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China coronavirus: HK declares highest level of emergency
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Top Stories |
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IANS | 25 Jan, 2020
Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam on Saturday declared the impact of the the
novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) outbreak to be of the highest emergency
response level, raising it from the previous status of "serious", after
the city reported five confirmed cases.
Addressing the media
here, Lam said that she will personally chair an inter-departmental
steering committee which will hope to issue strategic and other measures
as soon as practicable, reports the South China Morning Post newspaper.
She
also announced health declaration requirements would be extended to all
entry points into Hong Kong, including the border crossings at Lo Wu
and Lok Ma Chau.
Lam said the government would also look to
impose temperature checks for outgoing travellers, with priority given
to those heading to Shenzhen and Macau.
The Standard Chartered
Hong Kong Marathon, scheduled for February 9, will be cancelled, with
about 70,000 participants affected, Lam added.
Hong Kong school
students would get two more weeks of holiday during the Lunar New Year
and won't return to classes until February 17.
As of Friday, the
five confirmed cases of the coronavirus infection in Hong Kong were
patients who had travelled to Wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak in
China.
Flights from Wuhan to Hong Kong were cancelled since the Chinese city was put on a lockdown on Thursday morning.
The
development comes after China's National Health Commission on Saturday
put the death toll at 41 in the country, while the number of infected
persons were 1,287, with 237 patients in serious conditions.
The WHO is yet to declare the outbreak as an international health emergency.
Besides
Hong Kong, the others cases outside mainland China were reported in
France (two), Australia (one), Thailand (four including two cured),
Japan (two including one cured), South Korea (two), the US (two),
Vietnam (two), Singapore (three), Nepal (one), Macao (two) and Taiwan
(three).
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