China is currently battling an outbreak of the novel coronavirus, officially renamed by the World Health Organization (WHO) as Covid-19. The Flanders-China Chamber of Commerce expresses sincere condolences to all those who have lost loved ones and sympathy to those who are ill and suffering as a result of the virus outbreak. We wish those who are ill a speedy recovery.

Statistics

The latest statistics of cases and deaths can be consulted on Johns Hopkins University’s CSSE page: https://gisanddata.maps.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html and the statistics widget of the South China Morning Post: https://multimedia.scmp.com/widgets/china/wuhanvirus/

Travel restrictions

Airlines of several countries – including the U.S. and Australia – have canceled flights to and from China. The prices of tickets on remaining flights – including those on Chinese airlines – have increased substantially. Several countries are prohibiting entry to foreigners arriving from China or having visited China in the past 14 days. Countries neighboring China have closed their borders. Passengers now traveling from China are practically obliged to fly to their country of citizenship, where they are likely to be quarantined for 14 days. This makes travel to and from China very cumbersome in the near future. List of countries imposing travel restrictions from IATA:
https://www.iatatravelcentre.com/international-travel-document-news/1580226297.htm

On February 15, the municipality of Beijing started implementing a 14-day quarantine policy, presumably including foreigners arriving from abroad. It later clarified the measures, stating that travelers who have not been in China for the past 14 days, and who are returning via the city’s two main airports in Shunyi and Daxing; will be exempted from the 14-day quarantine policy. Other exemptions are clarified in the statement at: https://www.thebeijinger.com/blog/2020/02/21/overseas-returnees-six-other-types-exempted-mandatory-quarantine-says-city

Due to a lack of airfreight capacity between Brussels and China, Bpost is no longer accepting letters and parcels destined to China. Postal items arriving from China will still be delivered.

Economic impact

The European Union Chamber of Commerce in China and the German Chamber have released their report “COVID-19 Survey Report:The Impact on European Business in China”, which can be downloaded in PDF: https://www.europeanchamber.com.cn/en/press-releases/3161

sdworx: (in Dutch) “Coronavirus: de impact voor Belgische werkgevers en werknemers in 6 vragen (en antwoorden)”: https://www.sdworx.be/nl-be/blog/in-de-kijker/coronavirus-impact-belgische-bedrijven

Capital Economics: The Covid-19 Coronavirus and its economic impact:
https://www.capitaleconomics.com/the-economic-effects-of-the-coronavirus/

Agentschap Innoveren en ondernemen (in Dutch): Hoe kan mijn bedrijf zich beschermen tegen virussen?
https://www.vlaio.be/nl/nieuws/hoe-kan-mijn-bedrijf-zich-beschermen-tegen-virussen

Scientific info

Scientific information about the virus is available on the 2019-nCoV Resource Center page of the famous medical publication The Lancet: https://www.thelancet.com/coronavirus

The World Health Organization (WHO) also has a special page on the virus:
https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019

New England Journal of Medicine study of 1,099 Covid-19 patients:
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2002032

How to protect yourself

Advice to the public about how to protect oneself against the virus is also available from the WHO:
https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/advice-for-public

The VUB has developed a Corona Virus Test: http://huis.vub.ac.be/corona/

In Belgium the reference lab to test for the coronavirus is at the KULeuven. There are two reference hospitals to treat patients: Sint-Pieters hospital in Brussels and the University Hospital Antwerp.

Advisory notices

Travel advice of the Belgian Foreign Ministry:
Mainland China: https://diplomatie.belgium.be/nl/Diensten/Op_reis_in_het_buitenland/reisadviezen/china
Hong Kong SAR:
https://diplomatie.belgium.be/nl/Diensten/Op_reis_in_het_buitenland/reisadviezen/hong_kong_sar

The info page of the Belgian federal authorities (in Dutch) is at www.info-coronavirus.be/nl