Coronavirus Outbreak LIVE: India to Examine Villages Along Nepal for Infection; China Goes Online

Australia to Evacuate 200 Citizens From Japan Ship | Australia will evacuate more than 200 of its citizens onboard a coronavirus-stricken cruise ship being held under quarantine in the Japanese port of Yokohama, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Monday, reported Reuters. Morrison said the passengers will depart on Wednesday and will be taken to Australia's tropical north, where they will be required to be quarantined for another 14 days.

James Bond Film's China Premiere Cancelled | The Beijing premiere and a tour of other cities in China for the upcoming James Bond film, "No Time To Die", has been called off due to the coronavirus outbreak, reports PTI. According to Deadline, movie's lead star Daniel Craig and other cast members won't attend the April screening or the subsequent publicity tour of the country.

Gold Prices Hold 2-Week High | Gold prices on Monday held near a two-week high scaled in the previous session amid uncertainty over the impact of the coronavirus outbreak on the global economy. Spot gold was little changed at $1,582.83 per ounce as of 10:23am on Monday(IST), having touched its highest since February 3 at $1,584.65 on Friday. US gold futures were steady at $1,585.90.

China Sets Up Shops Online | As many areas of China become 'ghost towns' after the coronavirus outbreak in the country, people have set up their businesses online, on Taobao, a popular e-commerce platform run by Alibaba, reports Chinese media house Global Times. As more than 30,000 people open new stores on the platform, the number of new online stores opened rose by 22 per cent last week. 

Over 30,000 people each day sets up new stores on #Taobao since February 1, and the number of new stores rose 22% last week, with Guangdong, Zhejiang, and Jiangsu Province grabbing the top three spot: Alibabahttps://t.co/yGlPwUDgU5 pic.twitter.com/AlBOxUnLD0

— Global Times (@globaltimesnews) February 17, 2020

China's Auto Sales Might Fall by 10% | China's auto market, the world's largest, is likely to see sales slide more than 10% in the first half of the year due to the coronavirus epidemic, reports Reuters. "We predict auto sales will drop by more than 10% in the first half of this year, and around 5% for the whole year if the epidemic is effectively contained before April," Fu Bingfeng, executive vice chairman of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) said.

Bangladesh's Crab Industry Feels the Pinch | Thousands of tons of Bangladesh crabs earmarked for Chinese dining tables are being left to rot because the coronavirus has halted exports, reports AFP. The Bangladesh crab industry -- which involves some 500,000 mostly poor farmers -- is facing its worst-ever crisis as some 90 percent of all crabs from the USD 30-million market are exported to China. (Image: Reuters/Rafiquar Rahman)

Taiwan Adopts Dog Mascot for Virus | While China deploys stern slogans in its battle against a deadly new coronavirus, Taiwan has embraced cuddly mascots and humour to ease public anxiety and educate on best practices, reports AFP. The health ministry has deployed a cartoon "spokesdog" -- a Shiba Inu called Zongchai -- that has proved a hit with hashtags of his name and posts going viral. (Image: Bangkok Post)

Animal Markets in China Will Persist | For the past two weeks China's police has arrested nearly 700 people for breaking the temporary ban on catching, selling or eating wild animals, reports Reuters. The crackdown has netted almost 40,000 animals including squirrels, weasels and boars. Traders legally selling donkey, dog, deer, crocodile and other meat said they plan to get back to business as soon as the markets reopen. (Image: Reuters/David Gray)

An Organ-by-Organ Guide on How Coronavirus Affects Us | The virus, which has killed more then 1,700 in the matter of a month, has complex ways of affecting the human body, reports National Geographic. From the lungs, to the heart and the blood, this study combines earlier researches on similar outbreaks to know how coronavirus affects us.  

From blood storms to honeycomb lungs, here’s an organ-by-organ look at how COVID-19 harms humans https://t.co/YKyZgqEdwF

— National Geographic (@NatGeo) February 17, 2020

People Fight to Buy Meat in Wuhan | In a video released by Reuters, people can be seen jostling to buy meat at a supermarket in Wuhan, located in the Hubei province of China. As the city remains blocked due to the outbreak of novel coronavirus, people in panic are shopping and stocking their homes with supplies, despite assurances by the Chinese government that supplies remain steady. 

Cats in China Wear Masks | As the coronavirus outbreak gets worse, social media is abuzz with people sharing photos of their pet cats also wearing mouth masks to be sheltered from the disease. Pictures of the cats show a human-sized mouth mask on cats, with two tiny holes cut out for the eyes, to protect them from the disease, News18.com reports. Read more here.

A cat wearing face mask in #China amid #WuhanCoronavirus outbreak. pic.twitter.com/ZU3H3KTLAw

— W. B. Yeats (@WBYeats1865) February 10, 2020

Company Scrambles to Track Cambodia Cruise Ship Passengers | Holland America Line said it is working with governments and health experts to track passengers who disembarked from its Westerdam cruise ship docked in Cambodia after an American woman tested positive for coronavirus in Malaysia. The cruise line, which is owned by cruise giant Carnival Corp, said none of the other 1,454 passengers and 802 crew have reported any symptoms, reported Reuters. 

Robbers Steal Toilet Rolls in Hong Kong | Armed robbers who stole hundreds of toilet rolls were being hunted by Hong Kong police on Monday, in a city wracked by shortages caused by coronavirus panic-buying. Toilet rolls have become hot property in the densely packed business hub, despite government assurances that supplies remain unaffected by the virus outbreak. Supermarkets have found themselves unable to restock quickly enough.

Govt to Examine Villages Bordering Nepal for Coronavirus | Teams have been constituted by the Union Health Ministry, for examination of villages bordering Nepal for coronavirus, reported All India Radio. Villages that bordering Nepal in the states of Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Sikkim and West Bengal will be inspected. They will be made aware about the disease and its precautionary measures. Five teams of doctors from the National Centre for Disease Control, Safdarjung Hospital, Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, and others, have been set up.

Govt sets up teams to examine villages bordering Nepal for novel #coronavirus infection. https://t.co/b4H9eCRC4C

— All India Radio News (@airnewsalerts) February 17, 2020

Japanese Manufacturers Gloomy | Worries about the spread of the coronavirus and its hit to the global economy kept Japanese manufacturers' mood gloomy in February, a Reuters poll found, even as firms shook off previous worries about the impact of the Sino-U.S. trade war. The monthly poll, which tracks the Bank of Japan's key tankan quarterly survey, found business confidence across the sectors weak over the next 3 months, as the coronavirus added to uncertainty over the global outlook and the October national sales tax hike.

'Contactless' food pick-ups by McDonalds, Starbucks | With the coronavirus outbreak in China continuing to spread, McDonald's, Starbucks and other fast-food companies are ramping up "contactless" pickup and delivery services to keep their workers and customers safe, the companies said, reported Reuters. Customers order remotely, on mobile phones or by computers in store, and employees seal the meals in bags and put them in a special spot for pickup without human contact, McDonald's says.(Image: Reuters/Carlos Garcia Rawlins)

India Will Soon Send Medical Supplies to China | The Indian Ambassador to China Vikram Misri expressed his solidarity with China, and its fight against the novel coronavirus. He also said that India, in its effort to assist in the crisis, will soon send medical supplies to China.

Ambassador @VikramMisri expresses his solidarity with the Chinese people and the government in the fight against #NovelCoronavirus epidemic. As a concrete step to tackle the outbreak, India will soon send a consignment of medical supplies to China. (1/3)@MEAIndia @DrSJaishankar pic.twitter.com/SKd441BubH

— India in China (@EOIBeijing) February 16, 2020

US Evacuation Efforts |  A bus believed to carry the US passengers of the quarantined cruise ship Diamond Princess, leaves the Daikoku Pier Cruise Terminal in Yokohama, south of Tokyo in Japan. (Reuters/Athit Perawongmetha)

First Death Occurs in Taiwan | Taiwan reported its first death from the new coronavirus Sunday, as the death toll from the outbreak rose to 1,665 inside mainland China, reported AFP. A 61-year-old man from central Taiwan with underlying health problems but no recent overseas travel history died in hospital on Saturday after testing positive for the virus, officials confirmed.

Malaysia Says it Correctly Diagnosed American from Westerdam | Malaysia insisted on Sunday that it had correctly diagnosed coronavirus in an elderly American woman from the Westerdam cruise ship despite all passengers having been given a clean bill of health when they disembarked in Cambodia, reported PTI. The vessel was at sea for two weeks and barred from Japan, Guam, the Philippines, Taiwan and Thailand over fears it might be carrying the virus which originated in China and has killed more than 1,600 people.

Germans Released from Quarantine | Over a hundred German nationals were Sunday released from quarantine at a military base near Frankfurt airport, two weeks after flying in from the Chinese city of Wuhan, epicentre of the deadly coronavirus outbreak, reported PTI. "All the people concerned have been allowed to leave the quarantine zone and rejoin their families," secretary of state for health Thomas Gebhart told a press conference.

Infected US Citizens Won't be Evacuated | A US official has said that those Americans infected with the novel coronavirus on the quarantined cruise ship 'Diamond Princess' moored off the coast of Japan, "aren't going anywhere". While stating that 40 US citizens had been infected on the ship, Anthony Fauci, a senior official at the National Institutes for Health said that those infected, or even showing symptoms of having COVID-19, will not be a part of rescue operations, and would instead be treated at hospitals in Japan.

Coronavirus Death Toll Passes 1,700 | The death toll from China's new coronavirus epidemic reached 1,770 on Monday after 100 more people died in the hard-hit Hubei province, the epicentre of the outbreak. In its daily update, the province's health commission also reported 1,933 new cases. At least 70,400 people have now been infected nationwide.