U.S. diplomats to leave Wuhan, China
Coronavirus death toll tops 100; more than 4,500 cases confirmed
BEIJING — China early today reported 25 more deaths from a new viral disease, raising the total to at least 106, as the U.S. government prepared to fly Americans out of the city at the center of the outbreak.
The total includes the first death in Beijing, the Chinese capital, on Monday, as well as 24 new deaths in Hubei province, where illnesses from the newly identified coronavirus first surfaced in December, the government announced.
The U.S. Consulate in Wuhan, where authorities cut off most access Wednesday in an effort to contain the disease, was preparing to fly its diplomats and some other Americans out of the city. Japan, France, Mongolia and other governments also were preparing evacuations.
China’s increasingly drastic containment efforts began last week with the suspension of plane, train and bus links to Wuhan, a city of 11 million people in central China. That lockdown has expanded to 17 cities with more than 50 million people in the most far-reaching disease-control measures ever imposed.
China extended the Lunar New Year holiday, the country’s busiest travel season, by three days to Sunday to keep the public at home and reduce the risk that infection will spread.
Mongolia closed its vast border with China, and Hong Kong and Malaysia announced they were barring entry to visitors from the Chinese province at the center of the outbreak after a warning by Chinese officials that the virus’ ability to spread was growing. Travel agencies were ordered to cancel group tours nationwide, adding to the rising economic losses.
China has confirmed more than 4,500 cases of the new virus, most in the central city of Wuhan where the illness first surfaced last month. More than 40 cases have been confirmed elsewhere in the world with virtually all of them involving Chinese tourists or people who visited Wuhan recently.
The government of Shanghai, a metropolis of 25 million people and a global business center, extended the Lunar New Year holiday by an additional week to Feb. 9. It ordered sports stadiums to close and religious events to cancel.
Tens of millions of people in China and around Asia had been due to crowd into planes, trains and buses to return to work after visiting their hometowns or tourist sites for the holiday. Schools will postpone reopening until further notice, the Chinese cabinet said.
The death toll rose Monday when the southern island province of Hainan in the South China Sea reported its first fatality, an 80-year-old woman whose family arrived from Wuhan on Jan. 17.
Hubei province, where Wuhan is located, has accounted for 76 of the deaths reported so far. There have been one each in Shanghai and the provinces of Hebei in the north, Heilongjiang in the northeast and Henan in central China.
The spread of the illness is being watched around the globe, with a small number of cases appearing in other countries. Sri Lanka confirmed its first case Monday. Cases also have been confirmed in the United States, Thailand, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, Nepal, France, Canada and Australia.
As of Monday, there were five Americans diagnosed with the virus in Washington state, Chicago, Southern California and Arizona. U.S. health officials said Monday that they had no evidence the virus was spreading in the U.S., and they believe the risk to Americans remains low.
China also reported eight cases in Hong Kong and five in Macao.
China’s No. 2 leader, Premier Li Keqiang, visited Wuhan to “guide epidemic prevention work,” the cabinet website said. Photos showed Li, in a blue smock and green face mask, meeting hospital employees.
Later, the premier, wearing a face mask and a dark windbreaker, visited a supermarket in the beleaguered city. Shoppers, also wearing masks, cheered to him, “Happy New Year!”
“To get the epidemic under control in Wuhan and the good health of people in Wuhan will be good news for the whole country,” Li told the crowd.
Elsewhere, the Potala Palace in Lhasa, the Tibetan capital, closed to tourists indefinitely Monday. The former imperial palace in Beijing closed Friday. Other major tourist sites also have shut down, including two of Hong Kong’s most popular tourist attractions, Hong Kong Disneyland and Ocean Park.
The virus is from the coronavirus family, named for their crown-like spikes. The family includes the common cold but also more severe illnesses like severe acute respiratory syndrome and Middle East respiratory syndrome. The new virus causes cold- and flu-like symptoms, including cough and fever, and in more severe cases, shortness of breath and pneumonia.
The virus is thought to have spread to people from wild animals sold at a market in Wuhan. On Sunday, authorities banned trade in wild animals and urged people to stop eating meat from them.