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The following two links are updated daily:
IATA international transit / arrival policies Coronavirus Outbreak - Update
WHO Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) situation reports
Counters / Meters : Other Discussions on FlyerTalk Pertaining to COVID-19:
General (in this forum)
- Corona Virus / COVID-19 : general fact-based reporting [previously in] China forum
- COVID-19: Lounge thread for thoughts, concerns and questions
- USA halts entry of visitors whove been in UK, Ireland, Schengen countries
Location-specific
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- coronavirus travel waiver Air Canada | Aeroplan forum
- Coronavirus - Air China offers full refunds Other Asian, Australian, and South Pacific Airlines
- Does AFKL suspend flights to Mainland China? Air France, KLM, and Other Partners | Flying Blue
- NZ Suspends PVG service - till 29 March Air New Zealand | Air Points
- Alaska disappointing handling over an award ticket regarding viral outbreak in china Alaska Airlines | Mileage Plan
- AA China Coronavirus paid & award flights cancellation / change questions American Airlines | AAdvantage
- Coronavirus + NH All Nippon Airways | ANA Mileage Club
- *Coronavirus : BA Suspends all flts to mainland China* +discussion on long haul flts British Airways | Executive Club forum
- Wuhan coronavirus - effect on Cathay Pacific Cathay Pacific | Marco Polo Club
- China Southern travel-waiver corona-virus Other Asian, Australian, and South Pacific Airlines
- DL Coronavirus Waiver // Suspension of China flights due to Corona Virus Delta Air Lines / SkyMiles
- Coronavirus - Emirates Emirates | Skywards
- BR Adjusts Service/Schedule Due to Coronavirus Outbreak Eva Air / Infinity MileageLands
- Finnair China travel waivers?? Finnair | Finnair Plus
- Hainan Airlines (HU) Travel Waiver for 2019-nCoV? Other Asian, Australian, and South Pacific Airlines
- IB halts flights to China due to CoronaVirus [29/01/2020] Iberia Airlines | Iberia Plus
- Wuhan Coronavirus travel waiver / service change Japan Airlines | JAL Mileage Bank
- Coronavirus: LH Group general waiver to rebook flights operated end of April 2020 Lufthansa, Austrian, Swiss, Brussels, LOT and Other Partners | Miles & More
- Coronavirus: LH Group suspends flights to Italy [Discussion of Italy waiver] Lufthansa, Austrian, Swiss, Brussels, LOT and Other Partners | Miles & More
- Coronavirus Ticket Change Policy? Malaysia Airlines | Enrich
- QANTAS suspends services to China from Feb 9 Qantas | Frequent Flyer
- Ryanair - any options for Italy flights? Ryanair / Other European airlines
- SAS stops all direct flights to mainland China SAS | EuroBonus
- Coronavirus waivers Singapore Airlines | KrisFlyer
- THAI reduces flights to/from Mainland China 08Feb - 28Mar Thai Airways | Royal Orchid Plus
- Turkish Airlines Suspends Service to China until February 09 Turkish Airlines | Miles&Smiles
- UA COVID19: Flight Suspensions; Reduced serviced; Waivers; and No change fee bookings United Airlines | MileagePlus
- Coronavirus Waivers? Virgin Atlantic Airways | Flying Club
Hotels
- Cancellation of Bookings Due to Corona Virus Accor / ALL (Accor Live Limitless)
- Does Hilton wave no refundable bookings? Hilton / Hilton Honors
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- Coronavirus, any impact on your travel plan Marriott / Marriott Bonvoy
Other
- Which longhaul routes to/from China will be cut by end of Q1 2020? TravelBuzz
- Coronavirus epidemic, worries for China/ Global GDP OmniPR forum
- Coronavirus in the US. What would Amtrak do? Amtrak / Guest Rewards
- Your Next Cruise: Are are Having Second Thoughts Due to Fears of Pandemic? Travel&Dining / Cruises
Please add other discussions on FlyerTalk pertaining to COVID-19 not already been included in this WikiPost. Thank you.
Coronavirus / COVID-19 : general fact-based reporting
#3631




Join Date: May 2010
Location: AVP & PEK
Programs: UA 1K 2MM
Posts: 7,808
I am not in China, and haven't been for 5+ weeks!

Small data point:
We're a small manufacturing business on the outskirts of Beijing and no one works from home in our company; all employees are required to take their temperature twice-a-day and submit it to the local Industrial Development Zone.
Business is going well, and the all-around attitude is generally positive from what I gather.
#3632




Join Date: May 2018
Location: Colorado (anywhere between DEN DMM BAH)
Programs: United MileagePlus, SkyMiles, AAdvantage, NEXUS
Posts: 3,591
I just came back from a three-week trip to Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. My hometown in Saudi just got quarantined (though commercial trucks are still allowed in to supply food and stuff) and the weekend before, the usual hordes of Saudis that spend their weekends in Bahrain were to scared to travel there. So Bahrain was like a ghost town during my last few days there. And now schools and unis are off in Saudi and Bahrain. Half the people outside, I've noticed, were wearing masks. At BAH, RUH and DMM, I noticed a lot of people working at the airport were wearing them, and half the travelers (of varying nationalities and ethnicities) were, too.
The land borders linking Saudi to the UAE and Kuwait were also shut down, so you can only fly to them and Bahrain. Ticket prices between DMM and BAH skyrocketed given it's the only way to travel there now.
Also, Saudi halted the issuance of tourists visas to passport holders from China, Japan and South Korea.
I flew BAH-RUH-FRA-IAD, and the flight between BAH and FRA was about only a third full, and the UA flight from FRA to IAD was three-quarters full. When I was leaving BAH, they asked about my final destination when they saw my Saudi passport. The reason they asked was because Saudis traveling to Iran illegally were the ones who brought the coronavirus initially to both countries. In FRA, as part of UA's document check, they asked if I'd been to Iran or China within the last two weeks. The officer picking up GE slips also asked me the same thing at IAD.
Friends who traveled from Egypt had their temperatures checked as they got back into Saudi.
The land borders linking Saudi to the UAE and Kuwait were also shut down, so you can only fly to them and Bahrain. Ticket prices between DMM and BAH skyrocketed given it's the only way to travel there now.
Also, Saudi halted the issuance of tourists visas to passport holders from China, Japan and South Korea.
I flew BAH-RUH-FRA-IAD, and the flight between BAH and FRA was about only a third full, and the UA flight from FRA to IAD was three-quarters full. When I was leaving BAH, they asked about my final destination when they saw my Saudi passport. The reason they asked was because Saudis traveling to Iran illegally were the ones who brought the coronavirus initially to both countries. In FRA, as part of UA's document check, they asked if I'd been to Iran or China within the last two weeks. The officer picking up GE slips also asked me the same thing at IAD.
Friends who traveled from Egypt had their temperatures checked as they got back into Saudi.
Last edited by Nayef; Mar 9, 2020 at 8:18 am Reason: added more info
#3633
FlyerTalk Evangelist




Join Date: Aug 2014
Programs: Top Tier with all 3 alliances
Posts: 19,520
I think the illusion of containment around the world has now faded and you can say that officially we are entering the mitigation phase, where social distancing starts getting real globally.
This will be a week of "too little too late" new measures, and related confusion around the world, I predict...
The main positive is discussion of economic stimulus measures in Europe, and individual countries have started doing that, I hope the US follows...
Some worldwide updates here:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world...cid=spartandhp
This will be a week of "too little too late" new measures, and related confusion around the world, I predict...
The main positive is discussion of economic stimulus measures in Europe, and individual countries have started doing that, I hope the US follows...
Some worldwide updates here:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world...cid=spartandhp
#3634
FlyerTalk Evangelist




Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: JER
Programs: BA Silver again, several MUCCI, and assorted Pensions!
Posts: 32,490
I have no profound inputs to make - Im just the average leisure traveller. However, weve just returned from a resort north of Punta Cana in Dominica, where apparently they have had one reported case nationally. The Resort had deployed pump pots of hand sanitiser everywhere. Reception, the public restrooms ... and at the podiums at the entrance to the on-site restaurants. At the latter, we were presented with a free squirt by the hostess before being led to our table.
Nothing noticed at PUJ airport, but they were deployed at the reception desks at the BA Lounge at LGW.
Nothing noticed at PUJ airport, but they were deployed at the reception desks at the BA Lounge at LGW.
#3635
FlyerTalk Evangelist



Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: London
Posts: 19,059
narvik Spain is just about to enter an unseasonable heatwave
https://elpais.com/espana/2020-03-09...33-grados.html
https://elpais.com/espana/2020-03-09...33-grados.html
#3636




Join Date: May 2010
Location: AVP & PEK
Programs: UA 1K 2MM
Posts: 7,808
narvik Spain is just about to enter an unseasonable heatwave
https://elpais.com/espana/2020-03-09...33-grados.html
https://elpais.com/espana/2020-03-09...33-grados.html
Cheers.
Will be interesting to see the effect on COVID-19 spread, if any!
#3637


Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Moscow
Programs: Marriott Titanium, IHG Diamond AMB
Posts: 1,830
I have no profound inputs to make - Im just the average leisure traveller. However, weve just returned from a resort north of Punta Cana in Dominica, where apparently they have had one reported case nationally. The Resort had deployed pump pots of hand sanitiser everywhere. Reception, the public restrooms ... and at the podiums at the entrance to the on-site restaurants. At the latter, we were presented with a free squirt by the hostess before being led to our table.
#3638
FlyerTalk Evangelist




Join Date: Aug 2014
Programs: Top Tier with all 3 alliances
Posts: 19,520
Press conference video of NYS Gov. Cuomo, discusses social distancing measures and testing issues in New York.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/polit...cid=spartanntp
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/polit...cid=spartanntp
#3639
Ambassador, Hong Kong and Macau




Join Date: May 2009
Location: HKG
Programs: Non-top tier Asia Miles member
Posts: 22,050
VGP News | One more tested positive for COVID-19, total rises to 30 - One more tested positive for COVID-19, total rises to 30
https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se...hanoi-triggers
Is this the first confirmed in-flight outbreak?
https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se...hanoi-triggers
Is this the first confirmed in-flight outbreak?
Thus, related to the flight VN54 from England to Vietnam on 2/3, up to now, there have been recorded 12 cases, including those sitting in the business seats in the same compartment as NHN patients, there are People sit in the regular compartment.
Of the 12 confirmed cases with the same flight, 10 were foreign nationals, mostly British nationals. The remaining two cases, including NHN patient and Mr. NQT, were both in Truc Bach - Ba Dinh - Hanoi, the two of them sat near the rows of seats, along with the business compartment.
From my read of the Vietnamese text into English (and Chinese):
i) Both J pax (adjacent to 5K) and pax in Y got infected?
ii) Pax in the Y cabin adjacent to the J cabin got infected, along with people in the J cabin?
#3640
FlyerTalk Evangelist




Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: JER
Programs: BA Silver again, several MUCCI, and assorted Pensions!
Posts: 32,490
#3641




Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Munich
Programs: LH Sen****, Hertz PC, HHonors Diamond, IHG Pt
Posts: 235
Germanys mortality rate is 0% with 1018 positive tests and 218 new cases today. The US has slightly less than half the number of identified cases and 19 fatalities. Bad luck (hasnt hit a German nursing home... yet?)? Better healthcare system? France, next door, has about the same stats as Germany (1126 cases), but already 19 fatalities...
I am not an infectious disease expert, but I agree that drawing conclusions from individual countries or regions at this time is probably fairly unreliable given the small numbers and different approaches to care and testing.
I am not an infectious disease expert, but I agree that drawing conclusions from individual countries or regions at this time is probably fairly unreliable given the small numbers and different approaches to care and testing.
Same rationale applies to Italy: Probably the case numbers there are also closer to 5x of what the stats tell us, that explains the highest number of fatalities outside China.
On the other side, diagnostics capacities (labs, etc.) in Germany are among the best in the world.
All that tells is that Germany is early on the curve and can do more to drag out the spread now, yet the numbers will rise likewise, just slowlier if appropriate action is now taken.
#3642




Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Truth or Consequences, NM
Programs: HH Diamond, Hyatt Globalist, Marriott Lifetime Platinum,Mobile Passport Unobtanium
Posts: 6,237
Coronavirus ‘highly sensitive’ to high temperatures, but don’t bank on summer killing it off, studies say
- Pathogen appears to spread fastest at 8.72 degrees Celsius, so countries in colder climes should ‘adopt the strictest control measures’, according to researchers from Sun Yat-sen University in Guangdong province
- But head of WHO’s health emergencies programme says it is ‘a false hope’ to think Covid-19 will just disappear like the flu
https://www.scmp.com/news/china/scie...nt-bank-summer
#3643
FlyerTalk Evangelist




Join Date: Aug 2014
Programs: Top Tier with all 3 alliances
Posts: 19,520
The Who briefing today, available online, I just watched the q&a, a couple of things that struck me: Tedros kept repeating about sign of "moral decay" focusing on the relative safety of the virus for healthy individuals and not worrying about the elderly and frail.
Clarifying question regarding the "mild/moderate" versions of the disease for the 80%, may also include mild pneumonia (which we knew by the Chinese data, but people often gloss this over). Clarifying questions regarding the "recovery" of the severe cases, they defined recovery as not having the virus anymore, so the up to six weeks recovery for the hospitalized does not necessarily mean full clinical recovery, which can take months.
There is a 5:30pm press briefing today by the US administration.
Clarifying question regarding the "mild/moderate" versions of the disease for the 80%, may also include mild pneumonia (which we knew by the Chinese data, but people often gloss this over). Clarifying questions regarding the "recovery" of the severe cases, they defined recovery as not having the virus anymore, so the up to six weeks recovery for the hospitalized does not necessarily mean full clinical recovery, which can take months.
There is a 5:30pm press briefing today by the US administration.
#3644
Join Date: Aug 2016
Posts: 259
Coronavirus can travel twice as far as official safe distance and stay in air for 30 minutes, Chinese study finds
- Authorities advise people to stay 1-2 metres apart, but researchers found that a bus passenger infected fellow travellers sitting 4.5 metres away
- The scientists behind the research said their investigation also highlighted the importance of wearing face masks because of the length of time it can linger
Be very afraid.
"The researchers also found that none of those passengers in the two buses who wore face masks were infected."
I've found it interesting that Asian governments have generally encouraged their people to wear masks, whilst Western governments have given the opposite advice.
#3645
FlyerTalk Evangelist




Join Date: Aug 2014
Programs: Top Tier with all 3 alliances
Posts: 19,520
Coronavirus can travel twice as far as official safe distance and stay in air for 30 minutes, Chinese study finds
- Authorities advise people to stay 1-2 metres apart, but researchers found that a bus passenger infected fellow travellers sitting 4.5 metres away
- The scientists behind the research said their investigation also highlighted the importance of wearing face masks because of the length of time it can linger
Be very afraid.
"The researchers also found that none of those passengers in the two buses who wore face masks were infected."
I've found it interesting that Asian governments have generally encouraged their people to wear masks, whilst Western governments have given the opposite advice.



