Get out of China while you can, Britons told
Manufacturer closes almost all its factories in China, as coronavirus death toll reaches 425
ALL British nationals in China should leave the country to avoid coronavirus, the Foreign Office has said, amid fears of a travel crackdown by the regime.
Dominic Raab, the Foreign Secretary, yesterday urged the estimated 30,000 remaining UK citizens to “leave the country if they can, to minimise their risk of exposure to the virus”.
Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary, warned the UK to expect further cases, as the death toll in China rose to at least 427, with more than 20,000 infected.
Last night, FCO officials said it could become harder to leave as time went on. British Airways and Virgin Atlantic, the two UK airlines offering direct flights to China, have suspended those services and Chinese authorities have imposed road and rail restrictions.
“It may become increasingly difficult to access departure options over the coming weeks – if British nationals would like to leave China, we recommend that they do so sooner rather than later, and before further travel restrictions are imposed,” a source said.
Mr Raab told MPS the Government had been “allocated 14 places on an Air New Zealand flight today”. “Where there are still British nationals in Hubei province who wish to be evacuated, we will continue to work around the clock to facilitate this,” he added. The Foreign Office will charter another evacuation flight for British nationals from Wuhan on Sunday.
Ninety-three UK citizens flown in from Wuhan are now in quarantine at Arrowe Park Hospital on The Wirral.
A Belgian woman who travelled on a repatriation flight with Britons on Sunday has tested positive for the virus, Public Health England said last night.
Britain has had two confirmed cases, a University of York student and a family member.
Mr Hancock warned that “we expect more cases in the UK”.
Paul Nuki, Sarah Newey, Sophia Yan Nicola Smith SUPPLIES of iphones and other consumer electronics are under threat as Chinese authorities struggle to contain the coronavirus outbreak that has killed at least 425 people.
Foxconn, the Taiwanese manufacturer of the iphone, has closed almost all its factories in China after firms were reportedly told to shut until at least next Tuesday.
The closure could result in a “big” impact on production and shipments to customers if it extends into a second week, a source told Reuters.
Ralph Lauren also yesterday said it was closing about half of its 110 stores in China and Royal Caribbean suspended eight cruises, warning of a $50million (£38million) hit to profits amid rising fears over the virus’s impact on the global economy.
While Larry Kudlow, the White House chief economic adviser, insisted the coronavirus crisis would have only a “minimal impact on supply chains, not a catastrophe”, he added that some shortages were likely.
“The coronavirus could spur a stepup in US production,” he told Fox Business Network.
The economic concerns were heightened as the Foreign Office yesterday advised the estimated 30,000 Britons in China to leave the country, days after the US raised its travel warning to the highest possible level.
In Hong Kong, calls were growing to seal the Chinese border after a 39-yearold man with underlying health issues, who had recently travelled to Wuhan, became the first to die in the city from the coronavirus and the second so far outside mainland China.
A strike involving more than 2,000 Hong Kong health workers demanding tighter border controls defied pleas from public hospital chiefs for staff to return to work.
“We just want to close the border to protect our local people. It’s essential any non-residents are blocked from entering, especially if they have any recent history in the infected area of the virus,” said a physiotherapist who is a member of the Hospital Authority Employees Alliance.
On Monday, China admitted “shortcomings” in its response to the virus, a rare admission of fallibility from the country’s Communist leadership.
The elite Politburo standing committee acknowledged “shortcomings and difficulties exposed in the response to the epidemic”, and called for improvements to the “national emergency management system” at the meeting, according to the Xinhua news agency.
The government also said it “urgently” needed medical equipment such as surgical masks, protective suits and safety goggles and pledged to “severely crack down” on illegal wildlife markets and trade.
Actions already taken by China, including putting millions of people effectively under lockdown for almost two weeks at the virus epicentre, have been hailed by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as providing a “win- dow of opportunity” to prevent the virus spreading further.
The virus has so far spread to more than 20 countries and prompted several governments, including the UK’S, to restrict travel to China.
Yesterday, President Xi Jinping told top Communist officials: “We have launched a people’s war of prevention of the epidemic,” adding that those neglecting their duty would be punished.
Medical teams from the People’s Liberation Army have arrived in Wuhan to relieve overwhelmed health workers and to staff the new 1,000-bed hospital.
It was built in just 10 days, its prefabricated wards equipped with state-ofthe-art medical equipment and ventilation systems.
A 1,500-bed hospital also specially built for patients infected with the new virus is due to open within days. Despite accusing the US on Monday of spreading panic, China has also now agreed to allow American health experts into the country.
Yesterday, the WHO stopped short of declaring the outbreak a pandemic, but Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the body’s chief, also called for greater solidarity to tackle it, accusing wealthy countries of being “well behind” in sharing data on virus cases.
“While 99 per cent of cases are in China, in the rest of the world, we only have 176 cases,” Dr Tedros said, adding that they had received complete report forms for only 38 per cent of the cases outside China.