's coronavirus death toll surpasses 1400, but fewer new cases -- France 24
Coronavirus cases spike in Hubei; death toll hits 1,367 -- UPI
Huge rise in coronavirus cases casts doubt over scale of epidemic -- The Guardian
China's coronavirus death toll surges, fuels speculation cases were under-reported -- France 24
Coronavirus: Beijing purges Communist Party heads in Hubei over ‘botched’ outbreak response in provincial capital of Wuhan -- SCMP
Coronavirus: Wuhan doctors battle outbreak in nappies as masks rub their faces raw -- SCMP
China reports big rise in coronavirus deaths, WHO sees no 'tip of iceberg' -- Reuters
China's coronavirus spike not necessarily indicative of new trajectory, World Health Organisation says -- ABC News Online
Coronavirus: No change in outbreak despite China spike, WHO says -- BBC
Closed, canceled, downsized: Coronavirus hits Chinese culture -- DW
Coronavirus lockdown in Wuhan means foreign residents with no flight out must sit tight -- SCMP
Singapore's biggest daily jump in new coronavirus cases takes tally to 58 -- Reuters
Japan confirms first death of person with new coronavirus -- SMP
Olympics officials: Coronavirus outbreak won't cancel Tokyo Games -- UPI
