Wuhan coronavirus continues its global spread with more than 6,000 cases

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What we're covering here

• The latest numbers: At least 132 people are dead and almost 6,000 cases have been confirmed in mainland China, as the Wuhan coronavirus spreads across Asia and the rest of the world. 
• China on lockdown: Nearly 60 million people are under partial or full lockdowns in Chinese cities.
• Outside of China: There are more than 70 confirmed cases in 17 places outside of China, including at least five in the US. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention raised its travel precautions for China to its highest level.
• Evacuations: Several countries, including the US and Japan, are flying out their citizens from Wuhan.

US evacuation flight is now headed to a military base, not to a civilian airport

Around 240 Americans evacuated from Wuhan, China, will be flown to a military base near Riverside County, California, instead of a nearby civilian airport as first planned.

The flight departed Wuhan about six hours ago, and will land late Tuesday night local time in Anchorage, Alaska, to refuel.

Passengers will undergo health screenings there to ensure they are not experiencing novel coronavirus symptoms before traveling on to California, Alaska officials said.

The plane will land at March Air Reserve Base instead of its original destination of California's Ontario International Airport, said San Bernardino County Commissioner Curt Hagman.

In a video statement, Hagman said he was informed of the change in plans on Tuesday night. No reason was immediately given for the change in itinerary.

Authorities in China reported the first case of the Wuhan coronavirus in Tibet, previously the only region to have avoided the virus.

The spread to Tibet despite the implementation of strict checks on travelers and closing of tourist sites will renew concerns about how easily the virus is transmitted, particularly when people are asymptomatic.

On Tuesday, Tibet announced the indefinite closure of all tourist attractions, state-run newspaper People’s Daily reported, citing the regional Communist Party committee.

All travelers, including tourists, entering Tibet are now required to register with authorities and be quarantined for 14 days.

Tibet is a remote and mountainous autonomous region of mainland China that is often referred to as the "the roof of the world."

Read the full story here.

Hong Kong suspends trains to China as borders close

Security personnel at the high-speed railway station connecting Hong Kong to mainland China on January 28, 2020. Anthony Wallace/AFP/Getty Images

The semi-autonomous city of Hong Kong, which borders mainland China on the country's south coast, is just one of several places around Asia placing restrictions on travel in an attempt to contain the spread of the coronavirus.

In a press conference yesterday, the government announced that it will "temporarily" close some of its borders with China and stop issuing travel permits to Chinese tourists.

Trains to China suspended: Today, the MTR -- Hong Kong's subway operator -- announced it would also be suspending services for the high speed rail that connects the city with the mainland, as well as trains to Guangzhou, Shanghai, and Beijing.

"The MTR Corporation has been closely monitoring the latest situation regarding pneumonia cases from the novel coronavirus infection," said the company in a statement, and apologized for inconvenience caused.

Australia lab grows Wuhan coronavirus from patient sample

A screengrab from a video shows coronavirus microscopic view. Dhoerty Institute, University of Melbourne

A laboratory in Australia is the first outside of China to grow the Wuhan coronavirus from a patient sample.

The development “will provide expert international laboratories with crucial information to help combat the virus," Mike Catton, director of the Victorian infectious diseases reference laboratory said.

“We are proud to have grown the virus in such a short space of time,” Catton said, adding that they will “share this with international colleagues” to help with the developments of vaccines and medicines.

The successful growth will help scientists to “understand the epidemiology of the outbreak," Catton said.

Since the first case was identified in early December in the Chinese city of Wuhan, more than 6,000 people have become infected worldwide.

Number of Wuhan coronavirus cases exceeds SARS inside of China

From CNN's Steven Jiang in Beijing

The number of confirmed cases of the Wuhan coronavirus in China has now officially exceeded that of the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak in 2002 and 2003.

At least 5,974 cases of the coronavirus have been reported in mainland China to date, whereas there were 5,327 confirmed cases of SARS on August 16, 2003, the last time the Chinese health ministry reported such data.

The government stopped reporting SARS cases after that date, saying there were no more new cases nationwide.

In total, there were 8,098 confirmed cases of SARS worldwide from November 2002 to July 2003, with 774 deaths.

While the current coronavirus outbreak does not appear to be as deadly as SARS, it may be spreading more rapidly. That could be due to being more contagious, or the increased interconnectedness of both China and the world than in 2003.

Cases of coronavirus in China jump by 30% overnight

From CNN's Nectar Gan in Hong Kong

As of Wednesday, there were 5,974 confirmed cases of the virus in China, including 132 deaths, according to the National Health Commission (NHC).

The number of cases grew by almost 1,500 from Tuesday, a more than 30% increase.

From Sunday to Monday the number of cases confirmed in China had jumped by 65%.

With the number of confirmed cases increasing day by day, concern is growing over the global spread of the virus. Numerous countries, including the US, have stepped up airport screenings and warned their citizens not to travel to China. Some countries, including Indonesia and the Philippines, have restricted Chinese tourists.

Chinese authorities say they are throwing everything they have into containing the infection within its borders.

Wuhan’s Communist Party chief Ma Guoqiang said in a press conference that the sudden increase in confirmed cases is down to more efficient testing measures.

Before January 14, all the testing for the Wuhan coronavirus was done by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, which as a "very long process," Ma said.

"To confirm a case in Wuhan, (we) needed to send his sample to the national CDC," he said.

To speed up that process, from January 16 the Chinese central government allowed the Hubei provincial CDC to conduct the tests.

"So our samples are no longer required to be sent to Beijing, and can be tested at the provincial CDC, with a capacity of testing about 300 cases (per day)," Ma said.

The rate of testing also increased from January 24, as nine hospitals could test the samples, "which drastically increased our testing capacity and efficiency."

This does not mean the speed of the disease has increased drastically," Ma said.