China toll leaps past 1,600 as first death reported outside Asia

The death toll from the new coronavirus outbreak surpassed 1,600 in China on Sunday, with the first fatality reported outside Asia fuelling global concerns.
More than 68,000 people have now been infected in China from a virus that emerged in central Hubei province in December before spreading across the country and some two dozen countries.

Another 70 people on board a quarantined cruise ship in Japan have tested positive for the coronavirus, bringing the total number of cases from the vessel to 355, Japanese health minister Katsunobu Kato said on Sunday.

The Diamond Princess, owned by Carnival Corp, has been quarantined since arriving in Yokohama, southwest of Tokyo, on Feb. 3, after a man who disembarked in Hong Kong before it travelled to Japan was diagnosed with the virus.

The ship, with some 3,700 passengers and crew on board, has the most coronavirus infections outside China. Those testing positive are transferred to Japanese hospitals.

No one from the ship has died of the virus.

In France, an 80-year-old Chinese tourist has died from the new coronavirus, the first death confirmed outside of Asia, French Health Minister Agnes Buzyn said on Saturday.

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Buzyn said she had been told about the death of the patient — in hospital in Paris since late January — late on Friday, adding that his condition "had deteriorated rapidly" after several days in a critical condition.

Austria's Ministers for Social Affairs Rudolf Anschober (L) talks with Agnes Buzyn (R), during the Ministers of Health meeting on the coronavirus at the EU headquarters in Brussels. AFP

Six people with the virus remain in hospital in France, Buzyn said, adding that none were seriously ill.

One of them was the dead Chinese tourist's 50-year-old daughter and the rest were British nationals who were infected by a compatriot at a French ski resort.

A medical worker calls his colleague inside an isolated ward at Jinyintan Hospital in Wuhan. AFP

Beijing's latest figures on Saturday showed 66,492 cases and 1,523 deaths, mostly in central Hubei province. Outside mainland China there have been about 500 cases in some two dozen countries and territories, with four deaths in Japan, Hong Kong, the Philippines and France.

The United States said on Saturday it plans to send an aircraft to pick up American passengers and take them back home where they face another two weeks of isolation "out of an abundance of caution."

People wear protective suits wait for passengers to disembark from an aircraft at the Istres-Le Tube Air Base near Istres. AFP

"They are very concerned about spreading the virus, and there’s no good way to transport people from Japan without possible transfer of virus, so it is the logical thing to do," passenger Sawyer Smith, 25, told Reuters.

After an extended Lunar New Year holiday, China urgently needs to get back to work. But some cities remain in lockdown, streets are deserted, employees are nervous, and travel bans and quarantine orders are in place around the country.

A woman shows her passport after disembarking from an aircraft at the Istres-Le Tube Air Base near Istres, northwest of Marseille. AFP

Those returning to Beijing from the holiday have been ordered to undergo a 14-day self-quarantine to prevent the virus' spread.

Many factories are yet to re-open.

Some 56 million people in Hubei and its capital Wuhan are now living under quarantine, virtually sealed off from the rest of the country in an effort to contain the virus.

'Preparing for pandemic'

Away from China, almost 600 cases have been confirmed — roughly 35 of which have been reported in the European Union.

An epidemic prevention worker stands by to get on board the cruise ship SuperStar Aquarius at Keelung port in New Taipei City. AP

The most concentrated number of cases outside China is on a cruise ship quarantined off the Japanese coast, which is holding at least 285 people with the virus among its 3,700 crew and passengers.

The US embassy has said it will fly roughly 400 Americans on board the ship back their home country and Buzyn said France was "always ready to repatriate its nationals", though she made no firm commitment.

Passengers react after they disembarked from the MS Westerdam, back, at the port of Sihanoukville, Cambodia. AP

There are believed to be four French nationals on the Diamond Princess, where all those on board are mostly confined to their cabins and required to wear masks and keep away from others during brief outings on deck.

"We are following the international situation very closely," Buzyn said.

"We need to prepare our health system to deal with a possible pandemic and therefore the circulation of the virus on national territory."

Agence France-Presse / Reuters