The fast spread of a new coronavirus in China has prompted global alarm, with neighbouring states closing their borders, global airlines suspending flights and some governments barring entry to foreign nationals who have recently been in the Asian country. The rapidly spreading virus, which is thought to have originated in the central city of Wuhan in late December and has since been detected in at least two dozen countries, has infected 40,171 people and killed at least 908 people in mainland China, as well as a person in Hong Kong and another one in the Philippines.
