210 Americans have been evacuated from China's Wuhan City as fears around the new coronavirus rise. The said evacuees touched down at the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport in Alaska.
According to CNN affiliate KTUU, the flight was chartered by the State Department and from Alaska, the plane will head to California's March Air Reserve Base. Screenings will also be implemented to ensure that all of the evacuees did not get infected with the novel virus.
The United States and other countries have been working to get their citizens out of China as the death toll has risen as of Tuesday. It is expected that other western and Asian nations will also step up efforts for evacuation.
Meanwhile, Chinese authorities revealed on Wednesday that the death toll on the Wuhan coronavirus has reached 132, with confirmed cases jumping to 5,974. The previous count of infections on Tuesday stood at 4,515.
According to the New York Times, most of the confirmed cases were recorded around the Hubei province. Wuhan is located in the said province and while health teams are going the extra mile in trying to contain the virus, it appears that it continues to spread fast.
Wuhan has also been on a lockdown since last week, with transportation channels implementing stricter entry and exit measures. Other neighboring cities and towns have also rolled out travel bans.
There are no deaths outside China as of writing but the novel virus has reached western countries as well. Germany confirmed its first case previously, Canada recorded three infections, France has four, and the United States has five patients.
In Asia, Hong Kong reported eight cases, Macau, Australia, and Taiwan has five patients under monitoring, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Nepal are observing two cases, Japan so far has seven, and Malaysia, South Korea, and Singapore are monitoring four patients.
Multiple laboratories and pharmaceuticals are now racing to create a vaccine that should help stop the new coronavirus from spreading in the near future. However, health experts noted that it may take months or up to a year before the vaccine can be distributed.
On Tuesday China agreed to have the World Health Organization (WHO) send in global virus experts to assist in efforts to contain the deadly virus.
According to the Los Angeles Times, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus spoke with Chinese President Xi Jinping regarding the coronavirus' containment. "WHO is working closely with the government on measures to understand the virus and limit transmission," Tedros explained.
In the United States, the White House is preparing for potentially worsening conditions around the Wuhan coronavirus following the confirmation of five cases. Airports and other transportation systems have already implemented stricter health checks.
