Police officers in plainclothes raid a medical supply shop for allegedly hoarding and overpricing face masks, as public fear over China’s Wuhan Coronavirus grows, on January 31, 2020 in Manila, Philippines.
Ezra Acayan | Getty Images
All times below in U.S. eastern standard time.
Roughly 2,100 new cases of the coronavirus have been confirmed in China, raising the global total to nearly 12,000, according to the Chinese and World Health Organization. The death toll has reached 259. Here are the latest updates:
11:30 am: Delta accelerates plans to suspend all U.S.-China flights
Delta said it will accelerate its plan to temporarily suspend flights between the U.S. and China to Feb. 2, based on new U.S. requirements that deny entry to foreigners who have visited China in the past two weeks.
The last China-bound Delta flight from the U.S. leaves Feb. 1, and the last returning flight from China to the U.S. leaves Feb. 2. The airline’s previous plan was to suspend flights starting Feb. 6.
8:00 am: Vietnam and Qatar Airways suspend flights to China
Vietnam banned all flights to China over coronavirus concerns, the government announced in a statement. Qatar Airways said it was suspending flights to China from February 3 until further notice.
These are the airlines that have suspended flights to China amid the virus outbreak:
Vietnam Airlines, Qatar Airways, Delta Airlines (until April 30), American Airlines (until March 27), Air France (until Feb. 9), British Airways, Air Seoul, Egyptair, Lion Air, Lufthansa, Swiss Airlines and Austrian Airlines (until end February), Kenya Airways, RwandAir (till further notice), Vietjet (effective Feb. 1), all Russian airlines (except Aeroflot).
7:30 am: China will strengthen financial support for anti-virus campaign
China’s deputy central bank governor, Pan Gongsheng, said in an interview with state run news agency Xinhua that if needed, the bank would inject liquidity into the markets after the open on February 3 amid stress over the spread of the virus and declines on Wall Street.
6:40 am: China cancels tariffs on some virus prevention materials imported from U.S.
Beijing announced that U.S. imports that help to combat the virus will be exempted from retaliatory tariffs imposed during the U.S.-China trade war, including products like disinfectants.
2:16 am: Apple closes all stores in mainland China
Apple has temporarily shut down all its stores, corporate offices and contact centers in mainland China through Feb. 9, the company said on Saturday. The online store in China will stay open. The company operates 42 stores in mainland China.
This is a live blog. Please check back for updates.
