Coronavirus: Death toll rises to 259 and US declares public health emergency
The number of people to have died from the coronavirus has risen to 259, according to Chinese officials.
It is up from the 213 declared on Friday, while the number of cases has also increased by more than 2,000 to 11,791.
These figures would “almost certainly be an underestimate” however, according to England’s chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty, who announced the UK’s first two cases of the coronavirus on Friday.
No one has died outside of China from the disease, but the virus is believed to have spread to at least 23 countries.
The World Health Organisation has declared a global health emergency. and a number of countries are stepping up precautions to prevent the coronavirus spreading.
The US has also now declared a national public health emergency as they look to avoid the spread of the virus.
Washington has said it will temporarily ban the entry of foreign nationals who have recently visited China.
US Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said the Trump administration would bar entry to those believed to be a risk of transmitting the virus from Sunday afternoon.
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“The risk of infection for Americans remains low and with these and our previous actions we are working to keep the risk low,” Azar said.
The US has already evacuated 200 citizens from Wuhan, the Chinese city where the outbreak occurred.
They are being held in quarantine at a military base in southern California for two weeks. The US will put on more flights to bring nationals home from the Hubei province and keep them quarantined also.
Other countries, including the UK, Australia, South Korea, Singapore and New Zealand, are quarantining evacuees for two weeks to avoid spread of the coronavirus.
Australia has also temporarily bared entry to the country for foreign nationals arriving from mainland China.
Russia, Mongolia and North Korea have also announced they will close their land borders with China, while a number of airlines have suspended all flights to the epicentre.