Coronavirus: Australian politician tries to reassure public by saying more Chinese people die from smoking

Four cases of disease found in Melbourne and Sydney, according to authorities

Zoe Tidman
Saturday 25 January 2020 17:13 GMT
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What do we know about the new form of coronavirus?

An Australian politician has attempted to reassure those worried about a virus outbreak by reminding people that smoking currently kills more people in China each day than the virus has.

“While coronavirus is very serious,” Jamie Parker said, “let’s remember over 2,500 mainland Chinese die from tobacco-related disease EVERY DAY.”

The MP for the New South Wales parliament followed the tweet with the hashtag #publichealthemergency.

Australia confirmed that the new coronavirus – which originated in China and has killed at least 41 peoplehas reached its shores this weekend, with three patients in Sydney and another in Melbourne being treated for the disease.

The Melbourne patient – a Chinese national who arrived in the country last week – was the first to be hospitalised and is in a stable condition, according to authorities.

Social media users on Twitter have not responded well to Mr Parker, a Greens politician, trying to put the virus into perspective by comparing to smoking-related deaths.

“I’m not sure this is good optics,” replied one. “Now isn’t the time,” said another.

France has also reported several cases of the disease, and the UK has said it will track down thousands of people who have recently arrived from Wuhan, the city at the heart of the outbreak.

Multiple Chinese cities have been put into lockdown as the death toll continues to rise, with major tourist attractions also closing to the public to prevent the spread.

The new virus, which health officials said has infected over 800 people, gives sufferers flu-like symptoms but can develop into pneumonia.

The outbreak has been traced back to a seafood market in Wuhan, a central Chinese city which has seen the majority of cases, however has since spread across the world, including to Japan, Thailand, the US and now Australia.

Face masks completely sold out of Boots stores in Edinburgh on Friday while patients were being tested in Scotland.

All results came back negative, according to authorities.

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