‘We Are Extremely Scared At This Point’: Tensions Rise As More Quarantined Cruises Passengers Test Positive

The New York Times: As Virus Cases Rise On Quarantined Cruise Ship, Passengers Are On Edge
As the Diamond Princess cruise ship steamed back into port in Yokohama, Japan, on Sunday morning after a night of quarantine at sea, passengers lucky enough to have windows and balconies could see fire trucks and 15 ambulances waiting for the ship. It was an unnerving sign for the nearly 3,700 people who had been confined for six days on the ship, which has become host to the highest concentration of coronavirus cases outside China. (Rich and Yamamitsu, 2/9)

The Wall Street Journal: On A Coronavirus Cruise, A Knock On The Door: ‘You Tested Positive’
Rebecca and Kent Frasure were sitting down to breakfast Friday morning when a stream of ambulances pulled up beside the cruise ship docked at the Yokohama port where they were quarantined for two weeks because of the novel coronavirus. “Oh, there must be more people,” Mr. Frasure remembers telling his wife. The couple from Forest Grove, Ore., had watched twice previously that week from the balcony of their room on the Diamond Princess as ambulances spirited away people who had tested positive for the virus. (Bhattacharya, 2/9)

ABC News: 23 Americans Aboard Cruise Ship In Japan Contract Novel Coronavirus, As Global Death Toll Rises To 910
U.S. citizen Rebecca Frasure has been in the isolation ward of a Tokyo hospital since Friday. Frasure and her husband were supposed to be enjoying themselves on a cruise around Asia, but she’s now among the 135 people aboard the Diamond Princess who have tested positive for the novel coronavirus. “I haven’t seen the outside of my room since I got here,” Frasure told ABC News in a telephone interview from her hospital room on Monday. “Just never think that something like this is going to happen when you’re just on vacation, living life. So, yeah, it was pretty shocking.” (Winsor, 2/10)

Stat: WHO: Coronavirus Transmission Outside Of China Could Increase
The World Health Organization’s director-general cautioned Saturday that transmission of the new coronavirus outside of China may increase and countries should prepare for that possibility.“It’s slow now, but it may accelerate,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said during a press conference in Geneva. “So while it’s still slow there is a window of opportunity that we should use to the maximum in order to have a better outcome, and further decrease the progress and stop it.” Tedros’s warning came after health authorities in Singapore announced they had diagnosed the infection in a man with no travel history to China and no known link to other cases in Singapore. (Branswell, 2/8)

The Associated Press: ‘We’re Definitely Not Prepared’: Africa Braces For New Virus
At a Chinese-run hospital in Zambia, some employees watched as people who recently returned from China showed up with coughs but were not placed in isolation. A doctor tending to those patients has stopped coming to work, and health workers have been ordered not to speak publicly about the new virus that has killed hundreds around the world. The virus that has spread through much of China has yet to be confirmed in Africa, but global health authorities are increasingly worried about the threat to the continent where an estimated 1 million Chinese now live, as some health workers on the ground warn they are not ready to handle an outbreak. (Kang, Sichalwe and Anna, 2/8)

The Wall Street Journal: North Korea Deepens Isolation Amid Virus Threat
The challenge to contain the coronavirus looks particularly daunting in North Korea, one of the world’s poorest and most isolated countries. North Korea was among the first countries last month to block the entry of foreign tourists, which come mostly from neighboring China, the source of the outbreak. It has since cut off trade with China, its main economic benefactor and ally and limited diplomatic travel, according to North Korean state media and diplomats. The country hasn’t reported any cases of the deadly coronavirus. (Martin, 2/10)

CNN: The Coronavirus Is Already Hurting The World Economy. Here’s Why It Could Get Really Scary
China has become an indispensable part of global business since the 2003 SARS outbreak. It’s grown into the world’s factory, churning out products such as the iPhone and driving demand for commodities like oil and copper. The country also boasts hundreds of millions of wealthy consumers who spend big on luxury products, tourism and cars. China’s economy accounted for roughly 4% of world GDP in 2003; it now makes up 16% of global output.SARS sickened 8,098 people and killed 774 before it was contained. The new coronavirus, which originated in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, has already killed more than 900 people and infected over 40,000 across at least 25 countries and territories. Chinese officials have locked down Wuhan and several other cities, but the virus continues to spread. SARS didn’t sink markets, but coronavirus might. (Riley and Horowitz, 2/10)

Bloomberg: ‘Nightmare’ for Global Tech: Virus Fallout Is Just Beginning
As Chinese-based manufacturers begin to restart factories Monday, no one knows for sure when they’ll be back at full-speed — or what sort of chaos may ensue. Tech producers led by Foxconn, which makes the majority of the world’s iPhones from Zhengzhou a few hundred miles from the coronavirus outbreak’s epicenter, had begun preparing investors for the potential bedlam when hundreds of thousands make their way back to factories. Apple Inc.’s most important partner warned investors of the daunting task of securing enough workers despite widespread transport blockades, quarantining thousands, and the “nightmare” scenario of an on-campus epidemic that could shut down production altogether. Last week, it took the unprecedented step of warning workers to stay away from its Shenzhen headquarters till further notice as government inspectors vet its containment procedures, Bloomberg News reported. (Wu and Gao, 2/9)

Bloomberg: Singapore Braces As Coronavirus Cases Emerge In Finance Hub
Singapore’s coronavirus outbreak has spread to its financial center, with some staff at major companies being told to work from home for at least the next few days and temperature screening checkpoints set up at the front doors of several towers. A worker at an unnamed firm in Marina Bay Financial Centre Tower 1 has been confirmed as being infected with the virus over the weekend, according to a circular to tenants by the building’s manager Raffles Quay Asset Management Pte. Another case at nearby Clifford Centre, in the heart of the central business district, is an employee of United Industrial Corp, according to an advisory to tenants in the building where UIC is located. (Chanjaroen, Mokhtar and Chia, 2/10)

The Wall Street Journal: Map: Tracking The Wuhan Coronavirus
The coronavirus in two months has sickened thousands in China and reached more than two dozen countries. (Wu, Wang and Moriarty, 2/9)