North Korea ‘Flies out Foreign Diplomats to Russia’ After Lifting Coronavirus Quarantine

Early Indicators Suggest Chinese Economy Cratered in February Following Coronavirus Outbreak

News Analysis After the Federal Reserve cut benchmark interest rates by 50 basis points last week, the focus has shifted to China—and how far will Beijing go to stimulate China’s economy. Beijing has urged businesses to reopen their doors as the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak sidelined business activity during February. But economic activity in China has declined dramatically. Early readings on the state of the economy suggest that China could plunge into contraction, officially, for the first time since the 1970s. Early February Chinese economic indicators are shockingly bad. Chinese exports plunged at the beginning of the year. Total exports in January and February declined by 17.2 percent compared to the same period in 2019, according to latest official data from the General Administration of Customs released March 7. China had…

North Korea has flown foreign diplomats out of the country following weeks of聽tight quarantine restrictions imposed by Pyongyang over the spread of the coronavirus.

The country, which borders China and South Korea, the two countries hit hardest by the outbreak, has so far not聽confirmed a single case of the COVID-19 disease.

However, a聽special聽flight carrying presumably dozens of diplomats and other foreigners reportedly arrived in the city of聽Vladivostok in Russia’s Far East on Monday.

Dozens of passengers wearing masks, some of them with children, were seen lining up at聽Pyongyang International Airport while聽health workers scanned them for fever. It wasn鈥檛 immediately clear how many were flown out to Vladivostok on Air Koyro Flight 271, which arrived at聽10:49 a.m. local time, according to the website of Vladivostok International Airport. Previous reports said around聽60 people would be evacuated.

North Korea lifted travel聽restrictions last week after a聽month-long quarantine on foreign diplomats based in Pyongyang, allowing them to leave their compounds.

Calling its anti-virus campaign a matter of “national existence,” the country has also banned foreign tourists, delayed the school year, sealed off聽its borders, shut down nearly all cross-border traffic with China, intensified screening at entry points, and mobilized tens of thousands of health workers to monitor residents and isolate those with symptoms, in an effort to prevent an outbreak inside the country.

North Korea ‘Flies out Foreign Diplomats to Russia’ After Lifting Coronavirus Quarantine

On Monday,聽Colin Crooks, the British ambassador to North Korea, said聽Germany, which has an embassy in North Korea, and France, which聽runs an office there to foster exchanges, had withdrawn their representatives from the country and closed their missions. He did not mention the virus.

“Sad to say farewell this morning to colleagues from German Embassy and French Office #NorthKorea which are closing temporarily,” he聽tweeted, adding that the British Embassy would remain open.

Last month,聽North Korean leader Kim Jong Un warned of “serious consequences” if the virus reaches his country.

“In case the infectious disease spreading beyond control finds its way into our country, it will entail serious consequences,” Kim was quoted as saying聽by the聽state-run news agency KCNA. “No special cases must be allowed within the state anti-epidemic system.”

The North Korean supreme leader instructed officials to “seal off all the channels and space through which the infectious disease may find its way, and strengthen check-up, test, and quarantine.”

Experts have warned that North Korea is vulnerable to infectious diseases due to its聽chronic lack of medical supplies and poor health infrastructure, while the county鈥檚 land border with China makes it more at risk from the disease.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.

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Amid Virus Outbreak, China Suddenly Cancels Flights and Train Schedules in Major Cities

Two major cities in Guangdong province recently cancelled most of their flights to Beijing, Shanghai, and Hangzhou, drawing public speculation that the changes were precautions related to the novel coronavirus outbreak. A large number of passenger train routes in major cities across the country were also cancelled. Airlines stated “public security issues,” but didn’t give details. State-run media quoted Air China staff who said: “could be related to coronavirus outbreak.” In recent days, local media reported several cases of novel coronavirus patients who died in Guangdong province shortly after being confirmed with the virus. According to flight-tracking websites, almost all flights from Shenzhen and Guangzhou to Beijing, Shanghai and Hangzhou were cancelled after 5:15 p.m. local time on March 5. Some of the flights to Tianjin, Nanjing, Shenyang, and other…