BEIJING (dpa-AFX) - With a confirmed case in Tibet on Thursday, the coronavirus outbreak has spread to all regions of China, where the death toll has risen to 170 and the number of 2019-nCoV infections crossed 7700.
Russia has closed its border with China in the Far East region, the fifth-longest land border in the world, to prevent the spread of the virus.
Stock markets are under pressure amid growing concerns over the economic and financial impact of the outbreak.
The World Health Organization is meeting in Geneva Thursday to decide whether to declare the epidemic an international public health emergency.
The Emergency Committee on the novel coronavirus will advise the WHO Director-General on whether the outbreak constitutes a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC), and what recommendations should be made to manage it.
Symptoms associated with this virus included fever, cough and acute respiratory infection, and there is no specific cure or vaccine against it.
Research for a vaccine to help stem the outbreak has started at Inovio's lab in San Diego, BBC reported. Scientists are using a new type of DNA technology to develop a potential vaccine with plans for it to enter human trials by the summer.
Hubei province, where Wuhan is situated, is under lockdown, and the Chinese authorities have implemented transport restrictions to control the spread of the virus. 16 provinces have suspended inter-provincial purchases.
On Thursday, India reported its first case of 2019-nCoV, raising the number of countries affected by the deadly virus to 19.
India's health ministry confirmed that a female student studying in Wuhan University has tested positive for novel coronavirus on her return to her native district of Thrissur in the southern state of Kerala. The patient is stable and is being closely monitored in a hospital there, state's health minister said.
'In the last few days the progress of the virus, especially in some countries, especially human-to-human transmission, worries us,' said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Several governments are repatriating their citizens from Wuhan, while a number of airlines have temporarily halted their flights to China.
Meanwhile, a flight carrying 210 U.S. citizens from Wuhan landed at March Air Reserve Base in California Wednesday.
A team of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) medical officers evaluated the health of the passengers.
CDC said in a press release that it will work with the California Department of Public Health and Riverside County Public Health to transport any passenger exhibiting symptoms to a hospital for further evaluation. Passengers not exhibiting symptoms of exposure to the virus will be asked to stay on the base in quarantine to allow CDC medical officers to perform more thorough screening and to better understand each individual's exposure.
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