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Philippines Reports First Death Outside China as Toll Passes 300
Coronavirus Live Updates: Death in Philippines Is the First Outside China
(about 3 hours later)
Read the latest developments in the coronavirus outbreak here.
A 44-year-old man in the Philippines has died of the coronavirus, health officials said on Sunday, making him the first known death outside China. The man, a resident of Wuhan, China, the epicenter of the virus, died on Saturday after developing what officials called “severe pneumonia.”
A 44-year-old man in the Philippines has died of the coronavirus, health officials said on Sunday, making him the first known death outside China. The man, a resident of Wuhan, China, the epicenter of the virus, died on Saturday after developing what officials called “severe pneumonia.”
“This is the first known death of someone with 2019-nCoV outside of China,” the World Health Organization’s office in the Philippines said in a statement, using the technical shorthand for the coronavirus.
“This is the first known death of someone with 2019-nCoV outside of China,” the World Health Organization’s office in the Philippines said in a statement, using the technical shorthand for the coronavirus.
Philippines health officials said the man had arrived in the country on Jan. 21 with a 38-year-old woman who remains under observation.
Philippines health officials said the man had arrived in the country on Jan. 21 with a 38-year-old woman who remains under observation.
“In his last few days, the patient was stable and showed signs of improvement; however, the condition of the patient deteriorated within his last 24 hours, resulting in his demise,” the health secretary, Francisco Duque III, said.
“In his last few days, the patient was stable and showed signs of improvement; however, the condition of the patient deteriorated within his last 24 hours, resulting in his demise,” the health secretary, Francisco Duque III, said.
Hours before the death was announced, the Philippines said it was banning non-Filipinos arriving from mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau.
Hours before the death was announced, the Philippines said it was temporarily banning non-Filipino travelers arriving from mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau.
Mr. Duque said the Philippines was currently observing 23 people who had been isolated in hospitals with possible coronavirus symptoms.
Mr. Duque said the Philippines was currently observing 23 people who had been isolated in hospitals with possible coronavirus symptoms.
“The new developments warrant a more diligent approach in containing the threats of the 2019-nCoV,” he said.
“The new developments warrant a more diligent approach in containing the threats of the 2019-nCoV,” he said.
The United States and Australia are temporarily denying entry to noncitizens who have recently traveled to China, hoping to limit the spread of the new coronavirus to their countries, while Japan will bar foreigners who have been in the Chinese province at the center of the outbreak.
The American restrictions, announced on Friday, exempt immediate family members of American citizens and permanent residents. Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced Australia’s temporary ban on Saturday, saying that “Australian citizens, Australian residents, dependents, legal guardians or spouses” would still be allowed into the country.
American officials also said that any United States citizen returning home who has been in the Hubei province of China within the past 14 days — believed to be the virus’s incubation period — will be quarantined for up to 14 days. Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak, is in Hubei.
Those who have been to other parts of China within the past 14 days will be subject to “proactive entry screening” and up to 14 days of monitoring and self-quarantine.
Over all, nearly 10,000 flights have been canceled since the outbreak, according to Cirium, a global travel and data analytics company.
Vietnam barred almost all flights from and to mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau until May 1, according to the United States Federal Aviation Administration.
Hours later, Vietnam partly eased the ban, allowing flights from Hong Kong and Macau to continue, while keeping the prohibitions in place for mainland China, aviation authorities said.
Four airlines in the Philippines announced they were reducing or canceling flights to China: Cebu Pacific Air, Philippine Airlines, Philippines AirAsia and the local unit of AirAsia Group Bhd, the Reuters news agency reported.
In Japan, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said the country would bar entry to foreigners who had visited Hubei within the past 14 days, or who had passports issued in Hubei.
Taiwan is barring Chinese nationals from the southern coastal province of Guangdong from entry beginning Sunday and travelers who recently visited the area will be subject to a mandatory 14-day quarantine, Taiwan state media said on Saturday.
The United States will also funnel all flights from China to just a few airports, including Kennedy in New York, O’Hare in Chicago and San Francisco International Airport.
Several countries were evacuating their citizens from Hubei.
South Korea, India and Bangladesh have flown hundreds of their citizens home from Wuhan, while Indonesia and Turkey have sent planes there, according to The Associated Press.
On Monday, the Russian military will begin evacuating Russians from affected regions in China, Russian media reported.
Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said the American actions were being taken because there were “a lot of unknowns” surrounding the virus and its transmission path.
The announcement came as major air carriers suspended flights between the United States and mainland China. American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines said direct air service would be halted for months, news that rattled the stock market and industries that depend on the flow of goods and people. Qantas followed suit on Saturday, announcing its own suspension of flights to China.
Turkmenistan Airlines began an indefinite suspension of flights to Beijing from Saturday because of the outbreak, according to a statement. Qatar Airlines also suspended flights to China.
Chinese officials on Sunday reported a surge in new cases.
Chinese officials on Sunday reported a surge in new cases.
◆ The death toll in China rose to at least 304.
◆ The death toll in China rose to at least 304.
◆ More than 2,000 new cases were also recorded in the country in the past 24 hours, raising the worldwide total to nearly 14,380, according to Chinese and World Health Organization data. The vast majority of the cases are inside China; about 100 cases have been confirmed in 23 other countries.
◆ More than 2,000 new cases were also recorded in the country in the past 24 hours, raising the worldwide total to nearly 14,380, according to Chinese and World Health Organization data. The vast majority of the cases are inside China; about 100 cases have been confirmed in at least 23 other countries.
◆ All of China’s provinces and territories have now been touched by the outbreak.
◆ All of China’s provinces and territories have now been touched by the outbreak.
◆ Countries and territories that have confirmed cases: Thailand, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, Australia, Malaysia, Macau, Russia, France, the United States, South Korea, Germany, the United Arab Emirates, Canada, Britain, Vietnam, Italy, India, the Philippines, Nepal, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Finland , Sweden and Spain.
◆ Countries and territories that have confirmed cases: Thailand, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, Australia, Malaysia, Macau, Russia, France, the United States, South Korea, Germany, the United Arab Emirates, Canada, Britain, Vietnam, Italy, India, the Philippines, Nepal, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Finland, Sweden and Spain.
◆ Cases recorded in Thailand, Taiwan, Germany, Vietnam, Japan, France and the United States involved patients who had not been to China.
◆ Cases recorded in Thailand, Taiwan, Germany, Vietnam, Japan, France and the United States involved patients who had not been to China.
◆ China has asked the European Union for help in purchasing urgent medical supplies from its member countries, the official Xinhua news agency said on Saturday.
◆ China has asked the European Union for help in purchasing urgently needed medical supplies from its member countries, the China’s official Xinhua news agency said on Saturday.
A patient at a hospital in New York City may have the novel coronavirus, city health officials announced on Saturday. If confirmed, it would be the first reported instance of the virus in the city.
China has announced that it is dealing with another disease outbreak, this one mostly affecting animals, but also potentially deadly among people.
Local authorities are sending a sample to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention because they are unable to test for the virus. They are taking it seriously because the patient has troublesome symptoms and a travel history from China and because the patient tested negative for influenza and other common illnesses.
The Ministry of Agriculture said late Saturday that a fresh outbreak of a lethal form of influenza had been found in poultry in the southern province of Hunan, and that officials had ordered the slaughter of 17,828 chickens.
The health authorities said the individual, who was being treated at Bellevue Hospital Center, is under 40 and is in stable condition. They said they do not expect to receive results from the C.D.C. for 36 to 48 hours, or possibly longer.
China has previously dealt with several bird flu outbreaks — the most recent was in April 2019. In the new case, the H5N1 bird flu virus was found at a farm in the city of Shaoyang. The farm had 7,850 chickens, and more than half have died from the bird flu, the ministry said. It called the strain “highly pathogenic.”
The first case of coronavirus in Massachusetts has been confirmed, officials said on Saturday: a man in his 20s who returned from Wuhan and lives in Boston, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the United States to eight.
Although bird flu poses more of a danger to poultry than humans — it’s not easily transmissible among people — the World Health Organization has called on countries to be on guard because the virus can mutate into a transmissible form and has the potential to cause a pandemic.
The University of Massachusetts-Boston confirmed in a separate statement on Saturday that a member of the school’s community had contracted the virus. The statement also said that it expected “business as usual” on campus.
The latest outbreak comes as China grapples with an African swine fever epidemic that has infected tens of thousands of pigs. It could stoke more worries among its people about the country’s food supply.
The authorities in Massachusetts were notified by the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of the positive test results late Friday evening, according to a statement by the Boston Public Health Commission.
New Zealand on Sunday became the latest country to impose restrictions on travelers from mainland China, saying it would deny entry to visitors departing from or transiting through the mainland for two weeks starting on Monday.
The man recently traveled to Wuhan and sought medical care soon after his return to Massachusetts, the statement said. He will remain in isolation until he is cleared by public health officials and his close contacts are being monitored.
Citizens and residents will be allowed entry to New Zealand, but will be required to quarantine themselves for 14 days, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said.
Monica Bharel, the Massachusetts public health commissioner, said in a statement that she was “grateful” that the man is recovering and sought medical attention immediately.
“Ultimately, this is a public health decision,” she said, adding that the restrictions were precautionary measures to keep the country virus-free and to contain the worldwide outbreak.
“Massachusetts has been preparing for a possible case of this new coronavirus, and we were fortunate that astute clinicians took appropriate action quickly,” she said.
The government will also send a charter flight with an Air New Zealand crew to repatriate up to 300 citizens in Wuhan.
The Spanish health authorities said on Saturday that a German tourist has Spain’s first confirmed case of coronavirus and was healthy, but would remain isolated in a hospital in the Canary Islands.
The Philippines, the United States and Australia have also expanded travel restrictions, temporarily banning noncitizens who have recently traveled to China.
Fernando Simón, the director of the Spanish Health Ministry’s emergency coordination center, told reporters that the German was not showing any serious symptoms of coronavirus. The patient contracted the virus in Germany before traveling to the island of La Gomera, which is part of Spain’s Canary archipelago.
South Korea and Japan are barring noncitizens who had traveled recently to Hubei, the province at the center of the outbreak. Taiwan is denying entry to Chinese nationals from Guangdong, a southern coastal province that has also been battered by the virus, or travelers who have recently visited the area.
The German, whose name was not disclosed, is part of a group of five tourists who have been quarantined in a hospital on La Gomera since Wednesday.
Vietnam recently barred almost all flights to and from mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau until May 1, according to the United States Federal Aviation Administration. But Vietnam then partly eased its ban, allowing flights from Hong Kong and Macau to continue, while keeping the prohibitions in place for mainland China, aviation authorities said.
A prominent respiratory expert who originally told Chinese state media that the coronavirus was under control and preventable has admitted that his choice of words was inappropriate.
As many as 9,000 medical workers in Hong Kong have pledged to strike this week, a threat that alarms the territory’s officials as they are struggling to contain the coronavirus outbreak.
Wang Guangfa, head of the department of pulmonary medicine at Peking University First Hospital in Beijing, compared himself and other medical professionals tackling the outbreak to soldiers walking onto a battlefield.
The workers are demanding that Hong Kong close all border checkpoints to visitors from mainland China, saying they represent a threat to health care workers in the city. They are planning to paralyze nonemergency and then emergency services at hospitals, a union formed during the city’s anti-government protest movement said.
“All the bullets are flying,” said Dr. Wang, in an interview with Jiemian, a finance-focused news site founded by Shanghai United Media Group, which is controlled by the government of Shanghai.
“We believe such actions are our last resort,” the Hospital Authority Employees Alliance wrote in a statement Saturday night.
In many ways the doctor, who has been widely criticized for his reassuring early statements, has come to symbolize how slowly China recognized the urgency of the outbreak. Dr. Wang, who initially said that the coronavirus could not be spread by human-to-human contact, later contracted it himself, apparently during a visit to Wuhan.
Under the plan, nonessential hospital staff members who belong to the union would not go to work on Monday. If the government failed to close the border and heed their other demands by 9 p.m., union members handling emergency services would also strike, the union said.
As the virus began to spread through Wuhan in early January, people who spoke out about it online were silenced by censors and, in some cases, held by the police. When journalists from Hong Kong — whose news media were among the first to shed light on the virus — visited a Wuhan hospital, police officers detained them for hours.
Matthew Cheung, Hong Kong’s No. 2 official, appealed to medical workers to reconsider, comparing them to guardians of the public.
In his interview with Jiemian, published on Friday, Dr. Wang said he had misdiagnosed himself as having flu, and that he had waited days before checking himself into a hospital. He said he had since recovered and was discharged on Thursday.
“At this critical moment, I believe the general public would count on medical personnel to fight against the epidemic together, in the spirit of professionalism,” he wrote in a blog post Sunday.
Asked why he had originally called the coronavirus “preventable and controllable,” Dr. Wang blamed limited information at the time of his Wuhan visit.
Hong Kong confirmed its 14th coronavirus case late Saturday. The patient, an 80-year-old man, had traveled for a few hours to mainland China in early January, and later spent several days in Japan.
His interview has been widely shared on Weibo, China’s Twitter-like social media platform. Some of the most popular comments are from angry users.
In arguing against the job action, government officials say that the number of visitors from the mainland and other countries has decreased significantly after they closed several border points and rail stations and cut flight arrivals by half.
“‘Could be prevented and controlled,’ Wang Guangfa,” said one user, who wrote under a pseudonym based on “Gorbachev” in Chinese characters. “Because of this line, the most critical half-month was squandered! And resulted in this.”
But several border points remain open, and many medical workers fear being overwhelmed by a flood of visitors seeking treatment in Hong Kong’s well-regarded health care system. They have also voiced frustrations about patients from mainland China hiding their travel and medical history, potentially endangering other patients.
A newly formed union of medical workers in Hong Kong voted Saturday to go on strike next week to pressure the territory’s government into barring arrivals from mainland China. The Hospital Authority Employees Alliance says that local medical services are in danger of being overwhelmed by visitors from the mainland, and efforts to stop the spread of the coronavirus in Hong Kong will not be effective without a full closure of the border.
Reporting was contributed by Austin Ramzy, Jason Gutierrez, Tiffany May and Sui-Lee Wee.
Last week Carrie Lam, Hong Kong’s top official, announced several steps to drastically cut arrivals of people from the mainland into Hong Kong, an autonomous part of China. Hong Kong has closed several border points and rail stations and cut flight arrivals by half. The central government has also said it will stop issuing permits for individual visitors.
But the new medical workers union says those steps do not go far enough.
“As country after country begins to announce the banning of foreigners’ entry from China, the Hong Kong government chooses to keep its doors wide open,” the group wrote on Facebook after the results of their strike vote were confirmed. “The already limited resources and manpower in Hong Kong that are necessary for healthcare will soon be completely depleted, as an endless stream of non-Hong Kong residents continues to come into the city, seeking for medical care.”
The union has about 18,000 members out of about 80,000 Hospital Authority personnel. It says 9,000 of its members have signed a pledge to strike. Out of 3,164 votes cast by its members on Saturday, 3,123 were in favor. Without a response from the government, the union says the strike will begin Monday with non-emergency personnel.
Hong Kong has 13 confirmed cases of people infected with the new coronavirus, health officials say.
Amy Qin, who covers China from Beijing, on Friday arrived in Wuhan, the city at the center of the coronavirus outbreak that has killed over 250 people so far. Follow Amy as she reports around Wuhan.
Amy arrived in a wary city that has been cut off from the rest of the world for more than a week.
Streets were mostly empty as people avoided contact with one another and stayed fearfully at home. Not everybody could bear to stay inside, however.
All around the city, authorities and businesses have worked to create an air of normalcy.
It’s clear, however, that the city has been strained to its limits by the epidemic.
Apple on Saturday said it would close its stores in mainland China, one of its biggest markets, until Feb. 9.
In a statement, the iPhone maker said it was closing stores, corporate offices and contact centers “out of an abundance of caution and based on the latest advice from leading health experts.” Its online store would remain open, it said.
The company operates 42 stores in mainland China, though its iPhones and other devices are widely available through other retailers.
Apple generates about one-sixth of its sales and one-quarter of its operating income in China. While its results there fell last year, Tim Cook, Apple’s chief executive, told investors last week that the company’s new iPhone 11 was selling well in the country.
But he also cautioned that the coronavirus outbreak had kept the company from offering more specific guidance about its financial performance in the coming months.
Mr. Cook also said the company was looking for ways to minimize supply disruptions. Apple makes most of its iPhones and other gadgets in China, usually in factories owned by third-party contractors like Foxconn of Taiwan.
Apple is only one of a slew of global companies reconsidering their China operations as the outbreak has spread. A prolonged slowdown or closure in China could have a major impact on global economic growth.
China’s central bank, the People’s Bank of China, addressed such concerns on Saturday, pledging to make sure the country’s financial system had enough cash to deal with the economic blow.
North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, has sent a letter to President Xi Jinping of China offering condolences — and a rare donation of aid — to help Beijing fight the coronavirus outbreak, the North’s state-run news agency reported on Saturday.
North Korea was one of the first countries to shut its borders to visitors from China to keep out the coronavirus.
But in his letter to Mr. Xi, Mr. Kim “sent warm greetings to all the party members and medical workers of China active in the first line for the prevention of the epidemic, and expressed deep consolation for the families who lost their blood relatives due to the infectious disease,” the North Korean news agency said.
Along with Mr. Kim’s letter of condolence, North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party sent an undisclosed amount of “aid fund” to its Chinese counterpart under a decision its Political Bureau made on Friday, the North Korean news agency said.
Mr. Kim “conveyed his sincere feelings of wanting to share the suffering and trial of the fraternal Chinese people and to render help even a bit,” it said.
The mayor and Chinese Communist Party chief of a town in Huanggang, a city near Wuhan, have been fired over negligence that resulted in the death of the teenage son of a quarantined coronavirus patient.
The patient, Yan Xiaowen, had returned from Wuhan to the town of Huajiahe in mid-January. A few days later, on Jan. 22, he developed a fever and was immediately quarantined. His 16-year-old son, who had cerebral palsy and required round-the-clock medical attention, was entrusted to the care of relatives, village cadres and village doctors.
On Jan. 29, the day Mr. Yan’s coronavirus was diagnosed, his son was deemed a close contact and transferred to an observation ward. He died around an hour later. The cause of death was still being investigated.
Mr. Yan had appealed for help on social media, worried that his son was not receiving regular care and saying that village party officials told him that his son had been fed only twice in five days, The South China Morning Post reported.
A statement released by the local county government on Saturday said the cadres did not act “dutifully” or “do their best” to care for him. The town’s mayor and party secretary were removed from office as a result, the statement added.
“Are you and your family doing well? We’ve been worrying about you all this time!” read a text message sent on Saturday to Wuhan’s visitors from Beijing.
But they were more than just innocent greetings. Beijing’s Center for Disease Prevention and Control appeared to have tracked the city’s residents who were on trips to Hubei Province and asked them not to return. Wuhan, the heart of the outbreak, is the provincial capital of Hubei.
“You and your family must protect yourselves and manage your health well, and strictly abide by the epidemic prevention and control measures by the local governments in Hubei and not return to Beijing for the time being,” the message continued.
China’s cellular service providers can use their networks to track and locate phone users.
Beijing, China’s capital, has also taken extra steps to keep people off the streets and public places. Companies in Beijing, except for utilities and pharmaceutical or medical equipment firms as well as supermarkets, would postpone reopening until Feb. 10, a week after an extended Lunar New Year was to end, the official Beijing Daily reported.
Southeast of Beijing, the city of Tianjin, which is home to 15 million people, had also suspended all schools and businesses indefinitely, according to local state media.
As the coronavirus continues to spread through China and globally, world leaders are having to weigh the cost of reacting by closing their borders to Chinese travelers.
The outbreak and China’s tightening of its own border are beginning to expose how dependent many nations are on China and the cash its selfie-snapping tourists bring in.
For Australia, which on Saturday joined the United States in temporarily barring foreigners who had recently been to China, China was the single largest source of visitors in 2018, and its tourists spent 12 billion Australian dollars, or about $8 billion, that year.
As some countries took drastic measures, their leaders acknowledged the economic impact of the moves. “It’s going to hurt us,” warned Lee Hsien Loong, the prime minister of Singapore, after announcing that the small island-state would bar all Chinese visitors and foreigners who had traveled to China within the past 14 days.
“China is a very big source of tourists for Singapore,” Mr. Lee told reporters on Friday. Restaurants, travel operators and hotels in Singapore were all “bound to be significantly affected,” he said, as would the rest of the economy, given that China is one of Singapore’s biggest trading partners.
The authorities in Mongolia, which is heavily dependent on China’s demand for its coal and copper, closed their country’s border with China until March 2.
Other countries have kept their borders open.
Cambodia’s leader, Hun Sen, has been defiant in his decision not to restrict Chinese tourists to his country, saying that doing so would “be an attack on the Cambodian economy.”
More than 80 British citizens and 27 foreign nationals were flown from Wuhan, the center of the coronavirus outbreak, to Britain on Friday. And on board the charter flight was Matt Raw, who filmed his journey.
Mr. Raw, who along with the other Britons was to be quarantined for 14 days, offered an inside look at his odyssey with his 75-year-old mother and his wife, a Chinese national who had initially been prevented from traveling.
“We’re actually being evacuated right now,” he said at the airport in China while wearing a large respiratory mask, according to footage published by various British news media. “The Chinese authorities have seemed to allow us to travel.”
Their flight landed in Brize Norton, 62 miles west of London, and Mr. Raw and his family were later taken to a special facility in buses escorted by police vehicles and ambulances.
Mr. Raw and his family later disembarked at a hospital in Merseyside, in northwest England, and were welcomed by staff members wearing full medical gowns, masks and gloves.
“We’re now going to have a well-deserved rest,” Mr. Raw said from his room.
Two patients have tested positive for the virus in Britain, with potentially more to come, the authorities have said. On Saturday, one of the two was identified as a student at the University of York, in northern England, a university spokeswoman said.
Early on Saturday, a group of truck drivers smoked cigarettes in the soft morning light as they waited to undertake a mission of national urgency: delivering fresh produce to the stricken city of Wuhan.
Broccoli, cauliflower, potatoes, chili peppers and more were due to head there by the truckload from Shouguang, an eastern city that is one of China’s biggest vegetable producers.
The coronavirus is testing one of the Chinese government’s proudest achievements: its ability to feed its 1.4 billion people.
Many shops and supermarkets have been selling out of fresh food each morning. Towns and villages in many places have also closed off roads to passing traffic, which has caused some truck shipments to take longer than usual.
So far, there have been no signs of a major breakdown in China’s food supplies. The government has ordered vendors to keep prices stable and punished stores that have gouged consumers.
Shouguang is one of several places in China that have donated vegetables to Wuhan in recent days. The Wuhan government has tasked three retailers with selling the goods and delivering the proceeds to the city’s virus-fighting budget.
On Saturday, the 10 or so trucks in Shouguang that were Wuhan-bound had been festooned with red banners that read, “Pull together in times of trouble, go Wuhan!” and “The people are united, fight the epidemic together.”
Several said they had leapt at the opportunity to take part.
“I knew about the dangers,” said Ma Chenglong, a 34-year-old driver. “But when the country is in trouble, we common people have a duty.”
Reporting was contributed by Alexandra Stevenson, Elaine Yu, Amy Qin, Raymond Zhong, Michael Corkery, Annie Karni, Russell Goldman, Thomas Fuller, Choe Sang-Hun, Elian Peltier, Raphael Minder, Austin Ramzy, Derrick Taylor, Carlos Tejada and Tiffany May. Wang Yiwei contributed research.
