20 nations hit, 10k people in China
British evacuation plane leaves Wuhan with 110 people, US issues travel advisory
Wuhan/London/Washin gton/Paris: With more than 20 countries now affected by the coronavirus disease, nations stepped up travel restrictions on arrivals from the Asian giant on Friday even as nearly 10,000 people were infected in China.
Countries have scrambled to evacuate their nationals from Wuhan, with US and Japanese citizens leaving first on Wednesday.
Britain and France airlifted hundreds of their nationals on Friday.
The UK government on Friday confirmed the first two cases of the deadly coronavirus in the country and said the patients were members of the same family who were receiving specialist care.
The UK's Department for Health stressed that the National Health Service (NHS) is “well-prepared” to deal with the virus, which originated in Wuhan in China and has claimed 213 lives there.
We can confirm that two patients in England, who are members of the same family, have tested positive for coronavirus, said Chris Whitty, the UK's Chief Medical Officer.
The patients are receiving specialist NHS care, and we are using tried and tested infection control procedures to prevent further spread of the virus. The NHS is extremely well-prepared and used to managing infections and we are already working rapidly to identify any contacts the patients had, to prevent further spread, he said. Three people aboard Japan’s first evacuation flight tested positive after landing back home, two of whom showed no symptoms, underscoring the difficulty detecting the coronavirus.
South Korea said 18 of around 350 people who were repatriated from Wuhan were hospitalised after showing symptoms.
The US State Department raised its warning alert to the highest level, telling Americans "do not travel" to China and urged those already there to leave. Singapore, Vietnam and
Mongolia went a step further. Citing a likely “sharper rise” in the spread of the virus, Singapore’s government barred arrivals and transit passengers who visited China in the past 14 days, and stopped issuing all forms of new visas to Chinese passport holders. Mongolia will ban Chinese nationals and foreigners coming from the neighbouring country by plane, train or road from Saturday until March 2. Mongolians will be barred from going to China over the same period.
In Vietnam, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc ordered the suspension of new tourist visas for Chinese citizens and foreigners who have been in China over the last two weeks. Trade with China will also be “discouraged” until the outbreak abates, he said. Japan, meanwhile, joined Britain, Germany and other countries that have recommended that their citizens avoid China. Russia sealed its remote far-eastern frontier. Papua New Guinea went so far as to bar all visitors from “Asian ports”.
Some countries banned entry for travellers from Wuhan, the city in central Hubei province where the virus first surfaced.
Italy, which has stopped all flights to and from China, declared a state of emergency on Friday to fast-track efforts to prevent the spread of the virus. In Bangladesh’s biggest airport, workers held up digital thermometers to passengers’ heads. A beeping alarm sounded as a passenger walking through a thermal scanner registered a fever.
We’re working very closely with China and with a lot of other people and a lot of other countries on combating the outbreak of the Coronavirus. We think we have it very well under control. We have very little problem in this country at this moment.
— DONALD TRUMP
US President