Two more charter flights carrying about 300 American evacuees from the city at the center of the coronavirus outbreak were headed to the United States Friday morning, as the death toll from the disease neared 640.
All but two of the 638 confirmed deaths have been in mainland China, with one person succumbing in the Philippines and another in Hong Kong. More than 31,000 people have been infected with the virus worldwide, the vast majority of them in China. As of Friday morning there were 12 confirmed cases of the virus in the U.S., and three Americans among 41 people sickened with it who have been taken off a quarantined cruise ship in Japan.
Amid a growing backlash from the Chinese public, the country’s ruling Communist Party has promised an investigation into the apparent silencing of at least one doctor who tried to warn colleagues that a virus was spreading in the city of Wuhan two months ago, before the new disease was even identified. That doctor has died after becoming infected with the virus himself.
But as Beijing vows to “fully investigate relevant issues raised by the public,” and in spite of an admission earlier this week that there had been “shortcomings and deficiencies” in its initial response, China continues to bristle at the measures taken by other countries to stop the virus spreading.
