January 28, 2020

Borders close around China

By Newsroom

Hong Kong will cut all rail links to mainland China as the United States and other governments prepared to evacuate citizens from the Chinese city at the centre of a virus outbreak that has now killed more than 100 people.

The train service will stop at midnight  on Thursday when the two stations connecting to the mainland would be closed. But flights from the mainland would be reduced.

Both North Korea and Mongolia have closed off their borders.

The US Consulate in the central Chinese city of Wuhan was preparing to fly its diplomats and some other Americans out of the city on Wednesday.

China’s death toll from the new viral disease rose to 106, including the first death in Beijing, the Chinese capital, and 24 others in Hubei province, where the first illnesses were detected in December.

Asian stock markets tumbled for a second day, dragged down by worries about the virus’s global economic impact.

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