China suspended all football in the country Thursday, hours after the World Indoor Athletics Championships and World Cup skiing were postponed, adding to a long list of sports events hit by the coronavirus outbreak.

The world’s most populous country has become an increasing powerhouse in hosting international sport in recent years but has had its 2020 sporting calendar thrown into chaos.

Here, AFP Sport lists the events already affected and those potentially under threat:

Cancelled, postponed or moved

— Football: China on Thursday suspended all domestic football and postponed indefinitely the top-flight Chinese Super League season kick-off due on February 22 in order to “carry out prevention and control of the pneumonia epidemic,” said the Chinese Football Association.

— Athletics: The World Indoor Championships, scheduled for Nanjing from March 13-15, were postponed for a year. “It is with regret that we have agreed with the organisers … to postpone the event to March 2021,” the sport’s governing body said in a statement Wednesday.

— Football: The Asian Football Confederation announced Wednesday that home Champions League group stage games featuring four Chinese clubs would be switched to away fixtures for the first three match days in February and March. A decision on venues for each club’s three home group matches will be made at a later date.

— Women’s football: A women’s Olympics qualifying event between China, Taiwan, Thailand and Australia scheduled from February 3-9 in Wuhan, the disease epicentre, was moved initially to Nanjing then to Sydney. The China women’s football team were quarantined in a Brisbane hotel on Wednesday after arriving in Australia for the tournament.

— Boxing: A qualification event for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics initially scheduled from February 3-14 in Wuhan was rescheduled for Amman in Jordan from March 3-11.

— Women’s basketball: Another Olympic qualifying tournament, a four-team battle for three Tokyo places between China, Great Britain, Spain and South Korea was moved on Monday from Foshan, in southern China, to Belgrade where it will run alongside another four-team group on February 6-9.

— Aquatics: The Chinese leg of the Diving World Series, scheduled for March 7-9 in Beijing, “has been cancelled,” Cornel Marculescu, president of the international swimming federation, told AFP on Monday. He said the World Series of synchronised swimming, scheduled for Suzhou from April 23-25, was also in question.

— Cycling: The Tour of Hainan, due to be promoted to the second-tier ProSeries this year, was scheduled from February 23 to March 1 on the southern island of Hainan. It has been cancelled “due to the health situation in the country”, the International Cycling Union said on Monday but could be rescheduled later in 2020.

Under threat

— Formula One: The Chinese Grand Prix race weekend is scheduled for Shanghai from April 17-19, an event which attracts tens of thousands of fans.

“We are monitoring the situation in close collaboration with F1, the promoter and with the Federation of Automobile Sports in China, which is our conduit on the ground in China,” governing body FIA said in a statement.

“We are all monitoring it together. At this stage not much we can do except watch the situation and react if necessary, if recommendations are made by the relevant authorities.”

— Formula E: The electric car racing series is also due to stage a race in China, on March 21 on the southern island of Hainan.

A Formula E statement read: “Given the current health concerns, we are continuing to closely monitor the situation as it develops on a daily basis. We have requested that our regional partner works together with the local motorsport federation, to liaise with the relevant authorities in Hainan province to further analyse and assess the situation and provide recommendations on preparations for the race.”

— Football: China is due to host the Maldives in a World Cup qualifying match on March 26 and travel to Guam for another on March 31 and said despite the postponement of all domestic football any decision on international fixtures would be made at a later date.

“The CFA will continue to maintain close communication with national authorities, and decide each event’s timing separately based on the actual development of the epidemic situation in each locality,” a statement said.

— Wrestling: The Asian Olympic qualifying tournament scheduled for March 27-29 in Xi’an could be cancelled. “We are following the situation closely and we are in close contact with the Chinese federation and local authorities,” Nenad Lalovic, president of the International Wrestling Federation, told AFP on Monday. “We will take a decision within 15 days.”

— Sport conference: The SportAccord annual convention, which brings together the presidents of the major international sports federations and the heads of the Olympic movement, including IOC President Thomas Bach, is due to take place in Beijing from April 19-24.

SportAccord is “closely monitoring the situation” and “is following the recommendations of the Chinese authorities and the WHO concerning travel to and from China,” a spokesman told AFP on Monday.

Source: AFP

To His Excellency Mr. Paul BIYA,

President of the Republic of Cameroon

Your Excellency,

We your compatriots schooling and working in Wuhan~ Hubei Province in China, bring our warm wishes for the year 2020. We pray for good health,  happiness and peace in our fatherland.

Your excellency,

We are writing to you directly, because the situation forces us to do so outside the established protocol.

Indeed we are Cameroonian nationals residing in the People’s Republic of China where for the most part we are students and workers.

We are here to steal the flame of knowledge in order to come and help our country overcome the challenges of development.

Your Excellency, we are about three hundred (300) Cameroonian residents in Hubei Province which happens to be the epicenter of the Coronavirus 2019-nCov epidemic that is currently affecting our host country and others.

 With shopping centers, markets, and transportation at a standstill, we are therefore very anxious about the future of events. Wuhan has been in quarantine since 23 January 2020 Mr President. Despite our many approaches (phone calls and correspondences) to the Cameroonian Embassy in Beijing, we remain without news or official answers to reassure us or give humanitarian instructions.

Your Excellency,

The Chinese government is working to contain this virus but however, it continues to gain ground and psychosis too.

Our frustration is even greater when our colleagues from neighbouring countries receive both moral and physical support from their hierarchy. We refuse to believe that we have been abandoned, which is why we want to seize this opportunity to cry out for help from you.

We wish to suggest that we be provided with a Hotline or Emergency number for all Cameroonians in China via the Embassy.

 Above all, Your Excellency, we pray to be provided with the most urgent necessities at this time of crisis: masks, disinfectants and food. Most shops have been emptied and many of us have already exhausted our reserves and are completely stranded.

We know as our father, you cannot see your children being confronted with such an unfortunate  situation without being moved. Help us, Your Excellency, we pray you.

We would have loved to be evacuated from here, but understand that circumstances may not permit, and so kindly pray to be assisted with the basic necessities that can sustain us here till things get back to normal.

We are confident, Mr. President, that this message will reach you in good faith.

May God continue to bless, protect and guide you.

Signed:

 Members of the Executive Bureau,

 Cameroonian Community in Hubei, China-

1. Dr. Pisso Nseke

2. Jum Francis

3. Christian Manga

The death toll from a new coronavirus in China rose sharply to 132 on Wednesday with nearly 1,500 new cases, heaping pressure on Beijing to control the disease as U.S. officials said the White House was weighing whether to suspend all flights to the country.

The White House is holding daily meetings on the outbreak and monitoring China-U.S. flights as a likely source of infections, sources briefed on the matter told Reuters, though it had decided against suspending air traffic on Tuesday.

Two U.S. officials said the administration had not taken any options off the table, however, including a temporary ban on flights, if public health data supported the move.

Fears of the spreading virus have already pushed airlines around the world to reduce flights to China and global companies to restrict employee travel to the country, while sectors from mining to luxury goods have been shaken by concerns for global growth in the event of a worst-case pandemic.

China’s National Health Commission on Wednesday said the total number of deaths from the flu-like virus rose by 26 on Tuesday to 132, while the number of confirmed cases rose by 1,459 to a total of 5,974.

New cases were also reported around the world, including Germany where four people from the same company were infected after one of them contracted it from a colleague while visiting their workplace in China.

The German cases raise concerns about the human-to-human spread of the virus which can be transmitted in droplets from coughs and sneezes and has an incubation period of up to 14 days.

Known as “2019-nCoV”, the newly identified coronavirus emerged late last year in Wuhan, a major transportation hub and capital of central Hubei province with a population of 11 million people.

China has since moved to lock down most of Hubei province, with a population around the same as Italy, to contain the epidemic. Most of the confirmed deaths and patients from the outbreak are in Hubei.

Health authorities believe the virus originated from an animal and have pointed to a seafood market in Wuhan where wildlife was traded illegally.

The virus has spread to more than a dozen countries and cases such as those in Germany show it is spreading through human contact and not only through travellers from China.

Experts say it is too early to know what its death rate will be, since there are likely to be many cases of milder disease going undetected.

“The virus is a devil and we cannot let the devil hide,” state television quoted Chinese President Xi Jinping said during a meeting with World Health Organization (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in Beijing on Tuesday.

“China will strengthen international cooperation and welcomes the WHO participation in virus prevention… China is confident of winning the battle against the virus.”

China’s assurances failed to calm investors, however, as and health authorities around the world continued to step up efforts to stop the virus from spreading on their shores.

The United States said it was expanding screening of arrivals from China from five to 20 airports and would consider imposing further travel curbs.

“All options for dealing with infectious disease spread have to be on the table, including travel restrictions,” said U.S. Health Secretary Alex Azar.

From France to Japan, governments were organising evacuations, while Hong Kong – scene of anti-China unrest for months – planned to suspend rail and ferry links with the mainland. United Airlines said it was suspending some flights between the United States and China for a week from Feb. 1 due to a “significant decline in demand.”

The U.S. Embassy in Beijing said a chartered plane would pick up its consular staff on Wednesday. The European Commission said it would help fund two aircraft to fly EU citizens home, with 250 French nationals leaving on the first flight.

(REUTERS)

The President of the so-called House of Senate has finally returned to Cameroon. Marcel Niat Njifenji arrived the Nsimalen International airport on the night of January 27, 2020 from Switzerland.

Cameroon Intelligence Report sources hinted that physicians specialized in the treatment of leukaemia examined the ailing French Cameroun leader Niat Njifenji during his long stay in Geneva to determine whether he was suffering from blood disorder.

And for the first time, a very flippant but reliable source at the Cameroon embassy in Switzerland revealed it is likely the constitutional successor of President Biya is suffering from leukaemia.

Hon. Niat (85) has been sick for years and “blood tests have shown he has a low platelet count – a symptom of leukaemia or other cancers” our source at the Cameroon embassy revealed.

A French Cameroun official at the hospital which specializes in blood disorders that hosted Mr Niat said the Senator and his family were moving towards the end of his illness.

Niat did not participate in the parliamentary session in November 2019. To be sure, the Biya acolyte was represented by the first vice-president of the Upper House, Aboubakary Abdoulaye.

The ailing Senate boss was even forced in October 2018, to vote for the presidential election at the Cameroon embassy in Paris, France.

By Chi Prudence Asong

Germany has declared its first confirmed case of the deadly coronavirus that broke out in China.

Bavaria’s health department said late on Monday that a man in the town of Starnberg, 30 kilometers (19 miles) southwest of Munich, has been confirmed as suffering from the virus.

The patient is in “good condition” and isolated under medical observation, Bavaria’s health department said in a statement posted on its website. It did not disclose any details of the patient’s age or nationality.

“People who have been in contact (with the patient) have been informed in detail about possible symptoms, hygiene measures and transmission channels,” the health department said.

The virus, that broke out in the central Chinese city of Wuhan at the end of last year, has thus far killed 100 people, infected over 2,800 others, stranded tens of millions during the big Lunar New Year holiday and rattled global markets.

Cases linked to people who travelled from Wuhan have been confirmed in a dozen countries, from Japan to the United States.

(REUTERS)

France confirmed on Friday its first three cases of the Wuhan coronavirus, with two patients being hospitalised in Paris and the other in the southwestern city of Bordeaux.

Health Minister Agnes Buzyn told a news conference authorities had confirmed two cases, Europe’s first, and that more cases were likely to occur in France.

In a separate statement on Friday, the health ministry announced the third case, a relative of one of the first two.

Earlier, the charity SOS Medecins said it had treated one of the cases, a patient of Chinese origin who was showing symptoms of a fever and who said he had been in contact with people from Wuhan in China, the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak.

Buzyn said the patient was 48 years old and had returned two days ago from a trip to China which included a stop in Wuhan.

“He’s been put in an isolated room so as to avoid any contact with the outside world. He’s fine”, she said.

Most of the cases and all of the deaths so far have been in China, where officials have imposed severe restrictions on travel and public gatherings.

The virus has created alarm, but there are still many unknowns surrounding it, such as just how dangerous it is and how easily it spreads between people. It can lead to pneumonia, which has been deadly in some cases.

The World Health Organization on Thursday declared the virus an “emergency in China”, but stopped short of declaring it a global health emergency.

Buzyn said the official advice to those suspecting they might have caught the virus was not to go to hospital – to avoid spreading it – but to call a special number where they would be told what to do.

The minister said she planned to hold daily news conferences on the issue.

(REUTERS)