February 7 coronavirus news

A cruise ship has been denied entry by Japanese authorities and is now in a “holding pattern” off the southeast coast of Okinawa over fears of coronavirus.

The MS Westerdam left Singapore on January 16 for what should have been a 30-day cruise around Asia. But after leaving Hong Kong on February 1, the ship has been turned away from ports in the Philippines and Taiwan due to fears that there may be coronavirus cases on board.

In Hong Kong, the ship disembarked 1,254 guests and embarked 768 guests before departing on Saturday, the cruise company Holland America Line (HAL) said.

There is no suggestion that any passengers, current or former, have been infected, the cruise company said on Twitter.

On Thursday, the Japanese government said that it would not allow the Westerdam to call anywhere in their territory.

The ship planned to make stops in the Philippines, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, and finally China but had revised the ship’s final destination from Shanghai to Yokohama following the warning by US CDC on January 28th, according to the company.

Australian passenger David Holst, 63, is traveling on the Westerdam with his wife Judy.

“No one wants us,” Holst told CNN from the cruise ship. “Holland America said they’re in discussions with the US State Department, the US Navy, and the Dutch government to try and find a solution. I have no idea what that will be or when that would be.”

Holst said he and his wife had spent more than $20,000 on the trip, including flights. But he said the past six or seven days had been a “nightmare.”

“It keeps getting worse and everyone on board is just living in fear that the bell is going to ring and the captain is going to say, ‘Return to your cabins, we’re in quarantine and we’ve got a virus case on board,’” he said.

Passengers on a cruise ship that docked Friday morning near New York City will be assessed in port for the coronavirus, an official with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention with knowledge of the situation tells CNN.

Concern over possible coronavirus infection has prompted officials to quarantine 12 passengers aboard a Royal Caribbean cruise ship that arrived Friday morning in Bayonne, New Jersey.

“There are folks on the ship that have a history of travel to China and so CDC and local health officials are going to board the ship when it docks to do an assessment in port for coronavirus,” the source said.

Ambulances and stretchers were positioned Friday near The Anthem of the Seas at the port at Bayonne – a New Jersey city just south of Manhattan – and personnel were boarding the ship, aerial video from CNN affiliates in New York shows.

“I have been briefed on the (Royal Caribbean) cruise ship arriving this morning,” Bayonne Mayor Jimmy Davis tweeted. “I am certain that the NJ DoH, CDC, and PA NY/NJ are prepared and equipped to address any concerns this morning.”

Read the full story here

Two American flights from Wuhan, China – the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak – have landed in the US and Canada, officials have confirmed.

The first flight landed at California’s Travis Air Force Base, the Air Force base official told CNN. The second flight landed at Vancouver International Airport, according to Airport Authority spokesman Brock Penner.

Police wear protective masks near the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge on February 5.

Hong Kong’s Government has announced that travelers from the mainland who refuse to undergo the mandatory quarantine for coronavirus may face six months imprisonment.

Speaking at a news conference on Friday, Chief Secretary Matthew Cheung said that the 14-day mandatory quarantine being implemented for visitors arriving from mainland China is expected to further reduce the number of people crossing the border.

The current criteria for reporting suspected cases had been expanded to include those who show signs of fevers, respiratory infections and pneumonia, Cheung added.

Public pressure: Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam has announced a series of new border closures over the Wuhan virus, amid intense public pressure to stop anyone crossing into the city from mainland China, which currently has more than 31,000 cases of coronavirus. Lam has so far fallen short of completely sealing off the city.

More cases: Hong Kong currently has 25 confirmed cases of the Wuhan coronavirus, with the latest case – a 58-year-old male who lives in between Zhuhai and Hong Kong – confirmed by officials on Friday.

American couple Kent and Rebecca Frasure found themselves quarantined on a cruise ship near Tokyo, Japan, after a former passenger tested positive for the coronavirus.

On Friday morning, Rebecca, 35, found out she had tested positive for Wuhan coronavirus and had to leave the The Diamond Princess ship immediately – alone, as her husband Kent, 42, was still apparently uninfected.

Her only symptom when she tested positive was a cough.

“It is terrible, I could never imagine that this could be happening right now,” she told CNN shortly before she left the boat. “(The hardest part) is the unknown. Like, I don’t know what’s going to happen an hour from now.”

There are more than 3,700 people on board, including 2,600 passengers, of whom 428 are American. So far, 61 passengers have tested positive for the virus, and the quarantine is expected to last until at least February 19.

Read the full story here.

A sign at a pharmacy in Bangkok, Thailand, notifies customers that face masks are out of stock, on January 31.

The world is facing a “chronic shortage” of equipment that could shield individuals from coronavirus, World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a briefing in Geneva on Friday. 

“We’re sending testing kits, mask, gloves, respirators and gowns to countries in every region. However the world is facing a chronic shortage of personal protective equipment,” he said. 

A disposable face mask moves on the production line at Yokoi Co. Ltd. factory in Nagoya, Japan on Thursday.

How officials are addressing the issue: Ghebreyesus added that he will be speaking to the Pandemic Supply Chain Network to identify the bottlenecks, find solutions and “push with fairness in distribution of equipment.”

Pedestrians walk past a Burberry store in Shanghai in July 2019.

Burberry is the latest luxury goods retailer to be hit by the coronavirus outbreak.

The company said in a statement Friday that it has shuttered 24 of its 64 stores in mainland China because of a “material negative effect on luxury demand” caused by the outbreak. Stores that remain open are operating with limited hours and seeing fewer customers.

“While we cannot currently predict how long this situation will last, we remain confident in our strategy. In the meantime, we are taking mitigating actions and every precaution to help ensure the safety and wellbeing of our employees,” said Burberry CEO Marco Gobbetti.

Luxury goods retailers are expected to be particularly hard hit by the coronavirus outbreak, given that Chinese consumers account for about a third of global spend, according to McKinsey.

These companies usually benefit from increased spending over the Lunar New Year, but fewer people have been leaving their homes or traveling abroad since the virus hit.

“The spending patterns of Chinese customers in Europe and other tourist destinations have been less impacted to date but given widening travel restrictions, we anticipate these to worsen over the coming weeks,” the company said.

Shutdowns have also knocked car manufacturers and planemakers, which have been forced to keep plants closed for longer than expected, as well as the shipping industry, which is crucial to global trade.

Wynn Resorts said Friday that it is losing as much as $2.6 million a day due to casino closures in Macao.

Three more cases of coronavirus in Singapore have been confirmed by the country’s Ministry of Health, bringing its total to 33.

Only Japan has more cases than this outside mainland China – with 25 infections on land, and 61 aboard a cruise ship anchored and quarantined near Tokyo.

All three cases in Singapore are national citizens with no links or travel history to China, said authorities. The three patients – a 53-year-old male, a 42-year-old female and a 39-year-old female – are currently being treated in isolation.

The ministry also said that of the 33 confirmed cases, two have been discharged and two still remain in critical condition in the intensive care unit.

High alert: Following the growing number of local transmission cases in Singapore, the ministry announced on Thursday that the Disease Outbreak Response System Condition alert level will be raised to orange – the second highest – which requires the cancellation of large-scale events and inter-school activities, and introduce daily health checks at workplaces.

The ministry has also urged the public to wear government-issued face masks in order to stop the spread of the virus.

Medical personnel prepare to transfer passengers suspected of being infected with the coronavirus aboard the Diamond Princes cruise ship, docked at the Daikoku Pier Cruise Terminal in Yokohama, Japan, on Friday.

Eleven Americans from the cruise ship Diamond Princess, currently docked and quarantined near Tokyo, have tested positive for the Wuhan coronavirus, a Princess Cruises spokesperson told CNN Friday.

The number of infected Americans rose from three to 11 on Friday, when 41 new cases were announced.

A total of 61 people from the Diamond Princess have so far tested positive for the virus, which has sickened more than 31,000 people around the world.

The Japanese government said Friday that those who test positive would be moved to local hospitals, but the Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary would not comment on the severity of the cases.

Confirmed cases on board the Diamond Princess:

Guests

Crew members

Copenhagen's Lufthavnen Airport Terminal pictured in March 2016.

A section of Copenhagen airport was closed on Friday morning after an Asian woman presented flu symptoms upon arrival. 

Airport officials temporarily shut terminal 3 over fears of coronavirus, according to local reports. The woman had arrived on a flight from China via Finland according to Danish media. It has since reopened, the press office told CNN.

Coronavirus in Europe: There are confirmed cases of coronavirus in several European countries, including Belgium (1), Finland (1), France (6), Germany (13), Italy (3), Spain (1), Sweden (1) and the UK (3).

A Uniqlo store in Beijing on February 28, 2019.

About half of all Uniqlo stores in China will temporarily close due to the coronavirus outbreak, according to Fast Retailing, the Japanese company that owns Uniqlo.

A company spokesperson says they have closed around 370 out of 750 stores in mainland China.

That includes all 17 of its outlets in Hubei province, which were the first to close, as of January 23.

So far, the company has not closed any stores outside of mainland China. It says there is no planned reopening date for its China stores yet, as it continues to monitor the situation.

The death toll and number of people infected by the Wuhan coronavirus continues to climb, despite severe quarantine and population control methods in China.

In a call with US President Donald Trump, Chinese President Xi Jinping said virus control is at “critical stage.”

Here’s where we’re at:

Death toll:

Confirmed cases: The vast majority of these cases and deaths are in China and they’re concentrated in Hubei province, where the outbreak began.The virus has spread to more than countries and territories outside of mainland China.

Spike in cases: Several Asian countries have seen worrying spikes in cases in recent days, sparking fears of self-sustaining outbreak clusters. Japan has 86 cases, including the cases on a cruise ship docked near Tokyo, the highest number in a country outside China; Singapore has 30; Thailand has 25; and South Korea and Hong Kong have 24 each.

For decades, China’s government has based its legitimacy on its ability to grow the economy, keeping its people safe and successful.

The Wuhan conronavirus threatens this social contract in two ways: the utter failure to contain the outbreak has put hundreds of millions at risk, while the already-struggling economy suffers another blow.

Censors crack down: The public has been angry for weeks that Wuhan officials downplayed the virus and silenced whistleblowers like Li.

But the central authorities were largely able to keep this anger focused on local officials by allowing a rare amount of transparency and giving Chinese media a relatively free hand.

In the past week or so, however, the central authorities have tightened their grip on the flow of information, with state media emphasizing positive stories of resilience and heroism.

What Li’s death means for China: Li might have fit into this new narrative of heroism. But his death has instead exposed the cold reality at the heart of the Chinese social contract: when it comes down to it, individuals are absolutely expendable if the stability of the Party is at stake.

The need to maintain stability is what will dominate the response to Li’s death. An outpouring of grief is fine, even some anger is acceptable, provided it can be focused on individuals and not the system at large, and some scalps may be offered to help this along.

What the authorities cannot allow is for the Party or the central government to become a target – but whether they will be successful in doing so remains to be seen.

A relatable figure: Li resonated with the public because he wasn’t some Party cadre or police officer – he was just an ordinary person who loved ice cream and TV. And he’s infinitely more sympathetic than the steely-eyed men and women trying to control the narrative around his death.

Read the full analysis here.

A Hong Kong Airlines plane at Los Angeles International Airport on October 29, 2019.

Hong Kong Airlines said today that it is taking “vigorous measures” to ensure its survival, including slashing hundreds of jobs.

The novel coronavirus outbreak poses a “serious threat” to its business, the beleaguered airline said in a statement.

The statement said the airline will “reduce our operation from 82 to 30 sectors daily between 11 February and March,” suspending flights to mainland China, South Korea, Japan and other Asian destinations.

Jobs slashed, staff on leave: The carrier said it has asked all Hong Kong-based ground staff to take a minimum of two weeks of unpaid leave per month, or to work three days a week from mid-February until the end of June.

Hong Kong Airlines has been suffering from a cash crunch and slumping demand due to the months-long Hong Kong protests. It had already slashed costs, reduced or suspended flights to North America and Asia over the last year, and was in the process of making 400 staff redundant when the coronavirus outbreak hit.

The carrier also said it will further reduce its workforce throughout the year by natural attrition and facilitate transfers to other airlines for pilots.

China’s ambassador to the United States said he was “really saddened” by the death of whistleblower doctor Li Wenliang, who has died from the coronavirus.

“He was a very devoted doctor,” tweeted ambassador Cui Tiankai today. “We are so grateful to him for what he has done in our joint efforts fighting against (the coronavirus).”

Cui is one of the few Chinese officials to comment on Li’s death beyond brief statements of condolences – but his emphasis on “joint efforts” echo other officials and state media, who in recent days have praised the country’s response and pushed positive stories of resilience.

The statements typically leave out the fact that Li had been targeted by police in December after trying to warn his friends about the virus, and was forced to sign a statement about his “misdemeanor.”

Visitors walk past an Art Basel billboard in Hong Kong on March 27, 2019.

Art Basel, Asia’s largest annual art fair, has canceled its upcoming Hong Kong show due to the coronavirus outbreak.

The fair, which attracted almost 90,000 visitors from over 70 countries last year, was due to take place in the city in mid-March.

He added that the organization had explored other possibilities, but could not go forward with the virus’ “sudden outbreak and rapid spread.”

A spokesperson said Art Basel would be refunding galleries 75% of the stand fee.

Why it’s a big deal: The event is one of the main stops on the global arts calendar and has fast-grown in commercial importance, particularly in its ability to draw top collectors from mainland China and the region.

Success at the fair has in recent years spurred international galleries to open outposts in the Asian metropolis.

But the coronavirus, combined with the 2019 political unrest, sparked worry. A group of 24 participating galleries wrote to organizers in January, requesting a number of financial concessions.

Read more about Art Basel and its cancellation here.

Medical staff carry supplies from a helicopter in Wuhan, China, on February 1, 2020.

Public anger in China is rising over hospitals struggling to find enough supplies, despite the Red Cross – and other organizations – having received millions of dollars in donations.

The Red Cross is the country’s biggest charity – but, unlike in most other countries, the Red Cross in China is government-controlled and receives most of its funding from the state.

Supply shortage: On February 1, a government official said that the public had donated more than $86 million, and medical supplies to the Wuhan Red Cross, according to the state-run China Daily newspaper.

Despite the donations, doctors and hospital workers describe a desperate situation.

One doctor in Huanggang, Hubei province, told CNN that his hospital has no usable hazmat suits, face masks or shoe covers. And in a video shared by the state-run tabloid Global Times last weekend, a doctor says he waited for over an hour at a Red Cross distribution center, just to get a box of 500 masks.

Official response: In response to anger and accusations, the Hubei Red Cross apologized for its failures and punished three officials for “mishandling donations for the coronavirus.”

The Wuhan government dismissed one government official, and warned another two over taking masks from a Red Cross warehouse.

But this isn’t the first time China’s Red Cross has come under fire during a national crisis, and this time it could be damning – not only for the organization but also for the government.

Read the full story here.

A shopper next to bare supermarket shelves in Hong Kong on February 6, 2020.

Shelves are empty in some Hong Kong supermarkets. Toilet rolls, tissue paper, bleach, and even soap have sold out. Videos on social media show crowds packed inside supermarkets, rushing to snatch remaining supplies.

The panic buying began earlier this week and has continued through today, sparked by rumors online that mainland China would stop exporting these goods – specifically toilet paper – to Hong Kong, as more borders between the two places close.

A woman looks at empty supermarket shelves, usually used for stacking paper towels, in Hong Kong on February 5, 2020.

The Hong Kong government has denied the rumors and appealed for calm. Emergency measures, including closing several borders, “will not affect the freight services between the Mainland and Hong Kong,” the government said in a statement.

But the warnings don’t seem to have had much effect – one supermarket’s online shopping site is so swamped that users have to join an online queue, with a wait stretching for more than an hour.

Emergency services workers by the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Yokohama, Japan.

As the coronavirus outbreak continues spreading across Asia and the rest of the world, grief and anger are cutting through the noise, after the death of Chinese whistleblower doctor Li Wenliang.

Meanwhile, thousands remain quarantined offshore, and the outbreak is spiking in some countries.

Here’s what has happened today:

Members of the Hospital Authority Employees Alliance on strike in Hong Kong on February 7, 2020.

Thousands of medical workers in Hong Kong have been on strike for five days, demanding the government close all borders with mainland China and take further emergency measures against the virus.

Now, they are voting on whether to continue the strike – an issue that has become bitter and divisive in the city, where political hostilities have yet to cool after months of ongoing unrest that began in June last year.

The vote: The strikers are largely members of the Hospital Authority Employees Alliance (HAEA), a medical workers’ union. The union said earlier today that it will hold a vote on whether to extend or end the strike, and continue striking if more than 6,000 members vote in favor of it. The vote is now underway.

The strike, and the controversy: Yesterday, more than 6,400 union members went on strike, said the HAEA – about 17% of the total nursing staff in the Hospital Authority.

The strike has been criticized by the Hospital Authority, the city’s Chief Executive Carrie Lam, and some members of the public who accuse the strikers of neglecting their duty to patients.

For most of the week, public hospitals have had limited services due to the strike. Remaining staff members have had to focus efforts on emergency services, so patients with mild conditions were advised to find private hospitals or clinics instead.

Meanwhile, Lam has implemented emergency measures such as mandatory quarantines for travelers coming from China, and closed all but three of Hong Kong’s mainland China border crossings.

For the past 12 hours, Chinese social media has been flooded with tributes to the whistleblower doctor Li Wenliang, who died of the coronavirus last night.

There has also been a swell of almost unprecedented public anger against the government, and the country’s censorship apparatus.

On Weibo, a Twitter-like platform, the hashtag “I want freedom of speech,” drew more than 1.8 million views in the early hours of Friday morning, before it was censored.

Why this matters: This level of overwhelming, near-universal public fury has not been seen since the Wenzhou train crash in 2011, when authorities rushed to cover up the causes of a high-speed rail collision, even abandoning the search for survivors while many were still alive.

That incident became a lightning rod for frustrations about poor safety standards in China and the uncaring attitudes of the authorities, just as it appears Li’s death will be a conduit for anger over a host of issues beyond the virus.

Read the full analysis here.

President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the G20 Summit in Osaka on June 28, 2019.

Chinese President Xi Jinping said the prevention and control of Wuhan coronavirus is at “a critical stage” during a telephone call with President Donald Trump today, according to the Chinese foreign ministry.

The two leaders spoke about efforts to contain the virus and Xi expressed confidence in defeating the epidemic, the ministry said in a statement.

Xi said he was hopeful that the US could “assess the epidemic situation in a calm manner” and “adjust response measures in a reasonable way,” the statement said.

The Chinese foreign ministry lashed out at the US earlier this week, accusing it of overreacting and feeding mass hysteria without providing assistance in the fight against the coronavirus in China.

Shortly afterward, the US sent supplies to China, authorities from both countries confirmed.

The director of Amnesty International criticized the death of Li Wenliang, the Chinese whistleblower doctor, as an indication of “human rights failings” in the coronavirus outbreak, which began in Wuhan, China.

In late December, Chinese doctor Li Wenliang was targeted by police after trying to blow the whistle on the coronavirus outbreak. By late January, top medical officials were hailing him and other whistleblowers as authorities scrambled to contain the outbreak.

If Li’s initial arrest was an embarrassment for the authorities, his death is a disaster that has sparked a censorship crisis.

Censors at a loss: As news of Li’s death spread, Chinese social media was flooded with grief, rage, and calls for government accountability.

Those in charge of China’s vast censorship apparatus, the Great Firewall, seemed at a loss over what to do. Forbidden topics relating to censorship and freedom of speech trended for several hours before being deleted – rare evidence of indecision and confusion.

How he “died twice”: In an apparent clumsy attempt to control the narrative, multiple state media outlets reported Li’s death – then deleted the reports. The hospital claimed Li was still being resuscitated, then confirmed later that he had died.

While it is possible that this was a mistake, the suggestion that censors’ hands were involved was enough to spark fury online.

Read more about it here.

An offshore detention center on Australia's Christmas Island, where suspected coronavirus patients are being quarantined.

Australia will use a mining camp to quarantine patients suspected of having the Wuhan coronavirus, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said today.

The mining camp is located in Darwin, the capital of Australia’s Northern Territory. 

There is already a campsite on Christmas Island – known for its notorious offshore immigration detention center – being used to isolate suspected coronavirus patients. But the site there “does not suit the purposes” due to an “inability to properly segregate the people in the facility,” said Morrison.

He added the government is currently consulting the local community in the Northern Territory on using the contingent campsite.

The Wuhan coronavirus has spread throughout the world since the first cases were detected in central China in December.

There are now more than 310 confirmed cases in more than 25 countries and territories outside mainland China:

Read more about the patients in each place.

The two announcements published by Chinese state media about the death of Li Wenliang, which were later deleted.

The Chinese media’s reporting of the death of coronavirus whistleblower doctor Li Wenliang caused confusion and anger last night, as Li was first pronounced dead, then alive and, finally, dead again.

Here is how the reporting of Li’s death played out over Thursday and Friday, local time:

Around 10 p.m. Thursday: News begins to circulate on Chinese social media that Li has died of the Wuhan coronavirus, prompting an outpouring of grief and anger online.

10:40 p.m. Thursday: Chinese state-run tabloid Global Times and the Communist Party’s official newspaper People’s Daily tweet that Li has died.

Around 11:30 p.m.: The World Health Organization (WHO) tweets that it is “deeply saddened” by Li’s death.

It later deletes the tweet and clarifies that it has no information on Li’s status.

12:38 a.m. Friday: Wuhan Central Hospital releases a statement saying Li hasn’t died, but is in a critical condition and doctors are attempting to resuscitate him.

Around this time, the Global Times and People’s Daily reports on Li’s death are deleted.

12:57 a.m. Friday: Global Times says on its official Twitter that Li is “still under emergency treatment” and that his heart stopped beating at around 9.30 p.m. Thursday local time.

Around 2 a.m. Friday: The tide of emotion continues to grow on Chinese social media, with widespread calls for freedom of speech that are quickly deleted by censors.

3:48 a.m. Friday: Wuhan Central Hospital announces that Li died at 2.58 a.m. despite attempts to resuscitate him.

Around 4 a.m. Friday: The Global Times and then People’s Daily tweet (again) that Li is dead. The Global Times references Li’s role as a whistleblower who tried to raise awareness of the coronavirus back in December.

Early Friday morning: The top comments under the Wuhan hospital’s announcement of Li’s death show anger at the handling of the news. One post reads: “You think we’ve all gone to sleep? No. We haven’t.”

Read more here

A Toyota car in Brussels at a motor show on January 9, 2020.

Toyota’s plants in China will return to “normal operation” starting the week of February 17 and beyond, a Toyota spokesperson told CNN today. 

Toyota had been planning to resume operations on February 10. Car plants across China have been closed for two weeks for an extended Lunar New Year holiday as authorities try to contain the virus.

The spokesperson added that the situation will depend on the supplies of various plants, also taking into consideration “the guidelines from local and regional governments, including things like logistics.” 

The Diamond Princess cruise ship anchored at Yokohama port on February 7, 2020.

An additional 41 people have tested positive for the coronavirus on the cruise ship currently docked and quarantined in Japan’s Yokohama Bay, bringing the total to 61 infections on board.

This is where the 61 people are from:

A statement from Princess Cruises said the Japanese Ministry of Health has confirmed this is the last batch of people on the ship to be tested.

Quarantined at sea: The ship will be quarantined until February 19 unless there are any other unexpected developments. There are more than 3,700 passengers and crew members on board.

Those quarantined on board will be provided complimentary internet and phone service to stay in touch with family and loved ones, cruise operator Princess Cruises said in a statement today.

China’s National Supervisory Commission, the country’s top anti-corruption agency, is sending a team to Wuhan to investigate the case of doctor Li Wenliang “in response to issues raised by the masses,” the agency said today.

The brief statement didn’t elaborate on the “issues” – but a glance on Weibo, China’s Twitter-like platform, reveal what these may be.

A whistleblower silenced: Li died late Thursday night from the coronavirus, after sounding the alarm on the outbreak in December. He was targeted by police and labeled a “rumor-monger,” and later was diagnosed with the virus.

His death was met with extreme grief and rare fury online. Weibo users have flooded the platform with calls for accountability, greater freedom of speech, and an apology from the Wuhan government.

A passenger receives a temperature check at Haneda airport on January 31, 2020 in Tokyo, Japan.

Japan’s fourth charter flight evacuating citizens from Wuhan has landed in Tokyo, according to the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

A total of 198 Japanese citizens and their family members were on board, and will now be placed under mandatory quarantine, said the ministry.

The previous three flights have already repatriated more than 550 Japanese evacuees from Wuhan.

Xie Feng, commissioner of China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Hong Kong.

Chinese officials praised the country’s response to the coronavirus crisis at a news conference today – but sidestepped questions about the death of whistleblower doctor Li Wenliang.

The virus, which has killed 636 people in mainland China, can be “prevented, contained, and cured,” said Xie Feng, commissioner of China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Hong Kong.

He emphasized China’s speed in responding to the outbreak, claiming “governments at all levels in China were immediately mobilized.”

Fact check: In the weeks after the virus was first detected, authorities clamped down with knee-jerk censorship. Communist Party officials downplayed the severity of the virus, police targeted “rumormongers” like Li Wenliang, and online censors deleted anything that questioned the official line.

As the crisis has worsened, it has become clear that the failure to take quick action likely undermined any chance of containing the virus.

On Li Wenliang: When asked whether the government should apologize for the death of Li Wenliang, Xie Feng didn’t answer directly, only reading out a brief statement from the Wuhan government that expressed “deepest condolences” to Li’s family.

On censorship: Despite heavy anger from the Chinese public against the government and its censors, Xie Feng claimed there was freedom of speech in mainland China.

Medical staff preparing beds for patients at a converted hospital in Wuhan, Hubei, on February 5, 2020.

China’s National Health Commission confirmed last night that 73 more people have died of the Wuhan coronavirus, raising the global death toll to 638.

Death toll

Confirmed cases

Some context: The vast majority of these cases and deaths are happening in China, and within that country it’s concentrated in Hubei province, where the outbreak began.

In Hubei alone, the death toll stands at 618 and total confirmed cases is at 22,112. 

Hubei’s health authority also reported that 841 patients of the 15,804 hospitalized are in critical condition.

South Korea’s Ministry of Health and Welfare confirmed one new case of Wuhan coronavirus today, bringing the national total to 24 confirmed cases. 

The patient was one of two South Koreans who were evacuated from Wuhan and tested for infection today. The other did not test positive.

Li Wenliang, the Chinese whistleblower doctor in Wuhan who died on February 6, 2020.

The death of Chinese whistleblower Li Wenliang after he became infected with the novel coronavirus has sparked an unprecedented outpouring of grief and anger toward the government in China. On social media, mourners have posted portraits and artwork of Li, vowing not to forget him.

But one of the reasons his death was met with such deep emotion from the public was because he was just an ordinary person they could relate to. He hadn’t set out to be a hero from the beginning – he was simply trying to protect his friends.

He first warned about the disease in a group chat with fellow medical school classmates and alumni – messages that were screen-captured and then went viral.

Li hadn’t wanted to become a public figure – he was first interviewed anonymously by the China Youth Daily newspaper, and initially refused to speak with foreign media.

But as the outbreak spread and its severity became clear, he spoke more publicly, eventually posting about his experience on social media.

A relatable figure: On Weibo, China’s Twitter-like platform, Li posted trivial things about himself.

He was a foodie who sometimes craved ice cream and fried chicken. He was a fanboy of certain celebrities, watched popular TV series, and sometimes complained about work, as you do on social media.

In other words, he was an ordinary, relatable figure. People who flocked to his social media profile resonated with him and his tragedy, and came away with the sense: He’s one of us.

An evacuation flight bringing Canadian citizens out of Wuhan has departed with 176 passengers on board, according to Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, François-Philippe Champagne.

The Canadian evacuees were checked by health officials for symptoms before entering the airport and boarding the plane, and will be continuously monitored during the flight, said officials yesterday.

They will be checked again and quarantined once they land.

Quarantine staff in protective gear are pictured at Pyongyang International Airport on Saturday.

Nearly every country and territory in East Asia has confirmed a case of the Wuhan coronavirus since the outbreak began in December – but not North Korea.

One of the world’s poorest countries has managed to avoid the virus, its public statements say – even though every country and territory within a 1,500-mile radius, except for sparsely populated Mongolia, has confirmed a case.

What this means: It’s unclear how North Korea has been able to avoid the virus. Pyongyang has either been very lucky, isn’t saying something, or is reaping one of the few benefits of being a so-called “hermit nation.”

Pyongyang has not publicly acknowledged any confirmed coronavirus patients, but it’s very possible someone inside North Korea has been infected, said Nam Sung-wook, a professor at Korea University and former head of South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS),

Nam suspects a Chinese patient could have infected someone from North Korea across their shared border.

Read more here.

Colby College in Waterville, Maine.

A group of Colby College students in Waterville, Maine, who recently visited mainland China, have been “relocated and isolated” as a precaution, a Colby spokesman told CNN.

However, the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said it did not request the quarantine.

There are no confirmed cases of the virus in Maine and the risk to the public is low, he added.

Colby’s response: The private liberal arts college told CNN the quarantined students did not show any symptoms of the virus.

All students are still continuing their coursework without interruption, the college statement said.

When asked for more information about where the students are staying, the college directed all questions to the CDC and the US Department of Health and Human Services.

Delta Air Lines planes at John F. Kennedy Airport on January 31, 2020 in New York.

The last two evacuation planes carrying US citizens out of Wuhan have left the coronavirus epicenter, according to a State Department spokesperson.

One flight is heading for Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, while the other is going to Eppley Airfield in Omaha, Nebraska.

The staff in Omaha is expecting around 70 people while San Antonio is prepared for as many as 250 passengers, officials said.

The State Department does not anticipate chartering any flights after this week, an official said Tuesday.

China’s social media channels were awash with anger following news of whistleblower doctor Li Wenliang’s death.

The topics “Wuhan government owes Dr. Li Wenliang an apology,” and “We want freedom of speech,” quickly trended on China’s Twitter-like platform, Weibo. Each gained tens of thousands of views before disappearing from the heavily censored platform.

Another topic, called “I want freedom of speech,” had drawn 1.8 million views as of early Friday morning local time.

Why this matters: The outpouring of grief and anger was made worse by initial confusion. State media first published then retracted reports of his death – leading to allegations they were trying to cover it up.

The push against Chinese censors and calls for freedom are rarely seen – under Chinese President Xi Jinping, control over the media and internet has increased, and tolerance for dissent has practically disappeared.

Anger in China against the authorities, and their handling of the crisis, had already been growing for weeks. Now, Li’s death could become the straw that breaks the camel’s back.

The Diamond Princess cruise ship in Yokohama port on February 6, 2020.

A total of 61 people have been confirmed to have Wuhan coronavirus on the Diamond Princess cruise ship, quarantined off the coast of Japan with 1,045 crew and 2,666 passengers on board.

Some 20 cases had been confirmed on Thursday, and an additional 41 confirmed today. The number of cases on board raise the national total of confirmed cases to 86.

Of the confirmed cases on board, at least three are US citizens, according to statements by the cruise liner. In total, the cruise has 428 American passengers.

Confirmed cases are taken off the ship and transported to local hospitals. All of those remaining on board will be quarantined for at least 14 days, officials said on Wednesday.

Visitors wearing masks on February 5, 2020 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Canada, Malaysia and Hong Kong all reported new cases of coronavirus today.

Three new cases in Hong Kong, and two new cases in Malaysia have been confirmed as positive for the virus. However, two new reported cases in Canada are unconfirmed.

About the new cases in Canada:

About the new cases in Malaysia:

About the new cases in Hong Kong:

Wuhan doctor Li Wenliang, who blew the whistle on the coronavirus in December 2019.

Li Wenliang, the Chinese whistleblower doctor who warned the public of a potential “SARS-like” disease in December 2019, has died, according to Wuhan Central Hospital.

Li died of the novel coronavirus in Wuhan in the early hours of Friday morning local time.

“Our hospital’s ophthalmologist Li Wenliang was unfortunately infected with coronavirus during his work in the fight against the coronavirus epidemic,” the hospital statement read.

“He died at 2:58 am on Feb 7 after attempts to resuscitate were unsuccessful.”

Targeted by police: Li had raised the alarm about the virus that ultimately took his life.

In December, he posted on the Chinese messaging app WeChat that seven patients from a local seafood market had been diagnosed with a SARS-like illness and were quarantined in his hospital in Wuhan.

Soon after he posted the message in his medical school alumni group, Li was accused of rumor-mongering by the Wuhan police, and was targeted for trying to sound the alarm on the deadly virus in the early weeks of the outbreak.

Li was hospitalized on January 12 and tested positive for the coronavirus on February 1.

The novel coronavirus outbreak that began in December in Wuhan, China, has now spread to more than 25 countries and regions. If you’re just joining us, here’s the latest: