Summary
Here is a recap of the latest coronavirus developments over the last few hours:
- Two inmates are being tested for coronavirus in a prison in Oxfordshire.
- The novel coronavirus has been officially named Covid-19.
- The first coronavirus vaccine could be available in 18 months, according to the World Health Organization chief.
- Coronavirus may be peaking in China, a senior government medical adviser said.
- A businessman linked to 11 other coronavirus cases after he contracted the disease in Singapore has made a full recovery.
- According to the latest figures, 1,018 people have died from the virus, with over 43,000 total cases worldwide.
Updated
Facebook has pulled out of a major event over coronavirus fears.
The tech company has said it will not be participating in the MWC 2020 tech conference due to take place in Barcelona from 24-27 February.
Facebook joins other big companies, including Amazon and Sony, to pull out of the event over concerns about the spread of the virus.
“Out of an abundance of caution, Facebook employees won’t be attending this year’s Mobile World Congress due to the evolving public health risks related to coronavirus,” said a spokesperson for Facebook.
“We will continue to collaborate with the GSMA and our partners and thank them for their efforts.”
Hundreds of workers have been made redundant in China as the country’s economy reels from the coronavirus outbreak.
Chinese firms struggled to get back to work after the extended Lunar New Year holiday, hundreds of them saying they would need loans running into billions of dollars to stay afloat.
Company layoffs were beginning despite assurances by President Xi Jinping that widespread sackings would be avoided, as supply chains for global firms from car manufacturers to smartphone makers ruptured.
Chinese firm Xinchao Media said on Monday it had laid off 500 people, or just over a tenth of its workforce, and restaurant chain Xibei said it was worried about how to pay its roughly 20,000 workers.
Authorities said they would roll out measures to stabilise jobs, in addition to previously announced cuts to interest rates and fiscal stimulus designed to minimise any downturn.
The World Bank ruled out any new health loans to China, though technical assistance would be offered.
Updated
Singapore expects a 25-30% drop in visitor numbers this year due to the coronavirus outbreak, its tourism board has said.
Singapore has reported 45 cases of the virus, and some countries, such as Kuwait and Qatar, have already started advising their citizens against travel to the Southeast Asian business hub.
“The situation this year will be at least as severe as Sars and possibly worse,” Singapore Tourism Board chief executive Keith Tan said, referring to a 2003 outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome that killed over 30 people in Singapore.
Tan said most of the reduction in visitors so far were from China due to travel restrictions, but that travellers from other countries were also deferring or cancelling trips to Singapore.
The Singapore government has said it expects a hit to its economy from the virus and is planning measures to support the tourism and hospitality industry.
Fitch Ratings estimates the tourism sector accounts for about 6% of the wealthy city-state’s economy.
The use of the term ‘super-spreader’ to describe individuals who inadvertently infect others with coronavirus is “deeply, deeply unhelpful”, according to a leading WHO official.
Dr Michael Ryan, executive director at the WHO Health Emergencies Programme, said:
I really wish we could refrain from personalising these issues down to individuals who spread disease. This is deeply, deeply unhelpful
People are not at fault - they are never at fault in this situation, so let’s be extremely careful here, it’s really really important that we don’t attach unnecessary stigma to this.
He added that the case in which a British businessman inadvertently infected at least 11 people was by no means a “massive ‘super spreading’ event.
This is an unusual event and it is a wake-up call because there may be other circumstances in which this disease can spread like this, so we need to study those circumstances for sure, but it doesn’t change our overall assessment.
The latest coronavirus figures show that 1,018 people have died from the infection, with over 43,000 cases worldwide.
All but one death has been in China, the World Health Organization director general said in a press conference.
Outside China, there have been 393 coronavirus cases across 24 countries.
The Church of England could suspend the sharing of chalices during communion because of coronavirus.
The church is “monitoring the situation closely and taking advice from the relevant medical authorities”, James Newcome, bishop of Carlisle, told the C of E’s ruling body, the general synod, meeting in London.
He reminded the synod that during the 2009 swine flu pandemic, the church advised clergy to suspend chalice sharing and urged churches to post notices about hygiene.
“If the situation continues to get worse, that sort of [advice] will certainly be issued,” he said.
The Catholic church in England and Wales has issued guidance to priests which includes asking people with cold and flu symptoms to refrain from taking communion from the chalice and for all members of congregations to use hand sanitisers.
But it stopped short of suggesting the chalice to be withdrawn, or the sign of peace - when church-goers shake hands - to be suspended as happened in 2009.
The Cornerstone Community Cafe in Brighton remains closed after it emerged one of the latest coronavirus cases attended a yoga class there.
One of the web of people infected with the virus through businessman Steve Walsh had taken part in a Yoga For Runners course at the community centre on Hove’s Church Road.
A sign on the door reads:
Yesterday we were advised that a member of the Cornerstone is now being cared for by the NHS.
We have been reassured by Public Health England that no one else is at risk.
The centre is due to reopen on Monday 17 February.
The number of people in Scotland tested for coronavirus has doubled in 48 hours, according to the latest figures.
Statistics published by the Scottish Government on Tuesday afternoon show 82 people in Scotland have been tested and all returned negative results.
This is up from 41 tests on Sunday and 57 on Monday, and follows labs being set up at Glasgow Royal Infirmary and the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh to test patients in Scotland.
Scotland’s Chief Medical Officer Dr Catherine Calderwood said while there have been no confirmed cases north of the border so far there is a “high likelihood” a patient will test positive for the disease in future.
Updated
Vaccine could be ready in 18 months
The first coronavirus vaccine could be available in 18 months, “so we have to do everything today using available weapons”, the World Health Organization chief, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said in Geneva.
Last week, Thomas Breuer, chief medical officer of GlaxoSmithKline’s vaccine unit, said: “It will take at least 12 to 18 months, which means in the acute situation we are in now - at least in China - that will not create a benefit.”
At least a dozen drugmakers are working on vaccines, or antivirals and other treatments to help those infected.
Ghebreyesus urged countries to be “as aggressive as possible” in fighting the newly named Covid-19 coronavirus.
If the world doesn’t want to wake up and consider the virus as public enemy number one, I don’t think we will will learn from our lessons.
We are still in containment strategy and should not allow the virus to have a space to have local transmission.
Updated
Coronavirus named Covid-19
The new coronavirus has been named Covid-19 by the director general of the World Health Organization (WHO).
The WHO chief, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, told a press conference a name was chosen that “did not refer to a geographical location, an animal, an individual or group of people, and which is also pronounceable and related to the disease”.
He said:
Having a name matters to prevent the use of other names that can be inaccurate or stigmatising. It also gives us a standard format to use for any future coronavirus outbreaks.
Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses, responsible for the Sars (severe acute respiratory syndrome) outbreak in 2002-03, and Mers (Middle East respiratory syndrome).
The current novel coronavirus outbreak that originated in Wuhan, China, had remained unnamed until today.
Some coronaviruses cause serious illness, while others cause mild or moderate infections, like the common cold.
Updated
Jessica Murray here, taking over the blog from Frances Perraudin, as coronavirus continues to travel around the world, and experts question the use of the term “super-spreader”.
Our handy visual explainer tracks the spread of the virus across the globe.
Updated
Two UK prisoners being tested for coronavirus
Two prisoners are being tested for coronavirus in Oxfordshire.
The men, who are inmates at HMP Bullingdon, near Bicester, are being kept in isolation.
One wing where the affected prisoners are has restricted access, but the prison remains operational, the Guardian understands.
Public Health England is on site to help manage the situation.
Updated
Here is the latest update from Public Health England on the number of concluded tests in the UK (1,358). The number of people who have tested positive in the UK remains at eight.
UPDATE on #coronavirus testing in the UK:
— Department of Health and Social Care (@DHSCgovuk) February 11, 2020
As of 2pm on Tuesday 11 February 2020, a total of 1,358 tests have concluded
1,350 were confirmed negative
8 positive
Updates will be published at 2pm daily until further notice
For latest information visit:
▶️ https://t.co/CZh5JdyN2Q pic.twitter.com/XlOoAFhHOK
Updated
Here’s some more detail from Hancock’s comments to parliament. The health secretary said:
The NHS has the capability now to cope with the very highest level of intensity and isolation with 50 cases and the capability to expand that to 500 cases and to do that without an impact on the wider work of the NHS.
But of course, if the number of cases get bigger, then we will need to take further steps and as he knows from his time in my shoes, there are extensive plans already in place for how that should happen if we reach that eventuality.
Conservative MP for the Vale of Clwyd, James Davis, asked for a likely timescale for the development of a vaccine and how much Britain has contributed to that.
Hancock responded that “estimates vary” on when a vaccination will be available.
We’ve put £40m into the both global and domestic efforts to find a vaccine and work is under way fast and that work is progressing, but the time taken not just to develop a vaccine but also to ensure that it is assured and that it is safe to use, it does take time.
Birmingham Live is reporting that a British man who contracted coronavirus while on his honeymoon on a Japanese cruise ship expects to be released from hospital later this week.
Alan Steele, 58 and from Tettenhall in Wolverhampton, tested positive for the virus while on the Diamond Princess ship with his new wife Wendy. He posted on Facebook that had been symptom-free since he was moved to hospital last Thursday. He said:
Doctor has given me the set plan of action for my discharge and as long as I pass the tests I will be free on Friday. Would have been Thursday but Japan on holiday tomorrow so no one to do the test results.
Heard bad news on more cases on ship but possible good news is all will now be tested so if you’re free of virus they should let you go.
Responding to Hancock, the shadow health secretary, Jonathan Ashworth, said Labour supported the government’s move to extend powers to quarantine people.
I understand why the secretary of state has invoked the regulations, as he is entitled to do under the public health act. He has our support. Quarantine arrangements must be seen to be necessary, proportionate and in accordance with law, and enforcement of those quarantine arrangements, including the powers of restraint where necessary, must be fully transparent and the rights and freedoms of the quarantined [people] must be fully understood so as to ensure they are treated with dignity and respect.
Updated
Health secretary: “The situation will get worse before it gets better"
The health secretary, Matt Hancock, has been giving a statement to parliament on the new powers the government has given itself to allow it to force people into quarantine if they suspect they have coronavirus.
He described it as a “belt and braces” approach to protecting the public. “The powers are proportionate and will help us slow down transmission of the virus, make it easier for NHS and public health staff to do their jobs,” he said. “The clinical advice about the risk to the public has not changed and remains moderate”.
He added: “Dealing with this disease is a marathon, not a sprint. The situation will get worse before it gets better. We will be guided by the science. Be in no doubt, we will do everything that is effective to tackle this virus and keep people safe.”
Updated
The diagnosis of four people living in a single apartment block in Hong Kong has prompted worried comparisons with the deadly Sars pandemic of 17 years ago.
Medical workers in full protective suits went to Hong Mei House in Tsing Yi district on Tuesday, evacuating more than 100 people in 34 apartments.
Health officials said it was a precautionary measure after a 62-year-old woman was diagnosed with the virus on Tuesday. She was living 10 floors below a man who was earlier confirmed with the virus.
The woman’s son and daughter-in-law, who live with her, were among seven new cases reported, raising the city’s tally to 49.
As in 2003, officials suspect the building’s plumbing may be to blame. The people evacuated were living in the 34 apartments vertically above or below the woman, and share the same sewage system.
A modified toilet drainage pipe in her unit may have spread the virus and officials disinfecting the building are checking if any other units have made such alternations.
Authorities sought to assuage fears of an epidemic, dismissing similarities to the Sars outbreak at the Amoy Gardens housing estate in 2003. More than 300 people were infected and 42 people died after a defective sewage pipe in the apartment block was believed to have caused the vertical spread of Sars.
Most of Hong Kong’s 7.4 million population live in high-rise apartments.
Updated
A number of scientific experts have clarified the “super-spreader” term used to describe the man who infected 11 others with coronavirus after contracting it in Singapore.
“The issue with the term ‘super-spreader’ is that it implies that the person in question is inherently more able to pass on disease compared with others,” said Dr Stephen Griffin, associate professor at the University of Leeds and chair of the virus division of the Microbiology Society.
He said the ability of an individual to pass on the disease depended on a number of factors:
For example, a patient that is very unwell, coughing without practising good hygiene, and who is then stuck in a crowded lift for an hour, is far more likely to spread infection to multiple recipients compared with someone that self-isolates at the first sign of symptoms.
Meanwhile, Brendan Wren, a professor of microbial pathogenesis at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said:
There is no clear evidence that individuals with the new coronavirus can be ‘super-shedders’ or ‘super-spreaders’. It is likely that individuals may have mild symptoms prior to unwittingly transferring the virus.
Griffin said that while it had not yet been confirmed clinically, there was increasing anecdotal evidence to suggest the virus can be passed on prior to the onset of symptoms.
Updated
Thousands of people have been ordered into quarantine in the Chinese city of Tianjin after a cluster of new coronavirus cases were linked to one department store, the New York Times reports.
Nearly a third of the 102 new patients in Tianjin worked or shopped at a department store in the Baodi district, or had close contact with employees or customers, according to the city’s health authorities.
In the city of more than 15 million people, 70 miles southeast of Beijing, officials estimated 11,700 customers visited the unidentified shopping complex during a period in late January.
The authorities said those customers would be quarantined, and the department store would be sealed and disinfected.
Emergency measures have been imposed in some areas of the district, home to nearly 1 million people, including road blocks and round-the-clock security patrols.
Meanwhile, an apartment building in Hong Kong has been evacuated and dozens of residents quarantined after two people living on different floors were found to be infected with the virus.
The cases suggest the virus spread through the building, perhaps through a pipe, raising further fears of the virus’s ability to spread.
Updated
The Chinese financial news website Caixin is reporting on new research which suggests that the incubation period for the coronavirus is as long as 24 days rather than the previously believed 14 days.
The study – which is based on data gathered from more than 1,000 coronavirus patients in China – also found that fewer than half of the patients showed fever symptoms when they first saw doctors.
The researchers from Chinese hospitals and medical schools, led by Zhong Nanshan, found that relying on signs of fever to identify the virus in its early stages could result in large numbers of infected people going undiscovered. Fever occurred in just 43.8% of patients, but later developed in 87.9% following hospitalisation.
We would like to hear from Guardian readers in the UK: how are you responding to these warnings? Have you amended plans or altered holidays? Have you temporarily changed part of your routine to avoid certain places? Have you started stockpiling food or medical supplies, or ordered protective face masks? Please let us know.
Updated
Guardian journalist Henry McDonald has paid a visit to the County Oak Medical Centre in Brighton, which remains shut this morning after a member of staff contracted the virus.
A delivery driver tried in vain to deliver three parcels to the clinic but no one was there to let him in. A Lloyd’s Pharmacy next door remains open.
A member of Brighton and Hove city’s council’s health board, Prof Samer Bagaeen, has expressed concern that the number of people infected in the area may be much higher than suggested.
Cllr Bagaeen accused the council of failing to keep Brighton and Hove residents fully informed about the coronavirus outbreak on the south coast. He also claimed the council had instructed local elected representatives not to talk to journalists.
I think they have not been straight with everyone from the start and have intentionally hid the implications of the infections. We don’t know who in the city has been exposed and where.
I am finding details about incidents from newspapers days after they have happened. We should have been informed since day one.
You have people who are ‘self isolating’ but could still be going to the shops. And the council has told us councillors that we must not speak to journalists.
Updated
Coronavirus may be peaking in China, says medical adviser
Here is some more detail on those comments from Zhong Nanshan, the Chinese government’s senior medical adviser.
In an interview with Reuters, the 83-year-old epidemiologist who won fame for combating the Sars epidemic in 2003, said the coronavirus outbreak was hitting a peak in China and may be over by April.
He said a forecast based on mathematical modelling, recent events and government action suggested the peak should come in middle or late February, followed by a plateau and decrease.
“I hope this outbreak or this event may be over in something like April,” he said in a hospital run by Guangzhou Medical University, where 11 coronavirus patients were being treated.
“We don’t know why it’s so contagious, so that’s a big problem,” added Zhong, whose previous forecast of an earlier peak turned out to be premature. He said there was a gradual reduction in new cases in the southern province of Guangdong where he was, and also in Zhejiang and elsewhere.
Updated
Do face masks actually help prevent coronavirus? Guardian health editor, Sarah Boseley, has this video explainer.
Updated
Guardian reporter Henry McDonald reports that students at the University of Sussex have been sent an email to say that one of their peers has been tested for coronavirus in hospital, though the test results are still unknown. The university said it would keep students informed about the outcome of the test.
The student had recently returned from overseas and was feeling unwell. It is understood that he lived in the Lewes Court halls of residence in Falmer.
Updated
Prof Paul Hunter, from the University of East Anglia, has told MailOnline that there could be a justification for giving the public more information about those infected with coronavirus:
Patient confidentiality is important but we may now be at the point where the public’s need to know more information is greater.
It would be helpful to know if [Steve Walsh] got a taxi straight home or got a bus and stopped off at the supermarket. Letting the public know this timeline will reassure many that they are not at risk.
Updated
Steve Walsh is thought to have contracted the virus at a conference in Singapore organised by his employer, the gas analytics company Servomex.
A Servomex spokesman said:
We are very pleased that Steve Walsh has made a full recovery. We continue to provide support to him and his family. We are working with Public Health authorities to ensure the welfare of our staff and communities and wish anyone with the virus a quick and full recovery.
Man linked to 11 cases issues statement
The man from Brighton thought to have passed the coronavirus to at least 11 other people after attending a conference in Singapore has issued a statement via St Thomas’s Hospital in London, where he is in quarantine. Steve Walsh, 53, – who has been described as a ‘super-spreader’ – said he had fully recovered.
I would like to thank the NHS for their help and care – whilst I have fully recovered, my thoughts are with others who have contracted coronavirus. As soon as I knew I had been exposed to a confirmed case of coronavirus I contacted my GP, NHS 111 and Public Health England.
I was advised to attend an isolated room at hospital, despite showing no symptoms, and subsequently self-isolated at home as instructed. When the diagnosis was confirmed I was sent to an isolation unit in hospital, where I remain, and, as a precaution, my family was also asked to isolate themselves.
I also thank friends, family and colleagues for their support during recent weeks and I ask the media to respect our privacy.
Updated
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director general of the World Health Organization, has issued a statement on Twitter on the opening of the global research and innovation forum on the coronavirus.
It’s hard to believe that just two months ago, the #2019nCoV – which has come to captivate the attention of media, financial markets, and political leaders – was completely unknown to us.
With 99% of #2019nCoV cases in #China, this remains very much an emergency for that country, but one that holds a very grave threat for the rest of the world.
This #2019nCoV outbreak is testing us in many ways. It’s a test of political solidarity – whether the world can come together to fight a common enemy that does not respect borders or ideologies.
It’s a test of financial solidarity – whether the will invest now in fighting the #2019nCoV outbreak, or pay more later to deal with its consequences. And it’s a test of scientific solidarity – will the world come together to find shared answers to shared problems?
"I would like to wish you all a very warm welcome to Geneva & to WHO for this very important meeting. I welcome everyone who is joining us virtually, especially our sisters & brothers in #China"-@DrTedros at the opening of the global research and innovation forum on #2019nCoV
— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) February 11, 2020
Updated
Second GP surgery closes in Brighton
A second GP surgery branch in Brighton has been shut following the outbreak of coronavirus in the city, PA Media reports.
The County Oak Medical Centre was closed on Monday “because of an urgent operational health and safety reason”, following reports a member of staff there was one of those infected.
On Tuesday morning, it emerged that a second branch of the surgery – located less than two miles away – has also been closed.
A sign fixed to the door of the Deneway branch says: “The surgery is closed due to organisational health and safety reasons. Please contact 111 if you need to speak to a health professional.”
Updated
Reuters is reporting comments by Zhong Nanshan, the epidemiologist and pulmonologist who discovered the Sars virus in 2003. He said the new coronavirus had been very contagious compared with Sars up to this point, but there was evidence that the situation was improving in some Chinese provinces. I’ll bring you more when we have it.
#BREAKING #China #coronavirus outbreak may peak later this month and then plateau, based on current model and trend, says China advisor Zhong Nanshan
— Jessica Jaganathan (@j3ssi3) February 11, 2020
Updated
Much of today’s UK coverage of the spread of the coronavirus focuses on the case of a man, who appears to have passed the virus to the majority of the Britons to have tested positive for the virus. The Guardian’s health editor, Sarah Boseley, has this on the phenomenon of the “super-spreader”.
She writes:
Not everybody is equal when it comes to the transmission of infectious diseases. In fact, it has been established for at least two decades that there is something called the 20/80 rule – that a small core group of about one in five people transmit infections to far more people than the majority do …
The third British case, after the first two diagnosed in York, was a man in his 50s who contracted the coronavirus infection at a conference in Singapore. He then travelled to France where he stayed with his family in a ski chalet in the Alpine resort of Les Contamines-Montjoie. Five people who were in the chalet, including a boy of nine, have tested positive for coronavirus since the man came back to the UK on an easyJet flight and was diagnosed in Brighton. Another Briton who was on holiday in the chalet flew back to his home in Mallorca and was admitted to hospital in Palma. The chief medical officer said four more people had tested positive in England – all of whom were also on the skiing holiday in France.
Updated
In the UK, officials are working to trace patients of two healthcare workers who are among eight people to be diagnosed with coronavirus in the country. The pair, who were working in general practice in Brighton, are believed to have been in contact with about a dozen patients.
In a statement on Monday, the medical director of Public Health England, Yvonne Doyle, said:
We are now working urgently to identify all patients and other healthcare workers who may have come into close contact, and at this stage we believe this to be a relatively small number.
The County Oak Medical Centre in Brighton announced on Monday it would close its doors “because of an urgent operational health and safety reason”. One of those newly diagnosed is reportedly a health worker there and people wearing protective full body suits and gloves were seen cleaning the centre in footage shared online.
Prof Martin Marshall, the chair of the Royal College of GPs, said:
Patients should not be alarmed as it is still more likely that anyone with flu-like symptoms will have the flu. However, in light of the members of staff who tested positive for coronavirus in Brighton we’d like to remind the public that it is vital that any patient who thinks they may have symptoms does not try to attend a GP appointment or hospital emergency departments in person. They should stay at home and call NHS 111.
Updated
Guardian Australia reporter Josh Taylor has this report on how the country’s tourism industry is bracing itself for the effects of the coronavirus.
Ben Woodward has seen some difficult times in the tourism industry, but the Cairns operator says the coronavirus outbreak threatens to beat the lot.
“As an industry, we’ve come through crisis situations before, there’s been Sars, there’s been the GFC, there’s been the pilot strike, but it is looking like one of the worst crisis situations we’ve encountered as an industry.”
Cairns and Port Trips and Attractions has more than 200 staff across its bus tours, nature parks and sanctuaries in far-north Queensland. Woodward, the company’s sales and marketing director, says cancellations started rolling in as soon as the Australian government imposed its ban on non-Australian citizens arriving from China, following China’s own cancellation of international tour groups leaving the country.
“And they kept coming through to the point where the following couple of weeks are supposed to be the busiest weeks for Chinese new year, and it’s just completely dropped off,” he says. “Anywhere from 40% to 60% down [on last year].”
Summary
- Deaths in China stand at 1,016, with 42,638 confirmed infections.
- A leading virus expert has warned 60% of the word’s population may catch the virus.
- Two senior officials in Hubei province were sacked over their role in combating the virus.
- A leading Chinese academic has blamed President Xi Jinping for the “catastrophe” sweeping China.
- Hong Kong’s chief executive asked citizens to stay at home to prevent the virus spreading.
- South Korea has advised citizens not to travel to Japan, Taiwan, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand and Singapore.
- Thailand has barred passengers from Holland America’s cruise ship MS Westerdam from disembarking.
- Vietnam confirmed a three-month-old baby had become the country’s 15th case.
- Japanese health authorities will allow older and chronically ill passengers off the stricken Diamond Princess cruise liner amid growing concern about their health.
Updated
Chinese academic blames Xi Jinping for 'catastrophe' sweeping country
A prominent Chinese intellectual has become the first high-profile public figure to lay the blame for the coronavirus crisis at the feet of the country’s leader, Xi Jinping, saying the spread of the deadly virus has “revealed the rotten core of Chinese governance”.
As the crisis expands across the country, Xu Zhangrun, a law professor from one of the country’s top universities, lambasted the government under Xi in an essay titled Viral Alarm, When Fury Overcomes Fear. In it, Xu laid the blame for the current national crisis at the feet of Xi and a culture of suppression and “systemic impotence” that he has created. The virus has killed more than 1,000 people inside China.
“The cause of all of this lies with The Axelrod and the cabal that surrounds him,” Xu writes, referring to Xi, according to a translation of the article by the historian Geremie Barmé published on Monday by the website ChinaFile.
“It is a system that turns every natural disaster into an even greater man-made catastrophe. The coronavirus epidemic has revealed the rotten core of Chinese governance; the fragile and vacuous heart of the jittering edifice of state has thereby shown up as never before.”
Xu describes the outbreak as a “national calamity” that involves politics, the economy and “nation’s ethical fabric” making it “more perilous than total war itself”.
You can read the full story below:
Updated
Hong Kong’s leading public health epidemiologist says other countries should consider adopting China-style containment measures. Prof Gabriel Leung, the chair of public health medicine at Hong Kong University, sounded his warning after the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said recent cases of coronavirus patients who have never visited China could be the “tip of the iceberg”.
“Sixty per cent of the world’s population is an awfully big number,” Leung told the Guardian in London, en route to an meeting of experts at the WHO in Geneva.
He will tell the meeting that the main issue is the scale of the growing worldwide epidemic and the second priority is to find out whether the drastic measures taken by China to prevent the spread have worked – because if so, other countries should think about adopting them.
You can read our full story here:
Updated
South Korea has “strongly advised” its citizens not to travel to Japan, Taiwan, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand and Singapore in an attempt to contain the spread of the coronavirus.
South Korea, which confirmed its 28th case of the respiratory illness on Tuesday, has already asked its nationals to refrain from travelling to China.
Singapore has reported 45 cases, while Thailand has 32. Japan 25 (in addition to 135 aboard the Diamond Princess), Malaysia and Taiwan 18 each, and Vietnam 14.
“The measure is part of efforts to prevent the inflow of the coronavirus into the country through a third nation,” Kim Gang-lip, deputy head of the central disaster headquarters, said, according to the Yonhap news agency.
From Wednesday, South Korea will also require people arriving from Hong Kong and Macau to undergo quarantine screening to determine if they are suffering from symptoms associated with the virus, such as a fever or respiratory problems.
Arrivals will be required to fill in a health form, provide their mobile phone numbers and address while staying in South Korea, and notify the authorities if they have visited Hubei province - where the outbreak is believed to have started - in the previous two weeks.
Seoul imposed a ban earlier this month on all foreign travellers who had been to Hubei during the previous fortnight.
Agence France-Presse has published its roundup of global cases of the virus. I have updated the list to include the newest cases in the US (1) and Vietnam (1), today.
Asia/Pacific
- Japan: 26 + 135 on Diamond Princess cruise ship
- Singapore: 45
- Hong Kong: 42 (including one death)
- Thailand: 32
- South Korea: 28
- Japan: 25
- Taiwan: 18
- Malaysia: 18
- Australia: 15 (including 5 recoveries)
- Vietnam: 15
- Macau: 10
- India: 3
- Philippines: 3 (including one death)
- Nepal: 1
- Sri Lanka: 1
- Cambodia: 1
North America
- United States: 13
- Canada: 7
Europe
- Germany: 14
- France: 11
- Britain: 8
- Italy: 3
- Russia: 2
- Spain: 2
- Finland: 1
- Sweden: 1
- Belgium: 1
Middle EaSt
- United Arab Emirates: 8
South Korea advises against travel to Japan, Taiwan, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand and Singapore
South Korea’s Yonhap news agency is reporting that the country has advised against travel to Japan, Taiwan, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand and Singapore. I’ll bring you the details on this shortly.
S. Korea advises against traveling to Singapore, Taiwan and 4 others. https://t.co/Gz1rB3m3SQ
— Yonhap News Agency (@YonhapNews) February 11, 2020
Stock markets have continued to push upwards throughout Asia Pacific today. With the day almost done, the ASX200 is up 0.5% in Sydney.
In Hong Kong, where the chief executive has told people not to leave their houses, the Hang Seng is up 1.25%. In Shanghai the Composite is up one third and Seoul has risen 0.7%.
However, some analysts are warning that the impact from the outbreak on the global economy could be much greater than investors appear to think.
Analysts at Nomura said in a note that measures of returning workers and passenger traffic flows within China suggested the virus had “a devastating impact on China’s economy in January and February ... We are concerned that global markets thus far appear to be significantly underestimating the extent of disruption inflicted by the virus”.
We wrote earlier that Capital Economics has downgraded its forecast for Chinese GDP in the first quarter of this year to 3%, down from 5%.
Updated
A little snapshot of life on board the quarantined cruise ship, Diamond Princess, comes from the niece of some of the people stuck on board.
Day 7 of quarantine on the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan:
— Virginia Lau (@virginiaylau) February 11, 2020
- Uncle does Yuanji-dance, a combo of chi-gung, tai chi, medicine, martial arts &🎵
- Supplies package sent on Saturday still hasn't arrived
- Change of bedding received#クルーズ船 #Coronavius #CoronavirusOutbreak pic.twitter.com/ZCHa6Wptjr
I’m getting more now on Carrie Lam’s appeal to people in Hong Kong to stay at home as much as possible due to the coronavirus.
“As part and parcel of enhancing social distancing we are making an appeal to the people of Hong Kong to stay at home as much as possible,” Lam told reporters.
“But at the moment, we’re making this appeal, we’re not going for compulsory closures because Hong Kong is a free society.”
It follows the evacuation of more than 100 residents in 35 households from a high-rise building in the early hours of Tuesday, after two residents from the building were confirmed to have contracted coronavirus.
The government said it was investigating drainage pipes in the building in Tsing Yi district in the New Territories amid worries the virus may have been spread through the system as the city goes on high alert to contain an outbreak.
The government said on Tuesday the occupants of 23 households in the Tsing Yi housing complex had been sent to quarantine centres, while it was still trying to make contact with people from nine housing units.
The director of the Centre for Health Protection said authorities were investigating the suspected “environmental transmission” of the two confirmed cases.
Parts of Hong Kong, including restaurants, shopping malls and cafes, are almost deserted as people work from home and schools remain closed, invoking memories of 2003 when Sars sent panic across the city.
Most of Hong Kong’s population of more than seven million people live in high-rise buildings.
Just while I’m on graphs and figures, here are two particularly interesting graphs from the economics research company, Capital Economics.
The first shows the rate of new cases since the city of Wuhan was locked down and transport in and out curtailed. It appears to show a substantial drop after in new cases at around 14 days after the lockdown. The virus has a maximum incubation period of 14 days.
The second graph plots the growth of the coronavirus in China versus Sars. And you can see how much steeper the coronavirus growth is.
Here’s a graph from the Economist’s Simon Rabinovitch of the new reported cases of the virus. Some are suggesting on social media that the sustained downward trend in the past few days is linked a reported change in how new cases of the virus are registered.
Sustained downward trend in reported new coronavirus cases in China: both in Hubei (where the trend is bumpy) and in the rest of the country.
— Simon Rabinovitch (@S_Rabinovitch) February 11, 2020
(And yes, this is official data. Usual caveats apply.) pic.twitter.com/AghCkpgLAG
And another collation of global figures (based on WHO figures), appears to show the angle of the curve changing, as per the Johns Hopkins graph a couple of posts ago.
So based on the latest figures, is the #coronavirus outbreak turning a corner? The daily increase in the (absolute) no. of cases has dropped to its lowest point since the end of Jan, and crucially the daily percentage increase is down to 6% from a high of 64% two weeks ago. pic.twitter.com/CzRfAO5f0l
— Nick Payne (@N1ckPayne) February 11, 2020
Updated
There’s been lots of attention paid to figures of new cases of the virus in China today, and that the cases outside Hubei province are continuing to drop.
New confirmed cases of novel #coronavirus pneumonia outside Hubei Province in the Chinese mainland have dropped for seven consecutive days, from 890 on Feb 3 to 381 on Feb 10, according to the National Health Commission. pic.twitter.com/kyCgcgpflx
— People's Daily, China (@PDChina) February 11, 2020
I’ve also been looking at the rise in confirmed cases ... Johns Hopkins’ dashboard, which we have been using regularly, seems to be showing a change in the growth rate of new cases.
Updated
Two senior Hubei Province officials sacked
Chinese state media is reporting that party secretary of Health Commission of Hubei Province, Zhang Jin, and the director of the Hubei Provincial Health Commission, Liu Yingzi, have been fired.
Party Secretary of Health Commission of Hubei Province Zhang Jin and director of the Hubei Provincial Health Commission Liu Yingzi were removed from their posts. The two posts will be taken over by Wang Hesheng, a Standing Committee member of the CPC Hubei Provincial Committee. pic.twitter.com/AnGOVOvDOw
— People's Daily, China (@PDChina) February 11, 2020
The BBC’s correspondent in China, Stephen McDonell, has tweeted about the China’s national health commission changing the way it counts confirmed cases of the virus.
I have seen a lot of this on social media today.
The suggestion is that patients who test positive but have no coronavirus symptoms, are not counted in the daily update of confirmed cases ... and that this may account for the slowing growth rate of new cases. I’ll bring you more on this when I have it.
There does however seem to be a suggestion that a change in definition from #China’s National Health Commission re “confirmed case” could’ve soaked up some of the reduction. Patients with no #coronavirus symptoms not counted as “confirmed” any more even if they test positive.
— Stephen McDonell (@StephenMcDonell) February 11, 2020
Chinese firm Xinchao Media lays off 10% of staff
Chinese firm Xinchao Media has laid off 500 people, or just over 10% of its workforce, saying it needed to resort to such measures to survive the impact of the coronavirus outbreak.
Xinchao Media, which places advertisements in elevators, announced its job cuts in a post on its official WeChat account on Monday, which carried the transcript of an internal speech given by its chief executive, Zhang Jixue.
“To overcome the epidemic, you have to step on the brakes, jam the cash flow, reduce costs, to ensure survival ... China’s bosses, they have at this time become a helpless and disadvantaged group. While usually strong, they also hope they can gain understanding and care,” he said, according to Reuters.
He said the company still had nearly 1bn yuan ($143m) in its coffers, but forecast that it would likely only be able to tide over for 6-7 months if they had no income.
Updated
Thailand bars passengers from cruise ship disembarking
Thailand has barred passengers from Holland America’s cruise ship MS Westerdam from disembarking, its health minister has said, the latest country to turn it away amid fears of the coronavirus despite no confirmed infections aboard.
The company, owned by Miami-based Carnival Corp, had said on Monday that passengers would disembark in Bangkok on 13 February (Thursday) and that there was no reason to believe anybody aboard had the virus.
“I have issued orders. Permission to dock refused,” public health minister Anutin Charnvirakul said in a Facebook post.
The Westerdam has already been turned away from several countries, including Japan and the Philippines.
Holland America says no one on board has the virus. Media reports say it carries 1,455 passengers and 802 crew; its original destination was Yokohama, Japan, which refused it permission to dock.
“The ship is not in quarantine and we have no reason to believe there are any cases of coronavirus on board despite media reports,” the company said.
It had earlier said the Westerdam was sailing toward Bangkok, and it is not immediately clear whether the ship would change course.
Updated
Carrie Lam appeals to Hongkongers to stay at home – report
Hong Kong’s leader, Carrie Lam, has appealed for all people to stay at home as much as possible, Reuters is reporting.
It follows the evacuation of a residential building where four people showed symptoms of the flu-like virus.
The government said it was investigating pipes within the building amid concerns the virus may have been spread through the system, raising concerns of a community outbreak.
Updated
Three-month-old baby becomes 15th case in Vietnam
Vietnam now has 15 confirmed cases of the virus, the health ministry said on Tuesday, after a three-month-old baby girl tested positive. The baby was infected by her grandmother, the ministry said in a statement, Reuters reported.
Ten out of 15 confirmed cases are in the northern province of Vinh Phuc, the ministry said. Vietnam has made plans to quarantine hundreds of its citizens returning from China, including 950 at military camps outside Hanoi, and another 900 at temporary facilties on the Vietnam-China border.
Outbreak reveals 'vulnerability of global economy' – Capital
The coronavirus outbreak remains the biggest challenge facing the global economy over coming months, says the consultancy Capital Economics, which has cut its forecast for first quarter growth in China from 5% year-on-year to 3% year-on-year.
Although chief economist Neil Shearing says it is impossible to determine the exact outcome, he says “China’s role at the centre of global supply chains increases the likelihood that the disruption spreads to other countries. Economies in Emerging Asia look most vulnerable, as do firms operating in both the tech and electronics sectors”.
He says that the bounce back in the stock market since initial falls caused by concerns about the virus made sense because investors were right to expect central banks to keep interest rates low and therefore underwrite asset prices.
But the global economy was still walking a tightrope between “rates remaining low enough to support current asset valuations and economic growth on the one hand, and markets being able to allocate capital efficiently in a world of continued low rates on the other. The longer it goes on, the more difficult the balancing act will become”
He concludes:
The fallout from the coronavirus remains the biggest challenge facing the global economy over coming months and, as things stand, it is unclear how events will play out. But the market response to the virus reveals a deeper vulnerability at the heart of the global economy. The current goldilocks environment of low but positive growth and low interest rates justifies the high valuation of asset prices. But the longer it continues, the greater the risk that it sows the seeds of the next major economic downturn.
You can read more on how the outbreak might impact the world economy here:
Updated
In terms of travelling to China, Greg Hunt, says the advice to Australians remains: “do not travel to China”.
Brendan Murphy is being asked if we should expect the number of infected passengers on the cruise ship in Japan to rise. Murphy says;
So cruise ships are well known as a place where communicable diseases are there.We’ve all heard of norovirus on cruise ships. It can pretty much affect half or more of the population. So at the moment, given the quarantining period, it’s still likely that all of those cases were infected before the quarantining was instituted.
He says it’s not surprising there were a lot of infections before the quarantine period started.
A reporter asks about the apparent lack of reported cases in Indonesia. Brendan Murphy says:
I think we’re watching that situation in Indonesia.Obviously, it is somewhat surprising that there are no cases, but I believe that they do have some testing capability now and we will be closing watching what happens in Indonesia.
Reporters are asking if Australia will extend the current travel ban. Brendan Murphy says this is being regularly reviewed:
We’re going to have a very serious consideration of that at the end of this week. And I think that the important thing is that what ever period is put in place, we are reviewing this every day, and if the situation changes, we’ll provide advice to Government on a daily basis, as necessary.
The current travel advice to Australia from the department of home affairs is as follows:
As of 1 February 2020, all travellers arriving from any part of mainland China, regardless of nationality, will be subject to enhanced border control measures to ensure the health, safety and well-being of the Australian community.
Australia will deny entry to anyone who has left or transited mainland China from 1 February, with the exception of:
- Australian citizens
- permanent residents
- immediate family members of Australian citizens and permanent residents including spouses, minor dependents and legal guardians
Updated
Murphy says the sheer scale of the outbreak in Hubei province may mean there are mild and undetected cases there.
We’re clearly getting growth every day. The rate of growth – potentially is flat a bit at the moment, but early to say. Because most of the data is coming out of China. China, sometimes the data can be a little bit patchy. So we’ve just got to watch that. But there doesn’t seem to be quite the rate of growth in the last few days as before, but I wouldn’t want to draw any conclusions from that.
Updated
We’re now hearing from Australia’s chief health officer, Prof Brendan Murphy.
He reiterates Hunt’s message that there should be no discrimination against the Chinese community in Australia.
We have not yet seen anyone without contact from Hubei Province or been from Hubei Province detected inAustralia. As the minister said also, our risk population is people who have come from China fromFebruary 1. Not people of Chinese background. People who have come from China, whatever their background is. And we are very concerned about xenophobia and any sort of racial profiling which is completely abhorrent. We’re talking about a relatively small number of people just because of where they’ve been, not who they are. There is no community transmission of this virus in Australia. We have not seen any case of sustained transmission at all in this country. There is no reason for people to be wearing masks. There’s no reason for people to avoid anybody of any particular background or appearance. I want to reassure the community.
Australian health minister denounces discrimination against Chinese Australians
Australia’s health minister, Greg Hunt, is holding press conference. He is denouncing discrimination against the Australian Chinese community, which he says has arisen as a result of the coronavirus.
“There remain only 15 reported and confirmed cases in Australia. Five at this point have recovered,” he says.
The 10 cases are stable.
Australia evacuated a plane-load of citizens from Wuhan to Christmas Island off the coast of Western Australia. He says one more patient on the island is being tested as a precaution.
Of the 229 Australians aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan, 11 have tested positive for coronavirus. They are being treated off the ship. 218 Australian passengers remain onboard.
Updated
US confirms 1st case of virus among evacuees
Reuters is reporting that the first coronavirus infection has been confirmed in San Diego, California in a person who was aboard the first US evacuation flight from Wuhan, China to a Miramar airbase. This takes the number of confirmed cases in the US to 13.
Updated
Japan to allow older passengers or those with chronic health conditions to leave cruise liner
Japan is to allow older passengers and those with chronic health conditions to leave the quarantined Diamond Princess cruise liner, amid growing concern about onboard sanitation and the state of their health, the Kyodo news agency has reported.
The government initially said all 3,700 passengers and crew would have to stay on the ship throughout its 14-day quarantine in Yokohama, south of Tokyo, in an attempt to contain the spread of the coronavirus.
So far 135 among the 439 passengers tested have been diagnosed with the virus and have been transferred to local hospitals.
But authorities are poised to allow other vulnerable passengers to disembark from Tuesday, Kyodo said, citing an unnamed source.
Conditions aboard the vessel pose a health risk to older passengers, some of whom require medication for conditions such as high blood pressure and diabetes.
About 80% of the 2,600 passengers are aged 60 or over, with 215 in their 80s and 11 in their 90s, Kyodo said.
The news agency quoted Masahiro Kami, head of the Medical Governance Research Institute, a nonprofit organisation, as saying that older people with chronic illnesses could see their health deteriorate if they are confined to cramped cabins.
“They will be susceptible to virus infection and risk their lives,” Kami said.
The health ministry is so far sticking with plans to allow passengers who show no signs of the virus to leave the vessel on 19 February.
The ministry has sent medications to about 750 passengers, but one person aboard told Kyodo that some passengers who were feeling unwell needed proper medical care.
“We want the government to send more doctors, nurses and consultants,” the passenger said.
On Monday a group of passengers wrote to the health ministry to warn that the long quarantine was beginning to affect standards of hygiene.
“Cabins have gone largely uncleaned and bed linens unchanged for nearly a week,” the letter said, according to the Nikkei Asian Review.
“The environment on board is rapidly growing worse day by day.”
The Diamond Princess has been kept in quarantine since 5 February after it emerged that a passenger who disembarked in Hong Kong late last month had tested positive for the coronavirus.
Updated
I’m just looking at some of the key dates for deaths in China with regards to the virus.
As I mentioned earlier, the first death was reported in China on 11 January. By 24 January the World Health Organization (WHO) said there had been 25 deaths in China from the virus. That’s just 18 days ago.
As of midnight Monday into Tuesday, there are 1,016 deaths.
Kyodo is reporting that Japanese health authorities will allow older and chronically ill passengers off the Diamond Princess amid growing concern about their health. They will instead spend the rest of their quarantine in local hospitals.
Many passengers are in their 70s and 80s and there have been complaints that they aren’t getting medicine they needed for other conditions such as high blood pressure, and diabetes.
Updated
Shanghai is still very quiet again today, after people returned to work on Monday.
Shanghai Hongqiao station at 8am this morning. It’s normally thronged. Unbelievable how life in China remains mostly at a standstill. Many trains, not just those to Wuhan, were canceled. pic.twitter.com/dDo18SBLy8
— Paul Mozur 孟建国 (@paulmozur) February 11, 2020
AFP’s deputy China bureau chief, Laurent Thomet, has made a good point about the death toll - the first death was reported on 11 January ... it has increased 1,000-fold.
The first coronavirus death was confirmed on January 11. Just one month later, the toll has increased a thousandfold. https://t.co/eXkjt8xcCp
— Laurent Thomet 卢鸿 (@LThometAFP) February 11, 2020
Updated
Asia Pacific stock markets have opened strongly today despite the growing coronavirus death toll after Wall Street reached yet more all-time highs in Monday’s session.
The ASX200 rose 0.3% in Sydney and the Kospi was up 0.7% in Seoul. The Nikkei is closed today for a public holiday in Japan. The Hong Kong and Chinese markets open in less than an hour.
Despite the upward trend, there is clearly some concern on the markets. The safe havens of gold and the US dollar have risen today and bond yields and oil are continuing to fall, indicating that traders are not confident about the outlook for the world economy.
Today's fall in oil prices and bond yields--to below $50 for WTI and to under 1.55% for 10-year US government #bonds --reflects these #markets pricing in a lower growth outlook for both #China and the global #economy. And, once again, #stocks are resisting this downward pressure. pic.twitter.com/ha6cZoERnt
— Mohamed A. El-Erian (@elerianm) February 10, 2020
On Wall Street earlier, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 174.31 points, or 0.6%, to 29,276.82. The S&P 500 gained 24.38 points, or 0.73%, to 3,352.09 and the Nasdaq Composite jumped 107.88 points, or 1.13%, to 9,628.39.
One investor who spoke to Reuters, Peter Tuz, president of Chase Investment Counsel in Charlottesville, Virginia, summed up the optimistic moodin the US:
“We know the coronavirus will affect results at least in first quarter. (But) we’ll be back to growth as usual for the rest of the year.”
We’re getting some more detail now on the new deaths inside China from the National Health Commission.
- Total deaths from outbreak: 1,016
- Total new deaths in past 24 hours: 116
- Total confirmed cases: 42,638
- Suspected cases: 21,675
Usually the commission provides details of where all the deaths have taken place. But this is not available on this latest release, although it did say earlier that 103 of the new deaths had been in Hubei. The final update also does not give the details of how many new cases are in Hubei.
Updated
With limited opportunities for residents in many Chinese cities to get out of their homes to shop, and with many shops closed, buses in Shanxi province have been turned into food markets.
More than 30 public buses have been turned into mobile food markets in Jincheng that service over 50 local residential communities amid novel #coronavirus outbreak pic.twitter.com/GWRCcdYqrw
— CGTN (@CGTNOfficial) February 10, 2020
Updated
China’s president has made a rare public appearance during this virus outbreak, visiting a hospital in Beijing.
Wearing a face mask, Xi Jinping had his temperature checked while visiting medical workers and patients affected by the outbreak.
Xi has been notably absent from view, including from media, over the past week or so. He has not visited Wuhan, the centre of the outbreak, but instead sent his number two, Li Keqiang.
Good morning and welcome to our coverage of the coronavirus outbreak, with me, Alison Rourke.
Here’s a summary of what we know so far
- The death toll has passed 1,000 in China and infections have risen over 42,000.
- The new coronavirus represents a serious and imminent threat to public health, the UK’s health secretary declared.
-
British Airways has extended the suspension of flights serving Chinese cities: flights to and from Beijing and Shanghai had been cancelled until 31 March.
- The World Health Organization has said recent cases of coronavirus reported in France and the UK could “be the spark that becomes a bigger fire”.
You can get up to date on our most recent coverage, including:
- What are super-spreaders and how are they transmitting coronavirus?
- ‘Super-spreader’ brought coronavirus from Singapore to Sussex via France
- ‘Come back soon’: coronavirus wreaks havoc on global tourism hotspots
- Could the coronavirus mutate if a vaccine can’t be found in time?
As always, you can get in touch with me via email: alison.rourke@theguardian.com
Updated
