The novel coronavirus can survive on surfaces or in the air for several hours, according to a US-government funded study published Tuesday.Scientists found that the virus that causes the COVID-19 disease had similar levels of viability outside the body to its predecessor that caused severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).This means that factors like greater transmission between people with no symptoms might be why the current pandemic is far greater than the SARS outbreak of 2002-2003.The n

A virus similar to the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) pathogen has claimed 56 lives since emerging in a market in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, and spread around the world.Here are the places that have confirmed cases of the 2019 Novel Coronavirus:ChinaAs of Sunday, almost 2,000 people have been infected across China, the bulk of them in and around Wuhan.Nearly all of the 56 who have died were in the Wuhan region, but officials have confirmed at least four deaths elsewhere.The

President Xi Jinping warned Saturday that China was facing a "grave" situation as authorities took urgent action to halt the spread of a virus that has killed 41 people and is overwhelming hospitals at the epicentre of the health emergency.The world's most populous country scrambled to contain the disease that has already infected nearly 1,300 people, building a second field hospital to relieve overwhelmed medical facilities and closing more travel routes as the country marked

China's bid to contain a deadly new virus by placing cities of millions under quarantine is an unprecedented undertaking but it is unlikely to stop the disease spreading, experts warn.The contagious virus has already reached elsewhere in China and abroad, and even an authoritarian government has only a small timeframe in which trapped residents will submit to such a lockdown, they say."I think we have passed the golden period of control and prevention," said Guan Yi, an expert

Asia stepped up its defences Tuesday against a new SARS-like virus, introducing mandatory screenings at airports of arrivals from high-risk areas of China as authorities move to head off a billowing regional health crisis.From Bangkok to Hong Kong and Seoul to Sydney, authorities have gone onto high-alert over the new coronavirus, following China's confirmation of the first case of human-to-human transmission of the deadly illness.Four people have died in China while scores more have bee