Flight diverted to March Air Reserve Base in Riverside County
A flight carrying government employees evacuated from the U.S. Consulate in the Chinese city of Wuhan amid a coronavirus outbreak will land at March Air Reserve Base in Riverside County instead of Ontario International Airport, officials announced Tuesday night.
Curt Hagman, chairman of the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors, said in a video news release that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told local officials that the flight will be diverted to the base “for the logistics that they have.”
‘There’s no one here’: In Beijing, shops, restaurants that cater to tourists are quiet
The east gate to the Forbidden City in Beijing is usually bustling with visitors. But on Monday, with the former imperial palace closed indefinitely because of the coronavirus, only a few people in protective masks strolled beside the frozen moats.
Restaurants and souvenir shops that cater to tourists were empty.
“There’s no one here,” said an employee at a shop that features Chinese-style children’s outfits, cigarettes, sodas and plates emblazoned with images of Chinese leaders Mao Tse-tung and Xi Jinping.
The woman, who would not give her name, was philosophical about the disruption.
“There’s nothing we can do,” she said. “Anyway, the people’s safety is the most important thing.”
Down the street at Beijing Specialties, which sells sesame cakes, fruit-filled pastries and other local treats, Ruan Chuan said his shop is usually so busy that he doesn’t have time to eat lunch.
“We’ll see how long it lasts,” Ruan said. “If it’s a long time, it could really affect us.”
During the Lunar New Year holiday, many Beijingers leave town while those from other parts of China use the time off from work to visit the capital city.
Beijing’s major historical attractions, from the Summer Palace to parts of the Great Wall, are closed as a precaution to keep the virus from spreading, though only a handful of confirmed cases have been announced in the city.
At subway stations, workers in white protective suits held thermometers up to passengers’ foreheads as part of a mass screening effort. A woman’s voice on a loudspeaker ordered people to wear masks while taking public transportation.
The Beijing city government has said that people returning from the outbreak’s epicenter should confine themselves at home for two weeks.
Confirmed deaths and cases of the coronavirus around the world
Daily graph of the spread of coronavirus cases around the world
The coronavirus from China is new, and that makes everything dicier
The coronavirus sweeping through China and spreading across the globe has health authorities on high alert. It’s not just because the virus has infected more than 1,975 people, killed 56 and forced millions to be quarantined. It’s also because this particular virus has never been seen before.
Any time a “novel” virus appears on the scene, things immediately become much more complicated.
Chinese President Xi Jinping calls situation serious as China scrambles to contain virus
BEIJING — As Chinese President Xi Jinping issued a public warning Saturday of “serious” concerns over the deadly coronavirus outbreak, officials in the epicenter of Wuhan scrambled for more beds amid chaos at local hospitals, with the effects rippling across China and beyond.
In Beijing, tourist attractions, including exhibitions at the Summer Palace and parts of the Great Wall, were closed indefinitely. Ice skating rinks popular with locals were also shut down.
In New York City’s Chinatown, residents and doctors brace for coronavirus’ arrival
NEW YORK — In the city with the largest population of ethnic Chinese outside of Asia, the Year of the Rat is being ushered in with a brisk trade in jade trinkets, steamed New Year cakes and N95 protective masks.
On the eve of celebrations marking the start of the Lunar New Year, the medical-grade face masks have been selling briskly at Canal Pharmacy in Chinatown, said pharmacy technician Elena Zheng. Outside, Lien Chu and Ha Tran were anxious to get in and buy some before they were gone. They were making do with improvised face masks.
In Beijing, more surgical masks but business as usual despite coronavirus outbreak
BEIJING — As the coronavirus outbreak in China intensified, with deaths rising and 36 million people under lockdown near the epicenter, it was business as usual more than 700 miles away in the capital, Beijing.
The only signs anything was amiss: More surgical masks than usual obscuring the faces of pedestrians, subway riders and motorcyclists, and, among some, a vague anxiety that things could get worse.
The death toll rose to 41 but the attitude among Beijingers and tourists could be summed up as less than panicky and more of “let’s be ready just in case.” An annoyance tucked into a communal shrug at the unknown.
China locks down cities with 18 million to contain deadly coronavirus
BEIJING — Chinese authorities Thursday moved to lock down at least three cities with a combined population of more than 18 million in an unprecedented effort to contain the deadly new virus that has sickened hundreds of people and spread to other parts of the world during the busy Lunar New Year travel period.
The open-ended lockdowns are unmatched in size, embracing more people than New York City, Los Angeles and Chicago put together.