Coronavirus news – live: Outbreak overtakes SARS for confirmed cases as Britons arriving from Wuhan to be quarantined for two weeks
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Japan and the US have airlifted hundreds of their citizens from the virus-hit Chinese city of Wuhan as the death toll from the coronavirus outbreak rose again to 132.
Some 201 US citizens were airlifted to southern California where they will remain under medical observation.
However the UK government has said it will not be launching an evacuation of its citizens anytime soon. It is understood China has not granted the necessary permissions to allow for the removal of British nationals on Thursday.
Confirmed cases of the virus also rose sharply to more than 6,000 on Wednesday, overtaking the 5,327 confirmed cases of SARS during the same time period in the 2002-2003 outbreak which killed more than 750 people in 17 countries worldwide.
Meanwhile the World Health Organisation (WHO) said it would reconvene officials to decide whether the outbreak constituted an emergency of international concern.
Here are the days events as they happened...
Kuwait has asked its nationals not to travel to the Chinese city of Shanghai due to concerns about the spread of coronavirus, according to the state news agency KUNA.
Apple retail stores and the availability of iPhones could be affected by the spread of the coronavirus, according to the company’s CEO.
Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, has said the company is worried about the outbreak because China is both a major market for its products and a location for large amounts of its manufacturing.
“We have limited travel to business-critical situations as of last week,” Mr Cook said.
“The situation is emerging, and we're still gathering lots of data points and monitoring it very closely.”
Our technology editor, Andrew Griffin, has more details below:
China’s president Xi Jinping has said preventing and containing the new strain of coronavirus remains a grim and complex task, according to state television.
His comment comes after he described the virus as a “devil” that China is battling to stop yesterday.
Source: Reuters
Malaysia reports three new cases of coronavirus
Malaysia's Health Ministry has said three more people have been infected with coronavirus, all Chinese citizens, bringing the total cases in the country to seven.
The new cases involve a 4-year-old girl, a 52-year-old man and the mother of two children who were confirmed as infected earlier, the ministry said in a statement.
Earlier this week, Malaysia imposed a temporary ban on Chinese nationals arriving from Wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak, and areas in the surrounding Hubei province.
The country is also in talks with China to evacuate its 78 citizens from the virus-hit city.
More than 6,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus in China
The People’s Daily – China’s largest newspaper – has released its latest update for the number of confirmed cases and deaths from coronavirus.
Although the death toll has remained unchanged since the start of the day, the number of confirmed cases has risen to more than 6,000.
UNICEF ships 6 metric tonnes of supplies to support China’s coronavirus response
A UNICEF shipment of respiratory masks and protective suits for health workers weighing 6 metric tonnes has landed in Shanghai, China, to support the response to the coronavirus outbreak.
The supplies, which were sent from UNICEF’s global supply hub in Copenhagen, will be dispatched to Wuhan.
“This coronavirus is spreading at a breakneck speed and it is important to put all the necessary resources into halting it,” Henrietta Fore, UNICEF executive director, said.
“We may not know enough about the virus’s impact on children or how many may be affected – but we do know that close monitoring and prevention are key. Time is not on our side.”
Germany and Italy preparing for evacuations from China
Officials from Germany and Italy have said they are finalising plans to begin evacuating citizens from the area of China which has been badly hit by coronavirus.
Jens Spahn, Germany’s health minister, has said he expects an agreement with authorities in the state of Hesse, Germany, in the next few hours to begin an evacuation of German citizens from China.
Mr Spahn said his country wanted to fly citizens out of Wuhan and Hubei province as quickly as possible.
“We are therefore in close contact with the Hessian authorities to come to a solution between the federal government and authorities there and I assume that we will succeed in that in the next few hours so that the plane can take off quickly,” he told reporters.
Meanwhile, Italy’s foreign ministry has said it is arranging a flight for Thursday to evacuate its citizens from Wuhan.
A ministry official said “around 50” Italians were stranded in the city, which has been largely isolated in an effort to prevent the spread of the virus.
British Airways says flight suspensions are ‘temporary’ until Friday
BA has said the suspension of flights to and from mainland China will last until Friday in an apparent step back from the open-ended suspension that was announced this morning.
In addition, our travel correspondent Simon Calder has an update on the situation for BA passengers.
“British Airways is re-booking passengers from Beijing and Shanghai on rival and partner airlines.
“From Shanghai, some passengers may be flown back on Virgin Atlantic.
“BA is also arranging flights on Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Japan Airlines and the leading Chinese airlines.”
Here’s an expert opinion from Dr Michael Head, senior research fellow in global health at the University of Southampton, on the UK government’s decision to quarantine British nationals returning from Wuhan.
Dr Head said:
“The quarantine will be precautionary. Over 100 tests have been carried out in the UK so far with all of them negative for coronavirus infection.
“However, this new restriction may reflect the increase in cases in China over the last 24 hours, and ongoing concern about cases coming into the UK and the potential for person-to-person transmission.”
Australian scientists have become the first to grow coronavirus in a laboratory outside China – a move that will help researchers study the virus and learn how to combat the ongoing outbreak.
A team from the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity in Melbourne have described the achievement as a “game changer”.
Our reporter Harry Cockburn has more details on the story below:
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