With 89 more people dying – most in Hubei, the province at the center of the outbreak in China – the virus toll is now higher than the 774 killed worldwide by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), according to official figures, AFP wrote.

The latest data came after the WHO said the last four days had seen “some stabilizing” in Hubei, but warned the figures can still “shoot up”.

Almost 37,200 people in China have now been infected by the virus, believed to have emerged late last year in Hubei’s capital Wuhan, where residents are struggling to get daily supplies because of sweeping transport restrictions and instructions to stay inside.

The epidemic has prompted the government to lock down whole cities.

With much of the country still not back at work after an extended Lunar New Year holiday, cities including financial hub Shanghai ordered residents to wear masks in public.

Michael Ryan, head of the WHO’s Health Emergencies Programme, said the “stable period” of the outbreak “may reflect the impact of the control measures.”

While the death toll has climbed steadily, new cases have declined since Wednesday’s single-day peak of nearly 3,900 people nationwide.

On Sunday, the number of new cases was just over 2,600.

Government measures

Millions of people are under lockdown in Hubei in a bid to stop the virus spreading.

Wang Bin, from the ministry of commerce, said challenges included poor logistics, price increases, and labor shortages.

“It is difficult for the market supply to reach normal levels,” he admitted at a press conference Sunday.

In Hubei province, there are five days of guaranteed pork and egg supplies, and three days of vegetables, he said.

China drew international condemnation for covering up cases during the SARS outbreak, whereas the measures it has taken this time have been praised by the WHO.

But anger erupted on social media after the death of a Wuhan doctor who police silenced when he flagged the threat of an emerging virus in December.

The doctor, 34, died early Friday, after contracting the virus from a patient.

Beijing responded by sending its anti-graft body to launch an investigation, attempting to ease the anger.

Global fears

Wuhan has converted public buildings into makeshift medical centers and built two new field hospitals.

The first foreign victim in China was confirmed this week when an American diagnosed with the virus died in Wuhan.

The only fatalities outside the mainland have been a Chinese man in the Philippines and a 39-year-old man in Hong Kong.

Several countries have banned arrivals from China while major airlines have suspended flights.

Air China announced Saturday it would cancel some of its flights to the US including from Beijing to New York and Washington.

Sixty-four people on board the Diamond Princess cruise ship off Japan’s coast have tested positive, with all passengers told to stay inside their cabins to prevent further infection.

Among its recommended measures, the Monetary Authority of Singapore said financial institutions should “continue to maintain effective internal controls across their operations should split team arrangements be implemented”, Reuters reported.

It also advised them to anticipate and be prepared to manage any increase in demand for certain financial services, such as cash withdrawal or online financial services.

On Friday, Singapore raised its virus alert level and reported more cases not linked to previous infections or travel to China.

Since the outbreak of the deadly coronavirus in China which has claimed lives of over 560 people, the Iranian Embassy in China has been following up moment by moment the latest situation of the Iran nationals in Wuhan, central Chinese city, and other cities in that country, the embassy said in a statement a copy of which sent to IRNA office in Beijing on Thursday, according to IRNA.

Reportedly, the outbreak of the coronavirus is believed to have begun from Wuhan.

On February 5, a Mahan Airlines flight carrying a number of Iranians from the quarantined city of Wuhan left for Tehran to let the nationals be kept in quarantine in their homeland, then to join their families, the statement said.

Also, headquarters to coordinate anti-coronavirus measures and a cyber group to give information to the users have been set up in line with the Embassy’s aid efforts for the Iranian nationals.

In addition, a direct phone line has been installed for continuous contact between the Iranian Embassy and the nationals in Wuhan.

The Embassy has also been trying to provide food and health services for the Iranian university students residing in Wuhan to let them not go out and not be disposed of in-crowd.

At the end of the statement, the Iranian Embassy said it has made all its efforts to follow up issues related to the Iranian nationals across China.

With more than 24,000 cases in China, a growing number of cities have been imposing a range of restrictions in recent days far from central Hubei Province, the epicenter of the outbreak, as authorities struggle to contain the virus, AFP reported.

Global concerns have risen as cases continue to spread abroad, with 10 people testing positive for the virus on a ship quarantined off the coast of Japan.

Italy announced that passengers from every international flight would be scanned for fevers.

Vietnam, which has detected 10 cases, joined a growing list of countries banning arrivals from China, and it was set up field hospitals with thousands of beds to handle a potential spike in coronavirus patients in the country.

And Hong Kong, which reported its first coronavirus death this week, said anyone arriving from the mainland will face a mandatory two-week quarantine from Saturday.

In Hangzhou, some 175 kilometers (110 miles) southwest of Shanghai, fences blocked streets near the headquarters of Chinese tech giant Alibaba – one of the world’s most valuable companies – as a fighter jet circled overhead.

The building appeared to be shut down, while deliverymen moved in and out of nearby fenced-in residential areas to drop off groceries. Many people were also seen going out.

The firm is based in one of three Hangzhou districts subject to new restrictions that allow only one person per household to go outside every two days to buy necessities.

“Please don’t go out, don’t go out, don’t go out!” blared a message on a loudspeaker urging people to wear masks, wash their hands regularly and report any people who are from Hubei – reflecting a common fear that people from the province might infect others.

At least three other cities in Zhejiang Province – Taizhou, Wenzhou, and parts of Ningbo – have imposed the same measures, affecting 18 million people.

Similar restrictions have been put in place as far away as Heilongjiang Province on the Russian border, and in the central city of Zhumadian authorities said one person would be allowed to leave each household only every five days.

Residents of the city of seven million were also offered cash rewards for informing on people from neighboring Hubei who were in the city.

The disease is believed to have emerged in December in a Wuhan market that sold wild animals and spread rapidly as people traveled for the Lunar New Year holiday in January.

The Chinese Ministry of Public Security said: “political security” was the “top priority” in confronting the epidemic.

“We should take strict precautions against and the crackdown on all kinds of disruptive activities by hostile forces,” the ministry secretary, Zhao Kezhi, said in a briefing.

The statement came days after the top leadership admitted “shortcomings” in its handling of the outbreak, for which authorities have been criticized for withholding information.

The death toll has steadily increased, rising to 490 in China on Wednesday after Hubei reported 65 more people had died.

Most deaths have been in the province and officials have noted that the death rate, at around two percent, is below the mortality rate of SARS, which killed some 800 people in 2002-2003.

Two fatalities have been reported outside the mainland, in Hong Kong and the Philippines.

The outbreak has prompted the World Health Organization (WHO) to declare a global health emergency, several governments to institute travel restrictions, and airlines to suspend flights to and from China.

United and American Airlines said Wednesday they have added Hong Kong to their China flight suspensions.

China has reacted angrily against travel bans, noting that the WHO does not advise imposing them.

It has accused the US of spreading “panic” in its response to the coronavirus, including its ban on Chinese travelers, and on Wednesday it took another swipe.

“Panic is more deadly and contagious than any virus,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at a press briefing.

‘Window of opportunity’

The WHO said Tuesday that dramatic measures taken by China offered a chance to halt transmission.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the great majority of cases are in China.

“That doesn’t mean that it won’t get worse. But for sure we have a window of opportunity to act,” he said.

Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand all reported new infections not imported from China on Tuesday.

Semi-autonomous Hong Kong has closed all but two land crossings with the Chinese mainland.

A plane belonging to Mahan Airlines left Tehran with a team of infectious disease doctors and special emergency response medics early Tuesday, health minister adviser, Alireza Vahabzadeh, said.

There are 70 students of Iran living in Wuhan. They will be flown home today and quarantined for 14 days in a special hospital in Tehran, Vahabzadeh said.

On Monday, head of the Affiliation Center for Disease Control of Iran’s Ministry of Health and Medical Education Mohammad Mehdi Gouya said no Iranian student in Wuhan has been infected with the coronavirus.

Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization (CAO) spokesman Reza Jafarzadeh said flights to China had been suspended after several lawmakers complained that Mahan Airlines was continuing to fly to the Asian country.

Jafarzadeh said possible flights to China were being conducted in coordination with the Ministry of Health to transport Iranians residing in China and Chinese residing in Iran.

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Monday told his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi that Iran was willing to work together with China to combat the epidemic caused by the coronavirus.

Zarif also lauded the Chinese government for taking “timely and resolute measures in a responsible and transparent manner” to fight the epidemic, saying they have prevented deterioration of the outbreak not only within China but also across the world.

The minister said Iran has provided China with some urgently needed medical supplies and stands ready to offer more assistance.

Wang thanked Iran for providing China with medical supplies at the critical moment of epidemic prevention and control. He also praised Zarif as the first foreign minister publicly voicing support for China, saying it showed the friendship of the two nations, Xinhua reported.

The Chinese foreign minister said his country has established a nationwide system to fight the epidemic, stressing that Beijing has full confidence and ability to win the fight against the virus.

Zarif said Iran also believes China will overcome the epidemic. He said the Islamic Republic firmly opposes some Western countries’ attempts to exploit the situation.

China on Monday accused the United States of whipping up panic over the coronavirus with travel restrictions and evacuations.

Washington has “unceasingly manufactured and spread panic”, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told reporters, noting that the World Health Organization (WHO) had advised against trade and travel curbs.

“It is precisely developed countries like the United States with strong epidemic prevention capabilities and facilities that have taken the lead in imposing excessive restrictions contrary to WHO recommendations,” she added, saying countries should make reasonable, calm and science-based judgments.

China’s Ambassador for Disarmament at the United Nations in Geneva Li Song said the international community needed to treat the new virus outbreak objectively, fairly and not “deliberately create panic” among the general public.