China virus: Taiwan tells people not to go to Wuhan amid outbreak

President Tsai Ing-wen says tourist visits to and from central Chinese city have been temporarily suspended as island sounds general travel alert

Taiwan has confirmed its first case of the coronavirus, a woman who had returned from Wuhan

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Medical staff wear protective gear at Wuhan’s Jinyintan hospital, where the patients with pneumonia caused by the coronavirus are being treated. Photo: Reuters

Published: 9:53am, 22 Jan 2020Updated: 2:43pm, 17 Feb 2020

Taiwan has suspended travel by tour groups to and from Wuhan and has called on Taiwanese not to visit the city in central China, after the first confirmed case of the new coronavirus was detected on the island.

President Tsai Ing-wen said on Wednesday that the Ministry of Transport and Communications had posted a travel warning for Wuhan and ordered all domestic travel operators to temporarily suspend tours to the city. Earlier, she called on the island’s residents not to visit the Wuhan area unless absolutely necessary.

“We will also temporarily stop all Wuhan tour groups from coming to Taiwan,” she said. “During the Lunar New Year, I want to remind people not to panic and to continue their everyday lives, just to remember to stay informed with official information and to manage your own health, to avoid the threat of this virus.”

Tsai also urged Beijing to be “open and transparent” about information on the outbreak, and called on the World Health Organisation “not to exclude Taiwan over political considerations”. Taiwan is not a member of the international organisation and has been blocked from attending its annual summit, the World Health Assembly, amid rising pressure from Beijing, which claims the self-ruled island as part of its own territory.

Authorities have confirmed 440 cases of the virus in mainland China, mostly in Wuhan, where on Tuesday authorities said nine people had died.