China’s death toll from the coronavirus climbed to at least 80 as the country extended the Lunar New Year holiday in an effort to contain an infection whose spread accelerated around the globe.
Premier Li Keqiang visited Wuhan, the city at the epicenter of the disease, on Monday as the government faces pressure to combat the epidemic. World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom
Ghebreyesus said he’s heading to Beijing to meet with the government and assess the response.
Chinese authorities said the virus isn’t yet under control despite aggressive steps to limit movement for millions of people who live in cities near the center of the outbreak.
Anxiety is growing amid evidence that the disease has an incubation period of as long as two weeks before those infected start to show signs of the illness. That raises the possibility that people who are carrying the virus but don’t show symptoms could infect others.
- LATEST: Death toll rises to at least 80
- Confirmed cases in China jump to 2,744
- China extends New Year holiday to Feb. 2
- WHO director-general heads to China
- Stocks and oil prices drop while yen rises
Track the virus outbreak here
“The virus can be contagious during the incubation period, which is about 10 days, with the shortest being one day and longest being 14 days,” Ma Xiaowei, Minister of National Health Commission, told a press conference on Sunday. “This is very different from SARS.”
