Yokohama, Japan”•Thousands of people were stranded aboard two cruise ships in Asia on Thursday, quarantined by officials desperate to stem the spread of a deadly virus that has killed hundreds in China and spread panic worldwide.
At least 61 people on board one ocean liner off the Japanese coast have tested positive for the new coronavirus, with thousands more facing two weeks of isolation.
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The outbreak on the vessel, whose 3,700 passengers and crew hail from over 50 countries, is the latest development in a snowballing global health emergency that has left more than 560 people dead, most of them in China.
READ: China crisis deepens: Virus death toll rises to 563; 28,000 infected
In Hong Kong, 3,600 people spent the night confined aboard the cruise ship World Dream as authorities conducted health checks after three former passengers tested positive for the virus.
In Beijing, a Chinese doctor who was punished after raising the alarm about China’s new coronavirus died from the pathogen on Friday, sparking an outpouring of grief and anger over a worsening crisis that has now killed more than 630 people.
At least 31,000 people have now been infected by a virus that ophthalmologist Li Wenliang and colleagues first brought to light in late December.
The disease has since spread across China, prompting the government to lock down cities of tens of millions of people, and panic has spiralled around the globe as more than 240 cases have emerged in two dozen countries.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump, whose countries have tussled over trade and human rights, spoke on the phone about the health emergency on Friday.
Xi urged “the US side to respond reasonably to the novel coronavirus outbreak”, according to the official Xinhua news agency.
Trump expressed his “confidence” in China’s ability to tackle the epidemic, the White House said.
Beijing has been angered by bans on arrivals from China instituted by the United States and other countries, accusing Washington of spreading “panic.”
Later Thursday, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said another huge cruise ship, the Westerdam, was heading to the country with one suspected infected passenger aboard.
He said no foreigners from the vessel, capable of carrying nearly 3,000 passengers and crew, would be allowed to disembark.
In Seoul, the most productive car factory in the world fell quiet on Friday as South Korea’s Hyundai suspended operations at its giant Ulsan complex, hamstrung by a lack of parts with the coronavirus outbreak crippling China’s industrial output.
The five-plant network can make 1.4 million vehicles annually, in a coastal location facilitating importing components and exporting cars globally.
But supply lines are crucial in an ever more interconnected worldwide economy and the coronavirus outbreak in China has seen Beijing order factories closed in several areas as it seeks to contain the epidemic.
As a result, Hyundai”•which with its affiliate Kia ranks as the world’s fifth-largest auto manufacturer”•has run out of the wiring harnesses that connect vehicles’ complex electronics.
It is having to suspend production at its factories across South Korea, putting 25,000 workers on forced leave and partial wages, healthy victims of the disease outbreak across the Yellow Sea.
The impact on Hyundai will be eye-watering, with analysts estimating a five-day South Korean shutdown to cost the firm at least six hundred billion won ($500 million).
Since emerging from central China in December the virus has killed 563 people and infected over 24,000 more”•including a few hundred outside the mainland.
The World Health Organization, which has declared the outbreak a global health emergency, on Wednesday appealed for $675 million to fight the virus.
In Japan, more than 3,700 people were confined to quarters aboard the Diamond Princess, which has been held off the port city of Yokohama since Monday night.
Authorities decided to quarantine the ship and test hundreds on board after a former passenger who disembarked in Hong Kong last month tested positive for the virus.
Health Minister Katsunobu Kato told parliament on Thursday that results for 102 people had now come in, with 20 testing positive.
In all some 273 people on board were tested, including those who had close contact with the former passenger and others displaying potential symptoms.
Ten people diagnosed with the new virus have already been removed from the ship, which on Thursday docked in Yokohama to resupply for a quarantine that could last until Feb. 19.
Ambulances arrived at the port, where officials could be seen dressed in white protective suits, complete with face masks and helmets, to remove the additional 10 infected people.
Li, 34, died early Friday, Wuhan Central Hospital said in a post on China’s Twitter-like Weibo platform, an announcement that triggered grief on social media”•over a doctor who was hailed a hero”•and anger over the government’s handling of the crisis.
“He is a hero who warned others with his life,” a fellow Wuhan doctor wrote on Weibo.
“Those fat officials who live on public money, may you die from a snowstorm,” wrote one angry Weibo user in a comment that has since been censored.
In a sign that the criticism has shaken the Communist government, its anti-graft agency announced that it was sending a team to Wuhan to “conduct a comprehensive investigation into issues involving Dr. Li Wenliang reported by the masses.”
Li’s death has also highlighted the enormous risks that frontline doctors have taken to treat patients in overwhelmed and under-equipped hospitals in Wuhan, the quarantined city of 11 million people where the virus emerged in December.
Medical staff are overstretched and lack sufficient protective gear, the deputy governor of Hubei province admitted Thursday.
Passengers took to social media to document their confinement, with one posting audio of an announcement on the ship promising better internet and room service.
“The crew are working extremely hard for you,” the announcement in English said.
“Masks will be delivered to your state rooms as we are negotiating with the Japanese quarantine officials to allow small groups of guests to spend some time on the open decks to get some fresh air.”
British passenger David Abel uploaded a series of videos on his Facebook page, jokingly asking the captain to send him some whisky and requesting a banana a day from room service.
“It’s a horrible situation for most passengers onboard, being stuck here, confined to the cabin,” he said, sympathising especially with those with inside rooms.
“It must be almost unbearable for them.”
City health officials in Hong Kong said passengers would only be allowed off the World Dream after tests were completed, with crew checked first and passengers to be screened on Thursday.
Panic buyers in the city descended on supermarkets to snap up toilet rolls as the government warned that online rumours of shortages were hampering the city’s fight against the virus.
On Wednesday, city authorities announced anyone arriving from the Chinese mainland from Saturday would face a mandatory two-week quarantine.
Two dozen countries now have confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus that emerged from a Wuhan market selling exotic animals at the end of last year.
China is struggling with a shortage of hospital beds, equipment and materials to treat those infected, despite building two hospitals from scratch and converting public buildings to house patients.
Tens of millions across the mainland have been told to stay indoors as authorities battle to curb the outbreak.
In parts of Hangzhou, 175 kilometres (110 miles) from Shanghai, only one person per household is allowed outside every two days.
“Please don’t go out. Don’t go out. Don’t go out!” blared a message on a loudspeaker urging people to wear masks, wash their hands regularly and report any people from Hubei.
Several governments have imposed travel restrictions over the virus, while major airlines have suspended flights to and from China.
Italy announced that passengers on every international flight would be scanned for fever, while Taiwan Thursday banned all international cruise ships from docking.
China has reacted angrily to the travel bans, noting that the WHO does not advise imposing them.
Health experts note that the mortality rate of the new virus, at around two percent, is well below that of SARS, which killed 800 people in 2002-2003, around 10 percent of those infected.
Two fatalities have been reported outside the mainland, in Hong Kong and the Philippines.
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