CORONAVIRUS: China restricts travels, steps up screening as death toll reaches 56, nearly 2,000 infected

Health authorities in China have ordered drastic travel restrictions and also stepped up screening as the death toll arising from the outbreak of MERS & SARS-like disease known as Coronavirus reached 56.

Officials also say no less than 2,000 people have been infected by the virus which President Xi Jinping said posed a “grave” threat, as the city of Shanghai reported its first fatality.

China confirmed 1,975 cases of patients infected with the new coronavirus as of January 25, state broadcaster CCTV reported.

The development comes after the Chief Executive of Hong Kong, Carrie Lam announced that the outbreak of Coronavirus is now an “emergency” for her semi-autonomous terrain.

READ ALSO: Trump plans adding Nigeria, 3 other African countries to travel ban list

In a bid to check a possible spread in Hong Kong, Lam earlier on Saturday, ordered that all visitors coming from mainland China will be required to complete public health declarations.

“People providing false information will be fined up to $650,” Al Jazeera‘s Brown, reporting from Hong Kong said.

“Of course, for this to work, it’s going to have to rely on the honesty of people filling in those forms to really state where they’ve been in China, especially if they’ve been in Wuhan.”

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