UAE confirms 4 cases of new Chinese virus, first in Mideast

Americans pass health test after being evacuated from China

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, Jan 29, (AP): The United Arab Emirates on Wednesday confirmed the first cases in the Mideast of the new Chinese virus that causes flu-like symptoms, saying doctors now were treating four members of a Chinese family that had just come from a city at the epicenter of the outbreak.

The UAE’s state-run WAM news agency made the announcements citing the Health and Prevention Ministry, but offered no details on where they were receiving treatment, nor when they arrived.

The UAE, a federation of seven sheikhdoms on the Arabian Peninsula that includes Dubai and Abu Dhabi, is home to long-haul carriers Emirates and Etihad Airways and is a hub for global air travel. Authorities at Abu Dhabi’s airport and Dubai International Airport, the world’s busiest for international travel, continue to screen passengers and crew from incoming China flights.

It wasn’t immediately clear how the family left Wuhan and made it all the way to the UAE. China shut down Wuhan’s airport and other transportation in the city last Thursday to stop the spread of the virus. The lockdown has since expanded to include 17 cities with more than 50 million people in all.

Authorities initially did not offer the number or identify the family’s nationality and UAE officials did not respond to requests for comment.

Precautions

Emirati officials are taking “all the necessary precautions in accordance with the scientific recommendations, conditions and standards approved by the World Health Organization,” the ministry said. “The general health condition is not a cause for concern.”

State-run and government-supporting media in the UAE carefully announced the news Wednesday, stressing that authorities said they had the situation under control. At Arab Health, a major trade show happening this week in Dubai, a few Emiratis and others attending wore surgical masks while walking among the crowds.

Emirates said it continued its flights to Beijing, Guangzhou, and Shanghai, as well as Hong Kong.

“We are providing masks and hand sanitisers to all crew on our flights to China,” the company said in a statement. “Our crew who serve passengers with any symptoms have been advised to wear masks onboard.”

The new type of coronavirus first appeared in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in December. It causes flulike symptoms, such as cough and fever and in severe cases pneumonia, that are similar to many other illnesses. It’s from the coronavirus family, which includes those that can cause the common cold as well as more serious illnesses such as SARS and MERS.

The viral outbreak that began in China has infected more than 6,000 people in the mainland and more than a dozen other countries. China’s death toll has passed 130.

Several countries have confirmed cases of the virus, with most of them being Chinese visitors, people who visited Wuhan or family members in close contact with the sick.

Dubai alone welcomed 989,000 tourists from China in 2019, up 15% from 857,000 in 2018, according to the city-state’s tourism department.

A plane evacuating more than 200 Americans from a Chinese city at the center of a virus outbreak continued Wednesday on to Southern California after everyone aboard passed a health screening test in Anchorage, where the aircraft had stopped to refuel.

All 201 passengers had already been through two screenings in China and were screened twice more in Anchorage by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. One passenger received medical attention for a minor injury that happened before boarding the airplane in China, according to a news release from Alaska’s Department of Health and

Social Services.

The US government chartered the plane to fly out diplomats from the US Consulate in Wuhan, where the latest coronavirus outbreak started, and other Americans. The plane landed Tuesday night in Anchorage. The Americans will undergo additional health screenings in California and will be temporarily housed there for a period of time as they finish the repatriation process, the statement said.

“For many of us directly involved, this has been a moving and uplifting experience,” said Alaska’s Chief Medical Officer Dr Anne Zink. “The whole plane erupted in cheers when the crew said, ‘Welcome home to the United States.’ “

“This is the best possible outcome,” added DHSS Commissioner Adam Crum. “We wish these passengers the best of luck as they complete their journeys home and I am deeply grateful to everyone who came together to assist us in helping with this repatriation effort.”

The plane is now scheduled to land at March Air Reserve Base in California’s Riverside County, instead of the original plan to go to Ontario International Airport in neighboring San Bernardino County.

Curt Hagman, an Ontario airport commissioner, said the Centers for Disease Control announced the diversion.

“We were prepared but the State Department decided to switch the flight” to the airbase, Hagman said.

Officials at the Ontario airport 35 miles (56 kilometers) east of Los Angeles had been readying facilities to receive and screen the repatriates and temporarily house them for up to two weeks - if the CDC determined that is necessary, said David Wert, spokesman for the county of San Bernardino.

Emergency

Ontario International Airport was designated about a decade ago by the US government to receive repatriated Americans in case of an emergency overseas, but it would have been the first time the facility was used for the purpose, Wert said.

Wuhan is the epicenter of a new virus that has sickened thousands and killed more than 100 people. China has cut off access to Wuhan and 16 other cities in Hubei province to prevent people from leaving and spreading the virus further. In addition to the United States, countries including Japan and South Korea have also planned evacuations. Symptoms of the virus include fever, cough, and in more severe cases shortness of breath or pneumonia.

The Americans aboard the white cargo plane with red and gold stripes left Wuhan before dawn Wednesday, China time. They arrived in Anchorage at the mostly desolate North Terminal just after 9:30 pm Tuesday, local time. The jetway was extended from the end of the terminal, but it also had no windows. Passengers were not visible. Media were held in a concourse between the airport’s two terminals, about 100 yards (91.4 meters) from the plane. Airport workers were buzzing around the plane after it landed.

The passengers were isolated in the airport’s international terminal, which lies mostly dormant in the winter months. The terminal is not connected to the larger and heavily used domestic flights terminal, and each has separate ventilation systems, said Jim Szczesniak, manager of the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport.

“In the wintertime, we have the ability and the luxury of not having any passenger traffic over there, so it’s a perfect area for us to handle this kind of flight,” he said. (AP)