- The virus can infect children and infants, but symptoms have been relatively mild, China’s health commission says
- US companies are starting to restrict employee travel to China
The death toll from a coronavirus outbreak in China has soared to 106 and 1,771 new cases have been confirmed by Chinese authorities on Tuesday morning.
The total number of confirmed cases has climbed to almost 4,500 in China alone, with 26 new deaths reported in the country on Tuesday. Most of those who have died are from Hubei province, at the epicentre of the outbreak.
In addition to air transmission, the coronavirus can be spread through physical contact, China's National Health Commission (NHC) said on Tuesday.
The incubation period of the new virus was on average three to seven days, with the longest being no more than 14 days, the NHC stated, adding that the coronavirus strain was 85 per cent similar to severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars).
It also said the virus could infect children and infants, but that their symptoms had been relatively mild.
A risk assessment report based on analysis of 2,744 infections recorded up to Sunday by the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, released on Monday, said the main route of transmission was respiratory droplet and close physical contact.
"The virus is highly contagious, with a reproduction number (the average number of cases each case generates during the infectious period) of between two and three. There is no reliable evidence that the disease is contagious during the incubation period," the report said, adding that the incubation period was between one and 14 days.
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It said it expected the number of infections in Wuhan and other parts of Hubei province to continue to increase because of obvious community transmission.
It said the male-to-female ratio for infected patients was 1.16:1, and that only 0.6 per cent of infected people were under 15 years old. It said 16.8 per cent of patients had developed severe pneumonia, and estimated that fatality rate would be less than 3 per cent.
In Shanghai, a newly developed broad-spectrum antiviral spray has been used in the emergency ward of the Shanghai Public Health Clinical Centre to protect medical staff, according to news website Thepaper.cn.
But the spray cannot be used for patient treatment as it has not obtained necessary approval, said Xu Jianqing, director of the health centre's Institute of Infectious Diseases in an interview with Thepaper.cn.
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Meanwhile, China's National Immigration Administration recommended all Chinese citizens postpone unnecessary overseas travel because "reducing cross-border movements of people is key to prevent and control the epidemic".
Although officials from the United States' Centres for Disease Control and Prevention have said the immediate health risk of the pneumonia-like illness " known as 2019-nCoV " to the American public remained low, the nation's companies were starting to restrict their employees' travel to China.
Facebook has started restricting employee travel, according to Bloomberg. The limits, which went into effect on Monday, halt non-essential travel to China by all Facebook employees. If workers have to visit the country, they need specific approval.
Facebook staff based in China, and those who recently returned from trips to the country, are being told to work from home, Bloomberg reported.
Some US banks and financial firms, including Citigroup, have told staff in Hong Kong to stay at home for two weeks and monitor their health if they have travelled to Wuhan or surrounding areas.
Banks in mainland China have extended the Lunar New Year break for staff until February 3 after the State Council, the nation's cabinet, extended the public holiday to help stem the spread of the outbreak.
The Shanghai stock market announced late on Monday that it would resume trading on February 3 after being shut since Thursday. The smaller Shenzhen exchange in southern China was expected to observe a similar suspension, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Additional reporting by Chad Bray and agencies
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