Fudan, Public university in Shanghai, China

The National Health Commission said that 1,795 patients remained in critical condition, and 17,988 people were suspected of being infected with the virus as of Friday night, reports Xinhua news agency.A total of 243 people had been discharged from hospital after recovery.Friday saw 2,102 new confirmed cases, 5,019 new suspected cases, and 46 deaths 45 in Hubei province and one in Chongqing municipality.A total of 136,987 close contacts had been traced, the commission said, adding that among them, 6,509 were discharged on Friday, with 118,478 others still under observation.As the coronavirus was spreading at an accelerated rate, the US on Friday declared a public health emergency and said it would deny entry to any foreign nationals who have visited China in the past two weeks.US Health Secretary Alex Azar said American citizens returning from Hubei province, the epicentre of the outbreak, would face 14 days of quarantine, while those coming from other parts of China would be allowed to monitor their own condition for a similar period, the BBC said in a report.Citing the need to relieve pressure on authorities, he said that foreign nationals who had travelled in China in the past 14 days would be denied entry to the US.Another confirmed case in the US on Friday brought the total number to seven, while 191 people were currently under observation.The US announcement came as other countries around the world also scrambled to contain the spread of the new virus.On Saturday, Australia said it would refuse entry to all non-citizens arriving from China and nationals coming from the Asian country would be quarantined for two weeks, according to the BBC report.The UK, South Korea, Singapore and New Zealand were all expected to quarantine evacuees for two weeks to monitor them for symptoms and avoid contagion.But, WHO spokesman Chris Lindmeier on Friday warned that closing borders could in fact accelerate its spread, with travellers entering countries unofficially."As we know from other scenarios, be it Ebola or other cases, whenever people want to travel, they will. And if the official paths are not opened, they will find unofficial paths," the BBC quoted Lindmeier as saying.He said the best way to track the virus was at official border crossings.Meanwhile, estimates by the University of Hong Kong suggest the true total number of cases could be far higher than official figures suggest.Outside China, confirmed cases were reported in Hong Kong, Macao, US, the UK, Japan, Thailand, Singapore, Australia, Taiwan, Malaysia, South Korea, France, Vietnam, Germany, UAE, Canada, Italy, Russia, Cambodia, Finland, Sweden, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and the Philippines.However, no deaths were reported from any other country except China.On Thursday, the World Health Organization declared a global health emergency over the new virus.( With inputs from IANS )

FudanFOLLOW

Fudan, Latest News

As many as 324 Indian nationals are back home from China where an outbreak of deadly novel coronavirus 2019 has occurred, the health experts have urged to the people not to pc and seek authenticated information on coronavirus to keep themselves safe ...

In the course of a Budget speech that lasted close to three hours on Saturday, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman ended up announcing Rs 69,000 crore for health, barely Rs 5,170 crore higher than the last budgetary allocation in July, 2019. ...

The deadly coronavirus outbreak that has claimed 259 lives in China so far has led the iPhone maker to shut all its stores and offices in mainland China till February 9, the media reported on Saturday. ...

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has announced the budget for the upcoming fiscal starting April 1, 2020. Though budget brought ... ...

Ever since the deadly outbreak of the novel coronavirus, China is decisively working towards containing it. Amid the crisis some ... ...

After the World Health Organization declared the Coronavirus outbreak a global emergency, China is decisively working to control the ... ...

Australia will deny entry to foreign nationals arriving in the country over the next two weeks from the coronavirus-hit mainland China, Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced on Saturday. ...

Chinese authorities on Saturday confirmed that the death toll from the deadly novel coronavirus in the country has increased to 259, with 11,791 infected cases in 31 provincial-level regions. ...