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- Photos of iconic tourist destinations in China, Italy, and Thailand reveal empty festivals, vacant water parks, and trapped people as the coronavirus slows travel
Photos of iconic tourist destinations in China, Italy, and Thailand reveal empty festivals, vacant water parks, and trapped people as the coronavirus slows travel
Hong Kong, a city of 7.5 million, has 79 confirmed cases. Health officials there have closed 10 of 13 border checkpoints with mainland China.
Travelers from mainland China to Hong Kong are required to undergo quarantines.
Hong Kong authorities are also trying to repatriate residents from mainland China. Approximately 2,000 have contacted the government (many in the Hubei province, where Wuhan is located) wanting to get back to Hong Kong.
The Hong Kong government will require repatriated residents to undergo a 14-day quarantine as well.
Hong Kong's Disneyland, which closed in January due to the outbreak, agreed to let the government use some of its land to quarantine people.
Hong Kong Disneyland agreed to let the Hong Kong government build quarantine units on a vacant site that the resort was planning to use for a future expansion.
Travel bans have also meant that some Chinese tourists who were on vacation cannot get back home.
Indonesia banned flights to and from mainland China on February 5 and barred visitors who'd been in China in the prior 14 days from entering or traveling through the country, according to Reuters.
Source: Reuters
On Friday, the South Korean government said it had failed to keep the virus out of the country and was focusing on containment.
South Korea has 433 confirmed cases. Amid the rapid uptick, airlines restricted flights to Daegu, the city at the center of the outbreak. The local government has encouraged residents to self-quarantine.
In Seoul, where seven coronavirus cases have been recorded so far, gatherings at three main squares have been banned.
Thailand's Tourism Authority predicted on January 28 that the number of Chinese tourists there could fall by 2 million to 9 million due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Last year, nearly 11 million Chinese tourists traveled to Thailand.
Reduced travel from China could result in an estimated $1.52 billion loss of revenue, the Thai Tourism Ministry said.
Source: Reuters.
Thailand has 40 confirmed coronavirus cases.
Thai authorities are requiring that Chinese tourists who do visit present medical records showing that they do not have the coronavirus.
Source: Bloomberg.
Thailand's public-health minister, Anutin Charnvirakul, urged caution for Thai residents considering travel. "Even though tickets are cheap, it could be your last holiday," he said at a press conference, according to the Bangkok Post.
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