[up and down 82]

Now even the person in charge of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics is infected with Corona Virus. He most probably contracted the virus when he is in US or UK as he has visited these 2 countries prior to Tokyo 2020 Olympics. With the person in charge of the Olympics being infected with Corona Virus it will put even more danger if the Tokyo 2020 Olympics will proceed as usual. Like it or not we might have to accept the fact that the Tokyo 2020 Olympics might have to be postponed.

[up and down 82]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8121267/Japan-Olympic-Committees-deputy-chief-tests-positive-coronavirus.html

 

 

 

Japan Olympic Committee's deputy chief tests positive for coronavirus following nine-day trip to Europe and America as doubts increase on whether Tokyo 2020 can go ahead

 

The deputy head of Japan's Olympic Committee has tested positive for coronavirus, he revealed today. 

 

Kozo Tashima announced he had a 'mild fever' and a 'symptom of pneumonia' but was feeling 'fine' and would 'concentrate on treatment'. 

 

Tashima had recently returned from a nine-day business trip in which he travelled to Northern Ireland, Holland and the United States - saying 'everyone was still doing hugs and handshakes' at the time. 

 

The news comes amid growing doubts over whether the Tokyo 2020 Games can go ahead at all because of the growing pandemic.   

 

'Today, my test result showed positive for the new coronavirus,' Tashima said in a statement, issued via the Japan Football Association which he also heads.

 

'I have a mild fever. Examinations showed a symptom of pneumonia, but I'm fine. I will concentrate on treatment following doctors' advice,' he said. 

 

Tashima said he had been on a business trip since February 28, first heading to Belfast to attend a meeting of the International Football Association Board (IFAB).

From March 2, he visited Amsterdam for a UEFA meeting to give a presentation on Japan's bid for the 2023 women's World Cup.

 

And on March 3, he attended a general meeting of the same body.

 

'In Amsterdam and in Europe in early March, the level of nervousness against the novel coronavirus was not the same as now,' he said in the statement.

 

'Everyone was still doing hugs, handshakes and bises (cheek kissing).'

 

He then travelled to the United States to watch the Japanese women's team in action and to lobby for the women's World Cup, before returning home on March 8.

'In the United States, too, the sense of crisis about the novel coronavirus was not as serious as now,' he said.

 

Staff at the Japan FA have been working from home as a precaution against the virus, but Tashima said he went to the association building several times last week and attended meetings.

 

He began feeling chills and experienced a mild fever from Sunday. He went to a local public health centre on Monday and told them about his travel history. 

During the UEFA gatherings, Tashima said he saw Swiss and Serbian football chiefs, who have tested positive for the virus, although he added it was not clear how he contracted the infection.

 

His positive test came out on Tuesday.

 

'I have chosen to face the illness as so many people are doing in Japan and around the world,' he said, adding that he hoped his decision would help eradicate the stigma attached to the infection. 

 

Japanese officials are insistent that the Olympics will go ahead as planned with an opening ceremony on July 24. 

 

International Olympic Committee chief Thomas Bach also wants to go ahead but says the body will follow WHO guidelines. 

 

The Tokyo 2020 organising committee has already been forced to scale down festivities related to the Olympic torch relay to prevent further spread of the virus.

 

The flame, which has already been lit in Greece, will arrive in northern Japan on Friday, with the torch relay slated to start on March 26 from Fukushima. 

 

Most major sporting events have been called off because of the virus, including football's Premier League, golf's Masters and motor racing's Formula One season.

[up and down 82]

https://bwfbadminton.com/news-single/2020/03/14/bwf-suspends-international-badminton/

 

The Badminton World Federation (BWF) has taken the necessary step to suspend all HSBC BWF World Tour and other BWF-sanctioned tournaments from Monday 16 March until Sunday April 12.

 

The escalation of the COVID-19 outbreak globally has led the BWF, in close consultation and consensus with its Host Member Associations and Continental Confederations, to cancel or postpone all tournaments in this period due to heightened travel and quarantine restrictions in place and the subsequent extreme logistical complications this causes to the movement of badminton athletes.

 

BWF equally has strong considerations for the health, safety and wellbeing of all athletes, their entourage, officials and the greater badminton community in general.

Tournaments affected include the YONEX Swiss Open 2020, YONEX-SUNRISE India Open 2020, Orléans Masters 2020, CELCOM Axiata Malaysia Open 2020, and Singapore Open 2020, as well as a number of international Grade 3 tournaments (see full list below).

 

The suspension of the circuit will come into effect following the completion of the YONEX All England Open 2020 in Birmingham, England, on Sunday 15 March.

Both BWF and Badminton England have been in constant communication with government officials and relevant authorities in the United Kingdom in relation to any possible disruption to the YONEX All England Open and both parties are satisfied with the British government’s most recent advisory issued Friday morning UK time to continue with the staging of the tournament.

 

Unless government advice changes, Badminton England remains confident that the robust and comprehensive measures in place before and during the event will minimise the potential risk of the virus.

 

BWF duly accepts this position and that all relevant health, safety and logistical risks have been considered by BWF, Badminton England, tournament organisers, and the local government in reaching this decision.

 

A number of the tournaments impacted as a result of the suspension fall within the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games qualifying period. BWF will make a further announcement on regulations related to Olympic qualification points at a later date.

[up and down 82]

The coronavirus COVID-19 is affecting 98 countries and territories around the world and 1 international conveyance (the Diamond Princess cruise ship harbored in Yokohama, Japan). The day is reset after midnight GMT+0. The "New" columns for China display the previous day changes (as China reports after the day is over). For all other countries, the "New" columns display the changes for the current day while still in progress.

 

 

[up and down 82]

Looks like more and more sports events will be cancelled due to this Coronavirus outbreak. Read news that Tokyo 2020 Olympics might be badly affected due to this and also the Olympics might also be put on hold due to the widespread of the Coronavirus as well.

Edited March 1, 2020 by up and down

[up and down 82]

  On 2/29/2020 at 6:21 PM, OlympicIRL said:

With 239 new cases already today, Italy has exceeded the 1000 mark for total confirmed cases and just the third country to do so after China and South Korea.

Expand  

 

Yes the virus is spreading rapidly in Italy. Worse had to be South Korea with 813 cases recorded today. Coronavirus will continue to be wide spread in Korea on daily basis. This is very worrying.

[up and down 82]

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2020/feb/26/tokyo-olympic-games-could-be-cancelled-if-coronavirus-not-controlled-ioc-member-says

 

Concern is growing over the impact of the coronavirus on the Olympic Games after new cases in Japan were confirmed and the domestic top-flight football competition was called off until next month.

 

A senior member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said outright cancellation of the Games, rather than postponement or relocation, would be likely if the disease proved too dangerous for the event – which is scheduled to start on 24 July – to go ahead.

 

Dick Pound, a former Canadian swimming champion who has been on the IOC since 1978, estimated there is a three-month window – perhaps a two-month one – to decide the fate of the Tokyo Games, meaning a decision could be put off until late May.

 

“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.

 

Three new coronavirus cases were confirmed on Tuesday among users of the same gym in Chiba. The city, just north of Tokyo, is scheduled to host Olympic taekwondo, fencing, wrestling and surfing, as well as four Paralympic events.

 

Sporting events across Japan have already been called off due to the outbreak; all J-League football has been postponed until 15 March, the biggest disruption of the professional game in Japan since the 2011 earthquake and tsunami.

 

The South African Under-23 team has also pulled out of a friendly due to be played against Japan in Kyoto on Thursday, while training for 80,000 Olympic volunteers, which was due to begin on 22 February, has been delayed for at least two months.

In addition to professional sport, numerous local competitions, inter-school matches and martial arts tournaments are being postponed or axed. This Sunday’s Tokyo Marathon will feature only a few hundred elite athletes, with nearly 38,000 entrants told they cannot run.

 

The viral outbreak that began in China two months ago has infected more than 80,000 people globally and killed over 2,700, the vast majority of them in China. But the virus has gained a foothold in South Korea, the Middle East and Europe, raising fears of a pandemic. Japan itself has reported four deaths.

 

Some of Japan’s biggest corporations, including Sony, Takeda Pharmaceuticals and telecoms giant NTT, are telling staff to work from home. Many were planning to introduce telework during the Olympics to ease the pressure on public transportation, but are now doing so to avoid the risk of contamination on Tokyo’s crowded trains.

 

The Tokyo Olympic organising committee puts the official budget for the Games at 1.35tn yen ($12.2bn), but the Board of Audit of Japan estimates the true cost, including spending by local authorities and the central government, is more than double that figure.

 

The modern Olympics, which date to 1896, have been cancelled only during wartime. The Olympics in 1940 were supposed to be in Tokyo but were called off because of Japan’s war with China and the second world war. The Rio Games in Brazil went on as scheduled in 2016 despite the outbreak of the Zika virus.

 

Pound repeated the IOC’s stance – that it is relying on consultations with the World Health Organization, a United Nations body, to make any move.

 

As for the possibility of postponement, he said: “You just don’t postpone something on the size and scale of the Olympics. There’s so many moving parts, so many countries and different seasons, and competitive seasons, and television seasons. You can’t just say, ‘We’ll do it in October.’”

 

Pound said moving to another city also seems unlikely “because there are few places in the world that could think of gearing up facilities in that short time to put something on”.

[up and down 82]

Lots of tournaments have beden either cancelled, moved or postponed which is bad news. Somehow in the end if the Coronavirus is still spreading vastly there is a very high possibility that even the Tokyo 2020 Olympics will be cancelled. Here is the latest updates of the Coronavirus.

 

Confirmed Cases and Deaths by Country, Territory, or Conveyance

The coronavirus COVID-19 is affecting 62 countries and territories around the world and 1 international conveyance (the Diamond Princess cruise ship harbored in Yokohama, Japan).

 

 

Country, Other	Total Cases	New Cases	Total Deaths	New Deaths	Active Cases	Total Recovered	Serious, Critical
China	79,257	+433	2,835	+47	37,121	39,301	7,664
S. Korea	3,150	+813	17	+1	3,109	24	10
Italy	1,128	+239	29	+8	1,049	50	105
Diamond Princess	705		6		689	10	36
Iran	593	+205	43	+9	427	123
Japan	241	+8	5		204	32	20
Singapore	102	+4			30	72	7
Hong Kong	93		2		61	30	6
Germany	79	+5			63	16	2
France	73	+16	2		59	12	1
USA	66	+3			59	7	1
Spain	50	+17			48	2	2
Kuwait	45				45
Thailand	42	+1			14	28	2
Bahrain	41	+3			41
Taiwan	39	+5	1		33	5	1
Australia	25				10	15
Malaysia	25				3	22
U.K.	23	+3			15	8
U.A.E.	21	+2			16	5	2
Switzerland	19	+4			19
Canada	16	+1			13	3
Vietnam	16				0	16
Iraq	13	+5			13
Sweden	12	+1			12
Macao	10				4	6
Austria	9	+2			9
Israel	7				6	1
Lebanon	7	+3			7
Norway	7	+1			7
Croatia	6	+1			6
Netherlands	6	+4			6
Oman	6				5	1
Greece	4				4
Pakistan	4	+2			4
Philippines	3		1		0	2
Denmark	3	+1			3
Finland	3				2	1
Georgia	3	+1			3
India	3				0	3
Mexico	3	+1			3
Romania	3				2	1
Russia	2				0	2
Afghanistan	1				1
Algeria	1				1
Azerbaijan	1				1
Belarus	1				1
Belgium	1				0	1
Brazil	1				1
Cambodia	1				0	1
Ecuador	1	+1			1		1
Egypt	1				0	1
Estonia	1				1
Iceland	1				1
Lithuania	1				1
North Macedonia	1				1
Monaco	1				1
Nepal	1				0	1
New Zealand	1				1
Nigeria	1				1
Qatar	1	+1			1
San Marino	1				1		1
Sri Lanka	1				0	1
Total:	85,983	1,786	2,941	65	43,239	39,803	7,861

 

As can be seen from the table above we have 9 countries such as Sri Lanka, Nepal, Egypt, Cambodia, Belgium, Russia, India, Phillippines and Vietnam with no more cases left. These 9 countries have been doing a good job to stop the Coronavirus from spreading in their respective countries. Next is Malaysia who have 25 cases but 22 patient have healed leaving them with 3 more patients. Denmark, Georgia, Mexico and Malaysia now have only 3 cases left. Macao have only 4 cases left after 6 patient have healed. Greece, Pakistan and Macao are left with 4 cases thus far.

 

The most worrying one had to be China, South Korea, Diamond Princess international conveyance, Italy, Iran and Japan who have high number of cases. Italy has now become the place to spread the Coronavirus in the European continent Meanwhile South Korea has turned into little China with many cases reported on daily basis. South Korea has now reached the red alert critical stage together with China.

 

Somehow, Tokyo 2020 Olympics could be badly affected as Japan is also one of those high risk countries where the Coronavirus still continue to spread. When many people gather together in large groups and have close contacts it is easier for the Coronavirus to spread. Hence if the Tokyo 2020 Olympics is held just as usual, the probability of athletes being contracted with Coronavirus is very high. Due to this the Tokyo 2020 Olympics might be affected as well.

Edited February 29, 2020 by up and down

[up and down 82]

@Vic Liu

 

https://www.schengenvisainfo.com/news/coronavirus-eu-to-restrict-entry-for-chinese-nationals/

 

Coronavirus: EU to Restrict Entry for Chinese Nationals 

 

Following the intensification of the Coronavirus outbreak, the European Union has moved on to take the necessary steps to prevent a possible spread of the virus in its territory.

 

Europe has taken measures at a time when eight cases of infected persons were detected within its territory, four of which in France and four others in Germany, by activating a mechanism that enables the member states to improve prevention, preparedness and response to disasters, both natural and man-made.

 

Within the frame of this mechanism’s activation, the EU may go to extra lengths to prevent the virus from further spreading into its territory.

Sources of SchengenVisaInfo.com within the European Union have confirmed that the block is preparing to tighten entry conditions for Chinese nationals and those who have traveled to China in recent months, in a bid to prevent the situation getting out of control.

 

“Immediately after the outbreak of the Coronavirus, representatives of the Member States have been summoned by France, where by the way, have already been detected at least two cases of Coronavirus infection. The block has already decided to activate the EU Civil Protection Mechanism, but if the virus keeps spreading at the current tempo, the EU may introduce entry restrictions by the end of the week to Chinese nationals and recent visitors to mainland China,” one of the sources said.

 

The source could not, however, give any assurance whether by “entry restrictions” the EU was planning to bar nationals of the affected countries from entering, or only by imposing more screening procedures.

 

“Suspension of visa issuance for the nationals of a few countries in addition to China, is also an option, if the situation does not improve for the better, of course,” the source confirms.

 

EU’s move comes immediately after three Asian countries restricted visa issuance to Chinese nationals. These countries are Sri Lanka, Malaysia, and Kazakhstan. Immediately after them the Philippines and Singapore followed announcing visa restrictions for residents of the Hubei province.

 

EU Activates Civil Protection Mechanism
On Tuesday, January 28, the European Commission announced a decision of the block to activate the EU Civil Protection Mechanism following a request for assistance from France to provide consular support to EU citizens in Wuhan, China.

 

“As the Coronavirus outbreak intensifies, the EU Civil Protection Mechanism has been activated on request from France. Two planes will be mobilized to repatriate EU citizens from the Wuhan area to Europe,” the European Commission announced first through twitter.

 

EU Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarčič announced in a press release of the Commission that two aircraft will be mobilized through the EU Civil

Protection Mechanism to repatriate EU citizens from the Wuhan area to Europe.

 

“Our EU Emergency Response Coordination Centre is working 24/7 and is in constant contact with the Member States, the EU Delegations in the region and the Chinese embassy in Brussels. Further EU support can be mobilized if requested,” he said.

 

Whereas, the Commissioner responsible for Health and Food Security Stella Kyriakides said that the Commission stands ready to support the Member States and ensure a strong and coordinated EU response to the developing situation of the Coronavirus, outside and within the Union.

 

“We will continue to monitor the situation closely with the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control and remain in close contact with our Member States,” she said.

 

The EU Civil Protection Mechanism is a tool that strengthens cooperation between the Member States and the Participating States in the field of civil protection, with a view to improving prevention, preparedness and response to disasters.

 

When the scale of an emergency overwhelms the response capabilities of a country, it can request assistance via the Mechanism. Once activated, the Mechanism coordinates assistance made available by its Member States/Participating States through spontaneous offers.

 

EU Airlines and Airports’ Response to Coronavirus Outbreak
British Airways has become the first airline to suspend all flights to mainland China, following a warning of the UK Foreign Office to its citizens on travel to China.

 

“We have suspended all flights to and from mainland China with immediate effect following advice from the Foreign Office against all but essential travel,” the company said in a statement.

 

Whereas, a senior press expert from the Stuttgart Airport told SchengenVisaInfo.com that currently there are no restraints due to the virus as the Stuttgart Airport has no direct flights to China, Japan or adjacent countries.

 

“So far, the authorities in charge do not have imposed any measures, nor do we know about upcoming requirements. In order to inform our passengers and visitors in the terminal building, posters in German, English, and Chinese give advice regarding hygiene,” the expert said.

 

The deadly Coronavirus has expanded to almost 20 countries, while the death toll had reached over 130 people and about 6000 cases have been reported.

 

The Chinese city of Wuhan, home to 11 million in residents, in the Hubei province is the epicenter of the disease, which as of January 23, 2020, has been shut down. Airports and railways in Wuhan have also shut down to prevent a further spread of the virus.

[up and down 82]

@Vic Liu

 

From the examples that I have given above, a lot of European countries have started to bar China citizens from entering their countries. Thus far American, Asia, Austrlia and Europen Continent have imposed bar on China citizens from entering their countries.

[up and down 82]

  On 2/9/2020 at 11:23 AM, opruh said:

Chinese short track speed skating athletes are currently competing in Germany. 

Expand  

 

  On 2/9/2020 at 11:07 AM, Vic Liu said:

 

As far as I know, China has been barred from USA, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and the Philippines officially, and maybe also some other small countries without official notification, but I don't think Europe was included. Currently many Chinese athletes playing tournaments and practicing as main field there. Do you have any source to confirm? If so, it would be a nightmare.

Expand  

 

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-02-02/coronavirus-these-countries-airlines-restrict-travel-to-china

 

The outbreak of the coronavirus has prompted dozens of nations and airlines to restrict travel, increasingly isolating the country of more than 1.3 billion people. Nearly 10,000 flights were canceled between the outbreak of the virus and Jan. 31, according to Cirium, which provides data and research on the travel industry. The World Health Organization has so far said that such limits on trade and travel aren’t needed to control the spread of the virus. Here are the countries, territories and airlines that have travel restrictions on China.

 

Australia
Australia will deny entry to anyone arriving from mainland China, except for Australian citizens, residents or their family members, and air crew. It has also warned against any travel to all of mainland China.

Australia’s largest airline Qantas Airways Ltd. will suspend services to mainland China from Feb. 9.

 

Canada
Canada advised citizens to avoid non-essential travel to China.

Air Canada has halted flights to Beijing and Shanghai. The suspension is expected to last until Feb. 29.

 

Egypt
Egypt Air indefinitely suspended flights to mainland China. The airline connects to Hangzhou, Beijing and Guangzhou.

 

Finland
Finnair will cancel all flights to and from mainland China between Feb. 6 and Feb. 29

 

France
France urged citizens not to travel to China.

Air France will exit China until Feb. 9.

 

Germany
Lufthansa suspended services to China until Feb. 9.

 

Hong Kong
Hong Kong has barred residents of China’s Hubei province, where the outbreak is centered, from entering the city. The government has appeared to open the door for more controls on travel from the mainland, with an official saying it could shorten opening times for ports, limit transportation and introduce laws to curb cross-border traffic.

Cathay Pacific will cut the capacity of its flights to China by 50% or more through March.

 

Indonesia
Indonesia is temporarily banning flights to and from mainland China from Feb. 3 and won’t allow those who have been there in recent weeks to enter or transit.

The government has suspended free visa and visa-on-arrival services for Chinese citizens living in the mainland and called on Indonesians to temporarily stop traveling there.

Indonesia has five domestic airlines flying to China: PT Garuda Indonesia, PT Citilink Indonesia, PT Lion Mentari Airlines, PT Sriwijaya Air and PT Batik Air Indonesia. The temporary flight ban applies to foreign airlines flying from China to Indonesia, including for transit.

 

India
India said Chinese passport holders and those who reside in China who have electronic visas to India won’t be able to enter.

Air India and IndiGo have suspended flights between some Indian cities and China.

 

Israel
Israel will refuse entry to foreign nationals coming from China.

Carrier El Al suspended flights to Beijing until March 25.

 

Italy
Italy suspended all flights from China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan until Apr. 28.

 

Japan
Japan has urged its citizens not to travel to China. It has barred entry to people with symptoms of the coronavirus.

 

Kenya
Kenya Airways suspended flights to and from Guangzhou until further notice.

 

Mongolia
Mongolia closed its border with China until March 2.

 

Morocco
Royal Air Maroc suspended direct flights to China until Feb. 29.

 

Myanmar
Myanmar said it will suspend the issuance of visas-on-arrival for all visitors from China.

 

New Zealand
New Zealand will deny entry to foreigners traveling from mainland China. The ban, effective Feb. 3, covers anyone who is traveling from or has transited through China, and will last up to 14 days.

It has also raised its travel advice about all of mainland China to “do not travel,” the highest level.

Air New Zealand will cut its Shanghai service from daily to four times a week from Feb. 18 to March 31

 

Netherlands
KLM suspended direct flights to some Chinese cities and reduced the number of weekly flights to Shanghai.

 

North Korea
North Korea shut its borders to visitors from China on Jan. 22.

 

Oman
Oman’s aviation authority suspended all flights between the sultanate and China.

 

Pakistan
Pakistan stopped flights to Wuhan and Hubei, but will reopen other routes in mainland China. It had delayed opening its northern border with China, while Karachi Port Trust, operator of nation’s largest port, had asked immigration authorities not to allow crew on foreign vessels to disembark.

 

Philippines
The Philippines widened a travel ban previously imposed on visitors from Hubei province to all of China, including Hong Kong and Macau, while prohibiting Filipinos from traveling to those areas.

 

Qatar
Qatar Airways is suspending flights to China starting from Feb. 3 until further notice.

 

Russia
Russia suspended visa-free tourist travel to China and temporarily blocked Chinese citizens from reaching Russia over the Mongolian border.

It will also stop processing documents for Chinese nationals to enter Russia for jobs, along with permits to hire workers from China. Visa-free travel was part of an agreement the two nations worked out in 2018.

 

Rwanda
RwandAir halted flights to and from China and will review the decision this month.

 

Singapore
Singapore blocked the entry and transit of people who had traveled to mainland China in the previous 14 days. Visas of China citizens to visit Singapore have been suspended, including those already issued.

Singapore Airlines and SilkAir said they would reduce their frequency of service to mainland China in February due to the entry restrictions issued by the local authorities.

 

South Korea
From Feb. 4, South Korea will temporarily ban foreigners who have visited or stayed in Hubei within 14 days of entering. Seoul will also suspend its no-visa favor for Chinese tourists to Jeju Island for now. South Korea is also suspending tourism to China.

Korean Air is stopping flights to Wuhan until Feb. 22 and will reduce services on other mainland China routes. Air Seoul suspended flights indefinitely between Incheon and the Chinese cities of Zhangjiajie and Linyi.

 

Spain
Iberia Airways suspended its flight to Shanghai, the only route it operates to China, through February.

 

Taiwan
Taiwan slapped an entry ban to residents of Hubei as well as those from the southern Guangdong province. It won’t rule out extending the ban to more Chinese provinces if necessary.

Mandarin Airlines suspended flights from Taiwan to Wuhan until the end of February.

 

Tanzania
Air Tanzania postponed its maiden February flights to China from Dar es Salaam.

 

Turkey
Turkish Airlines suspended flights to Beijing, Guangzhou, Shanghai and Xi’an until Feb. 9.

 

U.K.
British Airways halted daily routes to Beijing and Shanghai. Virgin Atlantic ceased flights to Shanghai for 14 days from Feb. 1

 

U.S.
The U.S. is temporarily barring entry to foreign nationals who have visited China and pose a risk of spreading the illness, unless they are immediate relatives of U.S. citizens or permanent residents. Flights from China would be funneled through just seven U.S. airports.

The State Department issued its highest level do-not-travel advisory for China.

Delta Air Lines Inc. and American Airlines Group Inc. suspended all flights to China to as late as the end of April. United Airlines will suspend service to Beijing, Shanghai and Chengdu from Feb. 6.

 

Vietnam
Vietnam ordered companies to stop accepting Chinese workers returning to the country after the Lunar New Year holidays. The suspension also applies to foreign workers traveling through Chinese regions affected by the outbreak.

The aviation authority canceled all flight permits and suspended new flight licenses for airlines operating between the country and China.

[up and down 82]

  On 2/9/2020 at 11:07 AM, Vic Liu said:

 

As far as I know, China has been barred from USA, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and the Philippines officially, and maybe also some other small countries without official notification, but I don't think Europe was included. Currently many Chinese athletes playing tournaments and practicing as main field there. Do you have any source to confirm? If so, it would be a nightmare.

Expand  

 

Many countries in the European continent have started to bar China citizens from entering their country.

[up and down 82]

Hong Kong is left fuming with anger as they might miss out from getting a chance to feature and play in Thomas and Uber Cup 2020. Badminton Asia Team Championship isvery important as those countries who reached the minimum quarter finals wqill be the 8 countries to represent Asia continent to play in Thomas and Uber Cup 2020. Countries such as China and Hong Kong have been barred from playing in this team tournament which will be held in Philippines next week. As for China team they have no problem as they have virtually qualified to play in Thomas and Uber Cup 2020 on merit based on their high team ranking. However the same cannot be said for Hong Kong team who have a low team ranking and they need to reach the quarter finals in BATC to enable them to qualify and play in Thomas and Uber Cup 2020. Not being able to play in BATC has jeopardised their hopes to qualify and play in Thomas and Uber Cup 2020. This has left the whole Hong Kong team fuming in anger over such unfair treatment.

 

The reason here is simple a lot of countries have started to bar China and Hong Kong citizens from coming to their country. Hence athletes for all the different sports in China and Hong Kong are at the receiving end as more countries have barred China citizens from entering their countries. China athletes will also have to skip all the tournaments held in European, American and Australia as these 3 continents have started to bar China citizens from entering their countries due to coronavirus that is spreading rapidly.

[up and down 82]

https://www.scmp.com/sport/hong-kong/article/3049135/coronavirus-hong-kong-badminton-stars-face-being-barred-next-weeks

 

Coronavirus: Hong Kong badminton stars face being barred from next week’s Asia Team Championships in Manila

 

Twenty-strong Hong Kong men’s and women’s squads, headed by Angus Ng and Cheung Ngan-yi, are chasing precious ranking points for Olympics

 

Philippines has banned all travellers from China, including Hong Kong, because of the spreading coronavirus

Hong Kong badminton authorities are seeking support from regional governing bodies as the city’s players face being barred by the Philippines from next week’s Asia

 

Team Championships in Manila because of the deadly coronavirus.

 

The team, comprising 10 men and 10 women and headed by newly crowned Thailand Masters champion Angus Ng Ka-long and Cheung Ngan-yi, are due to leave on Friday as they seek to secure Olympic qualification points.

 

“We hope this can be resolved swiftly,” said head coach Tim He Yiming. “As far as we understand, all relevant bodies are working hard on the issue, including the Asian Badminton Federation and the Hong Kong Badminton Association.

 

“Every tournament is important at this stage as the Olympic qualification is due to finish in two months and if we can’t take part in the event, it will cost some of the players dearly.”

 

The Philippines this week introduced travel bans covering all persons coming directly from China and its two special administrative regions, Hong Kong and Macau.

 

Hong Kong men’s number two Lee Cheuk-yiu is 15th on the qualification list and must hold his position in the top 16 position until qualification ends in April to be eligible as the second player from Hong Kong behind Ng for the 2020 Tokyo Games.

 

Ng and Cheung, who are almost certain to qualify, also want to strengthen their positions for a better draw in the Olympics, as does the mixed doubles pair of Tang Chun-man and Tse Ying-suet, the world number nine.
 

[up and down 82]

  On 2/2/2020 at 4:21 PM, vinipereira said:

Don't know if this was posted here already, but the Para Table Tennis China Open "has been postponed due to the public health situation in some regions of China".

 

Expand  

 

Thank you very much for posting this news. This news have not been posted yet. Yes you are right. Lots of sports tournaments scheduled to be held in China has been postponed as the Coronavirus has spread to the whole of China in different districts.

[up and down 82]

  On 2/2/2020 at 9:18 AM, heywoodu said:

No, it's really not.

 

By the way, you know there is the option to select 'Paste as plain text instead' when you copy something into the reply box right? It's rather hard to read all those million super-sized headlines and screaming letters and everything  

 

There's a default letter size and font and everything, it works perfectly fine.

Expand  

 

Thank you very much for your good suggestions.

[up and down 82]

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/01/world/asia/china-coronavirus.html

 

As New Coronavirus Spread, China’s Old Habits Delayed Fight

 

At critical turning points, Chinese authorities put secrecy and order ahead of openly confronting the growing crisis and risking public alarm or political embarrassment.

 

The Wuhan Red Cross Hospital on Jan. 25; five days after China acknowledged a new virus could pass from human to human, but weeks after it had started to spread.

 

WUHAN, China — A mysterious illness had stricken seven patients at a hospital, and a doctor tried to warn his medical school classmates. “Quarantined in the emergency department,” the doctor, Li Wenliang, wrote in an online chat group on Dec. 30, referring to patients.

 

“So frightening,” one recipient replied, before asking about the epidemic that began in China in 2002 and ultimately killed nearly 800 people. “Is SARS coming again?”

 

In the middle of the night, officials from the health authority in the central city of Wuhan summoned Dr. Li, demanding to know why he had shared the information. Three days later, the police compelled him to sign a statement that his warning constituted “illegal behavior.”

 

The illness was not SARS, but something similar: a coronavirus that is now on a relentless march outward from Wuhan, throughout the country and across the globe, killing at least 304 people in China and infecting more than 14,380 worldwide.

 

The virus has sickened more than 14,500 people in China and 23 other countries.

 

The government’s initial handling of the epidemic allowed the virus to gain a tenacious hold. At critical moments, officials chose to put secrecy and order ahead of openly confronting the growing crisis to avoid public alarm and political embarrassment.

 

A reconstruction of the crucial seven weeks between the appearance of the first symptoms in early December and the government’s decision to lock down the city, based on two dozen interviews with Wuhan residents, doctors and officials, on government statements and on Chinese media reports, points to decisions that delayed a concerted public health offensive.

 

In those weeks, the authorities silenced doctors and others for raising red flags. They played down the dangers to the public, leaving the city’s 11 million residents unaware they should protect themselves. They closed a food market where the virus was believed to have started, but told the public it was for renovations.

 

Their reluctance to go public, in part, played to political motivations as local officials prepared for their annual congresses in January. Even as cases climbed, officials declared repeatedly that there had likely been no more infections.

 

By not moving aggressively to warn the public and medical professionals, public health experts say, the Chinese government lost one of its best chances to keep the disease from becoming an epidemic.

 

“This was an issue of inaction,” said Yanzhong Huang, a senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations who studies China. “There was no action in Wuhan from the local health department to alert people to the threat.”

 

The first case, the details of which are limited and the specific date unknown, was in early December. By the time the authorities galvanized into action on Jan. 20, the disease had grown into a formidable threat.

 

Dr. Li Wenliang

It is now a global health emergency. It has triggered travel restrictions around the world, shaken financial markets and created perhaps the greatest challenge yet for China’s leader, Xi Jinping. The crisis could upend Mr. Xi’s agenda for months or longer, even undermining his vision of a political system that offers security and growth in return for submission to iron-fisted authoritarianism.

 

On the last day of 2019, after Dr. Li’s message was shared outside the group, the authorities focused on controlling the narrative. The police announced that they were investigating eight people for spreading rumors about the outbreak.

 

That same day, Wuhan’s health commission, its hand forced by those “rumors,” announced that 27 people were suffering from pneumonia of an unknown cause. Its statement said there was no need to be alarmed.

 

“The disease is preventable and controllable,” the statement said.

 

Dr. Li, an ophthalmologist, went back to work after being reprimanded. On Jan. 10, he treated a woman for glaucoma. He did not know she had already been infected with the coronavirus, probably by her daughter. They both became sick. So would he.

 

Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan on Jan. 11. It was shut on Jan. 1 — for renovation, state media said.

 

Hazmat Suits and Disinfectants

Hu Xiaohu, who sold processed pork in the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market, sensed by late December that something was amiss. Workers were coming down with nagging fevers. No one knew why but, Mr. Hu said, several were in hospital quarantine.

 

The market occupies much of a block in a newer part of the city, sitting incongruously near apartment buildings and shops catering to the growing middle class. It is a warren of stalls selling meats, poultry and fish, as well as more exotic fare, including live reptiles and wild game that some in China prize as delicacies. According to a report by the city’s center for disease control, sanitation was dismal, with poor ventilation and garbage piled on wet floors.

 

In hospitals, doctors and nurses were puzzled to see a cluster of patients with symptoms of a viral pneumonia that did not respond to the usual treatments. They soon noticed that many patients had one thing in common: They worked in Huanan market.

 

On Jan. 1, police officers showed up at the market, along with public health officials, and shut it down. Xinhua news agency reported that the market was undergoing renovation, but that morning, workers in hazmat suits moved in, washing out stalls and spraying disinfectants.

 

It was, for the public, the first visible government response to contain the disease. The day before, on Dec. 31, national authorities had alerted the World Health Organization’s office in Beijing of an outbreak.

 

How Bad Will the Coronavirus Outbreak Get? Here Are 6 Key Factors

Here’s what early research says about how the pathogen behaves and the factors that will determine whether it can be contained.

 

City officials struck optimistic notes in their announcements. They suggested they had stopped the virus at its source. The cluster of illnesses was limited. There was no evidence the virus spread between humans.

 

Wuhan Coronavirus

Impact in the U.S.

 

There have been seven confirmed cases in the U.S., but no deaths. Anxiety is intense on college campuses.

The 195 Americans who were evacuated from Wuhan to California have been quarantined as one person tried to flee.

If you live in California, here’s what this means for you.

President Trump has temporarily suspended entry into the U.S. for any foreign nationals who have traveled to China.

Delta, United and American Airlines are suspending service from the U.S. and China.

 

READ MORE

“Projecting optimism and confidence, if you don’t have the data, is a very dangerous strategy,” said Alexandra Phelan, a faculty research instructor in the department of microbiology and immunology at Georgetown University.

 

“It undermines the legitimacy of the government in messaging,” she added. “And public health is dependent on public trust.”

 

Nine days after the market closed, a man who shopped there regularly became the first fatality of the disease, according to a report by the Wuhan Health Commission, the agency that oversees public health and sanitation. The 61-year-old, identified by his last name, Zeng, already had chronic liver disease and a tumor in his abdomen, and had checked into Wuhan Puren Hospital with a raging fever and difficulty breathing.

 

The authorities disclosed the man’s death two days after it happened. They did not mention a crucial detail in understanding the course of the epidemic. Mr. Zeng’s wife had developed symptoms five days after he did.

 

She had never visited the market.

 

The intensive care unit at Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University in Wuhan, China, on Jan. 24.

 

The Race to Identify a Killer

About 20 miles from the market, scientists at the Wuhan Institute of Virology were studying samples from the patients checking into the city’s hospitals. One of the scientists, Zheng-Li Shi, was part of the team that tracked down the origins of the SARS virus, which emerged in the southern province of Guangdong in 2002.

 

As the public remained largely in the dark about the virus, she and her colleagues quickly pieced together that the new outbreak was related to SARS. The genetic composition suggested a common initial host: bats. The SARS epidemic began when a coronavirus jumped from bats to Asian palm civets, a catlike creature that is legally raised and consumed. It was likely that this new coronavirus had followed a similar path — possibly somewhere in or on the way to the Huanan market or another market like it.

 

Around the same time, Dr. Li and other medical professionals in Wuhan started trying to provide warnings to colleagues and others when the government did not. Lu Xiaohong, the head of gastroenterology at City Hospital No. 5, told China Youth Daily that she had heard by Dec. 25 that the disease was spreading among medical workers — a full three weeks before the authorities would acknowledge the fact. She did not go public with her concerns, but privately warned a school near another market.

 

By the first week of January, the emergency ward in Hospital No. 5 was filling; the cases included members of the same family, making it clear that the disease was spreading through human contact, which the government had said was not likely.

 

No one realized, the doctor said, that it was as serious as it would become until it was too late to stop it.

 

“I realized that we had underestimated the enemy,” she said.

 

At the Institute of Virology, Dr. Shi and her colleagues isolated the genetic sequence and the viral strain during the first week of January. They used samples from seven of the first patients, six of them vendors at the market.

 

On Jan. 7, the institute’s scientists gave the new coronavirus its identity and began referring to it by the technical shorthand 2019-nCoV. Four days later, the team shared the virus’s genetic makeup in a public database for scientists everywhere to use.

 

That allowed scientists around the world to study the virus and swiftly share their findings. As the scientific community moved quickly to devise a test for exposure, political leaders remained reluctant to act.

 

Wuhan on Jan. 27. The city went ahead with a giant potluck dinner in mid-January.

 

 ‘Politics is Always No. 1’

As the virus spread in early January, the mayor of Wuhan, Zhou Xianwang, was touting futuristic health care plans for the city.

 

It was China’s political season, when officials gather for annual meetings of People’s Congresses — the Communist Party-run legislatures that discuss and praise policies. It is not a time for bad news.

 

When Mr. Zhou delivered his annual report to the city’s People’s Congress on Jan. 7 against a backdrop of bright red national flags, he promised the city top-class medical schools, a World Health Expo, and a futuristic industry park for medical companies. Not once did he or any other city or provincial leader publicly mention the viral outbreak.

 

“Stressing politics is always No. 1,” the governor of Hubei, Wang Xiaodong, told officials on Jan. 17, citing Mr. Xi’s precepts of top-down obedience. “Political issues are at any time the most fundamental major issues.”

 

Shortly after, Wuhan went ahead with a massive annual potluck banquet for 40,000 families from a city precinct, which critics later cited as evidence that local leaders took the virus far too lightly.

 

As the congress was taking place, the health commission’s daily updates on the outbreak said again and again that there were no new cases of infection, no firm evidence of human transmission and no infection of medical workers.

 

“We knew this was not the case!” said a complaint later filed with the National Health Commission on a government website. The anonymous author said he was a doctor in Wuhan and described a surge in unusual chest illnesses beginning Jan. 12.

 

Officials told doctors at a top city hospital “don’t use the words viral pneumonia on the image reports,” according to the complaint, which has since been removed. People were complacent, “thinking that if the official reports had nothing, then we were exaggerating,” the doctor explained.

 

Even those stricken felt lulled into complacency.

 

When Dong Guanghe developed a fever on Jan. 8 in Wuhan, his family was not alarmed, his daughter said. He was treated in the hospital and sent home. Then, 10 days later, Mr. Dong’s wife fell ill with similar symptoms.

 

“The news said nothing about the severity of the epidemic,” said the daughter, Dong Mingjing. “I thought that my dad had a common cold.”

 

The government’s efforts to minimize public disclosure persuaded more than just untrained citizens.

 

“If there are no new cases in the next few days, the outbreak is over,” Guan Yi, a respected professor of infectious diseases at the University of Hong Kong, said on Jan. 15.

 

The World Health Organization’s statements during this period echoed the reassuring words of Chinese officials.

 

It had spread. Thailand reported the first confirmed case outside China on Jan. 13.

 

Health officials in Hangzhou, China, taking train passengers’ temperatures after they arrived from Wuhan on Jan. 23.

 

A City Besieged

The first deaths and the spread of the disease abroad appeared to grab the attention of the top authorities in Beijing. The national government dispatched Zhong Nanshan, a renowned and now-semiretired epidemiologist who was instrumental in the fight against SARS, to Wuhan to assess the situation.

 

He arrived on Jan. 18, just as the tone of local officials was shifting markedly. A health conference in Hubei Province that day called on medical workers to make the disease a priority. An internal document from Wuhan Union Hospital warned its employees that the coronavirus could be spread through saliva.

 

On Jan. 20, more than a month after the first symptoms spread, the current of anxiety that had been steadily gaining strength exploded into public. Dr. Zhong announced in an interview on state television that there was no doubt that the coronavirus spread with human contact. Worse, one patient had infected at least 14 medical personnel.

 

Mr. Xi, fresh from a state visit to Myanmar, made his first public statement about the outbreak, issuing a brief set of instructions.

 

It was only with the order from Mr. Xi that the bureaucracy leapt into action. At that point the death toll was three; in the next 11 days, it would rise above 200.

 

In Wuhan, the city banned tour groups from visiting. Residents began pulling on masks.

 

Guan Yi, the Hong Kong expert who had earlier voiced optimism that the outbreak could level off, was now alarmed. He dropped by one of the city’s other food markets and was shocked by the complacency, he said. He told city officials that the epidemic was “already beyond control” and would leave. “I hurriedly booked a departure,” Dr. Guan told Caixin, a Chinese news organization.

 

Two days later, the city announced that it was shutting itself down, a move that could only have been approved by Beijing.

 

In Wuhan, many residents said they did not grasp the gravity of the epidemic until the lockdown. The mass alarm that officials feared at the start became a reality, heightened by the previous paucity of information.

 

Crowds of people crushed the airport and train stations to get out before the deadline fell on the morning of Jan. 23. Hospitals were packed with people desperate to know if they, too, were infected.

 

“We didn’t wear masks at work. That would have frightened off customers,” Yu Haiyan, a waitress from rural Hubei, said of the days before the shutdown. “When they closed off Wuhan, only then did I think, ‘Oh, this is really serious, this is not some average virus.’”

 

Wuhan’s mayor, Zhou Xianwang, later took responsibility for the delay in reporting the scale of the epidemic, but said he was hampered by the national law on infectious diseases. That law allows provincial governments to declare an epidemic only after receiving central government approval. “After I receive information, I can only release it when I’m authorized,” he said.

 

Dr. Li in Wuhan Central Hospital on Friday.

 

The official reflex for suppressing discomforting information now appears to be cracking, as officials at various levels seek to shift blame for the government’s response.

 

With the crisis worsening, Dr. Li’s efforts are no longer viewed as reckless. A commentary on the social media account of the Supreme People’s Court criticized the police for investigating people for circulating rumors.

 

“It might have been a better way to prevent and control the new coronavirus today if the public had believed the ‘rumor’ then and started to wear masks and carry out sanitary measures and avoid the wild animal market,” the commentary said.

 

Dr. Li is 34 and has a child. He and his wife are expecting a second in the summer. He is now recovering from the virus in the hospital where he worked. In an interview via text messages, he said he felt aggrieved by the police actions.

 

“If the officials had disclosed information about the epidemic earlier,” he said, “I think it would have been a lot better. There should be more openness and transparency.”

Edited February 2, 2020 by up and down

[up and down 82]

Today the whole world is shocked by the first Coronavirus patient death in Philippines. Philippines recorded the first Coronavirus death outside of China. However we need not worry because the Coronavirus patient is actually from Wuhan.

Coronavirus Cases:

14,559

Deaths:

305

 

Confirmed Cases and Deaths by Country and Territory as of 2nd February, 2020.

(Affecting 27 countries and territories)

 

 

Country	Total Cases	1-day Change	Total Deaths	Region
China	14,381	+2,590	304	Asia
Japan	20	+3	0	Asia
Thailand	19		0	Asia
Singapore	18	+2	0	Asia
South Korea	15	+4	0	Asia
Hong Kong	14	+1	0	Asia
Australia	12	+3	0	Australia/Oceania
Taiwan	10		0	Asia
U.S.	8	+1	0	North America
Germany	8	+1	0	Europe
Macao	8	+1	0	Asia
Malaysia	8		0	Asia
Vietnam	7	+2	0	Asia
France	6		0	Europe
U.A.E.	5	+1	0	Asia
Canada	4		0	North America
Philippines	2	+1	1	Asia
India	2	+1	0	Asia
Italy	2		0	Europe
Russia	2		0	Europe
U.K.	2		0	Europe
Cambodia	1		0	Asia
Finland	1		0	Europe
Sri Lanka	1		0	Asia
Nepal	1		0	Asia
Sweden	1		0	Europe
Spain	1		0	Europe

Edited February 2, 2020 by up and down

[up and down 82]

Today the world is once again shocked when someone from Wuhan died in Philippines. Phillipines have recorded the first Coronavirus case outside of China with the first death of a Coronavirus patient outside China. So things are getting severe now. By now Coronavirus has spread to the whole part of China. Therefore there is in no way any sports events or sports tournaments can be held in China due to this dangerous Coronavirus. We do not want to see any athletes infected with Coronavirus before Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Continue to pray hard for the whole state of China. Coronavirus is really getting out of control. 

Edited February 2, 2020 by up and down

[up and down 82]

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/02/world/asia/china-coronavirus.html

 

 

Coronavirus Live Updates: Death in Philippines Is First Outside China

As the overall death toll passed 300, health workers in Hong Kong threatened to strike if the territory’s government did not completely close the border with mainland China.
 

The Philippines bans non-Filipino travelers arriving from mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau.
 

Here’s what you need to know:
A man from Wuhan has died in the Philippines.
 

The death toll passed 300, with more than 14,000 infections confirmed.
 

Hong Kong medical workers threaten to strike Monday.
 

A man from Wuhan has died in the Philippines.

 

Workers outside a hospital in Manila set up a quarantine area for people with symptoms of the coronavirus.

A 44-year-old man in the Philippines has died of the coronavirus, health officials said on Sunday, making him the first known death outside China. The man, a resident of Wuhan, China, the epicenter of the virus, died on Saturday after developing what officials called “severe pneumonia.”

 

“This is the first known death of someone with 2019-nCoV outside of China,” the World Health Organization’s office in the Philippines said in a statement, using the technical shorthand for the coronavirus.

 

Philippines health officials said the man had arrived in the country on Jan. 21 with a 38-year-old woman who remains under observation.

 

“In his last few days, the patient was stable and showed signs of improvement; however, the condition of the patient deteriorated within his last 24 hours, resulting in his demise,” the health secretary, Francisco Duque III, said.

 

Hours before the death was announced, the Philippines said it was temporarily banning non-Filipino travelers arriving from mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau.

 

Mr. Duque said the Philippines was currently observing 23 people who had been isolated in hospitals with possible coronavirus symptoms.

 

“The new developments warrant a more diligent approach in containing the threats of the 2019-nCoV,” he said.

The death toll passed 300, with more than 14,000 infections confirmed.

 

A temporary field hospital being built in Wuhan is expected to open on Tuesday, 11 days after construction began.
 

Chinese officials on Sunday reported a surge in new cases.

◆ The death toll in China rose to at least 304.

◆ More than 2,000 new cases were also recorded in the country in the past 24 hours, raising the worldwide total to nearly 14,380, according to Chinese and World Health Organization data. The vast majority of the cases are inside China; about 100 cases have been confirmed in 23 other countries.

◆ All of China’s provinces and territories have now been touched by the outbreak.

◆ Countries and territories that have confirmed cases: Thailand, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, Australia, Malaysia, Macau, Russia, France, the United States, South Korea, Germany, the United Arab Emirates, Canada, Britain, Vietnam, Italy, India, the Philippines, Nepal, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Finland, Sweden and Spain.

 

Wuhan Coronavirus
 

Impact in the U.S.

 

There have been seven confirmed cases in the U.S., but no deaths. Anxiety is intense on college campuses.
 

The 195 Americans who were evacuated from Wuhan to California have been quarantined as one person tried to flee.
If you live in California, here’s what this means for you.
 

President Trump has temporarily suspended entry into the U.S. for any foreign nationals who have traveled to China.
Delta, United and American Airlines are suspending service from the U.S. and China.

 

READ MORE
◆ Cases recorded in Thailand, Taiwan, Germany, Vietnam, Japan, France and the United States involved patients who had not been to China.

◆ China has asked the European Union for help in purchasing urgently needed medical supplies from its member countries, the China’s official Xinhua news agency said on Saturday.

 

Hong Kong medical workers threaten to strike Monday.

 

A staff member at Princess Margaret Hospital in Hong Kong on Saturday. 
 

As many as 9,000 medical workers in Hong Kong have pledged to strike this week, a threat that alarms the territory’s officials as they are struggling to contain the coronavirus outbreak.

 

The workers are demanding that Hong Kong close all border checkpoints to visitors from mainland China, saying they represent a threat to health care workers in the city. They are planning to paralyze nonemergency and then emergency services at hospitals, a union formed during the city’s anti-government protest movement said.

 

“We believe such actions are our last resort,” the Hospital Authority Employees Alliance wrote in a statement Saturday night.

 

Under the plan, nonessential hospital staff members who belong to the union would not go to work on Monday. If the government failed to close the border and heed their other demands by 9 p.m., union members handling emergency services would also strike, the union said.

 

Matthew Cheung, Hong Kong’s No. 2 official, appealed to medical workers to reconsider, comparing them to guardians of the public.

 

“At this critical moment, I believe the general public would count on medical personnel to fight against the epidemic together, in the spirit of professionalism,” he wrote in a blog post Sunday.

 

Hong Kong confirmed its 14th coronavirus case late Saturday. The patient, an 80-year-old man, had traveled for a few hours to mainland China in early January, and later spent several days in Japan.

 

In arguing against the job action, government officials say that the number of visitors from the mainland and other countries has decreased significantly after they closed several border points and rail stations and cut flight arrivals by half.

 

But several border points remain open, and many medical workers fear being overwhelmed by a flood of visitors seeking treatment in Hong Kong’s well-regarded health care system. They have also voiced frustrations about patients from mainland China hiding their travel and medical history, potentially endangering other patients.

Edited February 2, 2020 by up and down

[up and down 82]

Quick Facts :
The Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) originating from Wuhan, China, has now spread to 27 countries and territories worldwide, with 12,027 confirmed cases and 259 deaths as of February 1, 2020.

On January 31, the first 2 novel coronavirus cases in the UK, the first 2 cases in Russia, and the first case in Sweden and in Spain have been reported. Canada reported its 4th case.
 

On January 30, 2020, the novel coronavirus total case count surpassed that for SARS (which affected 8,096 people worldwide).
In the United States, there are 6 cases confirmed by the CDC: 1 in Arizona, 2 in California, 1 in Washington state, and 2 in Illinois. More info. On Jan. 30 CDC confirmed the first US case of human to human transmission.
 

Wuhan (the city where the virus originated) is the largest city in Central China, with a population of over 11 million people. The city, on January 23, shut down transport links. Following Wuhan lockdown, the city of Huanggang was also placed in quarantine, and the city of Ezhou closed its train stations. This means than 18 million people have been placed in isolation. The World Health Organization (WHO) said cutting off a city as large as Wuhan is "unprecedented in public health history." and praised China for its incredible commitment to isolate the virus and minimize the spread to other countries.

Germany, Japan, Vietnam and the United States have reported cases in patients who didn't personally visit China, but contracted the virus from someone else who had visited Wuhan, China. These cases of human to human transmission are the most worrisone, according to the WHO.

[up and down 82]

Here is the latest date statistics of coronavirus patient.

 

 

 

Confirmed Cases and Deaths by Country

 

(Affecting 27 countries and territories)

 

Most of the countries listed below have coronavirus patients because they are tourists from China who have been abroad for holidays and then found out to be positive of coronavirus so they have to stay put at the particular country they have visited for treatment and inspection. However there are also countries such as Japan and Germany whereby even the local people who have never been to China have also been infected with Coronavirus. So of course things are getting very severe.

 

Country	Cases	Deaths	Region
China	11,860	259	Asia
Japan	20	0	Asia
Thailand	19	0	Asia
Singapore	18	0	Asia
Hong Kong	13	0	Asia
South Korea	12	0	Asia
Australia	12	0	Australia/Oceania
Taiwan	10	0	Asia
Malaysia	8	0	Asia
United States	7	0	North America
Germany	7	0	Europe
Macao	7	0	Asia
Vietnam	6	0	Asia
France	6	0	Europe
United Arab Emirates	4	0	Asia
Canada	4	0	North America
Italy	2	0	Europe
United Kingdom	2	0	Europe
Russia	2	0	Europe
India	1	0	Asia
Finland	1	0	Europe
Sweden	1	0	Europe
Sri Lanka	1	0	Asia
Cambodia	1	0	Asia
Philippines	1	0	Asia
Nepal	1	0	Asia
Spain	1	0	Europe

[up and down 82]

  On 2/1/2020 at 9:55 AM, Vic Liu said:

 

Thank you for your prayer for Wuhan people, we all hope this outbreak will end soon. Still as a Chinese currently live in rest part of China outside Wuhan, I have something to clarify about the lockdown in Wuhan, especially it is not letting people there waiting to death and dying nonstop.

 

First, the lockdown is to stop the speedy spread of the virus to the whole China and the whole world as the virus seems quite easy to infect people. After several days lockdown, the daily reported new patients in other parts of China start to decrease as well as the other countries. If the lockdown is not implemented, I can't imagine how many people are infected right now thorough China and the whole world due to the lunar new year migration. 

 

Second, the best medical resource, equipment and manpower from all over the rest of China are continuously flooding into Hubei province for assistance, doctors and nurses are working days and nights with almost no rest. No one want to or willing to see patients in Wuhan dead desperately, regardless of the the government, doctors or the ordinary people. Everybody is helping in their own ways. But medical resources especially masks, goggles, protective clothing for doctors and inpatient beds for patients are still in shortage. Society donation plays a major role to deal with it.

 

Third, the mortality of the coronavirus is currently between 2.2%-2.5% and no patients dead outside China until now (around 100 patients). Most dead cases are elderly and those with other disease. According to CNN, the mortality of seasoning influenza is around 1.6%-2.6% with no significant deference with the coronavirus. Maybe it's too early to draw the conclusion of the newly virus, but it's definitely not as fatal as SARS, MERS or Ebola. 80% of patients are with slight symptoms just as flu and will recover in a couple of days. It's true that 20% patients with heavy symptoms is still a huge numbers and worth 100% medical treatment, but at least it means Wuhan people in a lockdown is not hopeless to die. Most patients will recover after treatment. The lockdown is to contain the spread of the virus but not a lockdown from medical resource into Wuhan and letting people sink or swim themselves.

 

Lastly and unpolitical correctly (even lots my friends don't agree with), I think people all over the world including Chinese and foreigners overreact towards this outbreak. If this virus outbreak took place in some African or Latin American country with 2.5% mortality and around 200-500 dead in number, will any mainstream media make it headline news for a whole week and evacuation and so on?

Expand  

 

Thank you very much for your constant updates.

[up and down 82]

As can be seen from many news reported, Coronavirus spread very fast. Now even people who have not been to Wuhan also can get infected with Coronavirus. Due to this, all the various different countries are on high alert over the spread of Coronavirus.

[up and down 82]

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2020/01/30/national/three-japanese-wuhan-coronavirus/

 

Three Japanese returnees from Wuhan test positive for new coronavirus

Three Japanese who returned from Wuhan on a government-chartered flight have tested positive for the new coronavirus, the health ministry said Thursday as more Japanese evacuees from the Chinese city arrived in Tokyo.

 

The three — one in stable condition and two without symptoms — were among 206 people brought back Wednesday from Wuhan amid a deadly outbreak started by the pneumonia-causing virus.

 

It is the first time that a person outside of China without symptoms has been confirmed to be infected with the virus, according to Japan’s National Institute of Infectious Diseases.

 

A further 210 Japanese were flown back home Thursday on a second government-chartered flight, with some displaying symptoms such as coughs, according to the health ministry.

 

In the first group of returnees, all but two people agreed to tests for the virus. All passengers other than the three tested negative for the virus, the ministry said.

 

The latest group who came back Thursday is expected to be similarly screened.

 

“We will put top priority on protecting the lives and health of the people, and we will decide on what needs to be done without hesitation,” said Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at a Diet session Thursday, adding it was “extremely regrettable” that two people on the first flight refused to be screened.

 

Abe said authorities “spent a long time trying to convince them following their return” but could not force them to undergo testing as it is not mandatory by law.

 

Abe also stressed the importance of Taiwan joining the World Health Organization, saying “it will be difficult to stop the spread” if Taiwan is excluded for political reasons.

 

The government is planning to send a third flight. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said there are still some 300 Japanese who wish to return from Wuhan, which has been under a virtual lockdown since last week.

 

Suga said the government is also considering using public facilities, including the National Police Academy, to house the returnees.

 

While returnees praised the government’s effort to bring them home quickly, there has been criticism of Japan’s decision to let them “self-quarantine,” including the two people on the first flight who refused to be tested.

 

Those two were asked to avoid public transport, and quarantine officers will follow up on their health, officials said.

Japan’s approach sits in stark contrast with other countries that are isolating repatriated nationals for between 72 hours and 14 days. Regulations make similar measures difficult, and the law allows people to refuse testing, said Kazuo Kobayashi, head of the public hygiene department at the Osaka Institute of Public Health.

 

“(The authorities) can only make a request but it doesn’t have binding power,” he said, declining to comment on the public safety implications.

 

The government has decided to classify the new virus a “designated infectious disease,” meaning it will be able to forcibly hospitalize those who test positive. But the rules on testing people with no symptoms will not be affected.

 

The total number of people infected with the virus in Japan, including foreign nationals, rose to 14 on Thursday, including the two people showing no symptoms.

 

On Wednesday, authorities reported a second case involving someone who had not traveled to China.

 

The woman was a tour guide who worked on the same bus as a driver who had contracted the virus despite not traveling to China. The bus was carrying a group of Chinese tourists from Wuhan earlier this month.

 

“The tour guide’s case is the second suspected incident of human-to-human transmission in Japan,” Kato said. “We are in a truly new situation.”

 

The tour guide, who is in her 40s, is a foreign national living in Osaka and was hospitalized on Jan. 23 with pneumonia, the health ministry said. Neither the guide nor the driver has ever been to Wuhan.

 

The government said Tuesday the driver in his 60s from neighboring Nara Prefecture became the first Japanese to be infected with the virus in the country.

 

He is believed to have had close contact with a total of 22 people both in and outside Nara after infection, including the tour guide, according to the prefectural government.

 

In mainland China, confirmed cases of infection have exceeded 7,700 and the death toll has reached 170, including over 120 in Wuhan, according to state media.

 

Aside from China and Japan, cases of infection have been confirmed in 14 countries including Thailand, Australia, Singapore and the United States as of Wednesday, according to a World Health Organization report.