Shanghai closed all cinemas during the Chinese New Year holiday amid the outbreak of Wuhan pneumonia.

Liberation Daily, the official newspaper of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee, said movie theaters would be ordered to shut down until January 30. An outbreak of pneumonia caused by a new strain of the Corona family (nCoV) also caused seven Chinese films to be released during the Chinese New Year, the best time of the year for the country's box office, to postpone screening. .

The National Health Commission of China has confirmed 41 deaths from pneumonia out of a total of 1,287 cases detected as of yesterday.

Epidemic pneumonia caused by nCoV first appeared in Wuhan City, capital of Hubei Province. The source of the new strain of the virus is thought to be from wildlife in the Huanan seafood market in Wuhan. Symptoms include fever, shortness of breath, and cough. Outside of China, outbreaks have occurred in Thailand, Japan, Korea, the USA, Singapore, Nepal, France and Vietnam.

China yesterday dispatched 450 military medical officers, many of whom have experience dealing with SARS and Ebola, to join the pneumonia epidemic in Wuhan. A hospital with 1,000 beds is under construction and is expected to be completed within 10 days.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared it an "emergency in China" but has not yet been an international concern, saying that most of the death victims are elderly and have suffered from many ailments before. when infected with nCoV.