A post from the Chinese twitter-like platform, Weibo, said that the Central Bank in Guangzhou is burning banknotes collected from markets, hospitals and public transportation in order to stop the spread of the Covid-19 disease.
The report from China said that the commercial banks under the jurisdiction of Branch of the People's Bank in Guangzhou will carry out full-scale sorting and sterilization of cash recovered from the public and submit it to the Bank of China after special identification and disinfection records. The study on the new coronavirus has revealed that the disease can survive on surfaces which includes currency, said a top disease expert. The warning has increased the possibilities of transmission in public places.
The original belief was that the disease can only be spread from person-to-person contact but several studies revealed that the disease can be spread through surfaces and even faeces.
The impact of the virus
The question behind what will happen to the economy while the virus continues to be a threat has been affecting everyone. A comment on the post in Weibo said that the printing of new notes 'saves time and money and increases job opportunities'. It is said that its easier than the disinfection of the banknotes.
According to reports, around 600 billion yuan has been allocated to the whole country due to the cash use problem. On February 15, Fan Yifei, the deputy governor of the People's Bank of China said that to ensure less transmission of the disease new banknotes will be issued.
China has been under scrutiny ever since the virus started to spread. The Covid-19 has impacted several businesses and they were caught off-guard by the virus spread. Government officials and financial institutions have been helping the businesses pull-through. There have been tax and rent reductions and delaying loan payments as the people endure the slight pullback. People are being asked to use alcohol-based sanitizer to disinfect themselves after coming back from public places.
Dr Martin Wiselka, consultant on infectious diseases at the University of Leicester NHS Trust, told Express UK that "Money is another route, money changes hands quickly, so if you sneeze on your hands and then put your hands in your pocket to take money out and then give it to someone else, that could pass it on."
Dramatic Reset
China is set on changing the situation, at least for people to notice. The Chinese Premier has not made several appearances, which has caused everyone to question the government's actions. Recently, China took action on two fronts as a dramatic move to reset the situation. Several top officials were ousted after reports of their failure came into light.
First, the country announced the surge in the number of reports of the virus, then the decision was made by the authorities to replace the two most senior Communist Party officials in Hubei and it's capital Wuhan. This represented one of the biggest political fall out during an outbreak. Xi has also ordered an all-out effort to contain the disease and quarantined more than 40 million people in Hubei. The party appointed a task force to coordinate the nation's response to the situation.
