Passengers wear face masks to protect against the spread of the Coronavirus as they arrive on a flight from Asia at Los Angeles International Airport, California, on January 29, 2020.
Mark Ralston | AFP | Getty Images
All times below are in Eastern time.
7:48 am: Russia closes border with China
Russia plans to close its border with China to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, according to the country’s state media. ”A corresponding instruction was signed today. Work on it is already in progress. We will inform all those concerned properly about the measures to close the border in the Far Eastern region and other steps the government has taken (to prevent the spread of coronavirus in Russia),” Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin told the TASS news agency.
7:00 am: Outbreak reaches nearly 8,000 with 170 deaths in China
The total number of cases of the coronavirus reached more than 7,900 worldwide with 170 deaths in China, Chinese and international health authorities said Thursday. The majority of cases are in mainland China, with at least 7,801 cases, exceeding the total number of SARS cases in that country during the 2003 epidemic. There are at least 101 other cases across more than a dozen countries across the globe, including the U.S.
5:46 am: US State Department says more flights from Wuhan are scheduled for Feb. 3
More evacuation flights from the city of Wuhan for U.S. citizens will take place on Feb. 3, the State Department said in a statement on Thursday morning. Reuters reported that those on the flights would be subject to screenings and monitoring requirements.
5:27 am: India confirms first case of the coronavirus
India has officially confirmed that at least one case of the coronavirus has reached the country. The government body said in a statement that the patient is a student at Wuhan University in China and has been isolated in a hospital. The case was confirmed to the government by the National Institute of Virology — India’s center for testing samples of the suspected virus. The statement added that the person is “stable and being closely monitored.”
To see last night’s up-to-the minute coverage on the coronavirus, visit the live blog from CNBC’s Asia-Pacific team.
—CNBC’s Weizhen Tan, Evelyn Cheng and Christine Wang contributed to this report.