Aamna Mohdin (now) and Martin Farrer (earlier) 

‘Compulsory quarantine’ on all arrivals to Hong Kong from mainland China – as it happened

Thousands on board Diamond Princess cruise ship in offshore quarantine in Japan after 10 people test positive, as China death toll passes 490. This blog is closed
  
  

The Diamond Princess cruise ship quarantined off Yokohama in Japan. Mount Fuji can be seen in the background.
The Diamond Princess cruise ship quarantined off Yokohama in Japan. Mount Fuji can be seen in the background. Photograph: Hiroko Harima/AP

What we know so far

Here are the main points from today so far:

Updated

Turkey will now also be taking temperatures of all arriving airline passengers in new prevention measures aimed at halting the spread of a virus outbreak that has killed hundreds of people in China, AP reports.

Turkish health minister Fahrettin Koca said thermal cameras installed at Turkish airports would begin screening all arriving passengers Thursday. Previously, Turkey was screening travelers from China, Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, Hong Kong, Singapore, Korea and Malaysia.

Turkey joins Italy, which announced earlier today that they would be screening all passengers. Last week, Italy barred all commercial flights to and from China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, the same day two Chinese tourists from hard-hit Wuhan tested positive for the new type of coronavirus in Rome.

To boost precautions, the Italian health ministry and civil protection agency announced they would use thermo-scanners on all arriving passengers. “It is clear that this is a temporary measure, Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio told The Associated Press.

Updated

The Department of Health said 468 people in the UK have now tested negative for coronavirus, according to a report by PA Media.

All the 1,500 people who arrived on direct flights from Wuhan in January have either left the UK or are now outside the 14-day incubation period for the virus.

Rachael Maskell, the MP for York Central, has criticised the government’s response to the coronavirus outbreak.

York Press reports that Maskell called on the Government to ‘get a grip’ after it emerged that the York student with coronavirus spent a night in student accommodation.

“The student did access student accommodation—Vita Student accommodation—despite our being told they had not,” she said through a point of order in the House of Commons. “There is confusion over how information is being gathered and shared, which could have a serious impact on public confidence in how the coronavirus is being managed.”

Maskell added: “The government need to get a grip as we may be in the early stages of the management of this infection.”

Updated

Sean, who didn’t want to give his last name, said it was “incredibly eerie in Beijing today”. The 34-year-old manager of an English language school said there was heavy snow and few people on the street. “I worked from a cafe today, and was the only one inside.”

He described the Foreign Office’s advice to ‘leave China’ last night as “a huge over-reaction and disregard for expats that actually live here and call China their home”.

Sean added: “It’s not simply a matter of hopping on a plane, it’s a huge undertaking. It seemed to be a decision disconnected from the reality.”

He pointed out that Beijing is thousands of kilometres from Hubei, the epicentre of the outbreak. “It seems strange to refer to China as a whole, we are talking about a country almost the size of Europe, and to evacuate the entire territory seems a bit much,” Sean said.

Updated

A Southampton student who went into isolation after feeling ill after returning from China has been given the all-clear from the new coronavirus, PA media reports.

Paramedics were sent to the Mayflower halls of residence at the University of Southampton on Monday to take the student to hospital after they contacted the NHS saying they felt ill.

The student has since been discharged and allowed to return to their accommodation.
The student’s flatmates have been told to self-isolate as a precaution and communal areas of the flat and lifts were deep-cleaned.

A university spokesman said: “The student concerned at our Mayflower halls has tested negative for the new coronavirus, so has the all-clear.”

Here’s an explainer on what self-isolation actually means.

Updated

Thousands of medical staff in Hong Kong have gone on strike in a bid to get the government to completely seal the border with mainland China, AP reports.

Hong Kong’s hospital authority says 4,600 medical staff, mainly nurses, didn’t turn up for work on Wednesday.

The medical union disputes the authority’s figure and said about 7,000 people took part in the strike. The group wants the government halt cross-border travel and prevent the spread of a new virus.

Opposition lawmakers have criticised the decision of Hong Kong leader, Carrie Lam, to quarantine all people arriving from the mainland for 14 days instead of shutting the remaining two land border checkpoints. They said it could lead to more people from the mainland coming to Hong Kong to seek treatment that would further burden the city’s already taxed medical facilities.

Updated

Some Britons in China have been in touch with the Guardian to say they have no plans to leave the country any time soon.

Sharon Moan, a chemistry teacher who lives with her husband and two children in Shanghai, said she is baffled by the foreign office’s advice.

“Life here is very calm. We have few restrictions and feel that everything the local government has put in place is for everybody’s benefit. We actually only began to panic when we read Western media news reports that do not reflect what is happening here. We don’t feel it’s necessary and many of our colleagues feel the same.

“We feel unsupported by the consulate as there is no clear explanation as to why they have made this announcement. This is our home and the foreign office hasn’t actually given us a good reason to leave it. We have no plans to leave and will carry on regardless.”

Dr Rob Burton, a 65-year-old academic living in a state of self-quarantine in Hangzhou with his Chinese wife, said he is under no illusion that she would be allowed entry to the UK.

“I have a life here and my semester at the Communication University of Zhejiang is due to start on 24 February. I feel that the attitude by the foreign office towards British nationals who are married to foreign spouses is toxic. I’m not going to say goodbye to my wife and leave her stranded on her own. Who would do that? It would actually be easier for me to get my English dog, Snooky, and Chinese cat, Fluffy Bum (named in honour of Spike Milligan), home than it would my wife.

“I was actually in Wuhan in November so have had a few weeks of wondering if I have been infected. We have been inside for 15 days now and have only been to the supermarket twice. It becomes a psychological test as you become more stir crazy as the rumours mount up. That said, there is a huge effort going on by ordinary Chinese people which I don’t see much about in the foreign press.”

Updated

Israeli media is reporting around 15 Israeli citizens are on the cruise ship. The public broadcaster, Kan Radio, interviewed one of the Israeli passengers on board.

Q: Hello Nicole Ben-David. We’re calling to ask how you guys are managing while stranded and in quarantine at sea.

“We’re well. A bit confused, a bit worried but, all in all, we’re doing well. We were supposed to disembark yesterday and to finish our 15-day tour. They informed us that it seems that we have an epidemic. They examined all of us. This morning they informed us that they had found ten people who were infected. As of 6:30 this morning, we’ve been asked not to leave our rooms. We’re inside the rooms.

They’ve given us food and beverages. They gave us free internet access beginning yesterday or the day before, when they announced that they were beginning the examinations. This morning they informed us that we were going to have to remain on board the ship for at least 14 days in quarantine. It isn’t clear to us whether we’re going to have to remain in our rooms for 14 days or on board the ship. For the time being, we’re in our rooms and we’re not allowed to leave them.”

Q: Are any of the people who were diagnosed as being infected with coronavirus Israeli?

“They haven’t given us information about who the people who got sick are. Out of the Israelis, we’re a family with ten people, and I know that there are another two [Israeli] couples. We saw them completing the tour. As far as I can tell, none of the Israelis have been infected.”

Q: How anxious are you, finding yourselves quarantined inside a cabin on board a ship out at sea? That must be an unpleasant experience.

“We’re trying to keep our sense of humour and our cool. This is just the first day. As long as we’re healthy, and aren’t sick, and we’re getting food and beverages and the TV works… we’re trying to remain optimistic and to remain calm.

“To tell you that this isn’t something that makes me anxious? It does make me anxious. Yes, it does. But we don’t really have much in the way of choices.”

A hotel worker in the northern Italian city of Verona has tested negative for coronavirus.

The woman, who was isolated after coming down with a fever, is a member of staff at the same hotel where a Chinese couple being treated for the virus in Rome stayed for one night.

Doctors at Rome’s Lazzaro Spallanzani hospital for infectious disease said the couple were in a “stable” condition after their health deteriorated on Tuesday. Twenty people who had contact with the couple, from Wuhan but who have not shown symptoms of the virus, are still under observation at the hospital.

Meanwhile, Italy’s three-month suspension of flights from China, Hong, Macau and Taiwan sparked a diplomatic row with Taiwan.

A representative from the Taiwanese government has urged Italy to drop the ban, arguing that the island is not part of China and that cases of the virus there have been limited.

Italy on Wednesday began scanning passengers arriving on all international flights at its airports. Thermal scanners had previously only been used on passengers arriving from areas affected by the virus. At Rome’s Fiumicino airport, the checks have also been extended to domestic flights.

Updated

Here’s a report from Josh Taylor, a Guardian reporter based in Melbourne, that the Australian government is considering sending its citizens evacuated from Wuhan to isolated mining camps if Christmas Island reaches capacity for people being quarantined.

The home affairs minister, Peter Dutton, admitted there is the possibility that Christmas Island could reach capacity if the outbreak continues to spread. He said one option would be for people to share rooms, or potentially even open up other locations away from the rest of the Australian population.

“There are isolated mining camps or the prospect of hotels that you could take over. But I think we’ll look at all of those in order of what we think is the best response, but all of this is in the spirit of preparation.”

Updated

Australia has confirmed its 14th case of the coronavirus.

Dr Jeannette Young, the chief health officer, said the latest case was the fourth confirmed positive test of novel coronavirus in Queensland. She said:

The 37-year-old man, a Chinese national from Wuhan (Hubei province), is currently isolated in the Gold Coast University hospital (GCUH).

The man is a member of the same tour group travelling with the previously confirmed cases – a 44-year-old man, a 42-year-old woman and an eight-year-old boy.

All four people who have been confirmed to have novel coronavirus are stable.

The five others from the same tour group remain in isolation in GCUH.

Updated

African governments remain under pressure from citizens to arrange their evacuation from China amid fears of the outbreak reaching the continent.

So far, most have resisted the calls but Kenyan officials have said they will evacuate 85 of their citizens who are under lockdown in Wuhan city, when restrictions on movements are lifted by Chinese authorities.

The Star newspaper in Nairobi reported the decision along with comments from Kenya’s ambassador to China, Sarah Serem, who last week said Kenya “will not risk further infection by flying any citizens back from China on the basis that it would be better if Kenyans in China were monitored and protected as China found a way to terminate the highly infectious virus.

“I don’t think Kenya is ready to deal with the virus. The government of China is in a better position to deal with the virus and bringing Kenyans in China back to Kenya will only further expose the rest to the danger of infection,” the newspaper quoted the ambassador as saying.

Serem’s comments underline the significant concerns over the potential consequences of an outbreak of the virus in Africa. The World Health Organization said yesterday the coronavirus outbreak “is a high risk globally and Africa has close ties with China and other Asian countries”.

Dr Michel Yao, the emergency operations programme manager in WHO’s regional office for Africa, said health officials were prioritising stopping transmission from affected countries and ensuring that capacity exists to isolate and to provide appropriate treatment to any confirmed cases.

“What we are emphasising to all countries is that at least they have early detection because we know how fragile is the health system in the African continent and these systems are already overwhelmed by many ongoing disease outbreaks,” Yao told reporters.

Many airlines have suspended or restricted flights to China from Africa, where there is yet to be a confirmed case of the virus.

Updated

An Australian on a flight out of virus-struck Wuhan to Auckland has written for the Guardian on the stress of his evacuation.

He wrote:

I said my goodbyes to my grandparents at the house, they were holding back tears. My dad sent me into the airport. After he sat around for a few minutes I told him to go home, and I’ll look after myself from there on.

There were a lot of us evacuating, with two or three other countries including us. Everyone’s wearing masks, and it was nerve-racking being around so many people in such close proximity. Hearing about a lot of evacuations with confirmed cases of the coronavirus on the flight, it was definitely not ideal to be around so many people at the airport.

British nationals on holiday have spoken of their frustration and anxiety of not being able to return to their homes in China.

Gareth Gough, a teacher who lives in Shenzhen with his wife, got in touch to say they are both stuck in Thailand. “There is no certainty when or if we should return and all our stuff is in our apartment,” he said.

Gough described the Foreign Office travel advice as “frustrating” and said it’s not clear what it’s grounded in. “A lot of people may not be able to or afford to leave – what about them? Matt Hancock says British people should leave on commercial operations, but also if you come home and have symptoms then stay at home … so which is it? I appreciate its infectious but they have not been very helpful!”

Christopher Halkou was on holiday in Vietnam when the Foreign Office changed its advice, “invalidating my insurance if I return to China for work as an English teacher in Shanghai”. The 25-year-old said after he had two flights cancelled from Vietnam to Shanghai, he made the decision to return to London to assess the situation from there until it was deemed safer to return.

Halkou added there was a “feeling of uncertainty and precariousness about when I’ll be returning to Shanghai. I have valuables in my flat and rent to pay for so I have to return in some capacity to sort things there even if I decide to terminate my work contract.”

Updated

Here’s the Guardian’s report on the luxury cruise ship carrying 3,700 quarantined passengers off the Japanese port of Yokohama, after initial results showed 10 passengers have tested positive for the coronavirus.

The Diamond Princess has been prevented from sailing on Monday after an 80-year-old passenger who had travelled on the vessel late last month tested positive after he arrived home in Hong Kong, according to Japan’s health minister, Katsunobu Katō.

Of a further 273 people onboard who have since been tested following health screenings, 31 results had come back – and of those 10 were positive.

Updated

Hong Kong’s leader has released more information on the recently announced quarantine for all those arriving from mainland China. Carrie Lam said all people entering the semi-autonomous territory from the mainland, including Hong Kong residents, will be required to undergo 14 days of quarantine because of the outbreak of the new virus, according to a report by AP.

Lam said the measure will take effect on Saturday to allow Hong Kong day travellers to make necessary arrangements. She added that two cruise ship terminals, including one where a ship is under quarantine, will be shut down.

Lam said the government is looking for more quarantine facilities in addition to the three camps in use and stressed the authorities have remained vigilant and will not shy away from introducing stringent measures to stem the spread of the virus.

Updated

There’s been praise for the British embassy in Beijing, which is supporting the evacuation process. Paul Maloney, who works for the British Council in China, tweeted he was grateful the embassy was able to help evacuate his family, including his young son Theo, who needed an emergency passport in order to travel.

Updated

All arrivals to Hong Kong from mainland China will face 'compulsory quarantine'

AFP is reporting that travellers from mainland China will be forced to face ”compulsory quarantine” when they arrive in Hong Kong.

Updated

More readers have got in touch in response to the Foreign Office’s advice urging UK nationals to leave China.

Liam Dutch, a 26-year-old teacher in Shenzhen, said he was “conflicted” about the British government’s advice to leave China. “Many of us have spent a lot of time building new lives here, it is not simply a case of ‘booking a flight home to then return at an unknown date’.

“It would be like putting my life on pause. Firstly, it’s highly expensive to travel 10,000 miles home, and then come back again. Secondly, we do have contractual obligations, rent to pay, friends and girlfriends and of course, our general everyday lives, which we have become accustomed to.”

Andy Roberts, a university lecturer, said he is currently housebound with his wife in Ningbo. Roberts has been married to his wife, a 39-year-old Chinese national for 14 years. She has previously lived in UK for 10 years.

The 59-year-old said they are restricted to staying in their apartment and only one family member is allowed to visit the supermarket every two days.

“The UK advice is not very practical as getting to an airport and finding a flight would be difficult right now. And if I did go back where would I go? My home is here in China. We are keeping our spirits up; I’m cycling everyday on my indoor trainer, escaping to Zwift virtual worlds, while my wife is working out from YouTube Zumba clips. The cats aren’t fussed.

“At the moment we can still walk round the compound as long as we have masks on and we stop and chat to neighbours, albeit from a distance.”

Stock markets have staged a rapid reversal in the last few minutes, after reports of an effective treatment for coronavirus. The reports remain unconfirmed.

The FTSE 100 is up by 0.5% at about 7,477 points, having previously been down by 0.3%. The Euro Stoxx 600 index, which measures large companies across Europe, is up by 0.5% for the day, having previously dipped.

Reuters reports that traders have cited a Chinese TV report that a research team at Zhejiang University has found an effective drug to treat people with the new coronavirus.

Oil prices, weighed down by concerns on coronavirus’s impact on demand, have gained a dollar after the reports.

Brent crude oil futures prices jumped from a low of $54.12 per barrel just after 8am to over $55.1 an hour later. They are now up by 2.2% for the day.

Updated

Cathay Pacific has asked its 27,000 employees to take three weeks of unpaid leave in the next few months as Hong Kong’s flagship carrier reels from coronavirus outbreak, according to a report by South China Morning Post.

“I am appealing to each and everyone of you to help,” said Augustus Tang Kin-wing, the company’s CEO, in a taped video recording, adding the situation the company faced was “just as grave” as the global financial crisis of 2009.

“Preserving our cash is now key to protecting our business,” he said.

The UK health secretary, Matt Hancock, said the government was expecting further cases in the UK. He insisted the government was “taking no chances” and adopting a science-led approach in its response to the outbreak.

In an unexpected announcement on Tuesday, the Foreign Office urged UK citizens to leave China because of the coronavirus. Asked how, logistically, Britons are expected to return to the UK, Hancock told BBC Breakfast: “There are still commercial flights available. The principle that we are taking is that we want to take no chances with this virus. We want to take a science-led approach.”

“The approach we have been taking is very much driven by the advice of the chief medical officer. This is a very serious virus and having a very serious impact in china,” Hancock added. “There are two cases only here in the UK but we do expect more, so we are taking no chances.”

The two people confirmed to have the virus in the UK remain in quarantine, while a Briton has tested negative after falling ill on a flight back from China.

Hancock said people returning from China would not be quarantined and should instead remain at home and call medics if they express symptoms. “The advice is that if they have symptoms then they should stay at home, self-isolate as it’s called, and call 111, not go to the GP or to the A&E because there’s a risk of spreading the virus,” he told BBC Breakfast.

Updated

Owen Moone, a British teacher in Shenzhen in Guangdong province, said he was stuck in Vietnam because his flight back was cancelled. The 34-year-old was on holiday in Vietnam for the lunar new year.

“Luckily it’s a cheap country, but I only have a 30-day visa. I’m not sure when flights will be reinstated to Hong Kong or mainland China, but I need to return either to work or get my stuff,” Moone said. “Part of me is tempted to go home or to Canada where my girlfriend is visiting family. Not sure when the situation will change as there is currently a lot of ambiguity and things are changing by the day.”

Moone added his school was due to start back on 10 February, but has now been delayed until 17 February. “It’s the ambiguity and lack of clarity that is frustrating for me, although I am of course sympathetic that it is a rapidly changing situation so certainties are hard to come by,” he said.

Updated

The spread of a new coronavirus could throw “cold water” on the 2020 Olympics, senior organisers have warned.

Toshiro Muto, the chief executive officer, sounded a grave note speaking at a meeting with officials of the International Paralympic Committee, according to a report by AP. “I am seriously worried that the spread of the infectious disease could throw cold water on the momentum toward the Games,” Muto said. “I hope that it will be stamped out as soon as possible.”

Saburo Kawabuchi, the mayor of the Athletes Village, where 11,000 Olympians will stay, was also apprehensive. “I truly hope that the infectious disease will die down somehow so that we will be able to operate the Paralympics and Olympics smoothly,” he said. “In the worst case we will do our utmost for the athletes so that they will be able to concentrate on performing their best.”

Updated

I want to hear your news, experiences and questions about the Coronavirus outbreak. You can email me at aamna.mohdin@theguardian.com, or reach me through my Twitter profile, @aamnamohdin

Good morning, this is Aamna Mohdin taking over the blog from Martin Farrer.

LG has become the first major technology company to pull out of the Mobile World Congress (MWC) due to take place in Barcelona over concerns about the coronavirus outbreak.

PA Media reports that the Korean firm would not be attending the technology convention, one of the largest events in the industry calendar, to announce its latest gadgets. The company will instead hold separate events in the near future.

A number of other technology companies, including Sony, Samsung, Huawei and Microsoft are still due to appear at MWC.

LG said in a statement:

LG Electronics is closely monitoring the situation related to the novel coronavirus outbreak, which was recently declared a global emergency by the World Health Organization, as the virus continues to spread outside China.

With the safety of its employees, partners and customers foremost in mind, LG has decided to withdraw from exhibiting and participating in MWC 2020 later this month in Barcelona, Spain.

This decision removes the risk of exposing hundreds of LG employees to international travel, which has already become more restrictive as the virus continues to spread across borders.

In lieu of its participation in MWC, LG will be holding separate events in the near future to announce its 2020 mobile products.

LG Electronics thanks its supporters and the public for their understanding during these difficult and challenging times.”

Updated

Summary

That’s about it from me for today. I’m handing our rolling coverage to my colleague Aamna Mohdin. Thanks for joining me. Here are the main points from today so far:

  • The death toll from novel coronavirus has climbed to 490 in mainland China. There remains one additional fatality in Hong Kong and one in the Philippines.
  • There are now 24,505 confirmed cases around the world, 24,292 being in mainland China.
  • Thousands of crew and passengers onboard a cruise ship in Japan are being held in quarantine for at least two weeks after 10 people tested positive for the virus. Hundreds more people have been tested and results are awaited.
  • A British passenger, David Abel, said the Diamond Princess was like a “ghost town”.
  • Passengers and crew on another cruise ship, the World Dream, are also being quarantined in Hong Kong after 30 crew members showed symptoms of coronavirus, including fever.
  • Britain is sending a final evacuation plane to Wuhan this weekend where it is understood that about 165 Britons remain. Japan is sending a fourth plane.
  • A plane carrying New Zealanders, Australians, Britons and people from several Pacific nations has landed in Auckland from Wuhan. They will be quarantined for two weeks.
  • The economic impact on China is mounting as more cities went into lockdown. Oxford Economics say two percentage points could be knocked off the country’s growth this quarter.
  • United and American Airlines have suspended flights in and out of Hong Kong.
  • The World Health Organization says there is a “window of opportunity” to halt the spread of the disease.
  • Financial markets in Asia have rallied again on Wednesday as investors continued to believe that the economic impact of the crisis will be limited.

Updated

Chinese economy faces growing threat

Economists have warned that the Chinese economy faces a severe hit in the first quarter of the year as huge parts of its manufacturing and service industries remain shut down.

“The inopportune timing of the outbreak around Chinese New Year, a time of increased transport and economic connectivity... as well as the lockdown of affected regions all add to the equation,” Louis Kuijs of Oxford Economics told AFP.

Oxford Economics believes the virus could knock at least two percentage points off China’s growth in the first quarter before it bounces back in April-June. It cut its full-year outlook to an expansion of 5.4%, which is well down from its previous estimate of 6%.

AFP says that 56 million people in Hubei province alone are in lockdown as the government tries to stop the spread of the disease. The annual new year holiday was due to end last weekend but has been extended for many factories until 10 February to limit contagion.

Hangzhou near Shanghai has imposed severe restrictions on residents. Some three million people in the city, the home of Alibaba, one of China’s biggest companies, have been told only one person per household will be allowed outside every two days to buy necessities.

At least three other cities in eastern Zhejiang province - Taizhou, Wenzhou and parts of Ningbo - have imposed the same measures, affecting some 18 million people, AFP says.

Dongfeng Motor Corporation, which is based in Wuhan and is one of China’s biggest carmakers, said its factories remained shut and would only reopen dependin “on the prevention and control of the epidemic”.

The team at Capital Economics said there was very little data coming out of China to make a proper judgment but they said that the number of confirmed cases within China has continued to rise and is now almost four times the number recorded in the Sars outbreak in 2003.

Capital said:

If the disruption fades soon, there is still a chance that employment and incomes will be relatively unaffected. In this case, consumer spending may simply be deferred temporarily, resulting in a strong rebound in domestic demand later this year, as happened with SARS. But the longer the outbreak drags on, the greater the risk of a hit to employment and a more permanent loss of output.

Updated

A third case has been confirmed in the Philippines. The WHO says a 60-year-old Chinese woman has coronavirus.

And in another development, Uzbekistan is evacuating 84 people from Wuhan, according to Uzbekistan Airways. The central Asian nation joins a host of other countries to send planes to rescue its citizens.

Reuters has reported some fascinating detail about an international business meeting held in Singapore in Janaury that reveals something about the way in which the virus has spread around the world.

Officials in Malaysia said on Tuesday that its first citizen to be infected with the virus - a 41-year-old man - had attended the meeting that had also included several international delegations, some from China, Reuters says.

On Wednesday officials in South Korea said a 38-year-old Korean who came into contact with the Malaysian when he travelled to Singapore for a conference has also been infected.

The South Korean man had a meal with the Malaysian man, as well as several other South Koreans during the conference, South Korea’s Joongang Ilbo newspaper reported.

Singapore’s health ministry said on Tuesday that the meeting involving the Malaysian took place at the Grand Hyatt Hotel, adding the city-state was working to identify individuals in close contact with the cases.

Peter Beaumont, a senior reporter on the our global development desk, has been looking at whether it’s fair to criticise the World Health Organization for its handling of the crisis.

Critics have said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has been guilty of doing China’s bidding by not declaring the virus a world health emergency quickly enough. A smiling Ghebreyesus has been pictured in Beijing with Chinese president Xi Jinping leading to accusations that Beijing was not being pushed hard enough to come clean about the extent of the contagion. Beijing is a large donor to the WHO.

But Beaumont argues that it is still difficult for the WHO to push its diplomacy with China too hard for fear of being shut out. He quotes one source as saying:

“China was very quick to let the WHO know what was happening on 31 December. The organisation’s goal was to get as much information about what was happening in China to inform what the rest of the world would need to do.”

Read his whole piece here:

A new documentary Netflix series called Pandemic has been released with horribly appropriate timing.

It explores what can be done to tackle the spread of diseases such as Sars and swine flu. Our feature writer, Brigid Delaney, says it “moved her to tears”.

Hong Kong health officials say 90% of passengers on the ship are Hong Kongers and that none have had contact with three mainland Chinese who developed symptoms of the virus while on board between 19 and 24 January.

Three passengers developed the virus after leaving Guangzhou on the ship on 19 January, Genting Cruise Lines, which owns the operator Dream Cruises, said. They disembarked in Vietnam for treatment and the ship returned to Guangzhou on 24 January.

The South China Morning Post and the Chinese website TenCent reports that authorities in Zhaoqing, a city in northern Guangdong, said a person who was on that cruise was diagnosed with coronavirus on Saturday.

Health officials in Zhaoqing said another 41 people on the cruise should quarantine themselves at home or get in touch with dooctors if they develop a fever.

They added that there were 108 people from Hubei on the cruise, including 28 from Wuhan.

30 crew on Hong Kong cruise ship have coronavirus symptoms – Reuters

Hong Kong’s health department says 30 crew on the World Dream cruise ship docked in Hong Kong have symptoms of the coronavirus.

It added that department staff are conducting tests on 1,800 crew and passengers on board the ship.

It was refused a berth in port in Taiwan on Tuesday and returned to Hong Kong.

Medical workers in Hong Kong have begun a third day of strike action over concerns that the city’s government is not doing enough to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

Hong Kong recorded its first death from the outbreak on Tuesday and has 18 confirmed cases, bringing more calls for the authorities to seal the last remaining routes in and out to the mainland.

“As the disease is spreading rapidly in our community, and locally infected cases are steadily increasing, we are dangerously close to a massive community outbreak comparable to Sars,” a newly formed union called the Hospital Authority Employees Alliance (HAEA) said in a statement.

On Wednesday, dozens of medical representatives including the chairwoman of HAEA, Winnie Yu, marched to government headquarters to press their demands for the border to be sealed.

Carrie Lam, the city’s chief executive, has kept open three routes to China, arguing that to close them would be “inappropriate, impractical and discriminatory”.

Updated

The UK’s Press Association agency has spoken to a British man in Wuhan who fears he contracted the virus at the end of November but is not sure how he will get out of the city.

So news of another evacuation flight may give hope to Jamie Morris, a 23-year-old teacher from New Tredegar in South Wales.

He said he had not been able to make the recent flights back to the UK because his passport had been given to the Chinese government to extend his residency permit.

He said the Foreign Office’s crisis team in London had told him “to be patient and they will be in touch if anything changes”.

Japan to send fourth plane to Wuhan

The Japanese foreign minister, Toshimitsu Motegi, said on Wednesday that Japan would send a fourth chartered flight to Wuhan tomorrow to bring back about 200 passengers.

The passengers could include Japanese nationals as well as their Chinese spouses, Motegi told reporters.

Japan has already sent three planes to Wuhan to evacuate hundreds of its citizens.

Reuters reports that a Canadian man on a flight from Toronto to Jamaica falsely announced to passengers that he had the coronavirus, forcing the plane to return to the airport where he was arrested.

The incident occurred on Monday during a WestJet Airlines flight from Toronto to Montego Bay. The Boeing 767 was carrying 243 passengers.

“A male was causing a disturbance on the flight, saying he had been to China and had the coronavirus,” said Sarah Patten, a spokeswoman for police in the town of Peel, close to Toronto’s Pearson international airport.

After the plane landed, the 29-year-old man was checked by medical staff who concluded he did not have the coronavirus. He was arrested, charged with mischief and will appear in court on 9 March.

Julie-Anne Broderick, a passenger on the plane, said she saw the man taking a selfie and announcing he had the virus.

“The flight attendants came, gave him a mask and gloves and just told him that he had to move to the back of the plane,” she told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.

The captain then told passengers he thought the incident was a hoax but had to return to Toronto, she added.

Britain to send final evacuation plane to Wuhan

The UK government is chartering a final flight to bring British nationals back from Wuhan.

After Britons in mainland China were controversially urged to leave the country, the Foreign Office said the plane was expected to leave in the early hours of Sunday morning local time and will land at RAF Brize Norton.

It added that the government wanted to ensure that all British nationals in Hubei province contact the Foreign Office to register if they want to leave on the flight.

According to the Press Assocation new agency, 165 Britons and their dependants remain in Hubei province, the epicentre of the outbreak, while 108 people have requested assistance to leave as of the early hours of Wednesday.

A total of 94 UK nationals and family members have already been evacuated to Britain from Wuhan on two flights which arrived on Friday and Sunday.

One passenger was taken to hospital in Oxford after telling medics he had a cough and a cold, while the rest of those who came back are in quarantine at Arrowe Park Hospital on the Wirral.

Passengers on another cruise ship are being tested for the virus.

World Dream, which is run by Dream Cruises, was denied entry to the southern Taiwan port of Kaohsiung aon Tuesday and docked in Hong Kong on Wednesday. All passengers and crew are undergoing health checks, Cable TV reported, according to Reuters.

The ship visited Taiwan’s northern Keelung port on Monday, Taiwan’s health authorities said, and some passengers were allowed to disembark.

Updated

Summary

  • The death toll from novel coronavirus has climbed to 490 in mainland China, with one additional fatality in Hong Kong and one in the Philippines.
  • There are now 24,505 confirmed cases around the world, 24,292 being in mainland China.
  • Ten people on board a cruise ship anchored off Yokohama in Japan have tested positive for the virus. In total, 273 people of the 3,700 on board the Diamond Princess have been tested, with only 31 results in so far.
  • The infected people have been taken to hospitals onshore for treatment. The ship and all those on board is being quarantined for at least 14 days.
  • Read our full story on the stricken vessel here.
  • United and American Airlines have suspended flights in and out of Hong Kong.
  • Nearly 200 people – mostly New Zealanders and Australians – are on their way to Auckland on a specially chartered plane from Wuhan.
  • The World Health Organization says there is a “window of opportunity” to halt the spread of the disease.
  • Financial markets in Asia have rallied again on Wednesday as investors continued to believe that the economic impact of the crisis will be limited.

Updated

The Chinese government continues to try to put a positive spin on the crisis that has seen millions of people forced to stay in their homes.

The state news agency Xinhua tweeted some suggestions today about how families can amuse themselves in the confines of their homes.

My colleague Alison Rourke detailed some of the other positive message put out by Beijing here:

Confirmed cases passes 24,000

The number of cases of novel coronavirus around the world has reached 24,505, according to the Johns Hopkins University tracker site. The vast majority – 24,292 – are in mainland China with 213 around the world.

(Those figures from the university don’t include the 10 on the Diamond Princess in Japan.)

The Carnival statement said the infected people will be taken ashore to Yokohama by the Japanese coastguard and taken to local hospitals. The ship will remain under quarantine off Yokohama for at least 14 days, as required by the ministry of health.

The statement also said:

  • The ship will go out to sea “to perform normal marine operations” such as the production of fresh water and ballast operations before picking up food, provisions and other supplies from Yokohama.
  • Passengers will receive free internet and telephone to stay in contact with their family and loved ones.
  • The crew is working to keep all guests comfortable.
  • Princess Cruises – part of the UK-listed Carnival – “will continue to fully cooperate with and follow the instructions of global medical authorities and the Japanese government”.
  • Carnival has cancelled the next two Diamond Princess cruises departing Yokohama (yesterday and 12 February).
  • There are 2,666 guests and 1,045 crew currently onboard. Approximately half the guestsare from Japan.

Two Australians among 10 infected on cruise ship

Two Australians are among the 10 people who have tested positive for coronavirus on the Diamond Princess cruise ship, the cruise company Carnival have confirmed.

The other people infected are three Japanese, three from Hong Kong, one American and one Filipino crewmember.

Stricken cruise ship 'like a ghost town'

Justin McCurry has been finding out more information about the Diamond Princess cruise ship, which is being quarantined off the coast of Yokohama in Japan after an outbreak of coronavirus on board.

Ten people have tested positive for the virus out of 31 results that have come back so far from 273 tests.

David Abel, a British passenger who is on board the ship with his wife Sally, described the situation on his Facebook page.

We are now officially in quarantine. It appears that our quarantine is on board the ship, that we will not be taken off to a hospital. The 10 people that are affected, they are being taken off very soon by the local coastguard into a medical facility. We are to remain on board the ship and we are confined to our cabins.

The ship is like a ghost town, it’s really weird. I went for a walk around a part of the ship that is normally really busy – the musicians were still out playing, but where there normally would have been crowds of people, I saw maybe 20. Even the shopping areas where it would be packed are empty.

We’ll have a full report soon.

In Wuhan, the epicentre of the virus, the authorities are converting an additional eight buildings, including gymnasiums, exhibition centres and sports centres, into hospitals, the official Xinhua news agency has reported.

That’s on top of three conversions already announced. Together the process will add an extra 10,000 beds to the city’s hospital capacity. There have been 8,351 confirmed cases in the city, according to the Chinese news website TenCent.

A new hospital in Wuhan with 1,000 beds opened to patients on Monday. And here’s a timelapse video of how that first emergency hospital was built in a matter of days.

There’s also another 1,600-bed hospital being built.

The economic impact of the outbreak appears to be building. We’ve already heard about a widening lockdown in China, with Hangzhou being the latest city to restrict movement. That kind of measure will inevitably hurt the economy but foreign companies are also feeling the impact and deepening the effects by suspending operations in China and Asia generally.

The latest companies to warn about the impact, or to flag closure of some operations include:

  • American Airlines and United Airlines are suspending all flights to and from Hong Kong.
  • Cathay Pacific Airways which said on Tuesday that it will cut around 30% of its capacity over the next two months.
  • The carmaker Hyundai is suspending production in South Korea because of disruption to the supply of parts.
  • Nike, which has closed around half its stores in China, says its operations will continue to be hurt by the lockdown seen across China.

Nevertheless, the financial markets appear fairly sanguine about it all. All the major stock markets are up quite a bit today. The ASX200 in Sydney is up 0.43%, the Nikkei is up 1%, Seoul is up 0.74%, Hong Kong is up 0.87 and Shanghai is 1.11% to the good.

Oil also shook off its problems. Brent crude oil futures rose US44c, or 0.8%, to $54.40 a barrel on the prospect of production cuts by Opec this month.

WHO hails 'window of opportunity'

The World Health Organization says there is a “window of opportunity” to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

The WHO has declared the outbreak a global health emergency but it said on Tuesday night that the lockdown put in place by the Chinese government to limit the spread from the epicentre of Wuhan offered a chance to halt transmission.

WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Tuesday:

While 99% of cases are in China, in the rest of the world we only have 176 cases. That doesn’t mean that it won’t get worse. But for sure we have a window of opportunity to act”

More on the Japanese cruise ship from our correspondent in Tokyo, Justin McCurry.

Tests for the virus have been carried out on 273 of the 3,700 passengers and crew on board the Diamond Princess after an 80-year-old man who had been on the ship last month tested positive when he arrived home in Hong Kong.

Justin writes:

Japan’s health minister, Katsunobu Kato, said only passengers and crew who had been in close contact with the infected man or were feeling unwell had been tested. Of the 273 people tested, 31 results had come back – and of those 10 had tested positive, Kato said. The 10 infected passengers, who include three Japanese nationals, are being transferred to a hospital.

It was immediately not clear if health authorities planned to test other passengers. Kato said the remaining passengers and crew would be required to stay on the vessel for 14 days – the maximum incubation period of the respiratory illness.

Carnival Japan, the local unit of the British-American cruise operator, said on Tuesday the turnaround of the ship had been delayed by about 24 hours. It was not immediately available for comment on Wednesday.

The 10 new cases bring the total number of confirmed infections in Japan to 33.

American and United airlines suspend Hong Kong flights

The suspension of flights by airlines into China has now spread to Hong Kong.

The two biggest carriers in the United States, American Airlines and United Airlines, said late on Tuesday US time that they won’t fly in or out of the territory for two weeks.

An American Airlines spokeswoman said its suspension of its Hong Kong flights to and from Los Angeles and Dallas had begun on Tuesday and would continue until 20 February.

United Airlines said falling demand meant it was suspending its flights, also until 20 February. The carrier’s last US flight to Hong Kong will depart San Francisco on Wednesday and the last return flight to San Francisco from Hong Kong will depart on Friday.

The US government has already placed severe restrictions on travel from China into the US. Last week American Airlines suspended its flights to and from mainland China until 27 March. United has now suspended US-bound flights from mainland until 28 March.

Ten test positive on cruise ship in Japan

Ten people onboard a cruise ship docked off the port of Yokohama have tested positive for coronavirus, the Japanese health minister said on Wednesday morning.

Hundreds more of the 3,700 passengers and crew on the Diamind Princess ship have been tested and are awaiting results.

So far 273 people have been tested and 31 results have come back.

The ship is run by the UK-listed Carnival cruise company. It said on Tuesday night that the departure of the ship had been delayed by 24 hours.

The health checks began on Monday evening after an 80-year-old Hong Kong man who sailed on the vessel last month tested positive for the Wuhan coronavirus, Reuters said.

Updated

Back to the Air New Zealand flight that left Wuhan on Wednesday morning. Radio New Zealand is reporting that one person was stopped from boarding the plane because they were found to be unwell after the screening process for passengers.

RNZ reports that New Zealand’s foreign ministry said about 60 people who registered for the flight did not turn up at the airport.

This is the full list of nationalities on the plane:

  • 54 New Zealand citizens and 44 New Zealand permanent residents on Chinese passports
  • 23 Australian Citizens and 12 Australian permanent residents on Chinese passports
  • 17 Timor Leste
  • 17 Papua New Guinea
  • 8 Britain
  • 5 Samoa
  • 4 Tonga
  • 2 Fiji
  • 1 Kiribati
  • 1 Federated States of Micronesia
  • 1 Uzbekistan
  • 1 Netherlands

17,000km journey for Australian evacuees

Our reporter Ben Doherty is on Christmas Island where Australian evacuees are being taken for quarantining. There are 35 Australians on board an Air New Zealand plane that left Wuhan for Auckland on Wednesday morning local time, along with 100 New Zealnders, some Britons and also people from several Pacific nations.

The Australians will then be flown from Auckland to Christmas Island, which is on the other side of Australia in the Indian Ocean, making for a journey of 17,000km.

Ben has sent this report on the extraordinarily roundabout route the Australians are being forced to take and it includes this excellent map.

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It’s worth noting that the number of deaths in China rose by 65 from 425 on Tuesday to 490 today. That’s an increase of 15.3% compared with a percentage increase of 18% the day before. So perhaps there are signs that the rate of fatalities is slowing. The number was closer to 30% on some days last week.

Updated

Death rate in mainland China is 2.07%

The latest figures show that 490 people have died in mainland China from the virus. According to the very reliable Johns Hopkins University tracker, there are now 23,680 confirmed cases in the mainland meaning the mortality rate from the virus is 2.07% nationally.

Of the deaths, 479 have now occurred in Hubei province where the capital, Wuhan, is the eipicentre of the deadly outbreak. There have been 16,678 confirmed cases in the province making for a death rate of 2.87% in the province.

The next highest number of deaths is two in the provinces of Henan, Chongqing and Heliongjiang, showing how concentrated the outbreak has been.

Updated

Welcome to our rolling coverage of the coronavirus outbreak. I’m Martin Farrer and I’ll start by outlining the main developments today:

  • The death toll in the Chinese province of Hubei has risen to 479 as of the end of Tuesday local time. There have been 3,156 new cases reported in the epicentre making 16,678 in the province. The mainland China total is now 490 deaths, with 23,680 recorded cases.
  • There has also been one death in Hong Kong and another in the Philippines, bringing the global total to 492.
  • Almost a dozen people on a cruise liner at the Japanese port of Yokohama have tested positive for coronavirus, Reuters is reporting.
  • All British nationals have been advised to leave China in a move criticised as leaving people to fend for themselves.
  • An eight-year-old boy has become Australia’s 13th confirmed case. He is isolation in a hospital in Queensland.
  • An Air New Zealand evacuation has left Wuhan carrying 193 passengers, including 100 New Zealanders, 23 Australians and 70 people from Pacific countries such as Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Kiribati, Tonga, Fiji and the Federated States of Micronesia.
  • Hyundai is suspending production in South Korea because the outbreak has disrupted the supply of parts from China.
  • Nike became the latest multinational company to warns that it expects its business to be damaged by the outbreak.
  • Global financial markets rallied for the second day in a row on Tuesday as invesorts shrugged off concerns that the virus could damage the world economy.

BeforeI bring you more details on all these developments, here is a roundup some of the precautions being taken by countries around the world:

Updated

 

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