Coronavirus Live Updates: Death in Philippines Is First Outside China
As the overall death toll passed 300, a quarantine is being expanded in Wuhan, the central Chinese city where the coronavirus began.
By The New York Times
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Israel says it will work to develop a vaccine for the coronavirus.
Here’s what you need to know:
A man from Wuhan has died in the Philippines.
The death toll passed 300, with more than 14,000 infections confirmed.
China reports an outbreak of a different sort: bird flu.
China builds a coronavirus hospital within 10 days.
Wuhan, the virus’s epicenter, expands its quarantine.
The list of countries restricting visitors from China grows.
Israel vows to pursue a vaccine and extends permits for Chinese workers.
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ImageStudents wearing protective masks during a school activity in Manila.
Students wearing protective masks during a school activity in Manila.Credit...Aaron Favila/Associated Press
A man from Wuhan has died in the Philippines.
A 44-year-old man in the Philippines has died of the coronavirus, health officials said on Sunday, making him the first known death outside China. The man, a resident of Wuhan, China, the epicenter of the virus, died on Saturday after developing what officials called “severe pneumonia.”
“This is the first known death of someone with 2019-nCoV outside of China,” the World Health Organization’s office in the Philippines said in a statement, using the technical shorthand for the coronavirus.
Philippines health officials said the man had arrived in the country on Jan. 21 with a 38-year-old woman who remains under observation.
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“In his last few days, the patient was stable and showed signs of improvement,” said the health secretary, Francisco Duque III. “However, the condition of the patient deteriorated within his last 24 hours, resulting in his demise.”
Hours before the death was announced, the Philippines said it was temporarily barring non-Filipino travelers arriving from mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau.
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Mr. Duque said the Philippines was currently observing 23 people who had been isolated in hospitals with possible coronavirus symptoms.
“The new developments warrant a more diligent approach in containing the threats of the 2019-nCoV,” he said.
The death toll passed 300, with more than 14,000 infections confirmed.
Image
A temporary field hospital being built in Wuhan is expected to open on Tuesday, 11 days after construction began.
A temporary field hospital being built in Wuhan is expected to open on Tuesday, 11 days after construction began.Credit...Xiao Yijiu/Xinhua, via Associated Press
Chinese officials on Sunday reported a surge in new cases.
? The death toll in China rose to at least 304.
? More than 2,000 new cases were also recorded in the country in the past 24 hours, raising the worldwide total to nearly 14,380, according to Chinese and World Health Organization data. The vast majority of the cases are inside China; about 100 cases have been confirmed in at least 23 other countries.
? All of China’s provinces and territories have now been touched by the outbreak.
? Countries and territories that have confirmed cases: Thailand, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, Australia, Malaysia, Macau, Russia, France, the United States, South Korea, Germany, the United Arab Emirates, Canada, Britain, Vietnam, Italy, India, the Philippines, Nepal, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Finland, Sweden and Spain.
? Cases recorded in Thailand, Taiwan, Germany, Vietnam, Japan, France and the United States involved patients who had not been to China.
? China has asked the European Union for help in buying urgently needed medical supplies from its member countries, the China’s official Xinhua news agency said on Saturday.
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The virus has sickened more than 14,500 people in China and 23 other countries.
China reports an outbreak of a different sort: bird flu.
Image
A nearly deserted shopping area in Changsha, Hunan Province, China.
A nearly deserted shopping area in Changsha, Hunan Province, China.Credit...Thomas Peter/Reuters
China is now dealing with another disease outbreak — this one mostly affecting animals, but also potentially deadly among people.
The Ministry of Agriculture said late Saturday that a fresh outbreak of a lethal form of influenza had been found in poultry in the southern province of Hunan, and that officials had ordered the slaughter of 17,828 chickens.
China has previously dealt with several bird flu outbreaks, the most recent in April 2019. In the new case, the H5N1 bird flu virus was found at a farm in the city of Shaoyang. The farm had 7,850 chickens, and more than half have died from the bird flu, the ministry said. It called the strain “highly pathogenic.”
Although bird flu poses more of a danger to poultry than humans — it is not easily transmissible among people — the World Health Organization has called on countries to be on guard because the virus can mutate into a transmissible form and has the potential to cause a pandemic.
The latest outbreak comes as China grapples with an African swine fever epidemic that has infected tens of thousands of pigs. It could stoke more worries among its people about the country’s food supply.
China builds a coronavirus hospital within 10 days.
Image
The Huoshenshan temporary field hospital in Wuhan as it neared completion on Sunday.
The Huoshenshan temporary field hospital in Wuhan as it neared completion on Sunday.Credit...CHINATOPIX, via Associated Press
The Chinese government has delivered on its promise to build a hospital for coronavirus patients at the epicenter of the outbreak within 10 days. About 1,400 military medics will begin working at the hospital on Monday, according to state news media.
Several state outlets streamed footage from the new hospital, whose name, Huoshenshan, translates to Fire God Mountain. The building, in the city of Wuhan, spans roughly 365,000 square feet and has been fitted with 1,000 beds.
Another specialty hospital that is due to have 1,500 beds is also being constructed in Wuhan. That hospital, whose name, Leishenshan, translates to Thunder God Mountain, is expected to be completed this week.
Since the coronavirus emerged, public anger has boiled, with many criticizing officials for failing to stem the outbreak during a peak travel season. Hospitals in Wuhan have been met with a shortage of masks and basic protective gear for doctors and nurses, prompting online pleas for greater supplies.
The new hospitals are intended to relieve pressure on Wuhan’s overwhelmed hospitals, which have turned away many people with flu symptoms as the number of coronavirus patients and suspected cases has rapidly grown.
This is not the first time China has mobilized its large resources to complete in days what could take months to build elsewhere. During the SARS epidemic of 2003, Beijing built a hospital with similar speed.
Wuhan, the virus’s epicenter, expands its quarantine.
Image
Returning with groceries on the mostly deserted streets of Wuhan on Friday.
Returning with groceries on the mostly deserted streets of Wuhan on Friday.Credit...Getty Images
Eleven days into the lockdown of Wuhan, the Chinese city where the epidemic began, the government there is extending its quarantine in an effort to halt the coronavirus that has killed at last 224 people in the city.
Starting from Sunday, the authorities are putting into quarantine people in Wuhan who have close contact with confirmed carriers of the virus and people with pneumonia-like symptoms who may be carriers.
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The 195 Americans who were evacuated from Wuhan to California have been quarantined as one person tried to flee.
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President Trump has temporarily suspended entry into the U.S. for any foreign nationals who have traveled to China.
Delta, United and American Airlines are suspending service from the U.S. and China.
Hospitals in Wuhan, a riverside city in central China, have struggled to cope with crowds of patients who have fevers and may have contracted the virus, called 2019-nCoV, and the government has ordered residents not to leave the city and to stay indoors as much as possible.
Under the new rules, many may face supervised quarantine away from their families.
People who have had close contact with confirmed carriers of the virus “will be sent to centralized isolation and observation points,” according to the new rule.
The rule is likely to apply most often to family members of Wuhan residents with confirmed or suspected cases of the coronavirus, and some may hesitate to leave their homes for fear of isolation and the uncertainty of government-run facilities.
The regulation did not specify where the affected people will be kept for observation. But it warned that people would have no choice. Up to now, many in Wuhan have been ordered to stay at home under quarantine.
“Those who refuse to cooperate will be compelled under the law by assisting public security offices,” the order said. “During isolation, each district will provide free room and board, as well as medical observation and treatment.”
The list of countries restricting visitors from China grows.
Image
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern of New Zealand.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern of New Zealand.Credit...Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images
New Zealand on Sunday became the latest country to impose restrictions on travelers from mainland China, saying it would deny entry to visitors departing from or transiting through the mainland for two weeks starting on Monday.
Citizens and residents will be allowed entry to New Zealand, but will be required to quarantine themselves for 14 days, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said.
“Ultimately, this is a public health decision,” she said, adding that the restrictions were precautionary measures to keep the country virus-free and contain the worldwide outbreak.
The government will also send a charter flight with an Air New Zealand crew to repatriate up to 300 citizens in Wuhan.
The Philippines, the United States and Australia have expanded travel restrictions, temporarily barring noncitizens who have recently traveled to China.
South Korea and Japan are barring noncitizens who traveled recently to Hubei, the province at the center of the outbreak. Taiwan is denying entry to Chinese nationals from Guangdong, a southern coastal province that has also been battered by the virus, and travelers who have recently visited the area.
Vietnam recently barred almost all flights to and from mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau until May 1, according to the United States Federal Aviation Administration. But Vietnam then partly eased its ban, allowing flights from Hong Kong and Macau to continue, aviation authorities said.
Indonesia is suspending its visa-free travel for Chinese citizens and barring passengers who have visited mainland China in the past 14 days. Like other countries in Southeast Asia, Indonesia depends heavily on Chinese tourism. On Thursday alone, 10,000 Chinese tourists canceled their trips to Bali, according to one industry association.
Russia, which had temporarily stopped issuing work visas to Chinese citizens, is also halting visa-free entry for Chinese tour groups, the government said. Moscow has also stopped issuing electronic tourist visas to individual Chinese travelers.
Russia, which shares a 2,600-mile border with China, reported its first two coronavirus cases on Friday. Both were in Siberia, and both are Chinese nationals who had recently traveled to China.
Saudi Arabia’s state airline and Oman also suspended flights to China on Sunday in reaction to the coronavirus epidemic, according to Reuters.
Israel vows to pursue a vaccine and extends permits for Chinese workers.
Image
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised China’s efforts to stop the coronavirus. That has included the construction a new 1,000-bed temporary hospital in Wuhan, where medical staff are due to begin treating people on Monday.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised China’s efforts to stop the coronavirus. That has included the construction a new 1,000-bed temporary hospital in Wuhan, where medical staff are due to begin treating people on Monday.Credit...Getty Images/Getty Images
Citing what it called the “apparently inevitable” spread of the coronavirus, Israel’s government on Sunday closed its airports, seaports and land crossings to arrivals from China and said that it would work on producing a vaccine.
The announcement, by the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, followed a “large-scale discussion” by top Israeli officials on how to confront the virus.
“Our foremost goal is to postpone the arrival of the virus to Israel,” Mr. Netanyahu said in a statement. “I say ‘postpone’ because its arrival is unavoidable. We will then identify, treat, isolate and deal with those infected.”
Israeli citizens who have traveled to China will be allowed back into Israel, officials said. And the Israeli news media reported that the country was expected to extend the work permits of nearly 1,700 Chinese construction workers whose contracts expired at the end of January. That move comes as the arrival of the same number of workers from China who were due to replace them has been indefinitely postponed.
Praising what he called “great efforts” by China to prevent the spread of the virus, Mr. Netanyahu said that Israel would focus on isolating and treating those who have been infected. That will include “isolation for two weeks at home,” his statement said.
“We are also updating the Palestinian Authority on all preventive steps and public health measures that they must take into account here as well,” he said.
Taiwan is upset about being lumped in with China.
Taiwan complained on Sunday that it was being punished because the World Health Organization considers it part of China, which has been subject to travel bans as the coronavirus spreads.
Italy and Vietnam included Taiwan in banning flights from China, a move that they announced after the W.H.O. declared the coronavirus outbreak a global health emergency.
Vietnam backtracked on Saturday and narrowed its restrictions to most flights from mainland China. But the ban from Italy remains, Joseph Wu, Taiwan’s foreign minister, said on Sunday.
He pointed out that Taiwan had 10 confirmed cases, versus more than 14,000 in mainland China.
“The number of confirmed cases of coronavirus in Taiwan is not higher than in most countries affected,” Mr. Wu said. “Other than China, no other country, no other country has had its flight banned by Italy.”
China considers self-ruled Taiwan to be part of its territory and has long sought to limit its diplomatic relations and recognition at international bodies such as the W.H.O.
Taiwan previously participated as an observer at the World Health Assembly, the W.H.O.’s governing body. But it has been barred from that body as Beijing has increased pressure on Taiwan under President Tsai Ing-wen, who is skeptical about closer ties with China.
Hong Kong medical workers threaten to strike Monday.
As many as 9,000 medical workers in Hong Kong have pledged to strike this week, a threat that alarms the territory’s officials as they are struggling to contain the coronavirus outbreak.
The workers are demanding that Hong Kong close all border checkpoints to visitors from mainland China, saying they represent a threat to health care workers in the city.
“We believe such actions are our last resort,” the Hospital Authority Employees Alliance, a union that formed during the city’s antigovernment protest movement, wrote in a statement.
Under the plan, nonessential hospital staff members who belong to the union would not go to work on Monday. If the government does not close the border and heed their other demands by 9 p.m., union members handling emergency services would also strike, the union said.
Matthew Cheung, Hong Kong’s No. 2 official, appealed to medical workers to reconsider. “At this critical moment, I believe the general public would count on medical personnel to fight against the epidemic together, in the spirit of professionalism,” he wrote in a blog post on Sunday.
Hong Kong confirmed its 14th coronavirus case late Saturday. The patient, an 80-year-old man, had traveled for a few hours to mainland China in early January, and later spent several days on a cruise ship in Japan with more than 3,000 passengers and employees.
Health officials said it remained unclear where he had developed the disease.
“We are very worried,” Chuang Shuk-kwan, a health official, said at a news conference on Sunday. “Everyone should prepare mentally for the possibility that the disease is spreading within the community.”
Government officials say that the number of visitors from the mainland and other countries has decreased significantly after they closed several border points and rail stations and cut flight arrivals by half.
But several border points remain open, and many medical workers fear that Hong Kong’s well-regarded health care system will be overwhelmed. They have also voiced frustrations about patients from mainland China hiding their travel and medical history, potentially endangering other patients.
South Korea restricts travel to and from China.
South Korea said on Sunday that it would deny entry to any foreigners who have traveled to Wuhan and surrounding Hubei Province in China in the past 14 days.
The travel restrictions will take effect on Tuesday, Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said, as the number of people testing positive for the coronavirus in South Korea increased to 15.
Any South Korean citizen returning home who has been in Hubei Province within the past two weeks will be subject to 14 days of self-quarantine and monitoring, the government said.
It also said it would bar South Koreans from visiting China as tourists.
The resort island of Jeju off the south coast of South Korea, a popular destination for Chinese tourists, is temporarily suspending the 30-day no-visa entry that it was granting to Chinese and other foreign tourists.
The rest of South Korea will also consider stopping issuing tourist visas to Chinese nationals, said Park Neung-hoo, the government’s minister of health and welfare. All travelers from China will be separated from the other arrivals for heightened screening at airports.
Two Germans repatriated from China are treated for the virus.
Two of the 120 Germans repatriated from China on Saturday have fallen ill and are being treated for the coronavirus in a university hospital in Frankfurt, the German authorities said.
All of those who were repatriated by the German government are being quarantined for two weeks at army barracks in the western state of Rhineland-Palatinate.
The authorities said that there was no risk to the general population in Germany.
Eight cases of the coronavirus have been confirmed in the southern German state of Bavaria, the state ministry said. All of them are linked to a company in the town of Starnberg that was visited by a Chinese woman who began exhibiting symptoms on her return flight to China.
The Bavarian cases include seven adults who work at the company and a child who is the daughter of one of them.
British citizens repatriated from China are taken into quarantine.
Eleven British citizens were expected to return from Wuhan, China, on Sunday, raising to 94 the total number who have been repatriated to Britain, the country’s foreign secretary said.
The group, who traveled on a French flight, will be taken to a hospital in northwestern England where a previous batch of repatriated citizens have been staying in isolation, the foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, told the BBC. Most of the 64 French citizens on the flight will be quarantined near Aix-en-Provence in southern France or the resort area Carry-Le-Rouet, a spokesman for France’s health ministery said.
In Britain, footage from the facility, Arrowe Park Hospital, showed some of the quarantined people wearing face masks while eating breakfast or playing pool indoors.
Ben Pinkerton, a 23-year-old teacher from Northern Ireland, described the facility as “very comfortable.”
“We have TVs, video games, a nice room and good food,” he said in a Facebook message, adding that they had the space to themselves.
Kharn Lambert, who is also in quarantine at the center, told Sky News on Saturday that those being kept in the facility were in good health and good spirits — “albeit subdued.”
He said that they were allowed to go in a courtyard, but an outer perimeter that prevents them from leaving “is patrolled by the police quite regularly.”
“It is quite a surreal situation,” he added. “Obviously it is something you would never expect to experience in life.”
Reporting was contributed by Austin Ramzy, Chris Buckley, Tiffany May, Jason Gutierrez, Sui-Lee Wee, Choe Sang-Hun, Tess Felder, Anton Troianovski, Isabel Kershner, David Halbfinger, Christopher F. Schuetze, Iliana Magra and Constant Meheut.
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