President Trump tweeted the coronavirus could weaken as weather warms. Scientists say it's too early to know - CNN

Trump praised Xi as "strong, sharp and powerfully focused" on containing the virus, and added that he thinks Xi will be successful, "especially as the weather starts to warm & the virus hopefully becomes weaker, and then gone."

But are changing seasons and warmer weather the break the world is waiting for?

Infectious disease experts tell CNN that it's too early to say, and nobody knows enough about the novel coronavirus to make assessments about its behavior.

"It would be reckless to assume that things will quiet down in spring and summer," said Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at the Baylor College of Medicine in Texas.

"We don't really understand the basis of seasonality, and of course we know we absolutely nothing about this particular virus," Hotez said.

"His hope is our hope," said Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease specialist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, referring to Trump's tweets. "But we don't have knowledge that it will do that."

"It's a respiratory virus, and we know respiratory viruses are very seasonal, but not exclusively. One would hope that the gradual spring will help this virus recede. We can't be sure of that," added Schaffner, a longtime adviser to the CDC.

'There's a lot of unknowns'

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the risk to the general American public is low. But the Trump administration has taken drastic action to slow the spread of the virus in the United States, including quarantines and travel restrictions -- and it's because of the unknowns.

During last week's briefing of the President's Coronavirus Task Force, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the United States' top infectious disease doctor and the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, noted there are thousands of flu deaths and more than 100,000 flu hospitalizations already in the United States this flu season. Still, the coronavirus is drawing a significant response because of the "unknown aspects of this particular outbreak."

"The reason is, despite the morbidity and mortality with influenza, there's a certainty, for example, of seasonal flu. I can tell you all, guaranteed, that as we get into March and April, the flu cases are going to go down. You could predict pretty accurately what the range of the mortality is and the hospitalizations, as we've done over the years.

"The issue now with this is that there's a lot of unknowns," Fauci said.

Understanding seasonal viruses

Indeed, some viruses can have seasonal ebbs and flows.

Seasonal flu occurs because of the persistence of current strains or recently circulating strains of the flu. But because these strains persist in the environment, some people are immune. Vaccines can also prevent people from becoming sick from these seasonal strains of the flu.

Aside from the recently discovered novel coronavirus, there are other coronaviruses that are considered seasonal. They are commonly found in the environment and most people will be infected with them at some point in their lives. These seasonal coronaviruses usually cause some mild to moderate upper respiratory infection, like the common cold, and a last a short time.

But what makes some strains of viruses seasonal isn't clear to scientists.

When it comes to the flu, Schaffner said, humidity might contribute to seasonality. When we breathe in and out, virus particles escape, surrounded by a droplet of moisture. During the winter, when there's less humidity in the air, the moisture evaporates and the virus particles remain suspended in the air. In the summer, when the humidity is higher, the droplets keep a lot of that moisture and fall toward the ground.

But Schaffner added that humidity wasn't the sole factor, and "it's not entirely clear" why some viruses are seasonal, he said.

And in some parts of the world, the flu exists year-round.

"It kind of smolders along all the time," Schaffner said.

However, the flu is something that has been studied a great deal over many years. The novel coronavirus was just discovered in humans in December.

"It's a new virus," Schaffner said. "We'll have to see."

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2020-02-07 23:58:00Z
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A New Martyr Puts a Face on China’s Deepening Coronavirus Crisis - The New York Times

WUHAN, China — More than 600 people have died. Tens of thousands are infected. Millions are living under lockdown, and the government has sought to silence complaints.

But what provoked an online revolt in China on Friday, the fiercest assault on the censors in almost a decade, began with the death of one man: the doctor who tried to raise an alarm about the coronavirus.

The deluge of mourning and anger at the death of the doctor, Li Wenliang — from the same virus he was reprimanded for mentioning — at times overwhelmed China’s sophisticated censorship and propaganda systems. Many on social media called the doctor a martyr and a hero, and government officials, celebrities and business leaders risked rebuke by the Communist Party to join ordinary citizens in expressing frustration and grief.

“Li Wenliang’s death has become an emotional flash point,” said Wang Yu, a Wuhan man in his 20s, showing the torrent of comments on his phone about Dr. Li in his social media feeds.

“He’s a tragic figure in this epidemic, and his death has taken this tragedy to a new extreme,” Mr. Wang said. Then he hesitated and took back his words. “I worry that his death won’t be the extreme of this tragedy.”

The doctor’s death posed a new test for China’s leader, Xi Jinping, who was already facing deep political problems — over a newly signed trade deal with Washington, Taiwan’s recent election and Hong Kong’s protest movement — before the virus spilled out of Wuhan. In recent weeks, Mr. Xi’s talks with foreign leaders have shifted to a defense of China’s response to the epidemic, which has sickened more than 31,000 people and brought the country to a near standstill.

Now, the government is also caught in a tug of war over Dr. Li’s legacy that could challenge Mr. Xi’s powerful censorship apparatus.

Li Wenliang at Wuhan Central Hospital last month.Credit...Li Wenliang, via Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

When Dr. Li, 34, warned of the virus in an online chat room more than five weeks ago, the police made him an example of what befalls those who do not comply with official demands for secrecy. He was summoned by the authorities and forced to sign a statement denouncing his warning as an unfounded and illegal rumor.

After his death on Friday, many Chinese said he was a haunting reminder of the early steps taken to cover up the outbreak.

The Coronavirus Outbreak

• What do you need to know? Start here.

  Updated Feb. 5, 2020

  • What is a Coronavirus, and how dangerous is it?
    Read up on the respiratory virus, including its symptoms and how it is transmitted.
  • How bad could the outbreak be?
    Here are the six key factors that will determine whether it can be contained.
  • Where has the virus spread?
    You can track its movementwith this map.
  • How is the United States being affected?
    There have been at least a dozen cases. American citizens and permanent residents who fly to the United States from China are now subject to a two-week quarantine.
  • What if I’m traveling?
    Several countries, including the United States, have discouraged travel to China, and several airlines have canceled flights.Many travelers have been left in limbo while looking to change or cancel bookings.
  • How do I keep myself and others safe?
    Washing your hands is the most important thing you can do.

---

Stuck inside by widespread lockdowns, many people are glued to the internet, with abundant time to dwell on the doctor’s death. Chinese social media, often fractious and fickle, was as unanimous as it has ever been in its grief for Dr. Li, with eulogies flowing from all corners of the country. For a few hours, a trending hashtag called for freedom of speech.

Unable to fully expunge the discussions, Beijing has turned to state media to transform Dr. Li into a loyal soldier aligned with the government’s cause. The tussle over the doctor’s memory and the political implications are reminiscent of what happened after the SARS outbreak, some said in posts that were quickly deleted.

Jiang Yanyong, the retired military doctor who first called attention to widespread undercounting of SARS cases, has been erased from the official record of that time. By contrast, Zhong Nanshan, the doctor who first identified SARS, has been lionized as a faithful servant. When Beijing needed someone to publicly deliver bad news about the coronavirus, it turned to Dr. Zhong.

Dr. Li’s death also showed how online anger can occasionally slosh over the tall censorship walls built to stifle it. China’s censors have not been this overwhelmed since 2011, when anger and embarrassment over a high-speed rail accident in Wenzhou became impossible to scrub. The Wenzhou crash helped spur new policies to more tightly police the internet.

While many of the lives lost in the coronavirus outbreak have been obscured by the numbers, Dr. Li’s death has provided a face and story for the victims of the epidemic and the medical workers struggling to contain it.

In Wuhan, a steel-gray sky hung over the melancholy day of Mr. Li’s death. An impromptu memorial of flowers, a black-and-white photograph and singed cigarettes — a stand-in for joss sticks — formed at the entrance of the hospital where he had died. The mourners during the daytime were few, perhaps because many people in Wuhan remain afraid to stray too far from home.

Wuhan Coronavirus Map: Tracking the Spread of the Outbreak

The virus has sickened more than 4,500 people in China and a handful in other countries.

“Thank you for your courage,” said the message on one bouquet of chrysanthemums, the Chinese flower of mourning. “Heroes never die, thank you,” said another.

In an interview with Pear Video, Dr. Li’s mother spoke of her grief through sobs. For several weeks, he was stable and able to get out of bed and eat, she said, adding that only in the last two days did his condition deteriorate. She said she had not been able to see him before he died and described the shattered family he left behind.

“In June, his second child will be born,” she said, adding that she and Dr. Li’s father had both contracted the illness, but recovered. “What happens to his family? Is it not broken?”

“Me and his father were cured, but pitifully our child, our child didn’t make it,” she added. “He was 34 years old. He had great potential. He was a very talented kid. He isn’t like other people who lie — he was loyal to his duties.”

Candle emojis, quotes and images of Dr. Li dominated social media feeds. Business leaders and celebrities, accustomed to muzzling political hot takes for fear of invoking the government’s wrath, shared their thoughts and condolences. One popular illustration turned the outlines of Dr. Li’s surgical mask into barbed wire.

A part of Dr. Li’s appeal has been his Everyman sensibilities. He loved fried chicken thighs, was annoyed when cherry prices rose too high and often got stuck working extra shifts at the hospital. Like many others in China, he wrote all about it online.

On the microblogging site Weibo, users surfaced his old musings.

“A life not examined is not worth living,” he wrote in a characteristically quirky post, after musing about the origin of egg pancakes. “I hope everyone can fulfill their values.”

The country’s state media released its own remembrances, in some cases working to subtly co-opt Dr. Li’s story.

China’s National Health Commission recalled him not as a Cassandra warning about the virus, but instead as a doctor on the front lines of the response. Although Dr. Li had expressed a desire to help his colleagues, he was an ophthalmologist who was sickened by a patient he was treating for glaucoma.

“Since the start of the epidemic, many medical workers disregarded their own safety, gave up their small family, and braved the difficulties for the bigger family, and fought bravely at the foremost front line of the epidemic,” the health commission said in a statement. Those workers, it added, “made great contributions to protect people’s life and health, and we pay the utmost respect.”

China’s state-run television broadcaster sought to link Dr. Li directly to Mr. Xi’s own words about the battle against the epidemic. “Beating this devil virus is the best consolation to the deceased,” the broadcaster said in a commentary, echoing Mr. Xi’s characterization of the illness.

On Friday, bowing to popular pressure, Communist Party officials said they would send a team from the powerful anticorruption committee to investigate the circumstances surrounding Dr. Li’s death.

The State Supervisory Committee has “decided to send an investigation team to Wuhan, Hubei Province, to conduct a comprehensive investigation on related issues reported by the masses about Dr. Li Wenliang,” it said on Friday, releasing a one-line statement on its website.

It is rare for the Communist Party to react so swiftly to public outrage. Several top officials and state media outlets had joined in the chorus mourning Dr. Li’s death. In statements online, the National Health Commission and the Wuhan government said they had expressed their condolences.

The New York Times spoke to Dr. Li a week before his death. “If the officials had disclosed information about the epidemic earlier,” he told The Times, “I think it would have been a lot better. There should be more openness and transparency.”

“I felt I was wronged, but I had to accept it,” he said of his arrest. “Obviously I had been acting out of good will.”

“I have felt very sad seeing so many people losing their loved ones.”

Reporting was contributed by Daniel Victor, Eimi Yamamitsu, Steven Lee Myers, Sui Lee Wee, Elaine Yu, Liz Alderman, Denise Grady, Scott Reyburn and Vivian Wang. Research was contributed by Lin Qiqing, Albee Zhang, Elsie Chen and Cao Li.

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2020-02-07 22:35:00Z
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Coronavirus: Hong Kong imposes quarantine rules on mainland Chinese - BBC News

Hong Kong has begun a mandatory two-week quarantine for anyone arriving from mainland China, in a fresh effort to contain the new coronavirus.

Visitors must isolate themselves in hotel rooms or go to government-run centres, while returning Hong Kong residents must stay inside their homes.

Anyone caught flouting the new rules faces a fine and a prison sentence.

Tens of thousands of travellers queued at the Chinese border city of Shenzhen ahead of the midnight deadline.

Hong Kong has seen 26 confirmed cases of the virus and one person has died. The number of confirmed cases in mainland China stands at 31,203, with 636 deaths.

Outside China, 270 cases have been confirmed in at least 25 countries, with one other fatality - in the Philippines.

Meanwhile, another 41 people on a quarantined cruise ship off Japan have tested positive for the coronavirus, bringing the total number of cases on board to 61.

There was some positive news on Friday when the World Health Organization (WHO) said there had been fewer reported infections in China in the past two days. However, director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus cautioned against reading too much into those figures.

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He also told reporters that the outbreak had caused a global shortage of protective medical equipment such as gowns, masks and gloves.

"When supply is short, and demand is high then there could be bad practices like hoarding in order to sell them at higher prices," he warned, urging suppliers to "uphold the protection of humanity" rather than looking to increase profits.

The WHO also released new data from 17,000 patients that suggested 82% had a mild form of the disease, with 15% considered severe cases and 3% critical.

For most this is a mild infection

This is the clearest detail we've had on the spectrum of disease this coronavirus can cause.

It is good news for most people and emphasises that for more than four-in-five, this is a mild infection.

However, that sheer volume of mild cases raises important questions about stopping this epidemic.

The Sars-coronavirus outbreak was relatively easy to stop because patients were often severely ill and easily identified.

Mild cases - which could be mistaken for any other winter bug - are naturally harder to spot.

What we don't know is how easily people with mild symptoms can spread the new coronavirus.

If mild cases are capable of sustaining this epidemic, then it will be much harder to contain.

It is also worth remembering we still do not know the true number of cases, with some analysts saying there could be 10 times more than official figures suggest.

What's the situation in Hong Kong?

The semi-autonomous Chinese territory said the mandatory quarantine on anyone entering from the mainland was intended to reduce the spread of the disease.

Tens of thousands of people usually travel from mainland China to Hong Kong every day, although that number fell in recent weeks after the territory closed many of its border points.

This week, thousands of medical workers have been on strike, calling for the border to be fully closed.

Hong Kong authorities said about 11,000 mainland visitors entered the territory on Thursday, up from 8,760 the day before.

What's happening in mainland China?

There has been widespread anger and grief across China over the death of a doctor who tried to warn about the new coronavirus.

Li Wenliang died after contracting the virus while treating patients in Wuhan - the city in Hubei province that is at the epicentre of the outbreak.

In December he sent a message to fellow medics warning of a virus he thought looked like Sars - another deadly coronavirus. But he was told by police to "stop making false comments" and was investigated for "spreading rumours".

China's anti-corruption body said it would open an investigation into "issues involving Dr Li".

Analysts say it is hard to recall an event in recent years that has triggered as much online grief, rage and mistrust against the Chinese government.

News of Dr Li's death became the top trending topic on Chinese social media, garnering an estimated 1.5bn views.

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China's leadership had already faced accusations of downplaying the severity of the virus - and initially trying to keep it secret.

The government has admitted "shortcomings and deficiencies" in its response to the virus, which has now killed 636 people and infected 31,198 in mainland China.

What is the latest on the coronavirus?

• Cruise company Royal Caribbean Cruises says it is banning guests holding Chinese, Hong Kong or Macau passports from boarding its ships. The company has delayed the sailing of its ship Anthem of the Seas from New Jersey after four guests were taken to hospital and tested for coronavirus. The results of the tests are due on Saturday, the company said.
• Uganda's health ministry has placed more than 100 people in quarantine as a preventative measure against the possible spread of coronavirus
• A third person in the UK has tested positive for the virus, and is believed to have caught it in Singapore
• Singapore has raised its Disease Outbreak Response System Condition (Dorscon) level from yellow to orange. This means that the disease is deemed severe and spreads easily from person to person but has not spread widely and is being contained
• Equatorial Guinea's president has said the oil-rich country will donate $2m (£1.5m) to aid its "sister nation" China. This is despite the fact that China boasts the world's second-biggest economy

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Meanwhile, Chinese President Xi Jinping has told his US counterpart Donald Trump that China is "fully confident and capable of defeating the epidemic". The country has introduced more restrictive measures to try to control the outbreak:

• The capital Beijing has banned group dining for events such as birthdays. Cities including Hangzhou and Nanchang are limiting how many family members can leave home each day
• Hubei province has switched off lifts in high-rise buildings to discourage residents from going outside.

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2020-02-07 17:47:47Z
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On Cruise Ship Quarantined In Japan, Any New Cases Would Reset The Isolation Clock - NPR

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Officers wear protective gear as they work to remove people who tested positive for coronavirus from the cruise ship Diamond Princess. The ship is sitting at Daikoku Pier Cruise Terminal in Yokohama, south of Tokyo, on a 14-day quarantine. Kim Kyung Hoon/Reuters hide caption

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Kim Kyung Hoon/Reuters

People who are quarantined aboard the Diamond Princess in Japan have been wondering how long their isolation would last. On Friday, a health official gave an answer they might not like: the quarantine will be extended every time a new case of the Wuhan coronavirus is confirmed on the ship.

The coronavirus quarantine that has kept some 3,700 people aboard the cruise ship is currently set to expire on Feb. 19 – but that date would be reset if any new samples from people on the ship test positive for the virus, Dr. Michael Ryan, executive director of WHO's Health Emergencies Program, said Friday.

An additional 41 cases were confirmed early Friday, bringing the total among passengers and crew to 61. Those samples were part of the initial screening — meaning those confirmations don't require a new 14-day quarantine to begin.

"The Japanese Ministry of Health has confirmed this is the last batch to be tested and the quarantine end date will be February 19, unless there are any other unforeseen developments," Princess Cruises said.

But that also means if anyone else on the ship becomes ill with the respiratory virus dubbed 2019-nCoV, passengers would face an even longer period of isolation. Another reason for uncertainty is the size of the group that was tested: Japan's health ministry took samples from just 273 people who were deemed to be in an at-risk group, based on their recent travels.

"I've been very relaxed," Philip Courter of Florida said of the quarantine's early days, in an phone interview with NPR's Rebecca Davis. But he added that he's now starting to get nervous: "If more and more and more people are getting sick on this ship, what are we doing here? This is crazy."

If the cruise ship were a country, it could already claim the second-highest number of coronavirus cases outside of mainland China. Now passengers are hoping no new cases emerge.

"It is difficult for people who get caught up in that situation, because they are confined," the WHO's Ryan said at a Friday news conference. While the quarantined passengers' physical health is at risk, he said their mental health should also be supported.

"It's quite scary — very, very scary — to be in that situation," Ryan said.

The WHO is now working with Japanese officials to devise a way to organize the passengers into cohorts, Ryan said. The idea is in smaller groups, fewer people would be affected when a new patient is identified.

"Because at the moment, every time there's a new case, the quarantine extends 14 days" for everyone on the ship, Ryan said. "So we need to find a way to break that vicious cycle" and get people off the ship as quickly as possible after they're cleared by health screenings. But he cautioned, "There's a lot to work out."

The WHO position adds new clarity to circumstances aboard the cruise ship, which is docked at Japan's Yokohama port.

On the ship, passengers — including some who had already spent two weeks aboard the vessel before the quarantine doubled their stay — are told not to leave their rooms. They visit the deck in shifts, for a rare breath of fresh air.

"My concerns are what happens next," passenger Aun Na Tan of Australia, told NPR's Rebecca Davis via text message. "We don't have a clear plan of what is going to happen," she added, citing the risk of new cases.

View this post on Instagram

We made it outside late afternoon for our deck time! #diamondprincesscruise #quarantine

A post shared by Aun Na Tan (@happy_girls_r_the_prettiest) on Feb 7, 2020 at 5:38am PST

Tan, who has been posting messages to social media about her experience on the cruise ship, was on a trip along with her husband, daughter and one of her two sons when their vacation was unexpectedly extended by the quarantine.

Despite her worries about how long her family will have to wait before they can leave the ship and resume their normal lives in Melbourne, Tan said she doesn't have any complaints about the way they're being treated during the quarantine.

"I'm not worried about our quarantine on board," she wrote, adding that with care of the crew, "we are in good hands here."

Still, Tan and other passengers hinted at some frustration about the lingering chance that the quarantine could be extended.

At least 10 Americans are among the people who have tested positive for the coronavirus, which is now blamed for more than 630 deaths in China. The patients have been taken to local hospitals. Most of them are from Japan, but some are from Canada, Australia and other countries.

To detect any new cases aboard the ship, the crew has distributed thermometers to passengers so they can monitor themselves. To ease the strain of prolonged isolation, Princess Cruises says it has been providing complimentary Internet and phone service, to let passengers stay in touch with loved ones. It has also expanded its TV and movie options — and it says the ship's activities staff is bringing games, puzzles and other distractions to passengers' rooms.

Tan and her family were able to get some fresh air on Friday afternoon, after spending all of Wednesday and Thursday in their room. Because they're in an inner room, she said, they got to visit the outdoors before their fellow passengers whose outer rooms have windows looking out onto the sea.

"This is the first time we have been out since quarantine started on Tuesday night," she said.

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A cabin of the cruise ship Diamond Princess, where passengers are being quarantined due to coronavirus fears, is seen in Yokohama, Japan, earlier this week. Sawyer Smith/via Reuters hide caption

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Sawyer Smith/via Reuters

Tan's family joined about 50 other people — all of them passengers in odd-numbered rooms in the inner tier on her floor.

"It was kinda strange being outside," she said. And definitely was great enjoying the fresh air. Being inside without windows, you lose track of time."

Passengers are asked to follow several rules when they visit the deck, Tan said.

"We were asked to wear masks and gloves, not to come closer than 1m (about 3 feet) to anyone else. To wash our hands with soap and water when we return to our room."

Each group gets 90 minutes outside, and there's a 30-minute gap between them. The last passengers come in at 7:30 p.m., she said.

Because of the large number of people and the need for them to visit the deck in shifts, some of her fellow passengers still hadn't visited the outdoors by late Friday, Tan said.

As for how her family is coping with being confined to a windowless room for days on end, Tan said they're "pretty close" and can share space. Plus, she said, "My kids are happy to just put on headphones to zone us out lol."

NPR's Rebecca Davis and Jane Greenhalgh contributed to this report.

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2020-02-07 20:24:00Z
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Vladimir Putin enjoys a drink during hockey match with Belarus' president - Fox News

Vladimir Putin has hit the ice hockey rink again – this time, with a captain’s “C” emblazoned on his jersey.

The Russian leader played an exhibition game Friday in Sochi with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko during a break in economic talks between the two former Soviet countries.

Putin made headlines last year for scoring eight goals in a game and falling onto the ice while waving to fans.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko take a break during an exhibition match in Sochi, Russia, on Friday. (Reuters)

SOCIAL MEDIA FRENZY AFTER PUTIN TAKES SPILL DURING HOCKEY GAME

In this contest though, he appeared more relaxed, as one photograph shows the strongman holding a coffee cup while sitting on the bench. Lukashenko, next to him and with no “C” on his jersey, appears to be grooming his mustache.

Both leaders long have practiced the sport, and played several times together in recent years.

Putin is known for participating in photo ops to promote his image, ranging from riding a horse while topless to practicing judo.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko hit the rink in Sochi. (Reuters)

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The economic talks come after Lukashenko accused the Kremlin of flouting Russian commitments for energy supplies while trying to strong-arm him into a closer alliance. Some in Belarus fear that the Russian leader could be eyeing a full merger of the two nations in order to extend his rule.

The Kremlin has argued that Belarus, which relies on Russia for most of its energy needs, should accept greater economic integration if it wants to continue receiving Russian resources at subsidized prices.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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2020-02-07 19:50:30Z
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Coronavirus outbreak: Passengers stranded on Japan cruise plead for help from Trump, say situation is 'desp... - Fox News

Passengers Milena Basso and her husband Gaetano Cerullo are calling for help from President Trump after being trapped on a Diamond Princess cruise ship off the coast of Japan with at least 61 positive cases of coronavirus.

The newlyweds -- on their honeymoon -- are two of more than 2,000 passengers who have been held on the ship since Tuesday.

Appearing on "America's Newsroom" with host Ed Henry, the couple said that while their physical health is "pretty good," mentally they are "not so great."

FOX NEWS' TODD PIRO REPORTS FROM NEW JERSEY AS CRUISE PASSENGERS ARRIVE TO BE TESTED FOR CORONAVIRUS

Additionally, the pair told Henry they were disheartened to learn that updates were coming faster from their parents and news outlets than from those on the ship itself.

"So, basically, I know what's going on before they even tell us from our parents at home...and, they update us but it's always been very lagged," said Cerullo.

"It's been vague up until maybe today -- not, like, thorough as it should be. So, we were a little concerned about that," Basso interjected.

The two reported they were already experiencing trouble getting food and water on the ship, which Basso guestimated produces around 22,000 meals per day and has five dining halls.

"I don't know how many people have been on a cruise, but you can eat a lot of food pretty fast. Once the quarantine happened, what we could eat basically went downhill," said Cerullo.

"The first day when we asked for two bottles of water it took four hours and the next day we got two cups," he added.

The cruise ship Diamond Princess is anchored at Yokohama Port for supplies replenished in Yokohama, south of Tokyo, Thursday, Feb. 6, 2020. The 3,700 people on board faced a two-week quarantine in their cabins. Health workers said 10 more people from the Diamond Princess were confirmed sickened with the virus, in addition to 10 others who tested positive on Wednesday. The 10 will be dropped off as the ship docks and transferred to nearby hospitals for further test and treatment. (Kenzaburo Fukuhara/Kyodo News via AP)

The infections on the Diamond Princess reportedly originated from one passenger who got on the ship in Yokohama on Jan. 20 and disembarked in Hong Kong on Jan. 25, according to the cruise line statement. Princess Cruises said he didn't visit the ship's medical center to report any symptoms or illness.

Officials began screening guests on Monday with what the couple said was an ear thermometer without a disposable tip.

The Diamond Princess ship is part of the Princess Cruises line, which is owned by British-American Carnival Corporation.

"Guests will continue to be provided complimentary internet and telephone to use in order to stay in contact with their family and loved ones, and the ship’s crew is working to keep all guests comfortable, a Wednesday statement read.

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There are 31,427 cases of coronavirus over 25 countries worldwide. There have been at least 638 deaths recorded.

"We are kind of worried because we've still got two weeks on here assuming that works out in our favor and we still have to get onto American soil," Cerullo explained. "And, if Donald Trump could help us in any way..."

"We need help. We are in a desperate, desperate state," Basso pleaded.

Fox News' David Aaro contributed to this report.

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2020-02-07 16:50:56Z
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Rare Public Anger in China After Silenced Doctor Who Warned of Coronavirus Dies of the Virus - Slate

A photo of the late ophthalmologist Li Wenliang is seen with flower bouquets at the Houhu Branch of Wuhan Central Hospital in Wuhan in China’s central Hubei province on Feb. 7, 2020.

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The Chinese doctor in Wuhan who tried to sound the alarm in the early stages of what would soon become the coronavirus outbreak died Friday from the virus. The 34-year-old ophthalmologist Li Wenliang tried to raise concerns around the new year about what was then an unidentified virus. On Dec. 30, Li described to medical school classmates in an online chatroom that what he was seeing in the capital of Hubei Province resembled Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (or SARS). The Chinese state apparatus quickly intervened. Li was interrogated by both medical authorities and police before being forced to sign a statement disavowing his early warning of the deadly disease as an “illegal rumor.” Soon, however, thousands of residents in Wuhan had contracted the virus that has now spread around the world claiming hundreds of lives so far, including Dr. Li, who contracted the disease from a glaucoma patient he was treating.

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In China, Li is being referred to as a whistleblower. Most places he would just be referred to as a doctor. It’s a maddening story of censorship and propaganda, one that shows the global impact that China’s stifling approach to hard truths can and will have on us all. For years, economic opening and technological advance have been seen as potential drivers of systemic political change in China, but in many ways its worked the other way around. The expansion of Chinese economic influence buoyed by technology has effectively exported its values of secrecy in the name of stability. You need not look farther than the hushed responses across the West to the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong and China’s chilling treatment of the Uighurs. That silence you heard from the NBA, from Donald Trump, from the once-vocal corners of the globe, was the sound of punches getting pulled, values getting quietly shelved, reality rearranged. But what the last month has shown is the silver bullet to propaganda everywhere is going to be something far less hopeful—disease. The threat of pandemic requires experts and truth, honest and principled leadership. Without it, alternative sources of power well up. Technological authoritarianism and craven populism might be effective in placating the masses, wherever they reside, dividing by confusion and convenience, obfuscation and fear, but when you tell people it’s safe for their kids to go outside and you know it’s not, something changes in people, the stakes change.

The Chinese government has largely held its line, taking down unharmonious feelings of anger and anguish, and pushing out numbing statements. “[Li] had the misfortune to be infected during the fight against the novel coronavirus pneumonia epidemic, and all-out efforts to save him failed,” the Wuhan City Central Hospital announced on Weibo. “We express our deep regret and condolences.” But there have been rare outbursts of public anger about Li’s death and China’s treatment of the truth. “Dr. Li’s death appeared unlikely to inspire protests in Wuhan, which has been under lockdown for just over two weeks in an unprecedented effort to extinguish the epidemic,” the New York Times reports. “In Wuhan and other heavily restricted areas of Hubei, residents mostly stay inside their homes and avoid socializing for fear of catching the virus.”

The result? “The Chinese public have staged what amounts to an online revolt after the death of [Li Wenliang] who tried to warn of a mysterious virus that has since killed hundreds of people in China, infected tens of thousands and forced the government to corral many of the country’s 1.4 billion people,” the Times reports. “Since late Thursday, people from different backgrounds, including government officials, prominent business figures and ordinary online users, have posted numerous messages expressing their grief at the doctor’s death and their anger over his silencing by the police after sharing his knowledge about the new coronavirus. It has prompted a nationwide soul-searching under an authoritarian government that allows for little dissent.”

Here are some examples from the Times of the extraordinary dissent being voiced largely online:

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• “Refusing to listen to your ‘whistling,’ your country has stopped ticking, and your heart has stopped beating,” Hong Bing, the Shanghai bureau chief of the Communist Party’s official newspaper, People’s Daily, wrote on her timeline on WeChat, an instant-messaging platform. “How big a price do we have to pay to make you and your whistling sound louder, to reach every corner of the East?”

• Both the Chinese- and English-language Twitter accounts of People’s Daily tweeted that Mr. Li’s death had prompted “national grief.” Both accounts deleted those messages before replacing them with more neutral, official-sounding posts.

• The Weibo account of Shandong Province’s law enforcement body posted a portrait of Mr. Li with two sentences that have been circulating online: “Heroes don’t fall from the sky. They’re just ordinary people who stepped forward.”

• “It’s time to reflect on the deeply-rooted, stability-trumps-everything thinking that’s hurt everyone,” Wang Ran, chairman of the investment bank CEC Capital, wrote on Weibo. “We all want stability,” he asked. “Will you be more stable if you cover the others’ mouths while walking on a tightrope?

Pandemic, it turns out, may be a great leveler, the alarm clock awakening us from our slide into an authoritarian doze—and not just in China.

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2020-02-07 15:39:00Z
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