Boston student confirmed as 8th US coronavirus case

Author: CBS News
Published: Updated:
Staff members, wearing protective suits, watch as a plane carrying 32 Mongolian citizens for their evacuation from the Chinese city of Wuhan arrives in Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia on February 1, 2020. (BY AMBASUREN BYAMBA-OCHIR/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES)

A University of Massachusetts-Boston student was confirmed Saturday to be the eighth case of coronavirus in the United States, one day after U.S. officials declared a public health emergency. In China, there are 11,791 confirmed cases as of Saturday.

As a result of U.S. declaration, foreign nationals who have traveled to China in the last two weeks and aren’t immediate family members of U.S. citizens or permanent residents will be temporarily banned from entering the U.S., according to Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar. Azar also announced that anyone entering the U.S. who has been in China’s Hubei province in the last two weeks will be subject to a two-week quarantine.

On Friday, U.S. health officials issued a federal quarantine order for the 195 Americans evacuated from Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak. The group will remain at a military base in Southern California until mid-February, said Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. The government hasn’t issued such a quarantine order in over 50 years, Messonnier said.

The State Department has warned Americans to avoid all travel to China due to the “rapidly spreading” outbreak. The decision came after the World Health Organization designated the outbreak a global public health emergency.

As of Saturday, the flu-like virus had killed at least 259 people, all of them in China.

8th U.S. case of coronavirus is confirmed

Massachusetts health officials said Saturday there are now eight confirmed cases of coronavirus in the United States, including one in Massachusetts.

They said the risk to residents in the state remains low.

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health said it is is working closely with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to learn more and will provide updated information on mass.gov.

American Airlines cancels Hong Kong flights through Monday

American Airlines says it has canceled Hong Kong flights through Monday. It said in a statement it will “make decisions about Hong Kong flights each day based on our operational situation,” CBS News’ Kris Van Cleave reports.

The cancellations follow an earlier decision by the carrier to suspend all flights between the U.S. and mainland China through March 27. Other airlines including Delta, British Airways, Finnair and Cathay Pacific have canceled or reduced flights to mainland China.

Hong Kong union calls strike to demand China border closure

A union for Hong Kong hospital workers said its members will go on strike Monday to press a demand for the semi-autonomous Chinese territory to reject all travelers from the mainland. The Hospital Authority Employees Alliance said more than 9,000 of its members signed a pledge to join the five-day strike.

A union statement demanded Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam’s government “forbid all travelers from entering Hong Kong via China,” stop non-emergency medical services and ensure hospital workers have enough masks and other supplies. The government has suspended rail connections with the mainland but Lam has argued against blocking all travel.

–The Associated Press

Apple closes all offices and stores in mainland China

Apple said in a statement Saturday it is closing all of its stores, offices and contact centers in mainland China until February 9 “out of an abundance of caution and based on the latest advice from leading health experts.”

“Our thoughts are with the people most immediately affected by the Coronavirus and with those working around the clock to study and contain it,” it said.

Fears of contagion have upended sales and operations for several American corporate giants ranging from Google and Tesla to McDonald’s, Starbucks and Royal Caribbean.

More than 11,900 cases of coronavirus

As of Saturday evening in Beijing, the following cases were confirmed:

  • China: 11,791 cases on the mainland. In addition, Hong Kong has 12 cases and Macao has five. Most of the 259 deaths have been in central Hubei province, where illnesses from the new type of coronavirus were first detected in December.
  • Japan: 20
  • Thailand: 19
  • Singapore: 18
  • South Korea: 12
  • Taiwan: 10
  • Malaysia: 8
  • Australia: 7
  • Germany: 6
  • United States: 7
  • France: 6
  • Vietnam: 6
  • Canada: 4
  • United Arab Emirates: 4
  • Russia: 2
  • Italy: 2
  • Britain: 2
  • Cambodia: 1
  • Finland: 1
  • India: 1
  • Philippines: 1
  • Nepal: 1
  • Sri Lanka: 1
  • Sweden: 1
  • Spain 1

–The Associated Press and CBS News 

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