Chinese President Xi Jinping says his country is facing a "grave situation" in tackling the outbreak of a mysterious viral disease, which has infected nearly 2,000 people and claimed the lives of at least 56 others across China.
"It is our responsibility to prevent and control [the epidemic]," President Xi said at a meeting he chaired to discuss the coronovirus crisis on Saturday.
He ordered all levels of government to "put peoples life and health as top priority" and ordered groups to be sent to Hubei Province, the epicenter of the outbreak, to work directly on the ground.
The never-before-seen virus began to infect people in a seafood and poultry market in the central city of Wuhan, with a population of 11 million people, late last year.
As of Saturday morning, authorities confirmed that the death toll had risen to 56, while 1,975 cases of infection had been listed across the country.
Chinese officials have so far placed several cities, including Wuhan, under a lockdown in an attempt to prevent the spread of the virus. It has been transmitting nevertheless. On Sunday, the government announced a partial lockdown on the southern city of Shantou, where two cases had been detected.
Health authorities in the capital, Beijing, sent a text message to citizens calling on them to avoid shaking hands and advising them to use a traditional gesture instead.
Global spread
The virus, which is similar to the fatal severe respiratory syndrome (SARS), has crossed Chinas borders and infected several people around the world. At least 38 people have tested positive across the globe, including four cases in Australia, three cases in France, and two cases in the US.
Several people have also been diagnosed with the disease in the Chinese territories of Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macao.
The South Asian countries of South Korea, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand have also detected cases of infection.
The United States said on Sunday that it would relocate its diplomats at its Wuhan consulate in China. The State Department will also offer a limited number of seats to private US citizens on a flight from China to San Francisco on Tuesday.
Canada on Sunday declared the first "presumptive" case of the virus in a resident who had returned from Wuhan. The patient, a male in his 50s, had arrived in Toronto on Wednesday and was hospitalized the next day after developing symptoms of the disease, officials said.
Meanwhile, a study conducted at Imperial College London has suggested that the number of cases may be many times higher than what has been reported.
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