The World Health Organization declared on Thursday that the coronavirus epidemic in China now constitutes a public health emergency of international concern.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director-general, announced the decision after a meeting of its Emergency Committee, an independent panel of experts, amid mounting evidence of the virus spread to some 18 countries.
US reports 1st case of person-to-person spread of coronavirus
The man is married to the Chicago woman who got sick from the virus after she returned from a trip to Wuhan, China, the epicenter of the outbreak. There have been cases reported of the infectious virus spreading to others in a household or workplace in China and elsewhere.
The new case is the sixth reported in the United States. The other five were travelers who developed the illness after returning to the U.S. from China. The latest patient had not been in China.
The Chicago woman, who is in her 60s, returned from central China on Jan. 13, then last week went to a hospital with symptoms and was diagnosed with the viral illness. She and her husband are hospitalised.
Anti-China sentiment spreads along with coronavirus
The coronavirus outbreak has stoked a wave of anti-China sentiment around the globe, from shops barring entry to Chinese tourists, online vitriol mocking the country’s exotic meat trade and surprise health checks on foreign workers.
The virus, which originated in China, has spread to more than a dozen countries, many of them in Southeast Asia which has sensitive relations with China amid concerns about Beijing’s vast infrastructure spending and political clout in the region and sovereignty disputes in the South China Sea.
Authorities and schools in Toronto, Canada, were moved to warn against discrimination towards Chinese Canadians, while in Europe there was anecdotal evidence of Chinese residents facing prejudice in the street, and hostile newspaper headlines.
“Orientalist assumptions plus political distrust plus health concerns are a pretty powerful combination,” said Charlotte Setijadi, and anthropologist who teaches at Singapore Management University.
UK given go-ahead for Wuhan evacuation Friday
Britain has received clearance to evacuate its citizens and a number of other foreign nationals from Wuhan, the Chinese city at the epicentre of a deadly virus outbreak, London said on Thursday.
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said the charter flight would leave early on Friday morning local time, after receiving the necessary clearance from Beijing.
“We are pleased to have confirmation from the Chinese authorities that the evacuation flight from Wuhan airport to the UK can depart at 0500 local time on Friday, 31 January,” he said.
“Our embassy in Beijing and consular teams remain in close contact with British nationals in the region to ensure they have the latest information they need.”
A spokesman for Prime Minister Boris Johnson said a number of countries had similar issues.
The flight – a Spanish charter – is due to return to Royal Air Force base Brize Norton, in Oxfordshire, south central England, the spokesman told reporters.
Those on board will be isolated for 14 days at a medical facility in the northwest of England.
About 200 people will be on the plane, including about 50 foreign, mainly EU nationals. The Britons will disembark at Brize Norton. The plane will then go on to Spain, the spokesman said.
A cruise ship owned by Carnival Corp. was blocked from leaving an Italian port with some 7,000 people on board, after a passenger came down with symptoms that raised concerns about a possible case of coronavirus.
Carnival’s Italian unit Costa Crociere SpA said that a 54-year-old woman from Macau is currently in isolation on board its Costa Smeralda cruise ship in the port of Civitavecchia, near Rome.
A medical team from a Rome hospital examined the patient, who demonstrated fever and respiratory symptoms, this morning, according to the Italian Coast Guard. Further operations on the ship “will be decided later,” a Coast Guard spokesman said, reported Bloomberg.
The Costa Smeralda case could mark the first case of a cruise ship being affected by the coronavirus. Cruise vessels, where passengers are in close contact over extended periods of time, are particularly susceptible to outbreaks and spreads of viruses. It would also be the first confirmed case of the disease in Italy.
Carnival Corp. shares fell as much as 11% in London and traded down 6.7% at 12:52 p.m. local time.
“As soon as the suspected case emerged, medical staff onboard immediately activated the necessary health procedures,” Costa Crociere said in a statement. “Our priority is to guarantee the health and safety of our guests and team.”
Italian media reported that passengers were protesting the lockdown of the ship and lack of information via Twitter.
The ship was bound for La Spezia in the Liguria region, with 1,000 crew and 6,000 passengers, 750 of whom came from China, a port spokesman said.
Chinese communities warn of Italy ‘racism’ over virus
Prominent figures in Chinese communities in Italy warned Thursday of episodes of “latent racism” against their compatriots by Italians fearful of catching a deadly viral outbreak.
Tensions increased after 7,000 people were held on a cruise ship in an Italian port following the isolation of two Chinese passengers over fears they could be carrying the coronavirus, despite preliminary tests coming up negative.
Italian newspapers have reported cases of bullying or discrimination against Chinese people following the outbreak of the disease, which has now killed 170 in China and has spread abroad, with at least 15 countries confirming infections.
“It’s extremely unpleasant, absurd, and infuriating,” Francesco Wu, a member of the Italian Business Association Confcommercio, often called on to speak for the 30,000-strong Chinese community in Milan, told La Stampa daily.
Racist episodes reportedly included Chinese tourists being spat at in Venice, a family in Turin being accused of carrying the disease, and mothers in Milan using social media to call for Italian children to be kept away from Chinese classmates.
“It’s totally unjustified and it hurts even more because it involves children. It’s a mix of ignorance and latent racism,” Wu said.
Local health officials have sent the schools concerned a letter stating that “there is no need to introduce measures restricting the presence of Chinese children within school communities,” according to AGI.
There were some 300,000 Chinese living in Italy at the end of 2018, according to the National Statistics Institute (Istat).
