Coronavirus: Shenzhen might have a major outbreak in the next few days, an official said. (File)
Sixty-four new coronavirus deaths were reported in China on Tuesday, the highest since the virus was detected late last year taking the total number of people killed in the outbreak to 425. The World Health Organization has declared the crisis a global health emergency, and the first death outside China was confirmed in the Philippines on Sunday.
Researchers are racing to make a vaccine for virus which has triggered panic across the world with cases of suspected infection being reported in more than 20 countries.
In India, three cases have been confirmed and all three patients - students who returned from China's Wuhan - are from the coastal state of Kerala. Nearly 2,000 people are under observation across the state.
People - with travel history from China - are under watch across the country, including Delhi and Mumbai.
Here are the latest highlights on coronavirus outbreak:
Chinese Girl Who Recovered From Coronavirus In Malaysia Returns To China
The four-year-old became the first of 10 patients in Malaysia, including nine visiting Chinese, to have recovered after contracting the virus. Malaysian Health Ministry director general Noor Hisham Abdullah said detection tests were repeated twice and the results came back negative. (Reuters)
Canadian Man's False Coronavirus Alarm Forces Plane Back To Airport
A Canadian man on a flight from Toronto to Jamaica falsely announced to passengers that he had the coronavirus, forcing the plane to return to the airport where he was arrested, the police said. He was arrested, charged with mischief and will appear in court on March 9, the police said. (Reuters)
Taiwan Accuses China Of Limiting WHO's Access During Coronavirus Outbreak
Taiwan dramatically escalated its war of words with Beijing on Tuesday over the island's exclusion from the World Health Organisation, saying "vile" China was preventing Taiwan from getting timely information about the coronavirus outbreak.
Taiwan has been getting virus information from friendly countries such as the United States and Japan, she said, adding that Taiwan's epidemic prevention efforts seem to have worked well.
China told the WHO on Monday that it had shared full information about the coronavirus with Taiwan, and that outbreak communication had been "smooth" between the two sides. (Reuters)
Russia Prepares To Contain Coronavirus By Cancelling Public Events
Russia said on Tuesday it was preparing for the potential spread of China's coronavirus as authorities closed schools and cancelled public events in some regions, though officials attributed that simply to flu.
Russia has a 4,300 km land border with China and last week reported its first two cases of coronavirus in Siberia. Both involve Chinese nationals.
Authorities are setting up a quarantine area in Siberia's Tyumen region, where those evacuated will be held under observation for 14 days. (Reuters)
Plane With 138 Thai People Landed From China
A plane with 130 Thais landed in U-Tapao airport in the eastern Rayong province in Thailand. They will be quarantined for 14 days in a navy resort near the Thai navy base in Sattahip, Chonburi, east of Bangkok. (Reuters)
British Nationals In China Asked To Leave Amid Coronavirus Fears
All British nationals were advised on Tuesday to leave China "if they can" to minimise their risk of exposure to the deadly novel coronavirus. Britain on Saturday said it was temporarily withdrawing some staff and their families from its diplomatic sites in China, as Beijing struggled to contain the nationwide outbreak. Two people tested positive last week for the SARS-like virus in Britain. Both had travelled to China recently. Some 83 British citizens arrived home on Friday on a UK government-chartered flight from Wuhan. They are now in isolation for 14 days. (AFP)
2 Thailand Drivers Who Drove Chinese Tourists Infected With Coronavirus
Two Thailand drivers who came into contact with Chinese tourists were among six new cases of coronavirus reported Tuesday, bringing to 25 the number of infected in the kingdom. The jump brings the total number of cases in Thailand to highest outside China, where more than 400 people have died since the outbreak emerged in Wuhan in December. (AFP)
Australian Evacuees From China Test Negative For Virus But Quarantined For 14 Days
Over 200 Australians who were evacuated from China have been detected negative for coronavirus, with two remaining facing only a "minimal" chance that they have the virus, Australian Health Minister said. Australia has asked for permission for a second evacuation flight out of Wuhan.
Australia barred entry to all foreign nationals travelling from mainland China and raised its travel warning for China to the highest level, advising people against visiting the country at all. The move has left many Chinese students at Australian universities unable to enter the country. (Reuters)
Malaysian Who Returned From Singapore Detected With Coronavirus
The 41-year-old Malaysian had visited neighbouring Singapore for a week from January 16 during which he attended meetings that also involved delegates from China, Malaysian Health Minister Dzulkefly Ahmad said. The man is the country's first citizen to be infected with the virus. Malaysia has imposed an entry ban for Chinese nationals from Wuhan in a bid to stop the spread of the virus. Malaysia had sent the special flight to evacuate its citizens and their families trapped in China. (AFP)
Honk Kong Reports 1st Death From Coronavirus
Hong Kong reported its first coronavirus death on Tuesday. Hong Kong was badly hit by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), another coronavirus that emerged from China in 2002 to kill almost 800 people worldwide and cost the global economy an estimated $33 billion. WHO figures show SARS killed 299 people in Hong Kong then. (Reuters)
China Agrees To Take Help From US Health Experts To Contain Coronavirus
China is going to accept US health experts' help as part of a World Health Organization (WHO) effort to help fight the fast-spreading coronavirus. Chinese President Xi Jinping said controlling the virus was his country's most important task, a local news agency reported. (Reuters)
Nearly 16 Arrested Across Countries Over Misinformation On Coronavirus
At least 16 people have been arrested over coronavirus posts in Malaysia, India, Thailand, Indonesia and Hong Kong, while Singapore has used its controversial new "fake news" law, POFMA, to force media outlets and social media users to carry government warnings on their posts and articles saying they contain falsehoods.
As the death toll has passed 420, anxiety has been fuelled by social media posts ranging from the bizarre to the malicious. (Reuters)
China Readies Thousands Of New Hospital Beds In Virus Outbreak Epicenter China has build hospitals to provide facilities, beds and medical treatment for an influx of sick people in Wuhan in central Hubei province, the ground-zero of China's fight against the virus.
The local news agency said that the converted exhibition centre, along with a nearby gymnasium, will house an extra 3,400 beds and provide "emergency treatment and clinical testing" for those infected with the virus in Wuhan.
All workers wore masks, as mandated by the authorities for the entire population of Wuhan, and were checked for fevers during their breaks. (AFP)
Singapore Announces 1st Local Transmissions Of Coronavirus
Singapore reported its first local transmissions of the deadly coronavirus from China. The Ministry of Health said it had found six additional cases, four of them involving human-to-human transmission in Singapore, bringing the total infections to 24 in the city-state. (AFP)
Coronavirus Updates: Traveller From Thailand Confirmed as South Korea's Coronavirus CaseA South Korean woman who recently visited Thailand was confirmed Tuesday as having the deadly new virus sweeping China, Seoul's health authorities said.
The latest confirmed case brought South Korea's total number of patients to 16.
She is a 42-year-old Korean woman who returned to the country from Thailand on January 19, according to Seoul's health authorities.
She started showing symptoms six days later, and was diagnosed with the virus on Tuesday, they added, news agency AFP reported.
Coronavirus Updates: India Cancels All Visas From China Amid Coronavirus OutbreakThe Indian embassy in China tweeted, "All those who are already in India (with regular or e-visa) and had traveled from China after January 15 are requested to contact the hotline number of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare of Government of India (+91-11-23978046 and email: ncov2019@gmail.com)." Read
here.
Coronavirus Updates: Vietnam To Quarantine 950 People Returning From Coronavirus-Hit China At Military CampsVietnam has assigned the military to quarantine 950 Vietnamese returning from China, where the coronavirus epidemic has killed more than 420 people, state media reported on Tuesday.
The 950 people will be isolated at two military camps outside Hanoi for at least 14 days, reported Reuters quoting the official Voice of Vietnam Radio. The report didn't say when they will return to Vietnam, but said they will arrive at Noi Bai Airport in Hanoi and Van Don Airport in Quang Ninh province.
Coronavirus Updates: Malaysia Confirms First Citizen Infected With Coronavirus, Total Cases Now 10Malaysian health authorities on Tuesday confirmed the first citizen to be infected with the new coronavirus, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 10. They said the 41-year-old Malaysian had travelled to Singapore for a meeting last month with colleagues from China - including one from Wuhan, the epicentre of the epidemic, news agency Reuters reported.
Coronavirus Updates: Australian Evacuees From China Test Negative For Virus, But Face 14-Day Quarantine
A total of 239 Australians evacuated from the Chinese city of Wuhan have been cleared of the coronavirus, with two remaining facing only a "minimal" chance that they have the virus, Australian Health Minister Greg Hunt said on Tuesday. The 241 evacuees, who arrived on the Australian-run Christmas Island off Australia's northwest coast on Tuesday, will remain quarantined for 14 days, the maximum incubation period for the virus, news agency Reuters reported.
Coronavirus Updates: Disabled Chinese Boy Dies Amid Coronavirus Outbreak. Father Was In QuarantineA disabled boy has died after being left to fend for himself when his father was quarantined over the deadly new coronavirus in China.
Yan Cheng, who was confined to a wheelchair because of cerebral palsy, was abandoned at home when his father was isolated because of a fever.
The 17-year-old, who could not speak, walk or eat by himself, and whose mother died several years earlier, had no one to feed him or help him with daily life.
His father, Yan Xiaowen, was taken into quarantine on January 22, and diagnosed with the potentially deadly virus five days later, news agency AFP reported. Read
here.
Coronavirus Updates: Macau To Close Casinos For Two Weeks Over Coronavirus OutbreakMacau on Tuesday said it will temporarily close down all casinos as the gambling hub battles the deadly coronavirus, cutting off the lifeblood of the city's economy.
The move came as the former Portuguese colony confirmed its tenth confirmed case of the coronavirus, which has killed more than 400 people in China, infected tens of thousands and spread to more than 20 countries, news agency AFP reported.
Coronavirus Updates: Built Under 2 Weeks, China Open Coronavirus Hospital At Outbreak ZoneCoronavirus patients arrived Tuesday at a Chinese field hospital built from scratch in under two weeks at the frontline of the outbreak, state media said, following a round-the-clock construction marathon that became a national social media sensation.
The 1,000-bed facility was built to relieve hospitals swamped with patients in Wuhan, the city in Hubei province at the epicentre of the national health emergency that has killed more in China than the 2003 SARS outbreak, news agency AFP reported. Read
here.
Coronavirus Updates: Hong Kong Reports First Coronavirus DeathHong Kong reported its first coronavirus death on Tuesday, a 39-year-old male who had been suffering from an underlying illness and had visited China's Wuhan city in January, hospital staff said, marking the second death outside mainland China.The first death outside of China was reported on Sunday - a 44-year-old Chinese man who died in the Philippines after travelling there from Wuhan, the epicentre of the virus.The death toll in China rose on Tuesday by a new daily record to more than 420 and total infections in China rose by 3,235 to 20,438, new agency Reuters reported. Read
here.
Coronavirus Updates: Australia Eyes 2nd Flight From Wuhan As Evacuees Arrive On Christmas Island
Australia may arrange a second evacuation flight out of China's Wuhan city, the epicentre of the coronavirus, after a first plane load of its citizens arrived on Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Tuesday. Some 241 passengers on the initial flight will be quarantined for two weeks on the remote Australia-run island, about 1,400 km (870 miles) northwest of mainland Australia. A Qantas Airways Ltd 747 carrying the evacuees and Department of Health officials landed at a military airbase north of Perth, where passengers were transferred to two smaller planes for the flight to Christmas Island, news agency Reuters reported.