U.S. and Others Enact Strict Travel Restrictions as Over 12,000 Coronavirus Outbreak Cases Are Confirmed

The administration maintained that risk to the American public remained low but said it would ban entry to any foreign national who has been in China, barring immediate family of American citizens and permanent U.S. residents.Japan, Australia, Singapore and Vietnam have announced similar travel restrictions.This week, Japanese officials reported the country’s 20th case of the virus and said that Japan would ban foreign nationals who have been to Hubei province within two weeks before their arrival. The Allied Pilots Association cited “serious, and in many ways still unknown, health threats posed by the coronavirus,” adding that the risk posed to staff and passengers is “unacceptable.”As several countries are evacuating their citizens from Wuhan, China organized three flights to bring home more than 300 Hubei residents from abroad, according to Chinese state media.Although the vast majority of cases have occurred in Hubei province, the disease has also spread to over a dozen countries, including the U.S., where eight cases have been confirmed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). “Our greatest concern is the potential for the virus to spread to countries with weaker health systems, which are ill prepared to deal with it.”Tedros said the WHO opposes “any restrictions on travel and trade and other measures against China.”The organization highlighted concerns about eight cases of human-to-human transmission in four countries — Germany, Vietnam Japan and the U.S., as well as the “rapid acceleration” of confirmed cases of the disease.The WHO said it has asked member states to share standardized data with the organization on a daily basis so the organization can work towards building a “comprehensive global database” to track the disease’s evolution.At least 132 patients have tested positive for the illness across 23 countries, according to the WHO. Singapore said Friday it is banning visitors with recent travel history to mainland China.Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said Thursday that Russia would be closing its land border with China from Friday at least until March 1, the Associated Press reported.Mongolia’s official news agency has said the country closed border crossings with China on Monday, according to the Associated Press.7,000 people were stuck on a cruise ship in Italy in a port near Rome as a couple was being tested for the virus, according to CNN.In a bid to curb the spread of the deadly virus, Hong Kong announced Tuesday that it will deny entry to individual travelers from the mainland, dramatically expanding a ban that had previously applied only to visitors from Hubei province. The patient is married to an Illinois woman whom the CDC previously confirmed as testing positive for the virus.The man has an underlying medical condition but public health officials would not elaborate on what he suffered from.The agency said as of Friday that 241 individuals across 36 states were considered to be “persons under investigation” of which more than 100 had so far tested negative for the disease.“Given what we’ve seen in China and other countries with the novel coronavirus, CDC experts have expected some person-to-person spread in the US,” said CDC Director Robert Redfield “We understand that this may be concerning, but based on what we know now, we still believe the immediate risk to the American public is low.”The CDC’s travel precaution is currently at a level three, recommending that travelers avoid all nonessential travel to China because of the disease.Companies across China are taking precautions, as well.