WHO says borders should be kept open during coronavirus outbreak
Coronavirus: The latest
- WHO urging countries to keep borders open after emergency declaration.
- Coronavirus death toll hits 213, China says.
- More than 9,800 cases worldwide, most in China’s Hubei province.
- Trudeau says Ottawa talking to China about repatriating Canadians.
- Patient with confirmed case of coronavirus discharged from Toronto hospital.
Borders should be kept open and people and trade flowing in the face of the coronavirus outbreak, although countries have a sovereign right to take measures to try to protect their citizens, the World Health Organization said on Friday.
The WHO, which declared the accelerating outbreak a global emergency on Thursday, voiced fresh concern that the virus could spread undetected in a country with a weak health system.
There is a «huge reason to keep official border crossings open» to avoid people entering irregularly and going unchecked for symptoms, WHO spokesperson Christian Lindmeier told a Geneva briefing.
«If travel restrictions would be imposed we hope they are as short-lived as possible to try to continue the normal flow of life,» he added.
WATCH: CBC News Network interviews Christian Lindmeier on WHO’s handling of the coronavirus
On Friday, the United States issued a ‘do not travel’ warning for China. Canada’s travel guidance remains «avoid all non-essential travel» due to the outbreak, and «avoid all travel» to Hubei Province.
There are nearly 10,000 cases worldwide. Chinese officials say 9,692 of them are in Hubei province at the centre of the epidemic. Officials say 213 people have died, all of them in China.
Canadians in China
At least 196 Canadians have asked Ottawa for help getting out. But China is preventing dual citizens, a status not recognized in China, from leaving.
Wayne Tremblay and his wife, who is a dual citizen, say they are stuck just outside of Wuhan. They travelled to be with her relatives for Lunar New Year. But now he and his wife have agreed he should fly home on the Canadian chartered flight.
«If I can go back, I need to go back and get to work and provide for our family because the other possibility is being away from work and without income for a month, or a month and a half. Nobody really knows,» he told CBC’s Heather Hiscox.
«It’s a very stressful and unhappy decision.»
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reported Friday that Canada is «deliberately engaging» the Chinese authorities around repatriating the Canadians who are concerned for their safety in China.
François-Philippe Champagne, Canada’s minister for foreign affairs, discussed the outbreak with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi.
In a statement, Champagne said Wang reacted «positively» to his request for helping the «Canadian citizens who want to depart the region.»
Global Affairs Canada has authorized a limited departure of staff and dependents. All children of GAC staff who are school aged and younger are permitted to leave along with those who have existing medical conditions, mental health concerns or other vulnerabilities.
Other staff have been given approval to undertake flexible work arrangements, including working remotely, GAC said.
In Canada, officials at a Toronto hospital said Friday that a man who had been diagnosed with coronavirus was released from hospital.
«Over the course of the week, his status continued to improve to the point where he no longer required in-patient care,» Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre said in a statement.
WATCH: Shanghai steps up measures at railway stations to control coronavirus
The virus in China has been centred in Wuhan, in China’s Hubei province. Wuhan’s mayor, Zhou Xianwang, said Friday that health-care workers have an inadequate supply of masks and other medical supplies.
Vaccine possible ‘in a few months’
Germany’s research minister said on Friday she expected a vaccine for coronavirus to be developed within months.
«If we want to contain this illness then it is good if we have a vaccine in a relatively short time and we assume this will be in a few months,» said Research Minister Anja Karliczek.
The announcement came after biopharmaceutical company CureVac AG and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) said they were working together to develop a vaccine against the virus, first detected in China in December.
Read more about what’s happening with coronavirus
- Canada negotiates details of airlift as WHO declares global health emergency over coronavirus
- LISTEN: Why this Canadian man and his family won’t leave Wuhan, despite coronavirus risk
- PHOTOS | Go inside the high-security lab where scientists search for a coronavirus vaccine
