Amid Wuhan virus fears, Asia-Pacific countries weigh economic hit of restricting Chinese travellers
- Malaysia says it is not yet time to consider deporting Chinese tourists, as the Philippines has done, while some Pacific nations have banned all travellers from or transiting through China
- Health experts say it is difficult for officials to know how to respond amid uncertainties over how the virus is transmitted
“It’s ideal if you can identify and isolate anyone coming across borders from China, but most countries don’t have these kinds of resources,” said Sanjaya Senanayake, associate professor of infectious diseases at Australian National University (ANU). “With limited resources, you have to focus on the highest yield measures – stopping incoming traffic from Hubei, and monitoring people who have travelled there.”
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There are eight cases in Thailand and five in Singapore, while Malaysia, South Korea and Japan have each reported four cases. Cambodia on Monday confirmed its first case.
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Malaysia on Monday suspended issuing visas to Chinese citizens from Hubei province with immediate effect. The government said the decision was made following the World Health Organisation’s procedures, as well as expert advice on limiting the spread of the virus.
Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad on Sunday said it was not possible to quarantine all tourists from China on arrival, as there were too many. “Visitors from China sometimes increase up to 2 million people,” he said, in a report by the Star newspaper. “Where to keep them?”
“We cannot predict at the moment,” he said. “We have to assess when is the critical stage but at the moment it is not yet critical to the point where we have to stop tourism.”
The Malaysian state of Sarawak has also imposed an immediate ban on the recruitment of workers from China following the virus outbreak, with a mandatory declaration of travel destinations required for all those entering the state.
According to reports from mainland Chinese media, Thailand was the most popular overseas destination for people from Wuhan between December 30 and January 22, the day before the lockdown was enforced.
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Financial newspaper China Business News reported that some 20,000 people had flown to airports in Bangkok during that period, while Changi Airport and Tokyo’s Narita International Airport respectively received 10,680 and 9,080 passengers from Wuhan. More than 7,000 flew to Hong Kong.
However, experts warn that whether the virus is contagious before people show symptoms could radically alter the method governments take to contain the spread of the outbreak.
China’s National Health Commission on Sunday said people who were infected but did not show symptoms could potentially still infect others, which public health experts say could make it substantially more difficult to control the outbreak.
“Now countries have to consider screening anyone entering from China, regardless of symptoms,” he said. “But the question is, at what scale?”
Chlebicki said countries outside China would have to consider when to shift from preventing the virus’ entry to boosting their national medical system’s ability to contain its spread.
Hong Kong and Singapore, which have improved their health care systems in the aftermath of Sars and influenza outbreaks, will be better equipped to tackle the outbreak than countries that cannot devote resources to high levels of monitoring, isolation and quarantine.
Now countries have to consider screening anyone entering from China, regardless of symptoms
The Marshall Islands over the weekend banned all travellers originating in or transiting through China. Health officials in the nation, which has been fighting an outbreak of dengue fever since August, said its two hospitals would be unable to handle an escalating epidemic and pointed out that its airport lacks an isolation room.
Fiji has been holding six Chinese tourists in quarantine since they were denied entry to neighbouring Samoa last week, which has also banned travellers from countries affected by the outbreak.
Senanayake at Australian National University said more countries were likely to consider outright bans if there was evidence of local transmission of the virus between people outside China.
Hiroyasu Iso, professor at Osaka University’s graduate school of medicine, echoed these concerns.
Short of closing borders, airports around the region are intensifying temperature screenings for passengers arriving from China and urging travellers to report any symptoms to authorities immediately.
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Lawrence Wong, the island nation’s National Development Minister, said a complete ban on travellers from China was not necessary at the moment, and in a local media report cautioned Singaporeans against “overreacting or, worse, turning xenophobic”.
An official at the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare in Tokyo said there were presently no laws in Japan that would permit it to completely block incoming travellers from Hubei province or China.
Flight crews in Japan have been instructed to make announcements that anyone with flu-like symptoms, or who has been to Wuhan in the past two weeks, should speak with quarantine officials. However, this means authorities are relying on travellers to declare any symptoms themselves.
“This depends on the good will and common sense of people to get in touch with the authorities,” said Senanyake from ANU, who added that this had worked well so far in Australia, which has five confirmed cases. The patient in the country’s first reported case of the virus contacted local officials himself after he started feeling ill.
The Philippines has yet to confirm a case of the virus, though it has six patients under observation in the Research Institute of Tropical Medicine. The nation is a popular holiday spot for Chinese travellers and receives direct flights from Wuhan.
More than 3 million face masks that were bought by the Hubei government from a Philippine-based company have been sent to Wuhan, prompting angry reactions online from residents of Manila, where masks are already scarce due to pollution concerns following the eruption of the Taal volcano earlier this month.
Health secretary Francisco Duque on Monday said there was no reason for Chinese schools in Manila to suspend classes.
“We keep harping on the fact there is no case,” said Duque in a press conference where he warned of discrimination against Chinese nationals. “The viral spread of false news can spread a lot of injury.”
Philippine authorities sent more than 500 tourists from Wuhan back to China over the weekend, with the last group departing today. Visas for tour groups from Wuhan have also been suspended.
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Chinese travellers, many on group tours, last year spent nearly US$18 billion in Thailand, according to Bloomberg. The World Travel & Tourism Council reports that the sector contributes more than 20 per cent to Thailand’s economy.
Thailand has been screening travellers on direct flights from Wuhan since January 3, while officials last week began checks on those arriving from Guangzhou and Changchun.
Tawee Chotpitayasunondh, senior medical consultant for the Ministry of Health, called for Chinese tourists to report to the hospital immediately if they were experiencing symptoms.
Thai Tourism Authority governor Yuthasak Supasorn sounded a note of calm amid the country’s efforts. “Not every Chinese visitor is infected with coronavirus,” he said.
Additional reporting by Jitsiree Thongoi, Raissa Robles, Julian Ryall and Tashny Sukumaran
