Coronavirus fear spark mask queues and empty shelves in Hong Kong

The pharmacies have reportedly been swarmed by long queues of people and the crowd of panicked buyers stripped the supermarket shelves in Hong Kong as fear gripped the citizens through the metropolis over China's coronavirus epidemic. The Hong congers have erupted in massive numbers at pharmaceutical facilities to buy masks and other precautionary items to curb the severe contagion outbreak of the Wuhan Virus. The streets in Hong Kong were abuzz and clogged with citizens and heavy traffic was witnessed, according to the reports.

Containment efforts underway

As the death toll in China’s deadly Coronavirus epidemic has surged to 170 with over 1700 recent cases of infections elevating the figures to 7,711 confirmed cases, the infection continues to accelerate. Substantial containment efforts to restrain the contagion of the disease are being taken amidst the mounting global fears as 38 new death reports have emerged from the epicenter, the province of Hubei.

The testing kits for the disease had run out

China’s regulatory agency, the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) had reportedly announced the approval of new coronavirus detection products as the infection cases surged and testing was in high demand. The testing kits for the disease had run out from some of the hospitals in Wuhan, reports suggest.

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BGI had donated the first 10,000 fluorescent RT-PCR kits

The Chinese genome sequencing company, BGI had donated the first 10,000 fluorescent RT-PCR kits to support the response in Wuhan against the virus, and according to reports, they have now set up an emergency command centre in Wuhan to expand the manufacturing of the testing kits and mobilize efforts with staff to work round the clock, arrange storage, transportation, and other logistics. The World Health Organisation's (WHO) Emergency Committee is set to convene an urgent meeting over whether the outbreak constitutes a global emergency, a designation that would foster international coordination amongst the nations.

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