Coronavirus spread is ‘accelerating’ says China

Coronavirus spread is ‘accelerating’ says China

Coronavirus spread is ‘accelerating’ says China as death toll rises to 41

China's president has warned the spread of the deadly coronavirus is accelerating, as he convened a special meeting of Communist leaders.

The country is also taking yet more drastic measures aimed at bringing it under control, including strict travel restrictions during the country's biggest holiday - the Lunar New Year.

The Chinese military are sending hundreds of staff to the epicentre of Wuhan and rushing in more medical supplies.

And still the numbers grow officially 41 dead and more than 1300 infected with the new virus the majority and wuhan hubei province where this all began today China's President Xi Jinping warned it was spreading and indeed scientists at Imperial College London suggest as many as 4,000 people were infected by January the 18th and that each person was infecting as many as 3 others showing how hard this will be to contain with pressure growing on the Chinese government much of the country has now declared a level one public health alert all transport in and out of Wuhan has been stopped from tomorrow all vehicle use including private cars will be banned from downtown in the city of eleven million six thousand taxis will be deployed to help people get around it is in quarantine Wuhan and Hebei province remains the epicenter with the largest number of cases but there are now reports from across China and Addis spread to Hong Kong and elsewhere in Asia and further still to the United States Australia and France where three patients have now tested positive in Hong Kong where they have had five cases today the government announced it was raising its emergency response to the highest level with schools to remain closed for two more weeks after the Lunar New Year celebrations homes I kicked in gatoring bomb we need to step up our immigration control we have to control the spread of the disease first of all we're going to stop flights and high speed trains from Wuhan we will wait until we're fully in control of the outbreak before we resume flights as well as the high-speed train service 31 people in the UK have been tested but all are negative public health teams have been placed at heathrow Airport in London for any passengers feeling unwell and Channel 4 News understands that medical teams will also be placed at other major airports around the country over the next few days yet China remains the focus of this outbreak in Wuhan their medical facilities are being overwhelmed they're now building two new hospitals to cope and the Chinese military has sent in 450 medical staff 

unlike influenza there is no vaccine for this new virus which has never been seen in humans before experts are concerned about how it might mutate the symptoms include a dry cough and a fever but people can remain asymptomatic unaware that they can spread the disease tonight China announced it was suspending tour groups from leaving the country and the French and Americans are planning to evacuate their citizens from Wuhan with other embassies and discussions with the local authorities the increase in the official numbers itself is not currently a sign that the crisis is worsening it could reflect better monitoring and detection but nobody is taking any chances