 | | | | Thousands of passengers and crew on two cruise ships in Asian waters were placed in quarantine for China's coronavirus on Wednesday as airlines, car manufacturers and other global companies counted the cost of the fast-spreading outbreak. | | | | | | At least three Asian businessmen who attended an international conference at a Singapore hotel have contracted the coronavirus, Malaysian and South Korean authorities said on Wednesday. | | | | | | Scores of Russians began two weeks of quarantine and coronavirus tests in a camp in Siberia on Wednesday after being flown home from China's Wuhan, the city at the epicenter of an outbreak of the fast-spreading disease. | | | | | | About 350 Americans evacuated from China's virus-hit Wuhan province are expected to arrive at two U.S. military bases in California on Wednesday, the Pentagon said in a statement. | | | | | | Merck & Co Inc said on Wednesday it was planning to spin off its women's health, biosimilar drugs and legacy products into a new publicly traded company, a move that will allow the drugmaker to focus on key growth drivers like cancer drug Keytruda and vaccines. | | | | | | Pregnant women infected with the new coronavirus may be able to pass it to their unborn children, doctors at the Wuhan Children Hospital said on Wednesday, according to state broadcaster CCTV. | | | | | | Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific Airways asked its 27,000 employees to take three weeks of unpaid leave, saying preserving cash was key for the carrier and that conditions were as grave as during the 2009 financial crisis due to the virus outbreak. | | | | | | The World Health Organization played down media reports on Wednesday of "breakthrough" drugs being discovered to treat people infected with the new coronavirus which is causing an epidemic in China and has spread to at least 20 other countries. | | | | | | Russia said on Wednesday it will take between eight and 10 months to develop a vaccine against coronavirus, the Interfax news agency cited health minister Mikhail Murashko as saying. | | | | | | Around 3,700 people are facing at least two weeks locked away on a cruise liner anchored off Japan after health officials confirmed on Wednesday that 10 people on the ship had tested positive for coronavirus and more cases were possible. | | | | | | China's efforts to control a coronavirus outbreak are at a crucial stage and authorities must prevent the epidemic from spreading, Xinhua news agency quoted President Xi Jinping as saying on Wednesday. | | | | | |
