Corona virus toll nears 500, airlines cut flights, 12 cases found on cruise ship

According to death records, the death toll in China resulting from the deadly corona virus outbreak has exceeded a total of 490 deaths yesterday, the first fatalities were recorded at the U.S. airlines suspended flights to Hong Kong. 10 death cases was also recorded and confirmed on a quarantined Japanese cruise ship.
A total of 65 deaths was recorded on tuesday, says china’s national health commission, bringing the death toll to a total of 490 deaths on the mainland, these deaths were mainly centred in and around the quarantined regions of Wuhan where the corona virus was said to have emanated from late last year.
There has also been two confirmed deaths outside the mainlands of China. The virus claimed the life of a 39-year-old man in Hong Kong who was already suffering from an illness, the man was said to have visited Wuhan city, which was the epicentre of the corona virus, some days before his death. He then died on Tuesday from the effects of the virus. Another death was also recorded in the Philippines, which marked the first virus related overseas fatality. The victim which was a middle aged man was said to have visited Wuhan weeks before his death.
Across the main cities of China, there were 3,887 newly confirmed people infected with virus, bringing a total of 24,324 infected persons.
Ten individuals present on a cruise liner that was supposedly under quarantine at the port of Yokohama, Japan, tested positive for the corona virus, this prompted the Japanese health minister to order a series of medical screening of thousands of patients and crews onboard the cruise liner.
The 10 confirmed infected persons were from 273 people who were tested for the virus at the cruise liner. There were about 3,700 people including passengers and crew on the Carnival Corp ship. The world health organisation also recorded 176 confirmed cases in 24 different countries and regions.
ECONOMIC IMPACT SPREADS
As the economic impact of the corona virus becomes more intense, Larry Kudlow who is currently the white house economic adviser, gave a statement and said that the corona virus epidemic would likely halt the surge in the number of U.S. exports to China. These exports were to take effect later this month at the end of the phase 1 closed deal between the U.S and Chinese government. U.S president Donald Trump’s administration official said that the corona virus ourbrek would definitely delay the deal.
Kudlow further added that the viral out break will most likely delay the export boom from that trade deal. He said that both the U.S government and the Chinese government were completely unprepared for the massive effects the virus would have on business supply chains.
Although global markets finally caught a break from the viral outbreak and stabilised on tuesday, with many closed factories opened for business and the the tight restrictions on the in and out travels of chinese major cities lifted. However there are still some side effects of the virus outbreak amongst major cities and business corporations in the Chinese empire. The financial and health impacts of the viral outbreak was felt more intensely in major routes and parts of Hong Kong, this left most American airline groups and united airlines to cease any and all flights heading to and from the major cities in Asia after this week.
One of China’s major airlines which is the Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd, which relied primarily on passengers and investors in the financial sector who frequently changed their flights and travel plans, announced its plans to limit about 30% of its global capacity over the next 6o days, approximately two months. They went further to say that they would be limiting about 90% of their flight patterns to the mainlands of China as it battles with the epidemic.
In other news, thousands of medical workers in Hong Kong, held another protest for the complete shutdown of all borders with the mainland of China after discovering that three checkpoints were left unattended.
One of the protesters openly said and stated that they have no intention of undermining the Chinese government but only wish to seize the spread of the virus
In the year 2002, China experienced a corona virus epidemic in the form of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). The virus claimed the lives of 17 people in Hong Kong China, and killed almost 800 people world wide. Its effect on global economy was estimated to be around 33 billion u.s dollars.
Also China’s neighbouring city Macau, also an administrative region of China, ordered its casinos to suspend all activities and business dealings. This put a minor blow in their economy, in a desperate attempt to stop the spread of the epidemic.
As time passed, asian stocks gradually steadied on Wednesday with the hopes of additional incentives from the Chinese government to ameliorate the economic impact of the. Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan sky rocketed up to 0.3%. Australian shares rose about 0.58%, while Japan’s Nikkei stock index went up by 1.19%.
CHINA‘S EVACUATIONS CONTINUES
Beijing has frowned on the the travel restrictions placed by the U.S. government, preventing foreign nationals especially from the U.S from visiting China. With a desperate cry for help, the Chinese government has asked for the aid of the U.S and hopes they can do more to conquer this epidemic.
Secretary Alex, current secretary of the U.S health and human services said that he hopes that China would accept the offer from the U.S government and the WHO to send professionals in the field of epidemiology to China.
“We have been asking for this since the 6th of January. The World Health Organization finally sent some names over today and we hope that the Chinese government will move quickly with this,” said Azar in an interview with fox business network.
“Time is of the essence, which is why we’ve got to dispatch the world’s leading experts on epidemics to run certain studies on the virus and get a handle on the incubation period. We have got to ascertain the risk associated with asymptomatic transmission”. He claimed.
The WHO has also declared the corona virus a world emergency and experts have claimed that much is still yet to be discovered about the virus, including the mortality and transmission routes of the virus.
Chinese data from various Chinese  experts suggests that the virus seems significantly less lethal compared to other epidemics in the past, although it is much more contagious. Although these numbrrs can change rapidly over time.
Major countries like Australia and New Zealand continue to constantly evacuate its citizens from Wuhan city, China. The United States government has also arranged various transport systems for private U.S citizens in Wuhan.
The official xinhua news agency in wuhan china on wednesday reported that several wuhan authorities are converting eight additional buildings to new hospitals, so as to curb the spread of the virus and effectively study and treat the already infected persons. Thess buildings included gymnasiums, exhibition centres and sports centres.
The following announcement after the news report from xinhua news also stated the conversion of three additional buildings in the city to new hospitals. A process that is said to be completed later on wednesday. Once these new buildings have been established, they can accommodate at least 10,000 patients, if not more.
A specially designed hospital in Wuhan, equipped with 1,000 beds, is said to be opened to patients on Monday. While the construction of a second hospital, with at least 1,600 beds, is also scheduled to be completed on Wednesday