Xi calls situation grave as China scrambles to contain virus China's leader has called the accelerating spread of a new virus a grave situationIn this Friday, Jan. 24, 2020, photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency, a medical workers transfer a patient out of the intensive care unit at Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University in Wuhan in central China's Hubei Province. Travel agencies have been told to halt all group tours, the state-owned English-language China Daily newspaper reported, citing the China Association of Travel Services. Millions of people traveling during the holiday have fueled the spread of the outbreak nationwide and overseas after it began in the city of Wuhan in central China. The vast majority of the infections and all the deaths have been in mainland China, but fresh cases are popping up. China's most festive holiday, Lunar New Year, unfolded Saturday in the shadow of the worrying new virus.

Source: ABC News January 25, 2020 01:26 UTC