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Tag: Coronavirus

  • Coronavirus: British Airways, others suspend flights to China

    Coronavirus: British Airways, others suspend flights to China

    Some foreign airlines suspended flights to and from China on Wednesday as global fears mounted over a coronavirus epidemic that has killed 132 people and infected nearly 6,000.

    The announcements came hours after countries began airlifts to evacuate foreigners trapped in Wuhan, the quarantined central Chinese city of 11 million people at the epicentre of the health emergency.

    A growing number of governments, including the United States, Britain and Germany, have in recent days advised their citizens to avoid non-essential travel to China over concerns about the viral outbreak.

    China has itself urged its citizens to delay trips abroad, with at least 15 countries having confirmed cases of the disease.

    The United Arab Emirates reported the first known case in the Middle East on Wednesday.

    British Airways was the first major airline to announce a total suspension of flights to and from China, citing the travel advice of the foreign office.

    “We apologise to customers for the inconvenience, but the safety of our customers and crew is always our priority,” BA said in a statement on Wednesday.

    Indonesia’s Lion Air Group, Southeast Asia’s biggest carrier by fleet size, then said it would halt services to and from China from Saturday “until further notice”.

    In Myanmar, the three airlines that have routes into neighbouring China also said those flights would also be suspended from Saturday.

    Cathay Pacific also cut flights, citing low demand and the Hong Kong government’s response plan against the virus.

    And in one of the most dramatic measures, the tiny Pacific nation of Papua New Guinea announced Wednesday that travellers from Asia would not be allowed in.

    However many other airlines said they were continuing their China services.

    China has taken other extraordinary measures to try and stop the disease spreading, including bans on tour groups travelling overseas, suspending schools and extending the Lunar New Year holiday.

    Authorities also last week imposed transport bans in and around Wuhan in an unprecedented quarantine effort, leaving more than 50 million people shuttered in their homes.

    “This is the first day since the lockdown that I’ve had to go out,” a man in his 50s told AFP on the mostly deserted streets of the industrial city on Wednesday.

    “I have no choice because I need to buy food today.”

    Thousands of foreigners have been among those trapped in Wuhan, which has become a near ghost-town with car travel banned and residents staying indoors.

    Countries have scrambled for days to try and get their citizens out of Wuhan safely, but have faced huge logistical, medical and bureaucratic hurdles

  • Coronavirus: Japan to repatriate 200 citizens from China’s troubled city

    Coronavirus: Japan to repatriate 200 citizens from China’s troubled city

    Japan will send a chartered flight to the central Chinese city of Wuhan later in the day to repatriate about 200 of its citizens, the government says.

    The government will also send doctors, nurses and quarantine officers so that those Japanese citizens can undergo checkups on a plane, according to the health ministry.

    The aircraft is scheduled to come back to Japan on Wednesday, Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi says.

    Since a total of 650 Japanese in Wuhan wish to return, the government will send more flights to take them home, Motegi says.

    China and countries around the world are scrambling to contain the spread of the coronavirus that has killed at least 106 people and infected more than 4,500.

    Germany has reported its first case of the virus, as the U.S., and Canada upgraded travel warnings to advise their citizens to avoid all non-essential travel to China.

    More than 56 million people in almost 20 Chinese cities – including Wuhan, capital of Hubei Province and the epicentre of the virus – have been prevented from travelling in an attempt to curb the spread of the virus during the Lunar New Year or Spring Festival, traditionally China’s busiest travel season.

    The director-general of the World Health Organisation (WHO) is currently in China.

    The agency has acknowledged that the respiratory illness is an emergency in China but said last week that it was too early to declare the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern.

    It has described the global risk from the virus as high.

  • Coronavirus: Trouble for Africa as one tests positive in Ivory Coast

    Coronavirus: Trouble for Africa as one tests positive in Ivory Coast

    Health authorities in Ivory Coast are investigating a suspected case of Wuhan coronavirus in a female student who arrived from China, officials have said.

    The student, whom authorities have not named, is the first person to be tested for the virus on the continent, CNN reports.

    The virus has killed at least 80 people in the mainland Chinese city of Wuhan.

    The 34-year-old student traveled from Beijing to the Félix-Houphouët-Boigny International Airport in Abidjan on Saturday and was coughing, sneezing and experienced difficulty breathing, Ivory Coast’s Ministry of Health and Public Hygiene said in statement.

    The student was moved to a safe location upon arrival at the airport and is currently under medical observation, the ministry said.

    Authorities believe it is highly likely a case of pneumonia and not coronavirus, but the final diagnosis will be made after the analysis of the results of the test, the ministry said.

    Michel Yao, WHO Africa emergency response program manager, said the agency had advised health ministers in the region to activate standard flu screening at airports for passengers coming from mainland China.

    More than 2700 coronavirus cases have been confirmed, prompting countries around the world, including Nigeria to shore up surveillance and screening at airports, especially for travelers arriving from Wuhan in China where the outbreak began in December.

    Aviation authorities in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, said airlines operating in its airspace should update crew members on how to handle sick passengers on board their aircrafts.

    Pilots must report such cases to health officials on landing while also encouraging sick travelers to seek help before leaving the airport, Nigeria’s Federal Airport Agency said in a statement.

    Kenya, whose national carrier Kenya Airways, operates nonstop flights from Nairobi capital to Guangzhou, has also begun screening passengers arriving from China at its airport, according to local media.

    Coronavirus are a large group of viruses that are common among animals, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

    In rare cases, they are what scientists call zoonotic, meaning they can be transmitted from animals to humans. The viruses can make people sick, usually with a mild to moderate upper respiratory tract illness, similar to a common cold.

    Symptoms include a runny nose, cough, sore throat, and infected persons may have headaches and maybe a fever, which can last for a couple of days.

  • How Nigeria can better tackle Lassa Fever, Coronavirus – Atiku

    How Nigeria can better tackle Lassa Fever, Coronavirus – Atiku

    Nigeria’s former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar has proffer solution how Nigeria can win the battle against raging Lassa Fever in the country and put machinery in place to fight Coronavirus in case of emergency.

    Lassa Fever is currently raging in many states in Nigeria, with health officials battling to curtail the deadly disease.

    Reacting to the development, Atiku said the Nigerian government needed to fight Lassa Fever with the same zeal it fought the deadly Ebola in 2014.

    He said there must be swift response from health and emergency officials to battle Lassa Fever and get ready for the threat posed by Coronavirus.

    “In 2014, Nigeria confronted and quashed the dreaded Ebola disease. The swift battle was won by careful screening and rapid isolation.

    “Let us apply the same level of “world-class epidemiological detective work” in the case of Lassa Fever and the looming Coronavirus.

    “Awareness and education are also the most potent tools for combating Lassa Fever and Coronavirus. Please share these materials with all family and friends,” he said.

  • How Nigeria can win battle against Lassa Fever, Coronavirus – Atiku

    How Nigeria can win battle against Lassa Fever, Coronavirus – Atiku

    Nigeria’s former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar has proffer solution how Nigeria can win the battle against raging Lassa Fever in the country and put machinery in place to fight Coronavirus in case of emergency.

    Lassa Fever is currently raging in many states in Nigeria, with health officials battling to curtail the deadly disease.

    Reacting to the development, Atiku said the Nigerian government needed to fight Lassa Fever with the same zeal it fought the deadly Ebola in 2014.

    He said there must be swift response from health and emergency officials to battle Lassa Fever and get ready for the threat posed by Coronavirus.

    “In 2014, Nigeria confronted and quashed the dreaded Ebola disease. The swift battle was won by careful screening and rapid isolation.

    “Let us apply the same level of “world-class epidemiological detective work” in the case of Lassa Fever and the looming Coronavirus.

    “Awareness and education are also the most potent tools for combating Lassa Fever and Coronavirus. Please share these materials with all family and friends,” he said.

  • California confirms third case of Coronavirus in US

    California confirms third case of Coronavirus in US

    A patient in California’s Orange County was has been confirmed as the third person on US soil infected with the new deadly virus that originated in China, health officials said.

    The infected person was a traveler from Wuhan, the Chinese city at the epicentre of the outbreak, the Orange County Health Care Agency said.

    The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed the patient had tested positive for the Novel Coronavirus, it said.

    The individual was in isolation in a local hospital and was in good condition.

    “There is no evidence that person-to-person transmission has occurred in Orange County. The current risk of local transmission remains low,” the health care agency said.

    There were no details given on how the person arrived in the United States or their identity.

    The two other US cases involve a woman in Chicago who had travelled to Wuhan in late December before returning to the US on January 13, and a man in his thirties from Washington state who had also traveled to the Chinese city recently, the CDC said.

    The previously unknown virus has caused alarm because of its similarity to SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome), which killed hundreds across mainland China and Hong Kong in 2002-2003.

  • Panic as Coronavirus kills 41 in China, spreads to more countries

    Panic as Coronavirus kills 41 in China, spreads to more countries

    China said 41 people have now died from a new coronavirus that has infected more than 1,300 people globally, as health authorities around the world scramble to prevent a global pandemic.

    The total number of confirmed cases in China now stands at 1,287, the National Health Commission said in a statement on Saturday.

    The death roll has risen from 26 reported on Friday. All the latest deaths occurred in Wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak that has been in virtual quarantine as China scrambles to contain the virus spread.

    The vast majority of the cases and all of the confirmed deaths to date have been in China, but the virus has also been detected in Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Nepal, France and the United States.

    Human-to-human transmission has been observed in the virus, which health authorities believe to have originated in a market in Wuhan that traded illegally in wildlife.

    The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the new coronavirus an “emergency in China” this week but stopped short of declaring it of international concern.

    However, the virus continues to spread globally.

    Wuhan, a city of 11 million and the capital of central Hubei province, is in virtual lockdown.

    Nearly all flights at Wuhan’s airport have been cancelled and checkpoints block the main roads leading out of town. Authorities have since imposed similar lockdowns on more than 10 cities near Wuhan as part of the ongoing containment effort.

    As Wuhan slides into isolation, pharmacies have begun to run out of supplies and hospitals have been flooded with nervous residents. The city is rushing to build a 1,000-bed hospital by Monday, state media said.

    Hubei’s health authority said on Saturday there were 658 patients affected by the virus in medical care, 57 of whom were critically ill.

    “It must be confusing and infuriating that on the weekend the government reassured citizens that the virus did not spread between humans and was under control, and then, only four days later, to initiate an unprecedented lockdown of Wuhan and other cities,” said Mary Gallagher, director of the Lieberthal-Rogel Center for Chinese Studies at the University of Michigan.

    The newly-identified coronavirus has created alarm because there are still many unknowns surrounding it, such as how dangerous it is and how easily it spreads between people.

    It can cause pneumonia, which has been deadly in some cases.

    Symptoms include fever, difficulty breathing and coughing. Most of the fatalities have been in elderly patients, many with pre-existing conditions, the WHO said.

    Airports around the world have stepped up screening of passengers from China, though some health officials and experts have questioned the effectiveness of such screenings and of the lockdown.

    Health officials fear the transmission rate could accelerate as hundreds of millions of Chinese travel at home and abroad during week-long holidays for the Lunar New Year, which began on Saturday

  • Coronavirus: FG orders screening of passengers at airports, borders

    The Federal Government has ordered that passengers coming into the country through the airports, borders and other points of entries be thoroughly screened.

    This is to prevent the spread of the new deadly virus, coronavirus (2019nCoV), currently ravaging China.

    The government directive was in a public health advisory on the coronavirus (nCoV) issued yesterday in Abuja by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).

    It followed series of consultations to ascertain the nature and impact of the virus.

    Also, the World Health Organization (WHO) yesterday convened an emergency committee meeting to determine whether or not the outbreak of the virus should be declared a Public Health Event of International Concern (PHEIC).

    According to the health advisory, the disease control centre said the Port Health Services unit of the Federal Ministry of Health in Nigeria had been placed on alert and heightened screening measures at the points of entry.

    It said that exit screening measures in China have been enhanced for travellers from Wuhan city in China, at the Points of Entry (PoE) (airports and ground transport stations) since January 14, 2020.

    “The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) is currently coordinating a multi-sectoral technical group that is assessing and managing the risk of importation to Nigeria. NCDC is in close communication with the WHO, which is closely monitoring the situation globally,” it said.

    Urging Nigerians to remain calm and cautious, the NCDC advised travellers from the country into Wuhan, China, to avoid contact with sick people, animals (alive or dead) and animal markets.

    It said travellers from Wuhan to Nigeria may be asked questions upon arrival by the Port Health Services unit at points of entry about symptoms of illness and travel history.

    The agency advised travellers to report immediately to NCDC, if they feel ill after a trip to Wuhan.

    “Federal Ministry of Health, through NCDC and its partners, are fully committed to strengthening our preparedness and response to infectious disease outbreaks. Information will be shared with the public as it becomes available,” the health advisory said.

    The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has urged passengers and other airport users to comply with quarantine procedures at the nation’s airports.

    This, the agency said, would protect them from the Coronavirus epidemic ravaging some countries in South East Asia.

    FAAN said the new move became necessary to prevent the spread of such communicable disease into Nigeria.

    In a statement by its General Manager, Public Affairs, Mrs Henrietta Yakubu, the authority said it had taken proactive steps by ensuring that equipment and personnel used in combatting the deadly Ebola virus in 2014 were still in place at airports.

    The spokesperson said FAAN had always had thermal scanners at its airports to monitor the temperature of passengers as well as capture their pictures.

    “When passengers walk pass the scanner, it registers their temperature and if too high, they are pulled aside for observation,” she said.

  • Coronavirus: FAAN advises passengers on safety measures

    Coronavirus: FAAN advises passengers on safety measures

    In an effort to protect passengers from the Corona Virus epidemic ravaging some countries in South East Asia Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria has urged passengers and other airport users to comply with all quarantine procedures at the nation’s airports.

    FAAN said the new move became necessary to prevent the spread of such communicable disease into Nigeria.
    In a statement it’s General Manager, Public Affairs, Mrs Henrietta Yakubu said the authority had already taken proactive steps by ensuring that equipment and personnel used in combatting the deadly ebola virus in 2014 were still in place at airports.

    She said FAAN had always had thermal scanners in her airports that monitors the temperature of passengers as well as capture their pictures.

    She said:” When passengers walk pass the scanner, it registers their temperature and If too high, they are pulled aside for observation.”

    Recently, a deadly virus known as CORONAVIRUS broke out in China and has since killed six people, with over 300 reportedly infected.

    The highly communicable virus has already spread to border countries including Japan, Thailand and South Korea.

    Mrs Yakubu said:” The Authority, in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Health, has confirmed the adequacy of the facilities at the nation’s airports to prevent the importation of the virus through the airports.

    ” Passengers are therefore advised to submit themselves for routine quarantine checks whenever they are asked to. “

  • Deadly coronavirus in China likely to spread to other nations, WHO warns

    The World Health Organisation (WHO) warned on Tuesday that the new coronavirus was likely to spread to other parts of China and possibly other countries in coming days.

    “More cases should be expected in other parts of China and possibly other countries in the coming days,” said WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic.

    So far in China, the virus has mostly been concentrated in Wuhan city, where it is thought to have emerged from a seafood market, although isolated cases have also been reported in Shanghai and Beijing.

    On the reason for the expected new cases, Jasarevic said that they would appear as China steps up monitoring.

    “If you increase surveillance and testing you are likely to get new numbers,” he added.

    All international cases are thought to be linked to the original outbreak cluster in Wuhan.

    The WHO does not advise travel restrictions at this time.

    Similarly, Taiwan on Tuesday confirmed the first case of infection from the new coronavirus, a woman in her 50s who had returned to the island after working in the Chinese city of Wuhan where the outbreak began.

    The Taiwan Centres for Disease Control said the woman, from southern Taiwan, had returned to the island on Monday and had been sent to the hospital from the airport after showing symptoms such as fever and coughing.

    It however advised people not to panic, saying the woman had been identified as soon as she arrived in Taiwan.

    Taiwan has already alerted China and the WHO about the case, the government added.

    The outbreak has spread from the central Chinese city of Wuhan to cities including Beijing and Shanghai.

    Other cases have also been reported outside China, including in South Korea, Thailand and Japan.

    Taiwan, which has close economic and people-to-people links with China in spite of political tensions between the two sides, on Monday set up an epidemic response command center to coordinate the island’s response to the virus.

    Taiwan has also prepared more than 1,000 beds in isolation wards in case the virus spreads further.