A10| Friday, March 20, 2020 THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.
THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC
A person pays tribute to Li Wenliang at the Wuhan hospital where the 34-year-old ophthalmologist, who died in February, worked.SHI ZHI/UTUKU/ROPI/ZUMA PRESS
TOKYO—A Japanese man
with liver cancer and the new
coronavirus wanted to enjoy a
last night out before going to
the hospital, but he ended up
infecting an employee at a ka-
raoke bar and causing a na-
tional uproar.
On Wednesday, he died, just
two weeks after what turned
out to be his last song.
The tale of the man in his
50s has been told widely by
the media in Japan.
So far, the country has been
successful controlling the vi-
rus’s spread largely throughThousands of people have
volunteered to be infected in
the hope of finding a vaccine
for the new coronavirus.
hVIVO, a clinical research
group in London, has attracted
more than 20,000 volunteers
willing to be infected with
tamer relatives of the virus
that causes Covid-19 in ex-
change for a fee of £3,
($4,480). It says such experi-
ments could play an important
role in the development of a
vaccine against the new coro-
navirus, for which there are no
proven treatments or vaccines.
Unlike drugs, which are
tested on people who already
have a particular illness, vac-
cines have to be given to
healthy people who are later
exposed to a disease.
Typically, this is done by
giving an experimental vaccine
to thousands of people in an
area where an infection is cir-
culating, and then tracking
them for months or even
years. The vaccine is consid-
ered successful if those who
got the shot avoid infection.
One way of getting a
quicker read on a vaccine’s ef-
fectiveness is by giving it to
people who are then deliber-
ately infected with the bug in
question. Such challenge stud-
ies are routinely used in the
development of vaccines for
the flu, common cold and
other respiratory illnesses.
Usually, a few dozen partic-
ipants are tracked closely for a
few weeks for signs of illness
after infection. These trials
don’t replace the larger field
studies, but they help give di-
rection on whether a vaccine
is worth pursuing.
For Covid-19, too little is
known about who is most sus-
ceptible to serious illness or
death to run a challenge study
using the new coronavirus that
causes the disease. Still, hVIVO
hopes that using its relatives
can nonetheless offer clues for
vaccine development. Corona-
viruses are a large family that
cause a range of illnesses from
the common cold to diseases
like SARS and MERS.
“It gives you a sieve and
gives you some confidence
that things are going to be all
right,” said John Oxford,
emeritus professor of virology
at Queen Mary University of
London, and chair of hVIVO’s
advisory board. “There have
been no human coronavirus
vaccines, we don’t know whatthey’ll be like.”
hVIVO—a subsidiary of
pharmaceutical-services com-
panyOpen OrphanPLC—is
one of just a handful of com-
panies that develop and run
challenge studies for drug and
vaccine makers. Such studies
are much faster and cheaper
than full field studies and can
help researchers select the
most promising candidate vac-
cines to be taken forward into
broader trials.
hVIVO is currently in early
discussions with drugmakers
racing to develop a coronavi-
rus vaccine and says it will be
ready to offer its challenge
tests to clients in the next two
to three months. After adver-
tising and media coverage, the
company was inundated with
volunteers. More than 20,
signed up in the space of a few
days, compared with a normal
rate of a few people a day.
Those chosen for tests will
be kept in isolation at the
company’s facilities until they
are no longer infectious, usu-
ally around two weeks, to mit-
igate the risk of them spread-
ing the disease to friends and
family.
Still, studies using other
coronaviruses may not give a
good read on vaccines that
specifically target the strain
that causes Covid-19, said
Matthew Memoli, director of
the Laboratory of Infectious
Diseases at the National Insti-
tute of Allergy and Infectious
Diseases in Bethesda, Md.
The most advanced vac-
cines under development are
specific to the new coronavi-
rus, he said. Several groups,
including Moderna Inc.,
Sanofi SA and Johnson &
Johnsonare working on new
vaccines.
J&J said it isn’t planning to
use human viral challenge
tests, while Sanofi said it
hasn’t yet finalized its plans
but wouldn’t use a test not
specific to Covid-19. The Na-
tional Institute for Allergy and
Infectious Disease, which is
running the trials for Mod-
erna’s vaccine, said it didn’t
have plans to conduct infec-
tion challenge tests.
But challenge tests could be
valuable in developing a uni-
versal vaccine that works
across the coronavirus family,
Dr. Memoli said. He is devel-
oping his own challenge test
for coronavirus using a related
strain and hopes it will inform
longer-term development of
treatments or vaccines.BYDENISEROLANDVolunteers Agree
To Be Infected to
Aid Vaccine Search
HONG KONG—Weeks after
Chinese social media erupted
in grief and rage over the
death of a doctor reprimanded
by police for raising early
alarms about the new corona-
virus, Beijing is seeking to as-
suage public anger by rescind-
ing his penalty and punishing
those who rebuked him.
In remarks issued late Thurs-
day, the Chinese government’s
top anticorruption agency
praised Li Wenliang as a caring
and committed doctor who was
improperly punished by police
for what officials now say were
his well-intentioned efforts to
alert others about the virus.
The National Supervisory
Commission also warned
against popular efforts to me-
morialize Dr. Li as a symbol of
resistance against China’s ruling
Communist Party and its sup-
pression of free speech. “Li
Wenliang was a Communist
Party member, not a so-called
antiestablishment figure,” a
commission official said in re-
marks carried by state media.
The commission also said it
has asked authorities in the
central city of Wuhan—where
the pandemic began, and where
Dr. Li was based—to revoke the
reprimand that local police had
issued to the doctor and hold
those involved to account.
Wuhan’s police agency sepa-
rately said it has nullified theBYCHUNHANWONGreprimand, imposed adminis-
trative penalties on two officers
and apologized to Dr. Li’s family.
News of the commission’s
findings rippled rapidly across
Chinese social media, where a
hashtag about the report gar-
nered more than 250 million
views on the Weibo microblog-
ging platform as of Thursday
night. At one point, the volume
of views grew by more than a
million a minute.
While some Weibo users wel-
comed Dr. Li’s rehabilitation,
many more voiced incredulity
and anger at what they saw as
the scapegoating of local offi-
cials. “That’s it?” many wrote in
response, seemingly dissatisfied
that the probe didn’t answer
questions about broader gov-
ernment failings.
“Grassroots-level police and
Dr. Li Wenliang are the same,”
one Weibo user wrote. “Carry-
ing the can for the erroneous
judgments and decision-making
by certain departments!”
Police in Wuhan had interro-
gated Dr. Li days after he
warned former classmates on
Dec. 30 about a new pathogen.
They accused the doctor of
spreading rumors and made
him write a statement admit-
ting to “illegal behavior.”
Dr. Li, a 34-year-old ophthal-
mologist, was later infected by
the coronavirus and died in
early February. His plight capti-
vated China and triggered an
extraordinary outpouring of
emotion as he lay ill. His death
sparked widespread anger on
Chinese social media, where us-
ers accused the Communist
Party of silencing whistleblow-
ers and mishandling its re-sponse to the coronavirus.
Millions of Chinese mourned
Dr. Li and eulogized him as a
hero who symbolized the pub-
lic’s determination to seek
transparency and speech free-
doms from their government.
Beijing has sought to mollify
such sentiment. A day after Dr.
Li died, the supervisory com-
mission said it was sending a
special team to investigate the
circumstances around his treat-
ment and death. Earlier this
month, authorities named Dr. Li
to an honor roll of 506 “van-
guard” medical workers who
distinguished themselves in epi-
demic-control efforts.
Central-government officials
and state media have also
blamed authorities in Hubei
province and Wuhan, its capital,
for initial missteps in their epi-
demic response, and replaced
senior officials there.
The commission’s probe cul-
minated Thursday in a lengthy
report detailing its findings on
how Dr. Li received and passed
along information about a coro-navirus spreading in Wuhan, his
subsequent punishment, as well
as details on how he contracted
the virus and died.
In a separate interview with
the official Xinhua News
Agency, an unidentified com-
mission official sought to dispel
speculation that medically un-
necessary interventions were
used to prolong Dr. Li’s life for
political purposes.
The official acknowledged
the conflicting media reports
and hospital announcements
over the timing of Dr. Li’s death.
The official time of his death
was in the early hours of Feb.
7—more than five hours after
the first reports of his passing.
Medical personnel treating
Dr. Li said “at the time they
wanted to do their utmost to re-
vive him, so they carried out re-
suscitation for a very long
time,” the official said.
The commission dismissed
public perceptions of Dr. Li as a
whistleblower, saying he had
disseminated inaccurate infor-
mation about the new virus
without verifying it.
“In trying to attack the Chi-
nese Communist Party and the
Chinese government, some hos-
tile forces have given Dr. Li
Wenliang anti-establishment la-
bels like ‘hero’ and ‘awakener,’ ”
the official said. These efforts to
“fan flames, confuse people’s
minds and incite social emo-
tions are destined to fail.”
Such remarks didn’t ward off
a fresh outpouring of emotion
on social media. “Dr. Li, perhaps
tonight’s outcome can give you a
tiny bit of consolation,” one user
wrote. “But it’s still far from suf-
ficient to let you rest in peace.”Beijing Now Praises Doctor
China tries to assuage
public anger over death
of physician who had
raised virus alarmsvoluntary measures such as
wearing masks and asking
people with suspected infec-
tions to stay home.
Health officials in the man’s
hometown, Gamagori, in the
central Japanese prefecture of
Aichi, confirmed details of the
case but declined to name
him.
In late February, his elderly
parents, who lived with him,
got sick and were hospitalized.
After they tested positive
for the virus, the man and his
son were tested as well and
they were told on March 4
they were both positive.
Officials told the man tostay home until a hospital bed
could be arranged the next
day.
Instead, he went to a Japa-
nese-style pub and stayed for
10 to 15 minutes—having sa-
shimi and beer while watching
television—according to the
pub’s owner, Masahiro
Takeuchi.
The man was seated at the
counter away from the other
seven customers, in front of a
sake warmer filled with boil-
ing water, factors that may
have prevented others from
getting infected, Mr. Takeuchi
said.
The man’s next stop was akaraoke bar. Video from a se-
curity camera posted by the
magazine Shukan Bunshun
showed a portly man, seem-
ingly in normal health, sitting
down on a sofa.
He sang songs including “J’s
Ballad,” by local rock band
Hound Dog, and held hands
with a hostess who sat next to
him.
Surprisingly, that woman
didn’t get the virus. But an-
other woman in her 30s work-
ing at the bar did, according
to Gamagori city officials.
Japanese newspapers and
television stations reported
that the man told his family,“I’m going to spread that vi-
rus,” before heading to the
pub and the bar. The Wall
Street Journal couldn’t inde-
pendently verify the comment.
Gamagori city official Nao-
hiro Hayakawa said the man
“might have been too upset”
to think straight.
Though he didn’t have any
symptoms when he was hospi-
talized March 5, the man died
of pneumonia caused by the
virus on Wednesday after-
noon.
Aichi prefecture Gov. Hide-
aki Omura, citing the man’s
liver cancer, said, “I imagine
his immune system was weak.My understanding is that such
patients are likely to get seri-
ous cases.”
Both the pub and the kara-
oke bar had to shut down for
two weeks and customers
were told to stay home for the
same period of time.
Mr. Takeuchi, the pub
owner, has worked every day
since then, disinfecting his
restaurant with alcohol spray.
He was set to reopen Thursday
night.
“To be honest, I’m mad at
the man because I’ve had to
suspend operations,” said Mr.
Takeuchi. “But he is dead now.
What can I do?”BYMIHOINADAKaraoke Singer Who Spread Infection Dies Two Weeks After Last Tune
SÃO PAULO—Brazil closed
its borders with eight neigh-
boring countries on Thursday,
joining other South American
nations in a continentwide
quarantine as authorities
struggle to control the spread
of the coronavirus.
The measure taken by Bra-
zil, the region’s largest econ-
omy, applies to Argentina, Bo-
livia, Colombia, Paraguay,
Peru, Suriname, Guyana and
the French overseas depart-
ment of Guiana. Brazil’s border
with Venezuela was already
closed. The border with Uru-
guay remains open for now.
Brazil has a total of about
10,000 miles of land borders
with its neighbors, and all but
about 650 miles of them, with
Uruguay, are now closed.
In recent days, countries
across the region have quickly
moved to seal national bordersas coronavirus cases rise, leav-
ing thousands of travelers
stranded. And the downturn in
China has drawn fears of a
protracted slowdown for
South America’s largely com-
modities-driven economies
and a tougher rebound.
“South America was caught
flat-footed, and now they’re
trying to catch up,” said Eric
Farnsworth, who tracks the re-
gion for the Americas Society/
Council of the Americas, a
Washington-based policy
group. “2020 was already go-
ing to be a year of sluggish
growth. Now, the virus is
clearly going to add downward
pressure.”
Goldman Sachs Group Inc.
on Thursday downgraded its
economic projections for Latin
America, citing the fallout
from the spread of the virus.
Economists for the company
had expected modest growth
in 2020, but now forecast a
1.2% contraction for the re-gion’s seven-biggest countries,
with gross domestic product
shrinking in Brazil, Mexico,
Chile, Argentina and Ecuador
as well. Goldman Sachs fore-
casts zero growth in Colombiaand Peru.
Some of the region’s big-
gest businesses are being
forced to cut back operations.
Chilean-based Latam Airlines
Group SA said it was canceling90% of its international
flights, while asking workers
to take a 50% pay cut.
Corporación Nacional del
Cobre de Chile, or Codelco, the
world’s biggest copper pro-ducer, said it was ramping
down its operations in Chile to
protect the health of workers
as President Sebastian Piñera
on Thursday announced a
$11.7 billion plan to support
the economy.
Brazil, which has reported
six deaths from the virus,
closed its land borders with its
neighboring countries for 15
days, with the possibility of an
extension, according to the of-
ficial government newspaper.
Brazilian citizens and resi-
dents are still allowed to enter
the country, as are foreign cit-
izens working for interna-
tional organizations or other-
wise authorized by the
Brazilian government. Trucks
carrying commercial goods are
also permitted to cross the
border.
On Thursday, Colombia also
said travelers, including Co-
lombian citizens, would be
barred from entering the
country beginning next week.BYJEFFREYT.LEWIS
ANDKEJALVYASBrazil Shuts Borders as Region Tries to Stem Outbreak
Police patrol the Icarai shoreline near Rio de Janeiro, where beaches are closed to visitors.SILVIA IZQUIERDO/ASSOCIATED PRESSDr. Li warned of the new
coronavirus in late December.BEIJING THANKSGIVING PUBLIC WELFARE FOUNDATION/AP