Coronavirus Latest Updates: China’s novel coronavirus outbreak has taken 213 lives and the number of confirmed cases have risen to 9,692, according to Chinese authorities on Friday. China’s Hubei province which is the epicentre of the virus outbreak has reported 5,806 confirmed cases, including 204 deaths, official media reported. Chian’s state-run Xinhua news agency reported that 213 people have died due to the infection caused by the virus. The World Health Organization or WHO has declared the novel coronavirus threat as a global health emergency. WHO declared on Friday an international emergency over the spread of deadly novel coronavirus from China to various parts of the globe. This ‘Health Emergency’ is a rarely used designation. it is used for improved international co-ordination in tackling a pandemic.
Coronavirus outbreak: WHO declares global emergency; global stocks, oil tumble as death toll rises
Meanwhile in India, one student who returned from Wuhan has been tested positive in Kerala and has been kept in isolation. Kerala health minister said that the condition of a female medical college student from Wuhan University, who has been tested positive for the virus, is stable and she will remain in the isolation ward of the general hospital in Thrissur.
According to media reports, one Tripura student has died in Malaysia due to Coronavirus infection.
India may conduct evacuation of its stranded citizen from Wuhan on Friday. Two Air India planes are on stand-by for the mission. A number of isolation wards have been created. India has also established contact with over 600 Indians who are living across Hubei province in China and are individually ascertaining their situation.
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Highlights
The Gujarat government has shared with the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and Indian Embassy in China the information about over 200 students from
the state, who are currently in China and want to return after the outbreak of novel coronavirus in that country, officials said on Friday. (PTI)
Singapore will bar all visitors from China, becoming the first Southeast Asian nation to tighten border controls to stop the spread of a new virus. The health ministry says from Saturday, all Chinese travellers, as well as foreigners who have visited China in the past two weeks, will not be allowed to enter or transit through Singapore. It says short-term and multiple-visit visas previously issued to those with Chinese passports will also be suspended. (AP)
The ITBP has prepared a quarantine facility with 600 beds in south-west Delhi.
The Indian Army on Twitter posted pictures of the quarantine facility set up in Manesar for the students being evacuated from Wuhan in China.
At the quarantine facility set up at Manesar by the Indian Army, students can be monitored for a duration of weeks by a qualified team of doctors and staff members. The procedure of screening and quarantine will comprise two steps, the first being screening at the airport, followed by quarantine at Manesar and if any individual is suspected to be infected, he/she will be shifted to the isolation ward at Base Hospital Delhi Cantonment, the Indian Army said. The defence force added that the screening of the Indian students from Wuhan, China, at the airport will be done by a joint team of Armed Forces Medical Services (AFMS) and Airport Health Authority (APHO). (ANI)
The Indian Army has set up a quarantine facility in Manesar, Haryana, for the 300 students being brought back from coronavirus-hit Wuhan in China. (PTI)
Border guarding force Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) has prepared a 600-bed facility in Delhi to quarantine and provide basic medical care to those suspected to have been affected by coronavirus, a senior official said on Friday. The facility is operational in an ITBP camp in south-west Delhi’s Chhawla area, its spokesperson Vivek Kumar Pandey said. A team of doctors will be present at the facility, he said. (PTI)
The World Health Organization on Friday released an advisory suggesting precautionary measures against the deadly coronavirus.
“Those who come from infected areas should stay away from others for 28 days. Further precautions will be done in collaboration with the private sector. As a part of it, we met officials of the Indian Medical Association (IMA). No need to panic,” said Kerala Health Minister KK Shylaja. (ANI)
Two people in the United Kingdom have been tested positive for novel coronavirus, according to health officials. (AFP)
As many as 43,000 workers at a vast Chinese-controlled industrial complex in Indonesia have been quarantined over fears about the spread of a deadly coronavirus strain which has killed more than 200 people in China. (AFP)
Mongolia will close all ports of entry from and into China until March 2 to try and prevent the spread of the coronavirus epidemic, the government said on Friday. However, it will give its citizens currently in China until February 6 to return home. (Reuters)
Thailand has seen its first case of human-to-human transmission of the new coronavirus inside the country, a health official said on Friday. (Reuters)
Facebook Inc has said that it will take down misinformation about China’s fast-spreading coronavirus in a rare departure from its approach to health content, after the World Health Organization declared the outbreak a global health emergency. (Reuters)
People who do not show any symptoms of being infected by the novel Chinese coronavirus may still spread it to others, according to a report published by researchers which, if confirmed, may make it harder to contain the virus that has so far killed 213 individuals and infected nearly 9,700 others. (PTI)
Another special flight may depart from Delhi airport on Saturday to evacuate Indians from Wuhan, says Air India spokesperson. (PTI)
As the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the coronavirus outbreak a global health emergency, China has said all countries should behave in a “responsible” manner and avoid overreaction that may result in more negative spillover effects, PTI has reported. China informed the WHO about the coronavirus cases in late December. The death toll in China’s novel coronavirus outbreak on Friday climbed to 213 with the number of confirmed cases totalling to 9,692. Read more
As the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the coronavirus outbreak a global health emergency, China has said all countries should behave in a “responsible” manner and avoid overreaction that may result in more negative spillover effects, PTI report has said. China informed the WHO about the coronavirus cases in late December. The death toll in China’s novel coronavirus outbreak on Friday climbed to 213 with the number of confirmed cases totalling to 9,692. Read more
The Japanese Foreign Ministry has urged its citizens not to travel to China because of the possibility of the further spread of coronavirus. Japan had previously warned people not to travel to the epicenter of the virus in Wuhan in China. (AP)
Air India’s B747 aircraft to Wuhan takes off from Delhi airport to evacuate Indians, say officials. (PTI)
Six persons, suspected of being affected by the novel coronavirus, have been kept under observation at an isolation ward of New Delhi’s Ram Manohar Lohia hospital and their test reports are awaited. (PTI)
Three more airlines on Friday suspended their China flights as cases of coronavirus increase. The latest airlines to cancel operations are Kenya Airways, Royal Air Maroc, RwandAir, Vietjet and Singapore Airlines. With this, the total number of airlines to suspend flight operations in China has reached 26. (Reuters)
A special flight operated by Biman Bangladesh will leave Bangladesh for Wuhan today to bring back stranded Bangladeshi nationals from China, Doordarshan quoted news agency UNB as reporting. As many as 341 Bangladeshi nationals in Wuhan had registered with the authorities to return to their country while 15 decided to stay back.
Kerala Health Minister KK Shylaja is holding a meeting with health department officials in Thrissur after a patient tested positive with Coronavirus on Thursday. (ANI)
Union Ministry of Shipping is on high alert and has ordered thorough screening of all passengers entering India through major and minor ports.
The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Friday issues directions to those who recently travelled to China.
According to Ashwani Lohani, Air India, CMD, at least 400 Indians will be evacuated today. The flight will take off at 12 pm and will return by 2 am tomorrow. (ANI)
Health authorities in Kerala on Friday shifted a female student, who has been tested positive for the Novel Coronavirus, from the the general hospital to the Government Medical College here, official sources said. The medical college student from Wuhan University was shifted to an isolation ward set up in the Medical College Hospital in the early hours on Friday, they said. The patient had been kept in an isolation ward of the general hospital here since she approached the doctors with symptoms of Novel Coronavirus. (PTI)
Pakistan has closed flights to and from China with immediate effect until Feb 2 – civil aviation authority
Coronavirus outbreak: B747 plane will be at Beijing airport for 2-3 hours. Five doctors from Health Ministry will be going in B747 aircraft to China, says Air India CMD.
As China grapples with the outbreak of coronavirus, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday hoped that people there find courage and strength to persevere through the ordeal. “In China, the Coronavirus has killed hundreds of people. My thoughts are with the families of the victims and the millions who have been forced into quarantine to prevent the spread of the virus. May they find the courage and strength to persevere through this terrible ordeal,” he said on Twitter. (PTI)
The previously unknown strain is believed to have originated late last year from illegally traded wildlife at an animal market in Wuhan. Within weeks it appeared capable of being transmitted from one person to another via droplets when an infected person breathes out, coughs or sneezes. It can also spread via contaminated surfaces such as door handles or railings. The incubation period is estimated between one and 14 days, and there have been anecdotal accounts of “symptomless spreading” by someone who is infected but unaware of it. (Reuters)
The latest statistics indicate a fatality rate of about 2.2%, but the actual rate may be higher or lower as there are likely more unconfirmed cases. The SARS virus killed about 10% of all infected individuals, while the MERS outbreak identified in 2012 had a fatality rate of around 35%. In emerging infectious disease outbreaks, the most serious cases are identified first. Coronavirus infections can range from mild cold-like symptoms to severe cases that cause pneumonia, acute respiratory illness and death. About 20% of confirmed cases in the China coronavirus outbreak are classified as severe, similar to SARS and MERS. (Reuters)
Coronavirus outbreak: Air India B747 aircraft to depart from Delhi at 12.30 pm to evacuate Indian nationals from China, say officials. China to send charter flights overseas to bring back people from Wuhan, epicentre of coronavirus, said China’s State media
The United States told its citizens Thursday night “do not travel” to China, raising its advisory status to the highest level of alert because of the coronavirus epidemic. The State Department issued a level four warning — up from urging Americans to “reconsider” travel to China — and said any nationals in China now “should consider departing using commercial means.” (AFP)
About 20 countries, including India, Japan, South Korea, UAE, The US, Malaysia, Thailand, etc., have reported confirmed cases of the virus in travellers coming from China.
The WHO has declared the novel coronavirus outbreak a global health emergency. The UN health agency on Friday declared an international emergency over the deadly novel coronavirus from China — a rarely used designation that could lead to improved international co-ordination in tackling the disease.