The death toll from the coronavirus outbreak in mainland China rose to 563 on Wednesday – recording another record daily increase in fatalities – as the government rushed to build new hospitals and other countries moved to evacuate citizens and warned against all travel to China.
A total of 73 people died from the virus over the 24 hours to midnight, China’s National Health Commission said on Thursday.
Most of the deaths were in Hubei, the province surrounding Wuhan, but there were three deaths elsewhere – in Tianjin and Heilongjiang in the northeast and Guizhou in the southwest.
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The virus has killed two people outside mainland China, one in Hong Kong and another in the Philippines. At least 25 countries have confirmed cases.
The director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, asked for $675m to help countries address the expected spread of the virus.
He acknowledged that the sum was a lot, but told a news briefing that “it’s much less than the bill we will face if we do not invest in preparedness now.”
Tedros said that in the last 24 hours, the UN health agency has seen the biggest jump in cases since the start of the epidemic. According to the latest figures early on Thursday, the number of confirmed cases in China jumped by 3,694 to 28,018.
Here are the latest updates:
Thursday, February 6
Taiwan bans all international cruise ships
The government of Taiwan said it was banning all international cruise ships from docking on the island effective from Thursday.
It earlier turned away the World Dream liner that is now docked in Hong Kong. Three passengers on board have shown symptoms of coronavirus.
The 151,000-tonne World Dream cruise liner docked in Hong Kong after it was denied port call in Taiwan [Jerome Favre/EPA]
Korean Air flight diverted to Los Angeles for virus screening
A Korean Air flight headed to Las Vegas from the South Korean capital, was diverted to Los Angeles on Wednesday over concerns that some of the passengers might have been exposed to a new virus, the airline said.
The flight was diverted after it was determined that the three passengers had been in China within 14 days of their departure from Incheon International Airport in Seoul.
The three passengers, all US passport holders, were allowed back on the flight after showing no symptoms during a screening at Los Angeles International Airport, the airline said in statement.
Officials didn’t say if the three had been to Wuhan
China’s Nanchang city to limit access to villages, compounds to prevent virus spread
The Chinese city of Nanchang, the capital of Jiangxi province, which neighbours Hubei, will strictly monitor the entry and exit of residents from villages and residential compounds as it steps up its efforts to control the spread of the coronavirus.
The city, which has a population of 5 million people, said on its official Weibo social media account that each family should assign one member to go out once every two days, and that people running fevers must go to a medical facility.
Jiangxi province is separated from Hubei by the Yangtze river
10 more on cruise ship in Japan test positive for coronavirus – NHK
Ten more people on a cruise ship in the port of Yokohama, south of Tokyo, have tested positive for the coronavirus, NHK said on Thursday, citing the health ministry.
Thousands of people are quarantined on the Diamond Princess as the authorities test for the coronavirus [Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters]
About 3,700 people are facing at least two weeks quarantined on the cruise ship.
Al Jazeera’s Fadi Salameh, who is in Yokohama, said the authorities would be delivering 7,000 masks to the ship.
“Experts are worried the virus could spread in such a congested and enclosed space,” he said. “They have also advised passengers not to leave their rooms.”
The ship was caught up in the outbreak after an 80-year-old Hong Kong man tested positive for the virus after disembarking from the ship late last month. Ten people were diagnosed with the virus on Wednesday.
Hundreds of US evacuees from Wuhan placed under quarantine at military bases
Another 350 Americans airlifted from Wuhan were placed under quarantine at two military bases in California on Wednesday, as the number of confirmed US cases of the disease rose to 12.
The people on board two State Department-chartered cargo jets were met by officers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for immediate screening, and are to remain under mandatory quarantine for 14 days, the incubation period of the virus.
The two planes arrived at Travis Air Force Base in northern California, where 178 passengers from one plane disembarked to begin two weeks of quarantine subject to round-the-clock health screening.
The people brought out of Wuhan by the US are being confined to airforce bases in California for 14 days [Eric Gay/AP Photo]
None of the group showed signs of disease, except for a small child who developed a fever during the flight and was taken to a nearby hospital with its mother for further testing and medical treatment in isolation, officials said. The other evacuees at Travis will be housed in a hotel on base.
After refuelling, the second evacuation plane flew on to Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, near San Diego, where about 170 passengers were placed under quarantine at two housing sites there.
The US has now evacuated nearly 400 people from Wuhan.
Read updates from Wednesday, February 5 here.
