Cruise line operators have canceled cruises to China after the outbreak of the coronavirus in China. The new virus that first appeared in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December has so far killed over 100 people and infected approximately 6,000 others.
President Xi Jinping said on Tuesday that China was sure of defeating a devil coronavirus that has killed at least 106 people, but the international alarm was rising as the outbreak spread across the world.
The World Health Organization said on Monday that it remained unclear if the deadly virus is contagious during its incubation period before symptoms appear. It did not immediately confirm assertions made by Chinese authorities that people who are infected can spread the disease before they show any symptoms of fever or respiratory difficulties.
China said on Tuesday that 106 people had died from a new coronavirus that is spreading across the country, up from the previous toll of 81. The number of total confirmed cases in China rose to 4,515 as of Jan 27, the National Health Commission said in a statement, up from 2,835 reported a day earlier.
China expanded drastic travel restrictions on Monday and prolonged a public holiday to contain an epidemic that has killed 80 people and infected more than 2,300, as several countries prepared to evacuate their citizens from a quarantined city at the outbreak's epicenter.
Fears over the global economic impact of the deadly China virus sent oil prices plunging more than on Monday to extend last week's sell-off, while safe-haven assets including the yen and gold rallied.
The official death toll from the coronavirus in China jumped on early Saturday to 41 from 26 a day before, as local media reported a doctor on the frontline of the battle to contain the virus in Wuhan city had died.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday it was “a bit too early” to declare a new coronavirus a global health emergency as China put millions of people on lockdown amid an outbreak that has killed 25 people and infected more than 800.
The number of deaths from a new SARS-like virus has climbed to nine as of the end of Tuesday with 440 confirmed cases, Chinese health officials said as authorities stepped up efforts to control the outbreak by discouraging public gatherings in Hubei province.
Former Interpol chief Meng Hongwei, who was detained on a visit to China in 2018, was sentenced on Tuesday (Jan 21) to more than 13 years in prison for bribery in a case that shook the international police organization.