Philippines reports first coronavirus death outside China

BEIJING/MANILA: The Philippines on Sunday reported the first overseas death from the growing epidemic of a coronavirus that originated in China, where new confirmed infections jumped by a daily record to top 14,000 cases.

Authorities in the Philippines said a 44-year-old man from Wuhan city in central Hubei province had died after developing severe pneumonia. It was the first death reported out of more than 130 cases in around two dozen other countries and regions outside of mainland China.

The death toll from the coronavirus outbreak in China had reached 304 as of the end of Saturday, state broadcaster CCTV said on Sunday, citing the country’s National Health Commission.

All the new deaths in China and most of the new infections on Saturday were in Hubei, the epicenter of the flu-like coronavirus outbreak.

China is facing mounting isolation as other countries introduce travel curbs, airlines suspend flights and governments evacuate their citizens, risking worsening a slowdown in the world’s second-largest economy.

The World Health Organization on Thursday declared the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern, but said global trade and travel restrictions are not needed.

However, some countries are responding to fears of the virus spreading by ramping up border controls. Singapore and the United States announced measures on Friday to ban foreign nationals who have recently been in China from entering their territories, and Australia followed suit on Saturday.

Russia introduced visa restrictions and will start evacuating Russian citizens on Monday and Tuesday, Interfax and TASS news agencies reported.

The Philippines also expanded its travel ban to include all foreigners coming from China, widening an earlier restriction that covered only those from Hubei.

More than 100 Germans and family members landed in Frankfurt on Saturday after being evacuated from Wuhan. Around 250 Indonesians were being evacuated from Hubei.

U.S. health officials on Saturday confirmed an eighth case of the coronavirus in the United States, and the Pentagon said it would provide housing for people arriving from overseas who might need to be quarantined. The country has introduced mandatory quarantine for citizens arriving from Hubei.

In Mexico, ride-hailing application Uber Technologies Inc said it suspended 240 accounts of users in Mexico who may recently have come in contact with someone possibly infected with the virus.

There are no confirmed cases in Mexico yet.

PROVINCE IN LOCKDOWN

The number of deaths in Hubei from the outbreak had risen to 294 as of the end of Feb. 1, with a total 9,074 cases, the majority in the capital Wuhan, where the virus is thought to have emerged late last year in a market illegally trading wildlife.

New confirmed cases also surged by 276 in nearby Huanggang. One death was reported in the city, about 60 km (37 miles) east of Wuhan.

China’s environment ministry on Saturday urged local governments to step up disposal of medical and urban wastewater to prevent the spread of the virus.

Local authorities in quarantined areas must disinfect faeces and sewage, the ministry also said.

Genetic traces of the coronavirus were found in the faeces of some patients, said the health authority of Shenzhen, one of the most populous cities in China.

Hubei has been under virtual quarantine for the last week, with roads sealed off and public transport shut down. The province extended its Lunar New Year holiday break to Feb. 13 in a bid to contain the outbreak.

But some people are leaving Hubei on foot over a bridge spanning the Yangtze river, entering Jiujiang city in neighboring Jiangxi province.

Lu Yuejin, a 50-year-old farmer from a village on the Hubei side of the bridge, was trying to gain passage for her leukaemia-stricken daughter on Saturday.

“Please, take my daughter. I don’t need to go past… please, just let my daughter go past,” Lu pleaded with the police.

Eventually, Lu and her daughter were both allowed through and an ambulance was called to pick them up.