China virus death toll rises to 25

China is rushing to halt the spread of a new coronavirus as the death toll rose to 25, even as the World Health Organization stopped short of calling the SARS-like disease a global health emergency.

Restrictions on travel and public gatherings have been implemented in Wuhan, the city in central China where the virus was first detected, as well as in several nearby municipalities. Hong Kong and Beijing are canceling planned holiday activities, according to local officials and state media.

Pressure to contain the virus is growing as the number of cases expand. Adding to the urgency to curtail the spread is the start of Lunar New Year on Friday, when millions of Chinese travel across the country and abroad. Chinese stores were stripped of masks and hand sanitizers as fearful customers sought protection.

“The next few weeks will be very important not just for containing the outbreak but also to help us understand how this virus behaves,” Sanjaya Senanayake, associate professor of medicine at the Australian National University, told Bloomberg Television. “It’s really important for countries around the world to make sure they’re prepared for this.”

Concerns about the virus extend beyond health to its impact on the economy, with warnings that China’s fragile stabilization could be at risk. Mounting fears about the outbreak have roiled financial markets, and the Shanghai Composite Index had the worst end to a Lunar Year in its three-decade history.

Public health experts gathered by the United Nations agency to review the situation were split over whether they should recommend declaring a public health crisis of international concern and instead opted to continue monitoring the outbreak. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO’s director-general, said he would reconvene the committee within 10 days, or at a moment’s notice should the situation take a turn for the worse.

“Make no mistake, this is an emergency in China, but it has not yet become a global health emergency,” Tedros said at a briefing in Geneva Thursday. “It may yet become one.”

Dhaka/Mukul