Coronavirus: Africa and Uyghurs

I'm writing this Sunday night after the Super Bowl so many things could change from now and when I actually post this. I've been thinking about how this could spread across the globe and my thoughts shifted to countries that might not have the best healthcare systems and also has connections with China.

As of Sunday, I don't believe there have been any reported cases in Africa. There have been suspected cases, but I believe all have turned out to be due to other illnesses.

Al Jazeera wrote about this on Saturday, February 1st:

Amid the mounting concerns, medical experts appear certain that the deadly virus will also infect people on the continent, pointing to the deepening trade and travel ties between China and Africa that has seen many countries on the continent become popular tourist, business and investment destinations for the Chinese.

"There is a large amount of travel between China and Africa; hubs such as Addis Ababa, Cairo and Nairobi are at particular risks due to the large amount of Chinese travellers that pass through these airports."



So travel hubs are Egypt, Ethiopia and Kenya. We know that Chinese have come down with the virus in various Asian countries such as Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines. We also know that a few Americans that traveled through Wuhan have returned to America and come down with the virus. I have to admit I'm slightly surprised that no Chinese that are in Africa (or Africans who were in China) have shown signs of the virus.

The article lists a number of African airlines that have suspended flights to and from China:

RwandAir
Kenya Airways
Royal Air Maroc
EgyptAir
Air Madagascar
Air Mauritius
Air Tanzania

Interestingly, one country that is still flying into China is Ethiopia. Quartz reports:

Ethiopia’s decision to keep operating its flights to and from China, is one that is not sitting well with its citizens.

The Ethiopian government’s assertion that they are prepared to tackle coronavirus as they continue to receive around 1,500 passengers a day into the country from China, is seen as risky as other countries with more robust healthcare infrastructure issue travel restrictions.

In a statement Ethiopian Airlines said it would continue to fly out of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chengdu and Hong Kong and protect its crew and passengers.

None of the above cities are in Hubei province (which is the province for the city of Wuhan). And from what I can tell the number of cases in the cities listed have rather small numbers. WuFlu.Live has a breakdown by province and Guangzhou is in the province of Guangdong, which ranked second for number of cases (at the time of print, it was low at 725 cases). Per Zerohedge (as of today, Sunday) the cases in Beijing stood at 191.So Ethiopian Airlines doesn't appear to be flying into cities that have a mass number of cases.

Interesting fact that I did not know is that Quartz mentions that Ethiopia is the 2nd large country in Africa (by population).

Another thought was what about the Uyghurs in China. We know that many of them are in concentration camps. Vox has an article discussing this (they go with a spelling of Uighur):

As the Wuhan coronavirus spreads across China, infections have been confirmed in the northwestern province of Xinjiang, where an estimated 1 million Muslims are held in camps for forced indoctrination.

“Cramped conditions, poor hygiene, cold, stressed immune systems — this could be a massive disaster,” wrote James Millward, a professor of Chinese history at Georgetown University who monitors the Xinjiang camps closely, on Twitter.

. . .  Some worry that if outbreaks were to hit the camps, China might cover up the problem rather than working quickly and transparently to save lives. The government may have initially censored or at least downplayed information about the coronavirus, as it did during the SARS outbreak of 2003. What’s more, the Communist Party sees the Uighur people as a separatist and terrorist threat, and it has attempted to keep the true goings-on in the camps a secret.

Once again, at the time of print, Business Insider listed the number of cases in Xinjiang at just 13. Yet, as Vox reminds us, the Communist Party considers the Uyghur as a "separatists and terrorist threat." That might indicate how much of their resources they might put towards this province should the infection rate increase dramatically.