This article was updated Jan. 29.
HONG KONG — The Chinese respiratory coronavirus has spread to
almost every province in mainland China, which extended its Spring Festival
holiday by three days to delay travel by up to 500 million people.
Hong Kong, Taiwan and Thailand are the worst affected outside the
mainland, and the Diocese of Hong Kong issued guidelines that included all
priests and eucharistic ministers wearing surgical masks while distributing
Communion.
In a Jan. 23 statement, the diocese noted the epidemic was only
considered "serious."
"In the event that the epidemic is raised to the 'emergency'
category, our pastoral guidelines will be revised accordingly," the
statement said.
The diocese noted that hospitals had suspended day-to-day visits
and said eucharistic ministers and visitors should abstain from visiting or
giving Communion to sick people in hospitals. If a priest is needed for the
sacrament of the sick, "he should comply with the directions of the
hospital, consult the matron of the ward concerned, and wear a surgical mask.
Before leaving the ward, he must wash his hands."
Diocesan guidelines included cleaning directions — including
microphones used by lectors — and instructed people to bow their heads instead
of shaking hands during the sign of peace.
Although Thailand is a popular destination for Chinese during the
Lunar New Year, which began Jan. 25, Catholic church services in Bangkok have
not been affected so far, reported ucanews.org. However, Thai authorities have
increased disease-control measures at five international airports.
More than 100 people in mainland China have died from the virus, and the number has jumped each day since mid-January. The official number of infections climbed past 4,500, a rate that is now doubling daily as governments across the world mobilized to try to prevent the spread of the disease. U.S. health officials warned businesses to avoid nonessential travel to China amid fears of a substantial impact on the global economy by the epidemic.
A growing number of medical research units crunching statistic
and infection rates have estimated that the number of infected people is
dramatically higher than is being reported.
Researchers at London's Imperial College, led by Professor Neil
Ferguson, estimated there were already 100,000 affected by the virus, reported
ucanews.org.
"It is unclear at the current time whether this outbreak can
be contained within China," they wrote, emphasizing that key questions
remain, such as how well residents adopt recommended risk-reduction steps, how
severe the disease is, and how readily people with mild cases of the disease
can pass the virus to others.
The disease is not expected to peak until April or May, after
which it could subside gradually.
Sixty million people were inside the quarantine zone as the whole
of Hubei province was sealed off; all transport in and out of the province was
suspended and roads cut off by authorities, ucanew.org reported.
In Taiwan, the government was preparing to send back more than
6,000 mainland tourists.
The epidemic has disrupted civic and religious celebrations as
Chinese New Year events were cancelled. Masses were canceled in Wuhan and other
Hubei cities as well as in Shanghai.
Meanwhile, in Singapore, Catholics were asked not to attend Mass
if they were showing any signs of being ill. The archdiocesan chancery issued a
letter saying Communion from the chalice was suspended and the Eucharist was
only to be distributed on the hand, not the tongue.
"It is not a sin to miss Mass on Sundays or holy days of
obligation if one is sick," read a post on Facebook group Catholic Life
Singapore, uploaded Jan 24.