International
Coronavirus: China Accuses US Of Causing Panic And ‘Spreading Fear’
China has accused the United States of causing panic and ‘creating and spreading fear’ in its response to the deadly coronavirus, including imposing a ban on Chinese travellers.
The US ‘hasn’t provided any substantial assistance’ and has only created ‘panic’, said foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying at a regular press briefing on Monday.
It comes as Washington on Friday declared a public health emergency and temporarily banned the entry of foreign nationals who have travelled to China over the past two weeks, to contain the spread of the outbreak.
The new measures came into effect at 5pm Sunday evening and include sweeping new restrictions on American citizens, with those returning from the province at the disease’s epicentre placed in facilities for a mandatory 14-day quarantine.
US nationals returning from the rest of mainland China will undergo health screenings at selected ports of entry and face up to 14 days of self-monitored quarantine.
Under the new rules, US citizens who have traveled in China within the last 14 days will be re-routed to one of eight designated airports, where they will undergo enhanced health screening procedures.
They eight are: John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York; Chicago O´Hare International Airport; San Francisco International Airport; Seattle-Tacoma International Airport; Daniel K. Inouye International Airport in Honolulu; Los Angeles International Airport in California; Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport; and Washington-Dulles International Airport in Virginia.
It is understood a second evacuation flight is set to carry US citizens out of of Wuhan today.
The second flight comes less than a week after a chartered plane transported 200 US citizens from Wuhan to California.
There have been nine confirmed US cases of the new coronavirus, which originated in a live seafood market in Wuhan, in China’s Hubei province.
The ninth case was identified on Sunday as a woman who recently traveled to Wuhan, the Santa Clara County Public Health Department in California said.
The virus has since spread to more than 24 countries, despite many governments imposing unprecedented travel bans on people coming from China.
The World Health Organization has already declared the outbreak a global emergency, and the Chinese death toll has risen to 362 while total infections reached over 17,000, surpassing the SARS epidemic of two decades ago.
On Sunday the first foreign death from the virus was reported in the Philippines.
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