A thermal scanner checks on arriving passengers at an airport.
In order to contain the deadly virus, China is building a special 1,000-bed hospital in Wuhan for treating coronavirus patients. Wuhan is following Beijing's SARS treatment model for admitting patients infected in the outbreak of pneumonia caused by novel coronavirus.
The Wuhan local government is rushing to build a 1,000-bedded hospital in the outskirts of Wuhan to treat the patients.
The 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) appears to have symptoms similar to those of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and may be capable of spreading from person to person and between cities, according to two studies published in The Lancet journal.
These early but important findings involve only a small number of patients, the researchers said.
They stress the need to maximise the chances of containing 2019-nCoV infection through careful surveillance, active contact tracing, and vigorous searches for the animal hosts and transmission routes to humans.
As of January 24, 2020, 835 laboratory-confirmed 2019-nCoV infections were reported in China, with 25 fatal cases, the researchers said.
According to the scientists, many of the cases have been linked to the Huanan seafood market in Wuhan, China, where freshly killed game animals were reportedly sold, although the original source of infection remains unknown.
The 2019-nCoV is most closely related to coronaviruses from Chinese horseshoe bats, they said.
Currently, six coronaviruses (seven including 2019-nCoV) are known to cause diseases of the respiratory tract in people, the researchers said, adding that only SARS and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) have resulted in large outbreaks of fatal illnesses to date.
China shuts down 13 cities as coronavirus death toll climbs to 26
The deadly virus that has claimed 26 lives so far with confirmed cases rising sharply to over 880, prompting authorities to shut down 13 cities during the country's most important holiday.
Dampening the celebrations of the Lunar New Year, China, in an unprecedented move, has shut down transportation in at least 13 cities -- Wuhan and 12 of its neighbours -- in central China's Hubei province to contain the coronavirus.
According to the National Health Commission, 26 people have died so far with 897 confirmed cases being treated mostly in Hubei province. Twenty nine provinces have reported the cases.
China's biggest city Shanghai raised the emergency response of public health safety to level 1, the highest, following Beijing, and Hubei, Hunan, Zhejiang, Anhui, and Guangdong provinces as more cases were reported.
Beijing so far reported 34 confirmed cases of coronavirus infection, official media reported.
The Chinese disease prevention authority on Friday released pictures and information of the first Wuhan Coronavirus that Chinese experts had discovered.
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