US President Donald Trump on Monday offered to provide any assistance China needed to control the new Coruna virus outbreak that killed 81 people, and recorded the first death from the virus in Beijing, while the World Health Organization considered the threat of the virus "high" at the international level.

The WHO - which has so far refrained from declaring an "international emergency" - considers the epidemic threat "high" internationally.

The outbreak made tens of millions of travelers stranded in the biggest holiday season of the year and shook global markets.

The total number of confirmed cases in China rose to 2,835, nearly half of them in Hubei, but some experts have doubts that the actual number may exceed that.

We are in very close communication with China concerning the virus. Very few cases reported in USA, but strongly on watch. We have offered China and President Xi any help that is necessary. Our experts are extraordinary!

- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 27, 2020

As citizens' criticism of local authorities intensified over their initial handling of the virus, Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang visited Wuhan, the central outbreak center, to encourage health workers there and pledged to send more staff in support.

Global financial markets tumbled and oil prices fell to their lowest level in three months, and the value of the Chinese yuan fell to the lowest level since the beginning of this year, affected by investor fears that China, the world's second largest economy, would be affected by travel bans and extended the lunar New Year holiday.

Close contact
"We are in close contact with China regarding the virus," Trump said, who has fought a fierce trade war with Beijing for 18 months, on Twitter.

"It is reported that there are very few injured people in the United States, but we are closely monitoring. We have offered China and its president Xi (Jinping) any necessary assistance. Our experts are outstanding," he added.

Official Chinese media reported that the Beijing authorities announced the death of the first HIV-positive in the capital on Monday, a 50-year-old from Wuhan.

During his visit to Wuhan, the Chinese prime minister spoke highly of the efforts of the medical teams and pledged to send an additional 2,500 employees to support them in the next two days.

Local officials on highly-watched Chinese social media have faced outrage over their handling of the virus, which is believed to have originated in a market where wild animals were being sold illegally.

Some criticized the Governor of Hubei, who had made a mistake twice during a press conference regarding the number of muzzles currently being produced.

"If he makes a mistake several times in the data, what is the wonder of spreading the disease so quickly," said a WIPO user.

Close the city
Wuhan, a city of 11 million people, has become almost closed, and the authorities have imposed an almost complete ban on most parts of Hubei's 60 million people.

A Wuhan resident complained about the Weibo app, saying, "Hubei residents are being discriminated against."

It was confirmed that a small number of cases were related to people in Wuhan in more than ten countries, including Thailand, France, Japan and the United States, where the authorities said they were examining 110 people in 26 states.

Hong Kong has denied entry to those who visited Hubei in the past two weeks, after it was confirmed that eight people had been injured.

Mongolia became the first country to close land crossing points with Chinese territory. Meanwhile, people from the Chinese province of Hubei with the largest number of injured people were prevented from visiting Malaysia, while Germany and Turkey advised their nationals not to travel to China.


France and the United States are preparing to evacuate their nationals from Wuhan, the epicenter of the epidemic.

Researchers in Hong Kong considered that the government should take "strict" measures to restrict people's movements to control the spread of the virus.

The researchers estimated that the number of infected people could double every six days, peaking in April and May in areas that had previously faced a pandemic.

The researchers also estimated, based on mathematical models, that the number of injuries currently exceeded forty thousand.