China is Finally Seeking International Help to Combat Corona Virus

Washington: China is seeking international help in the wake of an outbreak of coronavirus in Wuhan, China, which has claimed 35,000 lives and increased mortality.

China has refused US assistance to combat the coronavirus and is now asking for help from the US and other countries.

A US embassy spokesman said Saturday that China has agreed to form a team of international experts from the World Health Organization to study the virus and seek solutions. A team of infectious disease experts from the United States will also play a key role.

An embassy spokesperson said that these American experts, who worked with the World Health Organization, were experts in the epidemic, including Ebola, avian influenza and SARS.

China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed on Saturday that its own National Health Commission is working on the impending arrangements of a World Health Organization-led expert team. The US delegation will arrive in China on Monday or Tuesday.

By Saturday night, 725 people had died of coronavirus. Most of it is in the province of Hubei, the epicenter of the virus.

One of the dead was a 60-year-old American. It is unclear whether the person lives in China or is visiting China. He was pronounced dead at a hospital in Wuhan on Thursday. Embassy officials said no further details were released.

The United States is treating 12 confirmed coronavirus patients in California, Arizona, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Massachusetts.

In New York State, six infected patients are awaiting test results. Two of those are in New York City.

11 Britons living in a ski resort in the French Alps were put under surveillance at a hospital on Saturday. Five of them were diagnosed with the virus.

Reports suggest that Chinese authorities are getting increasingly frustrated. Patients are dragged from their homes to the hospital. In a video filmed in the Hubei provincial city of Wuhan, officers are seen dragging three men out of an apartment.

The video comes after reports that the Communist regime encircled the Wuhan victims and forcibly transported them to concentration camps to spread the virus.

Five people were taken to an undisclosed hospital in Northern California for fever after a flight that brought back U.S. citizens. They are housed in the Isolation Ward.

The virus has spread to 27 countries besides China. Officials said most of them were traveling in the Hubei province. It is estimated that two to three out of every 100 affected people die. Experts say older patients are more likely to die.