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| An almost empty Yangtze River Bridge |
The United States warned Americans not to travel to China as the death toll from a new virus reached 213 on Friday and the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a global health emergency.
In a new travel advisory, the State Department raised its warning for China to the same level as Afghanistan and Iraq, saying on its website, โDo not travel to China due to novel coronavirus first identified in Wuhan.โ
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told parliament the government had decided to raise its infectious disease advisory level for China, urging citizens to avoid non-urgent trips.
Japanโs advisory for Chinaโs central province of Hubei, where the virus first emerged, is one level higher, advising citizens not to travel there.
Beijing has not commented on the U.S. travel warning, but in response to the WHO declaration, a foreign ministry spokeswoman said China had taken โthe most comprehensive and rigorous prevention and control measuresโ.
โWe have full confidence and capability to win this fight against the epidemic,โ spokeswoman Hua Chunying said in a statement.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the body โdoesnโt recommend โ and actually opposesโ curbs on travel or trade with China.
The death toll in Hubei stood at 204, with 9,692 infections nationwide by Thursday, Chinaโs health authorities said. As many as 129 cases have been reported in 22 other countries and regions, but no deaths outside China.
International alarm over the new coronavirus that surfaced in December in Hubeiโs capital of Wuhan is driven by its rapid spread and the fact that doctors cannot yet tell how deadly or contagious it is.
All air traffic between Italy and China will stop, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said, taking a more drastic step than most countries, after Italy announced its first confirmed cases in two Chinese tourists.
More airlines have stopped flying to mainland China, including Air France KLM SA, British Airways, Germanyโs Lufthansa and Virgin Atlantic, while others have cut flights.
Japanโs ANA Holdings said it may consider suspending China flights, Jiji news agency said on Friday, with the airline having said bookings for February flights leaving China had fallen by half.
It is possible the White House could opt for further action and bar flights to China, but a U.S. official stressed that no decision had been made. The White House had considered that drastic step this week, but opted against it.
A plane carrying 83 British and 27 foreign nationals flew out on Friday from Chinaโs central city of Wuhan, the British government said.
The civilian aircraft chartered by the Foreign Office left Wuhan at 9.45 a.m. (0145 GMT), the government said in a notice on its website.
It is due to arrive at 1 p.m. (1300 GMT) in Britain later on Friday, before continuing on to Spain, where the home countries of European Union citizens will take responsibility for the remaining passengers.
โWe know how distressing the situation has been for those waiting to leave,โ Britainโs Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said, according to the notice. โWe have been working round the clock to clear the way for a safe departure.โ
Japan, with 14 confirmed cases, said it would bring forward its date to designate the coronavirus an โinfectious diseaseโ, as a third charter flight arrived, ferrying citizens home.
Such a designation, expected to take effect on Saturday, will permit compulsory hospitalisation and use of public funds for treatment, among other measures.
The first of four planned flights taking South Koreans home landed on Friday, as tension simmered over the location of quarantine centres that nearby residents called too close for comfort.
The two Koreas opened a new hotline between Seoul and Pyongyang after agreeing to temporarily close a joint liaison office in a Northern border city until virus concerns ease, the South said.
Meanwhile pilots and flight attendants are demanding airlines stop flights to China with American Airlinesโ pilots filing a lawsuit seeking an immediate halt.
The American Airlines pilot lawsuit came as an increasing number of airlines stopped their flights to mainland China, including Air France KLM SA, British Airways, Germanyโs Lufthansa and Virgin Atlantic.
Other major carriers have kept flying to China, but protective masks and shorter layovers designed to reduce exposure have done little to reassure crews.
ECONOMIC IMPACT
Stock markets steadied slightly on Friday after the WHO praised Chinaโs efforts to contain the virus, following a tumble the previous day over the rising toll in the worldโs second-biggest economy.
โThe fear of contagion risk is already evident in global financial markets,โ Moodyโs Investors Service said on Thursday.
Chinaโs statistics show that just over 2% of infected people have died, suggesting the virus may be less deadly than the coronaviruses responsible for the 2002-2003 outbreak of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), and an episode of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS).
But economists fear its impact could be bigger than SARS, which killed about 800 people and cost the global economy an estimated $33 billion, as Chinaโs share of the world economy is now far greater.
The virus impact could โreverberate globallyโ, hitting supply chains, Moodyโs said, adding, โGlobal companies operating in the affected area may face output losses as a result of the evacuation of workers.โ
In China, thousands of factory workers may struggle next week to get back to work from Lunar New Year holidays, as they face travel curbs. Major firms such as Alphabet Incโs Google and Swedenโs IKEA have closed operations there.
Four Chinese provinces, including Shandong and Heilongjiang in the industrial rust-belt region, have asked companies not to start work before Feb. 10.
The virus is believed to have originated in a food market illegally selling wildlife in Wuhan. About 60 million people in surrounding Hubei are living under virtual lockdown.
By the end of Thursday, Hubeiโs tally of cases approached 6,000, with 1,220 new cases detected, its health authorities said.
China will release winter and spring vegetable reserves in major northern cities to ease supply shortages, state news agency Xinhua said.
At least one doctor at a Wuhan hospital was beaten on Wednesday by the family of a patient declared dead of a coronavirus infection, online media firm Caixin said.
New cases are being reported every day around the world, spurring cuts to travel, outbreaks of anti-China sentiment in some places and a surge in demand for protective face masks.
Medical experts say the rising number of human-to-human transmissions outside China suggests the virus could spread.
REUTERS
