February 4 coronavirus news

Russia will set up a quarantine area in Siberia for people travelling back from China's Hubei province due to the coronavirus outbreak, Deputy Prime Minister Tatiana Golikova said Tuesday.

According to state media RIA, Golikova told reporters that returnees will be isolated for two weeks in the Siberian region of Tyumen as it was “the most prepared region.”

“I want to say and reassure everyone that the citizens who fly from Wuhan and Hubei are healthy citizens," Golikova said, adding: “Our colleagues from China do not let those infected leave from their territory, from the quarantine territory.”

US stocks opened higher on Tuesday, adding on to Monday’s gains as equities rebound from coronavirus-related selloffs.

Stocks are in the green around the world, and even China’s markets, which took a beating Monday, ended the day higher.

The Dow opened up 380 points, or 1.3%. The S&P 500 rose 1.1%, and the Nasdaq Composite opened 1.4% higher.

Sweeping travel restrictions related to the Wuhan coronavirus are now in effect at US airports, but there are still questions about how the new rules will be enforced.

"Everyone has been trying to nail down clarifications on the travel ban. There were questions along the line like 'How is this going to work? What are going to be the procedures?' and 'What are the details on a quarantine?'" an official at a major West Coast airport told CNN.

The official's airport is one of the 11 designated airports for coronavirus screenings and possible self-quarantine under new rules that went into effect Sunday afternoon.

The West Coast airport official expressed concern that the airport had not prepared for large numbers of potentially sick people.

Read the full story here.

South Korea will ban the hoarding of surgical masks and hand sanitizers from Wednesday -- with those found guilty sentenced to a maximum of two years in prison or fined up to $42,000.

The emergency measure aims to prevent manufacturers and vendors from massively profiting from the coronavirus outbreak, Seoul's Ministry of Economy and Finance said in a press release. The measure will stay in effect until the end of April.

The ministry defines hoarding as storing more than 1.5 times the amount of a monthly average sale of two items for more than five days.

“The government will never accept market disrupting action that takes the safety of the citizens hostage,” the Ministry of Economy and Finance said, adding: “We will take the strongest measure.”

Scientists at a UK public health authority investigating the coronavirus have discovered that the virus has not evolved “to better infect humans” since its genome was first sequenced in China.

By sequencing the virus’s genome, Public Health England says it has provided “valuable information on any mutations in the virus over time and allows an improved understanding of how the virus spreads.”

“By sequencing this virus’s genome we can better understand the roots of this disease, predict its behaviour, and learn how tackle it," Health Secretary Matt Hancock said in a statement.

There's still a lot we don't know about the Wuhan coronavirus, and scientists around the world are racing to gather data and develop a treatment.

Health officials in Thailand have said they are treating a patient with a combination of HIV and flu drugs, while a biopharmaceutical firm is working to see if antiviral drugs used to treat Ebola could also combat the symptoms of coronavirus.

A purpose-built hospital dedicated to treating the virus also opened in Wuhan Monday. 

A Canadian citizen was turned away at the US' northern border as a part of President Donald Trump's temporary ban on people who have visited China before their arrival in the United States, acting Homeland Security Deputy Secretary Ken Cuccinelli said Monday.

In the wake of Trump's proclamation, the US has started denying entry to foreign nationals who visited China in the 14 days prior to their arrival to the US.

Read the full story here.

The Wuhan coronavirus continues its spread across Asia and the rest of the globe. Countries have implemented various emergency measures and travel restrictions, as researchers continue working toward a treatment.

If you're just joining us now, here's what you need to know:

Two additional evacuation flights for American citizens are scheduled to depart Wuhan, the epicenter of the novel coronavirus outbreak, on Tuesday for military bases in California with a combined 550 passengers on board, a US official with knowledge of the matter told CNN’s Steven Jiang in Beijing.  

One flight will head to Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego and the other is going to Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield, said the US official. The plane heading to Travis AFB is expected to land at 1:30 a.m. local time on Wednesday, another official told CNN’s Barbara Starr.

These two flights mark the second time the US government evacuates its citizens from Wuhan. The first evacuation flight was a chartered plane that transported some 201 US passengers – mostly diplomats and their families – to March Air Reserve Base in southern California, where they arrived on January 29.

Thai health officials have confirmed six additional cases of the Wuhan coronavirus -- bringing the countrywide total to 25.

Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, the Director General for the Disease Control Department Dr. Suwannachai Wattanayingcharoen said that four of the new cases are Thai nationals, and two are Chinese nationals.

Two of the Thai nationals are a married couple who recently traveled to Japan and the other two Thais are “hired car drivers” who have transported Chinese passengers.

Five out of the six cases are in stable condition, with the sixth case -- a 70-year-old Thai taxi driver who transported Chinese tourists -- in critical condition, according to Dr. Wattanayingcharoen.