Citizens post video appealing for evacuation from city at centre of coronavirus outbreak
Brazilian citizens trapped in Wuhan, the Chinese city at the centre of the coronavirus outbreak, have issued an urgent plea to their president, Jair Bolsonaro, for them to be evacuated.
In a six-minute YouTube video the Brazilians noted how other countries – including the US, the UK, France, Japan and Italy – had already taken steps to rescue their citizens from the city.
Continue reading...Man from Wuhan has died in a Philippines hospital, says WHO, as Xi Jinping orders 1,400 more medical workers into Wuhan
The Philippines has reported the first death from the coronavirus outside China, adding to fears about the spread of the virus as more countries imposed travel restrictions.
The outbreak of the respiratory illness has killed 304 people in China since it was first detected in the central city of Wuhan late last year. Across China, there were 2,590 new confirmed infections on Saturday, bringing the total to 14,380, China’s National Health Commission said on Sunday. A study published on Saturday by scientists from the University of Hong Kong found that the virus may have infected as many as 75,815 people in Wuhan.
Continue reading...Local and central government officials face growing wave of anger over handling of coronavirus outbreak
Footage of government officials in Wuhan appearing to take face masks intended for health workers battling the highly infectious coronavirus has fuelled a growing wave of anger over how Chinese authorities have handled the outbreak.
Images of medical staff making protective equipment out of rubbish bags, sleeping in hospitals, and crying in frustration and exhaustion have dominated Chinese social media over the last two weeks, inspiring an outpouring of sympathy and donations of supplies.
Continue reading...The WHO has praised country’s response, but heavy-handed approach could make things worse
When the World Health Organization declared the 2019nCoV coronavirus outbreak a global health emergency, it effusively praised China’s response to the outbreak. The WHO issued a statement welcoming the government’s “commitment to transparency”, and the WHO director general, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, tweeted: “China is actually setting a new standard for outbreak response.”
The WHO is ignoring Chinese government suppression of human rights regarding the outbreak, including severe restrictions on freedom of expression. In turn, Chinese state media are citing the WHO to defend its policies and try to silence criticism of its response to the outbreak, which has included rights violations that could make the situation worse.
Continue reading...The UK foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, has confirmed 11 British nationals will be flown back from the Chinese city at the centre of the coronavirus outbreak on Sunday on a French-chartered plane after they missed a UK evacuation flight on Friday. Speaking on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show, Raab said the government was doing everything in its power to help Britons who wished to leave but that the process posed serious challenges. The UK government had been expecting 200 people would be on Friday’s chartered flight, but when it left Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province, only 83 Britons were onboard.
A 44-year-old man from Wuhan travelled with a 38-year-old woman through Hong Kong and three provinces before his death
Officials in the Philippines are racing to identify people who had contact with a 44-year-old man who has become the first person to die from the new coronavirus outside China.
The man, who was from Wuhan, the centre of the outbreak in China, had visited three provinces after arriving in the Philippines from Hong Kong.
Continue reading...Last week, in the last few days of China’s lunar new year holiday, the streets of Beijing were decorated with fairy lights and glowing red lanterns, but eerily empty. Normally busy restaurant and bar strips were dark. Residential compounds, often lax in their security, closed their gates, with guards ordering anyone entering to register and have their temperature taken. Public buses carried only a few passengers. Those restaurants that were open were mostly empty, with only small groups of diners. At Beijing Capital airport, staff, including some health workers in full hazmat suits, outnumbered passengers.
“It’s weird,” said Li, 42, a teacher from Beijing who has remained in the city since the outbreak of the coronavirus. “This isn’t Beijing. Beijing always has a lot of people. Right now the roads, restaurants and malls are all empty.” She spends her days at home cooking and eating, occasionally going to the shop for supplies.
Continue reading...Death toll rises, with almost 12,000 confirmed cases of infection in China. Follow the latest developments
Public Health England said the University of York student did not come in contact with anyone on campus whilst having the coronavirus symptoms, Sky News is reporting.
Vietnam has declared a public health emergency over the coronavirus epidemic and said it would stop all flights to and from China.
The government said it would also stop issuing visas for foreign visitors who had been in China in the past two weeks.
Continue reading...US officials have declared a public health emergency over the coronavirus outbreak. Foreign nationals who have travelled to China will be barred from entering the country from Sunday. Alex Azar, the health and human services secretary, said US citizens who had travelled to China’s Hubei province in the last fortnight would be subject to a mandatory 14-day quarantine on their return
Continue reading...Cases also reported in Russia, as US advises against travel to China. Follow live updates and latest news
There is a press briefing going on at White House with members of the US taskforce. You can watch it here:
Six buses were led by a police escort to the rear of the hospital and on to a side road leading to the accommodation block, PA media reports.
A medic wearing a white specialist suit was sat next to the coach driver of each vehicle.
Continue reading...Suspected infection of taxi driver by traveller raises fears virus could reach tourist areas
Thailand has recorded its first human-to-human transmission of the coronavirus after a taxi driver was apparently infected by a traveller, heightening concern over the virus’s potential to spread across the globe.
The taxi driver was among five new patients confirmed on Friday in the worst-hit country outside China, bringing the total number of cases in Thailand to 19.
Continue reading...Authoritarian bureaucracy has allowed dramatic response but also let virus fester
When Wuhan’s mayor took to live national television to discuss the rapidly escalating outbreak of coronavirus in his city, he came primed for a rare – and very prolonged – display of self criticism.
Over nearly an hour Zhou Xianwang said his work “wasn’t performed well enough”, that the city government had failed to provide timely information or act on what it knew, and offered his own resignation, although it is yet to be accepted.
Continue reading...Flight carrying 83 British people and 27 foreign nationals will land in the UK on Friday as US tells citizens ‘don’t go to China’
A plane carrying more than 100 British and other EU nationals trapped in Wuhan, the city at the centre of the coronavirus outbreak, has left for the UK after Chinese spouses and partners were given permission to travel.
The chartered flight left Wuhan at 9:45am local time on Friday, the Foreign Office said in a statement. The plane was carrying 83 British people and 27 foreign nationals, and was scheduled to land at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire at 1 pm UK time.
Continue reading...New aerial footages captures the construction progress of two new hospitals in the Chinese city of Wuhan. The first hospital is expected to be completed in 10 days as the country races to contain the spread of coronavirus.
For Hong Kong people, the memories of the Sars outbreak are still fresh. In 2003 there were 1,755 Sars cases and 299 deaths (according to the World Health Organisation). With the threat of the coronavirus outbreak declared a global emergency, Hongkongers are taking all precautions. Most people are wearing masks, others goggles or double masks. Airports and the subways are screening passengers for high temperatures. People are buying masks, hand sanitiser and even food in bulk
Continue reading...Several incidents of xenophobia reported, along with long queues to buy face masks
Chinese people in Italy have been the target of racist abuse as paranoia mounts over the spread of the deadly coronavirus.
A number of people in the country have been tested for the virus in recent days and the results have so far been negative. Tests were carried out on Thursday on two passengers onboard a cruise ship in the port city of Civitavecchia.
Continue reading...Exclusive video: late U-turn from Chinese authorities meant that Matt Raw and his 75-year-old mother Hazel were given permission to fly along with Raw’s wife Ying, who holds a Chinese passport. Previously, restrictions imposed by China meant those with Chinese passports were not permitted to leave the country, and China does not recognise dual nationality.
Continue reading...A Briton living in Wuhan with his mother and Chinese wife has deplored the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's handling of the coronavirus outbreak as 'abominable'. Matt Raw has said the whole family was staying in Wuhan because his wife has been prevented from flying by the Chinese government, and that the level of communication from the FCO has been 'terrible'. An FCO spokesperson said: 'The safety of British nationals is our top priority and we have been in close contact with British nationals and their family members who might need help. Our priority is to keep British nationals and their family members together and have urgently raised this with the Chinese authorities.'
More than 9,320 people infected globally, as WHO director says decision comes amid concern for countries with weaker health systems
Press Association is reporting that Virgin Atlantic has suspended its flights between Britain and China due to fears about the spread of the coronavirus.
The airline said in a statement it would suspend its daily operations between the UK and Shanghai for two weeks from Saturday, PA said.
We are now hearing from the premier of the state of Queensland, Annastacia Palaszczuk, who is calling for national co-ordination of the response to the virus. Australia is a federal system made up of states and territories and so far each state seems to have had a slightly different response to the virus.
“There is no reason why the Federal government can’t be on a phone hook-up today or over this weekend, talking to all of the (state) Premiers giving them the most up to date information. This is a serious national issue,” Palaszczuk said.
Continue reading...About 200 UK nationals will be barred from boarding plane from China if they do not agree
Hundreds of British nationals brought home from China because of the coronavirus outbreak are expected to be quarantined at a secure NHS facility for a fortnight, it has emerged.
As the last British Airways flights from Beijing and Shanghai returned to the UK after the airline suspended operations in China, about 200 Britons in the vicinity of Wuhan were preparing to leave on an emergency chartered plane.
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