China’s death toll from a new virus rose to 259 on Saturday and a World Health Organisation (WHO) official said other governments need to prepare for “domestic outbreak control” if the disease spreads in their countries.
Beijing criticised Washington’s order barring entry to most foreigners who visited China in the past two weeks.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced similar measures Saturday, following Japan and Singapore.
South Korea and India flew hundreds of their citizens out of Wuhan, the city at the centre of an area where some 50 million people are prevented from leaving in a sweeping anti-virus effort. The evacuees went into a two-week quarantine. Indonesia also sent a plane.
The number of confirmed cases in China rose to 11,791, surpassing the number in the 2002-03 outbreak of SARS, or Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome. The virus’ rapid spread in two months prompted the WHO on Thursday to declare it a global emergency.
That declaration “flipped the switch” from a cautious attitude to recommending governments prepare for the possibility the virus might spread, said the WHO representative in Beijing, Gauden Galea. Most cases reported so far have been people who visited China or their family members.
The agency acted out of concern for poorer countries that might not be equipped to respond, said Galea. Such a declaration calls for a coordinated international response and can bring more money and resources.
WHO said it was especially concerned that some cases abroad involved human-to-human transmission.
“Countries need to get ready for possible importation in order to identify cases as early as possible and in order to be ready for a domestic outbreak control, if that happens,” Galea told The Associated Press.
On Friday, the United States declared a public health emergency and President Donald Trump signed an order barring entry to foreign nationals who visited China within the last 14 days, which scientists say is the virus’ longest incubation period. The restrictions don’t apply to immediate family of American citizens and permanent residents.
China criticised the US controls and “unfriendly comments” that Beijing was failing to cooperate.
“Just as the WHO recommended against travel restrictions, the US rushed to go in the opposite way. Certainly not a gesture of goodwill,” said foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying.
WHO Secretary-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that despite the emergency declaration, there is “no reason for measures that unnecessarily interfere with international travel and trade.”
Meanwhile, the ruling Communist Party postponed the end of the Lunar New Year holiday in Hubei province, where Wuhan is located, for an unspecified “appropriate extent” and appealed to people there to stay home.
Another locked-down city in Hubei, Huanggang, on Saturday banned almost all residents from leaving their homes in the most stringent controls imposed yet. The government said only one person from each household would be allowed out to shop for food once every two days.
“Others are not allowed to go out except for medical treatment, to do epidemic prevention and control work or to work in supermarkets and pharmacies,” it said in an announcement.
China’s anti-disease controls started with the January 23 suspension of plane, bus and train links to Wuhan, an industrial centre of 11 million people. The lock down has spread to surrounding cities.
The holiday, China’s busiest annual travel season, ends Sunday in the rest of the country following a three-day extension to postpone the return to factories and offices by hundreds of millions of workers. The official Xinhua News Agency said people in Hubei who work outside the province also were given an extended holiday.
The party decision “highlighted the importance of prevention and control of the epidemic among travellers,” Xinhua said.
Americans returning from China will be allowed into the country, but will face screening. Those returning from Hubei province will be subject to a 14-day quarantine.
Beginning Sunday, the US will direct flights from China to seven major airports where passengers can be screened.
Delta Air Lines said Saturday that it was accelerating plans to suspend fights between the United States and China. Delta’s last flight from China will leave Sunday, the airline said. It had planned to end flights on Thursday.
Other carriers including American Airlines, British Airways, Finnair and Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific also have cancelled or cut back service to mainland China. Vietnam suspended all flights to China.
The US order followed a travel advisory for Americans to consider leaving China. Japan and Germany also advised against nonessential travel to China. Britain did as well, except for Hong Kong and Macao.
A plane carrying Indians from Wuhan landed Saturday in New Delhi. The government said they would be quarantined in nearby Manesar. Sri Lanka also pulled out 33 more of its citizens and promised to bring back the remaining 204 students.
A special flight brought 312 Bangladeshis back from Wuhan, including eight who were hospitalized with high temperatures. The government says about 5,000 Bangladeshis study in China.
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One death outside of China. Phillipines I hear.
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