The Health Ministry is advising Fijians to cancel any travel plans or abstain from traveling to China’s Hubei Province.

This as the deadly Coronavirus is creating havoc in China and neighboring Asian countries, with fifteen more people confirmed dead in Hubei province, raising the death toll to 41 in mainland China.

There are now three confirmed cases in France and two in the United States.

Hubei province is the centre of the outbreak and the cities which Fijian should avoid traveling to include, Wuhan, Huanggang, Ezhou, Chibi, Xiantao, Zhijiang, Qianjiang, Xianning, Huagshi, and Enshi.

The Ministry in a statement says those traveling to other parts of China need to avoid visiting wet markets that sell live and dead animals out in the open space, avoid unprotected contact with live or wild farm animals, and avoid making contact with persons with flu to name a few.

Minister for Health Dr. Ifereimi Waqainabete says his staff is working closely with the relevant authorities to prevent the disease from entering the country.

“All these small areas they provide the brain-trust and they run the task-force at the moment. But it’s so important that we are meeting on a regular basis and touching base with one another, coordinating ourselves and making sure that we understand what are our expectations are and how we will be able to run this”.

The Chinese Embassy in Fiji is also urging people to refrain from making unnecessary travel to China particularly, in vulnerable areas.

Coronaviruses are a large group of viruses, with six of these known to cause a range of illnesses from the common cold to the more serious Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS).

2019 novel coronavirus was discovered early this month after an unusual cluster of pneumonia cases was noted in Wuhan City in Hubei province, China.

This new virus affects the respiratory system and causes mild to severe disease.

It has resulted in death in some people.

The current information is that most of the people who died in China were elderly or had underlying medical conditions.

The Health Ministry says as this is a newly discovered virus there are still many questions to be answered, including where it came from, how severe disease it is, how easily it spreads among people, and who is most at risk of infection.

It says the current information is that it spreads through droplets from coughing, and close unprotected contact with an infected person, for example, shaking hands.