Countries with Many COVID-19 Cases Also Had Many Wuhan Tourists... Concerns Over Secondary Infections Remain

[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunwoo Lee] Countries with a high number of confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus infection (Wuhan pneumonia) outside China are all known to be places frequently visited by tourists from Wuhan, Hubei Province, China. The occurrence of confirmed cases due to secondary infections without a history of visiting China is analyzed to be caused by virus transmission from Wuhan tourists who visited during the Lunar New Year holiday period.

According to the Hong Kong South China Morning Post (SCMP), from December 30 last year, when the first novel coronavirus case was reported in China, until January 22, around the Lunar New Year period, the airport with the highest number of Wuhan passengers was Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok, Thailand. It was recorded that 11,558 Wuhan passengers used Suvarnabhumi Airport. The second was Singapore Changi International Airport (10,680 passengers), and the third was Tokyo Narita Airport in Japan (9,080 passengers), in that order.

These countries currently have the highest number of confirmed cases outside China. As of the 6th, Japan has 35 confirmed novel coronavirus cases, the highest among countries outside China, followed by Singapore (28 cases), and Thailand (25 cases). These countries share the commonality of having secondary infection cases without a history of visiting China. In Japan, infection cases were reported involving a tour bus driver and guide who drove for long hours with Wuhan tourists, and in Thailand and Singapore, secondary infection cases occurred mainly among taxi drivers.

It is estimated that about 5 million residents traveled abroad or to other regions from Wuhan during the Lunar New Year holiday period. Wuhan City, with an estimated population of about 11 million, was known to have about 48% of its residents traveling during the Lunar New Year holiday period in 2018 as well. Wuhan is a transportation hub in central China, and most residents are people who migrated from other areas, so there is a large floating population during the Lunar New Year holiday period. There are 89 universities and 1.3 million university students from other regions, resulting in significant movement during the holiday period.

Meanwhile, the Wuhan Culture and Tourism Bureau announced that as of the end of January, 4,096 Wuhan citizens had not returned from outside mainland China. Due to this, concerns about secondary infections overseas caused by Wuhan tourists remain high.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.