Coronavirus update: countries close borders as cases soar, Hollywood actor Tom Hanks infected

US President Donald Trump announced late on Wednesday that the US will suspend all travel from Europe for the next 30 days, effective from Friday
Meanwhile, Hollywood actor Tom Hanks announced on his Instagram account that he and his wife had contracted the virus in Australia

Coronavirus pandemic

SCMP’s Asia desk

Published: 9:39am, 12 Mar 2020

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As the World Health Organisation declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic and cases outside China soared, South Korea reported more than 100 new infections, the United States announced it is closing its borders to travellers from Europe and Hollywood actor Tom Hanks said that he and his wife had contracted the disease.

Hanks said on his Instagram account that the couple “felt a bit tired, like we had colds” before testing positive for the virus.

The news came after Beijing’s city government ordered all passengers arriving in the city from overseas, regardless of their points of departure, to undergo a 14-day quarantine, as part of stepped-up measures to prevent the virus first detected in China from re-entering the country.

The number of cases in China has been falling, with just 15 new confirmed cases reported on Thursday. Of the 24 new cases announced the day before, five had arrived from Italy and one from the United States.

South Korea on Thursday reported 114 new cases, as well as six more deaths, bringing the country’s total to 7,869, with 66 deaths.

Travel bans

US President Donald Trump announced late on Wednesday that the US will suspend all travel from Europe – excluding Britain – for the next 30 days, effective from Friday at midnight, in an effort to slow the advance of the virus.

A number of Latin American countries have also introduced travel restrictions, with Guatemala announcing it would bar Europeans from entering and El Salvador late on Wednesday going even further with a ban on all foreigners for a period of 21 days.

Argentina, Colombia and Peru also announced that travellers from China, Italy, Spain and France would be isolated on arrival.

The South American continent still had only around 150 registered cases and two deaths as of Wednesday.

Officials infected

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte is to be tested for the coronavirus after it emerged both his finance and transport secretaries have been exposed to an infected person and will be put into self quarantine.

The news came as the Philippine Department of Health said on Wednesday that a second person had died, the first being a 44-year-old Chinese male from Wuhan who died in the Philippines on February 1. There are 49 confirmed cases in the country so far.

Meanwhile in Iran, by far the hardest-hit country in the Middle East, the senior vice-president and two other cabinet ministers have been diagnosed with the virus, a semi-official news agency reported.

The country also reported another jump in deaths, by 62 to 354 – the third most in the world behind only China and Italy.

Iran has some 9,000 confirmed cases of the virus and there is speculation that Vice-President Eshaq Jahangiri, who has not been seen in pictures of recent top-level meetings, has contracted the virus.

Iranian President Hassan Rowhani has 11 vice-presidents. Another, Massoumeh Ebtekar, earlier fell ill with the virus and is reportedly recovering.

Visas suspended

India said on Wednesday it would suspend the vast majority of visas to the country, while millions of foreign nationals of Indian origin – traditionally granted visa-free access – will now need to apply.

In an advisory, the country’s health ministry said anyone with a “compelling reason” to travel to India could contact their nearest Indian mission. It also urged Indian nationals to avoid all non-essential travel abroad.

Additional reporting by Associated Press, Bloomberg, Agence France-Presse, Reuters

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