More Chinese cities, including one just 175 kilometres (110 miles) from Shanghai, were put under lockdown on Tuesday, as the impact of a deadly new virus spread further from its epicentre.
Around 12 million people are affected by the new restrictions, adding to the tens of millions of people already quarantined in and around Wuhan, ground zero for 2019-nCoV.
The city of Taizhou, parts of Hangzhou including the district that is home to the headquarters of Chinese tech giant Alibaba and some of Ningbo will only allow one person per household to go outside every two days to buy necessities, city officials said.
Taizhou 850 kilometres from the epicentre in Hubei province will also suspend 95 train services from the city from Tuesday.
In addition, residential communities will only be allowed to use one entrance and residents must present ID each time they come or go, Taizhou’s government said on its official WeChat account.
Meanwhile, Japan has quarantined a cruise ship carrying 3,711 people and was testing those onboard for the new coronavirus Tuesday after a former passenger was diagnosed with the illness in Hong Kong.
Chinese authorities confirmed on Tuesday 425 have died in the country due to virus, while Hong Kong reported its first fatality becoming the third nation after China and the Philippines to report deaths.
