By Robin Selimi - 14/02/20 - World
The new coronavirus has been declared a global emergency by the World Health Organization, as the outbreak continues to spread outside China.
Hundreds of people in China have died from the virus, mostly in Hubei, with many thousands of cases nationally. This outbreak needs to be neutralized.
China has said it will send charter plans to bring back Hubei province residents who are overseas "as soon as possible". A foreign ministry spokesman said this was because of the "practical difficulties" Chinese citizens have faced abroad. Hubei is where the virus emerged in a fish market in the city of Wuhan.
The WHO said there had been dozens of cases in 18 other countries, but only a small number of deaths. Most international cases are in people who had been to Wuhan in Hubei. However in a few cases - in the UK, Germany, Japan, Vietnam and the United States - patients were infected by people who had traveled to China. This is the main reason China has shut its borders down.