Category Archives: China

Coronavirus crisis: Raab urges Britons to leave China

Posted on by

UK citizens should leave ‘if they can’ to reduce risk of exposure to virus, says foreign secretary

All 30,000 British nationals in China have been urged to leave the country “if they can” because of the coronavirus outbreak, in a surprise move that prompted criticism that the UK government has left its citizens to fend for themselves.

In a further sign of mounting international concern about the spread of the coronavirus, the Foreign Office also recommended a ban on Britons travelling to China.

Continue reading...

Coronavirus: first Hong Kong death reported as China cases pass 20,000 – live updates

Posted on by

Thirty-nine-year-old man in Hong Kong believed to have had underlying condition. Death is only second outside mainland China

From gassy passengers to viral anthems: how Beijing is seeking to lighten the mood amid the coronavirus crisis. This includes state media striking an upbeat or humorous tone, in line with President Xi Jinping’s call for “public opinion guidance”. Read the full story below:

Related: From gassy passengers to viral anthems: Beijing seeks to lighten mood amid crisis

Reports that a South Korean person has tested positive for coronavirus following a visit to Thailand are likely to cause great concern to Thai officials. The outbreak has already dealt a massive blow to Thailand’s tourism industry, which relies upon Chinese visitors.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand said it expects 2 million fewer Chinese tourists this year than last year, when 11 million visited.

Continue reading...

Coronavirus: Hong Kong reports first death as China’s leadership admits ‘shortcomings’

Posted on by

Carrie Lam says measures would be taken ‘to reduce people movement across the border’ as death toll grows

Hong Kong has reported its first death from the coronavirus as the number of fatalities from the outbreak in China passed 420.

A 39-year-old man with an underlying health condition died on Tuesday morning, according to public broadcaster RTHK.

Continue reading...

Daily life in Wuhan during the coronavirus lockdown – in pictures

Posted on by

The Chinese city of 11 million resembles a ghost town, with empty streets and biosecurity checkpoints – though a new hospital was built in days. The number of people who have died from the Wuhan coronavirus, known as 2019-nCoV, in China has climbed to 425, while more than 20,000 people there have been infected. Cases have been reported in other countries, including the US, Canada, Australia, Japan, South Korea, India, the UK, Germany and France

• Coronavirus live updates: China admits ‘shortcomings’ as death toll passes 420 – latest news

Continue reading...

Coronavirus: China issues ‘urgent’ appeal for protective equipment – live news

Posted on by

Follow the latest developments as dozens more die in the province at the centre of the outbreak

Sixty Italians evacuated from Wuhan arrived at a military base near Rome on Monday.

A passenger who was expected to be on board the flight remained in Wuhan after coming down with a fever, Italian media reported. The group will be quarantined for up to two weeks.

As researchers are racing to develop a vaccine for the Wuhan coronavirus, the British drugmaker GSK has teamed up with the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) to aid efforts to produce a vaccine.

GSK, one of the world’s biggest vaccine makers, says it will make its “adjuvant platform technology” available. An adjuvant is added to some vaccines to improve the immune response and means the amount of antigen required per dose can be reduced – allowing more vaccine doses to be produced and made available to more people, which is crucial in a pandemic.

Gaining access to GSK’s world-leading adjuvant technology is a huge step forward in developing a vaccine against the novel coronavirus 2019-nCoV. Coupling GSK’s adjuvant systems with the pioneering platform technology we are funding has the potential to make more vaccine available more rapidly – by decreasing the dose of vaccine antigen required to protect each individual.”

Related: Researchers make strides in race to create coronavirus vaccine

Continue reading...

Brazilians stranded in Wuhan issue plea to Bolsonaro for rescue

Posted on by

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...

Coronavirus: first death outside China recorded as total fatalities pass 300

Posted on by

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...

Fury in China as footage appears to show officials taking doctors’ face masks

Posted on by

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...

China’s reaction to the coronavirus violates human rights | Frances Eve

Posted on by

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...

Coronavirus: Raab confirms 11 more UK nationals being flown back from Wuhan – video

Posted on by

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.

Continue reading...

Philippines races to trace those linked to first coronavirus death outside China

Posted on by

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...

Paranoia and frustration as China places itself under house arrest

Posted on by
Cities are becoming ghost towns, while at the heart of the outbreak people are being disinfected after taking the bins out

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...

Coronavirus: officials seek people with contact to UK cases as some airlines stop China flights – live news

Posted on by

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 declares coronavirus outbreak a public health emergency – video

Posted on by

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...

Coronavirus live updates: returning Britons arrive at Wirral for quarantine

Posted on by

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...

Coronavirus: first human transmission in Thailand as Russia and UK confirm cases

Posted on by

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...

Help or hindrance? How Chinese politics affected coronavirus response

Posted on by

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...

Coronavirus outbreak: Britons fly out of Wuhan as death toll passes 200

Posted on by

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...

Hongkongers take no chances with deadly coronavirus – in pictures

Posted on by

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...