 | | | | Hundreds of people began disembarking a cruise ship quarantined in Japan on Wednesday as criticism mounted of Japan's handling of an onboard outbreak of the new coronavirus that has infected more than 540 people. | | | | | | A Japanese infectious disease specialist has castigated his government's handling of quarantine on a coronavirus-stricken cruise ship, saying it was run by "bureaucrats" who stoked the crisis by failing to follow basic protocols. | | | | | | Coronavirus infections on a cruise ship moored near Tokyo rose to 621 people on Wednesday as passengers began disembarking following a contentious two-week quarantine that some foreign health experts said appeared insufficient to stop the spread. | | | | | | China has revoked the press credentials of three journalists of the Wall Street Journal after the newspaper declined to apologize for a column with a headline calling China the "real sick man of Asia", the foreign ministry said on Wednesday. | | | | | | South Korea reported 20 new cases of the coronavirus on Wednesday, including 14 people involved in an outbreak traced to several church services in the central city of Daegu. | | | | | | The number of foreign visitors to Japan fell for the fourth month in January as the impact of a South Korean boycott weighed, with further, sharper falls expected as the coronavirus outbreak keeps away Chinese travellers. | | | | | | Casinos in Macau, the world's biggest gambling hub, reopen on Thursday after being closed for two weeks because of the coronavirus epidemic, but all punters and croupiers will have to wear a mask at the tables. | | | | | | China's central bank and its finance ministry will not send any officials to a G20 meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors in Riyadh due to virus outbreak, officials said. | | | | | | Taiwan plans to send a chartered flight this week to evacuate its citizens from a virus-hit cruise ship in Japan, the Taiwan government said on Wednesday. | | | | | | Japan's financial watchdog has begun conducting an emergency survey on domestic financial institutions with business operations in China to gauge how the coronavirus outbreak could affect credit costs, government sources said on Wednesday. | | | | | | China's finance ministry said on Wednesday it would tackle any local governments' misuse of special funds meant to pay for the fight against the coronavirus outbreak. | | | | | |
