Kenya Airways (KQ) has halted flights to Guangzhou, China, over the Coronavirus epidemic. The move comes just days after KQ said it was monitoring the situation.
The first cases of the coronavirus were detected in Wuhan in mid-December. Since then, the number of confirmed cases has increased exponentially, and infections have been reported worldwide.
Hospitals in Wuhan are already massively overstretched, and hundreds of emergency medical personnel have been dispatched to the city to help. Two new hospitals dedicated to treating the virus are also being built on the city’s outskirts, due to be operational by next week.
Authorities in the city said that as of January 27 there were still more than 4,000 Wuhan residents overseas. The Wuhan culture and tourism bureau said that all tour groups were canceled after the lockdown was announced, but groups that left prior to that date were still slowly returning to the city.
More than a dozen countries have confirmed cases of the Wuhan virus, as authorities struggle to stop its spread. Across Asia, many countries have put in extra screening at airports and warned citizens to avoid travel to China.
To China’s north, neighboring Mongolia has imposed stringent border checks on travelers coming into the country. Indonesia and the Philippines have both introduced extra restrictions on Chinese tourists, while Japan has upgraded its response, allowing authorities to “force the suspicious cases for hospitalization and testing.” Around a hundred cases have been reported worldwide, with the most, 14, detected in Thailand, a popular destination for Chinese travelers.
Countries with colder climates are more at risk for future spread, as coronaviruses thrive in cold environments and do not transmit as well in sunny, hot locales. While most cases reported outside of China have a direct link to Wuhan, there are indications the virus is beginning to spread within other countries.
Three new cases were reported in Germany on Tuesday, including what is believed to be the first human-to-human transmission in Europe. Multiple countries have advised citizens not to visit China due to the ongoing outbreak. On Tuesday, the US Centers for Disease Control issued a level 3 alert advising against all “nonessential travel
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