Cases have now soared to more than 9,950 globally, higher than the number of officially reported cases during the SARS epidemic.China’s Li Supports Holiday Extension for Virus-Hit Areas, CCTV Says Regions with a rapid spread of new confirmed cases can lengthen holidays, Premier Li Keqiang said.Li also called for staggered travel for people returning from holiday.
Travelers from China with symptoms are being asked to self-isolate for 14 days.Hong Kong Schools to Stay Closed Until March 2: Hong Kong is extending school holidays till March 2, depending on the coronavirus situation, Chief Executive Carrie Lam said in a briefing. The government will step up scrutiny of tourists from Hubei province, including sending them into quarantine.
The government is set to advise that non-urgent trips to China should be canceled. It also plans to bring forward an order allowing compulsory hospitalization to Feb. 1, earlier than Feb. 7 as originally planned, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told parliament. Patients will be barred from entering the country from the same date, he added.
“Those currently in China should consider departing using commercial means,” the department said in the advisory, which was Level 4, the most severe travel warning category.The advisory puts China among several nations that the U.S. warns its citizens to avoid, including North Korea, Venezuela, Iran, Iran and Somalia.Study Sees Early Signs of Human Transmission The coronavirus was spreading from person to person earlier than reported, according to a study by Chinese scientists.
It’s reached the same level that SARS did during its span of about eight months.An overwhelming number of the cases, as with SARS, are in China. The country has 9,692 confirmed cases, while there are about 100 cases outside Greater China across 18 nations.The numbers come with a footnote, however. SARS cases were widely considered to be under-reported, as possibly thousands went undocumented in the first few months.