More foreigners leaving China as virus fears mount

By Muhammad Saleh Zaafir

BEIJING/Bangkok/ISLAMABAD: China imposed a lockdown on Sunday on a major city far from the epicentre of a coronavirus epidemic, as its death toll from the disease soared to 304.

Wearing a mask and plastic gloves to protect himself from infection, an Uzbek student is among a rush of foreigners trying to fly out of virus-hit China to wait things out overseas.

With businesses closed for at least another week, classes suspended and airlines cancelling flights, many foreign students and workers see no reason to stay in the country while it struggles with the viral epidemic.

At Beijing’s international airport on Sunday, the 19-year-old Uzbek student said he was heading home because his parents were worried about the virus, which has claimed over 300 lives and infected more than 14,000 across China.

"Maybe I will give up studying here," said the Yangzhou University student, who asked to be identified only as Max. Calling the situation "dreadful", he expressed concern over the rising death toll and the restrictions other countries have imposed on travellers from China.

A 46-year-old American said she was worried her flight home would be cancelled at the eleventh hour. "My only hope is that I can go home. I have been standing here checking the flight schedules for any changes," said the woman, who declined to give her name. "I can’t be sure until the last minute." Others, such as 22-year-old Jamie Bosch, are leaving because of work.

Meanwhile, a Chinese woman infected with the new coronavirus showed a dramatic improvement after she was treated with a cocktail of anti-virals used to treat flu and HIV, Thailand´s health ministry said Sunday.

The 71-year-old patient tested negative for the virus 48 hours after Thai doctors administered the combination, doctor Kriengsak Attipornwanich said during the ministry´s daily press briefing.

"The lab result of positive on the coronavirus turned negative in 48 hours," Kriengsak said. "From being exhausted before, she could sit up in bed 12 hours later."

The doctors combined the anti-flu drug oseltamivir with lopinavir and ritonavir, anti-virals used to treat HIV, Kriengsak said, adding the ministry was awaiting research results to prove the findings.

The news comes as the new virus claimed its first life outside China -- a 44-year-old Chinese man who died in the Philippines -- while the death toll in China has soared above 300. Thailand so far has detected 19 confirmed cases of the virus believed to have originated in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, which is under lockdown. So far, eight patients in Thailand have recovered and returned home, while 11 remain in hospital.

The first fatality outside the country was reported in the Philippines. The man who died in the Philippines was a 44-year-old from Wuhan, according to the World Health Organization, which has declared the epidemic a global health emergency.

While India on Sunday reported a second case of novel coronavirus with another person from Kerala, who recently returned from China, testing positive for the infection. The condition of both patients was stated to be 'stable' and not serious, officials said in Indian capital. The second patient is also a student from Wuhan in China, the epicentre of the epidemic. The patient had returned to Kerala on January 24, the state government said.

India’s first novel coronavirus case was reported from Thrissur in Kerala on Thursday with a woman medical student who returned from Wuhan testing positive for the infection.

The Indian authorities have said that those who have returned from the virus-affected areas of China, besides Sri Lanka and Nepal, must inform the health department as they will have to be home quarantined for 28 days.

In the meanwhile, six Indians stranded at the coronavirus-hit Wuhan city were stopped from boarding the first special Air India flight to India due to high fever as the first flight with 324 Indians mostly students reached India from Wuhan.

The special Air India plane carrying 211 students, 110 working professionals and three minors from Wuhan have reached Delhi. Meanwhile, the second Air India flight has arrived in Beijing to pick up the rest of the Indians from Hubei province of which Wuhan is the provincial capital.

Another report has suggested that Indian students, who were brought back from China in view of coronavirus outbreak, danced at the quarantine facility in Manesar on Sunday. A video of a group of men, staying at the facility, singing and dancing while wearing masks has been shared widely on social media.