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The Hubei health authority in China reported that 115 more people died of the coronavirus in Hubei province on Thursday, raising the death toll in the epicenter since the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak to 2,144.
Hubei authorities confirmed an additional 411 cases of the virus in Hubei on Thursday. The total number of cases in the epicenter of the outbreak is now 62,442.
By the numbers: The Hubei report brings the total number of deaths in mainland China to at least 2,233. The global death toll is at least 2,244, with 11 deaths outside of mainland China.
Japan has reported three deaths from the coronavirus, while Hong Kong and Iran have each reported two deaths from coronavirus. Taiwan, the Philippines, South Korea and France have each reported one death.
The global number of confirmed coronavirus cases now exceeds 76,154 with the vast majority of cases in mainland China.
China’s National Health Commission is expected to release numbers for all of China’s provinces later today.
Two passengers evacuated from the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan have tested positive for the novel coronavirus in Australia.
Brendan Murphy, chief medical officer for the Australian government, said in a statement that 164 people from the Diamond Princess arrived to the Howard Springs Quarantine Facility on Thursday to begin their 14-day quarantine.
Upon arrival, six passengers were identified to have minor respiratory symptoms and/or fevers. The six symptomatic passengers were moved into isolation and tested, two of those people have since tested positive for the novel coronavirus.
Murphy said both patients “remain well” and are being housed in a special isolation unit at the quarantine facility. Murphy added that “the development of positive cases after return to Australia is not unexpected” since there was continued evidence of spread of infection on board the Diamond Princess.
Murphy reassured other passengers and the crew on the Qantas evacuation flight saying that “all measures were taken to ensure their protection” and that “the small number of passengers on the plane meant passengers could be spread out higher risk passengers were seated in separate sections.”
The Department of Health reiterated that the two new cases pose no risk to the Howard Spring community and the surrounding communities around the quarantine facility.
Australia now has 17 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus.
Kuwait Airways suspended all flights to Iran on Thursday until further notice and advised its citizens not to travel to Qom following the emergence of coronavirus cases in the Islamic Republic of Iran, Kuwait Airways and state news said in a statement.
Kuwaiti Health Ministry said in a statement that it is advising citizens not to travel to the Iranian city of Qom. Those returning from Qom will be put into 14-day quarantine to ensure they do not carry the virus.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) the total global lost revenue for airlines could be $29.3 billion due to coronavirus.
IATA announced that its initial assessment of the impact of the novel coronavirus 2019 outbreak — also known as COVID-19 — shows a potential 13% full-year loss of passenger demand for carriers in the Asia-Pacific region.
“The sharp downturn in demand as a result of COVID-19 will have a financial impact on airlines — severe for those particularly exposed to the China market,” said Alexandre de Juniac, IATA’s director general and CEO.
Here’s how the group explained it in a press release:
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a new travel advisory today for Japan due to the coronavirus outbreak — the second coronavirus-related travel advisory the agency has issued outside of mainland China.
The CDC advises travelers to “practice usual precautions,” in accordance with a “Watch - Level 1” notice out of three possible levels.
Yesterday, the agency listed the first travel notice outside of mainland China — for Hong Kong, which also carries the “Level 1” advisory.
These precautions include avoiding contact with sick people and cleaning hands. The agency also advises people to seek medical advice if they have spent time in Japan during the last two weeks and feel ill with fever or respiratory symptoms.
The agency currently lists mainland China as “Warning - Level 3” and advises travelers to “avoid nonessential travel.” The notice excludes Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.
Chinese officials say the government has taken prudent action in the handling of the novel coronavirus. China’s State Council Information Office held a news conference today to lay out this case.
Yu Xiangyang, the deputy secretary general of State Council, said the city of Wuhan was put under travel restrictions and the Lunar New Year holiday was extended after President Xi Jinping instructed a senior adviser to “supervise efforts to contain the novel coronavirus.”
Yu also said the government mobilized resources and imports after finding daily demand was 15,000 protective suits a day when the supply was only 10,000 suits a day.
Yu said there were not enough hospital beds at first but it was not acceptable to turn suspected cases away. He said the government established an “accountability mechanism” to ensure that “officials and governments at all levels are held accountable in a city and a province”.
In a bid to ensure accountability, Yu said, “We will exercise maximum penalty to all those not doing their job well while working on prevention and control of the epidemic” and said the government was conducting “undercover investigations in communities.”
Yu went on to say all reported missed cases covered in the media have been investigated by Xi’s adviser, Sun Chunlan, and that all patients involved have been treated.
US health experts are part of a World Health Organization team in China investigating the novel coronavirus outbreak, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Thursday during a press briefing.
Tedros said the team on the ground in China includes experts from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the US National Institutes of Health, as well as experts from Singapore, Korea, Japan, Nigeria, Germany and Russia. The team includes experts in epidemiology, virology, clinical management, outbreak control and public health, he said.
Team members are working with Chinese counterparts to study transmissibility of the virus and the impact the of measures taken in China, Tedros said.
US health officials have said they made repeated offers, starting in early January, to send health experts to China, and expressed frustration that US experts had not yet been invited in.
A plane carrying Ukrainian citizens and other nationals evacuated from Wuhan, China, arrived today at Kharkiv Airport in eastern Ukraine, the Ukrainian Ministry of Interior said in a statement.
The statement said border guards provided clearance for 94 people arriving on the special flight: 22 crew members and accompanying medical personnel, along with 72 passengers. The ministry said the passengers included 45 Ukrainian citizens and 27 citizens of other countries, including Argentina, Ecuador, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Montenegro, Panama and Israel.
Video released by the ministry showed border control inspectors carrying out their inspections in full protective gear.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky defended the move, describing security measures on the flight as “unprecedented.” Passengers on board the aircraft, he added, were all healthy but would be quarantined and monitored over a period of 14 days at a medical facility belonging to the Ukrainian National Guard in the town of Novi Sanzhary.
Video circulating on social media showed local residents in the town protesting the arrival of evacuees, blocking roads and confronting police. In a Facebook post, Zelensky called on citizens to stop “attempts to block routes, block hospitals, not allow Ukrainian citizens into Ukraine.”
There are currently no diagnosed cases of coronavirus in Ukraine.
US citizens who were on board the Diamond Princess cruise and tested positive for the novel coronavirus must be cleared per US guidelines before returning home, according to letters sent by the US embassy in Tokyo to these passengers.
These guidelines were sent to at least one American passenger who is still in Japan. The US began evacuating some passengers earlier this week.
In order to be eligible to board a US-bound flight, three key criteria must be met:
This is in line with existing guidance from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on when to release patients from isolation in hospitals.
“You will not be cleared to travel simply by waiting 14 days,” the embassy specified. Fourteen days is the upper estimate of the virus’ incubation period.
These criteria are set by the CDC and the US Department of Health and Human Services. Carnival Corporation, which owns and operates the Diamond Princess cruise ship, has agreed to cover testing costs for these passengers if the Japanese government doesn’t, according to the letters.
After submitting test results to the CDC, passengers must wait to receive notification by a US embassy representative notifying them they are cleared to fly to the US.
For the rest of those aboard, CDC said on Tuesday that “all passengers and crew of the ship have been placed under travel restrictions, preventing them from returning to the United States for at least 14 days after they had left the Diamond Princess.”
John Haering and his wife Melanie were on a six-month world trip. He’d just retired. But shortly after the Diamond Princess quarantine began, John’s temperature spiked, and he was taken off the ship and into isolation in a local hospital.
Now, the couple are thousands of miles apart. Melanie isn’t sick, but she’s in quarantine – on a California military base – one of several hundred Americans evacuated Monday on charter flights.
“There’s a strange feeling of loneliness that you’re by yourself, that there’s nobody else here to take care of you,” John told CNN.
Japan says its decision to quarantine the ship was the best option.
But the US Centers for Disease Control says people on board that ship during quarantine were of higher risk to catch the virus – but the US didn’t evacuate its people for nearly two weeks after it began. Both John and Melanie are grateful the flights happened.
John only wishes they’d done it sooner.
“If that were the case, I would be sitting in a U.S. facility with U.S. doctors. My wife would be there and I would get the best care that I possibly get on my home soil,” he said.
Japan announced 12 new confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus on Thursday, including two government officials who worked onboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship.
Both of the officials helped with administrative work onboard.
The remaining 10 new cases originated on land, according to the Japanese health ministry.
Among the cases on land is one taxi driver in Okinawa who drove a tourist from the Diamond Princess and has now tested positive. The vessel stopped at a port in Okinawa on February 1, just days before the coronavirus cases were confirmed onboard.
The total tally of confirmed coronavirus cases in Japan now stands at 78 on land and 626 on the Diamond Princess.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to share information about the two countries’ coronavirus clinical treatment experiences during a phone call today.
In a written statement, South Korea’s Blue House said that President Xi explained the Chinese government’s actions in response to the novel coronavirus and told President Moon that “the Chinese people has broken away from the initial fear and are seeing the prospect and hope of overcoming the infectious disease.”
President Moon thanked President Xi for China’s active cooperation during South Koreans’ repatriation from China on charter flights, the Blue House said, adding that the South Korean government would like to add to the Chinese efforts in combating the novel coronavirus.
The two leaders also agreed to share clinical treatment experiences and to strengthen cooperation between the countries’ quarantine authorities.
Here’s today’s news:
Infections drop in virus epicenter: Hubei, the Chinese province at the center of the novel coronavirus outbreak, announced just 349 new cases today, the lowest daily number of infections officially recorded by China in weeks.
This appears to be partly due to a change in what is counted as a “confirmed case.”
The confirmed cases in mainland China increased by 394, according to the country’s National Health Commission, with only 45 of those new cases were outside of Hubei, according to the NHC’s official figures.
The total number of confirmed cases in mainland China is now 74,576, bringing the global total to 75,730.
“Confirmed case” definition changes: The fall comes as the Chinese government said it would no longer count “clinically confirmed” cases among the official total infections. It was a reversal from a decision made a week ago to include patients who had tested negative for the virus but showed symptoms.
Death toll rises: The number of people killed by the virus continues to rise, with 114 more deaths announced in mainland China today. In total, the global death toll is now 2,126.
Diamond Princess deaths: Two passengers from the formerly quarantined cruise ship have died of the coronavirus, Japan’s health ministry announced today.
Both passengers were in their 80s and had been in hospital in Japan, but no further information is known about them at this stage. A total of 626 cases of the coronavirus have been found onboard the ship.
Passengers depart cruise ship: Hundreds of passengers who have tested negative for the virus are due to leave the Diamond Princess today after two weeks in quarantine on board. Cruise goers from Canada and Israel will be among those allowed to leave Thursday.
South Korea infections jump: A patient has died in South Korea, and tested positive for coronavirus after their death, according to the country’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC). The cause of death is still being investigated, a KCDC official said.
According to the KCDC, there have been 22 new confirmed cases, bringing South Korea’s total confirmed infections to 104 on Thursday.
China stands by journalist expulsions: At his daily press conference today, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang was asked multiple times about the decision by China to expel three Wall Street Journal reporters over a controversial opinion piece they were not involved with.
But Geng said there was only one Wall Street Journal and it had to bear the responsibilities of its actions. “Those media who blatantly insult China, pitch racial discrimination and maliciously smear China must pay their price,” he said.
After two weeks in quarantine, 244 passengers disembarked from the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Yokohama, Japan, on Thursday, according to the Japanese Health Ministry.
These people had tested negative for the coronavirus, and were free to leave the vessel and travel.
The ministry also told CNN that it expected 800 passengers to disembark on Wednesday but only 443 left the ship. CNN previously reported 800 disembarked on Wednesday alone.
China says 29 of its confirmed novel coronavirus cases involve foreign citizens, according to the country’s State Council Information Office. Ten of the cases are in Hubei, the epicenter of the outbreak.
Among the total 29 cases: two have died, 18 were discharged and nine are still in isolation, receiving treatment.
In a Thursday press conference, Lian Weiliang, an official from the State Council and National Development and Reform Commission, said relevant embassies or consulates have been informed about the infected foreign citizens.
Three additional coronavirus cases were confirmed in Iran on Thursday while five suspected others await examination, according to Iranian officials and state news agency IRNA.
The latest additions bring the total number of confirmed cases to five – including two deaths – in the country, Iranian health ministry spokesman Kianush Jahanpour said on Twitter.
Two cases were confirmed in the province of Qom, south of Tehran, and one other in the city of Arak, according to Jahanpour.
Schools and universities shut: Schools and universities in Qom province have closed down on Thursday after the coronavirus deaths there, state news agency IRNA said.
Additionally, new facilities have been set-up to counter the outbreak, the Iranian government spokesman Ali Rabiei said on Twitter.
Rabiei said that the government will follow up anti-coronavirus measures “with its full capacity and sensitivity.”
The two deaths are the first linked to the novel coronavirus in the Middle East.
Chinese officials cited improved testing capacity of the novel coronavirus as the reason for changing the way that “confirmed cases” are counted in Hubei province.
“Confirmed case” definition changes: All official coronavirus cases from today must now be formally diagnosed before they are added to the totals.
The National Health Commission earlier explained that confirmed cases in Hubei province would now only include people who had positive lab test results from patient samples that match in nucleic acid and genetic sequencing for the virus.
Wang Guiqiang, director of the Society of Infectious Diseases of the Chinese Medical Association said at a press conference Thursday:
Confirmed cases: On Thursday, mainland China’s national count dropped to 394 new cases, one of the lowest counts of new cases in weeks.
This appears to be partly due to the change in what is counted as a “confirmed case.”
The total number of confirmed cases in mainland China is now 74,576, bringing the global total to 75,674.
The UK government has organized an evacuation flight for British nationals on board the quarantined Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan.
A total of 624 confirmed cases of the virus have been linked to the ship during its quarantine in Tokyo Bay.
UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab says the flight will depart Tokyo on Friday.
A patient has died in South Korea, and tested positive for coronavirus after their death, according to the country’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC).
The cause of death is still being investigated, a KCDC official said.
The death comes amid a rapid jump in cases across the Asian nation.
According to the KCDC, there have been 22 new confirmed cases, bringing South Korea’s total confirmed infections to 104 on Thursday.
Among the latest cases, 21 are from the south of the country, including five linked to a church and 13 linked to a hospital in Cheongdo County. One case is in the capital Seoul, according to the KCDC.
Patients and staff at Cheongdo Daenam hospital, where the death occurred, are being tested for the virus, and environmental disinfection is currently ongoing.
This post has been updated to more accurately reflect when coronavirus was detected in the deceased patient.
