Thousands of passengers and crew on two cruise ships in Asian waters were placed in quarantine on Wednesday, as the death toll from an outbreak of a fast-spreading coronavirus rose to nearly 500.
China’s National Health Commission said another 65 people had died as of Tuesday, a new daily record taking the toll on the mainland to 490, most in and around the locked-down central city of Wuhan, where the virus emerged late last year.
There have been two deaths outside mainland China, both following visits to Wuhan. A man in the Philippines died last week, and a 39-year-old man with underlying illness died in Hong Kong on Tuesday.
Across mainland China, there were 3,887 new confirmed infections, for a total of 24,324.