Malaysia imposed a ban on entry with Chinese nationals from Wuhan and surrounding areas in Hubei Province over fears of a pneumonia epidemic.

The Malaysian Prime Minister's office released a statement today saying the ban will take effect on January 27 and will be lifted when the situation returns to normal.

Malaysia detected 4 cases of disease caused by a new strain of the corona family virus. All four are tourists from Wuhan, taking holidays in Singapore and Malaysia.

Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province with 11 million people, is the site of the onset of acute pneumonia caused by the new strain of Corona virus (nCoV) and has caused 81 deaths and more than 2,700 cases of infection. China has blocked Wuhan and many other cities due to fears of widespread disease. Chinese health officials say the possibility of nCoV will spread more and more strongly and that the virus can spread during incubation.

On the Change.org website, a petition urged the Malaysian government to ban Chinese nationals from entering more than 383,000 signatures. Malaysia welcomed 2.94 million tourists from China last year and set a target to increase to 3.48 million visitors this year.