Coronavirus live updates: British Airways suspends mainland China flights – latest news | World news

The US, Japan, and Turkey are evacuating their citizens from China’s Wuhany, which is at the epicentre of a new virus outbreak on Wednesday, as health authorities report the number of confirmed cases has jumped to 5,974.

According to a report by AP, Turkish ambassador Emin Onen told the broadcaster NTV, that Turkey had made the necessary applications to Chinese officials to evacuate the 32 citizens, adding that none of them had been diagnosed with the virus.

“We are in touch with all our citizens,” Onen said. “We will bring them back as soon as possible…with a medical or similarly-equipped plane. There will be certain quarantine conditions when they land in Turkey.”

The United Arab Emirates on Wednesday confirmed the first cases in the Middle East of the new coronavirus. Doctors are treating a family that had just come from a city at the epicenter of the outbreak, AP reports.

The UAEs state-run WAM news agency made the announcement citing the Health and Prevention Ministry, but did not provide details on where the family lived nor where they were receiving treatment.

It also currently remains unclear how the family left Wuhan and made it to the UAE. China shut down Wuhan’s airport and other transportation in the city last Thursday to stop the spread of the virus. The lockdown has since expanded to include 17 cities with more than 50 million people in all.

Emirati officials are taking “all the necessary precautions in accordance with the scientific recommendations, conditions and standards approved by the World Health Organization,” the ministry said. “The general health condition is not a cause for concern.”

The UK culture secretary, Baroness Morgan, hopes BA’s decision to suspend all flights to China would give “more impetus” for the government to make plans to evacuate Britons from the region.

Morgan told BBC Breakfast:

The Foreign Office will be working with staff on the ground to identify UK nationals. We will get people home as soon as we can, as soon as we can make arrangements.

Obviously, today’s decision by British Airways provides more impetus to the government to make other plans and communicate those.

The health system is well-prepared. We are not aware of any confirmed cases of the virus here in the UK but we do have the expertise to look after people, to treat and to test should that become necessary.

The Chinese women’s national football team has been quarantined in Queensland after arriving on Wednesday morning.

The Australian Associated Press reports that the team, who were were in the city of Wuhan on 22 January, will be required to stay at their inner-city hotel until 5 February over fears that members may have the deadly coronavirus.

New restrictions being enforced by the state government require anyone returning from Wuhan to self-isolate for a fortnight after leaving the central Chinese city.

Britain is finalising plans to evacuate its nationals from the coronavirus-hit Chinese province of Hubei. Flights taking Britons back home could begin as early as Thursday, PA Media reports.

The deadline for those in the city of Wuhan and surrounding areas to contact the British consulate expressing their wish to leave passed at 3am UK time (11am local time).

Flights evacuating Britons could begin as early as Thursday, according to a British teacher in Wuhan city.

Morning, I’m Aamna Mohdin taking over the liveblog from my colleague Ben Doherty.

British Airways has suspended all direct flights to and from mainland China, following travel advice from the Foreign Office that warned against all but essential travel to the country due to the coronavirus outbreak.

BA.com, the airline’s website, shows no direct flights to China are available in January and February, Reuters reports.

“We apologise to customers for the inconvenience, but the safety of our customers and crew is always our priority,” BA said in an emailed statement on Wednesday. “Customers due to travel to or from China in the coming days can find more information on BA.com.”

Indonesia has no cases of coronavirus. But, according to its foreign ministry, 243 Indonesian nationals are in Hubei, about 100 of those in Wuhan. Indonesian students in the city have said they want to get out, but can’t.

“The Indonesian government has to take quick and appropriate measures to ensure the evacuation of Indonesian citizens who are currently in Wuhan,” Golkar party parliamentarian Christina Aryani told the Jakarta Post in a statement.

“Leaving our citizens there is just the same as letting them wait their turn to get infected.”

As the UK prepares to evacuate its citizens from Wuhan, some of the logistical and bureaucratic challenges of extracting people from a city under lockdown are emerging. One Briton in Wuhan, who did not want to be quoted, told the Guardian:

We have no way to get through roadblocks to the airport. That has to be applied for through London then getting word back for the OK from local government here.

British Airways has suspended bookings on its website for direct flights from London to Beijing and Shanghai until March, after warnings over travel to China due to the coronavirus outbreak.

BA.com, the airline’s website, shows no direct flights to China are available in January and February.

A spokeswoman for the airline said on Wednesday it was “assessing the situation”.

Britain on Tuesday advised against “all but essential” travel to mainland China due to the coronavirus outbreak.

The sixth coronavirus case in Australia has been confirmed by Victoria’s chief officer, Dr Brett Sutton.

The man in his 60s became unwell on 23 January, having recently travelled to Wuhan. He presented to a doctor and was referred to the Monash Medical Centre, where he was tested for the virus.

Sutton said the man had since returned home, where he was in isolation. The man’s family is being monitored. Some have exhibited symptoms, but none has returned a positive test.

Australian health officials have stressed that they have not seen any evidence of human-to-human transmission of the 2019-nCoV novel coronavirus in Australia.

“The man was mostly at home and had isolated himself when unwell but he had gone out to a restaurant called The House of Delight for a short period of time,” Sutton said.

“That restaurant has been followed up with and those who were there at the same time, whose contact details we have, we are following up with.

“But obviously that restaurant is OK to go to now. People don’t need to avoid that area or indeed anywhere else people have been, even if infectious at the time.”

The flight carrying 240 American citizens from Wuhan has just landed in Anchorage, Alaska, after a journey of nine-and-a-half hours. Those passengers will now fly on to March Air Force Base in California.

Tibet, the last place on China’s mainland that had not recorded a case of coronavirus, has now reported its first suspected case. A 34-year-old man who travelled to Tibet by train from Wuhan has been placed in quarantine.

A sixth case of coronavirus has been confirmed in Australia. A man in his 60s tested positive Wednesday morning in Melbourne. He had recently travelled to Wuhan. Health officials are monitoring his close contacts. The man’s case is the second in Melbourne, Australia’s second-largest city. The others are in hospitals in Sydney.

Hello, Ben Doherty taking over our rolling coverage of the coronavirus outbreak. It’s early in the UK, but there is news for Britons stuck in Hubei and their families.

The UK is finalising plans to bring back Britons from Hubei province after advising Britons there to ring dedicated 24-hour helplines before 3am UK time on Wednesday to register their desire to be evacuated.

Officials estimate up to 200 citizens currently there will want to return to the UK.

Flights taking Britons back home could begin as early as Thursday, according to a British teacher in Wuhan city who said UK citizens were being given details of forthcoming flights.

On Tuesday evening the Foreign Office updated its advice to warn against all but essential travel to mainland China following the coronavirus outbreak. “If you’re in this area and able to leave, you should do so,” it said.

The UK’s move to evacuate its citizens follows flights chartered by the Japanese government and the US.

The flight to Tokyo landed Wednesday morning, with four on board taken to hospital, while the US-government flight is set to land in Alaska in about 20 minutes from now (a little before 6.30am GMT).

Australia and New Zealand have announced plans for an evacuation mission, quarantining their citizens on the remote Australian territory of Christmas Island.

Other countries, such as France and Indonesia, have also announced their intentions to evacuate their citizens from Hubei.

Germany now has four confirmed cases of coronavirus, the second European country to report cases after France.

The first case of coronavirus in the United Arab Emirates – and thus the Middle East region – has been confirmed by state media, according to Reuters.

The state-run news agency WAM announced the case earlier today, citing the UAE health ministry.

According to the report, the person had been in Wuhan, but did not provide any further information.

Education minister Dan Tehan said some schools and states had “gone further” than the official government advice when deciding how to treat children who have returned from China or from overseas.

He said that the official advice, as determined by experts, was still enough and what was recommended.

“We think schools should follow the medical advice. Some schools have decided togo further than that. That is their individual right to be able to do that. Some states have taken a more cautious approach. But our view is we should follow the medical advice provided by our experts here in Australia and internationally.

“We’ve said that we will constantly monitor that advice and provide updates on it on a regular basis. That’s what we’re here doing this afternoon.”