China coronavirus news: Death toll nearly doubles as almost 500 new cases declared, prompting urgent travel warnings
Authorities work to contain outbreak before coming Lunar New Year
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Your support makes all the difference.Chinese health authorities have warned people not to travel to the city of Wuhan over concerns a new viral illness that has infected hundreds and killed at least 17 could mutate and spread further.
Some 473 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in 13 jurisdictions, said Li Bin, deputy director of the National Health Commission.
The virus has also spread to Thailand, where four cases have been confirmed, as well as Japan, South Korea, Macau, Hong Kong and the United States, which have all reported one case each.
Officials are working on the assumption the outbreak resulted from human exposure to wild animals being sold illegally at a food market in Wuhan and the virus is mutating, Gao Fu, an academic of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and head of the Chinese Center for Disease Control, told a news conference.
Health minister Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford has announced there will be “enhanced monitoring” of all direct flights from Wuhan to the UK from today.
Catch-up on events as the happened
Companies across China have been handing out masks amid fears the coronavirus will spread rapidly through the population.
Firms from Foxconn to Huawei Technologies and HSBC Holdings have issued advisories, while the government has urged members of the public to be extra careful if showing symptoms of a fever or a cold and has asked travel and other companies to accommodate people who might be affected.
Dr. David Heymann, who headed WHO's global response to Sars in 2003, said the new virus appears dangerous to older people with other health conditions, but does not look nearly as infectious as Sars.
"It looks like it doesn't transmit through the air very easily and probably transmits through close contact," he said. "That was not the case with SARS."
A World Health Organisation panel of experts will meet today to evaluate whether outbreak constitutes an international emergency.
The 16 independent experts in disease control, virology, epidemiology and vaccine development held a closed-door meeting at the UN agency's Geneva headquarters.
Hong Kong has quarantined a 39-year-old man after the city's first preliminary positive result in a test for the new flu-like coronavirus found in an outbreak in central mainland China, authorities said.
The tourist from Wuhan came to Hong Kong on Tuesday via high-speed rail from nearby Shenzhen and was detected having fever at the border.
He was in stable condition in an isolation ward at Princess Margaret Hospital, Sophia Chan, the health minister, said.
Russia is working to develop a vaccine against the coronavirus strain in China, Rospotrebnadzor, the country's consumer safety regulator has said, according to the RIA news agency.
"Yes, of course, the development of a vaccine is underway. Every time we have a mutation [of a virus], we start developing a vaccine immediately," Anna Popova, the head of Rospotrebnadzor, was cited as saying.
RIA cited Elena Yezhlova, head of Rospotrebnadzor's Epidemiological Surveillance Department, as explaining the process.
"The development of a vaccine is a long and complicated process; a decision is made on the basis of risk and the level of need dictated by the current situation," Ms Yezhlova was quoted as saying.
"At present, we will rely on the WHO's recommendations."
Authorities in Mexico are investigating one potential case of coronavirus in the northern border state of Tamaulipas, the country's president has said.
"It's being dealt with," Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said. A second potential case of the infection in Mexico had been ruled out, he added.
The death toll from the virus in China has risen to 17, state TV has reported. The previous death toll was nine.
Turkey has prepared thermal cameras and other precautions against the spread of the new flu-like coronavirus, but currently has no cases or at-risk patients, the country's health minister has said.
Turkey's new Istanbul airport is a major international hub, handling more than 50 million passengers last year, and flag-carrier Turkish Airlines operates daily flights to destinations in China including Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.
"We have preparations, including taking a risky patient from China to our quarantine room and taking them to the hospital via a specially designated ambulance," Fahrettin Koca told the state-owned Anadolu news agency.
"The World Health Organization [WHO] did not recommend thermal cameras for Turkey, but we took all precautions anyway, including thermal cameras."
In contrast with its secretary over the 2002-2003 Sars outbreak, which killed nearly 800 people, China has this time given regular updates to try and head off panic as millions travel at home and abroad for the Lunar New Year.
"The rise in the mobility of the public has objectively increased the risk of the epidemic spreading," National Health Commission vice-minister Li Bin acknowledged.
Amid official exhortations to stay calm, many Chinese were cancelling trips, buying face masks, avoiding public places like cinemas and shopping centres, and even turning to an online plague simulation game or watching disaster movie The Flu as a way to cope.
"The best way to conquer fear is to confront fear," said one commentator on China's Twitter-like Weibo.
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