Spectre of a crown

While the number of new cases have come down, China is still grappling with the novel coronavirus that has claimed more than 1,000 lives

- RABI BANERJEE

AN AIR HUG—that is all Liu Haiyan, a nurse treating novel coronavirus patients in Henan province in China, could give her young daughter when she came to drop off dumplings at the hospital. Both of them wore the mandatory masks and avoided contact, standing at a distance from each other. The daughter, amid sobs, told Haiyan that she missed her a lot. “Mum is fighting monsters,” replied Haiyan. “I will be back home once the virus is beaten. Be good.” A video of their conversation went viral, as did another one of a mother breaking down while visiting her doctor-son who had quarantined himself. She, too, had brought him food.

Medical professionals in China have been on the frontline of the country’s battle against a virus that has claimed more than 1,000 lives and infected more than 42,000 people since December 2019. The World Health Organization formally named the disease Covid-19, short for coronavirus disease 2019. The virus continues to be called 2019-nCoV, short for 2019 novel coronavirus. China, no doubt, is on a war-footing. But there is a fear that the number of cases is yet to peak because of the extreme cold in different parts of China, and that after Wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak, it could spell doom for 17 cities including Beijing and Shanghai. “The virus will spread even after a month,” a Chinese government spokesman from Beijing told THE WEEK. “It is getting worse day by day.” But Dr Zhong Nanshan, who was lauded for his work during the SARS epidemic in 2003, reportedly said that the cases could peak by mid or late February and then plateau before easing.