February 9 coronavirus news

Chen Qiushi, a citizen journalist who had been reporting on the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, could no longer be reached by friends and family since Thursday.

With many Chinese citizens still in mourning over the the death of a whistleblower doctor, a citizen journalist who has filed critical reporting from Wuhan has gone missing.

As hundreds of thousands of people in China began demanding freedom of speech online Thursday, friends and family discovered that they could no longer contact journalist Chen Qiushi.

Chen arrived in Wuhan on January 24, a day after the city was placed under a state-imposed lockdown. He visited overflowing hospitals, funeral parlors and makeshift isolation wards and uploaded videos of what he saw online, offering the world a glimpse into the often grim reality at the heart of the crisis.

His relatives later found out that he had been put into forced quarantine by the police. By Sunday, Chen’s disappearance had started to gain traction on Weibo, China’s Twitter-like platform, with many pleading for his release.

“Hope the government can treat Chen Qiushi in a fair and just way,” one user wrote on Sunday morning. “We can no longer afford a second Li Wenliang!”

Read the full story here.

A second new hospital has opened in Wuhan, with capacity for 1,500 patients, space which is badly needed in the heart of China’s coronavirus epidemic.

Chinese state broadcaster CCTV announced Saturday that the first team of medical staff had arrived at the Leishenshan Hospital, ready to work.

The news came as the Chinese government made it clear it would tolerate no disruptions to the function of front line hospitals during the crisis.

In a joint statement Saturday, China’s National Health Commission, Supreme Court and Ministry of Public Security announced seven “medical-related crimes” that would be severely punished during the epidemic.

The seven crimes include attacking medical personnel, refusing medical checks and damaging or destroying property at medical facilities.

According to the statement, anyone who violates new virus control regulations will be quickly prosecuted and could face arrest, jail or even the death penalty.

Personnel clad in protective gear on board the Diamond Princess cruise ship prepare to conduct a transfer in Yokohama on February 7, 2020. Photo by KAZUHIRO NOGI/AFP via Getty Images

When the Diamond Princess cruise ship went into quarantine in Yokohama, Japan, it had 428 US citizens on board.

At least 13 of them have already been confirmed to be infected with the novel coronavirus, which has spread quickly through the ship. In total, 70 passengers have the virus.

US author Gay Courter, who is on board the ship, told CNN that she was desperate to get off but was being blocked by US and Japanese authorities, despite her insurance provider agreeing to evacuate her.

“I (just) do not want to go home in a box,” she said.  

The US embassy in Tokyo today issued a message to all the Americans on board the Diamond Princess, reassuring them that their “welfare and safety” was their top priority.

“The safest option to minimize the risk of infection is to remain in your cabin on the ship, as passengers on the Diamond Princess are doing,” the letter said, adding that after their quarantine was over there would be no further protective measures when they returned to the US.

The embassy added that if anyone on board was running low on medication they needed to let the ship’s medical center know as soon as possible.

“The US Embassy and the Department of State continue to closely monitor the situation,” the statement said.

Six new cases of Wuhan coronavirus have been confirmed on the Diamond Princess cruise ship docked off the coast of Yokohama, according to a passenger announcement on the ship. 

The latest confirmed cases bring the total number of infected people from the ship to 70, and the total in Japan to 96.

Ambulances on the dock brought in additional medical staff on Sunday, as nine other passengers also disembarked from the ship due to health issues unrelated to the virus. All passengers taken off the ship will be sent to the hospital to be quarantined.

When severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) broke out in China just under two decades ago, it sparked a mass panic that sent a chill through the global economy.

The virus that is now rampaging through China could be much more damaging.

Since the outbreak of SARS in 2002, the world economy has become increasingly interlinked and more reliant on China, which has become the world’s factory.

It churns out products such as Apple’s iPhone and drives demand for commodities such as oil and copper, as well as boasting hundreds of millions of keen consumers.

Economists say the current level of disruption is manageable. If the number of new coronavirus cases begins to slow, and China’s factories reopen soon, the result will be a fleeting hit to the Chinese economy in the first quarter and a dent in global growth.

But if the virus continues to spread, the economic damage will increase rapidly.

Read the full analysis here.

A German Red Cross member stands in front of camp beds at a medical assessment center at Frankfurt airport on the eve of the arrival of German citizens evacuated from the Chinese city of Wuhan on January 31, 2020.

There are now 14 people confirmed to be infected with the Wuhan coronavirus in Germany, according to the government’s website.

Twelve cases are in the state of Bavaria, and the other two are in the state of Hesse.

New cases are still trickling in from around the world today, including Singapore and South Korea. Earlier on Sunday, Vietnam confirmed it now has 13 cases of coronavirus.

In addition, the Vietnamese government said over 1,000 of their nationals returning from China and around 500 others who had close contact with them are currently being quarantined and monitored.

More than 200 passengers, including government officials and British nationals, took off from Wuhan on Saturday night, on the UK’s last evacuation flight out of the city.

The British Foreign Office announced the flight had taken off and said that it would be the final trip out of the city at the epicenter of the novel coronavirus outbreak.

Multiple governments, including the United States, have tried to organize flights to take their citizens out of the city.

Among the countries to have flown their citizens out of Wuhan are Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Italy, Russia and Japan.

This photo taken on February 3, 2020 shows a medical staff member spraying disinfectant on a patient after returning from a hospital and re-entering a quarantine zone in Wuhan. STR/AFP via Getty Images)

A study published Friday in the medical journal JAMA found that 41% of the first 138 patients diagnosed at one hospital in Wuhan, China, were presumed to be infected in that hospital.

Why it’s big news: In plain English, it means that nearly half of the initial infections in this hospital appear to have been spread within the hospital itself. This is called nosocomial transmission. (Doctors use big words to hide bad things: Nosocomial means caught it in the hospital.)

Super-spreader event seems unlikely: What’s more, most spread doesn’t appear to have been the result of a so-called “super-spreader event,” in which a single patient transmits infection to many other people. In these events, a procedure such as bronchoscopy – where a doctor inserts a tube into the patient’s lungs – can result in many infections.

This would be a concern, but not nearly as much as what appears to have happened: Many health care workers and many patients got infected in many parts of the hospital. What’s more, since there’s a broad spectrum of infection and only patients who were sick were tested, it’s quite likely that there was even more transmission in the hospital.

Spreading in hospitals: So, like severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) – other coronaviruses – before it, the Wuhan coronavirus is spreading in hospitals.

The virus appears to be quite infectious.

Read more from Dr Frieden here.

Every day, the number of people killed by the coronavirus in mainland China grows.

A total of 89 people in mainland China died from the Wuhan coronavirus on Saturday, according to the country’s National Health Commission (NHC), the highest single-day death toll since the Chinese authorities began issuing daily updates.

The number of deaths per day in mainland China has steadily risen over the past few weeks.

Here’s the breakdown from the NHC:

Chinese authorities said 17 people had died from the virus before January 23.

More than 810 people have now died of the pneumonia-like novel coronavirus, making it more deadly than the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak between 2002 and 2003.

But while it may have killed more people, the death rate of the novel coronavirus is much lower than SARS.

According to the World Health Organization, the death rate for the SARS epidemic was 9.6% – so for every 10 people who got it, on average one would die.

In comparison, the death rate for the coronavirus so far has appeared to be much lower. On current numbers, the death rate appears to be at 2.2% globally, less than a quarter of SARS.

However, the coronavirus also appears to be more contagious than SARS.

While in total, SARS only had just over 8,000 confirmed cases, the current virus has already infected more than 37,000 people across the world.

A screengrab from a video shows the novel coronavirus in microscopic view. Doherty Institute, University of Melbourne

China’s National Health Commission gave the Wuhan coronavirus a temporary name at a news conference on Saturday.

For weeks, the rapidly-spreading virus has only been known by the name of the city where it originated, something which locals in Wuhan have found frustrating and stigmatizing.

Chinese officials said that the virus would temporarily be named the Novel Coronavirus Pneumonia, or NCP.

There is no news on when an official final title for the virus will be designated.

A total of 16 people have tested positive for Wuhan coronavirus in Malaysia, according to a report from state news agency Bernama today.

Out of those, 12 of the 16 cases are Chinese nationals, while the four others are Malaysians.

On Friday, Malaysia announced it would extend its temporary travel ban from only Hubei – the epicenter of the outbreak – to all provinces in China under lockdown due to the virus, according to state media. 

The government also said it would make arrangements to repatriate 212 Malaysian embassy and consulate staff in China, and 34 citizens currently in Wuhan.

The new coronavirus has now spread to more than 25 countries and territories outside of mainland China, with over 350 people infected as of today.

In response, the World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern.

With Malaysia, South Korea and Singapore all announcing new cases today, here is where the numbers currently stand:

Read more about the patients in each place.

People wearing protective face masks wait at a pedestrian crossing in Singapore on February 4, 2020. Photo by ROSLAN RAHMAN/AFP via Getty Images

There are now 40 cases of the Wuhan coronavirus in Singapore, the largest number of infections outside of mainland China.

Seven new cases were announced by the Singaporean Ministry of Health today, five of which were linked to previously known infections.

“Amongst the confirmed cases, two have been discharged. Of the remaining 38, most are stable or improving. Four are in critical condition in the intensive care unit, and one requires additional oxygen support,” the ministry statement said.

The seven new infections range in age from 36 to 64 and none of them have any recent travel history to mainland China.

But the Singaporean government said in the statement that the risk of contracting the virus in public places is still low.

Anthem Of The Seas is seen moored at the port of Bilbao, Spain during its maiden voyage, on April 26, 2015. ANDER GILLENEA/AFP via Getty Images

The Royal Caribbean cruise line announced Saturday that it would no longer allow any guest with a Chinese, Hong Kong or Macao passport to board its ships.

“We apologize for the inconvenience to any guests affected by these measures put in place to ensure the safety and well-being of all our guests and crew,” the statement said.

It added that all itineraries for the next six months that involved stopovers in mainland China were under review.

It comes as Royal Caribbean’s “Anthem of the Seas” cruise ship has been delayed during a stopover in the United States, over concerns that a number of passengers had previously traveled to mainland China.

Today the US Centers for Disease Control announced that four passengers with flu-like symptoms who had been taken off the ship had tested negative for the Wuhan coronavirus.

South Korea now has 25 cases of the Wuhan coronavirus across the country, according to the South Korean Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

It is one of only a few nations that have seen more than 20 cases of the virus, including Japan, Thailand and Singapore.

The government announced Saturday that it would be reimbursing people who had been hospitalized or quarantined amid the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak.

The Welfare Ministry said in a press release that families who had been put out for more than 14 days could receive a government subsidy, of varying amounts.

A family of one will receive approximately $380 per month while a family of four will get approximately $1,030, according to the release.

Medical staff walk through a makeshift hospital in Wuhan, China, on February 5.

The spread of the coronavirus shows no sign of stopping in mainland China today, after the government announced thousands of new infections and the country’s deadliest day from the virus.

If you’re just joining us, here’s what you need to know:

Deadliest day: The 89 deaths in mainland China on Saturday are the highest number in a single day since the crisis began in January.

Foreigners die in China: An American citizen and a Japanese man in his 60s died from the coronavirus on Saturday in Wuhan, the first fatality from either country.

Global spread: New cases are continuing to emerge in countries across the world, while two cruises ships remain locked in quarantine in Japan and Hong Kong.

In total, 64 people on board the Diamond Princess cruise ship off the coast of Yokohama have now tested positive for the coronavirus.

WHO heads to China: The World Health Organization has announced that it will be sending a team to China to investigate the virus, with the team leader expected to touch down on Monday.

In a news briefing on Saturday, WHO director general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that the rapid spread of misinformation was making controlling the virus harder.

“At WHO, we’re not just battling the virus, we’re also battling the trolls and conspiracy theorists that push misinformation and undermine the outbreak response,” he said.

Another 89 people have died of the Wuhan coronavirus, bringing the death toll globally to 813, China’s National Health Commission confirmed today.

That includes 811 people who have died in mainland China and one person each in Hong Kong and the Philippines.

The new deaths push the Wuhan coronavirus death toll above that of the 2003 severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak, which killed 774 people.

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in mainland China is at least 37,198, an increase of 2,656 from Saturday, according to the health authorities. 

A resident wearing a mask shops for vegetables in Wuhan on January 23. Getty Images

It has been more than two weeks since the city of Wuhan was put on strict lockdown by the Chinese government in an attempt to rein in the coronavirus.

Since then, resident Wu Chen says he has only gone out of his house only three times – once when he ran out of cat food.

He said that he is confident the authorities will bring the virus under control but until then he can only wait for the all clear to go outside.

While he waits, he takes his temperature twice a day, practices his handwriting and plays hide-and-seek with his cat.

His story is typical of a city of millions of people, all trapped in their apartments.

Read more here

People wear masks to protect themselves against the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) virus April 16, 2003 in Hong Kong. Christian Keenan/Getty Images

The global death toll from the Wuhan coronavirus is at least 805, surpassing the number of fatalities from the deadly 2003 severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak.

When SARS swept across the world, it sparked an international panic and infected more than 8,000 people, killing 774.

In comparison, the coronavirus has now infected more than 27,000 people in China’s Hubei province alone – and over 37,000 globally.

Like SARS, this latest outbreak is caused by a coronavirus, a family of viruses common to animals that range from the common cold, to more serious diseases, such as Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS).

Both the SARS and Wuhan outbreaks started in China – and both are believed to have originated from wild animal markets.