Our live coverage of the coronavirus outbreak has moved here.
Fifty-nine Hong Kong police officers will be quarantined after a 40-year-old male officer tested positive for novel coronavirus on Thursday, according to a statement released by Hong Kong police.
“Police are highly concerned about the case and would fully co-operate with the Department of Health (DH) in tracing the pathology, by proactively providing information such as the duty record of the officer over the past 14 days,” the police statement read.
There are 34 people who have tested positive for coronavirus in the United States, according to an announcement Friday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
This includes 21 cases among repatriated individuals, as well as 13 US cases.
“We are keeping track of cases resulting from repatriation efforts separately because we don’t believe those numbers accurately represent the picture of what is happening in the community in the United States at this time,” Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, told reporters Friday.
About the cases: The 21 repatriated include 18 former passengers of the Diamond Princess cruise ship that docked in Japan, plus three who had been previously evacuated from China. There are 10 additional passengers among the Diamond Princess evacuees who tested positive for the virus in Japan, and who Messonnier said will likely be added to the official US count once the Japanese test results have been adjudicated.
The 13 US cases include seven in California, one in Massachusetts, one in Washington state, one in Arizona, two in Illinois and one in Wisconsin. Among these cases, there are two instances of person-to-person transmission, one in Illinois and one in California.
The 13th US case was confirmed overnight in Humboldt County, California. County officials offered few details but said a close contact with symptoms was also undergoing testing, and both are self-isolating at home.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will now track confirmed cases of novel coronavirus in the United States in two separate and distinct groups: those repatriated by the US Department of State and those identified by the US public health network.
What this means: By these new metrics, there are now 21 confirmed cases among repatriated Americans and 13 confirmed cases among Americans first identified on US soil, said Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Disease.
Eighteen cases have been confirmed among passengers from the Diamond Princess cruise ship now back in the United States. Three cases have been confirmed among passengers from the Wuhan repatriation flights now back in the United States.
Up until yesterday, the CDC was reporting 15 confirmed cases in the United States. The reason that number has dropped to 13 is because two cases have moved into the case count of repatriated individuals.
The change in the counting system starts today.
Today, 253 people who tested negative for coronavirus after 14 days of quarantine disembarked from Diamond Princess cruise ship, according to the press release from the Japanese Ministry of Health.
The disembarkation of passengers from the ship will continue at least through Saturday, a spokesperson for Princess Cruises told CNN.
Nine new cases of the novel coronavirus have been confirmed in Japan, bringing the countrywide total to 726, according to the press release by the Japan Ministry of Health.
The total number of confirmed cases from the Diamond Princess cruise ship stands at 639 and the number of land-based cases in Japan stands at 87.
China has changed how it counts coronavirus cases in Hubei province three times now — but a World Health Organization official told reporters during a media briefing on Friday that is normal during an active outbreak.
“It’s really numbers for action and not numbers for numbers,” she said. “As long as we understand how things are counted and what the numbers include then it helps us to make the best possible decision to protect the health of people.”
Last week, China announced it would count “clinically diagnosed” cases in its tally for Hubei province, the epicenter of the outbreak. Then yesterday, the government changed its approach and “clinically confirmed” were excluded from the tally of confirmed cases.
“China has revised their guidance on case classification for COVID-19, removing the classification of ‘clinically diagnosed’ previously used for Hubei province, and retaining only ‘suspected’ and ‘confirmed’ for all areas, the latter requiring laboratory confirmation,” WHO officials wrote in a situation report on Thursday. “Some previously reported ‘clinically diagnosed’ cases are thus expected to be discarded over the coming days as laboratory testing is conducted and some are found to be COVID-19-negative.”
There’s great concern about the spread of the novel coronavirus in countries outside China and among people with no connection to China or Wuhan, World Health Orginization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Friday.
There’s still a window of opportunity to contain the virus, Tedros said, “but the window of opportunity is narrowing.”
WHO is calling on countries to continue containment measures while preparing for community transmission, he said. He said China’s containment measures in Wuhan and elsewhere are “hammering” the virus and can help contain it.
The outbreak can still go any direction, Tedros said, and countries need to prepare for any eventuality.
Dr. Sylvie Briand, director of the World Health Organization’s Infectious Hazards Management Department, said the agency is working to prepare countries’ health care workers with training and making sure they know how to protect themselves, and to make sure countries have enough workers to handle a number of cases.
The World Health Organization-led joint mission working on coronavirus in China will travel tomorrow to Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said today during a press briefing. It’s up to the team what it wants to focus on there, Tedros said.
So far, the team has been working Beijing, Sichuan and Guangdong, he said.
Tedros said previously the team includes experts from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the US National Institutes of Health, as well as experts from Singapore, South Korea, Japan, Nigeria, Germany and Russia. The team includes experts in epidemiology, virology, clinical management, outbreak control and public health.
The novel coronavirus has spread to several Iranian cities, Minnou Mohraz, a member of the National Committee for Infectious Diseases at the Ministry of Health said today.
“The spread of the coronavirus started in Qom and has reached other cities in the country like Tehran, Babol, Arak, Isfahan, Rasht and other cities due to people traveling. There is a possibility that it exists in all cities across the country,” Mohraz said.
Mohraz said that the source of virus in Iran could be a Chinese worker who works in the city of Qom and had traveled to China. “It’s clear that new coronavirus has circulated in the country and probably the source of this illness was Chinese workers who work in the city of Qom and had traveled to China.”
Singapore reported one new case of the novel coronavirus today, taking the national total of confirmed cases to 86, according to a press release by the country’s Ministry of Health.
The new confirmed case is a 24 year-old Singapore national. He has no recent travel history. He was confirmed to have COVID-19 infection yesterday and is currently in isolation.
Top Trump economic adviser Larry Kudlow downplayed the prospect of a significant impact to the US economy from coronavirus today.
Asked by reporters about the potential impact of the coronavirus on the economy and whether he anticipates it being similar to the effect of SARS, Kudlow said, “I understand the risks, and I understand these things could change quickly, but right now what we know is there’s barely any impact here at home.”
Nissan factories in China’s Hubei province will not restart production until Monday at the earliest due to the novel coronavirus, a Nissan spokesperson told CNN.
The company is complying with Chinese government instructions and does not rule out that restart at the plants could be further delayed.
The World Health Organization said China is making “intensive efforts” to contain the novel coronavirus in response to an inquiry from CNN about conditions in a field hospital and reports that healthy people who had tested negative were being quarantined there.
The WHO stated that the Chinese government’s efforts were in response to an “unprecedented crisis.” They also credited the containment effort for keeping the number of cases outside of mainland China “relatively low”.
Some people quarantined in Wuhan field hospitals told CNN’s David Culver that they had previously tested negative for the virus and were afraid they would contract it inside the facility. Images from inside the hospitals show close living quarters.
Here’s the statement from the WHO:
“Our acknowledgement of China’s response is purely based on evidence; the fact that they shared the genome sequencing of the virus with WHO and the world in record time, thus preventing the virus from spreading to other countries; the fact that they have shared epidemiological data with WHO since the beginning of the outbreak and then regularly: the fact that they have willingly joined all WHO experts’ networks and are sharing their experience and knowledge regularly through these platforms; and the fact that they welcomed a WHO-led team of international experts to come to China and support local counterparts.
China is facing an unprecedented crisis and is responding in an unprecedented manner. We need to acknowledge that the relatively low number of cases of the virus detected outside of China is as a result of the intensive efforts the Chinese government is taking to contain the emergency and protect other countries.”
The University of Hong Kong’s LKS Faculty of Medicine has released a new image of the virus. In the micrograph, the orange dots are viral particles, and the blue is the surface of a cell.
Here’s what it looks like:
Lebanon announced its first confirmed coronavirus case in the country, Lebanese Health Minister Hammad Hassan said during a news conference today.
Hassan said that the patient is a 45-year-old female who returned yesterday from the city of Qom in Iran. There are two more suspected cases but they are yet to be confirmed as positive, Hassan added.
Hassan announced that all travelers returning from Iran will now be held under home quarantine for 14 days.
Earlier today, Iran announced there are a total of 18 coronavirus cases in the country. At least four people have died from the virus.
Israel’s Ministry of Health announced the first case of coronavirus in the country after a woman who was evacuated from the Diamond Princess in Japan was diagnosed with the disease, the Ministry said in a statement Friday morning.
The woman was one of eleven passengers aboard the Diamond Princess flown back to Israel from Japan. The ten other passengers tested negative for the virus.
All of the passengers are being held in isolation at Sheba Medical Center near Tel Aviv. They will remain in the hospital for 14 days.
Four other Israeli citizens who were on board the ship and have been diagnosed with coronavirus remain in Japan.
A second coronavirus patient has died in South Korea, according to South Korea’s Centers for Disease Control & Prevention
The victim was identified as a woman born in 1965. She was confirmed to have the virus Friday.
The first patient in South Korea to die from the novel coronavirus had a chronic lung disease and had been hospitalized for a long period of time, according to Jung Eun-Kyeong, the center’s.
CORRECTION: South Korea’s Centers for Disease Control & Prevention reported the death. A previous version of this post misattributed the source of this information.
Nissan has delayed the reopening of plants close to the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in China.
The Japanese carmaker said in a statement that it had been hoping to restart production at plants in Hubei and the neighboring province of Henan on February 24, but it would keep the factories closed for longer to comply with local government directives.
Nissan plants in Guangdong and Liaoning, which are located many hundreds of miles from the epicenter of the outbreak in Wuhan, have already reopened.
“We continue to prioritize the safety and well-being of our employees in China,” Nissan said in its statement.
There have been two more coronavirus deaths in Iran, and 13 new cases of the virus, according to the country’s health ministry.
Confirmed cases in Iran: There are now 18 confirmed cases of coronavirus in Iran, with four deaths.
Elections looming: These cases come as the country heads to the polls in parliamentary elections Friday. Some voters are wearing protective masks and several polling stations are not requiring fingerprinting in an effort to prevent the spread of the deadly virus.
South Korea’s military administration will temporarily suspend the examinations needed for conscription in the southern city of Daegu city and surrounding North Gyeongsang Province following a mass outbreak of novel coronavirus there.
The examinations will be suspended for two weeks from Friday, the administration said on Thursday.
It is also instructing people due for conscription in that region to apply for conscription postponement, and has adjusted schedules for recruitment interviews.
South Korea cases spike: The number of cases in South Korea has soared, from 28 a week ago to at least 204 as of Friday afternoon. The outbreak there is centered around Daegu.
Among the new cases, most are linked to the Shincheonji group. South Korean authorities Thursday were seeking to question more than 1,000 members of the religious group who attended a service with one of the recently confirmed cases.
Two patients who have been diagnosed with coronavirus have died in South Korea, according to the country’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC).
The first patient tested positive for the virus after their death, according to the KCDC on Thursday. On Friday, KCDC director Jung Eun-Kyeong said the victim had a chronic lung disease and had been hospitalized for a long period of time.
Jung also stated that the second patient, identified as a woman born in 1965, was confirmed to have the virus on Friday.
This post has been updated to more accurately reflect when coronavirus was detected in the first patient and added details of the second patient.
The government of Hubei province, the epicenter of the novel coronavirus outbreak, on Friday banned the practice of reducing the number of already confirmed cases.
It also mandated that all previously counted cases stand as part of the total confirmed tally.
Tu Yuanchao, deputy director of Hubei Health Committee, said at a press conference that all the cases that were confirmed but then retroactively dismissed because they no longer fitted reporting requirements would be added back to the total tally.
On Thursday – based on China’s National Health Commission’s narrowed criteria for confirmed tally to only include laboratory-confirmed cases – Hubei authorities said they’d no longer count so-called “clinically diagnosed patients,” who are people exhibiting symptoms without testing positive for the virus. This caused Hubei’s total confirmed cases to drop by 279 on Thursday alone.
North Korea has canceled its Pyongyang Marathon due to coronavirus fears, a Western tour company said on Friday.
“We will be in touch with our tourists who have booked with us on this event,” they added.
Weeks after the novel coronavirus crisis began in December, there is still widespread confusion over the exact number of cases reported in China and whether the epidemic is finally stabilizing at the outbreak’s epicenter of Hubei province.
On Thursday, China announced just 394 new confirmed cases, the lowest number of daily infections reported in weeks. But on Friday, the confirmed number of cases in mainland China increased to 889, according to the country’s National Health Commission.
This fluctuation could be partly down to a change this week in what is counted as a “confirmed case” in Hubei province, the epicenter of the global outbreak.
How has China changed its method? On Thursday the government guidelines changed and “Clinically confirmed” were excluded from the tally of confirmed cases.
Now patients must have a positive lab test result to be counted in the tally. Other cases will be listed as “suspected.”
Why has China done this? China cited improved testing capacity of the novel coronavirus as the reason for changing the way confirmed cases are counted in Hubei province, officials said Thursday.
Experts have different takes on the change: The World Health Organization has previously voiced support for the way China is counting coronavirus infections, and said Thursday it was encouraged by the drop in reported cases.
Some experts, however – including a former US Food and Drug Administration commissioner – have expressed skepticism over taking China’s figures at face value, given the government’s track record of suppressing information about this epidemic and previous ones.
But David Fisman, a professor of epidemiology at the University of Toronto, said the way that officials define cases of a virus often evolves as their understanding of the illness develops.
But Eric Feigl-Ding, an epidemiologist and visiting scientist at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, said to change track twice in one week was “very unusual.”
“It’s very confusing to see true trends and makes elucidating them complicated,” Feigl-Ding continued. “Did (the cases) really decrease or is it because you’ve been not reporting this the last few days?”
South Korea has put in place a range of new measures after a spike in coronavirus cases today, including designating “special care zones” and cancelling public events.
The number of cases in the country has soared, from 28 a week ago to at least 204 as of Friday afternoon. The outbreak there is centered around the southern city of Daegu.
Among the new cases, most are linked to the Shincheonji group. South Korean authorities Thursday were seeking to question more than 1,000 members of the religious group who attended a service with one of the recently confirmed cases.
The Seoul city government announced today that it will ban rallies and close down the services of the Shincheonji group as a measure to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus.
The group has four locations in Seoul.
Seoul mayor Park Won-soon said today in a news briefing that Seoul City will ban the use of Seoul plaza, Cheonggye plaza and Gwanghwamun plaza, “which have many gatherings of citizens.” He added that those who break the rules can be fined up to 3 million won (US$2,485).
“Special care zones”: South Korean officials today also designated two cities, Daegu and Cheongdo, as “special care zones” after Daegu reported more than 120 new cases in less than 24 hours.
Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyu said that both areas were “experiencing difficulties” due to a rapid rise in infections.
The government also plans to send military medical staff and prepare temporary isolation facilities for those in quarantine.
Hubei, the Chinese province at the center of the novel coronavirus outbreak, announced 631 new infections today, after authorities changed the definition of a “confirmed case.”
Only patients who have tested positive for the virus are now counted in the official figures, Chinese authorities said on Thursday.
The Hubei government updated the number of new infections twice today to include more than 200 cases from the province’s prisons. At least 500 people have been infected by the coronavirus in China’s prison system.
Cases increase: More than 1,100 new confirmed cases have been recorded in China, according to government figures. The total number of cases in mainland China is now more than 75,600, with the global total over 76,900.
Death toll rises: The number of people killed by the virus continues to rise, with 118 more deaths announced in mainland China today – 115 of them in Hubei. In total, the global death toll is now 2,247.
Prison outbreaks: 512 cases of the coronavirus were announced today from inside China’s prisons – 271 in Hubei , 207 in Shandong and 34 in Zhejiang.
It isn’t clear why these infections have been announced today, or whether there are more cases waiting to be disclosed in China’s other provinces.
South Korea cases spike: The number of cases in South Korea has soared, from 28 a week ago to at least 204 as of Friday afternoon. The outbreak there is centered around the southern city of Daegu.
Among the new cases, most are linked to the Shincheonji group. South Korean authorities Thursday were seeking to question more than 1,000 members of the religious group who attended a service with one of the recently confirmed cases.
Two patients who have been diagnosed with coronavirus have died in South Korea, according to the country’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC).
The first patient tested positive for the virus after their death, according to the KCDC on Thursday. On Friday, KCDC director Jung Eun-Kyeong said the victim had a chronic lung disease and had been hospitalized for a long period of time.
Jung also stated that the second patient, identified as a woman born in 1965, was confirmed to have the virus on Friday.
Seoul tries to control spread: The South Korean government announced today it has taken a range of measures in an attempt to stop the spread of the virus, including shutting down public places in the capital and designating “special care zones.”
After three cases were detected in the country’s armed forces, all South Korean military personnel have been restricted from leaving their bases and going on vacation.
Evacuees test positive: Several passengers from the Diamond Princess cruise ship who were evacuated by the United States and Australia have tested positive for the coronavirus, local health authorities say.
In the US, 11 out of 13 Diamond Princess evacuees who were taken to the University of Nebraska Medical Center for testing have been confirmed to be infected.
Two Australian evacuees who have been infected are being housed in a special isolation unit at the Howard Springs Quarantine Facility.
A further 13 cases were confirmed onboard the stricken ship today. In total, 639 cases of the virus have been linked to the vessel, including two deaths.
Passengers disembark: More passengers who have tested negative for the virus are leaving the Diamond Princess today, the third day of departures from the formerly quarantined ship.
Westerdam crew test negative: In a statement today, Westerdam operator Holland America Line announced all 747 crew had tested negative for the coronavirus. It said that Cambodia had now cleared all passengers and crew of the virus.
Police quarantine: A Hong Kong police officer was among three new infections announced Thursday, the city’s government said.
According to the police statement, the infected officer was the leader of the North Point anti-riot police squad. He had dinner with 59 other police officers at a restaurant on February 18. They have now all been placed into quarantine.
This post has been updated to more accurately reflect when coronavirus was detected in the first patient who died in South Korea, and added details of the second patient who died in the country.
Another 48 cases of the novel coronavirus that is spreading rapidly around the world have been diagnosed in South Korea, the South Korean Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) said in a statement today.
In total, there are now 204 cases across the country. The number of infections in South Korea has almost doubled in 24 hours.
Among the 48 new cases, 42 are from the city of Daegu, two in Seoul, two in South Gyeongsang Province, one in Gyeonggi Province and one in the city of Gwangju.
All 42 confirmed cases in Daegu are linked with the Shincheonji group in Daegu.
Several people were injured in Ukraine on Thursday when protesters attacked a bus carrying Ukrainian citizens and other nationals who had been evacuated from Wuhan, China.
The Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs said nine police officers and one civilian were injured in the attack.
Protesters had blocked roads in the town of Noviy Sanzhari, where the evacuees are to be monitored for two weeks at a medical facility belonging to the Ukrainian National Guard.
Officer injured: The ministry said “aggressive citizens” pelted the column of buses with stones, and that one man tried to hit police with a car.
“Those people who today threw stones at the evacuees of Ukrainians and law enforcement officers … We will make a decision on their punishment,” said Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov.
Avakov said one officer was seriously injured in the incident.
Police have opened two criminal proceedings after the clash, the ministry said. Currently, Ukraine has no diagnosed cases of the novel coronavirus.
A total of 118 people in mainland China died from the coronavirus on Thursday, according to the country’s National Health Commission (NHC) – four more deaths than the day before and well above the double-digit figures of late January and early February.
At least 2,236 people have died of the virus in mainland China, the vast majority in Hubei province, where the outbreak began in December.
Here’s the breakdown from the NHC, as reported by the World Health Organization:
Chinese authorities said 17 people had died from the virus before January 23.
Thirteen more cases of the novel coronavirus have been diagnosed onboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan, health ministry officials announced Thursday.
The total number of confirmed cases linked to the ship now stands at 639.
It comes as the departure of passengers who have tested negative continues in Yokohama, where the Diamond Princess has been quarantined for two weeks.
The final passengers are expected to leave the ship on Saturday or shortly afterwards.
Evacuees test positive: Several passengers from the ship who were evacuated by the United States and Australia have since tested positive for the coronavirus, local health authorities say.
In the US, 11 out of 13 Diamond Princess evacuees who were taken to the University of Nebraska Medical Center for testing have been confirmed to be infected.
Two Australian evacuees who have been infected are being housed in a special isolation unit at the Howard Springs Quarantine Facility.
The total global lost revenue for airlines due to the coronavirus crisis could be as much as $29.3 billion, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said Thursday.
The IATA’s initial assessment of the impact of the novel noronavirus 2019 outbreak shows a potential 13% full-year loss of passenger demand for carriers in the Asia-Pacific region.
“Considering that growth for the region’s airlines was forecast to be 4.8%, the net impact will be an 8.2% full-year contraction compared to 2019 demand levels. In this scenario, that would translate into a $27.8 billion revenue loss in 2020 for carriers in the Asia-Pacific region—the bulk of which would be borne by carriers registered in China, with $12.8 billion lost in the China domestic market alone. In the same scenario, carriers outside Asia-Pacific are forecast to bear a revenue loss of $1.5 billion, assuming the loss of demand is limited to markets linked to China. This would bring total global lost revenue to $29.3 billion (5% lower passenger revenues compared to what IATA forecast in December) and represent a 4.7% hit to global demand,” IATA said in its press release.
“The sharp downturn in demand as a result of COVID-19 will have a financial impact on airlines— (especially) for those particularly exposed to the China market,” said Alexandre de Juniac, IATA’s Director General and CEO.
He added that 2020 will be “a very tough” year for airlines
Hopes for a slowdown in the spread of the novel coronavirus were dashed Friday as the number of new cases rose in China, and outbreaks worsened in Japan and South Korea.
Authorities in China’s Hubei province confirmed an additional 631 cases of the virus Thursday, 282 more than the previous day, taking the total number of cases at the epicenter of the outbreak to 62,662.
Meanwhile, fears are growing of self-sustaining outbreaks elsewhere in Asia.
Outside China, the largest coronavirus outbreaks have been in South Korea and Japan, where hundreds of people were infected on the Diamond Princess cruise ship, which began disembarking passengers this week from Yokohama Bay.
Dageu outbreak: The number of cases in South Korea has soared, from 28 a week ago to at least 156 as of Friday morning. The outbreak there is centered around the southern city of Daegu.
Among 52 new cases recorded by South Korea yesterday, 39 are linked to a religious group in Daegu. South Korean authorities Thursday were seeking to question more than 1,000 members of the group who attended a service with one of the recently confirmed cases.
Daegu’s mayor asked the congregation and their family members to self-quarantine at home. Three other new cases connected to Daegu involved members of the military.
Read more here.
Passengers leaving quarantine aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship docked in Japan are expected to continue disembarking today, into tomorrow – and possibly even longer.
Originally the cruise line said it would need three days, but safety protocols have slowed down the departure of the passengers from the ship, which was in quarantine for two weeks.
A Princess Cruises spokesperson provided a list of where today’s departees are from:
Japan: 195 people
Hong Kong: 84
Cambodia: 47
Australia: 40
Britain: 21
Russia: 10
Philippines: 6
Argentina, Israel, New Zealand, Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore, Ireland, United States, Moldova, China, Kazakhstan, Germany, Romania, Italy and Portugal all have five citizens or fewer leaving the ship today.
China’s car market is getting crushed because of the novel coronavirus outbreak.
Passenger car sales plunged 92% through the first half of February, according to statistics from the China Passenger Car Association. The industry group blamed the coronavirus and the Lunar New Year holiday, and said it expects sales for all of February to fall 70%.
The association said the decline should be temporary, but added that the speed of the market’s recovery depends on how local governments handle the public health crisis.
The massive decline is yet another indication of how damaging the coronavirus has been for the auto industry.
Earlier this month, China’s Association of Automobile Manufacturers said that major automakers sold fewer than 2 million cars in the country in January – an 18% plunge from a year earlier.
Billions in losses: Some analysts and state-run media have already said that the coronavirus fallout could cost the Chinese economy a few percentage points of growth.
In dollar terms, that could lose the country more than $60 billion.
In New York City, a man assaults a woman wearing a face mask, calling her a “diseased b****.”
On a Los Angeles subway, a man proclaims Chinese people are filthy and says “every disease has ever came from China.”
Rampant ignorance and misinformation about the novel coronavirus, experts say, has led to racist and xenophobic attacks against fellow Americans or anyone in the United States who looks Asian.
“With news of the coronavirus, we’ve seen an uptick in fear of people who look like this,” said Rosalind Chou, a sociology professor at Georgia State University. “Real people are affected.”
And the pain ranges from physical to verbal to financial.
“We, the Asian community, are under attack,” said Tanny Jiraprapasuke, who was born and raised in Los Angeles.
Read more here.
All 747 crew members onboard the Westerdam cruise ship have tested negative for the coronavirus, the Holland America Line said in a statement today.
The Westerdam has been waiting for clearance in Sihanoukville, Cambodia, after one of its former passengers tested positive for the coronavirus while transiting through Malaysia.
According to Holland America, the Cambodian Ministry of Health has cleared all passengers and crew of the coronavirus.
“All testing was conducted by the Pasteur Institute in Phnom Penh,” the Holland America Line said in their statement, adding 25 crew members would now disembark the ship having finished their work contracts.
“The rest of the crew will remain on Westerdam,” the statement said, adding the Westerdam would remain in Cambodia until its future itinerary was finalized. Its next scheduled cruise for Feburary 29 has been cancelled.
It is still unclear how the single Westerdam passenger contracted the coronavirus. Thailand and Malaysia have both said they will not allow Westerdam passengers to return home through their countries.
All South Korea military personnel will be restricted from leaving their bases, going on vacations and staying out overnight from Saturday, the country’s Defense Ministry announced today.
It follows the news that three members of the country’s armed forces had tested positive for the coronavirus – one from the navy, one from the army and one from the air force.
All three had a link to the Daegu area, one of the centers of the country’s coronavirus outbreak.
Emergency leave for family events will be carried out normally, and the ministry adjusted vacation schedules so that military personnel who have vacations right before their planned discharge from the military do not have to return to their bases.
Sharp rise in infections: A total of 52 new cases were diagnosed in South Korea in just one day, the government announced today, bringing the total number of infections in the country to 156.
Among the new cases, 39 are linked to the Shincheonji Church of Jesus in the southern city of Daegu. South Korean authorities said Thursday they were looking to test the entire congregation.
The authorities in Hubei have updated their daily total of new infections to 631 today, after including a large number of cases inside the province’s prison system.
In total, 271 confirmed cases of the coronavirus have been found in prisons in Hubei province, the epicenter of the epidemic. Fifty-one of those cases had been added to previous totals.
Hubei authorities didn’t say when the cases had been originally diagnosed. In total there are now 62,662 cases of the coronavirus across Hubei province.
Prison infections grow: There are now more than 500 confirmed virus cases in prisons across China, after three provinces reported infections in their correctional facilities.
In addition to Hubei, Shandong province announced 200 prisoners and seven guards had been infected in its Rencheng prison, while Zhejiang province announced 34 prison cases.
In total there are now 512 coronavirus cases in prisons across the country.
It isn’t clear why multiple provinces have chosen to announce the infections inside their correctional systems today.
On a normal weekend, Shanghai’s world-famous Nanjing Road is packed with shoppers and tourists, keen to indulge themselves in China’s thriving financial hub.
But this week, the streets are mostly empty and stores are either closed or deserted due to fear of the deadly coronavirus, which has killed more than 2,000 people across the country.
When a customer does enter a shop, the relieved store clerks rush over to see if they can help – but only after they have taken the newcomer’s temperature.
To date, Shanghai has recorded 333 cases of the virus and two people have died.
Yena Lei, a financial industry manager, said that Shanghai is usually quiet around the Lunar New Year holiday, when people take long breaks to be with their families, “but not like this.”
“Now there’s very few people,” she said. “You cannot go outside for anything, to meet with friends or have dinner or lunch. Everything is stopped.”
Read more here.
A prison in China’s eastern Shandong province has reported a large outbreak of the novel coronavirus that has killed more than 2,000 people across the country, according to local officials.
Health, prison and government officials announced at a joint news conference on Friday that 2,077 staff and prisoners at Rencheng prison had been tested for the coronavirus, with seven staff and 200 prisoners testing positive.
Xi Yan, director of Shandong’s provincial health commission said “the cases of seven police officers were included in previous daily updates of confirmed cases in Jining city”.
As of February 20, there were 545 confirmed cases and four deaths in Shandong province.
How the virus spread: Authorities said the outbreak started with two of the prison’s police officers. On February 12, an on-duty officer was admitted to hospital for coughing, and tested positive for the coronavirus the next day. On February 13, another police officer at the prison also tested positive, leading authorities to lock down the area.
A handful of officials have been dismissed over the incident, including Shandong’s Justice Department chief and its senior prison authority officials.
At Shilifeng prison in Zhejiang province, 34 prisoners have tested positive for novel coronavirus, and the prison warden was dismissed, according to the Zheijiang government.
The novel coronavirus has spread throughout the world since the first cases were detected in central China in December.
More than 1,200 confirmed cases and 11 deaths from the virus have been recorded in 29 countries and territories outside mainland China:
Read more about the patients in each place.
A woman in her 30s has become the sixth case of novel coronavirus in British Columbia and the ninth for Canada overall.
According to a joint statement issued by British Columbia’s Ministry of Health, the woman is presumed positive based on local testing, while samples have been sent to the National Microbiology Laboratory (NML) for final confirmation.
The woman had recently returned from Iran, the statement said.
The patient is in isolation at home, the statement said, and her close contacts will be identified and contacted by public health officials.
“This brings the total number of cases in British Columbia to six. (They) will remain in self-isolation and under care by public-health teams. The first case has recovered, as indicated by the resolution of symptoms, followed by two successive negative test results 24 hours apart,” the statement said.
Cruise passengers test positive: The largest group of Canadians confirmed infected with the coronavirus are linked to the stricken Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan.
Out of 256 Canadian passengers, 47 have been confirmed to have contracted the virus, the government said.
Even those who have tested negative face a long journey home. Canada’s foreign minister said Wednesday that all Diamond Princess passengers will be put into quarantine in Ontario for 14 days on their arrival.
The Chinese financial hub of Hong Kong has announced three new cases of the coronavirus – with a 48-year-old police officer among them.
A total of 68 cases of the virus have now been confirmed in Hong Kong, including two deaths.
In a statement released today, Hong Kong Police said the officer felt unwell on February 18 and sought medical treatment on the same day. He then tested positive for the coronavirus on February 20.
The officer had not traveled overseas within the past 14 days.
59 police officers quarantined: According to the police statement, the infected officer was the leader of the North Point anti-riot police squad. He had dinner with 59 other police officers at a restaurant on February 18. The Department of Health has defined all 59 people the officer dined with as close contacts.
According to police, some of the 59 officers that the confirmed case dined with were still reporting for work as recently as Thursday night. They have now all been placed in quarantine.
One of the other cases, a 58-year-old man, worked as a taxi driver and the Center for Health Protection is currently conducting relevant contact tracing
Two months after the novel coronavirus outbreak began, there are now at least 75,465 cases across mainland China. The country’s death toll stands at 2,236.
By far the vast majority of cases are in Hubei province – its capital Wuhan is the epicenter of the outbreak.
According to Hubei’s health authority, 62,422 cases of the coronavirus have been recorded in the province alone, with 2,144 deaths.
There are just over 13,000 cases of the virus in mainland China outside Hubei and 92 deaths.
Here are the other worst hit provinces as of February 20:
Guangdong: 1,332 cases, 5 deaths
Henan: 1,265 cases, 19 deaths
Zhejiang: 1,175 cases, 0 deaths
Hunan: 1,010 cases, 4 deaths
Anhui: 987 cases, 6 deaths
Three members of the South Korean military, including an officer each from the army, the navy and the air force, have tested positive for the novel coronavirus.
All three had a connection to the Daegu region, one of the epicenters of the growing South Korean virus outbreak.
There are now 156 infections from the virus in South Korea, and one death.
As international criticism mounts of its handling of the Diamond Princess cruise ship crisis, the Japanese government has released data to back up its quarantine strategy.
In a report from the government-funded National Institute of Infectious Disease (NIID), newly-released data claims widespread transmission between passengers and crew had dropped after quarantine was put in place.
The report showed that the onset of confirmed cases of Covid-19 peaked on February 7 before sinking to zero by February 15. The report said cases among crew peaked on February 13.
“The decline in the number of confirmed cases, based on reported onset dates, implies that the quarantine intervention was effective in reducing transmission among passengers,” it said.
At least 626 cases of the coronavirus have been linked to the ship, including the deaths of two Japanese passengers in their 80s.
‘Ongoing risk’: The report comes after the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Japan’s quarantine measures might not be sufficient to prevent transmission among individuals on the ship.
“The CDC believes the rate of new infections on board, especially among those without symptoms, represents an ongoing risk,” the organization said in a statement released Tuesday.
The CDC said that all US passengers and crew of the ship have been placed under travel restrictions, preventing them from returning to the US for at least 14 days after they have left the Diamond Princess.
Another 115 people died of the coronavirus in Hubei province on Thursday, the Hubei health authority announced today, raising the death toll in the province to 2,144.
Hubei is the epicenter of the novel coronavirus outbreak and has seen the vast majority of infections and deaths since the epidemic began.
Hubei authorities confirmed an additional 411 cases of the virus in the province on Thursday, bringing the total number of cases to 62,442.
By the numbers: The Hubei report brings the total number of deaths in mainland China to at least 2,236. The global death toll is at least 2,247, with 11 deaths outside of mainland China.
Japan has reported three deaths from the coronavirus, while Hong Kong and Iran have each reported two. Taiwan, the Philippines, South Korea and France have each reported one death.
The global number of confirmed coronavirus cases is 76,691 with the vast majority of cases in mainland China.
Hubei, the Chinese province at the center of the novel coronavirus outbreak, announced 411 new cases today, after authorities changed the definition of a “confirmed case.”
Only patients who have tested positive for the virus are now counted in the official figures, Chinese authorities said on Thursday.
Here’s the latest:
Cases increase: The confirmed number of cases in mainland China have increased by 889, according to the country’s National Health Commission. The total number of confirmed cases in mainland China is now 75,465, bringing the global total to 76,691.
Death toll rises: The number of people killed by the virus continues to rise, with 118 more deaths announced in mainland China today – 115 of them in Hubei. In total, the global death toll is now 2,247.
South Korea cases spike: 52 new cases of the coronavirus have been reported in one day in South Korea, bringing the total in the country to 156. One person in South Korea has died from the virus.
A large number of patients are members of a church in the country’s southeast.
South Korea and Japan now have the largest number of cases outside of mainland China.
Evacuees test positive: Several passengers from the Diamond Princess cruise ship who were evacuated by the United States and Australia have tested positive for the coronavirus, local health authorities say.
In the US, 11 out of 13 Diamond Princess evacuees who were taken to the University of Nebraska Medical Center for testing have been confirmed to be infected.
Two Australian evacuees who have been infected are being housed in a special isolation unit at the Howard Springs Quarantine Facility.
In total, 626 cases of the coronavirus have been linked to the stricken ship, including two deaths.
Passengers disembark: More passengers who have tested negative for the virus are expected to leave the Diamond Princess today, the third day of departures from the formerly quarantined ship.
Travel warning: The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued a new travel advisory for Japan due to the coronavirus outbreak. The CDC advises travelers to “practice usual precautions,” in accordance with a “Watch - Level 1” notice out of three possible levels. Yesterday, the agency listed the first travel notice outside of mainland China – for Hong Kong, which also carries the “Level 1” advisory.
Iranians won’t be allowed to travel to Iraq over the countries’ shared land borders for three days after five cases of the coronavirus were reported in Iran.
The Iraqi Border Ports Authority announced the new measures on Thursday. Two people have now died from the virus in Iran.
Any Iraqi nationals currently in Iran will be able to return to the country but have to stay 14 days in quarantine in their homes to make sure they are not infected, the Iraqi government said.
Flights suspended: Kuwait Airways suspended all flights to Iran on Thursday until further notice and advised its citizens not to travel to the southern Iranian city of Qom.
“Kuwaiti Airlines announces that, upon instructions from the Ministry of Health and the General Administration of Civil Aviation, it has been decided to suspend the operation of all its flights to the Islamic Republic of Iran from starting today until another notice due to the discovery of a number of cases infected with coronavirus and to avoid any possibility of transmission of the virus between passengers,” the airline said in a statement.
The Kuwaiti Health Ministry said in a statement that it is advising citizens not to travel to the Iranian city of Qom. Those returning from Qom will be put into 14-day quarantine to ensure they do not carry the virus.
Eleven evacuees from the Diamond Princess cruise ship flown out by the United States have tested positive for the novel coronavirus.
In total, 13 of the US evacuees were taken to the University of Nebraska Medical Center earlier this week for testing, according to a news release from the UNMC.
All but two tested positive, the release said.
The 13 evacuees were transported from the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan to the US on February 17 on two separate flights.
Ten of the evacuees taken to UNMC are in a quarantine unit, while three others are in the Nebraska Biocontainment unit, according to the release..
There has been a sharp jump in new cases of novel coronavirus in South Korea since Thursday, the country’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced today.
A total of 52 new cases were diagnosed in just one day, bringing the total number of infections in the country to 156.
Among the new cases, 39 are linked to the Shincheonji Church of Jesus in the southern city of Daegu. South Korean authorities said Thursday they were looking to test the entire congregation.
Moon and Xi agree to information sharing: As the outbreak worsens in South Korea, South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke on the phone for 32 minutes on Thursday, agreeing to share information about the two countries’ clinical treatment experiences.
In a written statement, South Korea’s Blue House said that Xi ran Moon through how China had been handling its coronavirus outbreak.
He told Moon that “the Chinese people has broken away from the initial fear and are seeing the prospect and hope of overcoming the infectious disease.”
Two passengers from Australia who were evacuated from the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan have been diagnosed with the coronavirus.
Brendan Murphy, chief medical officer for the Australian government, said in a statement that 164 evacuees from the cruise ship arrived at the Howard Springs Quarantine Facility on Thursday to begin their 14-day quarantine.
But on arrival, six passengers were identified to have minor respiratory symptoms or fevers. They were moved into isolation and tested, where two tested positive for the virus.
Murphy said both patients “remain well” and are being housed in a special isolation unit at the quarantine facility. He added that “the development of positive cases after return to Australia is not unexpected” since there was continued evidence of spread of infection onboard the Diamond Princess.
Australia now has 17 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus.
Passengers departing: The Diamond Princess passengers are expected to continue leaving the cruise ship today, after going through 14 days of quarantine onboard.
The final passengers are expected to leave the ship in the next couple of days.
At least 626 cases of the coronavirus have been linked to the ship, including the deaths of two Japanese passengers in their 80s.
