WHO issues latest briefing; South Korean city sees surge in cases; and two Japanese passengers from stricken Diamond Princess ship die
- South Korean city on high alert as cases soar at ‘cult’ church
- Experts fear false rumours could harm China cooperation on virus
- Britons stuck on cruise ship to be flown home
- Share your experiences
The World Health Organization is coordinating with the African Union to prepare the continent’s countries for potential arrivals of people infected with coronavirus.
Last week, the first case of coronavirus in Africa was confirmed when a case emerged in Egypt.
"We’re partnering with the @AfricaCDC to coordinate our efforts to prepare African countries for the potential arrival of the #coronavirus"-@DrTedros #COVID19
The World Health Organization has issued a plea to a dozen manufacturers of personal protective equipment to help in a bid to protect health workers from the spread of coronavirus.
“I’ve written to 12 chief executives of manufacturers of personal protective equipment to seek their cooperation to ensure supply to protect health workers,” said the WHO director general, Tedros Adhanom.
"I’ve written to 12 chief executives of manufacturers of personal protective equipment to seek their cooperation to ensure supply to protect #healthworkers"-@DrTedros #COVID19 #coronavirus
Over half of the coronavirus cases outside of China are onboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan, the World Health Organization’s director general has said.
Giving the WHO’s daily update, Tedros Adhanom said there were now more than 1,000 cases outside mainland China, and seven deaths.
"As of 6am GVA time this morning, #China has reported 74,675 cases of #COVID19 to WHO, including 2121 deaths.
The data from continue to show a decline in new cases. Once again, we’re encouraged by this trend, but this is no time for complacency"-@DrTedros #coronavirus
"Outside #China, there are now 1076 #COVID19 cases in 26 countries, with seven deaths.
In the past 24 hours the Islamic Republic of #Iran has reported 5 cases, 2 of which have died"-@DrTedros #coronavirus
"Of all cases outside #China, over 1/2 are among passengers on the #DiamondPrincess cruise ship.
The first passengers have now disembarked, providing they have a negative test, no symptoms and no contact with a confirmed case in the past 14 days"-@DrTedros #COVID19 #coronavirus
"#Japan has also advised passengers to stay at home for a further 14 days and monitor their temperature and has set up a hotline for passengers to call if they have concerns"-@DrTedros #COVID19 #coronavirus
Here’s the latest country-by-country breakdown of the coronavirus outbreak, as the number of those infected worldwide hits nearly 75,000.
According to Associated Press, the latest figures provided by each government’s health authority as of Thursday are:
Here are the main things that have happened today:
Our health editor, Sarah Boseley, reports that 27 prominent public health scientists from nine countries have signed a joint statement of support for Chinese colleagues who are being criticised on social media, and even threatened with violence as false rumours circulate about the origins of the coronavirus.
“We work very closely with the Chinese scientists. We have had incredible openness with the labs in China for the last 15 years, since Sars,” said Dr Peter Daszak, the president of EcoHealth Alliance in the United States.
Related: Experts fear false rumours could harm Chinese cooperation on coronavirus
UK companies have begun to flag up the economic impact of the coronavirus. Aveva, which is one of Britain’s biggest tech groups and earns 5% of its revenues from China, said Chinese sales had been knocked by the disruption. Shares in the FTSE 100-listed firm dropped 4% after its update.
Shares in the kitchen and bathroom supplier Norcros plummeted 13% when it alerted over profits because of the impact of the disease on Chinese-based suppliers.
US military forces in South Korea have just issued a statement about their response to the situation in Daegu.
Please visit our website for the latest COVID-19 update. We have taken prudent precautionary health measures at U.S. Army Garrison Daegu out of continued caution. https://t.co/OWTfWP4AWX
While, naturally, people’s health is the primary concern with the coronavirus outbreak, it is also undoubtedly having a global economic impact as well.
Air France-KLM, Qantas, and the global container shipping giant Maersk have become the latest businesses to warn about the financial impact from the continued spread of the coronavirus.
Related: How coronavirus has hit the airline and shipping industry
There is some more detail from Iran of the coronavirus cases there. Three cases have been confirmed today, in addition to the two people who were known to have died from it.
The cases have all been in Qom, which is around 140km (86 miles) south of the capital, Tehran. According to the official IRNA news agency all schools and universities, including religious Shia seminaries, were shut down in the city.
British Airways have announced a further round of flight cancellations. A spokesperson for the airline said: “In line with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s continued advice against all but essential travel to mainland China, we are cancelling flights to and from Beijing and Shanghai until April 17 2020. We continue to fly to and from Hong Kong. We will keep the situation under review.”
The company said it would be contacting customers on cancelled flights to discuss their travel options, which includes the possibility of rebooking on to other carriers, refunds, or flying on a later date.
Here’s a summary of the main events so far today.
PA is reporting that the plane carrying British passengers from the Diamond Princess cruise ship will land at the MoD base Boscombe Down in Wiltshire. Around 70 Britons will be on the repatriation flight, which is expected to leave Tokyo late tomorrow night.
Sources have told the PA news agency that the Britons in Cambodia who left the Westerdam cruise ship are being assisted by the Foreign Office to make their way home. They are being quite coy about it though – refusing to disclose how many Britons are involved, or indeed whether they may have already arrived back in the country.
The group, who have all tested negative for coronavirus while in Cambodia, are receiving health advice and being helped with commercial flight bookings.
Hong Kong’s Information Services Department has issued some photos of passengers arriving at Hong Kong international airport on a flight from Tokyo. A total of 106 Hong Kong residents, who were quarantined on the Diamond Princess cruise liner in Yokohama, were permitted to leave Japan and have flown back to Hong Kong. Upon arrival they were taken straight to a designated quarantine site.
Australia may have extended its ban on foreign travellers from China for another week until 29 February, but Melbourne is trying to do something to make the Chinese population currently there feel more welcome. The Victoria state government has decided to light up a series of landmarks including the Arts Centre, the National Gallery Victoria and Melbourne town hall in red and gold as a show of solidarity with China over the coronavirus outbreak.
Perhaps more practically, it has proposed that as soon as it is safe to visit China again, the city will send a 100-strong trade delegation.
A British couple who published video diaries from a cruise ship quarantined off the coast of Japan have confirmed that they have the coronvirus as they posted Facebook updates from hospital.
Sally and David Abel, who were among thousands of passengers on board the Diamond Princess cruise ship, said that Japanese doctors had told them that vaccinations which they had in the past for the flu had stopped the virus from spreading further.
Three Iranian patients have tested positive for the new coronavirus disease, according to the state’s semi-official ISNA news agency.
The latest development in Iran comes after its health ministry said on Wednesday that two people had died after preliminary tests came back as positive for Covid-19.
A Japanese government official has described coronavirus as the biggest risk to the economy in a country which has already been heavily criticised by others, including US authorities for its handling of quarantined cruise ship passengers.
His comments came monthly report said that the Japanese labour market remained solid, but warned about risks to the outlook from the coronavirus epidemic.
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ)is continuing to cover the crisis in China after the state expelled three of its reporters from the country, a move which the news outlet criticised in an editorial on Wednesday night.
The WSJ’s latest report (paywall) reports that overburdened hospitals are struggling to provide care to other patients in Hubei, the province at the centre of the outbreak, with some facilities turning away pregnant women with complications.
Related: China to expel WSJ journalists over 'malicious’ coronavirus column
Two more Russians aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship quarantined in Japan have been diagnosed with the virus, the Russian Embassy in Japan has said.
The two will be transferred to a hospital in Japan for treatment, according to the embassy statement published on Facebook.
An evacuation flight for Britons stuck on a cruise ship docked off the coast of Japan over coronavirus fears will leave Tokyo on Friday, the UK’s foreign secretary has said.
Dominic Raab said information had been provided to those registered for the flight, but he urged other British nationals still seeking to leave to contact the Foreign Office. He added: “We will continue to support British nationals who wish to stay in Japan.”
I can confirm the evacuation flight out of Tokyo on Friday for British nationals from the Diamond Princess cruise ship: https://t.co/vBYNRkvBbK
Here’s a summary of events so far on Thursday on the coronavirus.
The mayor of a South Korean city of Daegu has ordered the shutdown of all kindergartens and public libraries, as a surge in confirmed Covid-19 cases linked to a local church raised the prospect of wider transmission.
Reuters reported that malls in Daegu, the country’s fourth largest city (population of 2.5 million), were largely empty.
The Global Times is reporting that Beijing has postponed some student exams that were due to be held in March.
Beijing has postponed exams due in March, including some college entrance tests and high school recruitments, because of the #COVID19 outbreak, Beijing Education Examinations Authority announced Thursday. pic.twitter.com/xhkbkVzM0j
China’s state-run media says small- and medium-sized enterprises may lay off 30% of staff because of the coronavirus.
#China’s small- and medium-sized enterprises, #SMEs may lay off over 30% staff due to #coronavirus impact: Zhou Dewen, deputy director of the China Association of Small and Medium Enterprises #COVID19 https://t.co/0ylieRYk4z pic.twitter.com/HPgIJlunM3
An evacuation flight for Britons stuck on the Diamond Princess will leave Tokyo on Friday, according to the British foreign secretary, Dominic Raab.
There were 78 British passengers on the cruise liner when cases of the coronavirus strain known as Covid-19 started to emerge. Four British cases have since been confirmed.
Indonesia has announced it will evacuate 74 of its nationals from the stricken Diamond Princess cruise liner.
Passengers are continuing to disembark from the ship docked at Yokohama, south of Tokyo.
Indonesia currently has no reported cases of coronavirus, but the idyllic holiday island of Bali has been hit by the ripple effect of the crisis, with tourism plummeting. At least one expert says Bali “does not have the capacity” to treat patients if they become sick.
You can read our full story on it below.
Related: 'Bali's been through a lot': holiday island's tourism industry hit by coronavirus fears
The director of disaster response who has been out at the facility housing the new arrivals near Darwin said she is awaiting final number of arrivals but believes it’s 170.
Six New Zealanders also arrived on the flight carrying Australians from Japan and were transferred to New Zealand.
We are just seeing a press conference from Australia, where passengers from the Diamond Cruise ship recently arrived to carry out 14 days of quarantine. The Northern Territory’s deputy chief health minister, Dianne Stephens, said some arrivals had minor cold symptoms and will be tested for Covid-19.
There were six people off that plane identified as having minor sniffles and sore throat that we have separated completely, and they will be swabbed this afternoon, and those people have gone straight into an isolation area of the HowardSprings facility, in the same way that we have done that for the work and cohort, people who have had sniffles and colds. If somebody does test positive for COVID-19, we are fully prepared to manage that situation out at Howard Springs, or in the Royal Darwin Hospital and the jurisdictions are ready to come and retrieve patients who require that.
Deaths in China in the past 24 hours were recorded as 114, of which 108 were in Hubei province. This compares to 136 recorded the previous day. The new total for people who have died from Covid-19 in China is now 2,118.
Let’s take a look at today’s national figures from China on infections due to the virus.
The national health commission said that in the 24 hours to midnight on Wednesday, there were 394 new cases, taking confirmed cases across the country to 74,576.
South Korea has recorded 31 news cases today, taking its total to 82.
The country’s disease control centre said 30 of the new cases were in the city of Daegu and surrounding Gyeongbuk province south of Seoul.
The two Diamond Princess passengers who died on Thursday were both Japanese, NHK reported - an 87-year-old man and an 84-year-old woman. Both victims reportedly had pre-existing medical conditions, the broadcaster said, adding that the man had been hospitalised on 11 February and the woman the following day.
On Wednesday, a video by Prof Kentaro Iwata, a specialist in infectious diseases at Kobe University Hospital, was circulated widely on social media.
In it he criticised quarantine measures on the cruise liner, including that there were no designated “green” or “red” zones on the ship that indicated areas that were clear of the virus, or ones where it was present.
I felt much safer when I was in Africa [during the Ebola crisis] because you know where the virus exists and you know where the patient is. But inside the Diamond Princess you have no idea where the virus is.
Over the past few days there has been increasing criticism of the Japanese authorities’ handling of the infection on the cruise line, as infections continued to mount, despite infection control measures being in place.
Japan’s health minister, Katsunobu Kato, on Thursday defended Japan’s response to the outbreak in parliament, telling lawmakers that officials had taken expert advice and responded to issues on a daily basis.
Some news just breaking that two elderly passengers from the Diamond Princess cruise liner in Japan, have died. They are believed to be a man and a woman in their 80s, according to Japanese broadcasters Kyodo and NHK. Both outlets are citing government sources. We’ll bring you more on this story as soon as we have it.
More than 620 of the passengers on the Diamond Princess liner have been infected on the ship, which has been quarantined since 3 February, initially with about 3,700 people on board.
Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of the coronavirus outbreak.
Here’s an update of what we know so far.
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