Berlin - Britain, Russia and Sweden reported their first cases
of the quickly spreading coronavirus on Friday as more countries
tightened travel and border crossings with China.
There have been 9,692 cases confirmed in mainland China and 213
deaths, according to state media on Friday, a day after the World
Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak a global emergency.
More than 100 other people have been sickened in about two dozen
countries across the globe.
One study says that up to 75,800 people may have been infected.
The modelling research, led by Gabriel Leung of the University of
Hong Kong and published in The Lancet, also suggests that other
Chinese cities might have already imported dozens of infections "in
numbers sufficient to initiate local epidemics."
Lack of detailed information on confirmed infections means the "true
size of the epidemic and its pandemic potential remains unclear," the
authors say.
Britain confirmed its first cases in two people from the same family.
The pair were being treated at a hospital in Newcastle, but public
health officials have released few details about the patients.
The announcement came shortly before a plane carrying 83 Britons and
27 foreign nationals who had been stuck in Wuhan landed in Britain.
The passengers will now be quarantined for two weeks as a precaution.
Several countries have already flown their citizens out of China -
including the United States, Japan, South Korea and Jordan - with a
slew of other governments like Germany and India with plans in the
works.
The US on Friday announced a public health emergency in order to
pre-empt an coronavirus outbreak.
The measures include a ban on the entry of foreign nationals - other
than immediate family of US citizens and permanent residents - who
have travelled in China within the last 14 days.
The travel ban is due to start on Sunday at 5 pm (2200 GMT).
While the authorities say the risk to US citizens is low, Nancy
Messonnier of the Centers for Disease Control said on Friday that
authorities are "preparing as if this is the next pandemic."
The US took the "unprecedented" action of issuing a 14-day quarantine
on 195 US citizens who recently returned from Wuhan, China, the
epicentre of the health crisis.
Meanwhile, Delta Airlines said it will suspend all US to China
flights starting on February 6, citing concerns of the new
coronavirus.
Russia said it has notified Beijing it will begin to evacuate
Russians from hard-hit Hubei province. It was in Hubei's capital
city, Wuhan, where the virus first emerged in December.
Wuhan, with a population of 11 million, and many other cities have
been placed under lockdown,
Two Chinese citizens in Siberia became Russia's first patients with
the illness.
The patients are in the Zabaikalsky region, which borders China, and
in the Tyumen region, which borders Kazakhstan, Russian Deputy Prime
Minister Tatyana Golikova said.
Earlier this week Russia announced it was closing its land border
with China, similar to steps taken by China's other neighbours.
In Sweden, health authorities said a patient was diagnosed with
coronavirus for the first time. The woman had recently visited Wuhan
and returned to Sweden on January 24 without symptoms. She later
contacted the health services when she developed a cough.
Medical authorities say the average incubation period for the new
coronavirus is between two and 14 days and, crucially, that it is
contagious during the incubation period, unlike some other outbreaks,
such as SARS in 2002 and 2003.
China's National Health Commission said on Friday that patients who
have recovered from coronavirus should take care as it is still
uncertain if they will experience a secondary infection.
It advised citizens who have travelled over the Lunar New Year
holiday, particularly to areas affected by the virus, to
"self-quarantine" for 14 days. Offices, factories and schools across
China remain closed even as the holiday comes to an end.
Hundreds of flights to and from China have been cancelled around the
world, including those run by Air Canada, Lufthansa, British Airways
Turkish Airlines, Delta, United, American Airlines, KLM and Air
France.
Both the US and Japan told citizens not to travel to China, with
Washington issuing a warning on par with its advisories for
Afghanistan and Iran.
The Italian government on Friday declared a six-month state of
emergency in response to the first confirmed cases of the new
coronavirus in the country.
The decision resulted in 5 million euros (5.5 million dollars) being
earmarked for civil protection purposes.
Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said late Thursday that two Chinese
tourists in Rome had been diagnosed with the deadly disease, adding
that the situation was "absolutely under control."
The coronavirus broke out at a seafood market in Wuhan that
reportedly sold exotic animals for consumption - similar to the
outbreak of SARS.
SARS, a disease that infected 8,000 people and killed 800 globally,
was linked to the consumption of civet cats, another exotic meat. The
coronavirus belongs to the same family of viruses.