Here’s what you need to know:
Scientists are racing to develop a coronavirus vaccine.
Scientists are working to develop a vaccine capable of stopping the spread of a mysterious new coronavirus that has infected thousands of people, mostly in China.
Government scientists in China, the United States and Australia, as well as those working at Johnson & Johnson, Moderna Therapeutics and Inovio Pharmaceuticals are all working quickly to develop a vaccine.
The hunt began Jan. 10, when Chinese scientists posted the genetic makeup of the virus on a public database. The next morning, researchers at the National Institutes of Health’s Vaccine Research Center in Maryland went to work. Within hours, they had pinpointed the parts of the genetic code that could be used to make a vaccine.
Historically, vaccines have been one of the greatest public health tools to prevent disease. But even as technology, genomics and global coordination have all improved, allowing researchers to move at top speed, vaccine development remains an expensive and risky process.
The outbreak is spreading. Nearly 6,000 cases have been confirmed.
More than 130 people have died from the mysterious new coronavirus, according to official Chinese statistics, but the real number is likely much higher. A dearth of test kits has hindered health officials ability to accurately diagnose and track the illness.
Here’s what we know about how the disease has spread:
◆ China said on Wednesday that 132 people had died from the virus, which is believed to have originated in the central city of Wuhan and is spreading across the country. The previous count, on Tuesday, was 106.
◆ The number of confirmed cases increased by nearly 25 percent to 5,974 on Wednesday, up from 4,515 on Tuesday, according to China’s National Health Commission.
◆ Thailand has reported 14 cases of infection; Hong Kong has eight; the United States, Taiwan, Australia and Macau have five each; Singapore, South Korea and Malaysia each have reported four; Japan has seven; France has four; Canada has three; Vietnam has two; and Nepal, Cambodia and Germany each have one.
◆ Cases recorded in Taiwan, Germany, Vietnam and Japan involved patients who had not been to China. There have been no reported deaths outside China.
Americans evacuated from China undergo screening in Alaska before quarantine.
A chartered plane carrying more than 200 Americans from Wuhan, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in China, landed in Anchorage, Alaska, shortly after 9:20 p.m. local time on Tuesday, according to flight tracking services.
The 240 passengers, including diplomats and businesspeople, were to undergo medical screening at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport, local authorities said. The plane would also refuel before flying to March Air Reserve Base in Riverside County, California, its final destination.
Jim Szczesniak, the airport’s manager, said that the aircraft would be “handled in a remote location” and that medical staff from the United States Centers for Disease Control would check patients in an isolated area. Passengers would remain in a terminal that is not currently being utilized by commercial carriers or accessible to the public.
“The passengers will be screened and go through the immigration process,” Mr. Szczesniak said. “They will reboard their flight and head to their final destination.”
However, any passengers found to have a cough, fever, or shortness of breath in Anchorage will be further assessed by medical experts, according to a statement released by Alaska’s Department of Health and Social Services. If the medical team determines that special care is necessary, it will refer ailing passengers to a local hospital.
Alaska has had no cases of coronavirus or people suspected of having it. But after officials announced on Monday that the plane would be taking Americans from Wuhan to Alaska, the department said that it had activated its emergency operations center to help coordinate detection and response efforts.
Many aircraft that transport cargo stop in Anchorage to refuel. So far this month, six cargo planes from Wuhan have landed there.
Villagers clash with the police over a proposed quarantine site.
The police clashed on Tuesday with residents of a village in the coastal province of Fujian after it was revealed that the government planned to convert a factory into a quarantine site for patients with the dangerous coronavirus.
Several people were reportedly arrested in the village of Dasha, where residents’ fears and anger over the proposed site spilled into the street. In videos recorded by residents, villagers are seen blocking a road and throwing wooden stools at police officers, who marched through the town in riot gear.
Residents said they were given no warning about the plans and only learned that their village would host the sick when hospital beds and other materials began arriving.
“The factory is only several minutes’ walk away from our village,” said one resident who asked only to be identified by her family name, Zheng, for fear of government reprisals. “Given the lack of information from the government, there is reason that villagers are panicking.”
The outrage in Dasha mirrors that in other Chinese cities where the government has proposed quarantine sites without first consulting those living nearby. In Hong Kong on Sunday, protesters threw Molotov cocktails into the lobby of an unoccupied public housing project that had been proposed as a quarantine area.
A Xiapu County health official denied that villagers in Dasha were not made aware of the quarantine site and said the information had been broadcast for days.
Another county official said the proposed quarantine site was far from residences and would be cordoned off to limit exposure. The official added that patients would be transported to the site by ambulance as a further measure to protect the community.
As of Wednesday, there were 82 confirmed cases of the virus in Fujian Province, two of which were in Xiapu County.
How the coronavirus could be affecting the global economy.
As the death toll from the mysterious coronavirus in China keeps rising, economic analysts have counseled caution. They say it’s too soon to sound the alarm about the impact on the world economy.
And yet, some American companies with a big presence in China are being forced to adapt. Starbucks, for example, announced on Tuesday that it was temporarily closing half of its stores there.
“The magnitude of the impact will depend on the duration of store closures as we work with local authorities to manage the situation and protect our partners and customers,” Pat Grismer, its chief financial officer, said during an earnings call.
Starbucks isn’t alone. Also shuttering shops were McDonald’s and Yum China, the country’s largest restaurant company, which operates the KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell brands in China and also controls its own brands.
China’s travel restrictions and expanding screenings at airports around the world have also hurt business. United Airlines announced that it was suspending some flights. American Airlines stock fell more than 5 percent on Tuesday.
Hotels and resorts with properties in the affected areas, which include Macau, a special administrative region and gambling mecca, also saw the value of their shares sink. They include Wynn Resorts, Las Vegas Sands and MGM Resorts International.
Marriott, Hyatt and Hilton, which have several properties in China, also saw their stock prices slide.
Other brands that are popular in China, like Estee Lauder, Nike and Tapestry, which sells Coach, Kate Spade and Stuart Weitzman, are likely to see a dent in earnings, bank analysts said.
China is the world’s second largest economy.
The United States is expanding its screenings.
United States health officials have announced expanded screening measures for passengers arriving from China at 20 ports of entry to the United States.
Expanded screening had previously been at only five airports; now, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that all 20 of its quarantine stations in airports and land stations across the mainland United States are participating, as well as those in Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico.
[A plane carrying Americans is leaving from Wuhan. If you know anyone on board, or anyone trying to leave Wuhan, we would like to hear from you for a coming article. Please contact Miriam Jordan at miriam.jordan@nytimes.com to share your story.]
Americans are now discouraged from traveling to any part of China, and other travel restrictions have not been ruled out, officials said. Only five people in the United States are known to have been infected so far.
Officials also announced on Tuesday that Chinese authorities will allow teams of international experts, coordinated by the World Health Organization, to help with research and containment.
In the United Kingdom, the British Foreign Office is warning against all travel to Hubei Province and against all but essential travel to the rest of mainland China. (The warning does not include Hong Kong and Macau).
And the European Union — at the request of France, which has many citizens in the Wuhan area — announced that it was sending two flights to China to evacuate at least 350 healthy citizens of the bloc.
Reporting was contributed by Chris Buckley, Russell Goldman, Elaine Yu, Raymond Zhong, Austin Ramzy, Alexandra Stevenson, Sui-Li Wee, Miriam Jordan, Paul Mozur, Knvul Sheikh, Katie Thomas, James Gorman, Motoko Rich, Ben Dooley, Makiko Inoue, Eimi Yamamitsu and Patricia Cohen. Jin Wu, Zoe Mou, Albee Zhang, Amber Wang, Yiwei Wang and Claire Fu contributed research.
