The death toll from a coronavirus outbreak in China passed 490 on Wednesday, as two US airlines suspended flights to Hong Kong following the first fatality there and 10 cases were confirmed on a cruise ship quarantined in Japan. China’s National Health Commission said another 65 deaths were reported on Tuesday, a new daily record bringing the toll on the mainland to 490, mostly in and around the locked-down central city of Wuhan where the virus emerged late last year. There have been two deaths outside mainland China. A 39-year-old man in Hong Kong with an underlying illness who had visited Wuhan city died on Tuesday. A man died in the Philippines last week after visiting Wuhan, the first virus-related overseas fatality. Across mainland China, there were 3,887 new confirmed infections, bringing the total accumulated number to 24,324. Nearly 230 cases have been reported in 27 other countries and regions outside mainland China. American Airlines and United said Wednesday they would suspend flights to and from the Asian financial hub after this week. The announcements mean no US carriers will be flying passenger flights to Hong Kong after this week. Several countries including Australia and New Zealand continued to evacuate citizens from Wuhan city. The US said it may stage additional evacuation flights for private US citizens in China’s virus-hit Wuhan on Thursday.<br/>
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The WHO will work with travel and tourism industry representatives on Wednesday to draw up further recommendations to protect their crews so they can resume flights to China, a senior WHO official said. Sylvie Briand, WHO director of global infectious hazard preparedness, said people infected with the coronavirus should wear masks, but that for other people without signs of the disease, “the masks will not necessarily protect them 100%”. Frequent hand-washing and other hygiene measures were needed, as the virus is spread by close contact and can also remain on surfaces, she said. She dismissed earlier medical studies of some people having transmitted the disease without showing signs, saying they actually had “minor symptoms” that went undetected. So far 19 countries had formally notified the UN agency of measures or restrictions taken in connection with the outbreak and the WHO was seeking clarifications on their justifications, Briand said. The WHO, in declaring an international emergency last week, called on countries not to impose unnecessary trade or travel restrictions on China. A WHO spokesman said a teleconference with tourism and travel industry representatives was set for Wednesday. “Crews for those companies are really scared of being infected, because when they are in a flight they have very close contact with passengers, so they feel really at risk,” Briand said. “That is why we need to define with those companies specific recommendations so their staff feel secure, feel protected as well as well so that they can resume flying to China.” Briand, noting that these were “legitimate concerns”, added: “I cannot guarantee they will resume the flights.”<br/>
Two flights evacuating US citizens from the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak in China have departed for the US, officials from the State Department said. The travellers were screened for symptoms at the Wuhan airport and will be subject to CDC screening, health observation, and monitoring requirements" when they get to the US Wednesday, the State Department said. These are the second and third such flights from Wuhan that were arranged by the US government in roughly the past week. The State Department said the three flights had more than 500 passengers. The latest flights are expected to head to two California military bases: Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego, and Travis Air Force Base between San Francisco and Sacramento, a US official said. The flights come about a week after the first US government-arranged flight left Wuhan. That first chartered plane, carrying nearly 200 US citizens -- including diplomats and their families -- arrived January 29 at March Air Reserve Base in Southern California.<br/>
As the coronavirus spreads across the world and airlines cancel flights to and from China, many travellers have been stuck in limbo. Some are trying to get refunds, while others are unsure of whether to rebook their trips for later dates or cancel them altogether. With the State Department issuing a “do not travel” advisory and a declaration by the WHO of a global health emergency, the guidance to avoid mainland China is clear enough. Confusion reigns, however, for those with itineraries via China to other destinations. InsureMyTrip, a travel insurance comparison site, has recently experienced “at least a 30% increase in call volume,” said Julie Loffredi, the media relations manager. Most calls concern the coronavirus. “There are more people searching coronavirus than the flu right now,” she said. “It’s clear travellers are trying hard to get some guidance around it and know their options.” Maggie Yu, a software engineer at Capital One in Washington, D.C., planned to depart on a trip to Vietnam, Singapore and Thailand this week, but after a stressful weekend of frantically calling airlines, trying to rebook plans, get refunds, and understand the bans being issued by various countries, she decided to cancel. “The airlines were making changes fast, countries were changing their rules about which flights from what countries could come, and we spent so much time on the phone on hold, trying to get help,” she said. “I also didn’t want to end up stranded.” Story looks at her case. For some travellers, it’s been unclear who exactly is responsible for issuing refunds. Laura Clews had a China Eastern Airlines flight to New Zealand from London, with a stopover in Shanghai. When the flight was canceled last week, Clews spent several days trying to get in touch with the airline, ultimately learning that she would have to get a refund through the site she booked on, Travel Genio. Travellers can’t assume that travel insurance will cover the cost of a cancelled trip, warned Loffredi of InsureMyTrip. The various policies differ; it might depend on when the insurance policy was purchased. <br/>
Britain told its citizens Tuesday to leave China if they could, saying the suspension of airline flights and restrictions on movement will make it harder to leave over coming weeks. “The safety and security of British people will always be our top priority,” Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said. “As such, we now advise British nationals in China to leave the country if they can, to minimize their risk of exposure to the virus. Where there are still British nationals in Hubei Province who wish to be evacuated, we will continue to work around the clock to facilitate this.” British Airways and Virgin Atlantic have already cancelled flights to and from China.<br/>
Boeing set the size for its new loan at $13b after saying last week that it had received enough commitments for a $12b facility, according to people familiar with the matter. The cash provides the US planemaker with financial flexibility as the fallout of the 737 Max crisis takes a toll on the company’s finances and once-solid credit rating. Boeing originally sought a $10b loan led by Citigroup that grew in size as more banks asked to join the deal. The company received $14b of commitments as of last week. The cash will help Boeing work through the grounding of the Max and production freeze. Boeing now faces a cash burn in the billions as it deals with lost revenue and supporting both suppliers and airline customers during the disruption. The Max crisis has hit Boeing’s credit ratings, which are now split between the lowest and second-lowest tiers of investment grade. Boeing’s debt costs will increase if one more ratings company downgrades it fully into the triple-B space.<br/>
Major air cargo carriers said they have no immediate plans to add China flights to replace the capacity lost amid steep cuts to passenger travel due to the coronavirus, as many factories have remained shut down after the Lunar New Year. Aviation data firm OAG said there would be more than 25,000 fewer flights operated to, from and within China this week compared with two weeks ago, with 30 airlines halting services. About half of the air cargo carried globally is in the belly of passenger jets rather than in dedicated freighters, and the flight cuts have made the Chinese market more dependent on freight haulers. But a spokesman for Germany’s Lufthansa Cargo said it had reduced its flying schedule, in part to allow pilots to spend the night in Novosibirsk, Russia, rather than in China. Demand from China to Germany fell because of the production shutdown, the spokesman said. The Lunar New Year holiday has been effectively extended by 10 days in many parts of China, including powerhouse regions such as Shandong province and the cities of Suzhou and Shanghai. The shutdown represents a fresh challenge to an air freight market that was already weak before the coronavirus epidemic. Global demand fell year-on-year for 13 consecutive months through November 2019 amid slowing economic growth and the U.S.-China trade war, according to the IATA.<br/>
Sixteen companies have pulled out from this year’s Singapore Airshow amid concerns over the spread of the novel coronavirus, the organiser for the biennial event has confirmed. Of these, 10 are from China, Experia Events said. They include companies such as China’s largest aircraft maintenance supplier Ameco Beijing and state-owned aerospace manufacturer Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China. Experia Events said the Chinese firms’ withdrawal was due to precautionary measures by the authorities here to stop the spread of the coronavirus. The rules, which came into effect on Saturday, restrict new visitors of any nationality with recent travel history to mainland China from entering Singapore. “Singapore’s recent travel restrictions and company policies on employee travel bans during this period is expected to reduce the number of exhibitors and visitors,” said an Experia Events spokesperson. Among the other six companies that have withdrawn from the airshow are Canadian aerospace firm Bombardier, as well as United States-based business jet manufacturers Gulfstream and Textron Aviation. Other major exhibitors, such as Airbus and ST Engineering, have confirmed they will proceed as planned for the Singapore Airshow. <br/>