Chinese health authorities reported 7,711 cases of the new coronavirus and 170 deaths late on Wednesday. The virus has now been recorded in every region of the country and in 16 countries worldwide, with around 70 cases outside China, according to the latest World Health Organization figures.
“Although the numbers outside China are still relatively small, they hold the potential for a much larger outbreak,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in Geneva.
What worries the agency is how fast the virus has spread, and the person-to-person transmission now seen in three other countries: Germany, Vietnam and Japan. The WHO Emergency Committee will meet again on Thursday, its third session in a week, to decide whether the outbreak is an international emergency. A yes would bring stronger public health measures, funding and resources to limit its spread abroad.
Tedros and his colleagues had just returned from China. They praised Beijing’s response. “I was very encouraged and impressed by President Xi Jinping’s detailed knowledge of the outbreak and his personal involvement in the outbreak, this for me is real leadership,” Tedros said.
Airlines pull out
Swiss International Airlines and its parent Lufthansa said they would suspend flights to and from China. “For operational reasons, booking acceptance for flights to China (mainland) has stopped until the end of February,” Lufthansa said. Hong Kong will continue to be served as planned. Lufthansa, SWISS and Austrian Airlines will make one last trip to their Chinese destinations on Thursday to bring passengers and crews home.
SWISS cancelled 32 flights carrying approximately 4,000 passengers, spokeswoman Meike Fuhlrott said, and will rebook them free of charge on other airlines. Flights to Beijing and Shanghai are suspended until February 9. American Airlines and British Airways have also stopped flying to mainland China. Deaths leapt from 26 to 133 over the same period, and the first cases emerged in the Middle East.
Getting people out of Wuhan
Switzerland is exploring ways to evacuate nationals from Wuhan, following Japan, Germany and the United States. A US official told Reuters that a charter plane had left the city with 220 people aboard, including 50 diplomats and contractors. Wuhan, a city of 11 million, is in virtual lockdown, and much of Hubei province, home to nearly 60 million people, faces some kind of travel curb.
Swiss public television reported that 12 people in Wuhan, Swiss citizens and some foreign spouses, were in touch with the embassy. Fabienne Blaser, a student from Bern, said she was effectively under quarantine, with the university requiring daily temperature checks submitted online. She said she would like embassy help to leave.
Switzerland has no confirmed cases. Of 50 suspected cases analysed by Wednesday afternoon, all tested negative, said Daniel Dauwalder of the Federal Office of Public Health. Three of eight Chinese dancers scheduled for the Prix de Lausanne ballet competition can no longer take part.
