SHANGHAI • More countries have restricted travel from China over the coronavirus epidemic – moves which have been described as an “overreaction” by some in Beijing.
The US announced measures on Friday to ban foreign nationals who have recently been in China from entering their territories.
The Trump administration also ordered citizens returning from central China’s Hubei province to be quarantined for as long as 14 days – the first time in 50 years that it has taken such action. Flights to the US from China will also be restricted to seven airports.
Australia followed suit, with Prime Minister Scott Morrison saying yesterday that the country will deny entry to all foreign nationals travelling from mainland China.
“We’re in fact operating with an abundance of caution in these circumstances,” Mr Morrison said. “So Australians can go about their daily lives with confidence.”
Australia’s Foreign Ministry also updated its travel advice for mainland China to “do not travel”.
Japan yesterday moved to contain the economic impact of the outbreak. New measures to fight the disease took effect yesterday, including banning entry of Chinese holding passports issued by Hubei, as well as foreigners who had visited the province within two weeks, whether they showed symptoms or not.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe yesterday told a meeting of a government task force coordinating Japan’s response to the virus to come up with steps aimed at easing the impact of the outbreak on Japan’s economy.
“The new coronavirus is having a major impact on tourism, the economy and our society as a whole. The government will do its utmost to address the impact,” Mr Abe said.
Vietnam yesterday also suspended all flights from mainland China as part of “strengthening measures” against the outbreak, its civil aviation authority said after the country confirmed its sixth case of the coronavirus.
Flights from Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau were also barred in a bid to slow the spread of the virus, but Vietnam later backtracked on this.
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Flight suspensions by airlines
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VIETNAM AIRLINES: Flights to China will be suspended from this week. All flights between Hanoi and Hong Kong will also be suspended from Thursday.
JETSTAR PACIFIC AIRLINES: Partly owned by Vietnam Airlines, it will suspend its flights to Hong Kong and Guangzhou from Thursday.
VIETJET: The budget carrier has suspended all flights to and from China since yesterday.
UZBEKISTAN AIRWAYS: The state airline has been instructed by the government of Uzbekistan to suspend flights to and from China.
AIR INDIA: It has cancelled its Mumbai-Delhi-Shanghai flight from Jan 31 to Feb 14.
AIR NEW ZEALAND: It will suspend its Auckland-Shanghai service from Feb 9 to March 29.
UNITED AIRLINES: The airline says last flights out of mainland China will be on Feb 5, with the suspension running through March 28.
QANTAS AIRWAYS: It said yesterday that it is suspending direct flights to mainland China.
QATAR AIRWAYS: It will suspend flights to mainland China starting from tomorrow until further notice.
SOURCE: REUTERS
However, Global Times, an English-language tabloid under the Chinese Communist Party’s People’s Daily, said experts have described the US’ warning against travelling to China due to the epidemic as “an overreaction, which would greatly hurt global tourism and hinder people-to-people exchanges”.
It highlighted how the World Health Organisation has not suggested that other countries impose travel restrictions on China.
Quoting Professor Li Haidong of the Institute of International Relations of the China Foreign Affairs University, it said that “imposing restrictions on personal exchanges between the US and China would significantly weigh on US interests in China, considering the huge presence of American companies in China”.
Meanwhile, many nations have also put up charter flights to repatriate citizens from China, then place them in isolation for around two weeks, the incubation period of the virus.
Russia said its aerospace defence forces – part of the armed forces – was to begin flying its citizens out of China yesterday.
More than 300 South Koreans arrived home yesterday, while Indonesian officials said around 250 nationals were being evacuated from Hubei.
Spain confirmed the country’s first case of the coronavirus after a man was diagnosed on the remote island of La Gomera in the Canaries, the Health Ministry said late on Friday. Sweden on Friday also announced its first case, a woman whose nationality has not been revealed.
REUTERS, BLOOMBERG, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
