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LONDON (AP) — Latest: WHO says China virus not global health emergency:

6:20 p.m.

The World Health Organization says a viral illness in China that has sickened hundreds of people is not yet a global health emergency.

The decision came after Chinese authorities moved to lock down three cities on Thursday and canceled major events in the capital, Beijing, during the Lunar New Year holiday period to try to contain the new virus.

https://apnews.com/a6e3b3ca0968775520d1d75908f79b29

 

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China has decided to lock down three cities that are home to more than 18 million people in an unprecedented effort to try to contain a deadly new viral illness that has sickened hundreds and spread to other cities and countries in the Lunar New Year travel rush.
 

Police, SWAT teams and paramilitary troops guarded Wuhan’s train station, where metal barriers blocked the entrances at 10 a.m. sharp. Only travelers holding tickets for the last trains were allowed to enter, with those booked for later trains being turned away.
 

Normally bustling streets, shopping malls, restaurants and other public spaces in the city of 11 million people were eerily quiet. In addition to the train station, airport, ferry, subway and bus services were also halted. Similar measures will take effect from Friday in the nearby cities of Huanggang and Ezhou.

 

 

The above also per AP. They are saying at least 10 cities now, but apparently they're all in the same general area around Wuhan:

 

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BEIJING (AP) — China is swiftly building a 1,000-bed hospital dedicated to patients infected with a new virus that has killed 26 people, sickened hundreds and prompted unprecedented lockdowns of cities during the country’s most important holiday.

 

On the eve of the Lunar New Year, transportation was shut down Friday in at least 10 cities with a total of about 33 million people. The cities are Wuhan, where the illness has been concentrated, and nine of its neighbors in central China’s Hubei province.

 

 

https://apnews.com/09be6cd295bc66a335e6686da6bbbffb

Maybe lots of cancellations and people not showing up in the hotel biz