People with protective face masks pass in front of a thermal scanner as they enter a shopping mall in Bangkok on January 29, 2020.
Mladen Antonov | AFP | Getty Images
This is a live blog. Please check back for updates.
All times below are in Eastern time.
7:36 am: Death toll of coronavirus climbs to 132, China cases now exceed SARS epidemic
The total number of cases of the coronavirus reached more than 6,100 worldwide with 132 deaths in China, Chinese and international health authorities said Wednesday. Since the first patient was identified in Wuhan on Dec. 31, the number of coronavirus cases in China has mushroomed to more than 6,060, exceeding the total number of SARS cases in that country during the 2002-2003 epidemic. There were 5,327 SARS cases in China and 8,000 across the world between Nov. 1, 2002, and July 31, 2003, according to the World Health Organization.
6:36 am: International Ski Federation cancels first official Beijing Winter Olympics 2022 test event
FIS, the Chinese Ski Association and its Yanqing Local Organizing Committee, have canceled the men’s Audi FIS World Cup races scheduled for Feb. 15 to 16 in the northwestern part of Beijing. It would have been the federation’s first Alpine Ski World Cup in China and the first official test event for the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, according to FIS President Gian-Franco Kasper. “Although the risk level in Yanqing is low, the health and welfare of the athletes and all participants must take priority,” Kasper said in an online statement.
4:42 am: Swiss pharmaceutical giant warns finding a coronavirus vaccine will take over a year
The chief executive of Novartis believes it will take at least 12 months to find a new vaccine to treat the coronavirus, with the fast-spreading nature of the outbreak a threat that must be taken “really seriously.”
—CNBC’s Christine Wang contributed to this report.