The number of people killed in China by the coronavirus has risen to 80, with almost 3,000 confirmed ill.
The national new year holiday has been extended by three days to Sunday, in an attempt to contain the spread.
On Monday, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang visited Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province and centre of the outbreak.
The number of deaths in Hubei province has climbed from 56 to 76, with four deaths elsewhere.
Wuhan is in lockdown and several other cities have imposed travel bans.
The overall number of confirmed cases in China is 2,744.
Some 461 are critically ill, while 51 people have been “discharged from hospital and cured”, the National Health Commission said.
READ ALSO: China coronavirus: Death Toll Rises As More Cities Shut Down
The BBC says extending the main holiday of the year is a highly unusual move.
But after the pre-new year travel surge, the prospect of half a billion people getting back on trains, planes and buses and criss-crossing the country again is the last thing the government wants, the BBC reports.
The emergency has overwhelmed Wuhan’s hospitals. More than half a million medical staff have joined prevention, control and treatment operations in the province.
Two new makeshift hospitals are being built in the city and factories are rushing to produce masks and protective clothing.
On Monday, Premier Li inspected the ongoing efforts, and spoke to patients and medical staff, a government statement said.
The city’s mayor Zhou Xianwang said the number of cases would continue to rise, and warned that around five million new year travellers left the city before the lockdown.
