GENEVA - The new coronavirus has peaked in China but could still grow into a pandemic, the World Health Organization has warned, as infections mushroom in other countries.
Financial markets have gone into a tailspin after grim news of deaths and outbreaks in the Middle East, Europe and Asia, even as the Chinese epicenter appeared to be calming, with the death toll at its lowest for 3 weeks.
But the situation is worsening in other countries, with more than 2,000 cases and 30 deaths reported abroad, prompting a raft of restrictions on travelers from infected nations.
South Korea, Italy and Iran have logged particularly sharp increases in infections and deaths, while several countries in the Middle East reported their first cases of the novel coronavirus.
But WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyes insisted the virus could still be contained, praising China's drastic quarantine measures in several cities for helping to prevent an even bigger spread.
"For the moment we are not witnessing the uncontained global spread of this virus and we are not witnessing large-scale deaths," Tedros told reporters in Geneva.
He added, however, that countries should be "doing everything we can to prepare for a potential pandemic."
The term "pandemic" is used to describe an illness that spreads across numerous communities.
SOUTH KOREA HOTSPOT
South Korea, which has the largest number of cases outside China, reported 60 more infections and 1 more fatality on Tuesday, raising its death toll to 8 and total patients to nearly 900.
South Korea's outbreak has centered around a religious sect in Daegu, the country's fourth largest city.
The country is on its highest "red" alert. As part of the containment efforts, school holidays were extended nationally while the 2.5 million people of Daegu were told to remain indoors.
The US Centers for Disease Control raised its caution level to warn Americans against "all non-essential travel to South Korea."
Italy, which has reported 7 deaths and over 200 cases, has locked down 11 towns, while upcoming football matches in its Serie A and the Europa League will be played behind closed doors.
With police manning checkpoints to enforce a blockade, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has said that residents could face weeks of lockdown.
IRAN FEARS
The disease -- officially known as COVID-19 -- spread to new countries including Afghanistan, Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait and Oman.
At least 12 people have died in Iran, the highest toll outside China.
But there were concerns the situation might be worse than officially acknowledged. The semi-official ILNA news agency quoted 1 local lawmaker in hard-hit Qom -- a religious center -- who said 50 people had died there.
The Iranian government denied the report, and pledged transparency.
Even so, authorities have only reported 64 infections in Iran, an unusually small number that would mean an extremely high mortality rate.
Michael Ryan, head of WHO's health emergencies program, said a team from the UN agency would be arriving in Iran on Tuesday.
But he cautioned against drawing any conclusions about the mortality rate. Iran "may only be detecting severe cases" because the epidemic was still at an early stage, he said.
Several countries have taken measures to prevent arrivals from Iran.
CHINA PEAK
In China, 508 new cases were reported, with all but 9 at the epicenter in central Hubei province. Although that was up from 409 on Monday it was much lower than new infections being reported just a week ago.
China's death toll reached 2,663 on Tuesday, after 71 more people died.
WHO's Tedros said the epidemic peaked in China between Jan. 23 and Feb. 2.
China has placed some 56 million in Hubei and its capital under quarantine since late last month, while other regions have enacted some forms of travel curbs and measures to keep millions more people indoors.
Bruce Aylward, leader of a WHO mission of international experts, said late Monday it was time for China to start lifting some of the restrictions.
"Obviously they want to get society back to a more normal semblance of what probably is the new normal, because this virus may be around... for months," Aylward said.
Reflecting the disquiet, global markets plunged on Monday, with Wall Street off 3.6 percent.
Bargain buying helped some Asian markets into the green on Tuesday, but disquiet remained, with Tokyo dropping 3 percent by lunchtime.
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TOKYO - A fourth person has died after being taken to hospital from a quarantined coronavirus-stricken cruise ship off Japan, local media reported on Tuesday.
Public broadcaster NHK and other local outlets said the fatality was a man in his 80s, with the Yomiuri Shimbun saying the man had tested positive for the new coronavirus and died of pneumonia.
The health minister did not immediately respond to a request to confirm the reports.
Three others, all Japanese, have so far died after becoming sick on the ship. Two were confirmed to have the new coronavirus, while the health ministry declined to comment on whether the third person tested positive for the virus.
At least 691 people who were on board the Diamond Princess have so far tested positive for COVID-19, according to the health ministry.
Around a 1,000 people were allowed to leave the ship after it completed a 14-day quarantine if they tested negative and displayed no symptoms.
But several people who left the boat after getting the all-clear have since tested positive, and the health ministry has admitted some people were allowed to disembark despite not being tested during the quarantine.
Separately, Japan has confirmed at least 156 cases of infection with the virus, and 1 death.
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TOKYO - Two passengers from a coronavirus-hit cruise ship moored near Tokyo have died, public broadcaster NHK said on Thursday, as a second group of passengers began disembarking after two-weeks quarantined onboard.
More than 620 of the passengers on the Diamond Princess liner have been infected on the ship, which has been quarantined since Feb. 3, initially with about 3,700 people on board.
NHK, citing a government source, said the passengers were a man and woman in their 80s.
The rapid spread of the disease - Japan has well over half of the known cases outside China - has sparked criticism of authorities just months before Tokyo is due to host the Summer Olympics.
Health Minister Katsunobu Kato on Thursday defended Japan's response in parliament, telling lawmakers that officials have taken expert advice and responded to issues on a daily basis.
In a move to reassure the public, the health ministry also issued a statement in both English and Japanese that said all passengers had been required to stay in their cabins since Feb. 5 to contain the virus.
Public criticism of the government has played out in social media.
Kentaro Iwata, a Japanese infectious disease specialist with Kobe University, removed a widely-viewed video clip that castigated the government response.
"There is no need for further discussing this," he said in a tweet, apologizing to "those who got involved".
He later told a news conference he took down the video because he was informed conditions on the ship had improved.
About 500 passengers were set to disembark on Thursday while another 100 people were to leave for chartered flights home, a health ministry official said.
An initial batch of passengers who had tested negative and shown no symptoms left the vessel on Wednesday.
Those who have shared a room with people testing positive were required to remain in quarantine, as were crew. The ministry could not confirm how many people remained on board, or when disembarkation would be complete.
More than 150 Australian passengers arrived home after a pre-dawn departure from Tokyo's Haneda airport. They face another 14-day quarantine.
Buses escorted by police cars transported the Australian passengers from Yokohama to Tokyo's Haneda Airport late Wednesday. The buses drove the Australians straight to the tarmac, where they boarded the government-chartered plane.
Some Hong Kong passengers also went home, while Canadians were due to leave on a charter flight in the early hours of Friday, Tokyo time, a Canadian government spokeswoman said. An evacuation flight was also being arranged for British nationals to leave Tokyo on Friday.
Earlier in the week, the United States evacuated more than 300 nationals on 2 chartered flights.
A US State Department official said there were still about 45 US citizens on board the cruise ship as of Thursday.
Americans flown back will have to complete another 14 days quarantine, as will returning Hong Kong residents.
Disembarked Japanese passengers, however, face no such restrictions, a decision that has sparked concern.
Japan's chief cabinet secretary, Yoshihide Suga, when asked on Wednesday why Japanese leaving the ship did not have to spend another two weeks in quarantine, referred to the advice of Japan's National Institute of Infectious Diseases (NIID).
The NIID said there should be no problem if people had shown no symptoms for 14 days and had tested negative for the virus during the period their health was under surveillance.
Besides those on the cruise liner and returnees brought home from Wuhan, China, about 70 cases of domestic infections have been confirmed in Japan, including 25 in Tokyo, public broadcaster NHK reported.
The spread of the virus has raised concerns about planning for the Tokyo Summer Olympics as well as the impact on Japan's economy.
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YOKOHAMA, Japan - Americans began leaving a quarantined cruise ship off Japan on Monday to board chartered flights home as the number of new coronavirus cases diagnosed on the vessel jumped to 355.
The evacuation came as Japanese authorities stepped up warnings over the deadly outbreak, urging citizens to avoid crowds and "non-essential gatherings."
The Diamond Princess was placed in a 14-day quarantine in early February after a former passenger tested positive for the virus.
But US authorities announced Saturday they would offer Americans on board the option to leave the ship and fly home, where they will face another 14-day isolation period. Several other governments have announced plans to remove their citizens from the ship as well.
Late Sunday and into the early hours of Monday, Americans who opted to leave were brought off the ship in groups, passing through a makeshift passport control but undergoing no health checks, American passenger Sarah Arana told AFP.
They boarded buses driven by personnel in head-to-toe protective suits and were told that the more than a dozen vehicles would travel in a convoy.
"I am happy and ready to go," Arana told AFP before leaving the ship. "We need a proper quarantine, this was not it."
The US government should have intervened "much sooner, at the beginning," the 52-year-old medical social worker said.
"This was too much for Japan, and they shouldn't have had to bear the burden," she added. "The people of Japan did not deserve this. I am full of gratitude."
But other Americans on board declined the evacuation, despite being warned they will still have to wait two weeks and test negative for the virus before being allowed back to the United States.
"My health is fine. And my two-week quarantine is almost over. Why would I want to be put on a bus and a plane with other people they think may be infected when I have spent nearly two weeks isolated from those people?" tweeted Matt Smith, an American lawyer on the ship with his wife.
He described a fellow American passenger standing on her balcony chanting "USA, USA" as buses arrived to collect them.
"Of course, in contravention of the rules of quarantine, she's not wearing a face mask, and she's talking with a passenger on the adjacent balcony... And you wanted me to get on a bus with her?"
Earlier Sunday, health minister Katsunobu Kato said 1,219 people on the ship had now been tested for the virus, with 355 diagnosed with the illness.
Japan has not been able to test all those on board due to limited supplies of testing kits, facilities and manpower, which are also needed by authorities tracking the spread of the virus on land.
But the health ministry said Saturday that passengers older than 70 are being examined and those testing negative and in good health will be allowed to leave the ship from Wednesday.
Tests on younger passengers were expected to start Sunday and healthy people will be allowed to disembark after Wednesday, it said.
Other governments announced though that they too would seek to repatriate their nationals, with Hong Kong announcing plans to charter a flight for 330 city residents on the ship.
Canada announced a similar decision, while Australia and Taiwan are considering such a move, local media said.
In Japan, the number of new infections has continued to rise, with six new cases reported on Sunday, most of them in Tokyo. At least 59 cases have now been confirmed, including more than a dozen among the hundreds of Japanese nationals and their relatives repatriated from Wuhan, China, the epicentre of the outbreak.
A fifth evacuation flight left to China on Sunday night.
With the rise in local infections, Kato warned the country was "entering a new phase."
"We are seeing infection cases that we are unable to trace back their transmission routes," he told reporters.
"We want to ask the public to avoid non-urgent, non-essential gatherings. We want elderly and those with pre-existing conditions to avoid crowded places," he added.
"I think it's important that we exercise Japan's collective strength."
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TOKYO, Japan – "Cupid's avocado" for dinner, heart-shaped messages for the crew, but also painful separation: for those trapped on board the quarantined Diamond Princess cruiseship, Friday is no ordinary Valentine's Day.
Wearing a red dress and a red hair tie, the ship's entertainment manager Natalie posted a Valentine's Day video on Twitter to try to keep spirits up.
"I just wanted to check in with everybody and say that we are all hanging in there, doing fine and keeping together as a big family," she said, admitting with a smile: "This hasn't been my regular attire for the last week or so."
Passenger Matt Smith, 57, was marking Valentine's Day on board with his wife of 21 years, Katherine Codekas, also 57 -- and admitted this was not their first-choice location for the special day.
"After 21 years of marriage, we don't make a big deal of it, but I usually get Katherine a card at least," he told AFP from the ship.
"I think she was a little disappointed with our setting," he added. "Facebook reminded me this morning that three years ago we were in Las Vegas. Way to rub it in!"
Passengers on board were being offered a "Valentine's Day" breakfast, Smith said.
"We were reminded what day it was by the delivery of what the crew member said was a 'special' breakfast," he said.
"Not sure why hard-boiled eggs, sausage, and sautéed mushrooms are special."
The dinner menu, on the other hand, promises several special treats in honor of the day.
"Cupid's Avocado and Shrimp salad" to start, followed by "Shrimp Valentine Japanese style with rice and vegetables."
The main course is the French classic Coq au Vin with mashed potato and vegetables, and a "Valentine's Day surprise dessert of the day" is promised.
"Coq au Vin, yes please," tweeted Yardley Wong, who has been posting her efforts to keep her young son entertained on the quarantined vessel.
"A special meal for Valentine's Day, a reserved bottle of red," she added, with her usual hashtag #hanginthereDiamondPrincess and a picture of a bottle of wine.
She also posted a drawing by her six-year-old son for Valentine's Day, with the caption "Stay strong, we are with you Diamond Princess."
'THEN SHE WAS GONE'
American passenger Jackie joked that she had big plans for Valentine's Day on the cruise, which has proved far from the gala holiday everyone planned.
"We're going to have a formal night on Valentine's Day in our cabin. Take some pics, have some laughs," she tweeted.
Another passenger cut out paper hearts and left them on her door for the crew to read, with messages including: "Thank you for all your hard work" and "Thank you for taking care of us."
More than 200 people on board the ship have been diagnosed with the newly named COVID-19 and taken to local hospitals. Those remaining on board will be in quarantine until at least February 19.
While passengers are battling isolation, fear and boredom, some members of the crew have voiced concerns about their conditions, including eating together and sleeping two to a cabin.
But the coronavirus has also ripped some couples apart for Valentine's Day, including at least one on their honeymoon.
Kent Frasure was forced to say goodbye to his partner Rebecca, who has contracted the virus and is now in isolation in hospital.
"We said 'goodbye, see each other later' and gave each other a hug. We didn't have a goodbye kiss because we didn't really know what was going on," Kent told CNBC.
"Then I watched her walk down the hallway, turn the corner and then she was gone."
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MANILA - The number of Filipinos confirmed to have contracted the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) while on board a quarantined cruise ship moored off Japan has climbed to 11, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said Thursday.
All of the Filipinos who got the virus are crew members of Diamond Princess, Foreign Affairs Secretary Eduardo Meñez said in a text message to ABS-CBN News.
"All of them are now confined in various hospitals in and around the Tokyo area," the agency said in a statement, adding they are responding well to treatment.
The Philippine Embassy in Tokyo has sent supplies to the patients and also those still quarantined inside the ship.
"An embassy team also visited the hospitals this afternoon to speak with the doctors and social workers assigned to the Filipino patients in order to ensure their well-being," the agency added.
The ship has been kept in quarantine since Feb. 3 after a passenger, who disembarked in Hong Kong, was found to be infected with the virus.
Passengers are expected to stay until Feb. 19, 14 days after the isolation period began.
A Filipino crew member of the ship was among 10 people who earlier tested positive of the new coronavirus. The sailor was the first known case of a Filipino infected with COVID-19.
Also on Thursday, Japanese authorities confirmed that another 44 people inside the ship tested positive of the virus.
They raise the number of infections detected on the ship to 218, in addition to a quarantine officer who also tested positive for the virus.
Of the newly diagnosed cases, 43 are passengers, and one a member of the crew.
So far, 713 people have been tested, with officials saying they are currently limited by capacity. The ship carries an estimated 3,600 passengers.
The DFA also clarified that "no Filipinos [were] included in a new group of 44 persons who tested positive for the virus." - with a report from Willard Cheng, ABS-CBN News
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TOKYO - Another 39 people have tested positive for the coronavirus on the quarantined Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan as well as one quarantine officer, bringing the total to 175, the health ministry said on Wednesday.
The Diamond Princess was placed in quarantine for 2 weeks upon arriving in Yokohama, south of Tokyo, on Feb. 3, after a man who disembarked in Hong Kong was diagnosed with the virus. The epidemic originated in mainland China, where more than 1,100 people have now died from the virus.
About 3,700 people are aboard the ship, which usually has a crew of 1,100 and a passenger capacity of 2,670.
The ministry said tests are being conducted for others who are deemed to need them and it will announce the results later.
The UK-flagged Diamond Princess is managed by Princess Cruise Lines, one of the world's largest cruise lines and a unit of Carnival Corp.
Kyodo news agency, citing the health ministry, said that of the 39 cases, 10 were crew and 29 were passengers.
Ten were Japanese nationals and the others were from 11 countries including the United States and China. Four were in serious condition, Health Minister Katsunobu Kato said.
The quarantine officer had been handing out questionnaires checking the health of passengers and crew since Feb. 3, and had been following rules that require wearing a mask and gloves but not a full protective suit, according to the Nikkei business daily, quoting the health ministry.
"It's terrible about the quarantine officer. I wonder if they (the officer) are from the first batch that came aboard," one 43-year-old passenger on the ship told Reuters, declining to be identified.
"The ones who came to our room to do the initial screening had gloves and surgical masks, while the ones who came to do the actual virus test also had full gowns and full face masks."
A health ministry official had no immediate comment, but Nikkei said the ministry was checking into the officer's contacts with colleagues and family members.
"There are lots of ways to get infected even if you're wearing a mask. Hand hygiene, touching the mask and then not washing hands, wearing a mask but touching your eyes with contaminated hands ... It happens," said David Fisman, an epidemiologist at the University of Toronto.
"Personal protective items reduce risk, they don't eliminate it," he said.
The government was considering allowing elderly and those with chronic illnesses to disembark before the Feb. 19 target date for ending the quarantine, some media reported, but added it would take time to figure out where they could be sent.
As of last week, about 80 percent of the passengers were aged 60 or over, with 215 in their 80s and 11 in the 90s, the English-language Japan Times newspaper reported.
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TOKYO — Around 60 more people on board the quarantined Diamond Princess cruise ship moored off Japan have been diagnosed with novel coronavirus, national broadcaster NHK said on Monday.
Other local media also reported approximately 60 more cases had been confirmed, raising the number of infected passengers and crew to around 130. Health ministry officials declined immediate comment.
The Diamond Princess has been in quarantine since arriving off the Japanese coast early last week after the new virus was detected in a former passenger who got off the ship last month in Hong Kong.
When the boat arrived off Japan, authorities initially tested nearly 300 people of the 3,711 on board for the virus, gradually evacuating dozens who tested positive to local medical facilities.
In recent days, testing has expanded to those who had close contact with other infected passengers or crew, and several more cases were reported over the weekend.
Those who remain on the ship have been asked to stay inside their cabins and allowed out only briefly onto open decks.
They have been asked to wear masks and keep a distance from each other when outside, and given thermometers to regularly monitor their temperatures.
The ship is expected to stay in quarantine until Feb. 19 -- 14 days after the isolation period began.
The quarantine has made life on board the ship difficult, particularly for those in windowless interior cabins and a significant number of passengers who require medication for various chronic conditions.
The health ministry said Monday that around 600 people on board were in urgent need of medications and around half received supplies over the weekend.
Agence France-Presse
