Virus containment fears grow

China starts week with slight uptick; Taiwan has first death

BEIJING — Mainland China on Monday reported a slight upturn in new virus cases and an increase by 105 in deaths caused by the illness, for a total of 1,770 since the outbreak began.

The 2,048 new cases followed three days of declines but was up by just 39 cases from the previous day’s figure. An additional 10,844 people have recovered from COVID-19, a disease caused by the new coronavirus, and have been discharged from hospitals, according to Monday’s figures.

New cases in other countries are raising growing concerns about containment of the virus.

On Sunday, Taiwan reported its first death from COVID-19, the fifth fatality outside mainland China. Taiwan’s Central News Agency, citing health minister Chen Shih-chung, said the man who died was in his

60s and had not traveled overseas recently and had no known contact with virus patients.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe convened an experts meeting to discuss containment measures in his country, where more than a dozen cases have emerged in the past few days without any obvious link to China.

“The situation surrounding this virus is changing by the minute,”

Abe said.

Japanese Health Minister Katsunobu Kato said the country is “entering into a phase that is different from before,” requiring new steps to stop the spread of the virus.

Japan now has 413 confirmed cases, including 355 from a quarantined cruise ship, and one death from the virus.

Hundreds of Americans from the cruise ship took charter flights home, as Japan announced that 70 more infections had been confirmed on the Diamond Princess. Canada, Hong Kong and Italy were planning similar flights.

The 300 or so Americans flying on

U.s.-government chartered aircraft back to the U.S. will face another 14day quarantine at Travis Air Force Base in California and Lackland Air Force Base in Texas. The U.S. Embassy said the departure was offered because people on the ship were at a high risk of exposure to the virus. People with symptoms were banned from the flights.

About 255 Canadians and 330 Hong Kong residents are on board the ship or undergoing treatment in Japanese hospitals. There are also 35 Italians, of whom 25 are crew members, including the captain.

As another containment measure, in China’s Hubei province, where the outbreak began in December, all vehicle traffic will be banned. The decision expands a vehicle ban in the provincial capital, Wuhan, where public transportation, trains and planes have been halted for weeks.

Exceptions were being made for vehicles involved in epidemic prevention and transportation of daily necessities.