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China and countries around the world are scrambling to contain the spread of a new coronavirus that has killed at least 106 people and infected more than 4,500.
Germany has reported its first case of the virus, as the United States and Canada upgraded travel warnings to advise their citizens to avoid all non-essential travel to China.
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More than 56 million people in almost 20 Chinese cities – including Wuhan, capital of Hubei Province and epicentre of the virus – have been prevented from travelling in an attempt to curb the spread of the virus during the Lunar New Year or Spring Festival, traditionally China’s busiest travel season.
The director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO) is currently in China.
The agency has acknowledged the respiratory illness is an emergency in China but said last week it was too early to declare the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern. It has described the global risk from the virus as high.
Here are the latest updates:
Tuesday, January 28
India gearing up to evacuate citizens from China
Raveesh Kumar, spokesman for the Indian foreign ministry spokesman said the country is preparing to evacuate citizens from China’s Hubei province.
Authorities were working out the logistics of moving people out of the city which is under a lockdown, he said on Twitter.
Local media reported earlier that an Air India plane was on standby to evacuate an estimated 250 Indians from Wuhan.
⚠️ #CoronaVirusOutbreak Update
We have begun the process to prepare for evacuation of Indian nationals affected by the situation arising out of nCorona-2019 virus outbreak in Hubei Province, China. (1/2)
— Raveesh Kumar (@MEAIndia) January 28, 2020
German virus patient is case of human-to-human transmission
Germany’s first confirmed coronavirus patient caught the disease from a Chinese colleague who visited Germany last week, officials said.
The Chinese employee, a woman from Shanghai, “started to feel sick on the flight home on January 23”, Andreas Zapf, head of the Bavarian State Office for Health and Food Safety, said at a press conference.
A 33-year-old German, with whom she had attended a meeting in Bavaria, tested positive for the virus on Monday evening.
Read more here.
Up to 1,000 French nationals currently in Wuhan: Minister
French Health Minister Agnes Buzyn said there were currently between 500 and 1,000 French nationals in the Chinese city that is the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak.
“We know our internal system has identified 500 French nationals (in Wuhan) but we think there might potentially be 500 more on the spot,” she said during a news conference. “They don’t all want to come home.”
Hong Kong suspends train and ferry services to mainland
Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam said the high-speed rail service between the city and mainland China would be on hold from January 30, and all cross-border ferry services would also be suspended in a bid to stop the spread of coronavirus.
Wearing a green face mask, Lam told a press briefing the number of flights to mainland China would also be halved and personal travel permits for mainland Chinese to the city would be suspended.
Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam wears a mask the press briefing [Tyrone Siu/Reuters]
City of Moscow takes safety measures over virus
Moscow authorities have put in place special safety measures at hotels and tourist sites due to fears over the outbreak of coronavirus Sergei Sobyanin, the mayor of the Russian capital, said.
“We have taken special control of hotels and other places where tourists gather en masse. When alarming signs appear, emergency medical teams will be sent to carry out a thorough examination,” he wrote on his website.
Here is information on the situation in the countries with confirmed coronavirus cases.
WHO ‘confident’ in China’s ability to contain coronavirus
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he was confident in China’s ability to control and contain the spread of the coronavirus, according to state news agency Xinhua.
At a meeting with authorities in Beijing, Tedros urged calm and said he did not advocate the evacuation of foreign nationals currently in China, according to Xinhua.
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Coronavirus: What we know |
Turkey urges citizens to avoid travel to Hubei
Turkey urged its citizens not to undertake any nonessential travel to China.
In a statement, the foreign ministry warned Turkish citizens who had to travel to China to “stay away from the regions where the [coronavirus] cases are seen, especially in Hubei province”.
It added that Turkish citizens who live in China and have to travel to other parts of the country should take health precautions.
Thailand confirms six more infections, starts screening
A health official in Thailand confirmed six more coronavirus infections among visitors from China, bringing the total in the southeast Asian nation to 14.
Five of the six new cases – aged between six and 70 years old – are members of one family from Hubei, the deputy director-general of the Department of Disease Control, Tanarak Plipat, told reporters. The other patient was from Chongqing.
Thailand will now scan all passengers arriving from China, said Public Health Permanent Secretary Sukhum Kanchanapimai.
China urges citizens to delay foreign travel over virus fears
China urged its citizens to postpone trips abroad as the country expands a massive effort to contain a viral outbreak that has killed more than 100 people nationwide.
The travel recommendation was issued “to protect the health and safety of Chinese and foreign people”, the National Immigration Administration said in a statement.
Thailand is a popular destination with tourists from China [Rungroj Yongrit/EPA]
Chinese nationals took almost 150 million trips abroad in 2018, according to Xinhua.
Japan to send charter flight to Wuhan to bring citizens home
Japan’s government will send a chartered flight to Wuhan on Tuesday night to evacuate its nationals who wish to return home.
Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi told reporters the flight would carry approximately 200 passengers but that about 650 Japanese citizens are hoping to come back to Japan.
He said the government is making arrangements for additional flights that will leave for Wuhan as early as Wednesday.
Asian markets fall on coronavirus worries
Stockmarkets in Asia continued to fall on Tuesday, dragged down by worries about an outbreak of a new virus in China that could curb economic growth.
Chinese markets were closed for the Lunar New Year holidays as stocks in Japan, Australia and South Korea dropped.
China imposed travel restrictions and monitoring, including temperature checks, in an attempt to curb the spread of the virus [Thomas Peter/Reuters]
“While the step-up in remedial and preventive measures to curb and contain, as well as transparency, have vastly improved from SARS, fears of a global contagion are not put to bed,” said Vishnu Varathan at Mizuho Bank in Singapore.
SARS began in China in 2002, before spreading around the world over the following year, leaving some 800 people dead.
Read more here on how the coronavirus is affecting markets and the potential consequences for the Hong Kong economy here.
Philippines suspends visas on arrival for China tourists
The Philippines Bureau of Immigration said on Tuesday it would temporarily stop issuing visas on arrival for tourists from mainland China.
“We are taking this proactive measure to slow down travel, and possibly help prevent the entry of the 2019-nCoV,” Jaime Morente, the bureau’s commissioner said in a statement.
Facebook asks employees to put off non-essential travel to China
Facebook has instructed employees to suspend nonessential travel to mainland China to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, a spokesman said on Tuesday.
Employees who need to travel to China require special authorisation and all China-based employees as well as those recently returned from there, have been urged to work from home.
China virus death toll jumps to 106, nearly 1,300 new cases
The death toll in China from the coronavirus outbreak has soared to 106 with nearly 1,300 new cases confirmed, authorities said on Tuesday.
The health commission in central Hubei province, the epicentre of the epidemic, said 24 more people had died from the virus and 1,291 more people were infected, raising the total number of confirmed cases to at least 4,515 nationwide.
Germany reports first case of coronavirus
Germany has reported its first case of the novel coronavirus in the southern region of Bavaria, the Bavarian health ministry said on Monday.
Paramilitary police at Tiananmen Gate in Beijing on Monday [Mark Schiefelbein/AP Photo]
“A man in the Starnberg region has been infected with the new coronavirus,” a spokesman for the ministry said, adding that he is under surveillance in an isolation ward.
The ministry gave no further details on how the patient came to be infected but said he was in a “medically good state”.
US tells citizens to avoid all nonessential travel to China, as it prepares evacuation
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Monday escalated its warning level for China to its highest level, 3 “Avoid Nonessential Travel”, because of the novel coronavirus.
The CDC advised anyone who did have to travel to the country to undertake the standard precautions: avoiding sick people, keeping away from food markets and animals, and washing hands thoroughly and frequently. It added that older people and those with underlying health issues were more at risk.
Beijing suspends most bus services to neighbouring Hebei
China’s Beijing Public Transport Group said it will suspend the majority of bus services into neighbouring Hebei province from Tuesday to contain the spread of coronavirus, according to a statement on its official Weibo account.
Tangshan city suspends public transit to prevent spread of coronavirus
Tangshan, China’s largest steelmaking city in northern Hebei province, announced on Tuesday morning that it was suspending all public transport within the city in an effort to prevent the further spread of the new coronavirus.
South Korea going ‘all out’ to contain virus outbreak
South Korea on Tuesday said it was going “all out” to contain the coronavirus outbreak as it confirmed its fourth case of the infection.
“The government will be all out to protect citizens and minimise its impact on the economy,” Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki said in a policy meeting in Seoul.
Hong said the government will use an existing emergency fund for efforts to contain the virus. The fund is part of the existing budget, including 20.8 billion won ($17.8m) set aside for anti-epidemic measures.
Canada says to ‘avoid all travel’ to Hubei Province, citing travel restrictions
Canada has told its citizens to “avoid all travel” to China’s Hubei province, as a second person – the wife of the man who was first found to have the coronavirus – was diagnosed with the infection in the Canadian city of Toronto.
