The US is urging all Americans to avoid travel to China.
The State Department raised the travel warning for Hubei province to level 4 insisting it has ‘limited ability to provide emergency services to U.S. citizens’ in the province.
The government is arranging evacuation flights of all non-emergency personnel and their families from the Hubei region, and other US citizens if space allows.
A US official said about 1,000 Americans live in Wuhan.
Beyond Hubei, it updated its China travel warning to level 3, which urges U S citizens to ‘reconsider travel’ to the country.
In addition, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued its highest travel warning level advising Americans to postpone travel plans to China due to the coronavirus outbreak.
So far 80 people have died and there are nearly 3,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus.
About 700 new cases a day have been reported over the past few days.
Public transportation around the Hubei region is extremely limited with air, bus and rail services suspended.
The CDC is urging all travellers to seek advice from a medical professional first, especially elderly or those with existing medical conditions.
