UK
The United Kingdom has confirmed its first two cases of the new coronavirus, a day after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak a global emergency.
A plane carrying 83 British and 27 foreign nationals landed in Britain after flying from China’s central city of Wuhan.
The plane arrived at the Royal Air Force base at Brize Norton in central England and the Britons will be taken to a National Health Service facility where they will be quarantined for 14 days.
It is due to continue on to Spain, where the home countries of European Union citizens will take responsibility for the remaining passengers.
At least 213 have died in China, as more countries announced plans to evacuate their citizens from Wuhan, the Chinese city at the centre of the outbreak.
Beijing said there are at least 9,809 people confirmed to have the infection, which has spread from Wuhan’s Hubei province to every one of China’s 31 provinces.
Another 102,000 people were also reportedly under medical observation with possible symptoms of the respiratory ailment.
China envoy says no need for ‘unnecessary panic’ over virus
China is decisively working to control the deadly outbreak of the novel coronavirus, its ambassador in Geneva said, insisting there was no need for countries impose “excessive measures” like border closures.
“There is no need for unnecessary panic, and no need for excessive measures,” Ambassador Chen Xu told reporters in Geneva.
Russia
Russia said it would begin moving its citizens out of China via its Far Eastern region on Saturday, regional authorities said.
Vietnam
Vietnam Airlines will suspend its flights to destinations in China from next week over coronavirus concerns, the company said.
Its flights between Vietnam and Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen will be suspended from Tuesday, Chengdu from Wednesday, and Macau from Thursday, the company said in a statement.
Vietnam Airlines will also suspend all flights between Hanoi and Hong Kong from Thursday, and cut its flights between Ho Chi Minh City and Hong Kong to seven from 10 per week, it said.
India
India said it had banned the export of personal protection equipment such as masks and clothing amid a global coronavirus outbreak.
Germany
A new coronavirus has been confirmed in a child in Germany, the southern state of Bavaria said, bringing the total number of known cases in Germany to six.
The new case is a child of an employee at the same firm where four more individuals in the Munich area were infected, the state health ministry said in a statement.
All affected persons are in stable condition, the ministry said.
Meanwhile, Germany’s research minister said she expected a vaccine for coronavirus to be developed within months.
“If we want to contain this illness then it is good if we have a vaccine in a relatively short time and we assume this will be in a few months,” said Research Minister Anja Karliczek.
She made the announcement after biopharmaceutical company CureVac AG and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) said they were working together to develop a vaccine against the virus.
French car parts maker PSA extending plant closures in China
French car maker PSA Peugeot Citroen said its three plants in China’s Wuhan will remain closed until February 14, in line with the Chinese government’s guidance.
Valeo, a French car parts maker, said earlier its three sites in Wuhan will stay closed until at least February 13.
Wuhan
The task of containing and preventing the spread of the coronavirus outbreak in the central Chinese city of Wuhan remain “severe and complex”, its mayor Zhou Xianwang said.
Supplies of masks and other medical resources are still inadequate, vice mayor Xu Honglan said.
Armenia
Armenia will suspend its visa-free travel regime for Chinese citizens from February 1 until March 31, Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Avinyan wrote on social media.
Pakistan
Pakistan temporarily suspended all direct flights with China, affecting Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), Air China and China Southern Airlines.
“We have suspended all the direct flights to and from China with immediate effect till February 02,” Abdul Sattar Khokhar, a spokesperson for Pakistan’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), he told AFP news agency.
The spokesperson didn’t comment on the reason for the flight suspensions. A decision on whether flights will be resumed will be made on Sunday.
“We have received a notification from civil aviation authority regarding the flight suspension to China, since it is a decision from the regulatory body we will obey its directions,” said PIA spokesman Aamir Memon.
Hong Kong
Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam has resisted pressure to complete shut down the border with mainland China, saying it was not the answer to stem the spread of a virus.
Medical workers have threatened to strike if the government refuses to do so, and some restaurant owners have also echoed calls to bar all mainland visitors.
Lam said the number of mainland arrivals has shrunk since Hong Kong this week suspended ferry and high-speed trains to the mainland, as well as shut six smaller border checkpoints.
She said schools would be closed now until March 2, and civil servants can also choose to work from home for another week.
Russia
Russia reported its first two cases of coronavirus, saying the infected patients were Chinese nationals who had now been isolated.
Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Tatiana Golikova said the patients are in the Zabaikalsky region, which borders China, and in the Tyumen region, which borders Kazakhstan.
Golikova told reporters that all direct flights to China from Russia would be halted from 21:00 GMT on Friday.
Myanmar
Authorities in Myanmar have turned back a China Southern flight from Guangzhou with almost everyone on board after one of the passengers was found with flu symptoms similar to the fast-spreading coronavirus, a government spokesman said.
The plane arrived in the commercial capital Yangon and the passenger, a Chinese national, was sent to a hospital in the city where he will be quarantined, said government spokesman Zaw Htay.
Two Myanmar nationals who also disembarked have agreed to isolate themselves in their homes for 14 days, he told reporters at a news conference.
The plane returned to Guangzhou with everyone else on board. Myanmar has no confirmed cases of the coronavirus.
Australia
As of this morning, 31 January 2020, 9 cases of 2019-nCoV have been confirmed in Australia: 2 in Queensland, 3 in Victoria, and 4 in New South Wales.
Australian health authorities continue to test any people who show symptoms of the virus. To date more than 200 people have been tested.
Internationally, approximately 7,834 confirmed cases of 2019-nCoV, and 170 deaths have been reported – a 2.17% fatality rate.
The World Health Organization’s (WHO) International Health Regulations Emergency Committee has now declared the outbreak of 2019-nCoV a Public Health Emergency of International Concern.