A4 CORONAVIRUS O THEGLOBEANDMAIL| FRIDAY,MARCH13,
President Donald Trump is facing
growing criticism over his hand-
ling of the new coronavirus pan-
demic as he continues to play
down its seriousness, the U.S. se-
verely lags other countries in test-
ing for the infection and congres-
sional leaders tussle over a relief
package.
The frustration with the White
House mounted a day after Mr.
Trumpannouncedatravelbanon
26 European countries–amove
public-health experts said would
be ineffectual in stopping the vi-
rus and former vice-president Joe
Biden described as “xenophobic”
- but failed to unveil measures to
stem infections in the U.S.
Mr. Trump had intended the
measure to soothe economic
fears by projecting presidential
authority. Instead, markets saw
their largest single-day fall since
the stock market plunge of 1987.
One top public-health official
conceded Thursday that the U.S.
did not have the infrastructure to
processlargenumbersoftests,ac-
counting forthe government’s
flagging response to the virus.
“Thesystemisnotreallygeared
to what we need right now, what
youareaskingfor.Thatisafailing.
Let’s admit it,” Anthony Fauci, di-
rector of the National Institute of
Allergy and Infectious Diseases,
told a congressional committee.
“The idea of anybody getting [the
test] easily the way people in oth-
ercountriesaredoingit,we’renot
set up for that.”
According to figures from the
Centres for Disease Control, the
U.S. has processed more than
11,000 coronavirus tests. By com-
parison South Korea, a country
that has roughly one-sixth the
U.S. population, has tested
230,000 people.
Officials have blamed several
factors: Initially, the CDC issued a
faulty test and did not allow local
authorities to use other tests. The
CDC has also said it does not have
enough staff or lab space to proc-
ess large numbers of tests. And
stringent criteria for receiving the
test meant most people could not
takeiteveniftheywereexhibiting
symptoms.
Butspeakingtoreportersinthe
Oval Office Thursday, Mr. Trump
claimedthetestingwas“goingve-
ry smooth.” And he insisted that
Britain, which he exempted from
the travel restrictions, didn’t
“have very much infection,” even
though its 460 cases are more
than in 12 of the countries subject
to the ban.
Mr. Trump also refused to be
testedforcoronavirusafterapho-
tograph emerged of him standing
next to Brazilian President Jair
Bolsonaro’s press aide, who was
confirmed Thursday to have the
infection, at Mar-a-Lago last
weekend.“We sat next to each other for a
periodoftime,hadagreatconver-
sation,”Mr.Trumpsaid.“Let’sput
it this way: I’m not concerned,
okay?”
Democratic Speaker Nancy Pe-
losi unveiled a package of pro-
posed relief measures, including
free testing, paid sick leave and
expanded employment insur-
ance.Ms.PelosisaidThursdayshe
wasinnegotiationswithTreasury
Secretary Steve Mnuchin over the
bill. Republican Senate Leader
Mitch McConnell derided the leg-
islation as an “ideological wish
list” but said the Senate would
cancelaplannedbreaknextweek
to work on it.
Mr. Biden, the front-runner for
theDemocraticpresidentialnom-
ination, accused Mr. Trump of
“xenophobia” for calling CO-
VID-19a“foreign”ailmentandde-
ciding the best measure was to
ban people from the U.S.
“Labelling COVID-19 a ‘foreignvirus’ does not displace account-
ability for the misjudgments that
have been taken thus far by the
Trumpadministration,”hesaidin
Delaware.
Bernie Sanders, his rival for the
nomination, called for an “emer-
gency bipartisan group of ex-
perts” to take control of the coro-
navirusresponsefromMr.Trump.
“In this time of international
crisis, the current administration
is largely incompetent, and its in-
competence and recklessness
havethreatenedthelivesofmany
people,” he said.
While the federal govern-
ment’s response lagged, private
companies, and state and local
authorities, announced strident
measures. All major sports
leagues cancelled games. Some
states shut down public schools.
New York’s Broadway theatres
closed.
In Washington, Congress can-
celledtoursafteratleastonestaff-er tested positive. Universities
moved classes online. And major
employers, including the World
Bank, put a hold on all travel and
asked staff to work from home.
Nina Yamanis, a public-health
expert at American University in
Washington, said there was no
reason for Mr. Trump’s travel ban
because the virus is already
spreading in the U.S. between
people who have not visited for-
eign countries.
On top of massively scaling up
testing, Prof. Yamanis said, the
U.S. government must also be
more pro-active in encouraging
people to limit contacts to avoid
spreading the disease.
“We need a federal message
that’s strong, that says, ‘we all
should be socially distancing, not
just cancelling big events, but
stayingathome,’ ”shesaid.“In
days, we could have a million
cases.That’sthekindoftrajectory
we’re on.”Trumpcriticizedforresponsetovirus
Democraticrivals,
public-healthexperts
slamPresident’s
Europeantravelban,
lackoftesting
capabilitiesinU.S.
ADRIANMORROW
U.S.CORRESPONDENT
WASHINGTON
U.S.PresidentDonaldTrumpaddressesthenationfromtheOvalOfficeaboutthewideningcoronaviruscrisisonWednesdayinWashington.
Mr.Trumphascomeunderfireforimposinga30-daysuspensionofmostforeigntravellerscomingfromEurope.DOUGMILLS/THENEWYORKTIMESA
cross this watermelon-
growing town in the Beij-
ingcapitalregion,thevines
of the new season’s crop have
greened the inside of plastic
greenhouses, a traditional sign of
spring. But here and everywhere
in the Chinese capital, little else is
normal, as authorities race to re-
inforce Beijing as a fortress
against a dangerous virus that is
now spreading abroad.
In Panggezhuang, roads that
bisect rows of greenhouses are
closed off – some with berms of
dirt, others with tall metal walls
painted blue and fluttering with
laser-printed signs that read: “All
people with one mind. Unity is
our strength. We support Wuhan.
Fight this epidemic together.” At
the entrance to local villages,
groups of officials at roadblocks
check the temperature of those
returning home and deny entry
to non-residents. Watermelon
farmers have been ordered to
wear masks as they work.
“We’ve strengthened screening
and testing,” the Panggezhuang
propaganda office said in a state-
ment. “At present, the overseas
epidemic is quickly spreading
and this has become the most
prominent risk of epidemic pre-
ventionandcontrolworkforBeij-
ing.”
When the virus spread inside
its borders, China shut down
large parts of the country. Now
that it’s spreading overseas, how-
ever,thecountryiserectinganew
set of barriers, particularly in its
capital, to defend against what it
sees as a burgeoning foreign
threat. Twenty people infected
with COVID-19 have entered the
city from abroad.
Beijing is not just home to Chi-
na’s most powerful political lead-
ers. It is also the headquarters to
many of its most important state-
backed enterprises, a major inter-
national transportation hub and
one of the country’s most visible
places. What happens in Beijing
also relates directly to the work of
theCommunistPartyand“affects
China’s international image,” a
meeting of city leadership con-
cluded this week.
AndChinaiskeentoprojectan
image of exemplary competence
in managing the virus.
So Beijing is working “to build
up an impregnable virus preven-
tion and control fortress in the
capital,” the official media of the
Communist Youth League wrote
in a lengthy account of the city’s
efforts, which include dispatch-
ing 189,000 Communist Party
members to erect “protective
walls” around communities and
deputizing 161,000 property and
security workers to check tem-
peratures and disinfect public
spaces.
In recent days, they have
trained their sights on foreign ar-
rivals.
Beijing this week required all
passengers arriving from over-
seas to quarantine for 14 days. It
converted an exhibition centre
into a transfer centre, where in-
ternational travellers can be tak-
en in designated vehicles to quar-
antine locations. Some of the
city’s apartment complexes have
begun conducting document
checks on both incoming and
outgoing residents, barring peo-
ple from leaving home without
credentials attesting to their
health status.
At shopping malls, security
guards keep out anyone unable
toprovetheyhavebeeninBeijing
for 14 days, using a digital service
run by a major military contrac-tor that tracks cellphone move-
ments. Officials have ordered em-
bassies to make regular reports of
their diplomats’ temperatures.
Police have spread out to knock
on the doors of foreign residents,
demanding to know their recent
whereabouts, while hotels are
turning away foreign passport
holders – the receptionist at the
Lijun Hotel said she cannot ac-
cept any foreigners right now.
Some hotels said such restric-
tionsapplyonlytorecentarrivals.
But at Lijun, it doesn’t matter if
the person has been in China for
even a lengthy period of time, the
receptionist said.
In other parts of China, things
are markedly different. In manu-
facturing regions, most factories
have resumed work – Wuhan, the
city at the epicentre of the out-
break, has loosened its lockdown
to allow some companies to res-
tart operations. Wuhan has also
closed the last of its temporary
quarantine centres. Schools in re-
mote Qinghai province have be-
gun to reopen. Professional e-
sports games have resumed – al-
beit with players in masks. Casi-
nos in Macau are reopening. Even
the Shanghai Disney Resort re-
sumed operations at some of its
restaurants and shopping areas,
partofwhatitcalleda“phasedre-
opening.”
Earlier this week, President Xi
Jinping travelled to Wuhan,
where he kept a careful distancefrom any possible contact with
the virus, and declared COVID-
“basically curbed“ in the city and
its surrounding province, Hubei.
Theviruspeakispast,theNation-
al Health Commission declared
Thursday, when China reported
just 26 new cases and 11 deaths.
Beijing itself counts only 93 ac-
tive cases, and the return of bum-
per-to-bumper traffic at rush
hour has given the appearance of
a city returning to normal. But
public transit remains largely
empty–peopleareoptingforcars
instead – and only a small minor-
ity of shops and restaurants havereopened.
Many say they have been or-
dered to stay closed, as the city
shows little sign of relaxing.
“That’s what we are supposed
to do. Or else what? Risk people’s
lives? Soften the measures and
waste all of our hard-won im-
provements?” asked Zhao Yim-
ing, director of the clinical epide-
miologyresearchcentreatPeking
University Third Hospital.
Anewoutbreakofthevirus,he
said, is “not a risk we can afford to
take.”WithreportsfromAlexandraLiBermsofdirtareusedInPanggezhuang,inChina’scapitalregion,to
closeoffroads.Themeasureisoneofmanybeingtakentopreventthe
spreadofcoronavirus.NATHAN9ANDERKLIPPE/THEGLOBEANDMAILNATHANVANDERKLIPPE
ASIACORRESPONDENT
PANGGEZHUANG,CHINA
OfficialsseektoreinforceFortressBeijingamidforeignvirusthreats
BEIJINGThecoronaíiruspan
demiccouldbeoíerbyJuneif
countriesmobilize,asenior
Chinesemedicaladíisersaidon
Thursday,asChinadeclaredthe
peakhadpassedthereandnew
casesinHubeifelltosingle
digitsforthefirsttime.
Aroundtwothirdsofglobal
casesofthecoronaíirushaíe
beenrecordedinChinaÌscentral
Hubeiproíince,wheretheíirus
firstemergedinDecember.But
inrecentweekstheíastmaor
ityofnewcaseshaíebeen
outsideChina.
Chineseauthoritiescreditstrict
measurestheyÌíetaken,in
cludingplacingHubeiunder
neartotallockdown,withpre
íentingbigoutbreaksinother
cities.Theysayothercountries
canlearnfromChinaÌsefforts.
ÉBroadlyspeaking,thepeakof
theepidemichaspassedfor
China,ÊsaidMieng,aspokes
manfortheNationalHealth
Commission.ÉTheincreaseof
newcasesisfalling.Ê
ZhongNanshan,ChinaÌs
seniormedicaladíiser,saidata
newsconferenceonThursday
thataslongascountriestake
theoutbreakseriouslyandare
preparedtotakefirmmeasures,
itcouldbeoíerworldwideina
matterofmonths.
ÉMyadíiceiscallingforall
countriestofollowWHOin
structionsandinteríeneonanationalscale,Êhesaid.ÉIfall
countriescouldgetmobilized,it
couldbeoíerbyJune.Ê
Mr.Zhongsaidcoronaíiruses
typicallybecomelessactiíein
warmmonths,whichcouldhelp
slowthespread.ÉMyestimateof
Juneisbasedonscenariosthat
allcountriestakepositiíemea
sures.Butifsomecountriesdo
nottreattheinfectiousnessand
harmfulnessseriouslytit
wouldlastlonger.Ê
LateronThursday,Mr.Zhong
heldateleconferencewithU.S.
medicalexperts,stateteleíision
reported.
Heandhisteamsharedtheir
experiencesofquicklytesting
andcontainingtheíirus,difficul
tiesintreatmentandcooper
ationinclinicalresearch,the
reportadded.
Withthemarkedslowdownof
thespreadoftheíirusinChina,
morebusinesseshaíereopened,
withauthoritiescautiously
easingcontainmentmeasures.
Hubeiproíinceannouncedon
Thursdayafurtherlooseningof
traíelrestrictionsandwillalso
allowsomeindustriestoresume
productionintwoofitscities
andtwocounties.
HubeiÌseconomy,driíenby
manufacturingandtrade,in
cludingasizableautosectorin
theproíincialcapitalWuhan,
hadbeeníirtuallyshuttered
sinceJan.2ß.REUTERSPANDEMIC‘COULDBEOVERBYJUNE’IFALLCOUNTRIES
MOBILIZEEFFECTIVELY,CHINESEMEDICALOFFICIALSAYS