Coronavirus: US will bar entry of foreign nationals who have been in China recently

The Trump administration on Friday declared a public health emergency over the coronavirus outbreak and said it would bar entry to the United States starting on Sunday of foreign nationals who have travelled to China.

US citizens who have travelled to China’s Hubei Province within the last 14 days will be subject to a mandatory 14-day quarantine, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar told a media briefing at the White House on Friday.

The administration will also limit flights from China to seven US airports, he said.

Germany’s seventh case of coronavirus has been identified as a man who works at a company in Bavaria where five other workers had earlier tested positive.

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Earlier on Friday, authorities identified the sixth victim as the child of a male employee at the same company, car parts supplier Webasto.

“Thus, there are currently a total of seven known coronavirus cases in Bavaria,” the Bavarian Health Ministry said in a statement.

Details would be announced on Saturday, the statement said.

Originating in the Chinese city of Wuhan, the flu-like virus first identified earlier in January has resulted in 213 deaths in China. More than 9,800 people have been infected in China and more than 130 cases reported in at least 25 other countries and regions.

Webasto said earlier on Friday that two more of its employees have tested positive for the coronavirus.

Webasto began disclosing the illnesses of the other workers this week in what was one of the first cases of person-to-person transmission outside China.

One of the newly-diagnosed employees was German and in Germany, while the other is Chinese and in Shanghai. Both were being treated in hospital, Webasto said.

All seven, five Germans and two Chinese, had taken part in various long meetings at Webasto headquarters in Stockdorf, Bavaria, the firm said. The Bavarian ministry later said the number of cases in Germany had risen to seven - including the child.

“A round of testing for employees took place there on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday,” the ministry said of the company. “Of 128 results now available, 127 were negative.”

On Monday, the company first announced that a Chinese employee from Shanghai had tested positive for the virus upon return to China following a visit to company headquarters. Other illnesses in Germany were disclosed during the course of the week.

Webasto’s headquarters will remain closed through Monday.

Webasto, which has 11 locations in China, including in Wuhan has banned corporate travel to and from China.

UK

Meanwhile, health officials are urgently trying to trace those who came into contact with two people diagnosed with coronavirus in the UK.

Public Health England (PHE) confirmed that the two people taken ill had been staying in York when they became unwell.

The pair are being treated by Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in its specialist Airborne High Consequences Infectious Disease Centre (HCID).

It is understood that they travelled to the UK from China recently and are undergoing treatment at the Newcastle Royal Victoria Infirmary.

Professor Sharon Peacock, director of the National Infection Service at PHE, said: “Public Health England is contacting people who had close contact with the confirmed cases.

“The two cases were staying in York when they became unwell.

“Close contacts will be given health advice about symptoms and emergency contact details to use if they become unwell in the 14 days after contact with the confirmed cases.

“This tried-and-tested method will ensure we are able to minimise any risk to them and the wider public.”

Earlier, Prof Peacock said that while staff are working to trace people who have been in contact with the pair, they do not currently have “any idea” of how high that number might be.

York

On Wednesday night, the StayCity apartment-hotel in York was put on lockdown when some family members, believed to be Chinese nationals, were taken to hospital after falling ill.

It comes after three Irish people and more than 80 Britons on an evacuation flight from the Chinese city at the centre of the outbreak landed back in the UK.

The flight, carrying three Irish people, 83 Britons and 24 others, mostly from EU countries, arrived at the Brize Norton RAF base in Oxfordshire at around 1.30pm.

The UK passengers are being taken to Arrowe Park Hospital in Wirral for a quarantine period of 14 days, where they will be housed in an NHS staff accommodation block with access to the internet.

Ministers said the Government will send another plane to coronavirus-hit Wuhan to rescue British citizens if needed.

Decision

Chinese health officials said on Friday morning that the death toll in the country from the virus had risen to 213, with the number of known cases rising from 7,711 to 9,962.

No deaths have occurred outside China, although cases have been confirmed across at least 23 countries.

The number of coronavirus cases worldwide has surpassed that of the Sars epidemic, although death rates are lower. - Reuters and PA