The number of people with pneumonia caused by a new coronavirus first identified in Wuhan topped 1,300 globally on Saturday, just as hundreds of millions of Chinese citizens set out on domestic and overseas trips at the start of the Lunar New Year holiday.
The death toll jumped to 41 nationwide from 26 a day before, Chinese health authorities said, with 39 fatalities in the central province of Hubei, of which Wuhan is the capital. Of the 1,300 cases, more than 1,200 are in China and no deaths have been reported elsewhere.
Infections have been confirmed in 29 of the country's 31 provincial-level regions, according to the authorities, while the virus has spread to other Asian nations, the United States, Europe and Australia, sparking fears of a global pandemic.
Japan's health ministry said Saturday it has confirmed a third case of the deadly virus in the country. The woman, a resident of Wuhan who is in her 30s, arrived in Japan on Jan. 18.
She is said to have had no symptoms at the time of arrival but developed a fever and started coughing on Tuesday night, according to the ministry.
She visited a Tokyo hospital on Thursday and later tested positive for the virus.
However, she has not been hospitalized, exhibiting minor symptoms, and is staying in her hotel room.
(A Chinese passenger that just arrived on the last bullet train from Wuhan to Beijing is checked for a fever by a health worker at a Beijing railway station on January 23, 2020.)[Getty/Kyodo]
In Beijing on Saturday, Chinese President Xi Jinping chaired a meeting of the Politburo Standing Committee, the ruling Communist Party's supreme leadership circle, on prevention and control of the outbreak. A decision was reached to set up a leading group to cope with the situation.
Xi was quoted as saying at the meeting that the pneumonia epidemic is accelerating. He ordered relevant departments to take stepped-up measures to prevent the further spread.
Local media reported Saturday that all group travel from China to other countries will be banned from Monday, with travel agents having been told to stop organizing trips abroad.
All outbound group tours scheduled to leave after Monday will be suspended, the reports said. All domestic tours have been suspended since Friday.
Since the start of the weeklong holiday on Friday, operators of many tourist destinations in China such as Shanghai Disneyland and the Palace Museum in Beijing, known as the Forbidden City, have decided to close the attractions to prevent the spread of the virus.
On Friday night, China sent to Wuhan 450 military medical staff, including those who have had experience in dealing with severe acute respiratory syndrome, known as SARS, according to official media reports.
In the Chinese capital, miaohui, or temple fairs -- a time-honored tradition for Chinese during the weeklong Spring Festival -- have also been canceled.
In Wuhan, with a population of more than 10 million, and several neighboring cities, transport services have been shut down. From Sunday, most motor vehicles will be banned from the city center, according to local media.
A physician in the city is suspected to have died of pneumonia on Saturday possibly caused by the new coronavirus infection, according to the media reports.
The United States reported Friday the country's second infection, while France said it has confirmed Europe's first three cases. Australia and Malaysia said Saturday that their first incidences of the new virus have been identified.
The Wall Street Journal reported Saturday that the U.S. government is arranging a charter flight Sunday to evacuate its citizens and diplomats from Wuhan.
Roughly 1,000 American citizens are thought to be in Wuhan, and the U.S. consulate there is reaching out to the ones it knows about to offer them a seat on the plane, the report said, quoting a person familiar with the matter.
Meanwhile Hong Kong's leader Carrie Lam on Saturday raised her government's response to its highest level of emergency and announced the extension of school holidays currently underway for the new year, local media reported.
All flights and high-speed train services between Hong Kong and Wuhan are to be halted indefinitely, she added. There are currently five confirmed cases of the coronavirus infection in Hong Kong.
Coronaviruses usually cause common-cold symptoms affecting the nose, sinuses or upper throat, and are spread through sneezing, coughing or direct contact.
Some types, however, lead to more serious, sometimes deadly respiratory diseases, like SARS or Middle East respiratory syndrome, known as MERS.
SARS raged in China in 2003 and then spread worldwide, killing 774 people.
The new coronavirus is spreading in Asia and beyond after reports of mysterious pneumonia cases surfaced in late December in Wuhan, located around 1,000 kilometers south of Beijing.
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New virus outbreak from China not yet global concern: WHO
Japan confirms 2nd new virus case, braces for Chinese tourist influx
U.S. confirms 2nd case of Wuhan coronavirus
