February 1 coronavirus news
Delta Air Lines to temporarily suspend all US flights to China due to coronavirus

Delta has decided to temporarily suspend all US to China flying beginning Feb. 2 due to ongoing concerns related to the coronavirus, the airline said in a news release today.
The last China-bound flight departing the US will leave today with the last return flight back to the US departing China on Feb. 2, the company said in the release.
The airline had previously announced a plan to suspend operations effective Feb. 6 but advanced that timeline based on new US requirements that will deny entry to foreign nationals who have traveled to China within the past two weeks, or subject to possible quarantine those US citizens who have been in China’s Hubei province, the company said.
Customers whose travel plans are affected can go to the My Trips section of delta.com to help them understand their options, including:
- Reaccommodations to flights after April 30
- Requesting a refund
- Contacting Delta to discuss additional options
Delta expects flights between the US and China to remain suspended through April 30, though the airline will continue to monitor the situation closely and may make additional adjustments as the situation continues to evolve.
China's Hubei province extends Lunar New Year holiday break amid coronavirus outbreak
Local authorities in the Chinese province of Hubei, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak, have extended the Lunar New Year holiday break until Feb. 13 as it seeks to curb the spread of the disease.
This means schools as well as some government entities will remain closed.
China’s central government in Beijing had already made the rare move to extend the holiday nationwide by three days until Feb. 2. The holiday week was originally from Jan. 24 to Jan. 30.
Flying drones instruct people around China to wear masks outdoors

Villages and cities in China have resorted to flying drones with speakers to patrol streets and scold people not wearing masks in public amid the coronavirus outbreak, according to Chinese state media.
Both Xinhua and the Global Times have published videos of drones warning various people in rural areas that masks need to be worn in “these times." The drones were seen scolding an elderly lady and chasing a child down the road.
The videos have gone viral on Chinese social media and have been praised as a novel way to raise awareness of the disease.
Global Times reported that local officials had been putting up slogans in an effort to get communities to stay at home during the epidemic and to avoid people gathering together to slow and prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
Thousands of Hong Kong medical staff vote to strike for border closure with mainland China

Thousands of Hong Kong public medical staff have voted to strike on Monday if the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government does not agree to demands to close the border with mainland China.
The Hospital Authority Employees Alliance has 13,000 members. Of those members who voted on Saturday night, 3,123 voted yes for the strike action, 10 against and 23 abstained. 8,825 members signed an online petition saying they will go on strike next week if demands to close border are not met.
Thousands of medical staff are calling on the HKSAR government to ban all visitors from mainland China to prevent the spread of the Wuhan coronavirus to Hong Kong.
Qatar Airways will suspend flights to China
Qatar Airways is the latest airline to suspend flights to China over the coronavirus outbreak.
The carrier said it will "unfortunately" stop flying to China on Monday, due to "significant operational challenges caused by entry restrictions imposed by several countries."
"These restrictions prevent the airline from scheduling crew on certain routes, limiting our ability to maintain scheduled operations elsewhere," the airline said in a statement.
A UK university student has coronavirus
One of the two people who tested positive for the novel coronavirus in the United Kingdom is a student at the University of York in northern England.
“Public Health England have informed us that one of the two individuals to have tested positive for coronavirus is a student at the University of York,” the university's press office told CNN.
Health officials said the risk to the campus is “low.”
The university said in a statement:
Public Health England has advised us that the risk of infection being passed to others on campus is low. Current information from PHE suggests that the student did not come into contact with anybody on campus whilst they had symptoms, but investigations are ongoing to fully establish this.
The two patients, members of the same family, are being treated at a hospital in Newcastle.
Macao tracing two casino employees diagnosed with the virus
Macao Health Bureau is investigating the movements of two casino employees after it was notified by Chinese officials that they have contracted the novel coronavirus.
Vitor Moutinho, the bureau's spokesman, told CNN on Saturday that one of the two is a woman who lives in Zhuhai in mainland China and travels to Macao daily for work.
Moutinho said the woman worked at Starworld Casino in a private area, and that the bureau is now tracing people whom she could have come into contact with.
No further details are available about the other employee, a man.
Employees from the mainland who come to work in Macao have not been prevented from doing so since the outbreak of the virus, and all casinos remain open for business.

Sri Lankan students evacuated from Wuhan
A group of students from Sri Lanka have been evacuated from Wuhan, the epicenter of the deadly coronavirus outbreak in China.
WHO urges people to know the facts
The World Health Organization has been stressing the importance of facts in the fight against the current coronavirus outbreak.
It warned that people of all ages can be infected by the virus and said older people and those with pre-existing medical conditions appear to be more vulnerable to becoming severely ill with the virus.
The WHO is also trying to bust some of the myths circulating online. It said, for example, that there was no evidence that pets such as dogs and cats can be infected with the virus.
It also told people it was safe to receive packages from China. "From previous analysis, we know coronaviruses do not survive long on objects, such as letters or packages," the WHO tweeted.
