Ten cities in the Chinese province of Hubei, including Wuhan, officially announced the suspension of transport connections over the outbreak of a new coronavirus.
Wuhan suspended transport connections on Thursday, while nine other cities – Chibi, Ezhou, Huanggang, Xiantao, Zhijiang, Qianjiang, Huangshi, Enshi and Xianning – did so on Friday.
Meanwhile, it was reported by thepaper.cn outlet, citing the staff of the Hubei Provincial Department of Commerce, that the Deputy Director of the Department of Commerce of Hubei Province was diagnosed with the new coronavirus. The outlet also said that the official is currently receiving treatment in the hospital.
According to the People's Daily, the Ministry of Science and Technology said that the first batch of eight emergency response projects of the "Technical Response to the Pneumonia Epidemic of New Coronavirus Infection" has been launched immediately, and funds have also been allocated.
The unknown type of pneumonia was first detected in Wuhan in late December. Chinese experts later tentatively determined that this was a new strain of coronavirus, currently being labelled as 2019-nCoV or Novel Coronavirus. More than 800 cases have already been confirmed across China, with 25 people having died of the disease.
Confirmed cases of new coronavirus have also been recorded in the United States, South Korea, Japan, Singapore and Thailand. On Thursday, the World Health Organization said it was too early to declare a global emergency over the outbreak.
The so-called Wuhan coronavirus belongs to the same family of coronaviruses that caused SARS - Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, which also originated in China in 2002 and resulted in the deaths of about 800 people all over the globe.
