Hong Kong stops travel across mainland border to block virus
● Lam issues order wearing face mask ● First fatality in the Chinese capital
Hong Kong has announced it will cut cross-border travel between the city and mainland China as the deadly coronavirus continues to spread.
More than 100 people have died in China and the virus has spread to at least 16 other countries globally. Chief Executive Carrie Lam said that train services would stop at midnight and that the two stations connecting to the mainland would be closed. She announced the move at a news conference, while wearing a surgical green mask.
Lam stopped short of closing the border completely, as North Korea and Mongolia have done, but said that flights from the mainland would be reduced.
China’s death toll from the new viral disease rose to 106, including the first death in Beifar-reaching jing, the Chinese capital, and 24 others in Hubei province, where the first illnesses were detected in December.
Asian stock markets tumbled for a second day, hit by fears about the virus’s global economic impact.
The US Consulate in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, where authorities cut off most access a week ago in an effort to contain the disease, was preparing to fly its diplomats and some other Americans out of the city today. Japan and South Korea plan to send planes to Wuhan this week to evacuate their citizens. France, Mongolia and other governments also planned evacuations.
US health officials expanded their recommendation for people to avoid non-essential travel to any part of China, rather than just Wuhan and other areas most affected by the outbreak.
China’s increasingly drastic containment efforts began with the suspension of plane, train and bus links to Wuhan, a city of 11 million people. That lockdown has expanded to 17 cities with more than 50 million people in the most
disease-control measures ever imposed.
There were 1,771 new cases confirmed in China on Monday, raising the national total to 4,515, according to the National Health Commission. It said 976 people were in serious condition.
The government has sent 6,000 extra medical workers to Wuhan from across China, including 1,800 who were due to arrive Tuesday, a commission official, Jiao Yahui, said at a news conference.
A baby boy was delivered by surgery in Wuhan after his 27-year-old mother was hospitalised as a “highly suspected” virus case. The mother, who has a fever and cough, was 37 weeks pregnant.
Doctors wore protective masks and clothing for the delivery at Union Hospital.
China has reported eight cases in Hong Kong and five in Macao, and more than 45 cases have been confirmed elsewhere in the world. Almost all involve mainland Chinese tourists or people who visited Wuhan.
On Tuesday, Taiwan said two 70-year-old tourists from Wuhan had been confirmed to have the disease, raising its total to seven cases. Thailand reported six members of a family from Hubei were new cases, raising its total to 14.
Germany confirmed its first case late on Monday. Infections also have been confirmed in the United States, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, Nepal, France, Canada, Australia and Sri Lanka.
The five American cases are people who had recently arrived from central China. Health officials said they had no evidence the virus was spreading in the United States and they believe the risk to Americans remains low.
The coronavirus causes cold and flu-like symptoms, including cough and fever, and in more severe cases, shortness of breath and pneumonia.
It’s thought to have spread to people from wild animals sold at a Wuhan market. China last Sunday banned trade in wild animals and urged people to stop eating meat from them.