41 dead in China virus outbreak; Nepal, Australia and Japan confirm cases

Authorities have since imposed transport restrictions on nearly all of Hubei province, which has a population of 59 million.

The death toll from China's coronavirus outbreak jumped on Saturday to 41 from 26 a day earlier as the Lunar New Year got off to a gloomy start, with many transport links and tourist sites shut, while Australia confirmed its first four cases.

More than 1,300 people have been infected globally with a virus traced to a seafood market in the central city of Wuhan that was illegally selling wildlife. Health authorities around the world are scrambling to prevent a pandemic.

Hu Yinghai, deputy director-general of the Civil Affairs Department in Hubei province, where Wuhan is located, made an appeal