U.S. travel restrictions: Not a gesture of goodwill - China

The U.S. government’s action in restricting the entry of Chinese nationals due to the coronavirus outbreak has been seen as not being a gesture of goodwill.

China’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said, “While the WHO has only just specifically advised against any travel restrictions, the U.S. has decided to act in the opposite way.

“This has set a bad example.

“It is certainly not a gesture of goodwill”.

New U.S. measures include a ban on the entry of foreign nationals – other than the immediate family of U.S. citizens and permanent residents – who have travelled in China within the last 14 days.

The U.S. also took the “unprecedented” step of placing 195 U.S. citizens who recently returned from the Chinese city of Wuhan in quarantine for 14 days.

Schools, factories and offices across China are due to remain closed even as the week-long Lunar New Year holiday comes to an end.

Apple on Saturday became the latest company to announce the closure of its stores in mainland China to prevent the spread of the virus, with the measure set to remain in place until Feb. 9.

The number of people infected with the new coronavirus in China has risen to more than 14,380, while 304 people are dead, according to the most recent figures from Chinese health officials.

Officials in Hubei province in central China, the epicentre of the coronavirus crisis, said an additional 1,347 new cases had been reported in that province alone, bringing the number of infections there to 7,153.

Wuhan, with a population of 11 million, has been placed on lockdown, as have many other Chinese cities.

The number of people infected and China’s national death toll are expected to climb further once other regions report their latest statistics.

On Saturday, more than 3,000 Hong Kong nurses and doctors registered with a newly formed public hospitals union voted in favour of closing the semi-autonomous city’s borders with Mainland China to stem the spread of the virus.

Outside China, more than 100 other people in about two dozen countries have become ill with the virus.

Sri Lanka became the latest country on Saturday to report a case when a Chinese woman travelling there was found to have coronavirus.

Germany confirmed its eighth case the same day.

The European Union and several countries have already flown their citizens out of China, including the U.S., Japan, South Korea, Jordan, Britain, and most recently Sri Lanka.