The coronavirus has killed 56 people in China, and infected more than 2,000 people globally.
That's according to the figures released on Sunday, with President Xi Jinping describing the situation as "grave".
Health officials in Beijing have sent out mobile text messages to all residents, urging them not to shake hands, in a bid to prevent a pandemic.
Meanwhile, US officials at the Wuhan consulate will be moved back home, with US citizens offered a limited number of seats on a January 28 flight to San Francisco.
The virus has spread to Chinese cities including Beijing and Shanghai, as well as the US, Thailand, South Korea, Japan, Australia, France and Canada.
Hundreds of thousands of people in Australia's Queensland state were without power on Sunday after Alfred, a downgraded tropical cyclone, brought damaging winds and heavy rains, sparking flood warnings.
An Israeli airstrike killed two Palestinians in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on Saturday, medical sources said, as mediators pushed ahead with talks to extend a shaky 42-day ceasefire agreed in January between Israel and Hamas.
Toronto Police said early on Saturday they were searching for three male suspects in a shooting that injured at least 12 people at a pub in the Canadian city.
Ex-tropical cyclone Alfred lingered off the south-east Australian coast on Saturday and forecasters said Brisbane is likely to miss the worst of the storm, a relief for millions of residents in the region who have been staying indoors.