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Coronavirus: death toll rises to 26 in China, with 830 infected – live news Coronavirus: death toll rises to 26 in China, with 830 infected – live news
(32 minutes later)
Possible cases being tested in Scotland and Belfast; World Health Organisation committee says ‘too early’ to declare emergencyPossible cases being tested in Scotland and Belfast; World Health Organisation committee says ‘too early’ to declare emergency
McDonalds says it is suspending business in five cities in China’s Hubei province, centre of the virus outbreak.
Two tourists visiting Finland from Wuhan in China are suspected of being infected with the coronavirus, according to YLE, Finland’s state broadcaster.
The pair went to a health centre in Ivalo, northern Finland, to seek treatment for flu-like symptoms on Thursday night.
Markku Broas, an infectious diseases physician at Lapland central hospital, said samples were taken to Helsinki for analysis but he thinks that it’s likely to be a case of the flu.
“There’s no major cause for concern.”
The situation is a “rapidly evolving” one which is being monitored closely but the current risk to the population in the UK is low, according to a new blog on the website of Public Health England, a state body.
It answers a number of questions which it says many people have. They include:
What is Wuhan novel coronavirus and should I be concerned?
A coronavirus is a type of virus. As a group, coronaviruses are common across the world.
Typical symptoms of coronavirus include fever and a cough that may progress to a severe pneumonia causing shortness of breath and breathing difficulties. No confirmed cases of Wuhan coronavirus have been detected in the UK and we currently consider the risk to the UK population to be low.
How do we decide the risk level?
Several factors are taken into account to determine the risk level including the number of cases, the speed at which new cases are being identified and other information about the virus such as how easily it spreads from person to person.
Can we stop the virus coming to the UK?
No system of checks can claim to offer absolute protection because of the incubation period of the virus. Some people might only show symptoms 14 days after exposure to an infected person. Our approach to enhanced monitoring helps us ensure that travellers from Wuhan get the right information about what to do if they become unwell.
Why are we not monitoring all flights from China? And, what about people who have transferred from other flights?
Plans are in place to meet any direct flights from Wuhan as experts believe this is the source of the virus. However, the enhanced monitoring of direct flights will be kept under continuous review and expanded to other Chinese departure points if necessary.
Beijing’s city government is urging people who return to the Chinese capital from areas affected by the Coronavirus outbreak to stat at home for 14 days, according to local reports
Meanwhile, sections of China’s Great Wall near Beijing will be closed to visitors from Saturday.
Tributes have been paid to one of the WHO’s executive directors, Dr Peter Salama, who has died. For clarity, Dr Salama’s death is unrelated to the Coronavirus.
A medical epidemiologist from Australia, he previously led the Health Emergencies Programme at WHO from 2016 to 2019 and has led research and published extensively on vaccine-preventable diseases, HIV, nutrition, war-related mortality and violence, refugee and emergency health, and programming in fragile states.
Flights to Moscow from the Chinese city of Wuhan have been suspended over fears about the spread of the coronavirus strain, according to Interfax news agency.
Earlier this week Russia’s Healthcare Ministry described the virus as a biological hazard, with Deputy Minister Sergei Krayevoy saying the virus was a “striking example” of the biological threats Russia faces.
The regular press briefing from the UN’s office in Geneva is just about to start and the virus is expected to feature in questions.The regular press briefing from the UN’s office in Geneva is just about to start and the virus is expected to feature in questions.
There was some confusion in reports elsewhere about it. It’s not a WHO briefing.There was some confusion in reports elsewhere about it. It’s not a WHO briefing.
Walt Disney Co’s Shanghai Disney Resort will be closed until further notice in respond to the outbreak.Walt Disney Co’s Shanghai Disney Resort will be closed until further notice in respond to the outbreak.
Here’s a video explainer from the Guardian’s health editor, Sarah Boseley, in which she answers some of the most common and pressing questions surrounding the outbreak.Here’s a video explainer from the Guardian’s health editor, Sarah Boseley, in which she answers some of the most common and pressing questions surrounding the outbreak.
A former government minister who oversaw the country’s response to the H1N1 flu virus in 2009, has said that containing panic around the coronavirus outbreak is as important as stemming the virus itself.A former government minister who oversaw the country’s response to the H1N1 flu virus in 2009, has said that containing panic around the coronavirus outbreak is as important as stemming the virus itself.
Gloria Guevara , who is now President/CEO of the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) based in London, said it could have a damaging and lasting economic impact on the global Travel & Tourism sector unless lessons are learned from previous viral epidemics.Gloria Guevara , who is now President/CEO of the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) based in London, said it could have a damaging and lasting economic impact on the global Travel & Tourism sector unless lessons are learned from previous viral epidemics.
Analysis of previous major viral epidemics by the WTTC found that the average recovery time for visitor numbers to a destination was 19 months, but with the right response and management could recover in as little as 10 months.Analysis of previous major viral epidemics by the WTTC found that the average recovery time for visitor numbers to a destination was 19 months, but with the right response and management could recover in as little as 10 months.
Also on the theme of panic, the editor of the Lancet medical journal has tweeted:Also on the theme of panic, the editor of the Lancet medical journal has tweeted:
The World Health Organization’s decision on Thursday not to classed the virus as an “international emergency”, partly because of the low number of overseas cases, has surprised some experts.
However, others have recognised that the WHO’s position on declaring a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) was a “finely balanced one”. That’s a view taken by Sir Jeremy Farrar, a medical researcher at the medical charity, the Welcome Trust.
The moment to watch out for when the virus was transmitted among people who had not been in China, he told the BBC’s Today programme.
Comparisons with SARS were valid, he said, but at the same time he lauded the “draconian and extraordinary” measures being taken in China, which he also commended in terms of being transparent and sharing information.
Elsewhere, Dr Stephen Griffin, Associate Professor, University of Leeds, said he was “personally surprised” that a PHEIC hasn’t been called given similarities to SARS.
“However, it is often difficult to understand the precise criteria by which one of these is implemented - it sounds as though the committee had some differences of opinion,” he said, in a statement issued by the Science Media Centre.
Professor Tom Solomon,Director of the UK’s Health Protection Research Unit in Emerging Infections, University of Liverpool, said:
“The WHO’s decision not to declare the novel coronavirus outbreak in China a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) will surprise many. The number of reported cases and deaths is doubling every couple of days, and patients have now been reported from many Asian countries, as well as the Middle East and United States.
China has added four more cities to its transport ban, affecting 41 million people, according to the AFP news agency.
On the eve of China’s Lunar New Year, transportation had been shut down already in in at least 10 cities with a total of about 33 million people. The cities are Wuhan, where the illness has been concentrated, and nine of its neighbors in central China’s Hubei province.
It is “highly likely” that there will be cases of the virus in the UK, according to Professor Paul Cosford, Medical Director for Public Health England, an arm of the National Health Service (NHS) which has tested 14 people so far.
Specialist treatment centres in various parts of the country have already been designated and authorities were focus on providing information, with a particular focus on communities such as Chinese students
“The NHS is fully prepared for treating people. They have their specialist infectious disease centres and have identified the ones that people will be referred to,” he told the BBC’s Today Programme.
Cosford added that it was “very early days” in terms of saying whether the virus would be as serious as SARS and it would be wrong to jump to conclusions.
The next update on figure in the UK is expected to come at midday
It was confirmed last night that two people diagnosed with flu were being tested for the virus in Scotland, where three others are also being tested on a precautionary basis.
At least three of the patients are believed to be Chinese nationals.
While there remain no confirmed cases of Coronavirus in Scotland, the Scottish government has set up a daily Incident Management Team with Health Protection Scotland, to continue monitoring the situation as it develops.
While the Scottish government would not confirm where the patients are being treated, this morning the Courier newspaper reports that two are from the Tayside region, two from Glasgow and one from Lothian.
Dundee University, in Tayside, has a joint education partnership with Wuhan University: it said five members of staff had returned from a visit to Wuhan last week but that no health concerns have been raised.
Aberdeen University said five of its staff members had also visited Wuhan during the outbreak, and one of those – who has a non-teaching role - is working from home as a precautionary measure.
That first version of a vaccine has already entered into the laboratories at the global pharmaceutical firm Johnson & Johnson but it will be close to year before vaccines are available publicly from drugs companies
That’s according to Paul Stoffels, Chief Scientific Officer at Johnson & Johnson, and Richard Hatchett, Ceo of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), which is funding two of projects and co-funding the third to develop vaccines.
Speaking in Davos, Hatchett told the BBC’s Today Programme that CEPI hoped that the vaccines it had announced partnerships for could enter into clinical trials in the Summer.
It would be close to a year before they are available however, he aded, and this was a very ambitious timeline. He also said that that restrictions on air travel into countries such as the UK would not keep the virus out and for now the only means of responding were via public health inferventions.
Companies were also looking at progressing the manufacture and release of protective equipment for hospital workers and others, said Stoffels, who added: “We know that this could become a very big global epidemic.”
Both men said that the speed with which development on drugs to respond to global crises had dramatically improved in the wake of the Ebola crisis, which Stoffels described as a “wake up call to the world.”
Singapore has confirmed two more cases of the new strain of coronavirus, according to its health ministry said on Friday, a day after identifying its first case of the infection that originated from China.
The ministry said it expected more imported cases because of high travel volume from China, Reuters reports. Singapore’s tally of confirmed cases is now three.
Fewer people have been turning up at dedicated fever clinics in Wuhan, according to western reporters on the ground in the city.
The include Chris Buckley of the New York Times and Tom Hancock of the FT, who has tweeted some before and after pictures of one of the hospitals he visited on Friday
Hancock suggests this is a positive development as many may not have had any serious infection and standing next to others for hours could spread infection.
This is Ben Quinn picking up the blog from London now. You can contact me on Twitter of flag up anything below the line here.
Yichang City, also in Hubei province, is going to impose transport restrictions, according to the Global Times.
In the UK, 14 people have been tested for suspected coronavirus. So far five have been cleared and nine are still waiting for test results.
Public Health England has not given a breakdown of where the people were tested but Downing Street said four of the suspected cases in Scotland were believed to be Chinese nationals. Another patient is understood to have been tested at Belfast’s Royal Victoria hospital.
Rebecca Ratcliffe and Lillian Yang in Beijing have pulled together the latest on the chaos and despair in hospitals across Wuhan, as the lockdown spreads to encompass at least 20m people: