Live updates: World Health Organization declares coronavirus outbreak a ‘public health emergency’
The United States confirmed a sixth U.S. case of the Wuhan coronavirus Thursday, marking the first time the virus has spread from person to person in the United States.
Chinese officials added more than 1,900 new cases of the coronavirus on the same day, as countries stepped up their efforts to evacuate their citizens trapped in Wuhan, at the epicenter of the growing outbreak.
With experts saying a vaccine is still a long way off, more international cases of the illness appeared Thursday. Australia, Vietnam and South Korea all announced new coronavirus infections, while India and the Philippines had their first ones.
The World Health Organization will reconvene its emergency committee Thursday to determine whether the coronavirus outbreak amounts to a public health emergency of international concern, as the total number of people infected in mainland China surpassed those infected with SARS during the 2002-2003 epidemic. Here’s what we know so far:
● Chinese officials say the death toll in the country has reached 171, with more than 8,1oo confirmed cases of infection as of Thursday evening local time — an increase of more than 1,900 from the previous day. (The figures from Beijing include nine cases in the self-governing island of Taiwan.)
● About 100 cases have been recorded outside mainland China, and four other countries have reported person-to-person transmission of the virus.
● Roughly 200 Americans evacuated from Wuhan landed in California on Wednesday, while the United States confirmed its first case where the virus had spread from person to person within the United States.
● Global markets declined sharply Wednesday as investors weighed the spread of the coronavirus.
● Infections also have been confirmed in France, Hong Kong, Japan, Nepal, Cambodia, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates, Vietnam, Taiwan, Canada and Sri Lanka. We’re mapping the spread here.
Evacuated U.S. citizen receives quarantine order after attempting to leave California base
WASHINGTON — Health officials in Riverside County “issued a quarantine order” Thursday for an individual who was evacuated from Wuhan to the United States this week and attempted to leave the military base where American evacuees are being temporarily held for observation.
The passengers landed in California on Wednesday after a brief stopover in Alaska on their way to the United States from Wuhan and will stay at March Air Reserve Base until they are approved to depart.
In a statement, Riverside County officials said that Cameron Kaiser, the county’s public health officer, ordered the person to stay on the base until they are cleared by health officials because of “the unknown risk to the public should someone leave [the base] without undergoing a full health evaluation.”
“The individual will remain at [the base] until their health status is confirmed,” the statement said. “All other passengers from the flight also remain at [the base] and continue to be evaluated.”
Surgical mask shortage in parts of Asia
WASHINGTON — Surgical masks are in high demand in parts of Asia affected by the coronavirus outbreak, which has triggered a run on medical supplies, including hand sanitizer and masks.
In Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak, residents waited in line outside a pharmacy only to be greeted by empty boxes and shelves once inside, a video posted to Instagram showed. On Friday morning in Hong Kong, video showed a large line of people wrapped around the block outside a chain pharmacy.
Video from Thursday showed another line of people inside a mall in the Ma On Shan neighborhood of Hong Kong.
AbouThai, a beauty and health-care store in the mall, apologized on Facebook for running out of masks, telling people not to bother waiting.
The Washington Post’s Shibani Mahtani reports that the coronavirus outbreak has brought panic and fresh anger toward the embattled Hong Kong government.
Just months earlier, Hong Kong’s Chief Executive Carrie Lam invoked a colonial-era law to ban face masks in an attempt to quell months of street protests calling for democratic reforms. The ban didn’t work.
IMF says it’s too soon to know how the coronavirus will impact China’s economy
WASHINGTON — The International Monetary Fund said Thursday that it’s still too soon to quantify the economic effect of the novel coronavirus on China’s economy.
“How large the impact will be exactly is hard to tell at this point,” IMF spokesman Gerry Rice said at a news conference.
“We’ve seen the direct impacts, mostly on demand as people have stayed home in China and what is usually a busy retail and tourism season has essentially come to a halt,” he said. “At the same time, on the supply side, there have been production stoppages, transport delays and frictions, and workers staying home.”
The IMF’s assessment is more cautious than that of some economists. In recent days, the stock market has stumbled amid rising fears that the virus could disrupt the global economy. Hubei Province, the epicenter of the outbreak, accounts for about 4.5 percent of China’s economic output, according to Rice.
“The economic impact will depend very much on the behavior of the illness itself, how fast it spreads, who it affects, and how quickly the contagion will run its course,” he said.
Coronavirus fears lead to drop in flight bookings to China, data firm says
BERLIN — The spread of the coronavirus has resulted in a significant drop in flight bookings to and from China, travel data company ForwardKeys said Thursday.
Chinese authorities began imposing travel restrictions to prevent the virus from spreading just as millions of people were preparing to travel for the Lunar New Year. Many left before the restrictions took effect.
Up until Jan. 19, outbound bookings from mainland China were up 7 percent year-to-year, setting the stage for a potential record travel season, according to ForwardKeys.
On Jan. 23, Chinese authorities put the epicenter of the virus outbreak under lockdown, and by Jan. 26, outbound bookings were down 7 percent year-to-year and Chinese bookings for travel in the Asia-Pacific region were 15.1 percent lower than last year.
“China is now the world’s biggest and highest-spending outbound travel market, so the presence of Chinese visitors is eagerly anticipated by the tourism industry globally,” ForwardKeys representative Olivier Ponti said in a news release.
China has also suffered as a tourist destination, despite an increase in popularity through Jan. 19 year-to-year. By Jan. 26, bookings were down more than 7 percent compared with last year. Some of China’s most-visited tourist attractions — including Shanghai’s Disneyland and Beijing’s Palace Museum — were closed.
Chinese authorities have imposed a nationwide ban on tour groups traveling abroad. Numerous international airlines have suspended flights to and from mainland China, while other countries and territories have imposed entry restrictions on recent visitors to Hubei province.
Scientists remain uncertain whether dead can transfer disease
WASHINGTON — Scientists are working to learn more about the transmissibility of the novel coronavirus and fill in some crucial unknowns, such as whether those not showing signs of the infection can spread it.
Among the lingering questions is one with sociocultural consequences: How long does the virus remain viable after someone dies of it, and what might that mean for practices surrounding preparing and burying the dead?
“I suspect that the virus may still be viable for a certain amount of time after an individual dies,” said Davidson Hamer, a professor of global health and medicine at the Boston University School of Public Health and School of Medicine. He urged people worried about contracting the virus to take “contact precautions in addition to respiratory precautions.”
As with any infectious disease, Hamer said, proper handling of the dead is crucial in containing the spread. He recommended cremation as the safest option — a practice common in China.
This issue was a major complication during the Ebola outbreak in West Africa in 2014. A body infected with Ebola remains contagious even after the person dies, making direct contact with the corpse potentially deadly. But ritually washing the deceased is a common practice in many religions and societies, including in parts of West Africa. Grieving families wanted to do it, even if it meant putting themselves at risk.
Experts said they did not expect the coronavirus to preset a similar set of challenges.
Defense secretary to advise what precautions U.S. troops should take
WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper said the Pentagon will circulate a new directive Thursday advising U.S. military forces worldwide “about precautions they should take” and “how to recognize the signs and symptoms” of the coronavirus. The Hawaii-based Indo-Pacific Command will also be taking unspecified measures, “given that this virus is emanating from the theater,” Esper said at a media briefing.
“Force protection for our service members, our civilians and their families is a priority,” he said, “so we want to make sure we stay in front of it.”
Esper said that no Defense Department personnel would come into direct contact with nearly 200 State Department employees, dependents and U.S. citizens who were evacuated this week from Wuhan, China, the epicenter of the virus. The evacuees, he said, would have no “access to any other locations on-base outside of their assigned housing” at March Air Reserve Base, southeast of Los Angeles.
The evacuees are expected to remain at the base for at least 72 hours for evaluation, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Those who choose not to stay for a full two-week incubation period will be monitored by state and local officials at their destinations in the U.S., the CDC said.
Sixth identified U.S. patient is in stable condition, officials say
WASHINGTON — Health officials at a briefing on Thursday confirmed that a newly identified patient is in stable condition and his wife, who is also confirmed to have the virus, is doing well, though she remains in the hospital primarily to keep her isolated.
Officials declined to speak in detail about the man’s symptoms, but said they are consistent with the fever, coughing and shortness of breath that characterize the early stages of the infection.
The new patient has underlying health conditions that state health officials declined to describe. He was exposed while his wife was symptomatic.
The patient has not been attending mass gatherings, and Ngozi Ezike, director of the Illinois Department of Public Health, said, “The virus is not spreading widely across the community.”
Officials are tracing the people he contacted, but are not issuing any new recommendations for precautions by other people, Ezike said.
Air France announces it will suspend all flights to mainland China
PARIS — Air France announced Thursday that it will suspend all flights to mainland China until Feb. 9, the latest international carrier to cancel services amid the coronavirus outbreak.
Beginning last week, the airline had suspended services between Paris and Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak, but Thursday’s announcement — “after careful consideration of the developing situation” — marked a more general travel restriction as public health authorities in China and in Europe struggle to contain coronavirus transmissions.
Air France’s decision follows those of other global airlines such British Airways, Lufthansa and American Airlines, which temporarily cut service to Beijing and Shanghai.
Air France’s statement Thursday noted that from Jan. 30, it would also provide special flights to and from Shanghai and Beijing using volunteer crew to ensure the safe return of customers and airline employees already in China.
France has seen Europe’s first and highest number of coronavirus cases: on late Wednesday, a fifth case was confirmed.
A preliminary repatriation flight for approximately 200 French citizens stranded in Wuhan without symptoms of the coronavirus was due to arrive in the Chinese city Thursday. A second flight for citizens with potential symptoms was scheduled to depart France for Wuhan either Thursday or Friday, according to France’s Health Minister, Agnès Buzyn.
Sixth U.S. coronavirus case confirmed
WASHINGTON — Federal health officials confirmed a sixth U.S. case of the Wuhan coronavirus Thursday. It’s the first time the virus has spread from person to person in the United States, marking a new phase in the U.S. response to the growing epidemic.
The patient is a Chicago resident who was infected after being in close contact with his wife, who had traveled to the central Chinese city of Wuhan. The Chicago woman was the second confirmed case in the United States.
The number of countries with human to human transmission of coronavirus now numbers five: The United States, Germany, Japan, Vietnam and China, as well as the self-governing island of Taiwan.
Illinois has 21 people it is monitoring for possible infection.
More than 8,100 confirmed cases, Chinese state media says
WASHINGTON — Chinese official data now shows 8,149 confirmed coronavirus cases in the country with 171 deaths, according to state media outlets.
The figure includes nine cases in the self-governing island of Taiwan.
The number of confirmed cases by Thursday evening was an increase of 400 from the morning. The earlier number had already surpassed the number of infections during the 2002-2003 SARS epidemic.
Hong Kong seeks to use prison labor to create more surgical masks
HONG KONG — The Hong Kong government, amid panic over a shortage of surgical masks, is looking to increase supply through one of the only domestic channels available: prison labor.
In a statement, the government said it would try to extend production in the Correctional Services Department to 24 hours, increasing production to 1.8 million masks a month from 1.1 million. Other than the prison labor program, which produces them for hospitals and government workers, Hong Kong has only one local producer of surgical masks.
Panic buying has gripped the city amid a high level of mistrust in the Hong Kong government, coming after months of political unrest over fears that the territory is losing autonomy to Beijing.
A government spokesman on Thursday had to debunk rumors that the government was hoarding significant numbers of surgical masks, and even one positing that Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam had given its domestic supply of masks to authorities in mainland China, underscoring the depth of the disaffection.
The Hong Kong government has promised millions of masks will soon arrive in the territory, but said supply will remain tight in the short term and have encouraged people to minimize contact with others and go out less often. Some universities have said they would delay their opening till early March.
Vaccine efforts moving at record speed, but still lag behind the virus
WASHINGTON — In companies and laboratories across the world, scientists are racing at record pace to build a vaccine against the coronavirus.
The National Institutes of Health projects that a vaccine it is working on with biotech company Moderna could be tested in humans in April. Scientists in Houston are pushing for another candidate vaccine — developed when a similar virus was the threat — to be thawed and formulated in vials for further testing. Yet another possible vaccine is being built at facilities in San Diego and Houston, with projections it could be tested in people by summer.
To scientists, the work to build a vaccine against the new coronavirus is advancing with speed they could barely have imagined a decade ago. At the same time, it’s not even close to quick enough to contain the spreading infection, but could be essential if the coronavirus rages on or resurfaces later.
“What is the value of a vaccine if development takes a year in context of current situation, which seems to be moving very rapidly?” said Richard Hatchett, chief executive of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, a global alliance that is funding several efforts. “The value of a vaccine is we don’t actually know what the trajectory of the epidemic could be.”
White House forms task force to discuss coronavirus
WASHINGTON — President Trump attended a meeting of a White House Coronavirus Task Force on Wednesday, according a statement by the press secretary and photographs shared by Health Secretary Alex Azar.
In a statement, the White House said that members of the task force had been meeting every day since Monday and that Trump had chaired the Wednesday meeting.
Azar is helming the task force, which is coordinated through the National Security Council and includes subject matter experts from the White House and several government agencies.
For foreigners quarantined in Wuhan, evacuations require complicated diplomacy
WASHINGTON — Thousands of people from around the world are stuck under quarantine in Wuhan and their chances of getting out depend in part on the diplomatic weight of the passports they hold.
Following days of discussions, some 200 U.S. citizens touched down in California on Wednesday after the U.S. government flew them out of Wuhan, the epicenter of the novel coronavirus, on a chartered plane. Britain announced Thursday that its own evacuation plan was moving forward after days of delays. The United Kingdom had originally sought to fly out citizens on Thursday, but then said it hit a snag in securing the required permissions from Chinese authorities for leaving the quarantined region.
Wealthy countries including France, Germany, Japan and South Korea, among others, have also evacuated citizens or are in the process of coordinating flights. Egypt, Indonesia and Sri Lanka are additionally planning withdrawals.
People of some nationalities who want out of Wuhan have been less lucky. Around 50 million people are under quarantine in China’s Hubei province and its capital, Wuhan, including thousands of students from Africa and South Asia — populations that China courts to study in its universities, in what experts have described as a soft power bid to extend Beijing’s influence.
As the coronavirus continues to spread, many are stuck. Pakistani students have taken to social media to plead with their government to help them leave. Africans from Ethiopia, Ghana, South Africa, Tanzania and elsewhere on the continent have done the same. Videos of Moroccan students trapped in Wuhan led the country’s king on Monday to order their repatriation, though that hasn’t happened yet.
Complicating matters further, Chinese authorities are not allowing dual citizens to leave. So a family with a British mother and a British-Chinese child would be forced to either split up or stay together in the affected zone.
In a statement Tuesday, the World Health Organization discouraged countries from pulling out their citizens, saying that they were “totally confident” in China’s measures to defeat the disease. Nonetheless, the United States is now coordinating further flights out for U.S. citizens remaining in Wuhan, who will have to reimburse the government for the cost.
Thousands are held on cruise ship in Italy as authorities test passenger for coronavirus
ROME — Cruise passengers are waiting to be let off a Costa Cruises ship near Rome as local authorities test a man and woman who have been quarantined on board for potential coronavirus.
Roughly 6,000 people — 5,000 passengers and 1,000 crew members — are on the Costa Smeralda in the port of Civitavecchia.
Roger Frizzell, a spokesman for Costa Cruises owner Carnival Corporation, said everyone remained on the ship as of early Thursday afternoon, local time. But a local coast guard official told The Washington Post that 1,143 passengers who had planned to disembark Thursday morning would be allowed to leave.
According to a statement from Costa Cruises, a 54-year-old woman from Macao was put in isolation Wednesday night along with her travel companion after reporting that she felt sick.
“As soon as the suspected case was detected, the medical team on board immediately activated all the relevant health procedures to promptly isolate and manage the clinical condition,” the statement said. Local health authorities were on board Thursday and collected swabs from both the woman and her companion.
Those swabs were being analyzed early Thursday, with results expected in the afternoon.
Costa spokeswoman Rossella Carrara said the atmosphere on the ship is “all in all, quite calm.”
Global stocks down sharply as coronavirus spreads
WASHINGTON — Global stocks declined sharply Thursday as the continued spread of the coronavirus in China threatened to stall one of the world’s most powerful economic engines.
China’s markets are closed until Monday for the extended Lunar New Year holiday, but Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index slumped more than 2.5 percent, and Japan’s Nikkei declined 1.7 percent. European stocks followed suit, with the benchmark Stoxx 600 index down 0.95 percent in midday trading. Dow Jones industrial average futures are poised to drop more than 220 points at the open.
The virus has paralyzed China’s workforce, with at least three provinces barring all nonessential business activity until Feb. 10. In Hubei province, which has seen the highest number of cases, business activity has been suspended until Feb. 14. And as authorities scramble for solutions to contain the spread, global firms with roots in China have been forced to shut their doors or temporarily freeze operations, without any certainty as to how long the disruption will last.
Starbucks this week shuttered more than 2,000 locations in China — more than half its stores in the country — and McDonald’s, KFC and Apple have also announced closures. Google said it closed its five offices in mainland China, Hong Kong and self-governing Taiwan.
Investors are waiting to see whether the World Health Organization, which has called a meeting for later Thursday, will designate the outbreak a global emergency. It declined to take that step last week, and such a move Thursday could signal that the worst is yet to come, for China and global businesses.
Read the full story here: Global markets sink as investors weigh fallout of coronavirus
After delay, Britain schedules Wuhan evacuation flight for early Friday
BERLIN — The British government is moving forward with an evacuation plan for its citizens who are still in Wuhan, with a flight now scheduled to depart from there at 5 a.m. local time Friday.
British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said he was “pleased to have confirmation from the Chinese authorities.”
A British evacuation flight was previously scheduled to arrive Thursday, but the plans had to be delayed because China did not provide the necessary authorizations on time.
A number of other countries — including Germany — have faced similar challenges in arranging flights out of the city.
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross says China’s coronavirus ‘will help’ bring jobs back to U.S.
WASHINGTON — Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said the coronavirus spreading in China and around the world could “help” to bring jobs to the United States because companies will be moving operations away from impacted areas.
During an appearance on Fox Business on Thursday morning, Ross said that he didn’t “want to talk about a victory lap over a very unfortunate, very malignant disease,” and that “Americans’ hearts” were going out to the victims. But he added that American businesses would take into consideration the pneumonia-like virus as they scramble to determine how the outbreak affects their supply chains. He pointed to the 2003 SARS epidemic, the “African swine virus” and now coronavirus as “another risk factor that people need to take into account.”
“I think it will help to accelerate the return of jobs to North America, some to [the] U.S., probably some to Mexico as well,” Ross said.
The White House has been pressuring companies in China to move operations to the United States. President Trump recently signed a partial trade deal with China meant to create new incentives for U.S. companies.
Read more here.
Czech Republic suspends issuing most visas to Chinese citizens
BERLIN — The Czech government joined a growing list of nations seeking to restrict entry to Chinese nationals by suspending the issuance of visas until at least Feb. 16.
“The visa centers in China are currently closed until further notice. We took this step to prevent the coronavirus from spreading further,” said Czech Foreign Minister Tomáš Petříček.
Visas may still be issued “in exceptional and justified cases,” a statement on the Foreign Ministry’s website read.
As a member of the European Union and the borderless Schengen area, however, the Czech Republic can also still be entered via other European nations, including neighboring Germany, and on short-term visas issued by a different Schengen member state.
More airlines announce flight cancellations to China
WASHINGTON — More international airlines are canceling flights to Chinese cities, citing drops in demand as the coronavirus outbreak continues to spread.
Israel’s El Al, Scandinavian Airlines, Egypt Air and Turkish Airlines announced on Thursday suspensions in flights to Chinese hubs, joining other major carriers such as American and United Airlines, British Airways and Germany’s Lufthansa in cutting down or entirely suspending their service.
El Al is immediately suspending all direct flights to China until March 25. Turkish Airlines is decreasing the frequency of its trips to four Chinese cities beginning next week. After Thursday, Scandinavian Airlines is stopping all flights to Shanghai and Beijing until at least Feb. 29.
Ikea to shutter stores in mainland China ‘until further notice’
DUBAI — The Swedish furniture retailer Ikea announced Thursday that it was closing its stores in mainland China for now due to the outbreak of the novel coronavirus.
A statement on the website of several of its Chinese branches said the retailer would “pay close attention to the epidemic situation and the stores will be closed until further notice.”
The decision was taken with the health and safety of customers and employees in mind, the statement said, adding that Ikea staff have been fighting on the “frontline” of epidemic prevention to protect homes and that the company is in touch with authorities about how it can help.
“We believe that the viruses will not cut off our love of life. Hand in hand, the epidemic will be defeated!” said the message on the site of one of the Beijing outlets.
Ikea has 33 outlets in China, including one in Wuhan, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak that has claimed 170 lives. Ikea stores in Hong Kong and Macao were not closed.
Ikea stores are incredibly popular in China, with some of the company’s highest traffic globally, although many people go there just to look, hang out and, often, nap on the furniture.
Vietnam says three of its citizens infected with virus after China trip
DUBAI — Vietnam announced Thursday that three of its citizens have contracted the coronavirus following trips to the Chinese city of Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak sweeping the country.
A Chinese father and son, also from Wuhan, were hospitalized in Ho Chi Minh City on Jan. 22 after suffering from pneumonia and then testing positive for the virus. The son was later given the all-clear.
Dozens of people have been quarantined in the country on suspicion they may have the virus, including a group of 24 Chinese and Vietnamese in the city of Danang, some suffering from mild fever.
Danang is a major destination for Chinese tourists.
Australia’s Queensland announces new case; country total at 9
HONG KONG — A second case of coronavirus has been confirmed in Australia’s Queensland state, bringing the country’s tally to nine.
Health officials said Thursday the latest case involved a 42-year-old Chinese woman from Wuhan, the Chinese city at the center of the outbreak. She was among a tour group that included a 44-year-old man who was confirmed a day earlier as having contracted the potentially deadly virus, Queensland Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young said in a statement.
The woman was in stable condition at the Gold Coast University Hospital. Seven other people from the tour group remain in isolation, the statement said.
In investigating the cases, officials said they were tracking down passengers who traveled on a Tigerair flight from Melbourne to the Gold Coast on Jan. 27, as well as guests who stayed at the same hotel as the tour group.
British evacuation flight to China delayed for lack of Chinese permissions
BERLIN — A British evacuation flight from Wuhan, scheduled for Thursday, will not take off as planned because it is still lacking the appropriate permissions from Chinese authorities.
“We are doing everything we can to get British people in Wuhan safely back to the U.K.,” said a Foreign Office spokeswoman, adding that Britain was not the only country affected.
“A number of countries’ flights have been unable to take off as planned. We continue working urgently to organize a flight to the U.K. as soon as possible,” she said. South Korea reported that it was able to get approval for only one of four planned flights to Wuhan.
German media outlets also said Thursday that evacuation plans by the German military have been delayed, as well.
A spokesman for the German Foreign Ministry said there were “remaining questions” that needed to be addressed before an evacuation flight could take off.
Russia closes border with China; Moscow McDonald’s cancels party
MOSCOW — Russia is closing its entire border with China, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin announced Thursday, in the latest measure to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
Although no cases of the disease have surfaced in Russia, the country does share a 2,615-mile border with China, one of the world’s longest international borders.
Worries are high, and McDonald’s in Moscow canceled plans for its 30th anniversary over fears of big crowds. The fast-food chain had planned to offer burgers for the cost they were in 1990 — the equivalent of a nickel.
Relations between Russia and China have been warming, and they did $110 billion in trade with each other last year. China this week shared with Russia the genome of the coronavirus so that they could jointly work on a vaccine.
Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova said Wednesday that Russia is considering suspending all air travel to and from China, and rail service has been limited to a direct train between Moscow and Beijing.
U.S. sending additional flights to evacuate Wuhan virus epicenter
HONG KONG — The U.S. government is arranging more flights to evacuate Americans trapped in the Chinese city at the epicenter of the deadly coronavirus outbreak.
The extra flights would begin on or about Monday and would have capacity “on a reimbursable basis” for private citizens wishing to leave Wuhan, the State Department said in a message to U.S. citizens in China on Thursday.
Those traveling on the flights would be subject to screening, health observations and monitoring, the department said.
The development comes after some Americans trapped in Wuhan have expressed frustration about inadequate communication from U.S. diplomatic officials amid the health crisis.
In Hong Kong, coronavirus brings panic — and fresh fury toward the government
HONG KONG — As shops reopen in Hong Kong Thursday after the Lunar New Year break, thousands of people are spending their mornings in line at pharmacies, hoping to get their hands on masks and other supplies in extremely short supply.
Local news outlets showed snaking lines in neighborhoods all over the city. Most pharmacies had only small numbers of masks. Others had none at all and were forced to turn away people who had been waiting for hours.
Hong Kong is especially anxious because this city bears the scars of the SARS epidemic in 2003, when some 300 died. Over 1,000 more were infected. Critics say it should have fundamentally changed the way the city approached public health, and they are wondering why the government has not made these supplies available.
The outbreak has also come at a time of exceptionally low trust in authorities, following political unrest that has rocked the city over fears that Hong Kong is losing its autonomy to Beijing.
Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam has promised that her only consideration in dealing with this issue is “public health” and that “no other factor” is involved in her decision to only partially limit travelers from the mainland. Yet Lam cannot escape accusations that she is subservient to mainland authorities and unable to put the needs of her territory first.
“If it’s not political, then I can’t find a reason for her actions,” said Alex Lam, chairman of a support group for SARS survivors in Hong Kong. “Everything that Carrie Lam is doing, she has to get approval from her boss.”
Read the full story here: In Hong Kong, coronavirus brings panic — and fresh fury
Australia reports new coronavirus case, bringing total to eight
DUBAI — Authorities in Australia’s Victoria State have announced a new case Thursday of the coronavirus in a middle-aged woman visiting from China’s Hubei Province.
The latest case brings the total for Australia to eight — three alone in Victoria state.
The statement from the Department of Health said the woman did not have any symptoms and went to see a doctor about a cough. She was immediately referred to the hospital.
She is now in isolation at the Royal Melbourne Hospital and was confirmed positive through tests. Close contacts of hers are being monitored for the illness, as well as areas she frequented in Melbourne.
South Korea reports 2 new coronavirus cases, including one contracted locally
SEOUL — South Korea confirmed two new cases of coronavirus infection on Thursday, one of which is believed to be the first case of human-to-human transmission in the country.
The latest cases announced by the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) brought up the national tally of infections to six.
A 56-year-old man was found to have contracted the coronavirus after he had come in contact with an infected person in South Korea, according to the KCDC.
Another man in his 30s who had returned from Wuhan on Friday has been confirmed to have been infected by the virus.
Philippines reports first coronavirus infection, a woman coming from Wuhan
MANILA — Philippine officials confirmed the country’s first case of the novel coronavirus on Thursday.
The female patient, 38, came from Wuhan on Jan. 21 and has since been admitted to an unidentified government hospital. She was asymptomatic, showing no fever or other signs of illness, and was admitted after reporting a mild cough.
Health authorities are monitoring the cities of Cebu and Dumaguete in the central Philippines, where the woman visited. About 29 other patients are under investigation, with 18 suspected cases in Manila.
The Philippines has stopped issuing visas upon arrival to Chinese tourists, but President Rodrigo Duterte has expressed reluctance about a total travel ban. China is one of the Philippines’ top sources of tourists, with over 1 million recorded visits in 2018.
The country also announced it would repatriate Filipinos in Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak. The Department of Foreign Affairs estimates there are about 300 Filipinos in all of Hubei province, of which Wuhan is the capital, around 50 of whom want to return. Any returnees will be subject to a two-week quarantine.
China urges farmers to ramp up food production amid outbreak
DUBAI — China’s Ministry of Agriculture called for increased production of food and agriculture products in the midst of the coronavirus outbreak that has killed at least 170 people in the country and infected thousands more.
At least 54 million people have been confined to their region at the epicenter of the outbreak, and there have been worries over food supplies amid panic buying by residents.
The statement said agricultural materials such as feed, fertilizers and seeds and pesticides need to be delivered promptly to ensure food production continues apace.
The statement added that rural areas needed to be educated about how to combat the outbreak through loudspeakers, text messages and WeChat to spread “the relevant epidemic prevention knowledge.”
With most of the focus on China’s cities, there have been worries about the spread of the illness in the vast rural areas that lack resources.
India reports first coronavirus case in student returning from China
NEW DELHI — India reported its first confirmed case of the novel coronavirus, marking the arrival of the illness in the world’s second-most populous country.
The case involves a student at Wuhan University who returned to the southern state of Kerala, according to a statement from India’s Ministry of Health. The student is stable and in isolation at a hospital, the ministry said.
Indian authorities have been preparing for possible cases of the virus ever since it emerged into the public eye earlier this month. The government has set up a centralized control room to supervise the response to the virus and urged people who recently returned from China to isolate themselves at home for two weeks.
The Indian government is also preparing to evacuate some of its citizens from Hubei province, many of them students in Wuhan.
Cambodian leader says no need ban flights to China or evacuate citizens
HONG KONG — Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said Thursday there was no need to ban flights from the kingdom to China, fearing it would hurtCambodia’s tourism industry. He also said he would not be evacuating Cambodians who are currently in the city of Wuhan.
Hun Sen is bucking the trend of most other countries in the region, which have brought their citizens back home on private charter planes in recent days.
“Stopping flights from China would mean killing Cambodia’s economy,” he said in a news conference broadcast on his Facebook page, according to local news reports. He added: “In good times, we stay together. But in difficult times, we run away [from China]?”
Cambodia, which has about 16 million people, has one of the lowest gross domestic products in the region. Under Hun Sen’s leadership, the country has moved away from the West and embraced China, which has backed the 67-year old leader despite his crackdown on human rights and steady moves to erode democracy in his country. Hun Sen is the world’s longest-ruling prime minister.
In recent years, Cambodia has been heavily reliant on China’s support, politically and economically. Hundreds of thousands of Chinese nationals flocked to the coastal town of Sihanoukville in recent years to work in its thriving gambling industry, which includes both online gambling centers catering to the Chinese market and casinos in the town. But after a ban on online gambling last year, many have left.
Cambodia has so far confirmed one case of coronavirus, a 60-year-old Chinese tourist in Sihanoukville.
South Korea leader calls for calm amid protests of quarantine facilities
SEOUL — South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Thursday called for calm in face of “fake news” and “ungrounded fear” about coronavirus outbreak. South Korean cities that had set up facilities as quarantine sites saw heated protests by residents. In Jincheon protesters pelted officials with plastic bottles and paper cups.
Moon said the government will manage the sites for citizens returning from China “in an airtight manner” to address the residents’ concerns.
Seoul plans to send a chartered plane to Wuhan late Thursday to evacuate South Korean citizens from the Chinese city. South Korea’s Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha told reporters that China gave permission to only one out of four planned flights at the moment. There are an estimated 700 Koreans in the city.
South and North Korea, meanwhile, will suspend the operation of the inter-Korean liaison office in border city of Kaesong. South Korea’s Unification Ministry said Thursday officials of the two Koreas have agreed to have the office shut until the coronavirus risks are fully contained.
China letting Wuhan residents to fly back to virus-hit city from abroad
TOKYO — China’s aviation authority has agreed to allow chartered flights into the virus-hit city of Wuhan to allow residents stranded abroad to return home, and some have already done so, state television reported Thursday.
All domestic and international flights out of Wuhan were canceled since the city was placed under lockdown last week to prevent the spread of the virus. But the city government says 5 million people left the city before the quarantine came into effect, and some apparently want to return to their homes.
State China Central Television (CCTV) said some flights had already returned from Singapore, from Krabi in Thailand, Mandalay in Myanmar and Osaka in Japan,
CCTV said the country’s aviation authority has asked airlines not to stop healthy Wuhan residents from boarding flights.
Meanwhile foreigners who want to leave China are facing growing obstacles. On Wednesday, German carrier Lufthansa announced it would suspend all flights to and from China until Feb. 9, following similar moves by British Airways, American Airlines and several Asian carriers, German media reported.
Human Rights Watch urges China to end censorship, tackle discrimination
TOKYO — Human Rights Watch urged the Chinese government on Thursday to ensure that people’s rights are respected during the coronavirus epidemic.
The Chinese government’s response to the coronavirus outbreak was initially delayed by withholding information from the public, underreporting cases of infection, downplaying the severity of the infection, and dismissing the likelihood of transmission between humans, HRW said in a statement.
Since mid-January, authorities have taken a more aggressive approach, preventing more than 50 million people from leaving cities in the central province of Hubei where the virus originated, in an effort to limit transmission of the disease to the rest of China.
Authorities have also detained people for “rumor-mongering,” censored online discussions of the epidemic, curbed media reporting, and failed to ensure appropriate access to medical care for those with virus symptoms and others with medical needs, the rights group said.
“The coronavirus outbreak requires a swift and comprehensive response that respects human rights,” said Yaqui Wang, China researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Authorities should recognize that censorship only fuels public distrust, and instead encourage civil society engagement and media reporting on this public health crisis.”
The statement also noted numerous reports of hotels outside Hubei province, refusing to admit travelers with Wuhan or Hubei identification cards, of villages setting up roadblocks blocking cars with Hubei license plates from entering, and of people from Hubei being harassed on social media.
“Violating the rights of tens of millions of people in the effort to address the coronavirus outbreak will be counterproductive,” Wang said. “Transparency and engaging civil society will be the far better approach.”
Beijing shuts down infrastructure construction on migrant workers virus fears
TOKYO — Beijing city government has issued a notice banning infrastructure construction in the city before Feb. 10, amid fears that the return of vast numbers of migrant workers to the capital after the Lunar New Year holiday could bring an upsurge in cases of coronavirus.
The notice issued Wednesday by the Municipal Commission of Housing and Urban-Rural Development said migrant workers should take chartered vehicles to construction sites and isolate themselves for 14 days upon arrival in the capital.
The measures underline the stark choices facing the Chinese Communist Party, between the health of its citizens and the economy. The party relies on economic growth for much of its legitimacy and tax revenue to fund its vast network of surveillance and control, but risks a steep upsurge in infections if it allows economic activity and the migration of people for work to resume after the holiday period.
Southeast Asian countries plan to retrieve citizens from Wuhan
HONG KONG — Southeast Asian governments, including Singapore and Myanmar, are in the process of evacuating their citizens from Wuhan amid fears that the travel lockdown in place there could drag on.
The Myanmar government is arranging a flight to retrieve 63 students who are studying in Wuhan, the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Thursday morning.
Myanmar is working with Chinese officials to organize the flight, though authorities did not say when they expected it would take place. The students will be screened by the Ministry of Health and Sports when they return to Myanmar, the government said in its statement.
Separately, 92 Singaporeans touched down in Singapore on Thursday morning, having been evacuated from Wuhan. They would go through a medical screening at the airport, before being quarantined along with the consular officers who accompanied them, according to a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Three Japanese evacuees test positive for coronavirus; second flight lands
TOKYO — Three of the Japanese citizens who returned from the virus-hit Chinese city of Wuhan have tested positive for deadly coronavirus, the Health Ministry said on Thursday, as a second flight from the city landed in Tokyo.
The three, including two who had not shown any symptoms of the disease, were among 206 people brought out on the first flight, which landed at Tokyo’s Haneda airport Wednesday, Kyodo News agency reported.
Among the first batch of returnees, all but two agreed to a test for the virus, Kyodo reported. Those testing positive for the virus will be isolated in a hospital, while most of the rest will be put up in a hotel for two weeks with regular medical checks. Three of the group insisted on returning to their homes, where they will also be visited regularly, officials said.
Another 210 evacuees were brought out on Thursday, with some showing symptoms such as coughs, and the government is already making arrangements for a third flight.
The first group was selected from people living closest to the seafood market in Wuhan thought to be the source of the virus, and also people living close to the airport.
The mayor of Wuhan said last weekend that 5 million people had left the city before a lockdown was imposed.
Amazon and Microsoft restricting staff travel to China
SEATTLE — Both Amazon and Microsoft are shutting down nearly all travel of their workers to China.
“Out of an abundance of caution, we are restricting business travel to and from China until further notice,” Amazon spokeswoman Jaci Anderson said.
On Wednesday, the e-commerce giant barred nonapproved business travel to and from China and will grant approval only for trips that are critical to the company’s business, Anderson said. Amazon also said that those who travel to one of the affected provinces of China should work from home for two weeks upon their return.
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post.
Microsoft, meanwhile, noted that the coronavirus outbreak could hamper its Windows operating system business. During its quarterly earnings call Wednesday, finance chief Amy Hood gave a wider-than-usual guidance for the business segment that includes Microsoft’s Windows operating system business, which it sells to PC makers, citing “some of the uncertainty related to the public health situation in China.” The company now expects to generate $10.75 billion to $11.15 billion in fiscal third-quarter revenue from its More Personal Computing segment compared to $10.68 billion in the year-ago period.
Microsoft is also restricting staff travel in China. The company has told employees in the country to work from home and cancel all nonessential business travel until Feb. 9. The company has also advised workers to avoid nonessential travel to China.
Tesla expecting production delays over the spread of coronavirus
SAN FRANCISCO — Add Tesla to the list of companies expecting potential business consequences in China.
On the company’s earnings call Wednesday, Tesla Chief Financial Officer Zachary Kirkhorn said it is monitoring the effects of the coronavirus in China, where it recently opened its Shanghai Gigafactory to deliver locally made Model 3 sedans.
The company is building up its production capacity to meet the high Chinese demand for electric vehicles and Tesla’s mass-market sedan.
“At this point we’re expecting a one to one-and-a-half-week delay in the ramp of Shanghai Model 3,” Kirkhorn said, adding the effects might “slightly impact” the company’s first quarter profitability. “We are also closely monitoring whether there will be interruptions in the supply chain for cars built in Fremont.”
China confirms more than 1,000 additional cases of coronavirus and another 38 deaths
WASHINGTON — Amid another day of increasing travel restrictions and international evacuation efforts, the number of confirmed cases of coronavirus in China and Taiwan continues to rise dramatically.
By 8:30 Thursday morning Beijing time, Chinese health agencies had recorded another 1,658 confirmed cases overnight, bringing the total to 7,736, including eight in the self-ruling island of Taiwan. It’s at least the second consecutive day the number of confirmed cases rose by more than 1,500.
The death toll also increased by 38, to 170, with all but eight of those killed coming from Hubei province, the epicenter of the disease, according to a tally from national and local health commissions. Another 124 people have been successfully treated, the agencies reported.
Patients from Wuhan, which is still under an unprecedented quarantine, make up more than three-quarters of the dead.
Chinese President Xi Jinping deemed the situation “complicated and grave.”
CDC says no new confirmed cases in U.S., expects its experts to be part of international team to China
WASHINGTON — A top official at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday that there are no new confirmed cases of coronavirus. The United States has five confirmed cases.
Officials said 97 people are under observation after 68 tested negative and were ruled out for infection.
The CDC, which has many respiratory virus experts, has also been invited to be part of the international team that the World Health Organization is assembling to send to China to assist with the outbreak investigation.
“The information we have right now is that we are invited to be part of this WHO mission,” said Nancy Messonnier, director of CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. “We are working through the particulars with the WHO. … The plans are to include CDC as part of that team.”
What you need to know about coronavirus
Follow our updates: China added more than 8,1oo confirmed cases of infection, an increase of more than 1,900 from the previous day. Thousands of travelers are being held on cruise ship in Italy as authorities test passengers for coronavirus.
Mapping the spread of the new coronavirus: The United States, Germany, Sri Lanka, France, Cambodia, the Philippines, India, Thailand, Japan, Taiwan, Nepal, Hong Kong, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates, Canada, Vietnam, Macao and South Korea have all confirmed cases of the infection.
Federal health officials confirmed a sixth U.S. case of the Wuhan coronavirus Thursday. It’s the first time the virus has spread from person to person in the United States. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention raised its travel warning to a level 3, urging U.S. citizens to avoid all nonessential travel to China.
In Wuhan, the Chinese city of 11 million people where the new coronavirus outbreak began last month, train stations, ferries, buses and the airport all have shut down. Travel bans were extended in central China to put more than 50 million people effectively on local lockdowns. Beijing has shut down schools indefinitely. Despite unprecedented measures, experts can’t yet say whether these efforts will contain the infection.
What is coronavirus and how does it spread? Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses whose effects range from causing the common cold to triggering much more serious diseases, such as severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS. Do you have questions about the virus? Ask them here. And here’s what we know so far.
