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All times below in Beijing time.
5:40 pm: Britain reports its first two cases of the coronavirus
England’s chief medical officer has confirmed the first two cases of the coronavirus in the U.K., less than 24 hours after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak a global emergency.
“We can confirm that two patients in England, who are members of the same family, have tested positive for coronavirus,” Chris Whitty, England’s chief medical officer, said in a statement on Friday.
The patients are receiving specialist care from the state-run National Health Service (NHS), Whitty said, before adding that medical staff would use “tried and tested infection control procedures to prevent further spread of the virus.”
4:45 pm: Mongolia closes all ports of entry from China until March 2
Mongolia’s government announced Friday that it would close all ports of entry into and from China until March 2., as the country seeks to contain the spread of the coronavirus outbreak.
Mongolia has reportedly given its citizens until Feb. 6 to return home. The country, which is landlocked between Russia and China, has not yet reported any cases of the virus.
4:25 pm: The latest on airlines suspending China flights
These are the airlines which have suspended all flights to China amid the outbreak: Air France (Until Feb. 9), British Airways, Air Seoul, Egyptair, Lion Air, Lufthansa, Swiss Airlines and Austrian Airlines (until end February), Kenya Airways (till further notice) and Vietjet (effective Feb. 1).
Airlines which suspended some flights, or reduced capacity:
– Singapore Airlines: reduced capacity on flights to Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Chengdu, Xiamen and Chongqing.
– American Airlines: suspended flights from Los Angeles to Bejing and Shanghai from Feb. 9 to March 27.
– Delta Airlines: reducing flights to 21 a week from 42, from Feb. 1 to April 30.
– Cathay Pacific: progressively reducing capacity to and from mainland China by 50% or more, from Jan. 30 till end March.
– Finnair: suspended flights to Nanjing and Beijing until end March.
– Turkish Airlines: reducing frequency of flights to Beijing, Guangzhou, Shanghai and Xian from Feb. 5 to Feb. 29.
2:30 pm: Shanghai imposes face mask purchase limit
2:25 pm: China sends chartered planes to bring home Hubei residents from overseas
The Chinese government will send chartered planes to bring back Hubei residents who are overseas, according to state media, citing the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. That’s in view of the “practical difficulties” that residents in Wuhan or Hubei — the epicenter of the outbreak — have been encountering overseas, the ministry said, according to the report.
In the latest update, it has dispatched two planes to fly back Wuhan citizens from Bangkok, Thailand, and Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia, according to a Reuters report.
1:00 pm: Pakistan suspends all China flights
Pakistan has suspended all flights into and from China immediately, until Feb. 2, according to a Reuters report.
12:30 pm: Japan raises infectious disease advisory warning for China
Japan’s Prime Ministry Shinzo Abe said Friday that the government is raising its infectious disease advisory level for the whole of China to 2, which means citizens should avoid non-urgent trips to the country.
It has already told its citizens not to take any trips to China’s Hubei, the epicenter of the virus outbreak.
The government earlier also said it would refuse entry to anyone who is infected. The country now has 14 confirmed cases.
11:50 am: SK Hynix says prolonged outbreak could threaten chip production
Top chipmaker SK Hynix warned that a prolonged coronavirus outbreak could pose a threat to its chip production, and said it would bring down its annual investment after it announced a sharp fall in quarterly profit on Friday. It said it is preparing a contingency plan
10:00 am: US raises travel warning advisory for China to level 4
The U.S. Department of State raised its travel advisory for China from Level 3 to Level 4, which means “do not travel to China.” That came just days after it changed its alert level to 3 on Monday, which means “reconsider travel to China due to the novel coronavirus.”
“Travelers should be prepared for travel restrictions to be put into effect with little or no advance notice. Commercial carriers have reduced or suspended routes to and from China,” the notice said. “Those currently in China should consider departing using commercial means. The Department of State has requested that all non-essential U.S. government personnel defer travel to China in light of the novel coronavirus.”
10:00 am: UK, South Korean citizens evacuate from Wuhan
A plane carrying 83 U.K. citizens and 27 foreign nationals left the virus epicenter of Wuhan after a delay on Thursday, according to a Reuters report citing the U.K. embassy in China.
A flight carrying 368 South Koreans from Wuhan also returned to Seoul earlier in the morning. Five new cases in the country were confirmed on Friday, bringing the total to 11.
9:30 am: China issues recommendation to cancel marriage registrations on Feb. 2
9:20 am: Italy discovers first coronavirus cases
The first two coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Italy, according to the country’s health ministry, adding that they are Chinese tourists. A day earlier, India and the Philippines confirmed their first cases.
Italy has also blocked all flights into and out of China.
8:15 am: China’s Shandong province delays start of work
China’s Shandong province told companies not to go back to work until Feb. 10, in a bid to tackle the spread of the coronavirus.
Shandong joins other provinces and cities in delaying the start of work. Hubei authorities have announced that businesses are not to resume work till midnight on Feb. 13. Shanghai, Beijing, Chongqing, Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Yunnan, Suzhou, Inner Mongolia and Zhejiang told businesses not to resume work till midnight on Feb. 9.
8 am: China says death toll hits 213, cases rise to 9,692
China’s National Health Commission said there have been an additional 43 deaths and 1,982 new confirmed cases, as of the end of Thursday. That brings the country’s total to 213 deaths and 9,692 confirmed cases, the government said.
All times below in Eastern time.
5:35 pm: Hubei province reports 42 additional deaths
3:52 pm: Pilots union files suit to halt American Airlines flights to China
The union that represents American Airlines’ pilots said Thursday it’s suing American Airlines to halt service to China amid the coronavirus outbreak, which has killed more than 170 people in China and infected more than 8,000 around the world. The Allied Pilots Association represents “15,000 professional pilots who fly for American Airlines,” according to its site. The suit seeks a temporary restraining order that, the APA said, would halt all American Airlines service between the U.S. and China.
12:37 pm: First human-to-human transmission of coronavirus confirmed in US
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Illinois public health officials confirmed Thursday the nation’s first person-to-person transmission of the coronavirus. The new patient is the spouse of the Chicago woman who brought the infection back from Wuhan, China, the epicenter of the outbreak, Illinois health officials said during a CDC press briefing. The transmission makes the U.S. at least the fifth country where the infection is now spreading through human-to-human contact.
2:43 pm: WHO declares global health emergency
The World Health Organization said the fast-spreading coronavirus that’s infected more than 8,200 across the world is a global health emergency — a rare designation that helps the international agency mobilize financial and political support to contain the outbreak.
For more of CNBC’s coverage on the coronavirus, read the overnight blog from CNBC’s U.S. team.
— CNBC’s Berkeley Lovelace Jr. and William Feuer, as well as Reuters, contributed to this report.
