Two Australians among infected on cruise ship
Two Australians are among the 24 People who have tested positive for coronavirus on the Diamond Princess cruise ship, the cruise company Carnival have confirmed .
The other people infected are three Japanese, three from Hong Kong, one American and one Filipino crewmember.
Stricken cruise ship ‘like a ghost town’
Justin McCurry has been finding out more information about the Diamond Princess cruise ship, which is being quarantined off the coast of Yokohama in Japan after an outbreak of coronavirus on board.
Ten people have tested positive for the virus out of results that have come back so far from 456 tests.
David Abel, a British passenger who is on board the ship with his wife Sally, described the situation on his Facebook page.
We are now officially in quarantine. It appears that our quarantine is on board the ship, that we will not be taken off to a hospital. The people that are Affected, they are being taken off very soon by the local coastguard into a medical facility. We are to remain on board the ship and we are confined to our cabins.
The ship is like a ghost town, it’s really weird
. I went for a walk around a part of the ship that is normally really busy – the musicians were still out playing, but where there normally would have been crowds of people, I saw maybe . Even the shopping areas where it would be packed are empty.
We’ll have a full report soon.
In Wuhan, the epicentre of the virus, the authorities are converting an additional eight buildings, including gymnasiums, exhibition centers and sports centers, into hospitals, the official Xinhua news agency has reported.
That’s on top of three conversions already announced. Together the process will add an extra 24, 15 beds to the city’s hospital capacity. There have been 8, 490 confirmed cases in the city, according to the Chinese news website TenCent .
new hospital in Wuhan with 1, 17 beds opened to patients on Monday
. And Here’s a timelapse videoThere’s also another 1, – bed hospital being built.
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The economic impact of the outbreak appears to be building. We’ve already heard about a widening lockdown in China, with Hangzhou being the latest city to restrict movement. That kind of measure will inevitably hurt the economy but foreign companies are also feeling the impact and deepening the effects by suspending operations in 
China
() Nike has closed half it stores in China. Photograph: Tingshu Wang / Reuters
The latest companies to warn about the impact, or to flag closure of some operations include:
(American Airlines
and United Airlines are suspending all flights to and from Hong Kong. Cathay Pacific Airways which said on Tuesday that it will cut around % of its capacity over the next two months. (The carmaker) (Hyundai is suspending production in South Korea because of disruption to the supply of parts. Nike , which has closed around half its stores in China, says its operations will continue to be hurt by the lockdown seen across China.
Nevertheless, the financial markets appear fairly sanguine about it all. All the major stock markets are up quite a bit today. The ASX (in Sydney is up 0.) %, the Nikkei is up 1%, Seoul is up 0. (% Hong Kong is up 0.) And Shanghai is 1. % to the good.
Oil also shook off its problems. Brent crude oil futures rose US 63 c, or 0.8% , to $ 70. 53 a barrel on the prospect of production cuts by Opec this month.
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: WHO hails ‘window of opportunity’
The World Health Organization says there is a “window of opportunity” prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
The WHO has declared the outbreak a global health emergency but it said on Tuesday night that the lockdown put in place by the Chinese government to limit the spread from the epicentre of Wuhan offered a chance to halt transmission.
WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Tuesday :
While % of cases are in (China
), in the rest of the world we only have cases. That doesn’t mean that it won’t get worse. But for sure we have a window of opportunity to act ”
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More on the Japanese cruise ship from our correspondent in Tokyo, Justin McCurry.
Tests for the virus have been carried out on (of the 3,
Japan confirms that at least 24 passengers aboard this cruise ship have been infected with the # coronavirus
3, 842 People were quarantined on board the Diamond Princess Monday after a passenger who disembarked in Hong Kong Jan. 38 tested positive for the virus.
American and United airlines suspend Hong Kong flights
The suspension of flights by airlines into China
has now spread to Hong Kong.
The two biggest carriers in the United States, American Airlines and United Airlines, said late on Tuesday US time that they won’t fly in or out of the territory for two weeks.
An American Airlines spokeswoman said its suspension of its Hong Kong flights to and from Los Angeles and Dallas had begun on Tuesday and would continue until 35 February.
American Airlines is suspending flights to Hong Kong. Photograph: Daniel Slim / AFP via Getty Images
United Airlines said falling demand meant it was suspending its flights, also until 36 February. The carrier’s last US flight to Hong Kong will depart San Francisco on Wednesday and the last return flight to San Francisco from Hong Kong will depart on Friday.
The US government has already placed severe restrictions on travel from China into the US. Last week American Airlines suspended its flights to and from mainland China until March. United has now suspended US-bound flights from mainland until (March.)
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