Tag: health

US military ready to house 1,000 for virus quarantine

  WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The United States military will provide accommodation for 1,000 people if they need to be quarantined because of the deadly novel coronavirus, the Department of Defense said. Several facilities each capable of housing at least 250 people in individual rooms will be made available until February 29, the department said in a statement. The US is one of a number of countries isolating citizens returning from the center of […]

US declares virus ’emergency,’ bans travelers from China

  by Issam AHMED Agence France Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The US said Friday it was declaring a public health emergency and temporarily banning the entry of foreign nationals who had traveled to China over the past two weeks to contain the spread of a deadly new virus. Sweeping new restrictions will also be imposed on American citizens, with those returning from the province at the disease’s epicenter placed in facilities for mandatory […]

Chinese planes to bring overseas Wuhan citizens back to virus-hit city

BEIJING, China (AFP) — China sent two planes to Malaysia and Thailand on Friday to bring “stranded” Hubei province residents back to the virus-stricken city of Wuhan, authorities said. The Xiamen Airlines flights will pick up the Chinese nationals from Kota Kinabalu in Malaysia and the Thai capital Bangkok, according to the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC). There are 117 nationals from Hubei province in Bangkok and 100 in Kota Kinabalu who are “willing […]

‘I’m more useful here’: French doctor stays put in virus-hit Wuhan

by Sébastien RICCI WUHAN, China (AFP) — France is preparing to airlift hundreds of its citizens from the Chinese city at the center of a deadly coronavirus outbreak, but one Frenchman is staying put. Philippe Klein is head of the International SOS Hospital in Wuhan, the first city to be locked down by Chinese authorities as they battle the spread of the virus. “It’s not an act of heroism. It’s been well thought out, it’s […]

China to bring home overseas citizens from virus-hit province: official

BEIJING, China (AFP) — The Chinese government is to send charter planes to bring citizens from virus-hit Hubei province who are overseas back “as soon as possible”, the foreign ministry said Friday. This is in view of “practical difficulties that Hubei citizens, especially those from Wuhan, have faced overseas”, said the ministry of foreign affairs spokeswoman Hua Chunying. The ministry’s comments come as a number of airlines announced they were halting or reducing flights to […]

Markets welcome WHO virus declaration

HONG KONG, China (AFP) — Markets rose in Asia on Friday after the World Health Organization declared a global health emergency over the deadly new virus sweeping China. After saying last week they needed more information, the WHO invoked the rarely used designation that experts hope will lead to better international co-ordination to combat a disease that has already killed 200 people, and sickened thousands more. But the Geneva-based body stopped short of recommending trade […]

Novel coronavirus thrives in colder, less humid areas — Duque

(Eagle News) — The novel coronavirus thrives better in areas with low temperature and low humidity, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said on Friday, Jan. 31. According to Duque, who gave an interview over ANC, this was why China, Japan, Korea, the United States, Germany and France were the first ones to report cases of the 2019-nCoV. He said the virus was relatively easier to control in a tropical country like the Philippines. “I believe […]

Italy lets passengers off cruise ship after virus scare

by Sonia Logre with Ella Ide in Rome CIVITAVECCHIA, Italy (AFP) — Thousands of stranded tourists were free to disembark from a cruise ship at an Italian port after authorities said two Chinese passengers feared to have the coronavirus tested negative Thursday. Italy’s Institute for infectious diseases examined samples taken from a Chinese woman ill with a fever, as well as her traveling companion, and both were negative for coronavirus, the health ministry said. Italian […]

WHO declares global virus emergency as death toll hits 213, nCoV infections almost 10,000

  by Sébastien RICCI Agence France Presse WUHAN, China (AFP) — The World Health Organization declared a global emergency over the new coronavirus, as China reported Friday the death toll had climbed to 213 with nearly 10,000 infections. The UN health agency based in Geneva had initially downplayed the threat posed by the disease, but revised its risk assessment after crisis talks. “Our greatest concern is the potential for the virus to spread to countries […]

French citizens evacuated from virus-hit Wuhan

WUHAN, China (AFP) — A jet carrying around 200 French citizens flew out of the virus-hit Chinese city of Wuhan on Friday, according to AFP journalists on board the flight. The French military aircraft is bound for southern France, where the passengers will undergo a 14-day quarantine, in case they are carrying the new coronavirus. The United States and Japan have already carried out airlifts from Wuhan for their citizens. A second US flight is […]

More Canadians ask for help to flee China

OTTAWA, Canada (AFP) — The number of Canadians looking to flee China because of the coronavirus epidemic rose to nearly 200 on Thursday while a third suspected case in Canada was confirmed. Officials told a parliamentary committee that 196 Canadians in Wuhan — the epicenter of the epidemic — have requested help getting back home, an increase from Wednesday when the government announced an airlift for 160. The Globe and Mail newspaper said the families […]

UPDATED: China virus death toll hits 213: govt

BEIJING, China (AFP) — The nationwide death toll in China’s coronavirus outbreak has risen to 213, with nearly 2,000 new cases confirmed, the National Health Commission said on Friday. In its daily update, the commission said 43 new deaths had occurred as a result of the virus, all but one of them in hardest-hit Hubei province where the virus first emerged. The latest numbers indicate that the daily death count and the overall spread of […]