China

BEIJING, Jan 24 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Chinese officials expanded travel restrictions on Thursday to include two more cities, one of which was also ordered to lock down to mitigate the spread of a deadly coronavirus.

China has closed off access to the major port city of Wuhan, where the outbreak originated, but officials added Huanggang and Ezhou to the restricted list. Huanggang, like Wuhan previously, was also placed on lockdown.

Huanggang, 30 miles east of Wuhan, is home to 7 million people and Ezhou 1 million.

BEIJING (AP) — China broadened its unprecedented, open-ended lockdowns to encompass around 25 million people Friday to try to contain a deadly new virus that has sickened hundreds, though the measures’ potential for success is uncertain.

At least eight cities have been shut down —- Wuhan, Ezhou, Huanggang, Chibi, Qianjiang, Zhijiang, Jingmen and Xiantao — all in central China’s Hubei province, where the illness has been concentrated.

BEIJING, Jan 23 (APP): Expressing satisfaction over visible progress made by Pakistan to strengthen its domestic counter-terrorism financing system, China on Thursday stressed that Pakistan’s political will and active efforts, ought to be recognized and encouraged by international community.

BEIJING (AP) — China closed off a city of more than 11 million people Thursday in an unprecedented effort to try to stop the spread of a deadly new virus 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 as last-minute travelers arrived, only those holding tickets for the last trains allowed to enter. At exactly 10 a.m., metal barriers blocked entrances while helpless would-be travelers were turned away, with some complaining they had nowhere to go.

BEIJING (Reuters) - China’s Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday that the central government cares for the health and well-being of its Taiwan compatriots more than anyone else.

Taiwan’s participation in international bodies must be arranged under the “One China” principle, ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said at a daily news briefing in Beijing, referring to a core Chinese government policy that states Taiwan is part of China.

BEIJING, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- Chinese health authorities announced Wednesday that 440 confirmed cases of pneumonia caused by the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) had been reported in 13 provincial-level regions in the country by the end of Tuesday.

The cases had resulted in nine deaths, all in central China's Hubei Province, said Li Bin, deputy director of the National Health Commission, at a press conference.

Altogether 149 new confirmed cases were reported Tuesday, Li added.

MOSCOW, Jan 21 (NNN-SPUTNIK) — The former president of Interpol, Meng Hongwei has been sentenced to 13.5 years in prison by a court in Tianjin, China on Tuesday, reported Sputnik news agency.

The court also fined the former executive nearly 2 mln yuan ($289,850).

According to China’s central television network, which broadcast the verdict, the defendant does not intend to appeal the case.

He was also fined two million yuan (S$391,130), said the Tianjin First Intermediate People’s Court.

BEIJING (AP) — A fourth person has died in an outbreak of a new coronavirus in China, authorities said Tuesday, as more places stepped up medical screening of travelers from the country as it enters its busiest travel period.

The increased control measures followed a sharp rise in the number of infections to more than 200 people since last month, with epidemiologists still uncertain of its nature and mode of transmission.

BEIJING, Jan 20 (APP): Pakistan’s Ambassador to China, Naghmana Hashmi has hoped that the friendship between China and Pakistan could reach even greater heights in 2020.

“As Chinese President Xi Jinping has himself said that Pakistan and China have a very unique all weather strategic cooperative partnership which is like no other relationship between two states in the world,” she told China Global Television Network (CGTN).

BEIJING (AP) — China reported Monday a sharp rise in the number of people infected with a new coronavirus, including the first cases in the capital. The outbreak coincides with the country’s busiest travel period, as millions board trains and planes for the Lunar New Year holidays.

Health authorities in the central city of Wuhan, where the viral pneumonia appears to have originated, said an additional 136 cases have been confirmed in the city, which now has a total of 198 infected patients. As of the weekend, a third patient had died, bringing the death toll to three.