- Özgür Töre
China announced late Saturday that all group tours from the country would be halted starting from Monday in an attempt to stop the spread of the virus.
More than 56 million people in almost 20 cities are affected by travel restrictions, which have been introduced amid fears the transmission rate will balloon as hundreds of millions of Chinese travel for the Lunar New Year celebrations.
The death toll in China from the coronavirus outbreak has climbed to 56, local media reported on Sunday. China’s National Health Commission announced 688 new confirmed cases, 1,309 new suspected cases and 15 deaths from the disease (13 in Hubei, one in Shanghai and one in Henan) in the past 24 hours.
The virus originated in Wuhan city -- the capital of Hubei -- and has now spread across 29 provinces in the country. Over 20 cases were reported in Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Thailand, the U.S., Singapore, France, Malaysia, Nepal, Australia, and Vietnam.
On Saturday, Hong Kong classified the outbreak as an "emergency" — the city's highest warning tier. Following the announcement, Hong Kong's theme parks; Disneyland and Ocean Park announced that they were closing its doors until further notice. Shanghai's Disneyland also closed from Saturday in response to the coronavirus outbreak.
The 2020 Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon has also been canceled in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.
Source: Agencies
