The scramble to evacuate coronavirus ground zero is tearing families apart including one British man who says he is being forced to leave his Chinese wife behind.
Britons are due to be evacuated from the Chinese city of Wuhan tomorrow and will be quarantined for two weeks in a UK military base – as the global death toll from the coronavirus outbreak hits 132 and the disease continues to spread across the globe.
So far more than 6,000 infections have been recorded in 19 countries, with cases tripling since Sunday and jumping 30 per cent in the last 24 hours.
British teacher Jeff Siddle, from Northumberland, is among those due to be evacuated from Wuhan with his nine-year-old daughter Jasmine- but Beijing is barring his Chinese wife Sindy from boarding the rescue flight.
Mr Siddle, 54, and his family flew to Hubei province to spend time with his partner’s family and celebrate the Chinese New Year- before warnings were in place about the deadly coronavirus epidemic.
Mr Siddle said today: ‘My wife’s a Chinese citizen, although she’s got a permanent residency visa for the UK as a spouse. But what the Foreign Office is saying is they are going to be doing an airlift, possibly tomorrow, but it’s only [for] British citizens. Chinese authorities are not allowing any Chinese residents to leave.’
The Foreign Office says it is trying to get permission from Beijing to evacuate Mrs Siddle but so far it has not been granted permission and the family has been told not to hold out hope.
‘I was put in the position to make a decision to either leave my wife here in China, or the three of us stay here (in Wuhan). We have to basically have a nine-year-old child separated from their mother. Who knows how long that is going to be for?’
Other expats stranded in Wuhan and the wider Hubei province – including PE teacher Kharn Lambert and Malcolm Lanyon – have chosen to stay in the region. Mr Lambert said he had given up his seat on the rescue flight because he does not want ‘to come home and put everybody’s health at risk’, while Mr Lanyon refused to leave his Chinese wife behind.
British citizens in Wuhan also face a struggle to even make it to their evacuation flight with the city of Wuhan on lockdown and public transport is banned. Mr Lanyon claims he couldn’t get to the airport even if he wanted to because no buses, taxis or trains are running.
In other developments in the Wuhan coronavirus crisis:
- Some 132 people have now died across China and more than 6,000 around the world have caught the highly infectious pneumonia-like infection
- Cases of coronavirus have tripled since Sunday and jumped 30 per cent in the last 24 hours – now infecting people in 19 different countries
- Outbreak in mainland China is now bigger than the 2003 SARS epidemic, when 5,327 cases of the killer virus were confirmed
- Around 200 British nationals stuck in coronavirus-hit Wuhan are gearing up to be flown back to London on Thursday via chartered plane in a landmark evacuation mission
- Health Secretary Matt Hancock, who is orchestrating the rescue, said evacuees will be held in quarantine in a military base for two weeks to stop the virus spreading on home soil
- British Airways has cancelled all flights to and from mainland China until March, causing travel chaos for hundreds of passengers now trapped in China
- A US evacuation flight that took off from Wuhan yesterday is on its way to a military base in Ontario, California, where ts 240 passengers will be kept in quarantine for ‘at least 72 hours’
- Health officials in Beijing fear the epidemic will continue to get worse and peak ‘in the next 10 days’
- Confirmed infections in the United Arab Emirates mark the first time the virus has spread to the Middle East
- Four people in Germany who contracted coronavirus after a colleague from China visited their workplace only had ‘very mild’ symptoms
Jeff Siddle, his wife Sindy and their nine-year-old daughter Jasmine will be torn apart because Beijing won’t allow his Chinese wife on tomorrow’s British evacuation flight
The couple and their daughter chose to fly to the Hubei province – before it had been crippled by the coronavirus epidemic – to spend time with his partner’s family and celebrate the Chinese New Year
The British teacher revealed his heartbreak in a Facebook post last night (left), in which he detailed how his wife and daughter (right) would be separated for an indefinite time
World Health Organization figures show just 2,014 patients had been struck down with the SARS-like infection by Sunday, January 26. This has now risen dramatically to 6,168, with cases in the US, Australia and Canada. As well as a dramatic increase in cases of the never-before-seen virus, figures also show the number of deaths have spiralled
The killer coronavirus outbreak has now killed 132 people and struck down more than 6,000 in 19 different countries. Cases have been spotted in Canada, US, France and Australia
A pilot wearing a protective suit parks a cargo plane at Wuhan Tianhe International Airport in Wuhan in central China’s Hubei Province
A Boeing 747 arrives at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport in Alaska after rescuing Americans from Wuhan yesterday
Wuhan residents wear facemasks as they wait for medical attention at Wuhan Red Cross Hospital to prevent the spread of the deadly virus which began in the city
British PE teacher Kharn Lambert is choosing to stay in the outbreak’s epicentre Wuhan to ‘give up his seat to others’. He revealed the Foreign Office told him Brits would have to make their own way home once they arrive back in London
Mr Siddle added: ‘The way things are going that could be a prolonged period before my Sindy could leave China. My daughter’s obviously been in flood of tears. She’s absolutely devastated.’
The IT software developer added that Sindy was trying to ‘keep strong’ but has been left ‘absolutely distraught’ at Chinese authorities tearing their family apart. He added: ‘It was an awful decision.’
Mr Siddle told the Guardian there were no health warnings in place when they flew out on January 15. He told the newspaper: ‘My head is spinning. It’s just horrendous.
‘This ordeal just turned into our worst nightmare. How can they put a family in this position? Having to leave Sindy in China would be the worst thing that anyone could be put through. How am I going to tell Jasmine that her mum has to stay behind?’
Mr Siddle said they have to make their own way to Wuhan Tianhe International Airport, where the US and Japan have flown residents out of the city from. But he added that he is a three-hour drive away from the airport, warning that all the roads are on lockdown.
‘We’ve called the local Chinese office to get some details but they’re saying the only way we can get a car through is if we have a special diplomatic note, so I’ve phoned the Foreign Office and asked for that but they said they can’t do it. So that’s put another stress on top of everything.’
It comes after the announcement that Britons will be quarantined at a UK military base for two weeks after they have been airlifted out of the Chinese city of Wuhan on a coronavirus evacuation flight, the government announced today in a screeching u-turn.
Up to 200 British expats who have scrambled for a place on the emergency flight out have finally been told the government has chartered a plane to rescue them and it will leave tomorrow.
But furious evacuees with a coveted seat on the flight say they have still not been told exactly when the flight it is or where it will land – other than at ‘a London airport’.
They say they were also told by officials they would be expected to make their own way home, sparking fears they could infect thousands of British people by being allowed to walk around.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock was today forced to announce that everyone on the emergency flight from Wuhan would be placed into quarantine at an undisclosed military airbase for 14 days upon landing.
The Government has been under immense pressure to bring home citizens stranded in the city.
In a tweet Mr Hancock said: ‘We are working hard to get British nationals back from Wuhan. Public safety is the top priority.
‘Anyone who returns from Wuhan will be safely isolated for 14 days, with all necessary medical attention.’
Passengers may be asked to sign a contract before they board the plane saying they agree to being placed in quarantine – or be left behind if they refuse.
The US, which flew 240 Americans home from Wuhan last night, first took them to Alaska to have medical screening before being allowed home.
Officials then diverted the plane to a military base in Riverside, California – a local official in San Bernadino said only that they were ‘prepared for the worst.’
One British man in Wuhan who contacted the British embassy there said he was told he would have to make his own way home and stay there if he was flown back on the evacuation flight.
PE teacher Kharn Lambert, who has since decided not to come back on the flight, told Sky News: ‘This morning I was on the phone to the embassy and they’ve basically told us via a script they were given by the Foreign Office that the flight will be leaving tomorrow, they’re not sure what time.
‘It will be arriving at a London airport and once we arrive there that basically the Government will not provide any transport whatsoever and we have to find our own way back to our hometowns and then self-isolate for 14 days, which is absolutely ludicrous.
‘It’s got a 14-day incubation period. Now, we’ve been inside for almost 14 days, we’re going outside tomorrow and potentially coming into contact with someone that might have the virus, which would then mean we could potentially catch it and then without showing any symptoms could then spread disease around the UK as we travel from the airport to wherever we live in the UK.’
Mr Lambert said he decided to stay in Wuhan so he didn’t ‘put everybody’s health at risk’ but said his grandmother would have to fly home because she was frail.
The British government had come under increasing pressure to ramp up its rescue efforts after the US launched an emergency mission to repatriate 240 citizens yesterday and 206 Japanese citizens stuck in Wuhan landed back in Tokyo this morning.
French officials confirmed a plane will be sent to Wuhan on Thursday and Australia said a plane will be sent for its citizens by the end of the week.
Diplomats from the US Consulate as well as other American citizens boarded the flight out of Wuhan Tianhe International Airport yesterday afternoon.
One British dual national also boarded the flight. It is unclear whether any medics were on board to monitor passengers for signs of infection.
It made a refueling stop in Alaska and was due to fly on to Ontario, California – but it has since been diverted to March Air Reserve Base in Riverside, California, where it is expected to land in the next few hours.
Passengers were screened before initially boarding in Wuhan, and then went through follow-up checks at the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport in Alaska. The will be screened again once they arrive in California. It is thought they will be quarantined for at least 72 hours.
The Chinese partners of US citizens were banned from the rescue flight, reportedly at the demand of Beijing. Japanese officials also chartered a flight from Wuhan Tianhe International Airport to rescue 206 citizens stuck in the coronavirus-hit city.
The plane landed back at Haneda Airport in Tokyo this morning at around 9am local time after flying to Wuhan overnight.
The flight was carrying emergency relief supplies including 15,000 masks, 50,000 pairs of gloves and 8,000 protective glasses for medics in Wuhan. Around four medical officials were also on board to monitor returning passengers.
Officials confirmed passengers would be tested for the coronavirus strain. Japan Times the evacuees would be asked to remain at home and isolate themselves to prevent the potential spread.
France’s health minister Agnes Buzyn confirmed a plane will be sent for its stranded citizens on Thursday, to return home on Friday or Saturday. No further details have been given.
There are some 800 French citizens stranded in the Wuhan area. She said French nationals will be held in quarantine for two weeks on arrival to stop the virus spreading on home soil.
Chinese tourists wearing protective masks queue at Don Mueang airport in Bangkok, Thailand, as they wait to board flights back to China
A family wear the masks in the Bangkok airport to prevent the highly contagious virus from spreading. It can transmit between humans by a simple cough or sneeze
Mr Lambert – who is stuck in Wuhan with his visiting 81-year-old grandmother Veronica Theobald and last week begged the Foreign Office to ‘come and get them’ – revealed he has been in contact with the British embassy in Beijing for the first time
Health Secretary Matt Hancock, who is orchestrating the British rescue mission, said evacuees will be held in quarantine in a military base for two weeks to stop the virus spreading on home soil
The European Union meanwhile said it would co-fund an airlift effort at France’s request, so that more than 100 nationals from other EU nations could be repatriated along with French citizens.
MailOnline revealed today cases of the deadly coronavirus have tripled within three days, after China warned the killer outbreak will peak in the next 10 days.
World Health Organization figures show just 2,014 patients had been struck down with the SARS-like infection by Sunday, January 26. This has now risen dramatically to 6,168, with cases in the US, Australia and Canada.
Figures also show there were just 445 cases by Wednesday last week – meaning the outbreak that is continuing to escalate has increased in size by almost 14-fold in the space of seven days.
It means the outbreak in mainland China is now bigger than the 2003 SARS epidemic, when 5,327 cases of the killer virus were confirmed. However, it is still behind the total toll of the outbreak, which infected 8,000 people.
It comes after a renowned scientist at China’s National Health Commission warned the spread of the infection is only going to get worse. Dr Zhong Nanshan admitted he fears the crisis will peak ‘in the next 10 days’.
Health officials in the capital Beijing today warned cases are on the rise. Some 132 people have now died, most of whom lived in Wuhan – the deserted city at the heart of the outbreak.
Just nine deaths were recorded by Chinese officials at the end of Wednesday last week. This jumped to 17 overnight. Fifty-six deaths were recorded by the end of Sunday, meaning deaths have more than doubled in the same time that cases have tripled.
Cases and deaths have also risen overnight, with a WHO situation report revealing there was 4,593 cases and 106 deaths by the end of yesterday. The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Beijing and the risk of infection there are on the rise, a health official in the capital city said today.
Pang Xinghuo, vice director of Beijing city’s Center for Disease Control and Preventon, made the comments during a press briefing. Beijing has confirmed 1 death and 102 confirmed cases of the virus so far.
Leading scientists have made stark warnings that there could be tens of thousands of patients already infected – far more than the official toll.
Despite growing fears, China has been maintaining a positive front in its ‘battle of Wuhan’. President Xi Jinping said the country would defeat the ‘devil virus’.
As cases continued to soar, British Airways suspended all flights to mainland China with ‘immediate effect’ over fears passengers travelling on its planes would be spreading the infection.
The airline halted all bookings on its website for direct flights from London to Beijing and Shanghai until March, following the Foreign Office’s unprecedented advice last night urging Britons not to travel to mainland China unless their visit is essential.
Flights to Hong Kong will continue – but passengers will have to use a different airline to head on to the Chinese mainland. It is not yet clear how BA will bring back its thousands of customers booked on flights to the UK from China over the coming weeks.
A BA spokesman said: ‘We apologise to customers for the inconvenience, but the safety of our customers and crew is always our priority. Customers due to travel to or from China in the coming days can find more information on BA.com.’
United Airlines, the biggest US carrier to China, has also announced it will be cutting 24 flights in near-term to China and the White House is said to be considering stopping all US-China flights completely to stop the virus spreading.
Culture Secretary Baroness Morgan said BA’s decision to suspend all flights to China would give ‘more impetus’ to the Government’s bid to arrange for Britons to travel home – amid growing pressure on British ministers to step up the landmark evacuation mission.
Evergreen Airways cabin crew – based in Taiwan – wear face masks for protection against highly contagious coronavirus as they walk out of San Francisco airport
Medics in protective gear treat a patient with coronavirus at the Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, in Wuhan – the outbreak’s epicentre – on Tuesday
Experts say the difficulty of containing the coronavirus is that so many patients have mild, cold-like symptoms and don’t realise they have the infection – but it can quickly turn deadly
‘The Foreign Office will be working with staff on the ground to identify UK nationals,’ the Conservative peer told BBC Breakfast.
‘We will get people home as soon as we can, as soon as we can make arrangements. ‘Obviously, today’s decision by British Airways provides more impetus to the Government to make other plans and communicate those.
‘The health system is well prepared. We are not aware of any confirmed cases of the virus here in the UK but we do have the expertise to look after people, to treat and to test should that become necessary.’
Rory Boland, travel editor for consumer watchdog Which?, said a lack of clear guidance from BA would spark panic for passengers stranded in China.
He said: ‘British Airways’ decision to cancel flights to and from China is understandable following the Foreign Office travel warning.
‘But a lack of clear information about what this means for BA passengers currently in China and due to fly home with the airline in the coming days is going to cause distress.’
Meanwhile Japanese citizens evacuated from Wuhan have described the fear and confusion in the Chinese city with shops running out of food and everyone wearing masks to protect themselves from the deadly coronavirus.
A total of 206 Japanese citizens landed at Tokyo’s Haneda airport this morning, with health professionals carrying out checks on board and at the airport, but no mandatory quarantine was planned.
Chauffeurs in face masks holding name cards were seen at the arrival gate as masked passengers came through security.
Takeo Aoyama, center left, an employee at Nippon Steel Corp’s subsidiary in Wuhan, China, and Takayuki Kato, center right, an employee at an information and communications technology company Intec, speak to journalists after returning home
Chauffeurs wearing masks hold name cards in front of an arrival gate at Tokyo International Airport in Tokyo as evacuees from Wuhan arrived back in Japan
A total of 206 Japanese citizens landed at Tokyo’s Haneda airport this morning and were picked up in coaches and driven past waiting TV crews
Takeo Aoyama, a Nippon Steel employee who arrived on the evacuation flight, described confusion in Wuhan, with travel restrictions intended to contain the virus making it hard for those in the epicentre to know what was happening.
‘The number of patients began increasing rapidly at a certain point. That was very worrying,’ he told reporters at the airport.
‘We were not able to move freely, so we only had partial information. The restrictions on the flow of goods and transport were extremely strict.’
He said food was available, but supply was uncertain, with shops selling out on some days. ‘It wasn’t a situation where we couldn’t get anything at all. But it wasn’t a situation where you could get anything freely, either,’ Aoyama said.
Takayuki Kato, who worked in Wuhan for the firm Intec, said the atmosphere inside the city had changed as the scale of the crisis became clear.
‘Everyone in the city began wearing masks. On the 23rd, when transport was shut down, I became very alarmed,’ he said.
The evacuation had gone smoothly, he added. The flight ‘was quiet. People were cool-headed’. Five passengers who said they felt unwell were hospitalised on arrival, but there was no confirmation of whether they were infected with the virus.
The flight arrived as several countries worked to extract their nationals from Wuhan, with an American charter flight also leaving the city on Wednesday, bound for an airport in the Los Angeles area.
The Japan flight arrived in Wuhan overnight, carrying emergency relief supplies including 15,000 masks, 50,000 pairs of gloves and 8,000 protective glasses, the foreign ministry said.
Four medical officials were also on board to monitor returning passengers and administer health questionnaires. All passengers will be tested for the new strain of coronavirus, which has killed more than 130 people and infected thousands.
And while there were no plans to confine the arrivals, the evacuees would be asked to remain at home in ‘self-quarantine’ at least until the results of their tests were known, officials said.
Those with somewhere to stay in and near Tokyo would be taken there by private transport, with others taken to local hotels initially. Japanese officials say there is no legal basis to forcibly quarantine people who have not tested positive.
Japanese citizens evacuated from Wuhan described fear and confusion in the city, Residents in face masks are pictured here at Hankou Railway Station in Wuhan
Coaches wait on the tarmac next to the chartered aircraft carrying Japanese nationals repatriated from Wuhan at Haneda airport in Tokyo,
Japanese officials loaded supplies onto a charter plane Tokyo’s Haneda airport before it flew to Wuhan, China, top evacuate Japanese nationals
The health ministry has so far confirmed seven cases of the virus in Japan, including one man who had not travelled to China.
The man from the western region of Nara had driven a tour bus with tourists from Wuhan twice in January, the health ministry said.
Around 650 Japanese nationals have asked to be repatriated from Wuhan, and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Wednesday that Tokyo was working to organise transport for those who remain.
‘We will seek every measure for the return of all (Japanese) people who hope to come home from Wuhan,’ he said during a parliament session.
The government ‘will do everything it can to prevent the new coronavirus from spreading’, he added.
Meanwhile, a British coronavirus patient who had returned from Wuhan was loaded into an ambulance by a hazmat-clad paramedic yesterday – hours after being sent home by his GP.
Drew Bennett, 39, was feared to have contracted the potentially deadly virus during a recent holiday to the Chinese city at the heart of the outbreak and is currently in isolation at a Birmingham hospital.
The sales worker returned from Wuhan on New Years’ Eve and quickly developed flu-like symptoms before becoming too unwell to leave his bed.
But he revealed that when he visited his GP on Monday he was told to go home – despite fears the highly contagious virus is poised to claim its first British victim.
The advice given by his doctor contradicted health bosses’ warning that suspected coronavirus patients must be ‘locked in a room alone straight away’.
Guidance issued to GPs by Public Health England last week ordered them to put patients in a separate room, close the door and ‘don’t let them touch anything or anyone’.
At 4.20pm on Monday an ambulance carrying medics in hazmat suits was sent to Mr Bennett’s address in Harborne, Birmingham. He was rushed to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital to have blood tests, where he remains in isolation awaiting results.
Video captured by a neighbour showed one medic wearing a white hazmat suit, blue apron, gloves and a mask with a visor, escorting him into the ambulance.
But two West Midlands Ambulance Service crew could be seen without any protective clothing or masks – sparking fears British authorities are failing to take the threat of spreading the killer disease seriously.
The latest video comes despite Health Secretary Matt Hancock just yesterday warning around 2,000 Britons who are thought to have returned from Wuhan since the start of the outbreak to ‘self-isolate, stay indoors and avoid contact with other people’ in a significant ramping up of precautions.
Meanwhile in China, health workers have been hosing down streets, shops and public transport with disinfectant spray to try curb the spiralling epidemic.
Coronavirus has been deemed highly contagious and can spread via a simple cough or sneeze. It has killed more than 130 people in under a month.
West Midlands Ambulance Service has refused to answer any questions about why some staff were not wearing protective clothing while collecting Mr Bennett. A spokesman for the trust repeatedly told this website: ‘We can’t say a thing about the case.’
Speaking from his hospital bed, Mr Bennett told Birmingham Live: ‘Once I got back I was really ill with, what I thought, was a bad case of the flu. At that stage coronavirus hadn’t really been mentioned so I thought nothing of it.
‘However, when I went to the GP on Monday and he asked as a precaution if I had been to China, he seemed really concerned.
‘I was sent home and before I knew it, ambulances and people in hazmat suits had turned up. ‘I’m now in isolation at the QE [Queen Elizabeth] and just waiting to get my blood test results.’
Mr Bennett said he ‘did not feel particularly unwell’ now but admitted he has ‘not been 100 per cent’ since returning from China.
The salesman was sent home from his doctor practice on Monday despite admitting he was struck down with illness after visiting disease-ridden Wuhan last month.
Passengers wearing face masks walk out of the international terminal and greet family members at the San Francisco International Airport after flying from Taiwan
But just last week Public Health England told doctors to lock patients in a room and leave straight away if they suspect they have coronavirus.
It reiterated that there were no confirmed cases of the virus in the UK. Nearly 100 people have now been tested for the virus, but all of them have come back as negative.
The extraordinary guidance read: ‘If [the Wuhan coronavirus] is considered possible when a consultation is already in progress, withdraw from the room, close the door and wash your hands thoroughly with soap and water.
‘Avoid physical examination of a suspected case. The patient should remain in the room with the door closed. Belongings and waste should remain in the room.
‘Advise others not to enter the room. If a clinical history still needs to be obtained or completed, do this by telephone.
‘The patient should not be allowed to use communal toilet facilities. Instruct them to not touch anything or anyone when walking to the toilet. Instruct the patient to wash their hands thoroughly after toileting.’
Christian Diaz, 32, who lives across the hallway from Mr Bennett’s flat, said he is now fearful for his own health after spending so long in close proximity to him.
He added: ‘I was absolutely terrified when I looked out of my window and saw people walking around in Hazmat suits. It looked like something out of a movie.
‘An ambulance pulled up and then he was taken out wearing a mask. It seemed very serious. We are all very worried. Nobody has let us know what is going on.
‘We don’t know whether the building will be put into quarantine if it turns out that he does have the infection. Obviously, we hope that he is OK, but it’s concerning for everyone.’
Separate footage taken in the early hours of Monday showed an ambulance worker in a white protective suit outside an address in Spitalfields, east London.
Details about the video are scarce and the London Ambulance Service Trust refused to comment, saying the Department of Health (DoH) is dealing with the incident. The DoH said it would not speak on individual cases.
Meanwhile, China‘s first dedicated coronavirus hospital has opened in a city near Wuhan after workers and volunteers spent just two days converting an empty building to a 1,000-bed emergency facility.
The Dabie Mountain Regional Medical Centre is the first dedicated coronavirus hospital to have opened in China. Workers and volunteers spent two days revamping an empty building
By Monday, all of the beds had been set up by volunteers, and water, electricity and internet had also been connected, according to the government of Huanggang
A handout image from the Huanggang government shows workers from the city’s electricity company working to connect the building to the grid so it can treat coronavirus patients
The first batch of coronavirus patients were transferred to the Dabie Mountain Regional Medical Centre in Huanggang at around 10:30pm local time on Tuesday.
The extra capacity will be crucial for overwhelmed medical staff in Hubei, the locked-down province at the centre of the crisis.
Another hospital is being purpose-built from scratch in Wuhan 47 miles (75km) away and is expected to be completed later this week after just a week of construction.
The hospital building in the city’s Huangzhou District was originally built as a new branch of Huanggang Central Hospital and expected to open in May.
But on Friday, the local authority ordered the complete but empty building to be used for treating coronavirus patients only and began preparations on Saturday.
By Monday, all of the beds had been set up by volunteers and water, electricity and internet had also been installed, according to the government of Huanggang.
More than 500 workers and a dozen heavy vehicles worked two days and nights in order to complete the task on time.
Situated 47 miles (75 km) south-west of Wuhan, Huanggang has a population of around 7.5million and is one of the cities hit hardest by coronavirus.
It went into lockdown last Thursday, the same day as Wuhan, and has seen at least 213 confirmed cases and four deaths.
Much of the Hubei province, which contains both of the cities, now has no public transport and limited road traffic.
Anyone from the province who does manage to leave is likely to be turned away or quarantined at their destination – many, such as Hong Kong, are banning visitors from Wuhan, while the UK has told anyone travelling out of the area to isolate themselves at home.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has become the latest country to declare cases – an unknown number among a family travelling from China – and Germany has now diagnosed four people with the infection.
Four people from the same family travelling to the UAE from Wuhan, the locked-down city at the centre of the crisis, have been taken into hospital after becoming ill.
How the family managed to travel out of Wuhan and all the way to the Middle East is unknown but concerning because Dubai has the world’s third busiest airport.
The government has not yet commented on the details of the coronavirus spread to the country, Reuters reported. But it did say those diagnosed with the virus were in stable condition and under medical observation.
Major UAE airports in Dubai and Abu Dhabi last week said passengers arriving in China would be screened on arrival, a precaution taken by airports elsewhere.
Emirati officials said they are taking ‘all the necessary precautions in accordance with the scientific recommendations, conditions and standards approved by the World Health Organization.’
Fears of the spreading virus have already pushed airlines to reduce flights to China. Emirates said on Wednesday its flights were operating normally.
Wuhan’s SECOND coronavirus hospital springs from the ground in time-lapse video as officials say it will be open in a week and global death toll hits 132
Amazing time-lapse footage has shown heavy-duty vehicles working in full gear in Wuhan to build the city’s second coronavirus hospital which is expected to open in a week.
The drone video emerged after China‘s first coronavirus hospital yesterday started to treat patients in Huanggang following just two days of building works.
Beijing has sent more than 6,000 medical workers, including military doctors, to the province of Hubei in central China to help fight the lethal virus, which has killed at least 132 and infected more than 6,160 worldwide.
Authorities from two provinces have ordered at least four emergency medical centres to be constructed in no longer than 10 days in a bid to contain the outbreak.
Trending footage released by Chinese state media People’s Daily shows construction works in full swing on the site of Leishenshan Hospital, the second coronavirus hospitals in Wuhan
The second hospital in Wuhan, named the Leishanshan or Thunder God Mountain Hospital, is situated in Jiangxia District, a suburban area to the south of the city centre. In the picture above, construction machinery sits at the site of the second temporary hospital on January 26. Construction started on Saturday and the hospital is set to have two buildings
Around 2,000 medical workers are expected to treat patients in the dedicated 14-acre, 1,600-bed centre, which is the second of its kind in Wuhan, the ground zero of the coronavirus outbreak in China. In the picture above, an engineering contractor walks in front of construction machinery on the construction site of the Leishenshan Hospital on January 26
The second institution is named the Thunder God Mountain Hospital because Chinese people believe the God of Thunder is the God who punishes the God of Evil, signifying that the locals wish the ‘evil’ coronavirus to be controlled as soon as possible
The 50-second clip of the construction site of Wuhan’s Leishenshan Hospital was shared today by People’s Daily Online on Weibo, the Chinese equivalent to Twitter.
The medical centre, also known as the Thunder God Mountain Hospital, is situated in Jiangxia District, a suburban area to the south of Wuhan, where the coronavirus first emerged late last month.
The facility will occupy about 60,000 square metres (14 acres), including 51,000 square metres (12 acres) of quarantine units and 9,000 square metres (2.2 acres) of dormitories to house around 2,000 medical workers, a spokesperson from China Construction Third Engineering Bureau told Xinhua News Agency.
The hospital was originally designed to have 1,300 beds, but the the government of Wuhan has decided to have 300 extra beds installed after the outbreak accelerated in recent days.
Building works officially started on Sunday and as of noon today, a third of the project has been complete, the same report said.
The first coronavirus hospital to be built in Wuhan is the Huoshenshan or Fire God Mountain Hospital, which is situated in Caidian District in the western suburbs of the city.
The city’s officials instructed four construction companies last Friday to toil through the Chinese New Year holiday in order to complete the six-acre, 1,000-bed institution in the space of seven days.
According to a previous report from CCTV, the Huoshenshan hospital was due to comprise a number of temporary buildings, but the officials were still deciding whether they would use pre-fabricated components to be assembled onsite or wards converted from shipping containers.
The Chinese city ravaged by a deadly new virus has vowed to build two hospitals in less than a week to fight an outbreak that has left at least 132 people dead in the country. In the picture above, mechanical equipment are seen working on the construction site of the coronavirus hospital in the Caidian District in the western suburb of Wuhan, China, on January 24
China is building at least four coronavirus hospitals in a bid to curb the spread of the disease
Two of the urgent projects are in Wuhan, one in nearby Huanggang and one in Zhenzhou
The Huoshenshan Hospital is expected to open on February 2 while the Leishenshan Hospital is due to receive patients on February 5. Both will be run by military medics.
China’s President Xi Jinping today ordered his two-million-strong army to shoulder their responsibilities given by the people and fight the war that is the coronavirus outbreak.
Another hospital is being built in Zhenzhou in central China’s Henan Province, which borders Hubei. Workers started renovating an old hospital branch on Monday and the project is expected to finish within 10 days.
All of them are modelled on a temporary medical centre in Beijing in 2003, which was built in seven days to tackle SARS and treated one-seventh of the country’s SARS patient in the space of two months.
China‘s first coronavirus hospital opened in Huanggang yesterday after workers and volunteers spent just two days converting an empty building to a 1,000-bed emergency facility.
The first batch of coronavirus patients were transferred to the Dabie Mountain Regional Medical Centre in Huanggang at around 10:30pm local time Tuesday.
The Dabie Mountain Regional Medical Centre is the first dedicated coronavirus hospital to have opened in China. Workers and volunteers spent two days revamping an empty building
A picture released by the Huanggang government shows construction workers installing necessary facilities on the site of Dabie Mountain Regional Medical Centre on January 25
Everything we know we know about the deadly coronavirus in China: But how worried should we be?
Someone who is infected with the Wuhan coronavirus can spread it with just a simple cough or a sneeze, scientists say.
At least 132 people with the virus are now confirmed to have died and more than 6,000 have been infected in at least 18 countries and regions. But experts predict the true number of people with the disease could be 100,000, or even as high as 350,000 in Wuhan alone, as they warn it may kill as many as two in 100 cases. Here’s what we know so far:
What is the Wuhan coronavirus?
A coronavirus is a type of virus which can cause illness in animals and people. Viruses break into cells inside their host and use them to reproduce itself and disrupt the body’s normal functions. Coronaviruses are named after the Latin word ‘corona’, which means crown, because they are encased by a spiked shell which resembles a royal crown.
The coronavirus from Wuhan is one which has never been seen before this outbreak. It is currently named 2019-nCoV, and does not have a more detailed name because so little is known about it.
Dr Helena Maier, from the Pirbright Institute, said: ‘Coronaviruses are a family of viruses that infect a wide range of different species including humans, cattle, pigs, chickens, dogs, cats and wild animals.
‘Until this new coronavirus was identified, there were only six different coronaviruses known to infect humans. Four of these cause a mild common cold-type illness, but since 2002 there has been the emergence of two new coronaviruses that can infect humans and result in more severe disease (Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) coronaviruses).
‘Coronaviruses are known to be able to occasionally jump from one species to another and that is what happened in the case of SARS, MERS and the new coronavirus. The animal origin of the new coronavirus is not yet known.’
The first human cases were publicly reported from the Chinese city of Wuhan, where approximately 11million people live, after medics first started seeing infections on December 31.
By January 8, 59 suspected cases had been reported and seven people were in critical condition. Tests were developed for the new virus and recorded cases started to surge.
The first person died that week and, by January 16, two were dead and 41 cases were confirmed. The next day, scientists predicted that 1,700 people had become infected, possibly up to 4,500.
Just a week after that, there had been more than 800 confirmed cases and those same scientists estimated that some 4,000 – possibly 9,700 – were infected in Wuhan alone. By that point, 26 people had died.
By January 27, more than 2,800 people were confirmed to have been infected, 81 had died, and estimates of the total number of cases ranged from 100,000 to 350,000 in Wuhan alone.
By January 29, the number of deaths had risen to 132 and cases were in excess of 6,000.
Experts say the difficulty of containing the coronavirus is that so many patients have mild, cold-like symptoms and don’t realise they have the infection – but it can quickly turn deadly
Where does the virus come from?
Nobody knows for sure. Coronaviruses in general tend to originate in animals – the similar SARS and MERS viruses are believed to have originated in civet cats and camels, respectively.
The first cases of the virus in Wuhan came from people visiting or working in a live animal market in the city, which has since been closed down for investigation.
Although the market is officially a seafood market, other dead and living animals were being sold there, including wolf cubs, salamanders, snakes, peacocks, porcupines and camel meat.
Bats are a prime suspect – researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences said in a recent statement: ‘The Wuhan coronavirus’ natural host could be bats… but between bats and humans there may be an unknown intermediate.’
And another scientific journal article has suggested the virus first infected snakes, which may then have transmitted it to people at the market in Wuhan.
Peking University researchers analysed the genes of the coronavirus and said they most closely matched viruses which are known to affect snakes. They said: ‘Results derived from our evolutionary analysis suggest for the first time that snake is the most probable wildlife animal reservoir for the 2019-nCoV,’ in the Journal of Medical Virology.
So far the fatalities are quite low. Why are health experts so worried about it?
Experts say the international community is concerned about the virus because so little is known about it and it appears to be spreading quickly.
It is similar to SARS, which infected 8,000 people and killed nearly 800 in an outbreak in Asia in 2003, in that it is a type of coronavirus which infects humans’ lungs.
Another reason for concern is that nobody has any immunity to the virus because they’ve never encountered it before. This means it may be able to cause more damage than viruses we come across often, like the flu or common cold.
Speaking at a briefing in January, Oxford University professor, Dr Peter Horby, said: ‘Novel viruses can spread much faster through the population than viruses which circulate all the time because we have no immunity to them.
‘Most seasonal flu viruses have a case fatality rate of less than one in 1,000 people. Here we’re talking about a virus where we don’t understand fully the severity spectrum but it’s possible the case fatality rate could be as high as two per cent.’
If the death rate is truly two per cent, that means two out of every 100 patients who get it will die.
‘My feeling is it’s lower,’ Dr Horby added. ‘We’re probably missing this iceberg of milder cases. But that’s the current circumstance we’re in.
‘Two per cent case fatality rate is comparable to the Spanish Flu pandemic in 1918 so it is a significant concern globally.’
How does the virus spread?
The illness can spread between people just through coughs and sneezes, making it an extremely contagious infection. And it may also spread even before someone has symptoms.
It is believed to travel in the saliva and even through water in the eyes, therefore close contact, kissing, and sharing cutlery or utensils are all risky.
Originally, people were thought to be catching it from a live animal market in Wuhan city. But cases soon began to emerge in people who had never been there, which forced medics to realise it was spreading from person to person.
There is now evidence that it can spread third hand – to someone from a person who caught it from another person.
What does the virus do to you? What are the symptoms?
Once someone has caught the virus it may take between two and 14 days for them to show any symptoms – but they may still be contagious during this time.
If and when they do become ill, typical signs include a runny nose, a cough, sore throat and a fever (high temperature). The vast majority of patients – at least 97 per cent, based on available data – will recover from these without any issues or medical help.
In a small group of patients, who seem mainly to be the elderly or those with long-term illnesses, it can lead to pneumonia. Pneumonia is an infection in which the insides of the lungs swell up and fill with fluid. It makes it increasingly difficult to breathe and, if left untreated, can be fatal and suffocate people.
What have genetic tests revealed about the virus?
Scientists in China have recorded the genetic sequences of around 19 strains of the virus and released them to experts working around the world.
This allows others to study them, develop tests and potentially look into treating the illness they cause.
Examinations have revealed the coronavirus did not change much – changing is known as mutating – much during the early stages of its spread.
However, the director-general of China’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Gao Fu, yesterday said the virus was mutating and adapting as it spread through people.
This means efforts to study the virus and to potentially control it may be made extra difficult because the virus might look different every time scientists analyse it.
More study may be able to reveal whether the virus first infected a small number of people then change and spread from them, or whether there were various versions of the virus coming from animals which have developed separately.
How dangerous is the virus?
The virus has so far killed 132 people out of a total of at least 6,000 officially confirmed cases – a death rate of around two per cent. This is a similar death rate to the Spanish Flu outbreak which, in 1918, went on to kill around 50million people.
However, experts say the true number of patients is likely considerably higher and therefore the death rate considerably lower. Imperial College London researchers estimate that there were 4,000 (up to 9,700) cases in Wuhan city alone up to January 18 – officially there were only 444 there to date. If cases are in fact 100 times more common than the official figures, the virus may be far less dangerous than currently believed.
Experts say it is likely only the most seriously ill patients are seeking help and are therefore recorded – the vast majority will have only mild, cold-like symptoms. For those whose conditions do become more severe, there is a risk of developing pneumonia which can destroy the lungs and kill you.
Can the virus be cured?
The Wuhan coronavirus cannot currently be cured and it is proving difficult to contain.
Antibiotics do not work against viruses, so they are out of the question. Antiviral drugs can, but the process of understanding a virus then developing and producing drugs to treat it would take years and huge amounts of money.
No vaccine exists for the coronavirus yet and it’s not likely one will be developed in time to be of any use in this outbreak, for similar reasons to the above.
The National Institutes of Health in the US, and Baylor University in Waco, Texas, say they are working on a vaccine based on what they know about coronaviruses in general, using information from the SARS outbreak. But this may take a year or more to develop, according to Pharmaceutical Technology.
Currently, governments and health authorities are working to contain the virus and to care for patients who are sick and stop them infecting other people.
People who catch the illness are being quarantined in hospitals, where their symptoms can be treated and they will be away from the uninfected public.
And airports around the world are putting in place screening measures such as having doctors on-site, taking people’s temperatures to check for fevers and using thermal screening to spot those who might be ill (infection causes a raised temperature).
However, it can take weeks for symptoms to appear, so there is only a small likelihood that patients will be spotted up in an airport.
Is this outbreak an epidemic or a pandemic?
The outbreak has not officially been confirmed as either an epidemic or a pandemic yet. This is likely because, despite the global concern, the number of people who have been confirmed to be infected is still relatively low.
A pandemic is defined by the World Health Organization as the ‘worldwide spread of a new disease’.
An epidemic is when a disease takes hold of a smaller community, such as a single country, region or continent.
