Coronavirus Updates: Over 630 people have lost their lives due in China due to novel coronavirus outbreak and the total number of confirmed cases have crossed 31,000, according to Chinese authorities. 69 more deaths were reported yesterday in Mainland China. Wuhan in China’s Hubei province which is the epicentre of the virus outbreak has reported the maximum number of deaths. India has said that the country can consider evacuating Pakistani students stranded in China’s Wuhan and nearby areas if the situation arises. Raveesh Kumar, MEA’s official spokesperson said that they have not received such request so far. “But if such a situation arises and keeping in mind the resources available, we can look into it,” he said.
The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the novel coronavirus outbreak as a global health emergency. In India, three positive cases have been reported from Kerala. Meanwhile, all evacuated Indian Citizens’ from China, who are kept in quarantine camps near Delhi, have been tested negative for the virus. In Kerala, on the other hand, due to the three positive cases, industry players have said that tourists are now cancelling their bookings and tourism in the state is suffering.
In China, the doctor, Li Wenliang, 34, who first warned about Coronavirus has died due to the disease triggering anger and grief. Li told his friends on WeChat about a SARS-like disease spreading in Wuhan.
India conducted the evacuation of its stranded citizen from Wuhan last week. Two Air India evacuated over 600 Indians who were living across Hubei province in China. They are now being kept in two isolation camps near Delhi
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Highlights
The Union Shipping Ministry has said that all major ports will immediately put in place screening and quarantine system as preventive measures against coronavirus. (PTI)
Fatalities from the coronavirus epidemic are overwhelmingly concentrated in central China’s Wuhan city, which accounts for over 73% of deaths despite having only one-third the number of confirmed infections. In Wuhan, the epicentre of the disease, one person has died for every 23 infections reported. That number drops to one on 50 nationally, and outside mainland China, one death has been recorded per 114 confirmed cases. (Reuters)
Even before the new coronavirus, people working in Chinese entertainment had been calling the industry’s struggles their “bleak winter” – as tighter censorship, a crackdown on tax evasion and new government restrictions strangle opportunities for work. The epidemic is only exacerbating that misery. (Reuters)
A group of ministers (GoM), headed by the Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, has been constituted to monitor the situation on coronavirus. This group consists of ministers of External Affairs, Home, Shipping and Civil Aviation. (PTI)
Screening of passengers has been initiated since January 18 and this facility has now been extended to 21 airports, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said in the Rajya Sabha on Friday. He added that universal thermal screening has been made mandatory for all flights coming from Singapore and Hong Kong as well. Vardhan said 1,275 flights have been screened for coronavirus so far, covering 1,39,539 passengers. (PTI)
As many as 150 passengers with symptoms of coronavirus have so far been referred to isolation facilities in the country as the government steps up efforts to deal with the outbreak. Making a suo motu statement in the Rajya Sabha on Friday, Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said existing visas are no longer valid for any foreign national travelling from China. “People travelling to China henceforth will be quarantined on return,” he said. (PTI)
In view of the outbreak of novel coronavirus, the Manipur government has banned the import of packaged food items from China, Myanmar and Southeast Asian countries which do not comply with FSSAI regulations, officials said on Friday. (PTI)
Italy on Friday denied it was ready to resume direct flights with China, frozen over the coronavirus outbreak. China’s Foreign Ministry said Luca Ferrari, Italy’s ambassador to China, had said Italy was willing to approve some applications from Chinese airlines to resume some flights. (Reuters)
The world is facing a chronic shortage of gowns, masks, gloves and other protective equipment in the fight against a spreading coronavirus epidemic, World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Friday. (Reuters)
The German government wants to evacuate another group of Germans from the Wuhan area in China due to the coronavirus outbreak that has killed more than 630 people, Der Spiegel magazine reported on Friday. A Foreign Ministry source said there were still some “stranded” Germans that the government wanted to bring back but it did not yet have a date for their evacuation. (Reuters)
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has signed into law quarantine rules for Brazilians who will be brought back from the Chinese city of Wuhan, the epicentre of a coronavirus outbreak, the Official Gazette said on Friday. Two Brazilian Air Force (FAB) planes are due to arrive in Brazil on Saturday with the evacuees – who are initially expected to number around 30, although this could change. They and the military personnel involved in the operation will be quarantined at the Anápolis airbase in Goiás for 18 days. (Reuters)
Nepal on Friday gifted 100,000 protective masks to China which is battling against the deadly coronavirus outbreak that has claimed over 630 lives. The decision to gift the masks came in the backdrop of its shortage in China. Foreign Minister Pradip Kumar Gyawali and Health Minister Bhanubakta Dhakal handed over the masks to China’s ambassador to Nepal Hou Yanqi at an event in Kathmandu. (PTI)
According to reports on TV channels, 6 Indians are aboard the cruise ship in Japan which has 61 patients of coronavirus. All the passengers, including the Indian nationals, have been quarantined inside their cabins to prevent the spreading of coronavirus.
The deadly coronavirus outbreak in China could have spread from bats to humans through the illegal traffic of pangolins, the world’s only scaly mammals, which are prized in Asia for food and medicine, Chinese researchers said. The pangolin is one of Asia’s most trafficked mammals, although protected by international law, because its meat is considered a delicacy in countries such as China and its scales are used in traditional medicine, the World Wildlife Fund says. (Reuters)
“We are deeply saddened by the passing of Dr Li Wenliang. We all need to celebrate work that he did on 2019nCoV,” the World Health Organization (WHO) tweeted.
A man flying from Delhi to Pune was admitted to an isolation ward of the civic-run Naidu Hospital in Pune on Friday for possible exposure to novel coronavirus after he vomited mid-flight, an official said. The passenger was admitted to the hospital after the flight arrived at the Pune airport in the morning, an Air India official said. “The passenger was travelling from Delhi to Pune on Air India flight. He complained of nausea and vomited on board. After the plane landed at the Pune airport, he was immediately isolated and shifted to Naidu Hospital,” the official said. According to the Pune Airport authorities, the flight was sanitized later. (PTI)
The cruise ship in Japan which has 41 coronavirus patients has quarantined all the passengers inside their cabins to avoid spreading of the virus. Passengers in windowless inside cabins have been allowed only onto open decks briefly, under strict conditions, including wearing a mask at all times. “The quarantine officials require that you avoid congregating in large groups and maintain a separation of at least one metre from each other when talking,” the ship’s captain said in an announcement on Friday morning. “We require that you wear as a minimum, warm clothing, hat and a scarf if possible,” he added. (AFP)
Biotechnology company Novacyt said on Friday it has applied for an emergency approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for a test product for the coronavirus that has killed almost 640 people. The company also said it was in talks with public sector hospitals in Britain. “As one of the first companies to develop and launch a test to detect the 2019 strain of nCoV (coronavirus), we have received unprecedented interest in our test,” said Novacyt CEO Graham Mullis. (Reuters)
In a nation unaccustomed to widespread working from home, China’s coronavirus epidemic is forcing millions of white-collar workers to get used to business outside the office. With millions of companies keeping staff away to curb contagion, demand is surging for chat apps that employees are adjusting to using from living rooms, kitchens and home offices. (Reuters)
China’s state planner said it has coordinated with state-owned agriculture conglomerates COFCO and Sinograin to increase the supply of meat, rice, flour and edible oils to coronavirus-hit Hubei province and its capital Wuhan to ensure food security. (Reuters)
Panicky Hong Kong residents scooped loads of tissues and noodles into supermarket trolleys on Friday despite government assurances that supplies would be maintained during an outbreak of a new coronavirus that emerged in mainland China last month. Hong Kong has had 24 cases of the virus, and one of only two deaths outside mainland China where almost 640 people have died in the outbreak. (Reuters)
A Chinese doctor who tried to warn the world about a new coronavirus died of the disease on Friday, prompting an outpouring of sorrow as the death toll passed 630 and Beijing declared a “people’s war” on the rapidly spreading pathogen. Li Wenliang, 34, died in the early hours of the morning at the hospital where he worked and first raised the alarm about the new coronavirus in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak, hospital officials said. (Reuters)
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced on Thursday that Japan will deny entry of foreign passengers on another cruise ship, i.e., Holland America’s cruise ship Westerdam, on its way to Okinawa from Hong Kong, because of suspected virus patients found on board. The Seattle-based operator denied anyone had virus. Abe said the new immigration policy takes effect on Friday to ensure border control to prevent the disease from entering and spreading further into Japan. (AP)
Art Basel Hong Kong, a major cultural and business event for the city, has been cancelled amid the virus outbreak. The annual art fair, which drew more than 80,000 people last year, had been scheduled to take place from March 19 to 21. Organizers have said, “Our thoughts are with everyone who has been affected around the world. We remain committed to Hong Kong and look forward to welcoming you to the next edition of Art Basel Hong Kong, which will take place from March 25 to March 27, 2021.”
Japan’s fourth chartered flight has returned to Tokyo from Wuhan, the epicentre of a viral outbreak in central China, carrying 198 Japanese evacuees and their Chinese spouses. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters Friday that so far nobody was seen having obvious symptoms of the coronavirus infection. He says they will be all screened at a hospital before being sent to a government facility near Tokyo for quarantine. (AP)
China’s official news agency says President Xi Jinping has urged the U.S. to “respond reasonably” to the virus outbreak in a phone call with President Donald Trump. China’s foreign ministry has previously complained that the U.S. was flying its citizens out of the worst-hit city of Wuhan but not providing any assistance to China. (AP)
The Asian Development Bank says it will distribute $2 million to strengthen measures to detect and respond to the virus in China, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam. The bank said Friday that the money will pay for diagnostic and laboratory equipment and for improved outbreak surveillance and response, especially in rural areas. (AP)
A plane carrying Canadian citizens from Wuhan, China, has landed in Vancouver. The evacuation flight organized by the Canadian government is refueling in Vancouver before flying to a military base in Ontario. (AP)
China was gradually achieving results and was confident it could defeat the epidemic with no long-term consequences for economic development, Xi told his U.S. counterpart in a telephone call, according to state television. The phone call to the White House, which China has accused of scaremongering over the epidemic, came as its central bank vowed to step up policy support for affected sectors. (Reuters)
The most productive car factory in the world fell quiet on Friday as South Korea’s Hyundai suspended operations at its giant Ulsan complex, hamstrung by a lack of parts with the coronavirus outbreak crippling China’s industrial output. (AFP)
China’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, its top anti-corruption body, said on Friday it would send investigators to Wuhan to probe “issues raised by the people in connection with Dr Li Wenliang.” Li, an ophthalmologist at a hospital in Wuhan, the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak, died on Friday after saying he had contracted the virus, sparking a wave of public mourning. He had earlier revealed he was one of eight people reprimanded by Wuhan police last month for “spreading rumours” about the virus. (Reuters)
Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke on Friday with US President Donald Trump on the novel coronavirus outbreak, emphasising that China has “spared no effort in fighting the epidemic”, state media reported. Xi told Trump on the phone that China was “fully confident and capable of defeating the epidemic”, and that “the long-term trend of China’s economic development for the better will not change”, according to state broadcaster CCTV. (AFP)
Japan’s fourth chartered flight has returned to Tokyo from Wuhan, the epicentre of a viral outbreak in central China, carrying 198 Japanese evacuees and their Chinese spouses. (AP)
Vice President Venkaiah Naidu congratulates Air India team that evacuated around 600 Indians from Wuhan, the epicentre of coronavirus outbreak. Read here
Congress MP Kodikunnil Suresh has given Adjournment Motion Notice in Lok Sabha over “urgent need to initiate all steps through inter-governmental & diplomatic routes to ensure Indian students in China are brought back to India”. (ANI)
Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan to make a statement on Government response to novel coronavirus outbreak in China. (PTI)
The Union Ministry of Health on Friday tweeted a video on the measures people can undertake in order to reduce the risk of coronavirus.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday that it was too early to say that China’s coronavirus outbreak was peaking, but noted that the country had recorded its first day of a drop in the number of new infections. (Reuters)
Two planes carrying about 300 passengers, mostly US citizens, took off from Wuhan, China, on Thursday bound for the United States, marking the third group of evacuees the State Department has airlifted from the heart of the coronavirus outbreak, the agency said. (Reuters)
China’s foreign ministry said on Friday that Italy was willing to resume some flights between the two countries after it suspended direct air traffic last month over worries about the coronavirus outbreak. China’s vice foreign minister, Qin Gang, had a meeting on Thursday with Italy’s ambassador to China, Luca Ferrari, during which they discussed the issue, the ministry said. (Reuters)