US forces passengers from Wuhan, China to get screened for coronavirus

The Chinese city of Wuhan has been placed under quarantine in an effort to stop the spread of the killer believed to have originated there.  

No one will be allowed to enter or leave Wuhan, a city of 11 million in China’s Hubei province, beginning 10am Thursday, just ahead of Saturday’s Lunar New Year, which marks one of the country’s busiest travel seasons.  

The quarantine was announced through Wednesday as Chinese officials warned that the deadly new virus is mutating and becoming increasingly difficult to control. 

Following confirmation of the – on Tuesday, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) began to ‘funnel’ all inbound passengers from Wuhan to five major US airports equipped to screen for the virus. 

The coronavirus, a SARS-like disease, has killed 17 and sickened at least 532 people worldwide – including in , , Taiwan, and the US – since the first cases were reported in Wuhan in late December. 

International concern has grown with the revelation that the virus spreads not just from animals to people, but between people.Its spread seems to be picking up speed, with some estimating up to 10,000 in China are already infected. 

Despite branding Wuhan’s measure to contain the outbreak ‘strong’, World Health Organisation, instead delaying global recommendations until they reconvene Thursday. 

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The virus, called 2019-nCoV, is thought to have spread into humans from a Wuhan seafood market ‘which illegally traded wild animals’ before travelers carried it to at least five other countries, including the US. 

last week. 

New checkpoints are being installed at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago and Hartsfield-Jackson airport in Atlanta by the end of this week. 

WHO officials met Wednesday to decide whether to declare the outbreak a ‘public health emergency of international concern’, but members’ opinions were ‘split’ and the committee will continue deliberations on Thursday.  

, which is from the same family that caused previous outbreaks of SARS and MERS, killing hundreds of people in dozens of countries. 

US RESPONSE TO THE OUTBREAK

Dr Martin Cetron, director for the Division of Global Migration and Quarantine at the Centers for Disease Control, described the US plan to control the spread of coronavirus following a media briefing confirming the first American case on Tuesday.

Given how quickly the virus has spread, Cetron said the CDC has instructed the Department of Homeland Security and the Transportation Department to redirect anyone who tries to get from Wuhan to the US without going through any of those five airports. 

Cetron described funnelling as ‘a very complex process that involves reissuing tickets and rerouting passengers from all over the globe through connecting indirect flights’. 

‘With increasing cases, we decided to move into this full-on, casino online malaysia 100 percent coverage strategy, which means adding additional airports and …begin our funneling approach and redirect all the traffic to airports that have screening so that the benefit of the alert could be more completely covered,’ Cetron said. 

CDC officials have also suggested the possibility of redirecting entire flights inbound from China through airports with screening checkpoints. 

When a traveller is sent for a screening in the US, they are first required to take a survey about possible symptoms, such as cough or fever, as well as whether they visited the meat or seafood markets in Wuhan that have been tied to the outbreak.  

If they appear to have any symptoms associated with the coronavirus, they are taken to on-site triage for further examination and a temperature check.  

Two passengers flying from Shanghai on United Airlines were reportedly examined at O’Hare on Tuesday after appearing to show symptoms of coronavirus, the airline said.   

It’s unclear what led officials to single out the passengers, but they were both cleared and released after examination.

‘We continue to follow CDC guidelines and remain in close contact with authorities in the United States and Asia to further ensure the safety of our customers and employees,’ a United spokesperson told CNBC. 

President addressed the deadly new virus during remarks at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, early Wednesday morning. 

He praised the and said the situation is being handled ‘very well’.   

‘The CDC has been terrific, very great professionals.We’re in very good shape and I think China is in very good shap, and we have it under control,’ he said. 

‘We have it totally under control. We do have a plan, and we think it’s going to be handled very well.’