mobanmarketFollow the latest updates from around the globe here. [This is a live blog. Please refresh for updates. To read developments from February 5 until February 12, click here]
###
###
China cases jump by 15,000 on new testing method
###
New cases in China jumped by almost 15,000 after Hubei province, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak, revised its method for counting infections. Two top officials were removed in the biggest political fallout so far from the epidemic.
###
The International Energy Agency warned global oil demand will drop this quarter for the first time in more than a decade. Stocks fell amid concerns over the rise in cases and Pernod Ricard SA cut its forecast for full-year profit growth by about half.
###
###
Two more passengers test positive for coronavirus during thermal screening in Kolkata airport
###
Kolkata: Two passengers who arrived at NSCBI Airport from Bangkok have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, Airports Authority of India officials said on Thursday.
###
With this, a total of three passengers have tested positive for the novel coronavirus in Kolkata.
###
A passenger called Himadri Barman tested positive on Tuesday, and Nagendra Singh tested positive on Wednesday, the Director of NSCBI Airport, Kaushik Bhattacharjee, told PTI.
###
Both of them were sent to Beliaghata ID Hospital, he said.
###
“Earlier a passenger called Anita Oraon had also tested positive during thermal scanning,” Bhattacharjee said.
###
Already two airlines which had direct flights between Kolkata and China have suspended their flights.
###
Low cost carier IndiGo has temporarily suspended its flights between Kolkata and Guangzhou from February 6.
###
“In line with the WHO guideline to contain the spread of coronavirus, IndiGo will be suspending its Kolkata- Guangzhou service from February 6, 2020 to February 25, 2020 and Guangzhou-Kolkata from February 7 till February 26,” the airline had said in a statement.
###
After IndiGo, China Eastern Airlines suspended its flights between Kolkata and Kunming in China from February 10 to February 29.
###
Passengers of flights coming to Kolkata from Kunming and Guangzhou in China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Bangkok were being screened since January 17.
###
At present, passengers arriving from Hong Kong, Singapore and Bangkok are being screened as no flights are operating to and from China.
###
###
Hubei’s virus-hit county to add another hospital for COVID-19 patients
###
Wuhan: One of the hardest-hit counties in central China’s Hubei Province amid the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, has planned to rebuild a hospital in seven days.
###
According to the health commission of Huanggang, which administers Xishui, the city reported 2,662 confirmed cases COVID-19 as of Tuesday, including about 300 in Xishui.
###
The county’s virus control and prevention headquarters said it will rebuild the new maternity and childcare hospital, which is under construction, into a temporary designated hospital for COVID-19 patients.
###
An estimated 200 hospital beds will be put into operation within one week. The rebuilding has begun since Tuesday, with numerous excavators and forklifts as well as nearly 100 workers working around the clock.
###
###
China removes party chief of virus epicentre province
###
China has sacked the top political leader of virus-stricken Hubei province, the epicentre of an epidemic that has killed 1,355, state media reported Thursday.
###
Jiang Chaoliang, Hubei’s party secretary, will be replaced by Shanghai mayor Ying Yong, according to the official Xinhua news agency, which gave no additional details.
###
Jiang’s removal comes after Hubei’s two most senior health officials were sacked Monday amid growing criticism of how local officials have handled the crisis.
###
The province reported a dramatic spike in confirmed virus cases Thursday, raising the total number of nationwide infections to nearly 60,000 after Hubei authorities changed the way they count infections.
###
The virus is believed to have originated late last year at a seafood market in Hubei province’s capital Wuhan.
###
Pressure on local officials for their perceived incompetence has mounted particularly after the death last week of a Chinese doctor who was punished by Wuhan authorities for raising the alarm about the new virus.
###
Wuhan authorities also faced criticism in January for going ahead with an annual public banquet for 40,000 families just days before the city was placed on lockdown.
###
Other changes have been taking place in the province, including the sacking of a top Red Cross official in Wuhan for dereliction of duty, while senior Beijing official Chen Yixin has been sent to Wuhan to guide epidemic control work.
###
###
44 more novel coronavirus cases on Japan ship: health minister
###
Another 44 people on board a cruise ship moored off Japan’s coast have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, the country’s health minister said Thursday.
###
Health Minister Katsunobu Kato said the 44 new cases were from another 221 new tests. They raise the number of infections detected on the Diamond Princess to 218, in addition to a quarantine officer who also tested positive for the virus.
###
Kato said authorities now want to move elderly people off the ship if they test negative for the virus, offering to put them in government-designated lodging.
###
“We wish to start the operation from tomorrow or later,” Kato told reporters.
###
###
Hong Kong extends school suspension
###
Hong Kong extended on Wednesday the suspension of schools till at least March 16 in a bid to contain the spread of the coronavirus in the city, where 50 cases of the flu-like infection have been confirmed.
###
Secretary for Education Kevin Yeung said secondary and primary schools would not return from the prolonged break until at least mid-March, extending an earlier suspension that was due to see students return to lessons on March 2.
###
###
Cruise ship turned away by 5 countries drops anchor in Cambodia
###
A cruise ship which had spent two weeks at sea after being turned away by five countries over fears that someone aboard may have the coronavirus arrived in Cambodia on Thursday to the relief of passengers and the praise of global health officials.
###
The MS Westerdam, which has 1,455 passengers and 802 crew on board, arrived at an anchoring point in the Cambodian port town of Sihanoukville early on Thursday morning, according to data published by the Marine Traffic website.
###
“We’ve had so many near moments we thought we were going home only to be turned away,” Angela Jones, an American tourist on board the ship, told Reuters.
###
Jones and her fellow passengers had spent almost two weeks at sea as the ship failed to find a country that would allow it to dock.
###
“This morning, just seeing land was such a breathtaking moment,” said Jones. “I thought: Is this real?” Passengers on board the ship have been subjected to regular health checks throughout the troubled journey, according to Holland America, the ship operator and a unit of Miami-based Carnival Corp.
###
Although no-one on board has fallen ill, the ship had been turned away by Japan, Taiwan, Guam, the Philippines and Thailand over fears that someone on the cruise could have the new flu-like virus that has killed more than 1,300 people, almost all of them in China.
###
###
United extends China flight cancellations to late April
###
United Airlines said late on Wednesday it will extend cancellations of all US flights to China until late April due to the coronavirus epidemic.
###
With the announcement by Chicago-based United, all US passenger carriers flying to China have now canceled flights into late April. Carriers say part of the reason is a dramatic drop-off in demand.
###
United said it was extending cancellations of flights to Hong Kong, which had been set to resume on Feb. 21, and for flights to mainland China, that had been set to resume on March 28. Flights will resume starting April 24.
###
United normally operates roughly 12 flights per day from the United States to mainland China and Hong Kong.
###
American Airlines Group Inc, the largest US carrier, said on Tuesday it was extending the suspension of its China and Hong Kong flights through April 24, amid reduced demand due to the coronavirus outbreak. The carrier had earlier suspended its China and Hong Kong flights until March 27.
###
###
Deaths in Hubei province surge by 242
###
The number of deaths in China’s central Hubei province from a coronavirus outbreak rose by 242 to 1,310 as of Wednesday, the province’s health commission said on its website on Thursday.
###
A further 14,840 cases had been detected in Hubei, the epicentre of the outbreak, taking the total in the province to 48,206.
###
The commission said that it had begun including cases diagnosed through new clinical methods from Thursday.
###
Yesterday
###
2 Indians test positive for coronavirus on quarantined ship off Japan coast
###
Two Indian crew members have been tested positive for novel Coronavirus onboard quarantined cruise ship Diamond Princess.
###
At least 174 people on the ship have been tested positive out of 3711 persons on-board (including 2666 guests and 1045 crew members). Among all, 132 crew members and 6 passengers are Indian nationals.
###
The cruise ship has been kept in quarantine at anchor, off the coast of Yokohama, Japan till February 19.
###
“As of 12 February 2020, altogether 174 people have tested positive for nCoV, including 2(two) Indian crew members. All 174 have been taken to hospitals for adequate treatment – including further quarantine, in accordance with the Japanese health protocol. Those who have not tested positive, irrespective of their nationality, have not been allowed to disembark. However, an exception has been made for critically ill passengers/crew members, who have been allowed to be taken to hospitals/medical facilities, under supervision, for further treatment and quarantine,” officials said.
###
Yesterday
###
Japan confirms 39 new virus cases, 174 total on cruise ship
###
Japan’s health ministry said Wednesday that 39 new cases of a virus have been confirmed on a cruise ship quarantined at a Japanese port.
###
The update brings the total found on the Diamond Princess to 174 cases.
###
The ministry also said the virus was confirmed in a official who participated in the initial quarantine checks the night the ship returned to Yokohama Port near Tokyo on Feb. 3. The quarantine official is being treated in a hospital.
###
The new cases bring Japan’s total to 203 people with the new disease, COVID-19.
###
The night of the ship’s arrival, Japanese health officials began medical checks on all of the ship’s 3,700 passengers and crew after one previous passenger tested positive for the virus.
###
The US-operated Diamond Princess had completed a 14-day tour during which it stopped at Hong Kong and several other Asian ports before returning to Japan. An 80-year-old man who disembarked in Hong Kong tested positive for the virus, prompting Hong Kong to notify the ship and Japanese authorities, who then ordered the quarantine and testing.
###
Concerns over the virus have rerouted and canceled other cruises. The Westerdam cruise ship carrying 2,257 passengers and crew is now in the Gulf of Thailand with nowhere to dock after being refused entry in Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines and Thailand. There are no confirmed cases of the virus on board, but it stopped in Hong Kong less than two weeks ago, which is within the incubation period of the virus.
###
Yesterday
###
1,113: Death toll from Covid-19
###
The total death toll from Covid-19 on Tuesday was 1,113, Chinese health authorities said on Wednesday.
###
The central Hubei province, the epicentre of the outbreak, reported 94 deaths, while in the provincial capital of Wuhan, 72 people died. Across mainland China, there were 2,015 new confirmed infections on Tuesday, the lowest since Jan. 30. The total accumulated number so far has reached 45,100 people globally.
Click Here: Ireland Rugby Shop###The latest figures reported by each government's health authority as of Wednesday in Beijing###