US is expected to evacuate 230 Americans from Wuhan

The plane will have about 230 people and will carry diplomats of the American consulate and citizens with their families, the paper reported, citing an official aware of the operation as a source.

Washington has received Chinese authorities' approval for the operation, newspapers wrote. It is also scheduled for the American consulate in Wuhan to be provisionally closed.

Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Saturday the country is facing a serious situation, during a meeting over measures to cope with the situation created due to the outbreak of the deadly virus, state television reported

The reported figures Saturday speak of 41 deaths in China and more than 1,300 globally infected, most of them in China. The country is facing a <x0 heavy” where the coronary is “accelerating its spread”, President Xi said during the meeting that coincided with the Day of the Lunar Public Festival.

Chinese state television reported that experts will be focused on hospitals for handling serious cases. Information concerning the virus's spread should be accurate, fast and transparent, state television reported.

Coronavius has halted the Lunar New Year celebrations for tens of millions of Chinese. Besides Wuhan, 16 other Chinese cities have been isolated in a bid to halt further spread of the virus. Hong Kong has declared a state of emergency, cancelling official celebrations for the Lunar New Year and closing schools.

The virus has also spread in several other parts of the world. Five cases were reported in Thailand, 4 in Australia, France, Japan, Malaysia, and Taiwan each reported three cases. In the United States and Vietnam, authorities have confirmed two cases and one case reported in Nepal.