BEIJING / WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Passengers rushed to adjust their flight booking dates and world markets suffered new losses on Thursday after US President Donald Trump imposed sweeping restrictions on travel from Europe, damaging airlines and causing global concern over the Corona virus.
U.S. President Donald Trump talks about the United States’ handling of the Corona virus at the White House in Washington on Wednesday. A picture of Reuters from a news agency representative.
But China, from which the disease originated, said the epidemic had reached its climax and that its global spread could end by June if the rest of the countries applied containment measures such as the Beijing Communist government.
Trump played down the risks the United States faces during the crisis, but with the spread of the virus from Iran to Italy and Spain, he decided to prevent flights from Europe for 30 days.
“This is the boldest and most comprehensive effort to tackle an external virus in modern history,” Trump said in a televised speech from the Oval Office at the White House on Wednesday.
This announcement has caused market turmoil as European stocks tumbled to a four-year low and oil prices fell.
It also prompted travelers to hurry up to go to the airports to catch the last flights back to the United States.
“This created a general panic,” said Anna Grace, 20, an American student studying at SAFIC University on her first trip to Europe. I rushed to Madrid’s Barajas airport at five in the morning to return home.
The outbreak has disrupted industry, travel, sports and entertainment sectors around the world. But its outbreak in its original outpost in China’s Hubei province slowed down markedly after severe movement restrictions and quarantine were imposed on the provincial capital, Wuhan.
“The height of the epidemic is over in China,” said Mei Feng, spokesman for the National Health Commission of China.
* Decline by June
The crisis could end by the middle of the year, said the chief health advisor to the Chinese government, Zhong Nanshan, 83, a virologist who is best known for helping to combat the SARS outbreak in 2003.
“If all countries mobilize their resources, it may end up by June. But if some countries do not take the infection and damage seriously and intervene aggressively, it will last longer. ”
More than 126,000 people have been infected with the virus worldwide, the vast majority of them in China and have killed 4,624 people, according to a Reuters count.
The World Health Organization has officially announced that the Coruna virus has become a global epidemic, which means that it is spreading rapidly around the world.
Trump said the decision to ban travel from Europe, which begins implementation at midnight on Friday, would not apply to Britain or to Americans who undergo “appropriate checks”. “The ban prevents people, not goods,” he wrote on Twitter.
The European Union expressed its dissatisfaction with Trump’s decision.
“The European Union expresses its dissatisfaction that the US decision on the travel ban was taken unilaterally and without consultation,” European Commission President Ursula von der Line said in a statement.
Shares of airlines and entertainment were hardest hit by the decision.
Although Trump’s decision excludes Britain, which is no longer a member of the European Union, it has also expressed dissatisfaction and said it will affect its economy.
In the United States, schools closed for two weeks in the Greater Seattle area, which recorded the largest number of corona virus deaths in the United States, at least 38.
Oscar-winning actor Tom Hanks also announced on Twitter that tests had shown that he and his wife Rita Wilson had been infected with the Corona virus in Australia as he was filming a movie.
Marwa Salam prepared for the Arab Bulletin – Edited by Mohamed Al Yamani
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