Death toll from new coronavirus rises to 41 in China, government says, as more countries confirm cases.
China has stepped up its response to a new coronavirus outbreak that has killed 41 people and infected at least 1,287 in the mainland, ordering nationwide measures to detect the virus at transport terminals.
Beijing has also expanded travel restrictions, affecting the movement of 56 million people in more than a dozen cities, amid fears that the transmission rate will accelerate as hundreds of millions of Chinese travel for the Lunar New Year.
Health authorities around the world are taking action to prevent a global pandemic as the virus continues to spread, with cases reported in Australia, France, the United States and seven Asia countries besides China.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has acknowledged that the respiratory illness, which has been traced to the city of Wuhan, is an emergency in China but WHO said it is too early to declare it a global health emergency.