Coronavirus: Japan and US fly citizens home as China death toll jumps

Japan and the US have airlifted hundreds of their citizens from Wuhan, the centre of the coronavirus outbreak, as officials in China said the death toll from the disease had risen sharply overnight to 132, with nearly 1,500 new cases in the country.

A government-chartered plane carrying 206 Japanese nationals arrived in Tokyo from Wuhan on Wednesday morning. Officials said four of the passengers – a woman and three men – had coughs and fevers and had been taken to a hospital in separate ambulances for treatment and further tests.

Two of the four showed symptoms of pneumonia following scans, but a coronavirus diagnosis has not been confirmed, hospital representatives said.

Pressure is mounting on China to control the spread of the disease. The country’s national health commission on Wednesday said the total number of deaths from the flulike virus rose by 26 on Tuesday, with almost all of the new cases in Hubei province, which is under virtual lockdown.

The number of confirmed cases rose to a total of 5,974 – overtaking the 5,327 confirmed cases in mainland China during the severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) epidemic. The Sars outbreak killed more than 770 people globally, including 349 in mainland China.

Officials in the US, meanwhile, said a chartered plane had landed in Anchorage, Alaska, with about 240 US citizens onboard, including staff from the US consulate in Wuhan.

The plane is to make a refuelling stop in Alaska before flying on to southern California, but passengers were to be re-screened in Anchorage for the virus, and hospitals were prepared to treat or quarantine people who may be infected.

“These travellers will be carefully screened and monitored to protect their health, as well as the health and safety of their fellow Americans,” US state department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said.

British Airways said on Wednesday it had suspended all direct flights to and from mainland China after British authorities warned against “all but essential” travel to the country. The airline’s website shows no direct flights to China are available in January and February.

“We apologise to customers for the inconvenience, but the safety of our customers and crew is always our priority,” BA said in an statement.

Air France suspended its three weekly flights to Wuhan last week, but as of Wednesday morning said it was maintaining its 23 weekly flights to Beijing and Shanghai.

Cathay Pacific, which is based in Hong Kong, said it would gradually reduce capacity by 50% or more on its routes to mainland China from Thursday through to the end of March, while Indonesia’s Lion Air said it was halting all its flights to and from China. Other airlines said they were reducing their China services.

Australia said on Wednesday it would help “vulnerable or isolated” citizens leave Hubei province, where Wuhan is located, and quarantine them on Christmas Island, an Australian territory in the Indian Ocean that is home to a detention centre for asylum seekers.

Britain is finalising plans to repatriate citizens from in and around Wuhan. The European Union will fly its citizens out on two French planes this week, and South Korea was due to do the same. Several other countries were assessing their options.

One of the Japanese evacuees, Takeo Aoyama, said he was relieved to be home. “We were feeling increasingly uneasy as the situation developed so rapidly and we were still in the city,” Aoyama, wearing a surgical mask, said at Haneda airport in Tokyo.

“We were not able to move freely, so we only had partial information. The restrictions on the flow of goods and transport were extremely strict.”

Aoyama, who works at Nippon Steel’s subsidiary in Wuhan, said more than 400 of his compatriots wishing to return to Japan were still in the city, including employees of a Japanese supermarket chain that had stayed open during the lockdown.

“I hope we can also provide support for the Chinese people, which I think would also help the Japanese people who are still there,” he said.

Another evacuee, Takayuki Kato, said all of the passengers had had their temperatures taken before the plane left Wuhan and again by a doctor during the flight. “Everyone in the city began wearing masks. On the 23rd, when transport was shut down, I became very alarmed,” he said.

All of the passengers were expected to undergo further health checks, with those showing symptoms to be treated in hospital and the remainder to undergo “self-quarantine” at home until they can be declared free of the virus.

About 650 Japanese nationals in the Wuhan area have said they want to return home. Reports said a second plane was due to leave Tokyo on Wednesday evening, with additional flights planned.

The first flight had arrived in the Chinese city on Tuesday night carrying emergency supplies, including 15,000 masks, 50,000 pairs of gloves and 8,000 protective glasses, the foreign ministry said.

More than 50 million people have been in lockdown in and around Wuhan, as authorities struggle to stop an infection that has since spread to more than 15 countries.

The outbreak has affected international sporting events, with the International Hockey Federation postponing Pro League games in China and qualifiers for the Tokyo Olympics scheduled in February in football, basketball and boxing being moved outside of the country.

Officials in Germany said four people from the same company were infected after one of them contracted it from a colleague while visiting their workplace in China.

Late on Tuesday, Japan reported its first possible case of human-to-human transition, involving a coach driver in his 60s who had tested positive after twice driving groups of tourists from Wuhan earlier this month. The man is reportedly recovering.

Japan’s health ministry has so far confirmed seven cases of the virus in the country. Advertisement

On Wednesday, an Australian research facility announced it had become the first team outside China to recreate the deadly virus in a lab, which will improve the speed and accuracy of testing and increase the chances of developing a vaccine.

“This is one step, a piece in the puzzle that we have contributed,” said Dr Julian Druce, the head of the virus identification laboratory at Melbourne’s Peter Doherty Institute.