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Medical staff at work in a makeshift hospital that was converted from an exhibition centre, in Wuhan, central China. Photo: Xinhua

Taiwan halts visas for Hong Kong and Macau citizens as coronavirus deaths reach 565 globally

  • Self-governed island wary of fresh infections in the two cities, while there are 3,694 confirmed new cases in mainland China, with 73 new deaths
  • Experimental drug remdesivir moves closer to possible approval for use as clinical trial begins
Daily deaths caused by the new coronavirus have reached another record level in China, with 73 fatalities confirmed in figures released by health authorities on Thursday morning, taking the country’s death toll to 563.

The number of new infections in mainland China and the total within its central province of Hubei – the outbreak’s epicentre – both fell on Wednesday compared with the day before. There were 3,694 additional cases in the country and 2,987 in Hubei, national and provincial health authorities announced on Thursday morning.

The last time the rise in new infection figures slowed was January 28, after the daily increase in confirmed cases again rose on Tuesday – 3,887 in China, of which 3,156 were in Hubei. There have been 565 confirmed deaths worldwide from the coronavirus since it first emerged at the end of December, and it has sickened more than 28,000.

 

Permits to visit Taiwan suspended for Hong Kong, Macau

Taiwan said on Thursday that it would suspend its online and landing visa services indefinitely for Hong Kong and Macau citizens, while non-citizens of Hong Kong and Macau with a history of travel to mainland China, Hong Kong or Macau are also to be barred from visiting.

“Beginning [midnight Thursday], we will suspend online and landing visa application services” until further notice, announced Chiu Chui-cheng, vice-chairman of Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council, which sets the island’s policies towards mainland China.

Those with an urgent need to visit Taiwan need to apply to the self-governed island’s representative offices in Hong Kong or Macau with proof of not having travelled to mainland China in the previous 14 days, Chiu said.

Taiwan restricts travellers from Hong Kong and Macau amid crisis

The latest restriction of entry for people from those cities since the outbreak spread was necessary to protect Taiwanese people, Chiu said. Taiwan has raised its alert level for travel to Hong Kong and Macau to Level 2, indicating a potential risk; the highest alert is Level 3, advising against visiting unless strictly necessary.

Taiwan’s Centres for Disease Control (CDC) had previously said that, beginning on Friday, people arriving from Hong Kong and Macau had to conduct home or hotel quarantine for 14 days after landing. Hong Kong and Macau citizens who already had valid Taiwan entry permits issued before Friday can still enter the island but must fulfil the 14 days’ quarantine.

“Several community-transmitted cases with unknown origin have occurred in Hong Kong, indicating the possibility of an invisible chain of infection,” the Taiwan CDC said. “A worker in the gambling industry in Macau has been diagnosed with coronavirus infection, indicating a second wave of infection in Macau.”

Cruise ships banned in Taiwan

Taiwan has banned all cruise ships from docking at its ports, regardless of whether they have visited Hong Kong, Macau or mainland China after a Taiwanese woman was found to have been infected on a Japanese cruise ship.

The woman was among 20 people on board the ship to have tested positive for the coronavirus infection. About 1,000 tourists disembarked from the ship, for a day trip to Taipei and New Taipei City, when it anchored at the northern port of Keelung on January 31, according to Taiwanese immigration authorities.

Taiwan’s Tourism Bureau said tours to Hong Kong and Macau would be suspended until February 29.

Taiwan reported two more cases of confirmed coronavirus infection on Thursday, bringing the total number to 13, as its first patient was discharged from hospital after making a full recovery.

One of the new cases is a 40-year-old man who visited Wuhan on January 17 and developed symptoms a day after his return to Taiwan on February 2. The second is a 20-year-old woman who worked in Wuhan and returned to Taiwan on February 1, Health Minister Chen Shih-chung said.

The woman was hospitalised on February 4 and was confirmed to have been infected on Thursday, he said.

Chen said the 55-year-old woman who had previously tested positive for the virus had been escorted home by anti-epidemic team members after she was discharged from hospital on Thursday.

Trade deal hitch

Mainland media reported on Thursday that the outbreak could prompt China to consider triggering a disaster-related clause in the trade deal it signed with the United States last month.

Global Times, a nationalist tabloid affiliated to Communist Party mouthpiece People’s Daily, quoted an unnamed Chinese trade expert close to the government as saying a decision on launching a consultation with the US on the disaster clause was unlikely until the end of the first quarter.

In a commentary published on Wednesday, the newspaper said: “The phase one agreement clearly stated that the two parties would consult with each other, ‘in the event that a natural disaster or other unforeseeable event outside the control of the parties delays a party from timely complying with its obligations under this agreement’. Without doubt the epidemic fits this scenario.”

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said she had no information on the disaster-related clause. China announced on Thursday that it would halve some of the tariffs it imposed on American products late last year.

70 new deaths in Hubei epicentre

Health authorities in Hubei reported 70 new deaths, a daily record, and 2,987 newly confirmed cases as of Thursday. This brings the totals announced by the province’s health commission to 549 and 19,665, respectively. Officials in Hubei had reported 65 fatalities and 3,156 newly confirmed cases on Tuesday.

Some 1,766 of the new cases announced on Thursday were confirmed in Hubei’s capital of Wuhan, where the virus is believed to have originated at a seafood and meat market.

Diagnosis methods tested

Health officials are racing to develop treatments and testing methods for the virus. Wuhan, ground zero of the outbreak, launched an emergency test laboratory on Wednesday. The Huo Yan Laboratory is designed to handle 10,000 samples each day to detect the virus.

The lab is now under trial operation. It is expected to significantly increase the speed of virus testing so that suspected infections can be quickly detected and diagnosed.

Clinical trial for remdesivir begins

Experimental drug remdesivir moved closer to being approved for treatment as a stage-three clinical trial for the antiviral medication started in Wuhan on Thursday. Led by teams from the China-Japan Friendship Hospital and Wuhan Jinyintan Hospital, the trial was set to involve 761 patients, of whom 308 had mild to average symptoms and 453 were in serious condition.

Remdesivir was developed by US-based Gilead Sciences to treat Ebola but has been repurposed to treat the new coronavirus. It has not been approved by any country.

Gilead Sciences has agreed with China’s ministry of health to fully support clinical trials, including providing the drug for free to use in the trials, according to Beijing-based media group Caixin.

The first coronavirus patient in the US was treated with remdesivir and his condition improved, according to his doctors in a study published in The New England Journal of Medicine last week.

China has taken unprecedented measures to curb the spread of the virus, including travel restrictions for most of Hubei province, which has a population of more than 50 million.

Health experts tell US Congress travel bans won’t stop coronavirus outbreak

The travel lockdown and other orders have stirred debate globally over whether such steps would be effective and worthwhile relative to the disruption they pose for local residents and the economy.

At a recent meeting of the Communist Party’s inner circle, the Politburo Standing Committee, President Xi Jinping said local officials would be punished severely if they failed to heed Beijing’s orders to stop the virus from spreading.

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