Coronavirus LIVE: 'Abandoned' Brits on quarantined cruise ship 'WILL be flown back to UK'
BRITS trapped onboard the Princess Diamond quarantined cruise ship with around 400 confirmed cases of coronavirus are set to be rescued by the UK government.
The Foreign Office has issued a statement insisting they are “urgently considering all options” for the 74 Brits onboard.
Follow our coronavirus live blog to keep up to date with the latest news and updates.
CHINA'S LEADER ADMITS 'SHORTCOMINGS' IN CORONAVIRUS CONTAINMENT
Xi Jinping admitted to “shortcomings” in China’s emergency response systems and said local officials would be punished if they failed to “take responsibility” or implement directives.
He also condemned the “major hidden danger” of eating wild animals.
The leader said: This epidemic is a huge test of China's governance and capabilities.
“This epidemic revealed that we still have shortcomings in urban public environmental governance. We must thoroughly investigate and rectify them to make up for public health shortcomings.”
The comments were made during an internal speech and analysts noted it was unusual for it to be released to the public.
Xi was mostly absent from Chinese state media coverage of the crisis at the beginning as his first public comments on the outbreak were on January 20.
'TOO EARLY TO TELL IF DECLINE IN CASES WILL CONTINUE'
The recent decline in the number of new coronavirus cases needs to “be interpreted very cautiously”, the World Health Organization chief has said today.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of WHO, said in a press conference today:This trend must be interpreted very cautiously. Trends can change as new populations are affected.
It’s too early to tell if this reported decline will continue. Every scenario is still on the table.”
He added that a majority of patients are making a fully recovery.
He said: “More than 80% of patients have mild disease and will recover.
“In about 14% of cases, the virus causes severe diseases including pneumonia and shortness of breath.
“And about 5% of patients have critical diseases including respiratory failure, septic shock and multi-organ failure.
“In 2% of reported cases, the virus is fatal, and the risk of death increases the older you are.
“We see relatively few cases among children. More research is needed to understand why.
TWO-HOUR VIRUS TEST LAUNCHED
French scientists have curated a CE-Mark test for deadly coronavirus that produces results in less than two hours, says Novacyt CEO Graham Mullis.
Novacyt launched the molecular test in an effort to help detect the virus as it riproars through China.
Mullis added: “[The test has] the added efficiency of being able to transport the test at ambient temperatures eliminating the need for cold chain shipping”.
FOUR NEW CASES ACROSS TAIWAN AND SINGAPORE
Two new cases of deadly coronavirus have been confirmed in Taiwan, and a further two in Singapore.
The two Singaporean cases are linked, with the first victim – a 76-year-old man who returned from Wuhan last week – thought to have infected the other 35-year-old-victim.
And in Taiwan, a woman in her eighties and a man in his thirties have been struck down.
They're both related to previous cases.
The current global total stands at 71,902.
CHINA MEDICS DRAFTED IN TO BABYSIT
Nurses and midwives in hard-hit areas of China have been drafted in as full-time carers to tots whose parents have been struck down by the deadly virus.
As well as round-the-clock medical care, staff are on hand to feed, wash and entertain the kids.
Some of the youngsters are still just babies, tragically separated from their parents as they battle the killer flu far away from their fragile immune systems.
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