Wuhan mayor says willing to resign if it helps contain virus

The mayor of the Chinese city where a deadly virus broke out says he would be willing to resign if it helps the government contain its spread.

Mayor Zhou Xianwang told state broadcaster CCTV that both he and Wuhan's Communist Party secretary are willing to take responsibility for closing off the city, including being removed from office.

As the virus spread through China and overseas, transportation links to the city were cut last week to prevent more people from leaving.

Zhou also responded to allegations that the city was slow to disclose information in the early days of the outbreak, saying local governments are restricted from releasing information about infectious diseases without authorization.

 

Public health officials in Canada said Monday that the wife of the man who is Canada's first case of the emerging virus from China has also tested positive for the virus.

Ontario said the woman has been in self-imposed isolation since arriving in Toronto with her husband last week.

Ontario Chief Medical Officer of health David Williams said the woman tested positive for the virus at Ontario's public health laboratory. He said because she has been in self-isolation, the risk to Canadians remains low.

But Canadian officials have been reaching out to those aboard the China Southern Airlines flight who sat within two meters (6 1/2 feet) of the man.

Public health officials said the woman's husband, a man in his 50s, had been showing mild symptoms on his flight from Guangzhou, China, to Toronto. His first flight started in Wuhan.

Cambodia's health minister says a Chinese visitor to a popular resort is his country's first case of the new virus.

Hong Kong has confirmed two more cases of a new virus that started in central China, raising its total to eight.

Thailand's prime minister has spoken on television to try to reassure citizens that his government is taking all possible measures to cope with the outbreak of a deadly pneumonia-like virus in China.

Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha spoke Monday as public concerns rose after eight cases of the virus had been confirmed in the country, seven of them visitors from China and one Thai.

He said authorities so far '"are able to control the situation 100%, but we should not be careless." The prime minister said "suitable measures" have been taken to control the outbreak, including monitoring at the country's five international airports. Chinese health authorities said the new coronavirus had infected 2,744 people and killed 80 as of midnight Sunday.

Germany's foreign minister says his country is considering evacuating its citizens from Wuhan, the central Chinese city at the center of a outbreak of a pneumonia-like virus that has killed 80 people so far.