Coronavirus (COVID-19) Respiratory illness - Effect on Travel

[DC3]

QF6031 (VH-OEE, B744) departed SYD 22 late at 1307 hours on Sunday 2 February 2020, taking off at 1313 (don't tell latter to Chinese.)

Destination is HKG then WUH.

Maybe someone should inform Mr F.

 

[DC3]

.. TBH the virus thing didn't cross my mind until just now (course continues next week)

I love your one-liners.

 

[dajop]

That is a horrible decision to make. Where are you travel insurance wise?

We self-insure (except for medical which we have annual policy). No exclusions on our self insurance policy.

It's a weekend break, we're residents in Singapore, I'm circumspect that we have just as many PRC folk roaming the streets here as there is in Bali, so I don't feel an appreciably greater risk. We will be in resort for the whole time too, just be sensible I think. If it does all goes pear-shaped this week accommodation is not prepaid and flight cost was negligible.

 

[Pushka]

That is a horrible decision to make. Where are you travel insurance wise?

That would be me too. I just checked and Policy was taken out last year. We purchased Natural Disaster as well. We also have credit card insurance with AmEX.

 

[Pushka]

On announcing yesterday that a couple in SA had tested positive for coronavirus after arriving from Wuhan on 20th January, the Health Department stated not to worry, they had self isolated and had not been in contact with anyone else. Today, well, that’s changed now. They are only interviewing them now to ascertain what they did after arrival. And the kicker - today are trying to ascertain their travel details as they may have flown on a domestic flight in Australia. And they expect us to trust their reassurances.

 

[p--and--t]

First 2019-nCov death outside China - In Philippines - a Chinese person from Wuhan.

 

[amaroo]

I worry a bit about indonesia

SMH ran a doom and gloom article the other day on Indonesia

'That's a problem': Indonesia's coronavirus vulnerability revealed

While countries across south-east Asia are reporting cases of the novel coronavirus, Indonesia has reported zero infections.

www.smh.com.au

 

[Pushka]

First 2019-nCov death outside China - In Philippines - a Chinese person from Wuhan.

Well, I guess one thing is that it was acquired in Wuhan and not elsewhere.

 

[Melburnian1]

First 2019-nCov death outside China - In Philippines - a Chinese person from Wuhan.

A fuller explanation is below. I do not visit this area in Manila (not a business area, and no hotels of which I'm aware of note, nor is it particularly close to NAIA Airport or the Port of Manila) but San Lazaro (St Lazarus') Hospital is a public one that at a guess would lack the equipment and resources found in Philippines' best private hospitals:

DOH confirms 2nd case of nCoV in PH, says patient died Saturday

Updated @ 5:35 p.m., Feb. 2, 2020 MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health (DOH) on Sunday confirmed another case of the novel coronavirus in the Philippines, bringing the total number of

newsinfo.inquirer.net

While it may come down to what money the patient had, at face value it seems idiotic to not place him in the best medical facility that the nation could offer. Maybe I am oversimplifying things.

 

[Melburnian1]

Well, I guess one thing is that it was acquired in Wuhan and not elsewhere.

Pushka, given your expertise with cruising, is it too early to know if cruise lines are starting to experience low forward bookings and/or a wave of cancellations for cruises on which passengers have booked?

It is claimed that international air trips are often being booked closer to departure date than used be the case. Is this true for cruises or have passengers largely continued to book six or 12 months ahead because if they don't, they miss out on the best positioned cabin(s) in their preferred class?

If you don't know, could you ring or text any contacts and ask them, and if you have time 'report back?'

It's been made public that various cruise line operators are changing ships' itineraries to avoid mainland China but one wonders if this will be "enough."

Do you share my perception that there'll be cruise ship 'good value' sales (like the airlines) or will passengers continue to 'book with confidence' and hence in what has been a booming, expanding industry there'll be no appreciable adverse effect on bookings?

 

[p--and--t]

A fuller explanation is below. I do not visit this area in Manila (not a business area, and no hotels of which I'm aware of note, nor is it particularly close to NAIA Airport or the Port of Manila) but San Lazaro (St Lazarus') Hospital is a public one that at a guess would lack the equipment and resources found in Philippines' best private hospitals:

DOH confirms 2nd case of nCoV in PH, says patient died Saturday

Updated @ 5:35 p.m., Feb. 2, 2020 MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health (DOH) on Sunday confirmed another case of the novel coronavirus in the Philippines, bringing the total number of

newsinfo.inquirer.net

The "good" news out of that if you can ever classify the death of a human being as "good", is that the only two confirmed cases in that country are/were husband and wife and no other confirmed cases so far.

 

[Melburnian1]

The "good" news out of that if you can ever classify the death of a human being as "good", is that the only two confirmed cases in that country are/were husband and wife and no other confirmed cases so far.

Provided the data is reliable. Moot point but given fewer islands than Indonesia (c.7500 v c.18000) and closer ties to Western nations like USA in Philippines - plus better English proficiency - I'd have more confidence there than re Indonesia, but hmmm...data may still be incomplete. Latter comment may well also apply to likes of Cambodia where the communist Leader is still letting mainland Chinese in willy-nilly due to Cambodia arguably being a 'client state' of mainland China.

 

[Scarlett]

On announcing yesterday that a couple in SA had tested positive for coronavirus after arriving from Wuhan on 20th January, the Health Department stated not to worry, they had self isolated and had not been in contact with anyone else. Today, well, that’s changed now. They are only interviewing them now to ascertain what they did after arrival. And the kicker - today are trying to ascertain their travel details as they may have flown on a domestic flight in Australia. And they expect us to trust their reassurances.

I and others that I know, pretty much treat ALL government (and opposition) statements as political spin, in the same category as advertising. (99% lies, 1% truth)

Modern political parties are incapable of delivering anything without passing it through a 'spin machine' that would put Warnie to shame.

 

[Pushka]

Pushka, given your expertise with cruising, is it too early to know if cruise lines are starting to experience low forward bookings and/or a wave of cancellations for cruises on which passengers have booked?

It is claimed that international air trips are often being booked closer to departure date than used be the case. Is this true for cruises or have passengers largely continued to book six or 12 months ahead because if they don't, they miss out on the best positioned cabin(s) in their preferred class?

If you don't know, could you ring or text any contacts and ask them, and if you have time 'report back?'

It's been made public that various cruise line operators are changing ships' itineraries to avoid mainland China but one wonders if this will be "enough."

Do you share my perception that there'll be cruise ship 'good value' sales (like the airlines) or will passengers continue to 'book with confidence' and hence in what has been a booming, expanding industry there'll be no appreciable adverse effect on bookings?

Well, I am active on Cruise Critic and some dismiss this as no more signficant than flu, completely ignoring the fact that cruise lines are treating it extremely seriously. So even if they don’t care, the cruise lines do and are taking action such as I’ve not seen before.

Celebrity Travel Alert: Additionally, any guests who have transited through mainland China or Hong Kong, 15 days prior to embarkation, will be denied boarding and issued a full refund. This includes guests on connecting flights. All guest flights must be free from connections or stops in mainland China or Hong Kong.

CORONAVIRUS

We are closely monitoring global developments regarding the coronavirus, and we are fully focused on protecting the health and safety of our guests and crew. After consultation with CDC, WHO and other public health authorities, we are implementing several measures to protect guests and crew. These steps are intentionally conservative, and we apologize that they will inconvenience some of our guests. Until further notice, all ships in the Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. fleet will adopt these health screening protocols:
1. Regardless of nationality, we will deny boarding to any individual who has travelled from, to or through mainland China or Hong Kong in the past 15 days. These guests will receive full refunds.
2. There will be mandatory specialized health screenings performed on:

• Guests who have been in contact with individuals who have traveled from, to or through mainland China or Hong Kong in the past 15 days;
• All holders of China or Hong Kong passports – regardless of when they were last in China or Hong Kong;
• Guests who report feeling unwell or demonstrate any flu-like symptoms;
• Any guest presenting with fever or low blood oximetry in the specialized health screening will be denied boarding.

3. These standards also apply to all employees, crew members and contractors of RCL.
4. We have modified all China and Hong Kong sailings onboard Celebrity Millennium through mid-February. Guests on modified cruises will have the option to cancel and receive a 100% Future Cruise Credit.
We have rigorous medical protocols in place to help passengers and crew members who feel unwell while sailing. Our protocols include professional medical treatment; quarantine of unwell individuals from the general ship population; and intensified ship cleaning, air filtration, and sanitization procedures. We are assessing developments constantly and will update these measures, as needed. Guests with questions may contact the customer care department of our individual cruise lines.

We have a cruise booked for July on Celebrity and we transit through HK. If that trip was before the end of February, then we would be refused boarding as we had transited through Hong Kong. Chinese Nationals are being refused boarding and will receive full compensation. All cruise lines have cancelled all Chinese ports for the next month. We don’t have to pay all the money until May so we will need to review. The cruise is out of Rome.

Post automatically merged: Feb 2, 2020

I and others that I know, pretty much treat ALL government (and opposition) statements as political spin, in the same category as advertising. (99% lies, 1% truth)

Modern political parties are incapable of delivering anything without passing it through a 'spin machine' that would put Warnie to shame.

But then they expect us to trust them!

 

[mrsterryn]

Fiji now have a new entry form to complete specific to this virus

 

[Pushka]

This is from Viking River cruises that travel extensively through mainland China:
Coronavirus Update
The safety and security of our guests and crew is always our top priority. We are monitoring the Wuhan coronavirus situation closely and are aware of the travel advisories issued by the U.S. State Department on January 30th, in addition to updates issued by the Centers for Disease Control and the World Health Organization. Viking does not have any river sailings scheduled in China until March 2020, and given the current situation, modifications to those sailings will likely be necessary. We are evaluating options for our guests currently booked on Yangtze River itineraries, and in the week of February 3rd Viking Customer Relations will communicate directly with those impacted guests and their travel agents.

Viking cannot modify the itinerary to avoid China and people will have paid in full months ago. I’m not sure what will happen.

 

[I love to travel]

Does anybody think that a more comprehensive travel ban is likely eg (and these are just for illustrative purposes) Singapore banning Australians, Australia banning anyone who has been to Taiwan or Hong Kong ?

 

[OATEK]

Does anybody think that a more comprehensive travel ban is likely eg (and these are just for illustrative purposes) Singapore banning Australians, Australia banning anyone who has been to Taiwan or Hong Kong ?

Guess it all depends on when infections peak, and volume of cases.

 

[get me outta here]

For anybody who does not realise the extent of the initial political cover-up in China, the NYT has an interesting article. For example: “Wuhan went ahead with a massive annual potluck banquet for 40,000 families from a city precinct, which critics later cited as evidence that local leaders took the virus far too lightly.” (This happened in mid January


“As New Coronavirus Spread, China’s Old Habits Delayed Fight
At critical turning points, Chinese authorities put secrecy and order ahead of openly confronting the growing crisis and risking public alarm or political embarrassment”.

Interesting article on how China sanctioned doctors.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

The senior Morrison Government Minister also took a swipe at Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, accusing her of breaching the confidence of chief medical officers for political gain.

...

“Yesterday, after she’d had a briefing from her medical officer, about (coronavirus travel bans), went out smugly calling for the Federal Government to act in relation to flights from China,” Mr Dutton said.
“No other Premier broke the confidence of the chief medical officers meeting, except Annastacia Palaszczuk for her own political purposes.

“I thought it was an absolutely disgraceful act yesterday and it undermined the confidence within that committee and she’s got a lot of questions to answer for.”

I dunno - is no one concerned about this? If there's a serious issue affecting public health, why should premiers be bound by some sort of unwritten code of secrecy?