Singapore has counted its 10th case of Wuhan coronavirus after three more were publicly confirmed yesterday.
All three 56-year-old Chinese nationals from Wuhan, where Singapore has just announced an airlift of its citizens. Several other countries are waiting for China to give the green light to evacuate their citizens from cities on lockdown there due to the novel coronavirus outbreak, including Wuhan, its epicenter.
Japan and the United States have already airlifted hundreds from the city as confirmed infections shot past those of SARS nearly two decades ago, while others including Thailand, Malaysia and Australia are still waiting for permission from Beijing.
Of the three new cases, two were husband and wife, and the third had worked on a ship.
The married couple arrived in Singapore on Jan. 19 and had stayed with family members in Lorong Liew Lian. They went to Tan Tock Seng Hospital on Monday and have since been quarantined at the National Centre for Infectious Diseases.
The third man is also being treated at the center. The Health Ministry said that the man had no symptoms when he flew from Wuhan to Singapore on Jan. 20. He had been living and working aboard a cargo vessel here and only showed symptoms during a Tuesday health screening at Marina South Pier.
Explaining why his government had not retrieved its citizens from China, Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha said yesterday that China does not allow military flights into its territory to retrieve foreign nationals. A commercial aircraft belonging to All Nippon Airways was used yesterday to transport more than 200 Japanese out of Wuhan. A chartered airliner – Kalita Air – evacuated 195 Americans from Wuhan to Alaska.
The total number of 2019-nCoV cases confirmed in China is now more than that of SARS, or Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, in 2003, when there were around 5,000. The country’s National Health Commission reported nearly 8,000 confirmed cases and 170 deaths as of Thursday morning.
At least 15 countries outside China have reported confirmed cases of the virus, with the United Arab Emirates and Finland announcing their first infected patients yesterday. The World Health Organization is reconsidering declaring a global health emergency on the virus. Chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Twitter yesterday he is reconvening the International Health Regulations Emergency Committee to discuss the outbreak.
I have decided to reconvene the International Health Regulations Emergency Committee on the new #coronavirus (2019-nCoV) tomorrow to advise me on whether the current outbreak constitutes a public health emergency of international concern. pic.twitter.com/993YBQ6hol
— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) January 29, 2020
The SARS-like virus is a member of the coronavirus family that has never been encountered before. The new virus, which reportedly emerged from a now-shuttered market that sold exotic wildlife such as bats, is believed to have come from animals. China has temporarily suspended all wildlife trade.
Malaysia is cracking down on misinformation related to the Wuhan coronavirus crisis and has arrested at least four individuals for allegedly sharing falsehoods on either Twitter, Facebook or WhatsApp. Among the statements they are accused of fabricating was that someone had died in Shah Alam due to the virus.
The government is also in talks with China to evacuate Malaysians out of Wuhan and surrounding cities affected by the lockdown.
According to the Malay Mail, around 80 Malaysian students have been contacted and are believed to be in “good condition.”
Thai authorities continue to work on an evacuation plan put on hold after China said it would not allow military planes into its airspace.
As of this morning, Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said that once Thai authorities get Beijing’s blessing, he would pick up the Thais in Wuhan by himself.
Many in Indonesia remain concerned about the more than 200 Indonesians currently trapped inside the exclusionary zone in China’s Hubei province.
Lawmakers are calling for the government to quickly repatriate Indonesia nationals sequestered there during the outbreak.
“Leaving our citizens there is just the same as letting them wait their turn to get infected,” Golkar Party lawmaker Christina Aryani told The Jakarta Post.
No reports of the novel coronavirus have been confirmed in the Philippines where 24 suspected cases are being probed across six regions.
A suspected case died of pneumonia in Manila yesterday after he tested positive for HIV and a skin-related infection. He was a 29-year-old resident of China’s Yunnan province.
The country continues to bar Chinese travelers from the country. However, those arriving via cruise ships have been allowed entry. Two cruise ships carrying hundreds of Chinese tourists from Hong Kong and mainland China arrived in Manila on Tuesday following mandatory inspections. The Bureau of Quarantine deemed them “authorized to travel.”
Gripped by anxiety, Hong Kongers have wiped out supermarket shelves due to panic-buying. Items such as vegetables and disinfectants have sold out in some city supermarkets.
Fears of masks being recycled by dishonest retailers have also prompted checks by the city’s customs authorities.
Related:
Singapore bars entry of travelers from Wuhan as two more infections confirmed
Malaysia confirms 7 coronavirus cases, one man arrested for spreading fake news on disease
‘I really want to go home,’ says Thai student trapped in Wuhan without food
