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Feds ask Canadians to stop all travel to epicentre of coronavirus in China

More than 2,000 people have been infected
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Medical workers in protective gear talk with a woman suspected of being ill with a coronavirus at a community health station in Wuhan in central China’s Hubei Province, Monday, Jan. 27, 2020. China on Monday expanded sweeping efforts to contain a viral disease by extending the Lunar New Year holiday to keep the public at home and avoid spreading infection. (Chinatopix via AP)

The Canadian government has asked its residents to stop all travel to the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak in China.

In Monday afternoon update, the government upgraded its travel advisory from “essential travel only” to avoiding all travel to Hubei, the province where Wuhan is located.

Wuhan has been the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak that has killed at least 81 and infected more than 2,700, as of Monday.

The new travel alert was put in place due to tightening restrictions by the Chinese government in Hubei province, according to the Canadian travel advisory, rather than as a result of the coronavirus itself.

Canadian officials said on Monday that one case of the coronavirus in the country is confirmed. The Toronto man, who is in his 50s, had travelled to Wuhan prior to returning to Canada. He is in hospital recovering while his wife, who remains a presumptive case, is in self-isolation at home.

VIDEO: Canada’s first presumptive case of coronavirus officially confirmed

READ MORE: Pregnant Langley woman stuck in Wuhan, the epicentre of coronavirus outbreak

– with files from The Canadian Press


@katslepian

katya.slepian@bpdigital.ca

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