People wearing face masks ride escalators inside Hankou Railway Station on January 22, 2020 in Wuhan, China. A new infectious coronavirus known as “2019-nCoV” was discovered in Wuhan last week.
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This is a live blog. Please check back for updates.
All times below in Beijing time, beginning on Wednesday.
1:37 pm: United Arab Emirates confirms coronavirus case
State-owned Emirates News Agency reported that the UAE has identified “the first case of new coronavirus in the UAE for members of a family arriving from the Chinese city of Wuhan.”
The UAE Ministry of Health and Prevention said “the health condition of those infected is stable and under medical observation,” according to the report. It did not immediately specify how many people were diagnosed with the virus.
12:57 pm: Macao reports massive drop in visitor arrivals during Lunar New Year holiday
12:30 pm: Australia plans to evacuate its citizens from Hubei to a quarantine station on Christmas Island
“We have taken a decision this morning to prepare a plan for an operation to provide some assisted departures for isolated and vulnerable Australians in Wuhan and the Hubei province,” Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said at a news conference.
Morrison also said that evacuated Australian nationals will be flown to Christmas Island, where the government will set up a quarantine area. The government expects evacuees to remain on the island for up to 14 days.
12:00 pm: Chinese province says medical teams from across the country have arrived to help fight coronavirus
9:30 am: Hong Kong stocks plunge in return from Lunar New Year holiday
9:15 am: Charter jet evacuating Japanese nationals from Wuhan lands in Tokyo
8:42 am: Coronavirus cases in China surpass those of SARS
The number of coronavirus cases in China have now topped that of SARS. Between Nov. 1, 2002, and July 31, 2003, China had 5,327 SARS cases, according to the World Health Organization. The population of China has increase by about 100 million people to 1.4 billion in the years since.
8:13 am: China’s National Health Commission reports latest figures as of end of Tuesday
Chinese health officials said confirmed 1,459 new cases and 26 additional deaths (25 in Hubei and 1 in Henan). Those figures bring the total cases to 5,974 confirmed cases, with 132 deaths and 103 cured, according to the National Health Commission.
7:27 am: Scientists in Australia have reportedly recreated a lab-grown version of coronavirus
Reuters reports that a team of scientists have successfully grown a version of coronavirus in the lab. The news service reported that the breakthrough would help researchers around the world as they race to develop a vaccine and detection tests.
7:14 am: Chinese province at epicenter of outbreak reports 25 more deaths, 840 new cases
Hubei province reported an additional 840 cases and 25 deaths. As of the end of Jan. 28, the province said that brings cases in the region to 3,554 and its death toll to 125, with the majority of those located in Hubei’s capital city, Wuhan. Hubei also said 80 people had been cured.
7:08 am: White House tells airlines it may suspend all China-US flights
The White House has told airline executives it’s considering suspending flights from China to the U.S. amid an escalating outbreak of a new coronavirus that has infected thousands of people across the world, people familiar with the matter told CNBC. The restrictions could affect flights into and out of China, as well as airports across the United States, the officials said.
— CNBC’s Riya Bhattacharjee contributed to this report.
CNBC.com
