Chinese Premier Li Keqiang visited the city of Wuhan on Monday to meet with health officials and examine the response to the outbreak of a coronavirus that has killed 80 people.

Wuhan is the center of the outbreak and people there and in several other cities face strict restrictions on movement as the government tries to prevent the virus from spreading.

Officials took an extra step Sunday to extend the Lunar New Year holiday three extra days to cut down on group gatherings.

The latest figures reported by Chinese health officials include more than 2,700 cases of people being sickened by the virus.

Cases have also been reported in Australia, Canada, France, Hong Kong, Japan, Macao, Malaysia, Nepal, Portugal, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, the United States and Vietnam.  The World Health Organization says most of those are people who had a travel history in Wuhan, with several others having contact with someone who traveled there.

There have been no reported deaths linked to the virus outside of China.

The head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention respiratory disease office, Nancy Messonnier, said Sunday there were five confirmed cases in the United States, and that all five people had direct contact with others in Wuhan.

The patients are isolated in hospitals as doctors and health officials try to find out more about the virus. The CDC says it is investigating about 100 suspected cases in 26 states.

Source : VOA