Over 40,000 people have contracted the novel coronavirus and 910 of them have died.Passengers line up to leave the World Dream cruise ship at Kai Tak Cruise Terminal on Feb. 9 in Hong Kong, China. 3,600 passengers and crew members quarantined on World Dream cruise ship are finally allowed to disembark after all 1,800 crew members test negative for coronavirus as vessel has been docked at Kai Tak Cruise Terminal for more than four days. 
The declared global epidemic, coronavirus, is threatening one of the most-attended yearly global tech conferences, Mobile World Congress. © Aly Song/Reuters, FILE A passenger wearing a mask and covered with a plastic bag walks outside the Shanghai railway station in Shanghai, as the country is hit by an outbreak of a new coronavirus, Feb. 9, 2020. MWC, held each year in Barcelona, Spain, drew 109,674 attendees last year and is a destination for the most prominent tech companies in the world. Several of these companies have officially withdrawn from MWC 2020, scheduled for Feb. People wear face masks and plastic raincoats as a protection from COVID-19 coronavirus at Shanghai railway station, in China on Feb. 17.
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US: Airlines, officials trace path of couple diagnosed with coronavirus that flew from Hawaii
- By usatoday
- february 18, 2020
23 Americans on cruise ship in Japan contract novel coronavirus
Over 40,000 people have contracted the novel coronavirus and 910 of them have died.Passengers line up to leave the World Dream cruise ship at Kai Tak Cruise Terminal on Feb. 9 in Hong Kong, China. 3,600 passengers and crew members quarantined on World Dream cruise ship are finally allowed to disembark after all 1,800 crew members test negative for coronavirus as vessel has been docked at Kai Tak Cruise Terminal for more than four days.
Delta Air Lines and Hawaiian Airlines are working with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Japanese health officials to trace the path of a couple from Nagoya, Japan, who were diagnosed with coronavirus after returning from Hawaii.
Hawaiian state health officials say the couple, who are in their 60s, were in Hawaii from Jan. 28 to Feb. 7 and tested positive after being hospitalized in Japan.
The man, who was diagnosed before his wife, flew on Hawaiian Airlines flight HA265 from Kahului, Hawaii, to Honolulu on Feb. 3, in addition to flying home on Delta flight 611 from Honolulu to Nagoya on Feb. 6 with his wife.
Coronavirus fears threaten global tech conference
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Delta spokesperson Adrian Gee told USA TODAY, "We are aware of reports that two customers who are being treated for novel coronavirus (2019-nCOV) recently traveled together between Honolulu and Nagoya and we are communicating with the appropriate public health officials, including U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and local Japanese authorities."
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Officers wearing protective suits are seen near an airplane prepared for the U.S. passengers of the cruise ship Diamond Princess, where dozens of passengers were tested positive for coronavirus, at Haneda airport in Tokyo, Japan, on Feb. 17.
These Pakistani students want out of coronavirus-stricken Wuhan. Their government says no
On Thursday, for the first time in a week, 26-year-old Abdullah left his small dorm room at the Wuhan University of Technology in China to buy fruit and spices to cook the food of his native Pakistan. As Wuhan is gripped by the coronavirus outbreak, Abdullah and hundreds of Pakistani students are locked down on their campuses, barred by university officials from leaving for days at a time, phone and WeChat messages their only link to the dire situation outside their doors.
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Coronavirus Outbreak
Workers gather before removing machinery stored on the dock next to the Diamond Princess cruise ship at Daikoku Pier where it is being resupplied and newly diagnosed COVID-19 cases taken for treatment as it remains in quarantine after a number of the 3,700 people on board were diagnosed with coronavirus, on Feb. 13 in Yokohama, Japan.
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The Center for Disease Control (CDC) on Thursday confirmed the 15th case of novel coronavirus in the United States after a Chinese evacuee was flown to Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio. A man wears a protective mask as he rides a bike on an empty street on Feb. 13, in Wuhan, China.
A TV crew film a cruise ship Diamond Princess anchoring off the Yokohama Port, on Feb. 4, in Yokohama, near Tokyo. Japanese health officials are conducting extensive medical checks on all 3,700 passengers and crew of the cruise ship that returned to the country after one passenger tested positive for the new coronavirus.
China Expands Chaotic Dragnet in Coronavirus Crackdown
China’s leaders expanded a mass roundup of people possibly sickened with the coronavirus on Thursday, widening their dragnet well beyond the epicenter of the outbreak to at least two more cities in what the government has called a “wartime” campaign to stamp out the epidemic. But the campaign, first announced last week in the city of Wuhan, already has been marred by chaotic conditions that have isolated vulnerable patients without adequate care and, in some cases, left them alone to die. The expansion of the decree to “round up everyone who should be rounded up” in the Wuhan area of central China has deepened the nation’s sense of anxiety.
A general view of the St. Alexius Medical Center, where confirmed coronavirus patient is being treated in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, on Jan. 25.
Japanese couple who visited Hawaii were diagnosed with coronavirus, and Delta is warning passengers on their flight
A couple from Japan tested positive for novel coronavirus shortly after visiting Hawaii this month, and Delta Airlines says it is notifying passengers who were on their flight home about the couple's diagnosis.Officers wearing protective suits are seen near an airplane prepared for the U.S. passengers of the cruise ship Diamond Princess, where dozens of passengers were tested positive for coronavirus, at Haneda airport in Tokyo, Japan, on Feb. 17.
People walk next to signage detailing hygenic practices to prevent the spread of a SARS-like coronavirus at the Huashan Hospital in Shanghai on Jan. 21.
Fast genomic sequencing can help stop spread of a virus
As a novel coronavirus began spreading from Wuhan, China, scientists from across the country collaborated to isolate, sequence and publish the complete genetic code of the virus — just a month after the first documented case.The novel coronavirus, which causes the disease COVID-19, is one of a group of viruses called coronaviruses, which also includes the 2003 SARS virus and the 2013 MERS virus.
On Thursday, for the first time in a week, 26-year-old Abdullah left his small dorm room at the Wuhan University of Technology in China to buy fruit and spices to cook the food of his native Pakistan. As Wuhan is gripped by the coronavirus outbreak, Abdullah and hundreds of Pakistani students are locked down on their campuses, barred by university officials from leaving for days at a time, phone and WeChat messages their only link to the dire situation outside their doors. 
The Center for Disease Control (CDC) on Thursday confirmed the 15th case of novel coronavirus in the United States after a Chinese evacuee was flown to Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio. A man wears a protective mask as he rides a bike on an empty street on Feb. 13, in Wuhan, China. 
China’s leaders expanded a mass roundup of people possibly sickened with the coronavirus on Thursday, widening their dragnet well beyond the epicenter of the outbreak to at least two more cities in what the government has called a “wartime” campaign to stamp out the epidemic. But the campaign, first announced last week in the city of Wuhan, already has been marred by chaotic conditions that have isolated vulnerable patients without adequate care and, in some cases, left them alone to die. The expansion of the decree to “round up everyone who should be rounded up” in the Wuhan area of central China has deepened the nation’s sense of anxiety. 
A couple from Japan tested positive for novel coronavirus shortly after visiting Hawaii this month, and Delta Airlines says it is notifying passengers who were on their flight home about the couple's diagnosis.Officers wearing protective suits are seen near an airplane prepared for the U.S. passengers of the cruise ship Diamond Princess, where dozens of passengers were tested positive for coronavirus, at Haneda airport in Tokyo, Japan, on Feb. 17. 
As a novel coronavirus began spreading from Wuhan, China, scientists from across the country collaborated to isolate, sequence and publish the complete genetic code of the virus — just a month after the first documented case.The novel coronavirus, which causes the disease COVID-19, is one of a group of viruses called coronaviruses, which also includes the 2003 SARS virus and the 2013 MERS virus. 
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Hawaiian spokesman Alex Da Silva told USA TODAY, "On Friday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) asked us for information regarding HA265 from Kahului to Honolulu on Feb. 3, 2020, which transported a Japanese visitor who had since become ill and, upon his return to Japan on another carrier later in the week, was diagnosed with COVID-19."
He added that the airline was working with public health officials to notify passengers and had already contacted employees who worked that flight.
Hawaii's state health director, Bruce Anderson, said Friday that the couple was staying at Hilton Grand Vacations' Grand Waikikian on Oahu when the man began exhibiting symptoms on Feb. 3. He did not seek medical care at that time but was hospitalized upon his return to Japan and initially diagnosed with pneumonia before testing positive for coronavirus.
Hawaii's Department of Heath was later notified that the wife had been hospitalized, spokeswoman Janice Okubo told Hawaiian Public Radio. The Honolulu Star Advertiser and The New York Times and reported that she was diagnosed with the virus on Saturday.
China sees drop in new virus cases, two Japan cruise passengers die
China on Thursday touted a big drop in new cases of the coronavirus as a sign it has contained the epidemic, but fears grew abroad after two former passengers of a quarantined cruise ship died in Japan and a cluster of infections increased in South Korea. A Chinese man wears a protective mask as he sits near closed shops in a commercial street on Feb. 18, in Beijing, China. Apple said Monday that it did not expect to meet its quarterly revenue targets due to the coronavirus outbreak in China. State epidemiologist Dr. Sarah Park said officials believe the man was infected either while still in Japan or on the flight to Hawaii because he developed symptoms approximately five days after his arrival. That timeline aligns with the CDC's current theory about the virus' incubation period.
“Our focus at this point is to try and understand who potentially this person may have had close, prolonged contact,” Park said, noting that that officials are focusing on the man's path while on Oahu since that is where he became symptomatic.
"Following the stay of a guest who was later diagnosed with COVID-19, the Grand Waikikian has implemented all recommendations of public health authorities," said Lauren George, the corporate communications director for Hilton Grand Vacations, an independent company which operates timeshares. "While the Grand Waikikian remains open as usual, we are also working with all current and future guests at the Grand Waikikian to ensure their comfort and safety."
The news comes just a few days after Hilton announced it was temporarily closing 150 hotels in China, which translates to about 33,000 rooms.
Hawaiian officials say there are still no confirmed cases of the virus in the state. According to the CDC, the United States has 15 cases in seven states: Arizona, California, Illinois, Massachusetts, Texas, Washington State and Wisconsin.
In Illinois, one patient who returned from the disease's epicenter in Wuhan, China, on Jan. 13 was found to have passed the virus to her husband, who did not make the trip, making him the first U.S. case of person-to-person transmission.
To date, Japan has had 66 confirmed coronavirus cases and one death. The virus has affected more than 71,000 people worldwide and killed 1,775 people as of Monday morning, according to Johns Hopkins data.
Coronavirus impact: Airbnb suspends Beijing bookings through end of April
Contributing: David Oliver, USA TODAY; Associated Press
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Airlines, officials trace path of couple diagnosed with coronavirus that flew from Hawaii
China sees drop in new virus cases, two Japan cruise passengers die .
China on Thursday touted a big drop in new cases of the coronavirus as a sign it has contained the epidemic, but fears grew abroad after two former passengers of a quarantined cruise ship died in Japan and a cluster of infections increased in South Korea. A Chinese man wears a protective mask as he sits near closed shops in a commercial street on Feb. 18, in Beijing, China. Apple said Monday that it did not expect to meet its quarterly revenue targets due to the coronavirus outbreak in China.
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