People with protective face masks pass in front of a thermal scanner as they enter a shopping mall in Bangkok on January 29, 2020.
Mladen Antonov | AFP | Getty Images
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9:00 am: GM extends manufacturing shutdown in China through Feb. 9
General Motors, the largest U.S. automaker in China, told employees there that it will keep its Chinese factories shut down through Feb. 9, a company spokesman said in an email to CNBC. China’s factories have been closed as part of a nationwide manufacturing break to celebrate the Lunar New Year, but were originally due to reopen this week. Chinese officials have extended the plant shutdown to Feb. 9 as the nation tries to contain the coronavirus outbreak. GM’s decision follows on Honda’s announcement late Tuesday that it was keep motorcycle factories in China closed to Feb. 9. Automakers across the globe have been evacuating employees and restricting travel to China.
7:36 am: Death toll of coronavirus climbs to 132, China cases now exceed SARS epidemic
The total number of cases of the coronavirus reached more than 6,100 worldwide with 132 deaths in China, Chinese and international health authorities said Wednesday. Since the first patient was identified in Wuhan on Dec. 31, the number of coronavirus cases in China has mushroomed to more than 6,060, exceeding the total number of SARS cases in that country during the 2002-2003 epidemic. There were 5,327 SARS cases in China and 8,000 across the world between Nov. 1, 2002, and July 31, 2003, according to the World Health Organization.
6:36 am: International Ski Federation cancels first official Beijing Winter Olympics 2022 test event
FIS, the Chinese Ski Association and its Yanqing Local Organizing Committee, have canceled the men’s Audi FIS World Cup races scheduled for Feb. 15 to 16 in the northwestern part of Beijing. It would have been the federation’s first Alpine Ski World Cup in China and the first official test event for the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, according to FIS President Gian-Franco Kasper. “Although the risk level in Yanqing is low, the health and welfare of the athletes and all participants must take priority,” Kasper said in an online statement.
5:18 am: British Airways cancels all flights to and from mainland China
British Airways has stopped all direct flights to and from mainland China because of the coronavirus outbreak. The airline said the suspension would be implemented “with immediate effect” following the viral outbreak that has caused 132 deaths and infected more than 6,000 people.
