Workers preparing the Wuhan International Conference and Exhibition Center on February 4, 2020 in Wuhan, China. It is understood that the first and second floors of Wuhan International Convention and Exhibition Center have been converted into temporary hospitals with a total of 1,000 beds, which are specially used to treat patients with mild new-type coronavirus.
Anadolu Agency | Getty Images
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All times below are in Beijing time.
3:50 pm: Cathay Pacific appeals to employees to take unpaid leave
Cathay Pacific appealed to all its employees to take three weeks of unpaid leave amid a hit from the impact of the coronavirus outbreak.
Employees “have the option to take three weeks of unpaid leave” in the period between March 1 and June 30, the airline said in a statement to CNBC.
“In view of the Novel Coronavirus outbreak and also significant drop in market demand, we just announced massive capacity cuts yesterday,” the statement said.
“Preserving cash is the key to protecting our business. We have already been taking multiple measures to achieve this. Today, we are appealing to all employees to participate in the special leave scheme,” the airline said.
3:30 pm: Taiwan suspends entry for mainland Chinese citizens
Taiwan has temporarily suspended entry for all mainland Chinese citizens, effective from Thursday.
3:00 pm: Passengers on cruise ship in Hong Kong being tested for virus
Over 1,800 passengers on a Dream Cruises ship docked in Hong Kong are being tested for the new coronavirus, after some crew members reported they have fevers and other symptoms, according to the city’s health authorities.
Passengers and crew members are not allowed to get off the World Dream ship without permission, authorities said.
More than 90% of the passengers are Hong Kong residents. The ship had traveled from Nansha, China to Vietnam between Jan. 19-24 — a group of mainland Chinese tourists on that trip was confirmed to be infected, according to authorities.
Separately, Princess Cruises on Tuesday confirmed that ten passengers on a ship in Japan have the virus.
2:50 pm: Singapore says outbreak is ‘a very good lesson’ on diversifying supply chains
2:20 pm: Schools in Shanghai not to reopen before end February
1:20 pm: Two new cases in South Korea
1:00 pm: Healthcare workers in Hong Kong strike for third day
Medical workers in Hong Kong went on strike for a third day, in a bid to pressure the city’s government to shut down all borders with mainland China.
They said they are doing so as the coronavirus is spreading rapidly in Hong Kong, which reported its first death due to the virus. The city has confirmed 18 cases so far.
Hong Kong’s chief executive Carrie Lam has closed some borders but left three open, arguing that to close the entire border would be impractical and discriminatory, according to a Reuters report.
12:15 pm: Trump says ‘working closely’ with China on outbreak
U.S. President Donald Trump said during his State of the Union address that the U.S. is coordinating with the Chinese government on the coronavirus outbreak.
“Protecting Americans’ health also means fighting infectious diseases. We are coordinating with the Chinese government and working closely together on the coronavirus outbreak in China. My Administration will take all necessary steps to safeguard our citizens from this threat,” he said, without giving further details.
The White House said earlier this week that China accepted its offer to allow U.S. experts into the country as part of a World Health Organization effort to fight the outbreak. Earlier, China accused the U.S. of spreading fear and panic amid the outbreak instead of providing assistance.
11:25 am: Second hospital in Wuhan due to be completed on Wednesday
A second, 1,600-bed hospital for coronavirus patients in Wuhan is set to be completed on Wednesday, according to Chinese state media.
That follows the city’s first, 1,000-bed hospital which was completed and started admitting patients on Monday. Both hospitals were constructed rapidly in a roughly week-long process, watched by millions of viewers via live-streaming.
Wuhan will also convert another eight venues into temporary hospitals to receive coronavirus patients, state media Xinhua reported.
To make more beds available, some hotels, stadiums and training centers may be used to admit suspected and mild cases, according to authorities.
10:35 am: One American among ten passengers on Princess Cruises ship who tested positive
An American is among ten passengers who tested positive for coronavirus, Princess Cruises confirmed to CNBC.
The other infected passengers are from Australia, Japan, Hong Kong, according to Princess Cruises.
“We were notified that amongst the samples that have completed testing, 10 people have tested positive for Coronavirus,” Princess Cruises said in an earlier statement after the first phase of health screening for guests and crew onboard the Diamond Princess.
There are more than 3,700 people onboard, and about half of the 2,666 guests are from Japan, the cruise liner said.
10:18 am: Passenger flights, rail trips in China plummet
Passenger flights in China, excluding foreign flyovers, fell 12.1% year-on-year from the first day of the Lunar New Year travel period (Jan. 10) to Feb. 4, according to state news agency Xinhua, citing China’s aviation authority. For Feb. 4 alone, the drop was 63.8%, the report said.
China’s railway operator said in an online post Tuesday night that 1.3 million passenger rail trips were expected for that day, a year-on-year decline of 88.5%. That followed a drop of 86.1% to 1.6 million trips on Monday.
The Lunar New Year is one of the busiest times for Chinese to travel. This year, authorities encouraged people to stay home in an effort to limit the spread of the virus.
10:05 am: China markets jump
Mainland Chinese stocks jumped for a second day running after plunging more than 7% on Monday in their return to trade. The Shenzhen component and the Shenzhen composite rose more than 2%, while the Shanghai composite climbed about 1%.
9:45 am: Global economy is more vulnerable now than during SARS
8:09 am: United Airlines to suspend Hong Kong flights
United Airlines on Tuesday said it will suspend its Hong Kong service, days after it cut its mainland China flights as coronavirus spreads. The suspension starts on Feb. 8 and will last until Feb. 20 but more changes are possible.
A security guard wearing protective gear checks the temperature of the visitor at the entrance of Accident & Emergency at Princess Margaret Hospital in Hong Kong, China, on Feb. 4, 2020.
Bloomberg
8:02 am: China reports total deaths of 490, and 24,324 cases
China National Health Commission said that as of Tuesday night, a total of 24,324 cases have been confirmed and 490 people have died in the country.
There were 65 additional deaths and all of them came from Hubei province, the epicenter of the outbreak.
7:23 am: Hubei reports 65 additional deaths
Hubei province reports an additional 65 deaths and 3,156 new cases related to the mysterious coronavirus as of the end of Tuesday.
The Hubei Provincial Health Committee on Wednesday reported that 479 people have died and a total of 16,678 cases have been confirmed so far. To date, the province — the epicenter of the pneumonia-like virus — has accounted for most of the deaths from the new coronavirus.
All times below are in Eastern time.
5:24 pm: Outbreak costing Disney theme parks $175 million
Disney said it is expecting to take a $175 million hit from the recent coronavirus outbreak if its Hong Kong and Shanghai Disney parks remain closed for two months. Christine McCarthy, chief financial officer at Disney, said the company expects an impact of $135 million on second-quarter operating income from the Shanghai park and about $40 million from the closure of the Hong Kong park.
4:48 pm: Nike expects ‘material impact’ on operations in China
Nike has closed half of its stores in China, saying the outbreak will have a “material impact” on its operations there. “This situation was not contemplated at the time we provided Q3 guidance during our Q2 fiscal year 2020 earnings call,” the company said in a statement. “Dynamics continue to evolve and accordingly we will provide an update on the operational and financial impacts on our Q3 earnings call.”
Read CNBC’s coverage from the U.S. overnight: Nike expects ‘material impact,’ virus costs Disney $175 million
— CNBC’s Vivian Kam, Ryan Ruggiero, Berkeley Lovelace Jr. and William Feuer contributed to this report.
