The deadly new virus is spreading rapidly according to Chinese President Xi Jinping who gave the warning after holding a special government meeting on the Lunar New Year public holiday. The country is facing a “grave situation” Mr Xi told senior officials, according to state television.

The coronavirus has killed at least 41 people and infected some 1,400 since its discovery in the city of Wuhan. Travel restrictions have already hit several affected cities affecting more than 20 million people. From Sunday, private vehicles will be banned from central districts of Wuhan, the source of the outbreak.

A second emergency hospital is to be built there within weeks to handle 1,300 new patients, and will be finished in half a month, state newspaper the People’s Daily said. It is the second such rapid construction project: work on another 1,000-bed hospital has already begun.

Today, Australia confirmed its first four cases – first in Melbourne, and then three more in Sydney.
It has also spread to Europe, with three cases confirmed in France. Tests in the UK on 31 people have come back negative, the government has said. Officials are trying to trace around 2,000 people who have recently flown to the UK from Hubei province.
(With reporting from BBC)