The coronavirus outbreak has now killed 259 people and infected about 12,000 worldwide. More than a dozen countries reported confirmed cases with different governments scrambling to send planes to get their citizens out of the Asian country.
China's neighbors are closing their borders and many governments imposed travel bans against people coming from the Asian country. This is despite caution from the World Health Organization that border shutdown and travel bans could aggravate the spread of coronavirus. WHO said these moves will limit the government's access to people with many individuals possibly engaging in discreet land exodus.
In the United States, officials declared a mandatory 14-day quarantine for all its citizens coming from China's Hubei. The quarantine will begin Sunday. The US' move for mandatory quarantine was never done before in the last 50 years. The last time the U.S. government called for mandatory quarantine was in the 1960s for smallpox.
The Trump administration also declared a public emergency. The last time the nation called for a public emergency was during the swine flu epidemic between 2009 and 2010.
The administration had also announced a temporary suspension of entry into the US for all foreign nationals and tourists from China, regardless of race. American citizens coming from elsewhere in China will be screened accordingly for any coronavirus symptoms.
Accordingly, all flights coming from China and entering the US will all be routed to any of the seven airports which the government assigned as the port of entries. This way, health authorities will only focus on one entry and can immediately isolate suspected cases.
The US State Department declared its highest-level warning against traveling to China as early as Thursday. The "do not travel" warning means all Americans are discouraged from traveling to the Asian country.
Similar measures are implemented by the Singaporean government. The country banned all visitors - regardless of race - coming from mainland China. The ban subjects anyone who had been in China in the past 14 days.
Taiwan had suspended visa applications for Chinese nationals and banned anyone who is coming from Hubei province.
In China, the government was compelled to implement a lockdown in Wuhan, the epicenter of the virus early this week.
On Friday, three major U.S. airlines joined 50 other worldwide in canceling flights to mainland China. The United Airlines Holdings Inc., Delta Air Limse Inc and American Airlines Group Inc said the move was more of a response to the almost zero demand for flights to China.
American Airlines suspended flights to China that were supposedly scheduled from February until March 27. Delta Airlines canceled flights from February 6 to April 30. United Airlines canceled flights to Beijing, Shanghai, and Chengdu until March 28.
Air France no longer schedule China flights until February 9 while British Airways, Air Seoul, Egyptair, Lion Air, Lufthansa, Swiss Airlines, and Austrian Airlines suspended flights until the end of the month.
Finnair suspended flights to Nanjing and Beijing until end of March while Kenya Airways, RwandAir, Vietjet, and all Russian airlines canceled China flights indefinitely, until further notice.
At the same time, other airlines reduced the frequency of flights instead of a total suspension. Air New Zealand will only fly four times to Shanghai until the end of March. Singapore Airlines did the same for flights carrying people to Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzen, Chengdu, Xiamen, and Chongqing.
Others reduced the capacity of their flights to and from mainland China. Cathay Pacific reduced capacity from mainland China by 50% until March 30. Turkish Airlines reduced flights to Beijing, Guangzhou, Shanghai, and Xian until February 29.
Meanwhile, Thailand had just confirmed the first human-to-human coronavirus transmission. The Philippines confirmed its first case while a Chinese family in UAE was the first confirmed case in the Middle East. Cyprus had just treated its first suspected case of coronavirus.
