China has warned its citizens not to travel to the United States due to the ‘excessive measures’ Washington has taken to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
Chinese tourists have received unfair treatment repeatedly in America as a result, Beijing claimed today.
The coronavirus epidemic has killed at least 2,626 people, infected more than 79,700 and spread to at least two dozen countries.
China’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism also cited the ‘domestic security situation’ in the US as a reason for the travel warning today. The picture shows passengers wear face masks arriving on a flight from Asia at Los Angeles International Airport, California, on February 2
Chinese health officials have said the virus likely emerged from a market in the central city of Wuhan that sold wild animals as food. The disease has killed at least 2,626 people globally
China’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism also cited the ‘domestic security situation’ in the US as a reason for the travel warning.
‘The Ministry of Culture and Tourism reminds Chinese tourists to effectively raise safety awareness and be sure not to travel to the United States,’ the Ministry said in a statement.
The authority did not explain what kind of treatment Chinese tourists were given.
The US has temporarily barred entry to foreign nationals, other than the immediate family of US citizens and permanent residents, who have travelled in China within the last 14 days.
‘The Ministry of Culture and Tourism reminds Chinese tourists to effectively raise safety awareness and be sure not to travel to the United States,’ the Ministry said in a statement. Pictured, a security guard wearing a mask and protective gear measures a visitor’s body temperature at the entrance to a bank in Guangzhou, China, on February 24
A man gets his temperature checked outside a barricade where community members control who comes in and out of a residential street on February 24 in Beijing, China
A woman wearing protective gear picks up mail outside of an apartment compound in Beijing
Originating in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, the new coronavirus – known as COVID-19 – has infected more than 77,340 people inside China and 79,700 globally.
The public panic surrounding the virus has led to several attacks on those who look East Asian in the United States.
Earlier this month, a man was filmed attacking a woman wearing a face mask on the New York City subway and calling her a ‘diseased b****’. Police were treating the case as a possible hate crime motivated by coronavirus fears.
Meanwhile, Vietnamese-American beauty blogger Michelle Phan had to remind her followers ‘I’m American’ as she hit back at the racist comments she had received.
Phan, 32, tweeted her disgust at the messages which accused Asian people of ‘starting all sorts of diseases’ because they ‘eat creatures left, right and center’.
So far, 35 people in the United States have been diagnosed with the novel coronavirus. No deaths have been reported.
The news comes as Moscow ordered police to raid hotels, dorms, apartment buildings and businesses in search of Chinese people as Russia attempts to stem the spread of coronavirus.
It also comes as a surge in untraceable clusters of new coronavirus patients around the globe has caused experts to warn that ‘containment methods are not going to work’.
An Italian soldier with a gun stands guard today outside the Duomo cathedral in Milan, which has been shut to tourists over coronavirus fears – as Italy confirmed its fourth death today
Masked Italian soldiers stand outside the Duomo cathedral amid a growing virus outbreak
Italian armed personnel talk to drivers near Casalpusterlengo where one of the patients died
Tourists wearing masks walk across St Mark’s Square in Venice with the city’s carnival derailed
In South Korea, Singapore and Iran, clusters of infections are leading to a jump in cases of the new viral illness outside China.
World Health Organization officials said China’s crackdown on parts of the country bought time for the rest of the world to prepare for the new virus.
But as hot spots emerge around the globe, trouble finding each source – the first patient who sparks every new cluster – might signal the disease has begun spreading too widely for tried-and-tested steps to stamp it out.
‘A number of spot fires, occurring around the world is a sign that things are ticking along, and what we are going to have here is probably a pandemic,’ said Ian Mackay, who studies viruses at The University of Queensland in Australia.
Workers wearing protective suits spray disinfectant as a precaution against the coronavirus at a market in Bupyeong, South Korea
South Korean tourists leaving Israel are pictured at a pavillon separated from the main terminal of Ben Gurion International Airport
Viruses vary in how they infect. Unlike its cousins SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) and MERS (Middle East respiratory syndrome), the new coronavirus spreads as easily as a common cold.
And it’s almost certainly being spread by people who show such mild symptoms that no one can tell, said Dr Amesh Adalja of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security.
Dr Adalja said: ‘If that’s the case, all of these containment methods are not going to work. It’s likely mixed in the cold and flu season all over the place, in multiple countries and gone unnoticed until someone gets severely ill.’
Moscow targets Chinese with police raids amid coronavirus fears
Russian medical workers are pictured walking after carrying out health checks on a group of passengers who had arrived at Kievsky rail station in Moscow with a suspected coronavirus carrier on February 21
Moscow has ordered police to raid hotels, dorms, apartment buildings and businesses in search of Chinese people as Russia attempts to stem the spread of coronavirus.
Bus, underground and tram drivers have also been told to report if a Chinese person boards their vehicle before handing them a questionnaire asking why they are in the country and whether they quarantined themselves after arrival.
An email that leaked over the weekend suggested that police would also be alerted to Chinese nationals on public transport, though authorities claimed it was a fake.
Russian medical workers are pictured disinfecting a room in a sanatorium in Bogandinsky in the Tyumen region on February 21
Moscow’s mayor has also announced that the city will use facial recognition technology to ensure arrivals from China observe a two-week home quarantine.
Since the outbreak of the new virus that has infected more than 76,000 people and killed more than 2,300 in mainland China, Russia has reported two cases. Both patients, Chinese nationals hospitalized in Siberia, recovered quickly.
Russian authorities nevertheless are going to significant – some argue discriminatory – lengths to keep the virus from resurfacing and spreading.