The US and Japan flew nationals out of China’s coronavirus epicentre on Wednesday, as the number of deaths leapt to 133 and the World Health Organisation said there was “deeply concerning” evidence of person-to-person transmission in other countries.
The WHO said its emergency committee would reconvene on Thursday to decide whether the spread of the new virus from China now constitutes a global emergency.
“In the last few days the progress of the virus especially in some countries, especially human-to-human transmission, worries us,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a news conference in Geneva, naming Germany, Vietnam and Japan.
Beijing’s plans to slay what its leader called the “devil” coronavirus may have won the trust of the WHO, but confirmation of another 1,459 cases — taking the total to 5,974 in China — only fuelled global public alarm.
The death toll from the flu-like virus also rose by 27 to 133.
Almost all have been in the central province of Hubei, the capital of which is Wuhan, where the virus emerged last month in a live wild animal market.
The situation remained “grim and complex”, Chinese President Xi Jinping acknowledged. US President Donald Trump said he had spoken to Xi and his administration was working closely with China on containing the outbreak.
Some major airlines suspended flights to China, and a senior economist predicted a major impact on growth.
The WHO’s panel of 16 independent experts twice last week declined to declare an international emergency, but will re-evaluate the situation on Thursday.
“We are at an important juncture in this event. We believe these chains of transmission can still be interrupted,” said Mike Ryan, executive director of the WHO’s Health Emergencies Programme.
Ryan also praised China’s response, saying: “They are taking extraordinary measures in the face of what is an extraordinary challenge.”
In many Chinese cities, streets were largely deserted. Tourist attractions were closed, while Starbucks coffee shops required people to have their temperatures taken and to wear masks.
“It’s my first time here in Asia, I feel very unlucky,” said Brazilian tourist Amanda Lee, 23, cutting short a trip.“I couldn’t even see the places I wanted, like the Great Wall.”
There was relief, however, among evacuees from Hubei province, home to about 60 million people and under virtual lockdown.
“I was extremely worried that I was stuck there,” said Takeo Aoyama, who arrived in Tokyo on a chartered plane carrying 206 Japanese out of Wuhan.
The US flew about 210 citizens out of Wuhan, to be screened several times on arrival in California. Britain said it would put 200 citizens on a charter plane on Thursday.
The virus is weighing heavily on the world’s second-biggest economy, with companies cutting corporate travel to China and tourists cancelling trips. Various airlines are cutting flights, from British Airways and Lufthansa to Tanzania’s national carrier that postponed maiden flights.
A government economist said the crisis could cut China’s first quarter growth by one point to 5 per cent or lower as the crisis hits sectors from mining to luxury goods.
Hong Kong stocks took a beating on the first day of trading after the Lunar New Year break. Casino and financial stocks led the Hang Seng index 2.5 per cent lower to a seven-month trough.
“In our view, the worst is yet to come,” securities firm Nomura said, warning of a severe, near-term blow to China’s economy.
But in a potentially major step towards finding a vaccine, scientists in Australia said they had developed a lab-grown version of the virus, the first recreated outside China.