▶️ China’s National Health Commission said there was a total of 74,185 confirmed cases as of Feb. 18, and 2,004 people have died so far. Hubei province reports an additional 132 deaths.
▶️ Liu Zhiming, 51, a neurosurgeon and the director of the Wuchang Hospital in Wuhan, died shortly before 11 a.m. on Tuesday, the Wuhan health commission said.
▶️ A new study published last month in the Journal of Hospital Infection showed that coronaviruses like those that caused SARS and MERS could survive for up to nine days on surfaces that have not been disinfected, including metal, glass or plastic. The study also showed that higher temperatures between 86 and 104 degrees can decrease survival of coronaviruses.
▶️ South Korea confirmed 15 additional cases, bringing the total number of affected patients to 46.
▶️ A second person, a 70-year-old man, has died in Hong Kong from the infection.
▶️ Confirmed cases in Singapore surpass 80.
▶️ Passengers to begin disembarkation from quarantined cruise ship in Japan. Japan said there were a total of 542 cases confirmed aboard thus far. Several countries have arranged charter flights to take their nationals home after they leave the boat. Most if not all of these passengers face an additional two-week quarantine in their home countries.
▶️ A couple from Japan tested positive for novel coronavirus shortly after visiting Hawaii this month, and Delta Airlines says it is notifying passengers who were on their flight home about the couple’s diagnosis.
▶️ Chinese President Xi Jinping held phone calls with leaders of the U.K. and France to express gratitude for their sympathies and support in China’s fight against the virus.
▶️ More than one-tenth of China’s people are largely confined to their homes. At least 150 million people in China — over 10 percent of the country’s population — are living under government restrictions on how often they can leave their homes. More than 760 million Chinese people live in communities that have imposed strictures of some sort on residents’ comings and goings, as officials try to contain the epidemic.
▶️ Indian start-up Oyo fights to keep hotels in China open.
▶️ CDC places travel restrictions on Princess Cruise passengers.
▶️ Japan said 500 people would be released from cruise ship, even after more infections were confirmed.
▶️ Simply checking travelers for symptoms such as fever or cough is not enough to avoid spreading the novel coronavirus, a new report by German researchers said Tuesday.
▶️ US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo: “US ‘hopeful’ China will be transparent on the coronavirus.”
▶️ The economic pain from the epidemic is continuing to spread. HSBC, one of the most important banks in Hong Kong, said it planned to cut 35,000 jobs and $4.5 billion in costs as it faces headwinds that include the outbreak and months of political strife in Hong Kong. Jaguar Land Rover warned that the coronavirus could soon begin to create production problems at its assembly plants in Britain.
Photo by Kyodo News, via Associated Press
You must be logged in to post a comment.