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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
World
Helen Davidson (now), Kevin Rawlinson (earlier)Matthew Weaver, Damien Gayle

Trump puts Pence in charge of US virus response – as it happened

US president Donald Trump flanked by vice-president Mike Pence at the White House briefing.
US president Donald Trump flanked by vice-president Mike Pence at the White House briefing. Photograph: Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images

We have now closed this blog and moved over to a new page. Here’s a summary of recent developments.

  • China’s health authority has reported another drop in the number of new cases. There were 433 new confirmed cases and 29 deaths in mainland China on Wednesday.
  • There are 334 new cases in South Korea, mostly in Daegu.
  • Pakistan, Georgia, Norway, Macedonia, Greece and Romania are among countries to report their first case of coronavirus in the last day.
  • US vice-president Mike Pence will lead and coordinate the US’s response to the coronavirus.
  • President Donald Trump said the risk to Americans is “very low” but that plans are in place for a spread of the virus, which he doesn’t think is inevitable, in contradiction to US health authorities who expect to see more cases.
  • Anne Schuchat, deputy director of the US CDC, said “the trajectory of what we are looking at over the weeks and months ahead is very uncertain”, and authorities should “dust off” their pandemic preparedness plans.
  • US secretary of health and human services, Alex Azar, says “we can expect to see more cases in the US”, and while containment is working, “the degree of risk can change quickly”.
  • The National Institute of Health said a vaccine is at least 12-18 months away, so will not help this current outbreak, but may assist a seasonal return. The answer right now is containment.
  • Trump said “it’s not the right time” to extend travel restrictions to other affected countries like Italy and South Korea.
  • Stock markets in Asia saw mounting losses on Thursday’s open.
  • Prestigious sporting events are at risk, with organisers of the Six Nations, the Cheltenham Festival, the Giro d’Italia, Euro 202 and the Tokyo Olympics all monitoring the situation.
  • A number of countries have extended travel bans due to virus fears, including Fiji, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia.

Updated

From Reuters:

A Korean Air flight attendant who has tested positive for coronavirus had worked on flights between Seoul and Los Angeles, local media reported.

The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) said on Wednesday that the crewmember had been on a Korean Air KE958 flight from Israel to Incheon on 15-16 February.

The passengers included a South Korea tour group from which 31 coronavirus cases were seen to have originated.

But it has yet to release details of other routes and flights flown by the employee.

Yonhap News Agency and other media said she worked on flights KE017 and KE012 on 19 February and 20 February to and from Los Angeles.

Some 30 crewmembers who were on the same flights with her have self-quarantined for 14 days, media reports said.

Korean Air has referred all inquiries about the employee’s itinerary to KCDC, as the authority in charge, adding “We will continue to work closely with the relevant authorities to ensure the safety of our passengers and employees.”

Fiji has extended its travel ban due to coronavirus fears. Travellers who have been in Italy, Iran and the South Korean cities of Daegu and Cheongdo will not be permitted to enter Fiji. Visitors who had been in mainland China in the last 14 days have also been forbidden entry into the Pacific nation.

There are no suspected or confirmed cases of coronavirus in Fiji, but Pacific nations are fearful of how their health systems will cope were the virus to reach their shores.

Ian Thorpe, the Australian Olympic swimming legend, says athletes must consider their own health before attending the Tokyo Games this year.

Thorpe, whose five Olympic golds make him the most successful Australian Olympian all time, spoke out as concerns mounted about whether the Games in July and August will go ahead because of the coronavirus outbreak.

I think the decision should come down to each individual athlete. But whether or not they want to compete, that they should take their health into consideration first.

Here’s the full story:

New Zealand’s economy is facing a “serious impact” from the virus, according to the finance minister.

The country’s lucrative tourism industry is reliant on Chinese visitors – they spend around NZ$180m a month during the peak holiday period – but they have dried up as flights have been suspended.

Exports such as timber and food have also suffered.

Our correspondent Eleanor Aigne Roy has the full story here:

NHK is reporting that a Japanese woman who was treated for Covid-19, confirmed as virus-free, and left hospital earlier this month has since retested positive for the disease.

According to the report, the woman is a tour-guide in her 40s, in the city of Osaka.

She began feeling throat and chest pain about two weeks after leaving hospital, and after several visits to doctors, retested positive for the illness, NHK said.

She is now in hospital and has not been to work or in contact with anyone, it said.

The article said prefecture authorities believed she had either been reinfected or that the virus had remained in the woman and multiplied.

Romania has reported its first case of the virus.

The patient is a man who was in contact with an Italian visitor to the country last week, AFP reports.

Seven other people who lived at the same address as the patient have all tested negative but emergency department official Raed Arafat said that as a precaution will still be quarantined for two weeks.

A large number of the year’s prestigious sporting events are at risk as the coronavirus continues to spread around the globe, with the organisers of the Six Nations, the Cheltenham Festival, the Giro d’Italia, Euro 2020 and the Tokyo Olympics all closely monitoring the situation after a significant increase in the number of cases worldwide.

Full report:

Stock market losses mount

Losses are mounting on Asian stock markets on Thursday morning.

The Nikkei is now down 1.65% in Tokyo while Seoul has dropped 0.6% in the wake of those grim new Covid-19 case numbers from South Korea. In Sydney the ASX200 is off 0.77%.

Hong Kong has just opened is down 0.63%. The Shanghai Composite is down 0.8% in the first few minutes of trade.

More weak signals from the commodities markets in China where oil and iron ore futures are falling again. The latter is especially bad news for Australia because iron ore is the country’s biggest export.

A man rides past bags of vegetables being prepared for delivery on an almost empty street in Wuhan, in China’s central Hubei province on February 26, 2020.
A man rides past bags of vegetables being prepared for delivery on an almost empty street in Wuhan, in China’s central Hubei province on February 26, 2020. Photograph: AFP via Getty Images
McDonalds workers wear protective suits as a preventive measure against the Covid-19 coronavirus as they prepare to deliver food to residents in Wuhan, in China’s central Hubei province on February 26, 2020.
McDonalds workers wear protective suits as a preventive measure against the Covid-19 coronavirus as they prepare to deliver food to residents in Wuhan, in China’s central Hubei province on February 26, 2020. Photograph: AFP via Getty Images
A Chinese security guard wears a protective mask as he checks the temperature of people entering a residential building on February 26, 2020 in Beijing, China.
A Chinese security guard wears a protective mask as he checks the temperature of people entering a residential building on February 26, 2020 in Beijing, China. Photograph: Kevin Frayer/Getty Images

China: 433 new cases and 29 deaths on Wednesday

Chinese health authorities have released their figures for the virus’s spread and impact on Wednesday, recording another consecutive drop in both the number of new cases and the number of deaths.

By the end of Wednesday, mainland China reported 433 new confirmed cases, and 29 deaths, according to figures from the National Health Commission.

409 of the new cases and 26 of the deaths were in Hubei, the province at the centre of the outbreak. The Hubei city of Wuhan was the site of 383 of the cases and 19 of the deaths).

The commission reported 508 new suspected cases across mainland China, bringing that total number to 2,358.

The country has reported a total of 78,497 confirmed cases since the known start of the outbreak.

There were no new reported cases in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau.

Global car sales to slump 2.5%, says Moody's

There’s a blizzard of economic news and comment on coronavirus including Moody’s revising downwards its forecast for car sales around the world from a drop of 0.9% to -2.5%.

The rating agency says the outbreak “reduces demand and disrupts automotive supply chains”.

We expect global auto unit sales to decline 2.5% in 2020, narrowing from a 4.6% drop in 2019, but worsening from the 0.9% decline that we had previously projected for this year. We expect sales to rebound only modestly in 2021, with growth of 1.5%. Our outlook on the sector remains negative.

On the general market situation, Michael McCarthy, chief market strategist, CMC Markets and Stockbroking in Sydney, says the virus issue remains “at the heart of market concerns”.

Stocks are still struggling but he rings the alarm on an apparent freeze in lending:

The most concerning thing is the fact that credit markets froze. In very unusual trading there were no new corporate bonds issued in Europe or the USA. This last occurred on a non-holiday in 2007, just before the global peak in equity markets and the plunge that heralded the GFC.

In Australia, BIS Oxford Economics have said that weak capex figures for the fourth quarter released on Thursday morning makes it more likely that the Reserve Bank will have to reduce rates or introduce some kind of monetary easing.

The data confirm our view that capex growth this year will be soft, and is very likely to miss the RBA’s forecast – as the survey was done in Q4 it does not include any additional drag from the coronavirus outbreak. We continue to expect further monetary easing, and the pressure will mount on the government to loosen policy in its May budget.

334 new cases in South Korea

South Korea’s centre for disease control has reported a further 334 new cases of Covid-19, bringing the total to 1,595 in the worst outbreaks outside of mainland China.

307 of the new cases are in Daegu, where the church at the centre of the country’s outbreak is located.

As flagged earlier this week, South Korea and the US have also decided to indefinitely postpone joint military drills.

Updated

From Reuters:

Growing concerns inside the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank about the spread of the new coronavirus have prompted the institutions to consider scaling back their Spring Meetings in April or hold them by teleconference, people familiar with the discussions said on Wednesday.

The institutions’ 17-19 April Spring Meetings are scheduled to bring some 10,000 government officials, journalists, business people and civil society representatives from across the globe to a tightly packed, two-block area of downtown Washington, DC, that houses their headquarters.

The virus’ spread has raised concerns inside the Fund and the World Bank that the close interactions among people from their 189 member countries at the Spring Meetings could inadvertently contribute to the problem.

Officials from both institutions and member governments said that talk of canceling the meetings outright is premature, but they are considering several options to modify them. No decisions have been made, they said, adding that much depends on efforts to contain the virus in the coming days and weeks.

Options include scaling back the number of meetings, canceling external events and limiting the size of the country delegations that would travel to Washington. Another alternative is to hold “virtual” meetings by teleconference, and the institutions could still proceed with full-fledged meetings.

OK, that marathon press conference from president Trump is finished. There were some mixed messages. Here’s a quick summary of what we were told, and you can read our full report from Amanda Holpuch here.

  • Vice-president Mike Pence will lead and coordinate the US’s response to the coronavirus.
  • Trump said the risk to Americans is “very low” but that plans are in place for a spread of the virus, which he doesn’t think is inevitable.
  • Anne Schuchat, deputy director of the US CDC said authorities should “dust off” their pandemic preparedness plans. “The trajectory of what we are looking at over the weeks and months ahead is very uncertain.”
  • Secretary of health and human services, Alex Azar, says “we can expect to see more cases in the US”, and while containment is working, “the degree of risk can change quickly”.
  • 15 cases of coronavirus in the US, as well as three cases from Americans repatriated from Wuhan and 42 from the Diamond Princess cruise ship.
  • Trump says of the 15, eight have returned home, five have fully recovered, one is in hospital, and one is about to go home.
  • Trump defended the low testing rate in the US (fewer than 500 so far).
  • Trump said the illness was “like the flu”, except with far fewer deaths, and people just need to exercise usual hygiene measures like washing their hands. “We’ll essentially have a flu shot for this in a very quick manner.”
  • The National Institute of Health said a vaccine is at least 12-18 months away, so will not help this current outbreak, but may assist a seasonal return. The answer right now is containment.
  • Trump said “it’s not the right time” to extend travel restrictions to other affected countries like Italy and South Korea.

Markets drop on Trump comments

Stocks markets in Asia Pacific have slumped again – not helped by Donald Trump’s mixed messages on the virus just now.

The ASX200 in Sydney dropped 0.5% when Trump was speaking. It had started the day flat after three straight days of losses.

The S&P500 E-mini futures also dropped 0.3% when the president spoke.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei is down 1.1% and in Seoul the Kospi is up 0.17%.

Trump defends past comments, an example of which is below, criticising Obama for appointing non-medical health czars.

He says it’s different because Ebola was much worse and more fatal, and this is like the flu.

He defends not appointing Azar to run point on the US’s response, saying he wants Azar to focus on his complicated work, and that Pence will work closely with Azar.

“I don’t want to spare the horses, I have very talented people and I want to use them.”

Trump has been rambling a bit, blaming the federal reserve, Boeing, General Motors, and Obama, for drops in the US market.

Q: Are you telling Americans, apart from the ones who are sick, not to change any of their behaviours?

A: No, you should wash your hands, you don’t have to grab every handrail, he says. Treat it like the flu. Then he tells an anecdote about a man who came up to him to say hello, and hugged Trump, and then said he was very ill, so Trump extricated himself.

~~~

Q: In the course of the last few minutes you have disputed what some of the health officials standing behind you have said. Don’t you trust them?

A: I haven’t disputed them. “I don’t think it’s inevitable” that there will be further outbreaks.

“There’s a chance it could get worse, a chance it could get fairly substantially worse, but I don’t think it’s inevitable.”

Italy now has 447 cases of coronavirus, according to a new report by Associated Press.

Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte’s government appealed to European neighbours for cooperation, not isolation and discrimination. Twelve people have died amid the country’s struggle to contain the rapidly spreading outbreak.

Q: The administration has tested less than 500 people, which has been questioned by health officials, as other countries test thousands. Will the US increase its testing?

Trump: “We’re testing everybody that we need to test and finding very little problem. You treat this like the flu,” he says, telling people to wash hands.

“We’ll essentially have a flu shot for this in a very quick manner.”

(That vaccine, if successful, is at least 12-18 months away.)

“There’s no reason to be panicked,” he says, returning again to those numbers of flu deaths.

“This is a little different... but we have it so well under control and we really have done a very good job.”

Asked if financial markets are overreacting, Trump skirts the well-documented impact of the coronavirus on markets around the world:

“I think financial markets are very upset when they look at Democrat candidates standing on that stage making fools of themselves...I think that has a huge effect.”

Meanwhile, the Washington Post is reporting the first case of Covid-19 in the US in a person who has not recently returned from a foreign country or have contact with another confirmed case.

We haven’t independently confirmed this.

Updated

Trump urges people to travel within the US instead of overseas, because of the virus but also because the US is the greatest tourism destination in the world, and then says that even the 15 cases they now have will “in a couple of days be close to zero”.

Are there plans prepared for quarantining cities like in Wuhan?

There are plans for a large scale response, he says. “We don’t think we’ll need it but you always have to be prepared.”

Trump is being asked about whether the travel ban they placed on people from China would now extend to other countries with outbreaks, like South Korea.

“At a right time we may do it. At the moment it’s not the right time. We are checking people as they come through.”

Now he’s asked about why everyone was downplaying the severity of the situation and the need for a czar to be put in charge of the response, only to now announce Pence.

He says Pence is in the administration so it’s not a czar position, and that he’ll be coordinating the response and that Indiana (Pence’s state) has a great health system.

(Here’s one reaction to that)

Dr Anthony Fauci, national institutes of health, is updating reporters about a vaccine.

“I told you we would have a vaccine that we’d be putting in to trials to see if it was safe... in about three months... I think it’s going to be closer to two months.”

Testing would then take six months, before a trial to determine efficacy.

“At the earliest an efficacy trial would take an addition six to eight months.”

So despite the speed of development, it would take up to 18 months before a vaccine was available.

“We can’t rely on a vaccine over the next several months to a year.”

The answer right now is containment, although a vaccine could help down the track if the virus made a season return.

Anne Schuchat, deputy director at US centers for disease control and prevention, is up now, and urges authorities and organisations to dust off their pandemic preparedness plans.

“It’s a good time for the American public to prepare.”

She urges people to take the basic steps of hygiene - wash hands, cover mouth when sneezing, stay home when sick.

“The trajectory of what we are looking at over the weeks and months ahead is very uncertain.”

US expects to see more cases

Alex Azar, health and human services secretary is up now.

He too opens by praising Trump and Pence.

Then confirms there are 15 cases of Covid-19, as well as three cases from Americans repatriated from Wuhan, and 42 who were repatriated from the Diamond Princess.

The early actions taken by the Trump administration were “appropriate, wise and well calibrated” to the situation.

“This has helped us contain the spread of the virus,” he says.

Because of Trump’s leadership, the risk to the US population is low, he says.

But then he changes tack, and adds that “we can expect to see more cases in the United States”.

“Our containment strategy has been working but the degree of risk can change quickly.”

He urges people and employers to “refresh themselves” about what they could do in the event the situation changes. Trump appears to want to say something behind him but then stops.

They will be “aggressively transparent” with the American people, Azar says.

Pence says he’s met with state leaders and health authorities and “we’ll be working with them in renewed ways to make sure they have the resources they need to respond” and there will be additional roles created at the White House.

Pence praises Trump’s leadership.

“While the threat to the American public remains low... you have directed this team to take all steps necessary to ensure the health and wellbeing of the American people.”

Pence put in charge of US response

Trump announces that vice president Mike Pence will be in charge of the US’s response, working with health authorities.

“We have no higher priority than the safety, security, and health of the American people,” says Pence.

As anticipated, Trump is somewhat talking down the threat of the virus.

He says he’s amazed to have recently learned how many people are killed by the flu every year, citing a figure of 25,000 to 69,000 annually.

“And so far if you look at what we have with the 15 people and they’re recovering, one is pretty sick, but hopefully will recover. But the others are in great shape.”

He says the US is “very very ready” whether it’s a large breakout of the virus or not.

He holds up a piece of paper saying it’s a list from Johns Hopkins university of the “best rated countries in the world” as far as preparation goes, and that the US is top.

Updated

Donald Trump says risk to Americans from virus is 'very low'

“The risk to the American people remains very low,” he says.

“We have had tremendous success, tremendous success, beyond what people would have thought. At the same time, you do have some outbreaks in some countries - Italy and various countries are having some difficulties.”

Trump says he spoke with president Xi Jinping, and “he’s working very hard”.

“The infection seems to have gone down over the last two days [in China].”

Updated

Trump is up for a press briefing at the White House. He’s begun with a statement of condolence over the shooting in Milwaukee.

He says he’s received a briefing from “a great group of talented people” on the virus.

He defends the US’s early decision to block the entry of some people coming from affected areas in China.

Trump says the number of cases in the US is low and people are getting better.

Of the 15 who came from Wuhan he says eight have returned to their homes, one is in hospital and five have fully recovered. One is about to go home, he suggests.

Bahrain, which is reporting a growing number of cases, has now suspended flights to and from Iraq and Lebanon, the country’s civil aviation affairs has announced.

Saudi Arabia suspends entry to country for religious tourists

Saudi Arabia has suspended religious tourists from entering the country. A government statement said it was: “Suspending entry into the Kingdom for the purpose of Umrah and visiting the Prophet’s Mosque temporarily.”

It also said it was suspending entry to the Kingdom for people from “countries in which the new coronavirus (19-COVID) poses a risk”.

The Umrah is an Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca that can be undertaken at any time of the year.

Updated

Hello this is Helen Davidson in Sydney picking up our live coverage of the coronavirus outbreak. Thanks to Kevin Rawlinson and our team in London for their coverage.

We are expecting a news conference shortly from Donald Trump on the coronavirus.

The number of Americans infected with the virus stands at 59. Of those 44 returned from the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan and 14 returned from Wuhan on US evacuation flights.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) describes the virus situation as “rapidly evolving”.

Summary

Here’s a summary of events so far today:

Attilio Fontana, the president of Italy’s Lombardy region, said one of his team has tested positive for coronavirus and that he would self-isolate for two weeks. In a video posted on Facebook, he said:

The number of cases is still going up; not dramatically but there are additional people who have contracted this virus ... it seems my close associate has been confirmed to have this virus.

It’s a person I work with constantly; a brilliant person who helps me a lot. Unfortunately, tests confirmed she was positive for coronavirus. Evidently, all of us in the team, including me, had to have tests and the news is that, for now, we haven’t contracted any type of infection, so we can continue to work to fight against the spread of this virus.

I am happy for me and my associates, even if the change from today mean that I too will follow the guidelines of the Higher Health Institute and self-isolate for two weeks, which will – above all – protect the people working with me.

Updated

Romania confirms its first case

The Romanian health minister, Victor Costache, has said a man from the southern county of Gorj has become the country’s first case.

The man had been in direct contact with an Italian citizen who travelled to Romania earlier this month. He is in a good condition and will be transferred to a Bucharest infectious hospital.

A small group of pupils at Prince George and Princess Charlotte’s primary school, Thomas’s Battersea have been sent home as a precautionary measure following a trip to northern Italy. A spokesman for Thomas’s Battersea has said:

Like all schools we are taking the potential risks connected with the spread of Covid-19 very seriously and to this end are following government guidance to the letter around both prevention against infection and in dealing with cases where any staff or pupils are suspected of being exposed to the virus or who display any symptoms.

We currently have a very small number of pupils who have been tested and these individuals are currently, as per government advice, remaining at home pending the receipt of their test results.

All parents have been informed and we have maintained regular communication with our school community to ensure that advice is shared and important information is circulated. We will of course preserve staff and pupil confidentiality and will not be commenting on specific cases.

Bahrain has detected seven new cases of coronavirus, taking the number 33, the country’s minister of health has said. And flights to and from Dubai International airport have been suspended for an additional 48 hours, the country’s Civil Aviation Affairs (CAA) has announced.

Norway confirms its first case

The Norwegian public health agency has confirmed that one person has tested positive for coronavirus, according to the Reuters news agency.

The person is being kept isolated at home, having returned from China late last week, authorities say. They did not appear ill initially and were deemed unlikely to infect others, the agency said.

Iraq has banned its citizens from traveling to China, Iran and Thailand, as well as South Korea, Japan and Singapore, its health ministry has said. They will also be prevented from traveling to Italy, Kuwait and Bahrain, while the latter two nations have been added to the entry ban list.

Public gatherings in places such as cinemas, coffee shops and clubs are also to be banned, while schools and universities will be shut down from 27 February to 7 March.

Meanwhile, more has emerged about the first victim to contract the virus in Greece.

The 38-year-old, while not publicly named, has been identified as a well-known designer who had travelled to northern Italy to attend Milan’s fashion week. She returned to Thessaloniki, Greece’s northern capital, on a Ryanair flight on Sunday and admitted herself to hospital after beginning to feel unwell on Tuesday.

The designer, who has also run for public office, is reported to have travelled to Milan with a group of journalists and several town hall councillors. So far, 15 people – including members of her family – have been quarantined for two weeks. But an inquiry is under way as to how many people she has been in contact with.

A friend who flew with her on what he described as a “packed plane” told Live News the woman “seemed fine, we didn’t understand that anything [was wrong] with her”.

Greece has assigned 13 state-run hospitals to admit Covid-19 patients. The health minister Vassilis Kikilias, who has rescinded leave for medical workers and doctors across the board, is expected to travel to Thessaloniki tomorrow.

Updated

Israel has urged its citizens to reconsider all foreign travel, citing the growing spread of the coronavirus outside the country.

Two Israelis who returned home after being quarantined in Japan on the Diamond Princess cruise ship are the only confirmed coronavirus cases in Israel, and the ministry has readied quarantine facilities should more infections occur.

The Israeli health ministry announced that Israelis returning from Italy would be required to go into quarantine at home for two weeks. Expanding its precautionary steps, the ministry said it was also now urging the public “to reconsider the necessity of flights abroad in general, beyond the required isolation upon return from specific countries”.

It said: “The assessment is that there is a high probability the disease has already spread to other regions of Europe and many other places in the world.”

The ministry had already instructed Israelis returning from Japan, Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore, Thailand and South Korea to go into isolation at home for 14 days.

The Georgian citizen who has tested positive for coronavirus was travelling from Iran crossed the border from neighbouring Azerbaijan on Tuesday, the country’s health minister, Ekaterine Tikaradze, has said.

Tikaradze said the man travelled by mini-bus with other 12 passengers and was immediately taken to hospital from the border checkpoint. The other people on the vehicle were tested and found not to have the virus, though they were held in quarantine nevertheless, she added.

The Georgian prime minister, Giorgi Gakharia, has created a group to coordinate actions to try to prevent a disease outbreak in the country, his press service said. The group has decided to suspend travel between Georgia and Iran for two weeks.

Here’s a little more detail on the announcement that an 18th person has tested positive for coronavirus in France. The health minister, Olivier Veran, has said: “There is no epidemic in the country, just isolated cases.” He added that 15 million protection masks would be made available.

The health ministry director, Jerome Salomon, said that, out of the 18 cases, two people have died, 12 have recovered and four are still hospitalised.

Updated

British Airways is cancelling dozens of flights serving Milan due to a drop in demand amid the coronavirus outbreak.

The airline announced it was “merging” some of its flights between Heathrow and the Italian city’s Linate airport. About 22 return flights over the next two weeks are affected. BA flights to and from Milan Malpensa are continuing as normal. A spokesman for the airline said:

To match reduced demand due to the continuing coronavirus issue, we are merging a small number of flights to and from Milan.

We will be contacting customers on cancelled flights so we can discuss their travel options including alternative British Airways flights within two hours of their original departure time where possible, full refunds or booking for a later date of travel.

We understand that some customers flying to/from northern Italy may wish to change their travel plans and have introduced flexible booking options.

Updated

A further education college has closed its student accommodation and one of its departments as a precaution against Covid-19 spreading after staff and students returned from Italy.

Shuttleworth College, part of Bedford College, told students on Wednesday that its outdoor education department would be closed until next week along with residential facilities, after students had been skiing in Piedmont. The college said:

On Wednesday 26 February, following Foreign & Commonwealth Office advice released the same day, a total of 150 students at the Shuttleworth College campus near Biggleswade, Bedfordshire, have been advised to go home and self-quarantine until Sunday evening.

This follows a recent trip for a group of students who visited Pila, Italy, as well as a number of residential students who travelled over the half term break and who returned to campus on Sunday 16 February.

No students are believed to be suffering symptoms and this is just a precautionary measure.

Staff at the college campuses are reminding students, staff and visitors of the health and hygiene precautions to follow and the college remains open to other students.

The Shuttleworth students returned from the trip on 16 February, before the 19 February danger period for northern Italy specified by Public Health England. The skiing took place at a resort close to the border with Switzerland, more than 200 km from the hotspots identified by the Italian government.

In a sign of colleges and universities looking to avoid further disruption, the University of East Anglia has decided to cancel a student trip to Italy planned for Easter.

A group of more than 20 UEA students and staff were to attend an international journalism festival in Perugia in April, but the course director decided to cancel the trip.

Meanwhile, more than a dozen schools in the UK have shut because of coronavirus fears. Tudor Grange Academy Kingshurst, a secondary school in Birmingham with 1,500 pupils, announced on Wednesday that it was closing after students returning from a skiing trip to Italy fell ill. Its principal, Darren Turner, told parents:

Early this morning, we were informed that six pupils who were on the trip are suffering from flu-like symptoms and so they are self-isolating and getting checked. A teacher who was on the trip is also self-isolating and has been tested.

In order to help protect our school community, we took the difficult decision to close the school. Over the next 24-plus hours we will have specialist contractors in to deep-clean the whole school.

Updated

Georgia confirms its first case

The Georgian health minister has said the country has identified its first case of coronavirus, increasing the number of countries to which the virus has spread.

An 18th case has also been confirmed in France, according to that country’s health minister.

A Nottingham-based firm that organises school trips to Italy, Halsbury, has said it took more than 50 groups to the country in the past two weeks; though none had gone to any of the 11 towns now covered by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s (FCO) advice.

About 70 more trips are planned in the coming months and the firm said that, since none of those was heading to one of the quarantined towns either, it did not anticipate any cancellations.

It said four groups who were due to travel to China have cancelled their trips, in line with FCO advice.

Updated

Finland has confirmed its second case of the virus, according to the Finnish News Agency. It said the patient, a woman of “working age”, was being treated at hospital in the capital Helsinki. She had travelled recently to Milan, in Italy.

The news site Iltalehti said it was Finland’s second case after an earlier case was confirmed in Lapland.

Updated

Iran has imposed travel restrictions and suspended Friday prayers in areas hit by the virus.

The official death toll from the virus currently stands at 19, with 139 confirmed cases. But there are fears these figures mask the true scale of the outbreak after a reformist website reported 50 deaths linked to the virus.

Pakistan confirms two cases

A senior health official has confirmed Pakistan’s first two diagnosed cases of coronavirus. Dr Zafar Mirza, special assistant to the prime minister on health, tweeted:

One of the cases was detected in Pakistan’s largest city, Karachi, a provincial official said earlier. The patient had travelled to Iran. It is not clear where the second infected person was based, or if they too had travelled to Iran.

Updated

The Geneva International Motor Show, which attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors, is set to go ahead next week, despite the advice of experts to cancel such events to help stop the spread of coronavirus.

The organiser, Palexpo SA, has said it will ask exhibitors from at-risk areas to run “necessary checks” to avoid spreading the virus. Switzerland confirmed its first case today linked to the outbreak in neighbouring Italy.

The show takes place near the headquarters of the World Health Organization, which is currently trying to coordinate efforts to stop the spread of the disease.

Prof Marc Lipsitch, the director of Harvard University’s Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics, has urged organisers to continue cancelling large international events.

Writing on his blog this week, he said:

Most things we can do to slow the virus’s spread – isolation, quarantine, social distancing, canceling public gatherings, treating cases with antivirals if these are proven – are temporary – once let up, transmission can resurge.

And Prof Marcel Salathé, an epidemiologist at the Swiss EPFL institute, had a similar message:

Updated

Pakistan has reported its first case of coronavirus, according to local media. The patient, a 22-year-old from Karachi, had recently returned from Iran.

Updated

Russia has become the latest country to advise its citizens against travelling to Italy.

Updated

The opening three races of the Formula One season are coming under increasing threat of cancellation as the coronavirus outbreak continues to spread outside China.

The Chinese Grand Prix has already been postponed but the spread of the virus in Italy and Japan has resulted in concern that the meetings in Australia, Bahrain and Vietnam may also be affected. On Wednesday, Ferrari announced the suspension of non-critical business travel as well as the restriction of external access to its factory in Maranello, located 140km from the centre of the outbreak in Italy, Codogno.

Updated

British couple: 'come and rescue us please Boris'

A British couple quarantined in Costa Adeje Palace hotel, in Tenerife, have put out a video appeal to Boris Johnson to bring them home.

In the video, broadcast by the BBC, Mandy Davis said:

Nobody, not the hotel, not the Foreign Office, not the Spanish people. Nobody knows what the right thing to do is, because nobody’s had this virus before. So please, let’s sort something out, come and rescue us please Boris. And let’s just get the hell out of here.

Speaking alongside her husband, Roger, Davis added:

I can assure you that we are cleaner than the people at home sitting on buses, trains, planes and whatever, because everything here has been sanitised over and over again.

Updated

A 60-year-old teacher who fell ill with coronavirus has become the second fatality in France from the illness, AFP reports.

The man died overnight in a hospital in the capital, bringing the coronavirus death toll in the country to two, said the health ministry’s deputy head, Jérôme Salomon.

The first victim was an 80-year-old Chinese tourist who died in hospital in mid-February.

The teacher, who worked at a junior high school in the town of Crépy-en-Valois, about 80 km (50 miles) north-east of Paris, had not travelled to an area affected by the global coronavirus outbreak, said Etienne Champion, the director general of the health agency of the Hauts-de-France region.

After feeling unwell he stopped work on 12 February, at the start of the mid-term school holidays. He was tested for the coronavirus in the emergency ward of a Paris hospital on Tuesday, shortly before he died.

Apart from the teacher, France has reported four other new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours: two in people returning from the Lombardy region of Italy, at the centre of Europe’s biggest outbreak of the disease.

Eleven people have recovered in France, bringing the total of diagnosed cases in the country to 17.

Among the four still in hospital, a 55-year-old man from the same region as the teacher was in a serious condition in hospital, said Champion.

Updated

A British teacher, living in a Chinese “ghost town”, has been sharing video blogs of life at the centre of the coronavirus outbreak.

Ardit Ajeti, 24, from Wimbledon, in south-west London, was living and working as a PE teacher in Guangzhou when the virus outbreak resulted in the entire city being placed on lockdown.

He says the Chinese government has forbidden residents from leaving the city after it was placed into a 14-day quarantine on Wednesday.

Although supermarkets are not experiencing food shortages, restaurants have been banned from opening, with only takeaways and grocery stores allowed to sell food.

Residential areas have been cordoned off, and citizens have to go through temperature checks before being allowed in and out of certain parts of the city.

Videos posted on Ajeti’s YouTube site show him exploring the city, with normally busy areas completely empty.

Speaking to PA Media, he said:

“All the facilities are closed, I’ve not been able to go to the gym because they want everyone to avoid having close contact, so have just been working out at home.

“At first, I was a bit worried; however, I think now I am getting used to it and it seems quite normal. The officials are not being horrible, they are just doing their jobs.

“Some schools are saying they will now not open until May, and universities have transitioned to teaching online.

“It’s hard to be social, as all the bars and restaurants are closed.”

Although his school is closed and Ajeti is no longer able to teach, he said the Chinese government confirmed everyone would still be paid their full salaries.

Updated

The health secretary, Matt Hancock, has clarified advice on travel to Italy following the coronavirus deaths in the north of the country, after he was accused of creating confusion for British tourists.

On Tuesday, when asked whether he would travel to the Lombardy region, he said: “I’m not planning to go, put it that way.” His comments attracted criticism that he was contradicting official UK government advice that people should only avoid travel to towns in Lombardy that are under confinement.

Giving an update to MPs on Wednesday, Hancock was asked by the shadow health secretary, Jon Ashworth, about the “discrepancy”.

Hancock replied: “All but essential travel is not recommended to the quarantined areas in northern Italy and the advice for those returning from northern Italy is very clear, which is if you are coming back from the quarantined areas then please self-isolate and if you’re coming back from the whole of northern Italy then please self-isolate if you have symptoms. I hope that advice is clear.”

Updated

IRFU’s chief executive, Philip Browne, following a meeting with the health minister, Simon Harris, in Dublin.
IRFU’s chief executive, Philip Browne, following a meeting with the health minister, Simon Harris, in Dublin. Photograph: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile via Getty Images

Ireland’s Six Nations rugby matches against Italy in Dublin on the weekend of 6-8 March have been postponed – and possibly cancelled – because of the coronavirus outbreak.

Philip Browne, the chief executive of the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU), announced the decision on Wednesday afternoon after meeting a delegation of health officials led by the health minister, Simon Harris.

Browne said: “We were then advised, formally, that the National Public Health Emergency team has determined that the series of matches should not proceed, in the interests of public health. The IRFU is perfectly happy to comply with this instruction.”

He added that the 7 March men’s game at the Aviva Stadium as well as the women’s match on 8 March and an Under-20s Six Nations fixture between the countries on 6 March may be held later: “We will immediately begin to work with our Six Nations partners to look at the possibility of rescheduling those matches. I would hope to have an update on that in the coming days.”

The IRFU had been expected to act after Harris said on Tuesday that Italy’s multiplying cases of coronavirus made the games – which would draw thousands of Italian fans to Dublin – too risky. He had said: “The very clear view of the public health emergency team was that this game should not go ahead, that it would constitute a very significant risk,” said Harris.

Updated

What you need to know if you are told to self-isolate or your child is sent home from school:

The Queen’s granddaughter Zara Phillips and her husband, the former England rugby player Mike Tindall, will not be self-isolating despite returning from a skiing trip in northern Italy, where a coronavirus outbreak has been spreading.

Phillips and Tindall were skiing in Bormio, a town in the Lombardy region of the Alps in northern Italy.

The couple’s management said the pair were following government guidelines and medical advice, although they currently did not have any symptoms of the infection and so would not be going into self-isolation.

Updated

Summary

Here’s a summary of events so far today:

Updated

The decision to cancel Ireland’s games against Italy came after the intervention of Ireland’s health minister, Simon Harris, who told RTE news:

“The very clear view of the public health emergency team was that this game should not go ahead and that it would constitute a significant risk, because a very large number of people will be travelling from what is now an affected region. So my department will be contacting the IRFU [Irish Rugby Football Union] in relation to this.”

Updated

Ireland v Italy rugby matches off

Ireland’s rugby matches against Italy have been cancelled over fears about coronavirus. The 7 March men’s game at the Aviva Stadium as well as the women’s match on 8 March and an Under-20s Six Nations fixture between the countries on 6 March may be staged later in the year.

Updated

Nigel Scotland, one of the tourists in quarantine at a hotel in Tenerife, said many of his fellow guests were ignoring the advice to stay in their rooms.

“I counted 268 people on sun beds,” he told BBC Radio 4’s World at One. He said he also saw people swimming in the hotel pool.

Another guest, Harley Mitford, told the Guardian he had seen guests swimming in face masks.

Like Mitford, Scotland said he had not been contacted by UK officials despite Matt Hancock’s claim that the Foreign Office had been in touch with the guests.

He said: “We haven’t heard anything. Our great hope would be to be flown home quickly, because we probably have to do another 14 days of self-isolation when we get back.”

Scotland added: “Strictly speaking we’re supposed to be in our rooms. My wife and I were visited by the doctor about half an hour. The rooms are quite small and you begin to feel confined and a bit trapped.”

Updated

British tourists quarantined in a Tenerife hotel where four former guests tested positive for coronavirus say they are desperate to return to the UK to avoid contracting the disease.

They fear that by being locked in the four-star hotel they will face the same outcome as passengers on board the Diamond Princess cruise ship, where the virus spread as the boat remained quarantined off Yokohama.

A lockdown was imposed on the 700 guests at the Costa Adeje Palace in La Caleta after an Italian doctor, who had stayed at the hotel was confirmed to have caught the virus on Monday night.

He is being treated in isolation in hospital along with his wife and two other Italians in his travel group, who have since also tested positive.

Harley Mitford, a student who checked into the hotel with his sister and stepfather on Monday, said he believed the quarantine was putting them at risk of contracting the disease. Speaking to the Guardian, he said: “The Italian guy who was infected had left before we came, so if they let us go, we couldn’t have come into contact with him.

“If we’re kept in we’re more likely to come into contact with people who came into contact with him. It’s counterintuitive, and it’s exactly what happened on the cruise ship.”

Updated

Here’s video of Hancock’s statement to the Commons:

Donald Trump has announced he is to stage a news conference at the White House on coronavirus, to counter what he claims are efforts by news organisations to stoke fears over the scale of the outbreak.

Updated

Two primary schools in Spalding, Lincolnshire, and one in Old Windsor, Berkshire, have closed over coronavirus outbreak fears, reports Richard Adams, the Guardian’s education editor.

The two schools in Spalding are in a federation and have posted the same notice on their websites:

The school is closed as a precautionary measure because of a potential connection to the coronavirus by an individual within the school. The individual has been isolated and is being tested. Following advice from the Department of Health the school is being deep cleaned before reopening.

St Peter’s C of E middle school in Old Windsor – near Legoland – shut on Wednesday for deep cleaning. Andy Snipp, the headteacher, wrote on the school’s Facebook page:

I received information late last night that one of our students had returned from a half term break to a location which is broadly part of an affected area.

Following the recent advice from the government and after speaking to the trust and members of the governing body, I took the decision as headteacher that we required a further anti-bacterial clean this morning and I would not have the available time and resources to complete this whilst also accommodating staff and students on site. In my opinion this was the correct and only course of action.

St Peter’s C of E Middle School in Old Windsor - near Legoland - has shut today for deep cleaning

Meanwhile King Edward VI Five Ways grammar school, in Birmingham, has said three staff are home with flu-like symptoms following a skiing trip to the Italian Alps, although it says the trip didn’t go through the affected regions. A letter to parents said that three members of staff were absent from school with flu-like symptoms, and asked parents to keep their children away from lessons if they felt unwell.

Updated

UK health secretary’s statement on coronavirus

My colleague Andrew Sparrow, over on the politics live blog, has taken down the details of a statement made in the House of Commons by Matt Hancock, the health secretary, on coronavirus.

Hancock says there have been 13 cases of the virus in the UK. Eight of those people have been discharged, he says.

But the government expects more cases to arise, he says.

He says the government has a four-point strategy for dealing with this: contain, delay, research and mitigate.

He says the government will be rolling out a publicity campaign soon.

Advice for travellers coming back to the UK from northern Italy and some other countries was published on Tuesday.

He says the government is coordinating with its international partners to ensure it it ready for all eventualities.

Responding to Jonathan Ashworth, the shadow health secretary, Hancock thanks Ashworth, and other MPs, for taking a responsible and proportionate approach.

There are plans in place in case of the virus becoming a pandemic, he says. But he says the government is still working on the basis of plans to contain the virus.

He says people should only travel to the quarantined areas in Italy if their travel is essential.

He says it is important that the government is not advising the blanket closure of schools.

Testing sites are available at all A&E facilities in England, he says. But he says the NHS also wants to introduce home testing for the virus. That will allow the government to roll out testing for a much wider group of people, he says.

Updated

The first person to have tested positive for Covid-19 in Greece is doing well, doctors say.

The 38-year-old woman, who recently travelled to northern Italy where she is believed to have contracted the virus, is likely to spend weeks undergoing treatment in the specialist ward of Thessaloniki’s Ahepa hospital, said Sotiris Tsiodras, heading the contagious diseases team at the ministry of health.

Her relatives have been placed in quarantine, while an inquiry is under way to ascertain who she has been in contact with.

“The young woman is in good condition and is being watched by a team of excellent doctors,” Tsiodras told a packed news conference, emphasising how vital it was that people kept to basic hygiene rules such as regularly washing their hands.

“Those who have come from affected areas of northern Italy must stay at home and monitor their health and in the event of symptoms inform their doctor,” he said, adding that the woman was otherwise in good health.

Greek schoolchildren who had been travelling in Italy at the time of the outbreak continued to be brought back to Greece on Wednesday.

There are concerns that after years of steep budget cuts as a result of its long-running debt crisis, Greece’s public health system will struggle to cope if the disease cannot be contained. “Everyone knows that our public hospitals are not in the best way,” Andreas Mendis, of the country’s Pasteur Institute, told local TV. “But on issues of public health we have a good record.”

Alarmed by the spread of the virus across Europe and in parts of the neighbouring Balkans, the Greek government announced an array of preventative measures on Tuesday. They include Greek authorities having the right to use private clinics and their medical services if needed to curb the disease.

Updated

Authorities in the Canary islands have said guests at a Tenerife hotel which hosted an Italian couple who tested positive for coronavirus must be isolated for 14 days.

Hundreds of tourists remained confined to the hotel for a second straight day on Wednesday as a precaution. The Italian doctor and his wife who tested positive were already in quarantine at a Tenerife hospital. Eight other Italians who travelled with them were showing no symptoms, according to reports.

Guests wearing face masks look through a window at H10 Costa Adeje Palace, which is on lockdown after cases of coronavirus were detected.
Guests wearing face masks look through a window at H10 Costa Adeje Palace, which is on lockdown after cases of coronavirus were detected. Photograph: Borja Suarez/Reuters

British holidaymakers are among those stuck at the four-star H10 Costa Adeje Palace, in the south-west of the island.

Relatives of an 82-year-old British widower, Alan Cunliffe, a retired builder from Wigan, have raised concerns after guests were sent a letter saying the hotel is “closed down” and they must remain in their rooms until further notice. Jon Butler, Cunliffe’s nephew, said:

My uncle is stuck in the hotel currently on lockdown due to the coronavirus. He was supposed to be flying home on Friday. He’s 82 and is there all alone.

He has been stuck in his room all day without any information, no food, only water and is very concerned. He has not been contacted by the Foreign Office or any other officials, it seems and is in total limbo. Nor has the hotel or their staff been any help at all.

Updated

Donald Trump has praised his health secretary and the Centres for Disease Control for doing “a great job with respect to coronavirus!”

Updated

Facebook is banning ads that promise to cure coronavirus or incite panic around the outbreak in its latest attempt to prevent misinformation, PA Media reports.

The tech firm said it is prohibiting advertising that creates “a sense of urgency” about the Covid-19 illness, such as those that “imply a limited supply, or guarantee a cure or prevention”.

This includes ads for face masks that claim to be 100% guaranteed to prevent the spread of the virus. The rules also extend to those trying to sell related items on the social network’s Marketplace platform.

Facebook is already cracking down on posts that promote fake miracle cures for coronavirus, such as false suggestions that drinking bleach is a solution. A Facebook spokesman said:

While we allow people to buy and sell masks on Facebook, we are taking a closer look at this group.

We recently implemented a policy to prohibit ads that refer to the coronavirus and create a sense of urgency, like implying a limited supply, or guaranteeing a cure or prevention.

Updated

French authorities are urgently trying to trace the source of the coronavirus infection that claimed the life of a 60-year-old citizen who died over night in the Pitié-Salpêtrière hospital, in Paris, as five new infections were reported in the country.

According to officials the individual had not travelled to either China or northern Italy.

The French fatality was identified as a teacher from L’Oise region, in northern France, who suffered a massive pulmonary embolism as a result of the virus. The teacher is the second infection identified in the L’Oise region.

Updated

More new coronavirus infections outside China than inside – WHO

There have been more new detections of coronavirus outside China than inside, in a major turning point in the international spread of Covid-19, the World Health Organization reports.

In his opening remarks in a briefing on Covid-19, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director-general of the WHO, highlighted what appeared to be a slowing in the rate of new infections inside China, where the outbreak began, as well as a number of countries that appeared to have nipped incipient outbreaks in the bud.

He said:

Yesterday, the number of new cases reported outside China exceeded the number of new cases in China for the first time. The sudden increases of cases in Italy, the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Republic of Korea are deeply concerning. There are now cases linked to Iran in Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait and Oman. There are now cases linked to Italy in Algeria, Austria, Croatia, Germany, Spain and Switzerland.

Yesterday, a joint team between WHO and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control arrived in Rome to review the public health measures that have been put in place and provide technical support. A WHO team will travel to Iran this weekend to provide support.

The increase in cases outside China has prompted some media and politicians to push for a pandemic to be declared. We should not be too eager to declare a pandemic without a careful and clear-minded analysis of the facts. WHO has already declared a public health emergency of international concern – our highest level of alarm.

Using the word pandemic carelessly has no tangible benefit, but it does have significant risk in terms of amplifying unnecessary and unjustified fear and stigma, and paralysing systems. It may also signal that we can no longer contain the virus, which is not true. We are in a fight that can be won if we do the right things.

Updated

Algeria is not planning to ban public protests or suspend flights to Italy after the country’s first case of the coronavirus was identified in an Italian man, a health ministry official was reported as saying by Reuters on Wednesday.

Speaking at a news conference in Algiers, Djamel Fouar, the director of prevention and control of communicable diseases, said authorities were monitoring everyone who had had been in contact with the 61-year-old patient.

The man is from Milan, in northern Italy, the centre of the country’s outbreak, and travelled through Algiers to Ouargla, in southern Algeria, a centre for the oil and gas industry.

Asked about a possible suspension of flights or a bar on the mass weekly protests that have rocked Algeria for more than a year, Fouar said such measures were “not on the agenda”.

However, he said authorities would reinforce controls on planes arriving in Algeria, particularly those coming from Italy.

Updated

Irish rugby officials are expected to bow to pressure to cancel a Six Nations game between Ireland and Italy because of the coronavirus outbreak. There is also speculation that some St Patrick’s Day celebrations will be cancelled or restricted, Rory Carroll, our Ireland correspondent, reports.

Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) representatives are due to meet the health minister, Simon Harris, at 12.30pm on Wednesday to discuss his recommendation to scrap the 7 March game against Italy at the Aviva stadium in Dublin.

The IRFU requested the meeting to clarify “specific reasoning” for the recommendation, which followed fresh National Public Health Emergency Team advice on travel and mass gatherings. Several thousand fans from Italy, which has reported more than 280 cases, were expected to travel to Dublin for the match.

“The very clear view of the public health emergency team was that this game should not go ahead, that it would constitute a very significant risk,” said Harris.

The sport minister, Shane Ross, told RTE on Wednesday that cancelling the game would be disappointing but necessary and wise.

The chief medical officer at the department of health, Tony Holohan, said other mass gatherings such as St Patrick’s Day celebrations on 17 March would be reviewed.

St Patrick’s festival organisers said in a statement: “We follow the advice and direction of relevant authorities in all matters of public safety.”

Updated

Parents whose children have been sent home from school over fears of the potential spread of coronavirus have been getting in touch with the Guardian.

One mother told my colleague Molly Blackall that her daughters had just returned from a skiing trip to northern Italy, the European region worst-affected so far by the outbreak.

Kate’s* two daughters have been sent home from their school in Middlesbrough after two students returned from a school skiing trip in Italy with symptoms of coronavirus.

As the school bus returned to the UK, parents were texted to say that the school would be closing and undergoing a deep clean. It was set to reopen on Monday, but this has been pushed back to Tuesday.

“Because of the deep clean, there’s nobody at the school at all to answer calls or give information, and there’s no information on the website,” Kate said. “I need to know if my daughter is going to be sat in a classroom with kids who have tested positive.”

Kate’s daughters are getting information from other children on group chats and social media, and are becoming scared about the spread of the virus.

“There’s a lack of information across the country as a whole. It’s made me paranoid,” Kate added.

* Not her real name

Updated

Gwyneth Paltrow has shared a photograph of herself with a mask covering her mouth as she travelled to Paris.

The actress – who starred in the 2011 thriller Contagion, about a deadly virus that swept the world – wrote on Instagram: “En route to Paris. Paranoid? Prudent? Panicked? Placid? Pandemic? Propaganda? Paltrow’s just going to go ahead and sleep with this thing on the plane.

“I’ve already been in this movie. Stay safe. Don’t shake hands. Wash hands frequently.”

Updated

Brazil 'confirms first coronavirus infection in Latin America'

A government test in Brazil has confirmed the first case of coronavirus in Latin America, a source told Reuters on Wednesday.

Brazil’s health ministry declined to comment on the result of the test ahead of a news conference at 11am local time (1400 GMT), the agency reported.

A person familiar with the matter spoke on condition of anonymity because the results were not yet public.

Updated

A 12th person has died in northern Italy of coronavirus, while the number of confirmed cases has risen to 374, an increase of more than 50 on the day before, the head of the civil protection agency said on Wednesday, Reuters reports.

Angelo Borrelli told reporters the latest fatality was male and aged 69. All those who have died so far in the outbreak in Italy, which came to light on Friday, have been elderly and most had underlying health problems.

Updated

Greece reports first coronavirus infection

Greece has reported its first confirmed case of coronavirus, according to AFP.

A spokesman for the Greek health ministry said the patient, a 38-year-old woman who had recently travelled to northern Italy, was in a Thessaloniki hospital and in good condition.

It comes after Greek authorities outlined the measures the country would take in the event of a mass outbreak, including a shutdown of public areas and travel restrictions.

The measures, contained in a government decree, include temporary travel bans to and from countries with a large number of infections and enable beds to be requisitioned in hotels and private clinics.

The decree also foresees the temporary closure of “indoor public gathering areas” such as schools, places of worship, cinemas, theatres, sports halls and businesses.

“We are ready to do whatever is necessary to protect public health,” said government spokesman Stelios Petsas.

Updated

The German government sees no need to advise its citizens against travel to Italy, which has become a new frontline in the global outbreak of coronavirus, a foreign ministry spokesman said on Wednesday.

“We are far from this scenario,” the spokesman told a regular government news conference when asked about whether a travel warning was needed, according to a Reuters report.

A government spokesman said the outbreak in Italy presented Europe with a new situation. Germany was working closely with its European partners to try to prevent the spread of the disease, he said.

Updated

Nick Robinson, the BBC presenter, is beginning 48 hours of self-isolation while he awaits the results of a coronavirus test after returning from holiday in south-east Asia.

Updated

Matt Hancock, the health secretary, is making a Commons statement on coronavirus after 12.30pm, according to a post on our politics liveblog.

China to quarantine visitors from affected countries

In an interesting reversal, travellers entering Beijing will be subject to 14 days quarantine if they have been to countries seriously impacted by the coronavirus outbreak.

The city’s health commission spokesman, Gao Xiaojun, outlined the new rules at a press briefing on Wednesday.

The coronavirus outbreak has infected more than 80,000 people worldwide, the vast majority of them in China. There have been nearly 50 deaths outside China, including 16 in Iran and 11 in Italy, according to a Reuters tally.

Updated

A hotel in the Austrian city of Innsbruck remains under lockdown after its Italian receptionist tested positive for the Covid-19 virus, Philip Oltermann, the Guardian’s Berlin bureau chief, reports.

The woman and her partner, both 24 and from Bergamo, in Lombardy, had driven to Innsbruck last Friday and contacted a clinic after coming down with a fever on Sunday.

Authorities say 62 people at Innsbruck’s Europa hotel have been tested for possible infection with the virus, of which 12 have been quarantined for two weeks because they were in close contact with the couple. All 62 people were reportedly in good health and the Italian couple’s temperatures had subsided, health authorities in the Tyrol region said.

The Austrian chancellor, Sebastian Kurz, had stayed at the same hotel in Innsbruck last Tuesday, the Kleine Zeitung newspaper reported on Wednesday, before the Italian receptionist had returned from Lombardy.

Police officers guard the entrance of the Grand Hotel Europa in Innsbruck
Police officers guard the entrance of the Grand Hotel Europa in Innsbruck. Photograph: Reuters

Overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday, a 56-year-old Italian woman from Udine died while holidaying in the town of Bad Kleinkirchheim, Carinthia, in Austria. Austrian media reported doctors were testing whether the woman had been infected with the virus.

In Vienna, a school was evacuated on Wednesday morning after it emerged that one of its teachers could have caught the virus while holidaying in northern Italy, Kronen Zeitung newspaper reported.

Two cases of Corona virus have been confirmed in Germany. A 25-year-old man from the town of Göppingen, in Baden-Württemberg in the south-west of the country, was reported on Tuesday evening to have caught the virus on a trip to northern Italy. The man was said not to be in a serious condition.

In the large state of North-Rhine Westphalia, a 47-year-old man was reported to be seriously ill with pneumonia after coming into contact with the virus. The man, who is believed to have a recent history of illness, is being monitored on an isolated unit in Düsseldorf.

Updated

Spain has reported another case of coronavirus - the second in the Madrid area - bringing the total number of cases here to eight, Sam Jones, the Guardian’s Madrid correspondent, reports.

The latest case once again concerns a person who had recently travelled to northern Italy, the location of Europe’s biggest outbreak of the virus. As well as the two cases in Madrid, there are four cases in Tenerife - where hundreds of guests and staff remain under quarantine in a hotel - one in Barcelona and another in Valencia.

Two people who tested positive for the virus in Mallorca and the Canaries a few weeks ago have now been given the all-clear.

The medical director of Public Health England, Paul Cosford, has confirmed that the health agency is not advising that English schools shut over fears of a coronavirus outbreak. He told the Today programme on BBC Radio 4 on Wednesday morning:

Schools have to take difficult decisions given the complexity of issues that they are facing.

What I would say is that our general advice is not to close schools.

What we are clear about is if you have been in the area of northern Italy of concern and you have symptoms - it is a cough, shortness of breath or fever - then you do need to self-isolate, you need to phone NHS 111 and await advice for further assessment or testing.

Of course if you’ve been to one of the specific towns that are identified by the Italian government and essentially closed down, then our advice and requirement is to self-isolate anyway.

Public Health England was available to talk to schools about their “specific circumstances” and “help them make the right decisions for them”, he said.

A Chinese national with coronavirus is facing up to six months in jail in Singapore after being charged with allegedly giving false information about his whereabouts in the city, according to a Reuters report.

Singapore’s health ministry said it had charged the 38-year-old man from Wuhan, the Chinese city where the virus first surfaced late last year, and his wife who resides in Singapore for allegedly providing false information to authorities about their movements.

The husband had been confirmed to be infected with the virus in late January, and has since recovered, while his wife had been quarantined due to her close contact with him.

The health ministry said “detailed investigations” had established their true movements and they were charged “in view of the potentially serious repercussions of the false information...and the risk they could have posed to public health”.

Charges under the Infectious Diseases Act are rare and this is the first case during the coronavirus outbreak in Singapore. First time offenders under the Act can be fined up to S$10,000 ($7,147) or imprisoned for six months, or both.

There is outrage brewing in Vietnam over the behaviour of a group of South Korean tourists from Daegu, at the centre of the their country’s coronavirus outbreak, who caused a fuss when Vietnamese authorities tried to put them in quarantine.

The story, so far as I can gather from tweets with the hashtag #apologizeVietNam, is that after the South Korean tourists arrived in Vietnam they refused quarantine at the local specialist hospital, forcing authorities to instead isolate them in a four-star hotel.

To add insult to injury, when the group returned to South Korea, they criticised the Vietnamese hospitality, in particular deriding the local speciality bánh mì as “just some pieces of bread”.

Updated

Authorities in western Germany said on Wednesday that a man who contracted Covid-19 is in a critical condition and has been taken to a specialist hospital in Düsseldorf, the Associated Press reports.

The health ministry of North Rhine-Westphalia state said the man was first hospitalised on Monday with serious pneumonia in the town of Erkelenz, near the Dutch border.

He was then diagnosed with the virus and isolated in an intensive care unit before being transported to Düsseldorf’s University hospital. The man’s wife was also isolated on suspicion of contracting the virus after showing symptoms.

A German news agency reported that the man was in his 40s and had a pre-existing condition.

Updated

Over in the City, the FTSE 100 index of the biggest companies listed in London has hit a new one-year low at the start of trading, writes Graeme Wearden, on the Guardian’s business desk.

Rising fears over Covid-19 have pushed the blue-chip index down by another 39 points, or 0.5%, to 6978 points at the start of trading. That’s its lowest level since February 2019.

Travel companies are leading the fallers, again, with the holiday firm TUI and budget airline easyJet both losing 3%.

This means the FTSE 100 has fallen more than 5% this week, wiping out more than £100bn of value, as investors have been spooked by the surge in the number of coronavirus infections around the world.

Our business liveblog has more details:

Updated

The number of coronavirus cases continues to leap in South Korea, according to Reuters.

The country has reported a further 115 infections on Wednesday afternoon, on top of the 169 new cases reported on Wednesday morning.

The country’s total tally of Covid-19 patients is now 1,261, according to Korea’s Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

Updated

New coronavirus advice to UK schools: children should only self-isolate if they have symptoms

The Department for Education and Public Health England have issued updated advice for schools and colleges in England, following a number of schools sending staff and students home to self-isolate after returning from northern Italy, Richard Adams, the Guardian’s education editor, reports.

The area including Milan is mostly classed as “category 2” by Public Health England in terms of Covid-19 risk. The detailed advice states in part that students returning from the region without symptoms should continue going to school as normal.

This is an extract from the updated advice:

What to do if a pupil, student or staff member has travelled from a Category 2 specified country/area in the last 14 days

If they are currently well:

    • They are advised to self-isolate only if they develop symptoms.
    • They can continue to attend work or education.
    • They do not need to avoid contact with other people.
    • Their family do not need to take any precautions or make any changes to their own activities.

Click here to read the government’s advice to schools in full.

Updated

Leaders of the Philippine church have urged priests to adapt the Ash Wednesday rite in order to reduce the risk of spreading coronavirus, AFP reports.

Filipinos marked the holy day with a bow and a sprinkling of dust instead of a cross being daubed on their foreheads by priests. Churches have also discouraged worshippers from holding hands during mass.

Catholic worshippers wearing masks as a preventive measure against the coronavirus queue up as a nun sprinkles ash on their heads during Ash Wednesday at a church compound in Manila
Catholic worshippers wearing masks as a preventive measure against the coronavirus queue up as a nun sprinkles ash on their heads during Ash Wednesday at a church compound in Manila. Photograph: Ted Aljibe/AFP via Getty Images

“It makes me feel safe,” said Wendy Tamidles, a 19-year-old student, who was among thousands of people, some wearing surgical masks, who lined up at Baclaran church in Manila for services on Wednesday.

There have been three confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the Philippines, and one death.

The Philippines is overwhelmingly Catholic, with 80%t of its people said to be believers. Local church officials have also “strongly recommended” that Catholics do not kiss or touch the cross during Good Friday services, which is usually common practice.

“We are being cautious so that the coronavirus won’t spread,” said Victorino Cueto, the rector of Baclaran church.

Updated

Scottish government "expecting outbreak"

The Scottish government announced last night it was stepping up its preparations for an outbreak, after the first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, chaired a resilience meeting to discuss preparations.

The health secretary, Jeane Freeman, said it was “expecting an outbreak” in Scotland but stressed the risk to individuals was low and that all tests so far had come back negative. A total of 412 people have been tested for the virus in Scotland so far.

Preparations include:

  • Establishing two testing laboratories in Glasgow and Edinburgh to speed up identification of confirmed cases.
  • Supplying GPs’ surgeries with face masks and ensuring hospitals are fully stocked with personal protective equipment.
  • Updating public health legislation to make coronavirus a notifiable disease, thus requiring doctors to inform health boards about any cases of the disease.

Updated

Several schools in the UK have closed today, while others have sent pupils home for fear they may have been exposed to coronavirus during ski trips to northern Italy, PA Media reports.

Travellers returning from that part of the world have been told they may need to self-isolate and Public Health England announced that flu patients will now be assessed for coronavirus to see if it is spreading.

Cransley School in Northwich, Cheshire, and Trinity Catholic College in Middlesbrough on Tuesday announced they would be closed for the rest of the week to carry out a “deep clean” after pupils and teachers had returned from ski trips in northern Italy.

Trinity Catholic College said a “small number of staff and pupils” had started showing mild flu-like symptoms following their trip.

Lutton St Nicholas and Gedney Church End primary schools in Lincolnshire also said they had closed “because of a potential connection to the coronavirus by an individual within the school” and St Christopher’s C of E High School in Accrington told parents it would be shut on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Sandbach High School in Cheshire said students and staff who visited Aprica, in Italy’s Lombardy region, were to stay indoors and self-isolate.

A third Cheshire school, Brine Leas School in Nantwich, said its sixth form was closed due to staff shortages following government advice regarding travel to Italy.

Students from Penair School in Truro, Cornwall, Salendine Nook High School in Huddersfield, Cardinal Heenan Catholic High School in West Derby and Newquay Tretherras in Newquay, have also been advised to stay home after returning from ski trips.

The health secretary, Matt Hancock, said official advice has been changed to say people who have been to anywhere in Italy north of Pisa should self-isolate if they develop flu-like symptoms on their return to the UK. Britons who have been in locked-down regions of Italy – including Lombardy and Veneto – were told they should self-isolate at home for 14 days even if they have no symptoms.

Updated

Hello, this is Damien Gayle taking the reins of the coronavirus blog from London, where we are beginning to see commuters on our public transport systems wearing face masks as fear of the outbreak spreads.

As usual, as well as the Guardian’s network of correspondents, social media and news wires, I’ll be relying on your tips, questions and suggestions to shape the day’s live coverage. So please feel free to drop me a line at damien.gayle@gmail.com, or via my Twitter profile, @damiengayle.

Updated

Summary

  • The World Health Organization expert who led a delegation to Wuhan has warned countries outside China are “simply not ready” for a pandemic.
  • The virus has infected more than 81,000 people, and killed 2,762, the vast majority of cases in mainland China and in particular Hubei province.
  • South Korea reported 169 new cases, reaching a total of 1,146, 90% of them in Daegu and North Gyeongsang.
  • South Korean authorities said they plan to test about 200,000 members of a secretive church believed to be at the centre of the outbreak.
  • Mainland China reported its lowest daily death toll in more than three weeks, with 52 fatalities on Tuesday.
  • Three more people died in Iran, bringing the total to 16 from almost 100 cases.
  • Latin America recorded its first suspected case, with a patient in Brazil awaiting a second test to confirm the diagnosis.
  • A US soldier based in a military camp in a town near Daegu has tested positive and is in self-isolation.
  • Australia’s ASX200 plunged 2.5% on Wednesday, wiping about $125bn from the index’s value.
  • The International Olympic Committee member, Dick Pound, has said the Tokyo Olympics could be cancelled if the virus threat is too great, and a decision would have to be made within two to three months.
  • Japan cancelled its football league, and a Tokyo baseball team said it will play in an empty stadium this weekend.

Updated

Preparations for an outbreak of coronavirus were under way in Afghanistan as the country confirmed its first case in the western province of Herat, which borders Iran.

Seven more suspected cases have been identified in Herat, and three cases in the nearby provinces of Farah and Ghor.

The affected Herat residents had recently returned from Qom in Iran, where the coronavirus outbreak has already killed at least 16 people and infected dozens of others, according to Iranian officials.

Updated

Three more people have been diagnosed with Covid-19 in Bahrain, bringing the country’s total to 26.

The first 23 cases were all inbound travellers, identified and quarantined in “a specialist hospital isolation centre”, the kingdom’s communication directorate said earlier. All but one were diagnosed at an airport before entering Bahrain, it said.

The Philippines is the latest country to impose travel bans. It has announced it will refuse entry to any traveler from the South Korean province of Gyeongsang.

Separately, Reuters reports that Kuwait has banned foreign ships from departing to or arriving from South Korea, Italy, Thailand, Singapore, Japan, China, Hong Kong, and Iraq.

Oil sector ships are excluded from the ban.

The United Arab Emirates is “well prepared and equipped for the worst case scenarios” as the coronavirus spreads in Middle East, an official from the UAE National Emergency Crisis and Disasters Management Authority told Reuters on Wednesday.

The official said the UAE has enough facilities to quarantine patients and relevant bodies have been instructed to undertake “a complete surveillance of all people entering the country”.

The UAE has reported 13 people have been diagnosed with the infection, of whom three have recovered and two are in critical condition.

Iran, UAE’s neighbour across the Gulf, reported on Tuesday a total of 16 virus-related deaths, the most outside China

Thailand has reported three new cases today, taking total infections to 40, Reuters is reporting, citing Sukhum Kanchanapimai, permanent secretary at the health ministry.

The patients are all Thai nationals. Two had returned from holidays in Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido, and came into contact with the third.

Updated

The AP has released a wrap of the current numbers. There are a total 81,002 confirmed cases around the world, and 2,762 dead.

  • Mainland China: 78,064 cases, 2,715 deaths, mostly in Hubei
  • South Korea: 1,146 cases, 11 deaths
  • Japan: 860 cases, including 691 from a cruise ship docked in Yokohama, 4 deaths
  • Italy: 323 cases, 11 deaths
  • Iran: 95 cases, 15 deaths
  • Singapore: 91 cases
  • Hong Kong: 81 cases, 2 deaths
  • Thailand: 37 cases
  • United States: 57 cases
  • Taiwan: 31 cases, 1 death
  • Australia: 23 cases
  • Malaysia: 22
  • Bahrain: 17
  • Vietnam: 16 cases
  • Germany: 17
  • United Arab Emirates: 13 cases
  • United Kingdom: 13
  • France: 14 cases, 1 death
  • Canada: 11
  • Kuwait: 11
  • Macao: 10 cases
  • Iraq: 5
  • Philippines: 3 cases, 1 death
  • India: 3
  • Spain: 6
  • Russia: 2
  • Israel: 2
  • Oman: 2
  • Austria: 2
  • Lebanon: 1
  • Belgium: 1
  • Nepal: 1
  • Sri Lanka: 1
  • Sweden: 1
  • Cambodia: 1
  • Finland: 1
  • Egypt: 1
  • Algeria: 1
  • Afghanistan: 1
  • Croatia: 1
  • Switzerland: 1

Japan’s prime minister, Shinzo Abe, has called for sports and cultural events to be cancelled or postponed for the next fortnight, as the country tries to contain its outbreak.

“Taking into account that the next one to two weeks are extremely important in stopping the spread of infection, the government considers there to be a large risk of transmission at sports, cultural events and large gatherings of people,” Abe told parliament.

Five people have died of the Covid-19 illness in Japan, which has had at least 164 cases of infection in the general population, as well as 691 on the Diamond Princess cruise ship which docked south of Tokyo.

Businesses have been urged to recommend staff work from home, and a Tokyo baseball team said it would play games in an empty stadium this weekend.

Meanwhile the Japanese minister in charge of the Olympics, scheduled for July, has sought to reassure people the games would go ahead despite comments from senior Olympics officials that it may have to be cancelled.

Updated

ASX200 plunges for third day in a row

Coronavirus fear has gripped the Australian market, driving the benchmark ASX200 index down more than 2.5% today.

The market has fallen every day so far this week, wiping 6.3% - or about $125bn - from the index.

All sectors have bit hammered, but the brunt of the pain is being felt by investors in stocks with heavy exposure to the Chinese economy and international travel.

At about 3.40pm metals company and BHP spin-off South32 was down almost 7.5% while fund manager Magellan has been smashed, dropping 7.8%.

But only 13 of the 200 stocks in the index have escaped a fall today, with every other company, including the big banks, feeling the financial fallout from the virus fears.

The Diamond Princess cruise ship continues to be a major focus of the global outbreak.

Passengers who were allowed off the virus-stricken ship are continuing to develop symptoms, and several of the 970 who were allowed off last week after testing negative have since developed the Covid-19 illness, including another Australian passenger announced today.

Japan has come under criticism over its handling of the cruise ship, and several countries which repatriated its citizens from the ship required them to undergo further quarantining despite Japan’s decision to release them.

Japan’s health minister Katsunobo Kato told parliament today the ministry had found 45 people with “certain symptoms”, and had asked them all to see a doctor and take tests.

Workers walk past the coronavirus-hit cruise ship Diamond Princess as they leave the Yokohama Port, south of Tokyo, Japan February 21, 2020.
Workers walk past the coronavirus-hit cruise ship Diamond Princess as they leave the Yokohama Port, south of Tokyo, Japan February 21, 2020. Photograph: Kim Kyung Hoon/Reuters

The Hong Kong government has formally announced the relief package that SCMP reported earlier, including the HKD $10,000 for each permanent resident over the age of 18.

Finance chief Paul Chan confirmed the “exceptional measure” was in light of current circumstances (months of unrest plus the coronavirus) and said it would not create long term financial burden.

He said he made the decision “with a view to encouraging and boosting local consumption on the one hand, and relieving people’s financial burden on the other”.

It will cost about HKD$71bn in total, he said, and is expected to benefit seven million people.

There are 555 confirmed cases of infection in Chinese prisons, although no deaths so far, and a senior leader in the country’s justice ministry has blamed it on law enforcement. Xiong Xuanguo, deputy minister of the justice ministry, has accused them of poor disease control efforts.

“The transmission of the disease truly reflects some gaps in our management of prisons and in our prevention and epidemic control work,” he said.

The women’s jail in the central city of Wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak, is 100m from a hospital and both facilities are serviced by the same bus stop, Xiong told a news conference held by the information office of China’s State Council or cabinet.

For cases found at jails in the eastern provinces of Shandong and Zhejiang, he added, local security forces did not report they had been in contact with individuals from Hubei province, the capital of which is Wuhan.

“Our police officers at every level did not make truthful reports,” he said.

Workers spray disinfectant as a precaution at Saemaeul traditional market in Seoul
Workers spray disinfectant as a precaution at Saemaeul traditional market in Seoul Photograph: Jeon Heon-Kyun/EPA
A health worker in Malaysia watches a woman and children arrive in Kuala Lumpur after being evacuated from China’s Wuhan
A health worker in Malaysia watches a woman and children arrive in Kuala Lumpur after being evacuated from China’s Wuhan Photograph: Muzzafar Kasim/AP

This year’s Olympic Games could be cancelled if the disease proved too dangerous, a senior International Olympic Committee member has said.

Dick Pound, a former Canadian swimming champion and IOC member since 1978, estimated there was a two-to-three month window to make a decision, Gavin Blair reports.

“In and around that time, I’d say folks are going to have to ask: ‘Is this under sufficient control that we can be confident about going to Tokyo or not?’” Pound told Associated Press.

As the Games draw near, he said, “a lot of things have to start happening. You’ve got to start ramping up your security, your food, the Olympic Village, the hotels. The media folks will be in there, building their studios.”

If the IOC decides the games cannot go forward as scheduled in Tokyo, “you’re probably looking at a cancellation”, he said.

All public elementary and junior high schools in the Japanese prefecture of Hokkaido will close for a few days from Thursday, according to Kyodo News agency. Hokkaido has 35 confirmed cases, the highest number in Japan outside of Tokyo.

San Francisco declares local emergency

San Francisco has declared a local emergency over the coronavirus, despite having no cases, Reuters reports.

It comes as US officials urged Americans to prepare for the spread of infections within their communities.

California’s fourth-largest city said it made the move to boost its coronavirus preparedness and raise public awareness of risks the virus may spread to the city.

“Although there are still zero confirmed cases in San Francisco residents, the global picture is changing rapidly, and we need to step-up preparedness,” the city’s mayor London Breed said.

The South China Morning Post is reporting the Hong Kong government is about to announce a relief package which includes HKD$10,000 (US$1,200) cash handouts for permanent residents aged over 18.

The HK$120bn package to bring relief to the city after months of civil unrest and now the virus, is expected to be announced during the budget speech on Wednesday.

A second person who visited Bali, Indonesia, has tested positive for the virus.

According to Japanese and Indonesian media, the Tokyo man in his sixties visited Bali shortly before testing positive for Covid-19.

According to the Jakarta Post, the man works at an aged care home, and returned to work for at least one day after presenting to a health clinic with cold-like symptoms and being discharged because he was not diagnosed with pneumonia.

“We have started contact tracing. We found the hotel he stayed at during his visit to Bali,” Bali Health Agency head Ketut Suarjaya told The Jakarta Post.

It’s the second case of someone who had visited Bali later testing positive for the virus on their return home. A Chinese man was diagnosed eight days after he retuned from the island earlier this month.

Indonesia says it has no confirmed cases of the virus, and that 28 people from Bali who showed symptoms all tested negative.

US soldier in South Korea tests positive

A US soldier has tested positive for the coronavirus, according to a statement from US Forces Korea.

The 23-year-old, who had been based in a US camp in a town near the South Korean city of Daegu, was in self-isolation at his off-base residence. He had visited Camp Walker in Daegu earlier in the week.

South Korean authorities and US military health workers were tracing his contacts for people who might have been exposed.

“USFK is implementing all appropriate control measures to help control the spread of Covid-19 and remains at risk level ‘high’ for USFK peninsula-wide as a prudent measure to protect the force,” the statement said.

Australian Diamond Princess passenger tests positive

An eighth Australian passenger from the Diamond Princess cruise ship has tested positive for the virus. His partner had already tested positive, and so he has been in isolation, and will now receive treatment.

Back to the Australian authorities, who are giving a lot of detail about the response plans and current situation in the island country.

Minister Greg Hunt says more than 3,000 tests have been done in Australia, of which only 15 in the general population have come back positive.

Under Australian law and the official declaration by Murphy, the federal government has quarantine powers, as well as the individual states, and that includes forcible quarantining of people. (The context to this is a discussion on ABC TV’s Q&A program on Monday, which saw disturbing footage of Chinese authorities forcibly taking people from their homes and to quarantine. Expert panellists noted that Australia had the power to do the same.)

“The states themselves have their own bio security arrangements and, for example, they have been monitoring the home isolation and they have powers. If they need them. We have powers if we need them.”

Just to jump in, while the Australian press conference continues, we brought you the updated infection numbers from China a short time ago.

The death toll of 52 people on Tuesday is the lowest daily figure from mainland China in more than three weeks, AFP is reporting.

The number of fresh cases has declined in China, with multiple provinces reporting zero new infections in recent days.

Only five cases were reported outside the epicentre, the lowest in over a month.

Amid questions on how long an event they are preparing for, Murphy notes that a slow paced outbreak puts far less pressure on the health system, even if it has a longer impact.

“There’s always a possibility with a new virus that it could persist and come back on a seasonal basis. We don’t know these things.”

Health minister Greg Hunt says it is a possibility that events like AFL matches could be cancelled, but that it was a “last resort”.

Asked about this year’s Olympics in Japan, Hunt says the health of the general population and athletes is the priority, and assessments would be made closer to the date. Athletes will be the first to know, but in the meantime “just keep training”.

Australia is still contained, with no community transmissions, the country’s chief medical officer has said. This means Australians don’t need to start behaving in ways other than normal, or wear masks.

But authorities are preparing “because of the developing international scenario”, and based on modified pandemic plans that have been developed for years.

“We are working very closely with the states and territories who run the public hospitals with primary care, the general practices. Aged care is a big part of our plan,” Professor Brendan Murphy has told reporters.

Asked about the growing likelihood that a pandemic would be declared, Murphy said that “doesn’t really change what we’re doing at all”.

“More cases in Australia, more community transmissions in Australia, definitely does.”

In the eventuation of that, public health authorities would do contact tracing if it was a small outbreak. If it was bigger then authorities would respond differently where they were “not trying to fully contain but limit the spread of transmission”.

If it got to a certain size they might start closing schools or changing configurations of hospitals, he says.

The message, essentially, is that authorities are flexible and will adapt to the circumstances.

406 new cases in mainland China, 52 dead

Chinese authorities have reported that 406 new cases were confirmed on Tuesday, a drop on Monday’s 508, bringing the total number of cases in mainland China to 78,064, and 2,715 dead.

Of the 406, 401 were in Hubei province, the epicentre of the outbreak. The previous day saw 499.

52 people died from Covid-19 in Hubei province on Tuesday, fewer than the 68 reported on Monday.

There was one new confirmed case in the province of Shandong, two in Sichuan, one in Heibei, as well as four new confirmed cases in Hong Kong and one in Taiwan, according to Tencent.

Members of the community health service center sample nucleic acids for close contacts who have been released from isolation, Wuhan, Hubei Province, China, February 25, 2020.
Members of the community health service center sample nucleic acids for close contacts who have been released from isolation, Wuhan, Hubei Province, China, February 25, 2020. Photograph: Barcroft Media/Barcroft Media via Getty Images

Updated

More Chinese provinces have downgraded their emergency response levels, within China’s four-tiered alert system, Reuters is reporting.

The northwestern Chinese regions of Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang and the southwestern province of Sichuan have downgraded their emergency response level after assessing that health risks from the coronavirus outbreak have receded, state media has reported.

The provinces of Gansu, Yunnan, Guangdong, Shanxi, Guizhou and Anhui have also cut their emergency response levels in the last few days.

Some regions, including Fujian in the southeast, are also starting to dismantle emergency roadblocks designed to screen incoming vehicles and curb the contagion.

China quarantines 94 people on flight from Seoul

China has quarantined 94 air passengers arriving from Seoul after three people on the flight were discovered to have fevers, state media reported Wednesday.

The three passengers, all Chinese, arrived in the city of Nanjing on Tuesday morning and were discovered after customs personnel boarded the aircraft on landing to screen passengers for symptoms, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV said.

The three were immediately sent by ambulance to a hospital for isolation and testing, while 94 people who had sat near them on the plane were sent to a hotel to be quarantined, CCTV said.

None of the three people with fevers had any history of travel to Wuhan, where the outbreak originated.

Agence France-Presse has further detail from South Korea:

An 11th person had died of the disease, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) added in a statement on its website - a Mongolian man in his 30s who became the first foreign national to fall victim to the outbreak.

Yonhap news agency reported that he had been in hospital in the South awaiting a liver transplant.

The vast majority - 90% - of the new infections were in Daegu, the country’s fourth-largest city and the epicentre of the outbreak, and the neighbouring province of North Gyeongsang.

Between them they account for more than 80% of the national total.

The streets of Daegu - which has a population of 2.5 million - have been largely deserted for days, apart from long queues at the few shops with masks for sale.

Authorities urged the public to exercise extra caution, advising citizens to stay home if they have a fever or respiratory symptoms.

“The government will mobilise all resources and means” to try to control the outbreak, Prime Minster Chung Sye-kyun told a meeting in Daegu, where he is leading the government response, Yonhap news agency reported.

In this handout image provided by South Korean Presidential Blue House, South Korean President Moon Jae-in (3rd R) salutes during a special government meeting to discuss measures to prevent the further spread of COVID-19
In this handout image provided by South Korean Presidential Blue House, South Korean President Moon Jae-in (3rd R) salutes during a special government meeting to discuss measures to prevent the further spread of COVID-19 Photograph: South Korean Presidential Blue House via Getty Images

Here’s a bit more detail on the new cases in South Korea:

Of the 169 new cases, 134 were from Daegu city, where a branch of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus, which has been linked to outbreaks, is located.

The BBC’s correspondent in South Korea is reporting that an official in Daegu who had a meeting with the president has tested positive for coronavirus.

169 new cases in South Korea

South Korea has reported 169 more cases of new coronavirus, mostly in and around Daegu, bringing total infections to 1,146, according to the Associated Press.

Virgin ceases all services from Australia to Hong Kong

The impact of months of civil unrest and now coronavirus has seen Australian airline, Virgin, lose more than $130m in earnings on its flight routes to Hong Kong, my colleague Alyx Gorman reports from the company’s half yearly call.

The company had already said last year it would wind up its Melbourne-Hong Kong route, but keep the daily Sydney-Hong Kong flight, however then in February said the Sydney route would also end.

The inpact of Hong Kong’s months of protests and now coronavirus has prompted the airline to exit early. Virgin will cease all services to Hong Kong in March.

CEO Paul Scurrah said: “the coronavirus meant we moved faster on a withdrawal.”

“It’s pretty much across the board with a leaning towards leisure destinations heavily reliant on Chinese tourism,” said Scurrah of the other affected routes.

The company said there was a potential $50m-55m impact on the Virgin Group’s domestic earnings in 2H20, including $14m on Tigerair and $35m-40m on Virgin Australia Domestic. The domestic demand was impacted by low GDP growth and the Australian bushfire crisis.

Updated

Air Canada announced Tuesday it is extending its suspension of flights between Canada and the Chinese cities of Beijing and Shanghai until April 10.

The foreign ministry has advised Canadians against non-essential travel to China in light of the virus’s rapid spread there.

Australia’s health authorities are well prepared in the event WHO declares a pandemic.

Two weeks ago, the federal health department published an ‘Emergency Response Plan’.

The document is periodically updated as more is understood about the virus, who is most at risk, and potential treatments.

It states that “the novel coronavirus outbreak represents a significant risk to Australia”.

“It has the potential to cause high levels of morbidity and mortality and to disrupt our community socially and economically... the response to the novel coronavirus outbreak is now in the Initial Action stage,” the document states.

“The level of impact that the novel coronavirus has on the Australian community will depend on a number of factors. The most influential will be the clinical severity and transmissibility of the disease, and the capacity of the health system to cope with the demand and the need for specialist services.”

It is important to remember that for most people infected, symptoms are mild and most people recover. Some people show no symptoms at all.

However as with influenza, vulnerable people including those with other illnesses, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and the elderly are at risk of more severe symptoms and even death. So even if coronavirus proves to have a relatively low death rate once more data is collected, that can still represents thousands of deaths if millions become infected.

“Public communication will be used to provide an opportunity both to address any public concern caused by the novel coronavirus outbreak and to engage the public in strategies to manage the impact of the disease,” the response plan states.

“It is suspected that individuals with the novel coronavirus may be less infectious prior to the onset of symptoms than those with influenza. This would make isolation of identified cases more effective at reducing onward spread.

The majority of cases are likely to experience mild to moderate clinical features. People in at-risk groups and those with comorbidities may experience more severe illness. At the peak of the outbreak, and increasingly when transmissibility is higher, primary care and hospital services may become stretched in areas associated with respiratory illness and acute care. Existing legislation is likely to be sufficient to support activities.”

I wanted to tell you that I got corona,” said Iran’s deputy health minister Iraj Harirchi.

“We’ll defeat corona. Be assured. I’m saying this deep from my heart. This virus is democratic, and it doesn’t distinguish between poor and rich or statesman and an ordinary citizen.

“Many might get infected, but we have enough effective medicine, take care of yourselves. Take care of the nurses and doctors who work heroically.”

Iran is emerging as a place of particular focus, where there are 95 confirmed cases and 16 deaths.

Iran’s deputy health minister said he has contracted the coronavirus and placed himself in isolation, a day after appearing feverish at a press conference, Martin Chulov reported.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, expressing serious concern that Tehran “may have suppressed vital details” about the outbreak there.

Tehran Municipality workers clean a metro train to avoid the spread of the COVID-19 illness on February 26, 2020. - Iran said Tuesday its coronavirus outbreak, the deadliest outside China, had claimed 15 lives and infected nearly 100 others -- including the country’s deputy health minister. The Islamic republic’s neighbours have imposed travel restrictions and strict quarantine measures after reporting their first cases in recent days, mostly in people with links to Iran.
Tehran Municipality workers clean a metro train to avoid the spread of the COVID-19 illness on February 26, 2020. - Iran said Tuesday its coronavirus outbreak, the deadliest outside China, had claimed 15 lives and infected nearly 100 others -- including the country’s deputy health minister. The Islamic republic’s neighbours have imposed travel restrictions and strict quarantine measures after reporting their first cases in recent days, mostly in people with links to Iran. Photograph: Atta Kenare/AFP via Getty Images

Neighbouring nations have reported cases among people who came from Iran, including nine in Kuwait.

Kuwait’s civil aviation authority announced on Tuesday it had suspended all flights with Singapore and Japan over coronavirus fears, state news agency KUNA reported.

This follows the decision on Monday to suspend flights with South Korea, Iran, Thailand, Italy and Iraq.

Kuwait health ministry reports three new cases of coronavirus, raising total to nine.Children use protective masks as they play with a water gun as they celebrates the country’s national day and liberation day in Kuwait city, Kuwait, 25 February 2020.
Kuwait health ministry reports three new cases of coronavirus, raising total to nine.
Children use protective masks as they play with a water gun as they celebrates the country’s national day and liberation day in Kuwait city, Kuwait, 25 February 2020. Photograph: Noufal Ibrahim/EPA

Food giant Nestle is postponing all business trips until 15 March, AFP reports.

“We have asked all of our employees worldwide not to travel for business purposes until March 15 2020. We will review this measure in light of external developments,” a company spokesman told AFP, quoting an internal note.

The spokesman said that the company was not calling back expatriate employees but added: “We monitor the situation closely to ensure the safety of our employees.”

The benchmark ASX200 index opened down for the third day in a row, falling 1.7% by 11am as the coronavirus crisis continued to scare investors.

There were falls across the board but companies exposed to China or international travel led the bourse down.

Shares in Treasury Wine Estates, which makes prestigious wine Penfolds Grange and is a big exporter to China, dropped 4.3%. They’ve been falling since last week and yesterday afternoon the company warned that it would fall short of its previous profit forecasts due to the outbreak.

Fund manager Magellan was smashed for a third day running, falling almost 5%.

Also facing a third day running of losses was stock in travel agency Flight Centre, which was down 3.9%. Airline Qantas fell 2.8%, its fourth loss in as many days.

Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation fell 4.75% amid general weakness in the media sector - both Nine, which owns the former Fairfax papers, and Seven West Media, which owns the West Australian, have reported poor half-year results in the past couple of weeks.

As mentioned earlier, this blog is a continuation of our coverage of the coronavirus. You can catch up on the earlier updates here, but below is a quick summary of the most recent developments.

  • Italian authorities updated the death toll in the country to 11.Four additional deaths were reported in the country on Tuesday.
  • New cases were confirmed in Spain and Switzerland. Concerns were growing at the spread of the virus on mainland Europe.
  • A hotel in Tenerife where an Italian man who has tested positive for coronavirus was staying has been put on lockdown.One thousand guests at the H10 Costa Adeje Palace hotel have been placed in isolation to halt any further spread of the disease. One British holidaymaker has described the situation as a “holiday from hell”.
  • Travellers returning to the UK from northern Italy may need to self-isolate as part of measures to stop the spread of coronavirus. Official government advice has been changed to say that those who have been to northern Italy, north of Pisa, should self-isolate if they develop flu-like symptoms on their return to the UK.
  • Britons who have been in lockdown regions of Italy, including those in the Lombardy and Veneto region, should self-isolate at home for 14 days even if they have no symptoms.
  • Some schools in the UK have closed or sent pupils homebecause they had recently returned from skiing visits to northern Italy.
  • In Iran, the death toll due to the coronavirus has reached 16, a health ministry official told state TV on Tuesday. Iran has the highest number of deaths from coronavirus outside China, where the virus emerged late last year. The deputy health minister, Iraj Harirchi, has been infected and is under quarantine.
  • Italian authorities announced on Tuesday the first positive coronavirus case in the south of Italy. A woman from Bergamo, who was on holiday with her friends in Sicily, has tested positive for Covid-19.
  • Croatia and Austria became the latest European countries to confirm cases of coronavirus.

First potential case in Latin America

Latin America has recorded what would be its first confirmed case of coronavirus on Tuesday as Brazilian authorities reported that a 61-year-old man in São Paulo had tested positive for the illness.

According to the O Globo newspaper the man recently arrived back in Brazil’s economic capital from Italy.

He was being treated at one of Brazil’s top hospitals, the Albert Einstein in São Paulo, on Tuesday.

The results of a second test to confirm the virus are expected on Wednesday, Brazil’s health ministry said.

There are 80,415 confirmed cases across the world, and 2,708 deaths.

The UN’s health agency, WHO, has called for countries to “prepare for a potential pandemic” - a term used to describe an epidemic that spreads throughout the world - with poor countries at particular risk. From AFP:

Even as the number of fresh cases declines at the epicentre of the disease in China, there has been a sudden increase in parts of Asia, Europe and the Middle East.

Towns and cities in different parts of the world have been sealed off in an attempt to stop the contagion, while hotels in the Canary Island and Austria were locked down on Tuesday because of suspected cases.

At the World Health Organization (WHO) headquarters in Geneva, Bruce Aylward, who headed an international expert mission to China, hailed measures taken there but told reporters that other nations were “simply not ready” for reining in the outbreak.

“You have to be ready to manage this at a larger scale... and it has to be done fast,” Aylward said.

Hello and welcome to our continuing coverage of the coronavirus.

You can read our earlier updates here.

The focus has been on Europe, where the outbreak is worsening, but we’ll soon be hearing the latest from China, South Korea and Japan.

Switzerland, Austria and Croatia have reported their first cases, and the death toll has risen in Italy to 11.

Algeria has also confirmed its first case of the virus.

In Geneva, Dr Bruce Aylward, who headed the joint WHO-Chinese mission to Wuhan, called for countries to “prepare for a potential pandemic”.

He hailed the measures taken in China, but told reporters that other nations were “simply not ready” for reining in the outbreak.

He said countries needed to shift their mindset to preparing for an outbreak of the novel coronavirus and be ready to respond rapidly when it arrived, Reuters reported.

Aylward told reporters on his return to Switzerland from Wuhan that China’s “extraordinary mobilisation” to handle the virus outbreak showed how aggressive policy steps could curb the disease’s spread.

Authorities should prepare hospital beds, isolation zones and respirators for severe cases, Aylward said, adding: “China knows how to keep people alive.”

He said hundreds of thousands of people did not get the Covid-19 illness because of China’s aggressive response.

“Access the expertise of China. They have done this at speed and they know what they are doing. They are really, really good at it.”

The US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention has warned it is a matter of when, not if, the virus spreads to US communities.

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