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China
31 January 2020 Drones spray disinfectant in Chinese villages. At least 213 people have died from the killer disease. /videos/ (Source: DailyStar)
A comment: "If it's only contagious person to person, why are they spraying the environment? Everything they tell us are lies."
January 30, 2020 Wuhan is short of test kits, beds; the outbreak is serious /by Chen /video/ (Source: Youtube): https://tinyurl.com/wwg4klh
492 562 views
30 Jan, 2020 It's likely many milder cases of the virus are being missed. Doubts have been raised about the official death toll, with claims Chinese authorities have been cremating bodies in secret. Chinese-language news outlet Initium interviewed people working at local cremation centres in Wuhan, who said bodies were being sent directly from hospitals without being properly identified and added to the official record. The death rate of the new virus at 2 per cent figure was very preliminary. The World Health Organisation said most cases reported to date "have been milder, with around 20 per cent of those infected experiencing severe illness". The Chinese health minister and others have suggested the virus is spreading before people get symptoms, but data to confirm that has not yet been shared widely beyond China. The fortunate thing about SARS, if there was anything fortunate, was that transmission did not take place before symptoms. If it turned out that the new coronavirus could indeed be spread by people who didn't show any symptoms, a pandemic is a scenario that we have to consider. (Source: NZHerald / AP)
29 January 2020 China has already seen almost 6,000 cases and 132 deaths. Western incitements to anti-Asian hatred. To see the coronavirus as an excuse for people to be racist? Anti-Asian racism has been reported in the UK and elsewhere. (Source: BBC)
January 29, 2020 A country of fretful eyes peering out over surgical masks. More than 6,000 medical workers have been dispatched from every province except Tibet and Hubei (where Wuhan is located) to relieve doctors and nurses in Wuhan. Since the central government takeover of China’s virus response last week, state media has broadcast a steady stream of inspirational reports about heroic Chinese people uniting to fight the unseen enemy, confident in the party’s leadership. Over and over again, the government repeats: Trust us. Be calm. Wash your hands. Stay home. Silent cities sit in a white winter smog that blots out the sky, their silent, empty streets contrasting with the crowded hospitals where doctors and nurses break down because they lack equipment or rooms for the patients squeezed outside their doors. Online, desperate posts sprout up daily from people begging for help because sick family members are not being admitted into hospitals. In rural areas, many villagers blockade and guard village entrances to prevent outsiders - especially Hubei people - from entering. National health commissioner Jiao said today in Beijing that the issue of insufficient hospital beds was a question of “great importance” and “national concern". The hospitals in Wuhan are supposed to open up space to patients, Jiao said, providing 10,000 beds in total - “more than enough” for suspected as well as confirmed cases. But residents in Wuhan with sick family members say they are unable to receive diagnostic tests or secure hospital space for their relatives, even when doctors tell them they are likely infected with the new virus. (Source: msn / LosAngelesTimes)
January 29, 2020 While scientists believe the outbreak was sparked by an animal virus, it’s unclear if there are other factors driving the epidemic. Chinese researchers suggested that person-to-person spread among close contacts occurred as early as mid-December. Based on the first 425 confirmed cases, the researchers estimate that each infection led to 2.2 others on average. That’s a bit more than ordinary flu but far less than some other respiratory diseases such as whooping cough and tuberculosis. The rate for SARS, a cousin to this new virus, was estimated to be 3. More than half of the cases in which symptoms began before Jan. 1 were tied to a seafood market, but only 8% of cases after that have been. The average incubation period was five days. (Source: AP)
Jan 28, 2020 The number of cases has soared - doubling to more than 4,5oo in the past 24 hours. Today authorities urged Chinese citizens to delay any foreign travel "to protect the health and safety of Chinese and foreign people'. (TheTimesofIndia)
01/27/2020 There’s a very acute conflict between supply and demand. The epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak, China’s Hubei Province, is opening up 100,000 hospital beds in an effort to contain the disease, the province’s vice governor announced. Yunyan said authorities have designated 112 medical institutions to treat patients with the deadly novel coronavirus. They have freed up around 100,000 hospital beds in the province, with 3,000 of them in Wuhan city alone. Another 24 medical centers will be mobilized to assist with patients who exhibit symptoms and are suspected to have the virus. Hospitals in Hubei need 100,000 protective suits daily, but there are only about 40 such suppliers nationwide, with a total production capacity of 30,000. (Source: ZeroHedge)
January 26, 2020 Confirmed infections within China climbed to nearly 2,750 and the death toll rose to 80. (Source: StatNews)
January 26, 2020 Game changer. People can spread the virus before symptoms show, China's health minister Ma said today. If so – and information about this virus is constantly evolving - for about two weeks, people who don’t even know they’re sick can spread the virus. The study of the genetic code of 2019-nCoV reveals that the new virus is most closely related to two bat SARS-like coronavirus samples from China, initially suggesting that - like SARS and MERS - the bat might also be the origin of 2019-nCoV. The authors further found that the viral RNA coding sequence of 2019-nCoV spike protein, which forms the "crown" of the virus particle that recognizes the receptor on a host cell, indicates that the bat virus might have mutated before infecting people. When the researchers performed a more detailed bioinformatics analysis of the sequence of 2019-nCoV, it suggests that this coronavirus might come from snakes. Snakes - the Chinese krait and the Chinese cobra - could be the original source of the new coronavirus. The many-banded krait (Bungarus multicinctus), also known as the Taiwanese krait or the Chinese krait, is a highly venomous species of elapid snake found in much of central and southern China and southeast Asia. Most of the first group of patients hospitalized were workers or customers at a Wuhan seafood wholesale market which also sold processed meats and live consumable animals including poultry, donkeys, sheep, pigs, camels, foxes, badgers, bamboo rats, hedgehogs and reptiles. However, since no one has ever reported finding a coronavirus infecting aquatic animals, it is plausible that the coronavirus may have originated from other animals sold in that market. Due to the Lunar New Year holiday and the outbreak, 5 million people have left Wuhan with 9 million still remaining in the city, according to Wuhan’s Mayor Zhou. By declaring a global emergency, WHO would set in motion coordination efforts among various countries and encourage UN member states to institute strict surveillance measures. According to a September 2019 study by Chinese scientists published in The Lancet, there are about 88,100 influenza-related deaths every year in China, with a mortality rate of between 1.6% and 2.6%. The majority of those who died as a result of the flu were aged over 60. The new coronavirus appears to be more deadly than seasonal influenza. Of the 1,317 cases confirmed globally as of noon yesterday in China, there had been 41 deaths, a mortality rate of 3.1%. (Source: CNN)
January 26, 2020 Death toll reaches 56 as cases rise sharply. China’s National Health Commission said it would send 1,230 medical experts to Wuhan to assist in treatment. The army has sent another 450 people, from three military medical universities, to Wuhan. The air force sent military transport aircraft to the cities of Shanghai, Xi’an and Chongqing to pick up emergency airlifts of medical team members and medical supplies for Wuhan. In Wuhan, health officials said that they would assign 24 general hospitals to treat potential coronavirus patients only. China has temporarily banned the wildlife trade nationwide. China’s rigid bureaucracy discourages local officials from raising bad news with central bosses and it silos officials off from one another, making it harder to manage, or even see, a crisis in the making. (Source: TheNewYorkTimes)
January 25, 2020 The spread of a deadly new virus is accelerating, Chinese President Xi warned, after holding a special government meeting on the Lunar New Year public holiday. The country is facing a "grave situation" Mr Xi told. The coronavirus has killed at least 41 people and infected some 1,400 since its discovery in the city of Wuhan. There a second emergency hospital is to be built within weeks to handle 1,300 new patients, and will be finished in half a month. It is the second such rapid construction project: work on another 1,000-bed hospital has already begun. Specialist military medical teams have also been flown into Hubei province, where Wuhan is located. This new virus also causes severe acute respiratory infection. Symptoms seem to start with a fever, followed by a dry cough and then, after a week, lead to shortness of breath and some patients needing hospital treatment. There is no specific cure or vaccine. Pharmacies in Wuhan have begun to run out of supplies and hospitals have been filled with nervous members of the public. The US, France and Russia are among several countries trying to evacuate their nationals from Wuhan. In Hong Kong, the highest level of emergency has been declared and school holidays extended. In the capital, Beijing, and also in Shanghai, officials have asked residents who return from affected areas to stay at home for 14 days to prevent the spread of the virus. There are now 1,372 confirmed cases across China. (Source: BBC)
January 25, 2020 The bleak prediction reveals by February 4, the number of infected people in Wuhan could hit 351,396. Contagion Coronavirus leaves 56 million on lockdown in 18 cities. A surgeon, 62 who treated sick becomes 41st confirmed death. Hospitals warned they could not cope with the number of patients turning up with symptoms. Scientists at Peking University claim that the deadly virus was passed to humans from bats - but say it was through a mutation in snakes. The Huanan Seafood market sold live koalas, snakes, rats and wolf pup to locals to eat. Bat soup is reported to be an unusual but popular dish particularly in Wuhan. The researchers said that the new strain is made up of a combination of one that affects bats and another unknown coronavirus. They believe that combined genetic material from both bats and this unknown strain picked up a protein that allows viruses bind to certain host cells - including those of humans. Snakes are sold at the Huanan Seafood Market in central Wuhan and may have jumped to other animals before passing to humans, they claim. The binding protein is important, but it is just one of the many things under investigation. There may be other proteins involved. (Source: TheSun)
24 January 2020 The coronavirus death toll in China increased to 26 and the number of confirmed cases around the world was more than 850. Lockdowns to contain the new virus have been extended to at least 10 cities - including nine in Hubei province - effectively isolating 33 million people. Measures are in force in the UK to guard against the virus, including taking aircraft to a special designated area of Heathrow's Terminal 4. (Source: SkyNews)
23 January 2020 China built a lab to study SARS and Ebola in Wuhan. Opened in January 2018 the Wuhan National Biosafety Laboratory is the only lab in China designated for studying dangerous pathogens like SARS and Ebola. It was the first ever lab in the country designed to meet biosafetey-level-4 (BSL-4) standards - the highest biohazard level, meaning that it would be qualified to handle the most dangerous pathogens. Upon opening, it planned to first take up a project that required only BSL-3 precautions to be in place: a tickborne virus that causes Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever. It's as highly fatal disease, killing 10 to 40 percent of those it infects. SARS, too, is a BSL-3 virus. According to the lab's director, Yuan, the Wuhan National Biosafety Laboratory planned to study the SARS virus. After a laboratory leak incident of SARS in 2004, the former Ministry of Health of China initiated the construction of preservation laboratories for high-level pathogens such as SARS, coronavirus, and pandemic influenza virus. It's not clear what or where those labs were. A 2017 article warned of the unpredictability of lab animals that scientists at the Wuhan lab intended to inject with viruses. There are about 54 BSL-4 labs worldwide. (Source: DailyMail)
23 January 2020 The quarantine on Wuhan may have come too late. Wuhan, China, and 5 other cities have been quarantined as China attempts to halt the spread of the coronavirus. Today morning, authorities in Wuhan, city more than 3,200 square miles in size, shut down the city's public transportation, including buses, trains, ferries, and the airport. It also prevents any buses or trains from coming into or leaving the city and grounds all planes at the Wuhan airport. At noon local time tomorrow, Wuhan city authorities will begin to limit car travel as well. Nearby cities - Huanggang, Ezhou, Chibi, and Zhijiang - were placed under a transportation lockdown today, too. Officials in Huanggang have ordered cinemas and cafes to close. The city's long-distance buses and trains were halted. The nearby city of Ezhou, too, has closed its train stations. In Chibi and Zhijiang, two smaller cities, buses are being halted. Authorities have also announced an impending quarantine order for Xianning. That's about 23 million people on lockdown. Eighteen people have died from the coronavirus outbreak that started in Wuhan, China, and at least 640 people have been infected across nine countries. A substantial fraction of infected people show only mild symptoms. (Source: BusinessInsider)
January 22, 2022 The Chinese government has quarantined the city of Wuhan and plans to shut down the airport and public transportation within hours amid an outbreak of the coronavirus. The virus has been linked to at least 17 deaths and has sickened over 500 others. (Source: FoxNews)
United States
January 31, 2020 “That meeting never happened.” More than two months before he asked Ukraine’s president to investigate his political opponents, President Trump directed Bolton, then his national security adviser, to help with his pressure campaign to extract damaging information on Democrats from Ukrainian officials, according to an unpublished manuscript by Bolton. Mr. Trump gave the instruction, Bolton wrote, during an Oval Office conversation in early May. In a statement after this article was published, Mr. Trump denied the discussion that Mr. Bolton described. Bolton described the roughly 10-minute conversation in drafts of his book, a memoir of his time as national security adviser that is to go on sale in March. Over several pages, Mr. Bolton laid out Mr. Trump’s fixation on Ukraine and the president’s belief, based on a mix of scattershot events, assertions and outright conspiracy theories, that Ukraine tried to undermine his chances of winning the presidency in 2016. As he began to realize the extent and aims of the pressure campaign, Bolton began to object. Mr. Trump also repeatedly made national security decisions contrary to American interests, Bolton wrote, describing a pervasive sense of alarm among top advisers about the president’s choices. Bolton expressed concern to others in the administration that the president was effectively granting favors to autocratic leaders like Erdogan of Turkey and Xi of China. The White House has sought to block the release of the book, contending that it contains classified information. The government reviews books by former officials who had access to secrets so they can excise the manuscripts of any classified information. Officials including Mr. Trump have described Mr. Bolton, who was often at odds with Secretary of State Pompeo and Mr. Mulvaney, as a disgruntled former official with an ax to grind. (Source: msn)
January 31, 2020 After being cajoled into going up to his room, Mann said Weinstein told her friend to wait in the living area of the suite and called Mann into his bedroom. When she appeared at the doorframe, she said that he pulled her in, shut the door, and orally sexually assaulted her without her consent. “The more I fought, the angrier he got,” Mann said, remembering that she “locked up” and grew very quiet. Then, she said she “faked an orgasm to get out of it.” When Weinstein was finished performing oral sex on her, Mann said, he asked her how it was and, being nervous, she told him, “Oh, it was the best I ever had.'” Mann said that after the assault she made the decision to be in a relationship with Weinstein, in part, because she had only been sexual with “very few people.” “I entered what I thought would be an agreeable relationship with him, and it was extremely degrading from that point on,” Mann said. Mann testified that Weinstein would say things like, “Do you like my big fat Jewish dick?” to her and, one time, peed on her. She also said the first time she saw Weinstein fully naked, she said she thought he was “deformed” because he had “extreme scarring” and did not have any testicles. Mann’s account, along with the former production assistant Haley’s, make up the basis of the five felony counts against Weinstein, which include predatory sexual assault and first- and third-degree rape. He has pleaded not guilty. (Source: TheWrap)
31 January 2020 Librarians and free speech advocates are fighting back against a proposal in the Missouri House of Representatives that would ban certain books from the state's libraries with the threat of a misdemeanor charge. Missouri House Rep. Baker introduced the bill, dubbed the "Parental Oversight of Public Libraries Act," in January that calls for the creation of a panel made up of non-library workers who will determine the removal of "age-inappropriate sexual material," from their local branch. "I wanted to send a strong message that we need to protect our kids and we need to do something about this, but that's all negotiable," Baker told. Pelizzari, a spokeswoman for the National Coalition Against Censorship, which called on the Missouri Legislature to reject the bill this week, said the proposal is trying to remove books that promote positive LGTBQ messages. "This is one tactic that is being taken to try to put forward this idea that children should not have access to picture books about a prince and knight falling in love," she said. (Source: abcnews)
31 January 2020 Adler and his wife are seeking unspecified damages in the suit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas. Suit names American Airlines as the defendants. The couple and their at-the-time 19-month-old daughter had been attempting to fly back home to Detroit from a vacation in Miami last January. They claim that a pilot instructed a gate agent to have them exit the plane because of their 'extremely offensive body odor'. The couple said that they had showered that morning. The gate agent 'made disparaging and derogatory statements telling the Adlers that he knew that Orthodox Jews bathe once a week,' the lawsuit states. They were forced to take a later flight. The Adlers were seriously inconvenienced, treated as criminals, humiliated, insulted, defamed, missed appointments, incurred incidental expenses, and suffered trauma and emotional distress. They claim that now when 'body odor' is searched online, results show the Adler name. 'The Adlers suffered and will continue in the future to suffer trauma, stigmatization , severe mental and emotional distress, depression, despair, repugnance, embarrassment, public humiliation, damage to personal reputation, anxiety, fear and apprehension associated with airports and flying, loss of appetite, insomnia and migraines,' the suit reads. The Adlers are being pressured to see their race and religion as inferior to that of Whites, dirty and unwelcome.' The airline said: 'Multiple passengers complained about Mr. Adler's body odor. The decision was made out of concern for the comfort of our other passengers'. Our team members took care of the family and provided hotel accommodations and meals, and rebooked them on a flight to Detroit the next morning. (Source: DailyMail)
January 31, 2020 FBI probes use of Israeli firm's spyware in personal and government hacks investigating the role of Israeli spyware vendor NSO Group Technologies. Outside of government, journalists, human rights activists and dissidents in several countries have been victims of attacks using NSO spyware. The probe was underway by 2017, when Federal Bureau of Investigation officials were trying to learn whether NSO obtained from American hackers any of the code it needed to infect smartphones. NSO said it sells its spy software and technical support exclusively to governments and that those tools are to be used in pursuing suspected terrorists and other criminals. Facebook filed a lawsuit in October accusing NSO itself of exploiting a flaw in Facebook's WhatsApp messaging service to hack 1,400 users. Suppliers of hacking tools could be prosecuted under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) or the Wiretap Act. The CFAA criminalizes unauthorized access to a computer or computer network, and the Wiretap Act prohibits use of a tool to intercept calls, texts or emails. NSO is known in the cybersecurity world for its "Pegasus" software other tools that can be delivered in several ways. The software can capture everything on a phone, including the plain text of encrypted messages, and commandeer it to record audio. FTI Consulting said this month that NSO could have supplied the software it said Saudi Arabia used to hack Bezos' iPhone which began sending out more data hours after it received a video from a WhatsApp account associated with Crown Prince Salman. (Source: Reuters)
United States
January 31, 2020 "The risk to the American public remains low at this time". Health and Human Services Secretary Azar II declared a public health emergency for the entire United States to aid the nation’s healthcare community in responding to 2019 novel coronavirus. The emergency declaration gives state, tribal, and local health departments more flexibility to request that HHS authorize them to temporarily reassign state, local, and tribal personnel to respond to 2019-nCoV if their salaries normally are funded in whole or in part by Public Health Service Act programs. These personnel could assist with public health information campaigns and other response activities. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is working closely with state health departments on disease surveillance, contact tracing, and providing interim guidance for clinicians on identifying and treating coronavirus infections. HHS is working with the Department of State to assist in bringing home Americans who had been living in affected areas of mainland China. HHS divisions also are collaborating with industry to identify and move forward with development of potential diagnostics, vaccines, and therapeutics to detect, prevent, and treat 2019-nCoV infections. (Source: hhs.gov)
January 30, 2020 The pilots’ union at American Airlines sued to block the carrier from flying to China and told members not to operate flight there because of the spreading coronavirus outbreak. The Allied Pilots Association, which represents American’s 15,000 pilots, filed the lawsuit. Earlier this week, American announced that it will suspend flights between Los Angeles and China beginning Feb. 9 but a union spokesman said the group wants them to be halted immediately, along with flights from Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. (Source: TheWashingtonTimes)
January 28, 2020 On January 26, after 7:30 a.m., the president directed his Twitter followers to a post that referred to Mr. Bolton as a “rejected neocon.” On that day evening, the New York Times reported details of a forthcoming book by Mr. Bolton, a draft of which had been provided to the National Security Council in December for a review of classified information. Mr. Bolton’s lawyer confirmed that in the manuscript, Mr. Bolton wrote that the president told him in August that he wanted to freeze foreign aid to Ukraine until the country aided investigations into Democrats, including former Vice President Biden and his son. Mr. Trump denied the conversation ever happened and tweeted, shortly after midnight on January 26, Sunday: “If Bolton said this, it was only to sell a book.” (Source: TheWallStreetJournal)
(2020 01) "Peace for prosperity: A Vision to improve the lives of the Palestinian and Israeli people". The text of 'Deal of Century' which establishes Palestinian state, Jewish control of Jerusalem (Sourve: WhiteHouse): https://tinyurl.com/vu76htm
January 27, 2020 A new Gallup poll found that Americans spent more of their leisure time inside libraries last year than they did going to movie theaters, sporting events, museums, concerts or casinos. The survey found that people visited libraries an average of 10.5 times last year - far outpacing the 5.3 trips to the movies, 4.7 excursions to a sporting match and the 3.8 live music or theater shows they caught. Zoos were the least popular destinations, with Americans making an average of 0.9 visits a year. Activities that typically cost money are visited or attended less frequently. The pollster also noted that modern libraries boast more than just old-fashioned paper books - with many literary hubs now offering movie rentals, free Wi-Fi and activities for kids. Women were particularly fond of them, with an average of 13.4 annual visits, compared to 7.5 for men - who preferred live sporting events, with 5.7 visits, and casinos, with 3.4 visits, twice that of women. (Source: TheNewYorkPost)
January 24, 2020 President Trump, seeking to court evangelical voters, addressed thousands of activists gathered today on the National Mall for the nation's largest annual anti-abortion rally. Activists see him as a key ally in delivering policy priorities aimed at limiting abortion that he promised in 2016. Trump ticked off a laundry list of actions he’s taken to support abortion opponents since taking office, including restrictions to eligibility for the family planning funding program known as Title X and funding restrictions on nonprofits that support abortion abroad, known as the Mexico City policy. He also called on Congress to take action to limit abortion late in pregnancy and referenced legislation that Republicans say would protect infants born after attempted abortions. (Source: RollCall)
21 January 2020 Scientists at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the US have already started working towards a vaccine against the new, deadly coronavirus that emerged in China last month and so far has claimed six lives. The National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) director Dr Fauci has said that the NIH is developing a vaccine for the virus. It would take months for the vaccine to advance into clinical trials and more than one year until it is available. A team of scientists in Texas, New York and China are also working on a vaccine, noted Baylor College of Medicine vaccine scientist Dr. Hotez. Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization – International Vaccine Centre (VIDO-InterVac) at the University of Saskatchewan in Canada has requested to work on the virus to potentially develop a vaccine. Separately, US-based biotechnology company Moderna has annouced that it is collaborating with NIH, NIAID and Vaccine Research Center (VRC) to develop a vaccine. (Source: PharmaceuticalTchnology)
WHO
Jan 30 2020 2:43 PM EST An “extraordinary event that is serious, unusual or unexpected. The World Health Organization said the fast-spreading coronavirus that’s infected more than 8,200 across the world and has killed at least 171 people in China and has now spread to at least 18 other countries, is a global health emergency. The rare designation will help the international agency mobilize financial and political support to contain the outbreak. The 2003 SARS epidemic sickened roughly 8,100 people across the globe over nine months. There are at least eight cases in four countries, outside of China, of human-to-human transmission of the new coronavirus. "Our greatest concern is the potential for the virus to spread to countries with weaker health systems and which are ill-prepared to deal with it,” WHO Director-General Tedros said. He congratulated the Chinese government for their efforts to contain the outbreak despite the potential economic impacts. He urged the public to remain calm, saying the WHO wasn’t recommending “measures that unnecessarily interfere with international trade or travel.” About 20% of the patients are developing severe illnesses, including pneumonia and respiratory failure, he said. It’s transmitted through human contact, in droplets through sneezing or through touching germs left on inanimate objects. The last time WHO declared a global health emergency was in 2019 for the Ebola outbreak in eastern Congo that killed more than 2,000 people. The agency also declared global emergencies for the 2016 Zika virus, the 2009 H1N1 swine flu and the 2014 polio and Ebola outbreaks. Declaring an emergency doesn’t give the WHO extra funding or power, but it allows Tedros to make recommendations, including whether countries should impose travel or trade bans. (Source: CNBC)
Globalization
Jan 31st 2020 Sunday's date is written the same backward and forward. whether you're in Europe, Asia, or the U.S. February the 2nd is a very special palindromic day. And extremely rare. The previous eight-digit palindrome like this was 909 years ago, on November 11, 1111. The next one will be December 12, 2121, 101 years from now. (Source: DISRN)
Jan 30 2020 Challenges for travel and leisure stocks, slower economic growth and a weaker Chinese yuan are among the new market implications investors are dealing with as the new coronavirus spreads rapidly. Authorities in Russia said they would temporarily restrict passage through 16 road, rail and river checkpoints along its 2,670-mile border with China. Though Russia’s national carrier Aeroflot hasn’t stopped flying to China smaller Russian airlines have canceled flights. Immigration officials in Hong Kong scoured the city for visitors from Hubei, finding 15 yesterday night during searches of 110 hotels, according to Lam, deputy secretary for security of the Chinese territory today. Ms. Lam said 1,600 people from the province had been turned away at the Hong Kong border since the ban. Air France joined the list of airlines cutting service to China. The carrier said it would suspend all scheduled flights to and from the mainland until Feb. 9 and operate special flights starting Friday to and from Shanghai and Beijing using volunteer crew members to enable customers and employees to depart safely. Italian authorities were holding 6,000 passengers and crew aboard a cruise ship at the port of Civitavecchia near Rome after a 54-year-old Chinese woman showed flulike symptoms, according to a spokesperson for Costa Crociere, the company operating the ship Costa Smeralda. The woman and her male traveling companion, who showed no symptoms, were isolated in the ship’s hospital. China’s 32-member national women’s soccer team is being held in quarantine in a hotel in the Australian city of Brisbane until Feb. 5. The team had departed Wuhan Jan. 22, before the city was locked down. (Source: TheWaltStreetJournal)
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