The global death toll from coronavirus climbed to 427 Tuesday, and the number of infections surpassed 20,000 as the fast-moving epidemic continues to cause concern and uncertainty around the world.
The crisis has health and travel officials scrambling from place to place to contain the outbreak.
Seemingly every minute, there’s a new headline about the virus first identified as a form of pneumonia on New Year’s Eve in Wuhan, China.
On Monday, a passenger aboard a Carnival’s Princess cruise on a round-trip from Japan was diagnosed with the virus after the ship left Hong Kong, according to officials.
Hong Kong is where medical workers have been on strike for more than two days, demanding the government shut down its borders in response to the growing emergency.
Americans fleeing the outbreak in China are set to land at a military base this week as quarantines of numerous other people are being planned in several countries.
Here’s everything we know about the ongoing global battle against coronavirus.
The worldwide toll
The virus has been confirmed in more than 25 countries and territories.
Officials have reported 11 confirmed cases in the U.S. as of Monday and the State Department has urged Americans not to travel to China, where the number of infected stands at more than 20,000, according to The Hill and NBC News, citing Beijing’s National Health Commission.
So far there have been no deaths in the United States.
The 10th and 11th coronavirus cases in the U.S. were confirmed Sunday night, with the two latest in San Benito County, California, according to news reports.
The ninth case of coronavirus in the United States was confirmed Sunday by Santa Clara County, California, officials.
Officials say the ninth case involves a woman from the San Francisco Bay Area who traveled to China, according to The Associated Press.
U.S. health officials declared a public health emergency Friday, and by Saturday the U.S. Defense Department approved four military facilities around the country to temporarily house people returning from China.
Congressional leaders announced Sunday that some of the Americans who were flown out of China to flee the outbreak will arrive at a San Diego military base this week. Reports say they will be quarantined for 14 days.
The first patient to be diagnosed with coronavirus in the United States was released from Providence Regional Medical Center in Everett, Washington, on Monday. Reports say the man will remain in isolation at home.
Other reported cases across the U.S. include one case in Boston, two cases in Chicago and one in Maricopa County, Arizona.
California is the state with the most reported cases so far, with six — two in Santa Clara County, two in San Benito County, one in Los Angeles County and another in Orange County.
Reports said a man from Hong Kong recently died from the virus.
The Philippines on Sunday reported the first death from a new virus outside of China: a 44-year-old Chinese man who had a fever, cough and sore throat, then developed pneumonia after arriving from Wuhan on Jan. 25.
Since then, a second death has been confirmed in the region, according to CNN.
Reports say there have been 3,235 newly reported confirmed cases of the infection mostly around where the virus originated in Wuhan, in China’s Hubei province, a city with 11 million residents.
China’s leader, Xi Jinping, locked down the city of Wuhan on Jan. 23. On Tuesday he said, “We have launched a people's war of prevention of the epidemic.”
Britain, Russia and Sweden reported their first cases of coronavirus Friday as more countries tightened travel and border crossings with China.
The Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta has been regularly updating its social media posts with information to raise awareness about the epidemic.
Cruise passenger has virus
Carnival Cruises confirmed Monday that a passenger on one of its Princess Cruises ships tested positive for coronavirus in the week after leaving Hong Kong on Jan. 25.
More than 3,500 passengers aboard The Diamond Princess ship were being held at the Yokohama, Japan, port Monday outside Tokyo for 24 hours while Japanese officials check the health of crew members and passengers on board, the company said in a statement. The ship arrived in Yokohama early from a 14-day round-trip voyage, which departed from Yokohama on Jan. 20 and was scheduled to return on Feb. 4.
The passenger, reportedly an 80-year-old man who tested positive for the virus on Feb. 1, sailed on the ship from Yokohama on Jan. 20 to Hong Kong on Jan. 25.
Coronavirus hospital opens
A 1,000-bed hospital that was built in 10 days in response to the coronavirus epidemic opened Monday, according to Chinese state media reports.
Construction on the 645,000-square-foot Huoshenshan Hospital began Jan. 24. The facility was built specifically to handle patients infected with the virus.
Hospital workers go on strike
Hong Kong hospitals cut services as thousands of medical workers went on strike for a second day Tuesday to demand the border with mainland China be shut completely, as a new virus caused its first death in the semi-autonomous territory and authorities feared it was spreading locally.
All but two of Hong Kong's land and sea crossings with the mainland were closed at midnight after more than 2,000 hospital workers went on strike Monday. Hong Kong health authorities reported two additional patients without any known travel to the virus epicenter, bringing the number of locally transmitted cases up to four.
The growing caseload “indicates significant risk of community transmission” and could portend a “large-scale” outbreak, said Chuang Shuk-kwan, head of the communicable disease branch at the Center for Health Protection.
More than 7,000 health personnel joined the strike Tuesday, according to the Hospital Authority Employees' Alliance, the strike organizer.
Flights suspended early
Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines has suspended its flights to China sooner than originally planned, in response to U.S. Health and Human Services requirements.
Delta has an Atlanta-Shanghai route, along with flights to Beijing and Shanghai from other U.S. cities. The airline suspended its flights between the United States and China on Sunday, instead of waiting until Feb. 6 to halt the flights as previously announced.
Credit: Andy Wong
Credit: Andy Wong
Delta said it based the decision on U.S. requirements announced Friday to deny entry to foreign nationals who have traveled to China in the last two weeks, and to quarantine U.S. citizens who have traveled to China’s Hubei province recently.
Australians face quarantine
Australians evacuated from Wuhan arrived in the Indian Ocean territory of Christmas Island on Tuesday and will be quarantined there for two weeks.
Some 241 passengers will be stationed on the remote Australia-run island, about 870 miles northwest of mainland Australia.
Australian Health Minister Greg Hunt said Tuesday the passengers have been cleared of the coronavirus, with two remaining facing only a "minimal" chance that they have the virus.
There were 600 Australians registered in the Hubei region as of last week, and Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Tuesday a second evacuation flight may be arranged.
Warnings of misinformation
A senior official with the World Health Organization warned Tuesday about misinformation spread about the novel coronavirus outbreak.
“It is important to tackle misinformation as soon as possible,” Dr Sylvie Briand, director of pandemic and epidemic diseases department at WHO, said in a briefing with reporters. “When there is an unknown, people try to fill in the void.”
One example of misinformation described by Briand is an erroneous belief that there is “a cloud of virus” and it’s possible to get sick by simply breathing in air.
The WHO announced on Twitter on Tuesday that it would convene a team of experts next week to explore research priorities.
— Information from The Associated Press was used to supplement this report.
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