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.
The Republican-controlled US Senate passed President Donald Trump's tax and spending bill on Tuesday, signing off on a massive package that would enshrine many of his top domestic priorities into law while adding $3.3 trillion to the national debt.
More than a thousand schools were closed in France on Tuesday and the top floor of the Eiffel Tower was shut to tourists as a severe heatwave continued to grip Europe, triggering health alerts across the region.
Thailand's Constitutional Court on Tuesday suspended Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra from duty pending a case seeking her dismissal, in a major setback for a government under fire on multiple fronts and fighting for its survival.
President Donald Trump has signed an executive order terminating a US sanctions programme on Syria, allowing an end to the country's isolation from the international financial system and building on Washington's pledge to help it rebuild after a devastating civil war.