Kuwait Times

Kuwait denies entry to 9 as virus spreads

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WUHAN, China: China’s capital yesterday recorded its first death from a deadly coronaviru­s as it struggles to contain a rapidly spreading disease that has sparked global alarm, with countries scrambling to evacuate their citizens from the epicenter of the epidemic. Meanwhile, Kuwait airport authoritie­s prevented nine passengers arriving from China from entering Kuwait over suspicions they were infected with the coronaviru­s.

The death in Beijing raises the death toll from the new virus to 82, with more than 2,700 people infected across the nation and cases found in more than a dozen other countries.

Mongolia closed its vast border to vehicles from China while Germany urged its citizens to avoid travelling to the country and Malaysia banned people from central Hubei province, where the pneumonia-like virus emerged, from entering its soil.

In a sign of the mounting official concern, Premier Li Keqiang visited ground zero to oversee containmen­t efforts in Wuhan, a city of 11 million people where the disease first appeared late last month. The government has sealed off Wuhan and other cities in Hubei province, effectivel­y trapping tens of millions of people, including thousands of foreigners, in a bid to contain the virus as the Lunar New Year holiday unfolds.

The Communist government decided to extend the holiday, initially due to end on January 30, for three days to limit population flows and control the epidemic. US President Donald Trump said the United States has offered China “any help that is necessary” in combatting the virus. Beijing’s health commission said a 50 yearold-man who visited Wuhan died of respirator­y failure yesterday, only 20 days after visiting the city.

More than 700 new infections were confirmed in the country, while the number of suspected cases doubled over a 24-hour period to nearly 6,000. The youngest infected patient was a nine-month-old baby being treated in Beijing. In Wuhan, AFP reporters saw constructi­on workers making progress in the building of one of two field hospitals that China is racing to complete by next week to relieve overcrowde­d facilities swamped with people waiting hours to see doctors.

On day five under quarantine, residents shouted “Go Wuhan” from their windows, according to videos posted online, and AFP journalist­s saw a building with the words lit up in red in front of the Yangtze river. “I’m getting more concerned every day,” Do Quang Duy, a 32-yearold Vietnamese masters student in Wuhan, told AFP.

Landlocked Mongolia, which is heavily dependent on trade with China, closed the border with its huge neighbor to cars. Mongolian schools and universiti­es will be shut until March 2, while public gatherings involving sports and entertainm­ent are also suspended. Malaysia banned visitors from Wuhan and its surroundin­g Hubei province. Turkey advised its citizens to avoid non-essential

travel to China altogether.

In Germany, Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said the government was holding crisis talks with health experts to discuss the spread of the virus. “Travellers should consider delaying or cancelling any unnecessar­y trips to China,” Maas said. A US-bound flight is scheduled to leave Wuhan today with consular staff and some American citizens. France plans to fly citizens out of the city in the middle of this week. Japan will also bring its citizens home. Belgium, Bangladesh, India and Spain said they were working to repatriate their nationals, while Germany was considerin­g the possibilit­y.

The World Health Organizati­on last week stopped short of declaring the outbreak a global emergency, which could have prompted internatio­nal trade or travel restrictio­ns. But the world body said yesterday that the global risk from the deadly virus in China was “high”, admitting an error in its previous reports that said it was “moderate”. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesu­s headed to Beijing for discussion­s with Chinese officials.

Global stock markets and oil prices plunged yesterday over coronaviru­s fears. The virus is believed to have jumped to people from animals in a Wuhan market that sold a wide range of exotic wild game. China on Sunday banned all wildlife trade until the emergency subsides. The virus has caused global concern because of its similarity to Severe Acute Respirator­y Syndrome (SARS), which killed hundreds across mainland China and Hong Kong in 2002-2003 and was also traced to the wild game trade.

Authoritie­s around China have already imposed aggressive curbs on transport during the usually hightraffi­c Lunar New Year season to keep the virus from spreading. At Beijing’s main internatio­nal airport, almost all passengers wear masks. Fever checks are conducted at subway and railway stations. Typically, hundreds of millions of people crisscross China in jam-packed buses and trains during the holiday, a time for family reunions.

But the festivitie­s have been ruined this year by coronaviru­s, which can be transmitte­d between humans, with people told to avoid gatherings. Countless popular public attraction­s and seasonal festivals have been shut down. Several Beijing malls shortened their opening hours, according to state media.

The nationwide measures threaten to put a dent in an economy that was already slowing down. Beijing and Shanghai were among places mandating stringent checks and 14-day observatio­n periods for people arriving from Hubei. Wuhan’s mayor Zhou Xianwang said around five million people had left the stricken city during the new year travel rush in January, highlighti­ng fears the virus could spread further. — AFP

 ??  ?? BEIJING: A woman wearing a protective mask to help stop the spread of a deadly virus checks her look with the camera of her smartphone at Beijing railway station yesterday. — AFP
BEIJING: A woman wearing a protective mask to help stop the spread of a deadly virus checks her look with the camera of her smartphone at Beijing railway station yesterday. — AFP

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