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China faced deepening isolation over its coronavirus epidemic on Saturday as the death toll soared to 259, with the United States and Australia leading a growing list of nations to impose extraordinary Chinese travel bans.<\/p>\n
With Britain, Russia and Sweden among the countries confirming their first infections, the virus has now spread to more than two dozen nations, sending governments scurrying to limit their exposure.<\/p>\n
China toughened its own quarantine measures at the centre of the outbreak in Hubei province, a day after the United States temporarily barred entry to foreigners who had been in China within the past two weeks.<\/p>\n
“Foreign nationals, other than immediate family of US citizens and permanent residents… will be denied entry into the United States,” Health Secretary Alex Azar said.<\/p>\n
Australia said it was barring entry to non-citizens arriving from China, while Australian citizens who had travelled there would be required to go into “self-isolation” for two weeks.<\/p>\n
Vietnam suspended all flights from mainland China effective Saturday. Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan also initially appeared on the list of banned routes but were later removed.<\/p>\n
Similar expansive restrictions have been announced by countries including Italy, Singapore, and China’s northern neighbour Mongolia.<\/p>\n
The United States, Japan, Britain, Germany and other nations had already advised their citizens not to travel to China.<\/p>\n
Britain said Saturday it was temporarily withdrawing some diplomatic staff and their families from across the country, a day after the US State Department ordered embassy employees to send home family members under the age of 21.<\/p>\n
– ‘Unkind’ –<\/p>\n
Beijing insists it can contain the virus and called Washington’s advice against travel to China “unkind”.<\/p>\n
“Certainly it is not a gesture of goodwill,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said.<\/p>\n
The US emergency declaration also requires Americans returning from Hubei province to be placed in mandatory 14-day quarantine, and health screening for American citizens coming from other parts of China.<\/p>\n
The virus emerged in early December and has been traced to a market in Hubei’s capital Wuhan that sold wild animals.<\/p>\n
It spread globally on the wings of a Lunar New Year holiday rush that sees hundreds of millions of Chinese people travel domestically and overseas.<\/p>\n
The economic fallout continued Saturday as Apple announced that all its China stores would be closed until February 9.<\/p>\n
China’s central bank said it would offer financial support to businesses hit by the public health emergency.<\/p>\n
– Mea culpa –<\/p>\n
With public anger mounting in China, Wuhan’s top official admitted late Friday that authorities there had acted too slowly.<\/p>\n
“If strict control measures had been taken earlier the result would have been better than now,” said Ma Guoqiang, the Communist Party chief for Wuhan.<\/p>\n
Wuhan officials have been criticised online for withholding information about the outbreak until late December despite knowing of it weeks earlier.<\/p>\n
China finally lurched into action last week, effectively quarantining whole cities in Hubei and tens of millions of people.<\/p>\n
Unprecedented safeguards imposed nationwide include postponing the return to school, cutting bus and train routes, and tightening health screening on travellers nationwide.<\/p>\n
On Saturday, authorities in Hubei extended the new year holiday until February 13 and announced a suspension of marriage registrations from Monday to discourage public gatherings.<\/p>\n
The city of Huanggang, east of Wuhan, said only one member of each household would be permitted to leave the house every two days to buy necessities.<\/p>\n
But the toll keeps mounting at an ever-increasing pace, with health authorities on Saturday saying 46 more people had died in the preceding 24 hours, all but one in Hubei.<\/p>\n
Another 2,102 new infections were also confirmed, bringing the total to nearly 12,000 — far higher than the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome outbreak of 2002-03.<\/p>\n
SARS, which is caused by a pathogen similar to the new coronavirus and also originated in China, killed 774 people worldwide — most of them in mainland China and Hong Kong.<\/p>\n
The World Health Organization declared the outbreak a global emergency on Thursday but later warned that closing borders was probably ineffective in halting transmission and could accelerate the virus’s spread.<\/p>\n