February 19 coronavirus news

By Ben Westcott, Adam Renton, Jack Guy and Ivana Kottasová, CNN

Updated 1745 GMT (0145 HKT) December 21, 2020
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3:28 a.m. ET, February 19, 2020

South Korea reports biggest jump in coronavirus cases

CNN’s Yoonjung Seo in Seoul and Akanksha Sharma in Hong Kong

A fan walks past a thermal camera used to look for signs of the coronavirus ahead of the AFC Champions League Group E match between FC Seoul and Melbourne Victory at the Seoul World Cup Stadium on Tuesday, February 18, 2020 in Seoul, South Korea.
A fan walks past a thermal camera used to look for signs of the coronavirus ahead of the AFC Champions League Group E match between FC Seoul and Melbourne Victory at the Seoul World Cup Stadium on Tuesday, February 18, 2020 in Seoul, South Korea. Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images

South Korea has recorded five more cases of novel coronavirus, the South Korean Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported on Wednesday, after confirming 15 cases earlier in the day.

That makes a total of 20 cases confirmed on Wednesday -- the biggest jump for South Korea in a single day.

According to a government news release, 13 of the initial 15 are from the Daegu area in the country's southeast.

One of the infections is an 11-year-old girl who is the daughter of a previously-confirmed patient.

The total number of confirmed novel coronavirus cases in South Korea is now 51.

3:12 a.m. ET, February 19, 2020

Xi Jinping tells Boris Johnson the battle against the coronavirus is making "visible progress"

Chinese President Xi Jinping attends a meeting with Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the World Health Organization, in Beijing on January 28, 2020.
Chinese President Xi Jinping attends a meeting with Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the World Health Organization, in Beijing on January 28, 2020. Naohiko Hatta - Pool/Getty Images

The numbers of coronavirus infections and deaths in mainland China is still rising, with more than 2,000 people killed in the country alone.

But Chinese President Xi Jinping said the prevention measures were "achieving visible progress" in a phone call with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Tuesday.

Xi said, "the battle has reached a crucial time" and China had "mobilized the entire country, and adopted the most comprehensive, rigorous and thorough prevention and control measures," state news agency Xinhua reported.

Positive messaging: There has been a tone of optimism in Chinese state media and government statements today, implying the worst is over as the country begins to get back to work.

But experts have warned that it is too soon to tell whether the virus is under control.

"This trend must be interpreted very cautiously. Trends can change as new populations are affected. It's too early to tell if this reported decline will continue. Every scenario is still on the table," Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the World Health Organization (WHO), said during a news conference on Monday.

Read more here.

2:52 a.m. ET, February 19, 2020

Chinese study finds novel coronavirus more contagious than SARS and MERS

From CNN's Nectar Gan and James Griffiths

This scanning electron microscope image shows the novel coronavirus that causes Covid-19, isolated from a patient in the US, emerging from the surface of cells (blue/pink) cultured in the lab.
This scanning electron microscope image shows the novel coronavirus that causes Covid-19, isolated from a patient in the US, emerging from the surface of cells (blue/pink) cultured in the lab. NIAID-RML

The largest and most comprehensive study yet of the novel coronavirus has found it is highly contagious but not as fatal as similar, previous diseases.

Carried out by a group of experts at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention and published in the Chinese Journal of Epidemiology on Monday, the study looked at more than 72,000 confirmed and suspected cases of the coronavirus.

It found clear indications that the virus which originated in Wuhan, central China is more contagious than the related coronaviruses that caused severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS).

While the resulting disease, Covid-19, is not as fatal on a case-by-case basis, its quick spread has meant it has killed more people already than either of the other viruses.

Not the whole story?: International experts have cautioned reading too much into the early numbers, saying case fatality rates may come down as officials discover patients with milder symptoms who didn't seek medical care.

"My sense and the sense of many of my colleagues, is that the ultimate case fatality rate ... is less than 2%," Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told CNN's Jim Sciutto on "New Day" Tuesday.
"What is likely not getting counted is a large number of people who are either asymptomatic or minimally symptomatic."

Read more here.

2:33 a.m. ET, February 19, 2020

Coronavirus vaccine could take 12 to 18 months to develop and test

From CNN Health's Jamie Gumbrecht

Staff members work at a laboratory in Chengdu, in southwest China's Sichuan province, on Saturday, February 15.
Staff members work at a laboratory in Chengdu, in southwest China's Sichuan province, on Saturday, February 15. Liu Kun/Xinhua/Getty Images

If you were hoping for a quick cure for the coronavirus, the World Health Organization has some bad news.

WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a news briefing on Tuesday that a vaccine against the virus was still at least a year away.

But he said a vaccine would only protect against "the worst situation" of a pandemic, and for now it was important to promote public health solutions to limit the virus's spread.

"This is a window of opportunity that should not be missed," he said.

US risk from virus 'minimal': As health officials around the world work to limit the spread of the coronavirus, an expert told CNN the risk to the US so far is "very minimal."

"There really are only 15 cases now, in addition to those who were shipped here. They were identified, they were isolated and the contacts were traced.” said Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Fauci said that things could change, and a global pandemic was possible, but for now the situation appeared to be contained.

2:20 a.m. ET, February 19, 2020

Diamond Princess disembarkation is raising concerns among health experts

From  Emiko Jozuka, Yoko Wakatsuki, Sandi Sidhu, Will Ripley and Mick Krever

People are seen on the Diamond Princess cruise ship docked at Daikoku Pier on Wednesday, February 19, in Yokohama, Japan.
People are seen on the Diamond Princess cruise ship docked at Daikoku Pier on Wednesday, February 19, in Yokohama, Japan. Tomohiro Ohsumi/Getty Images

Passengers who have tested negative for the novel coronavirus began disembarking from the stricken Diamond Princess cruise ship Wednesday, despite mounting evidence from infectious disease experts they could unknowingly be carrying the virus back into their communities.

A total of 545 confirmed cases of the virus have been linked to the ship during its quarantine in Tokyo Bay.

CDC highlights risk: The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) commended Japan's quarantine measures but said they may not be sufficient to prevent transmission among individuals in the ship.

"The CDC believes the rate of new infections on board, especially among those without symptoms, represents an ongoing risk," it said in a statement released Tuesday.

"To protect the health of the American public, all passengers and crew of the ship have been placed under travel restrictions, preventing them from returning to the US for at least 14 days after they have left the Diamond Princess."

Expert raises alarm: A Japanese infectious disease specialist who visited the quarantined cruise ship alleged there is inadequate infection control on board.

"Inside the Diamond Princess, I was was so scared ... there was no way to tell where the virus was ... bureaucrats were in charge of everything," said Kentaro Iwata, an infectious disease specialist at Kobe University in a YouTube video published Tuesday.

Read more here.

2:05 a.m. ET, February 19, 2020

Video shows subdued Shanghai as coronavirus fears linger

CNN's David Culver visits Shanghai, China, where streets in the normally vibrant financial hub are mostly empty and businesses shuttered as fears of the novel coronavirus linger.

He finds residents going to extraordinary measures to protect themselves from the virus, with face masks being just one line of defense.

In the heart of the city's financial district there's hardly any traffic and the lunch-time rush is almost non-existent. Meanwhile, one finance worker says the outbreak may come at a cost.

1:55 a.m. ET, February 19, 2020

Hundreds of Westerdam passengers test negative for coronavirus

From CNN's Isaac Yee in Hong Kong

People on a deck of the Westerdam cruise ship watch a helicopter take off in Sihanoukville on Tuesday, February 18.
People on a deck of the Westerdam cruise ship watch a helicopter take off in Sihanoukville on Tuesday, February 18. Tang Chhin Sothy/AFP/Getty Images

A total of 781 passengers from the Westerdam cruise ship are one step closer to returning home after Cambodian health authorities said they had tested negative for the novel coronavirus.

After being unable to find a port for days, the Westerdam finally was able to berth in Cambodia on February 13.

At the time, no cases of the virus had been reported aboard the ship.

However, an 83-year-old American passenger tested positive for the virus in Malaysia while she was on transit home after disembarking the ship. That left hundreds of passengers either stuck on board the vessel or in hotels in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh as authorities scrambled to investigate the infection.

A ship in limbo: On board the ship when it docked were 1,455 passengers from several countries and more than 700 crew. As of Tuesday, only 1,000 people were left onboard the Westerdam, while another 500 or so were in Phnom Penh.

The Cambodian government said the negative test results were from both passengers on the ship and in the city.

No quarantine: Those still awaiting testing are not being held under any strict quarantine measures, Ministry of Health spokeswoman Dr. Or Vandline said.

She added that the passengers in Phnom Penh still awaiting their test results are being allowed to move around the city if they need to as long as they "exercise precaution." The ministry has also advised passengers still in Cambodia to contact health officials if they are feeling unwell.

Both Malaysia and Thailand have said they will not allow Westerdam passengers to pass through their countries on their way home.

UPDATE: This post has been updated to accurately reflect the quarantine measures imposed on Westerdam passengers waiting for test results.

1:09 a.m. ET, February 19, 2020

People in Tokyo are strengthening coronavirus precautions as infections rise in Japan

From CNN's Emiko Jozuka in Tokyo

A man wearing a mask looks out of a window at a building in the Asakusa district on Sunday, February 2, in Tokyo, Japan.
A man wearing a mask looks out of a window at a building in the Asakusa district on Sunday, February 2, in Tokyo, Japan. Tomohiro Ohsumi/Getty Images

On the streets of Japan's capital, there's no sense of panic or alarm, but people are steadily increasing their precautions against the deadly novel coronavirus that is spreading globally.

Seven new cases of the novel coronavirus in Japan were announced Tuesday, bringing the country's total to 68 outside of the 545 infections linked to the Diamond Princess cruise ship docked in Yokohama.

In Tokyo, people can regularly be seen wearing surgical face masks, despite a shortage of the protective wear making them increasingly hard to find.

Many convenience stores and supermarkets are limiting the purchase of face masks to one packet per person. Some shops have also posted signs saying when the next mask delivery will be to avoid having to constantly respond to customer queries.

No panic: But unlike other countries, there has been no sign of panic buying of supplies such as toilet paper or canned food in Japan.

Japanese companies are increasingly recommending people work from home if possible, as alcohol hand wash has appeared in lifts and corridors of major buildings across Tokyo.

Speaking on Tuesday, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe urged citizens who had cold-like symptoms to stay at home.

But there's no doubt that tensions are steadily increasing in the country as health experts warn Japan has entered the "next phase" of the outbreak spreading locally in the country.

For now, Japan is on alert, not alarmed.

12:57 a.m. ET, February 19, 2020

Basic questions about the coronavirus, answered

A medical worker checks the body temperature of a patient at an exhibition center converted into a hospital in Wuhan in China's central Hubei province on Friday, February 17.
A medical worker checks the body temperature of a patient at an exhibition center converted into a hospital in Wuhan in China's central Hubei province on Friday, February 17. Stringer/AFP/Getty Images

There's still a lot we don't know about the novel coronavirus, officially called Covid-19, and scientists around the world are racing to gather data and develop a treatment.

Here's what we can tell you so far:

  • Is there a cure? There's no cure, but patients can be treated for symptoms and may recover. A vaccine could take 12 to 18 months, according to World Health Organization director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
  • What are the symptoms? Coronavirus symptoms can look like the flu -- a runny nose, cough, sore throat, possibly a headache and maybe a fever, which can last for a couple of days.
  • How does the virus spread? The virus is thought to spread from person to person through respiratory droplets emitted by coughing or sneezing. There's also a possibility the virus can exist in and spread through contaminated fecal matter. There's currently no evidence that the virus is airborne -- meaning, for instance, it doesn't travel across a large room.
  • Who is at risk of infection? People of all ages can be infected with the virus, but older people and those with pre-existing medical conditions are especially vulnerable to severe complications.
  • How can I protect myself? Take the same precautionary measures you would during flu season. Wash your hands often with soap and water, cover your nose and mouth when you sneeze or cough, avoid close contact with people or large gatherings, and wear a face mask.