State Department Issues Level 4 Warning to China’s Hubei Province

The U.S. State Department issued its highest travel advisory, Level 4, to the Hubei province in China due to an outbreak of the deadly coronavirus, which was first identified in the capital city of Wuhan.

Level 4 advisories urge travelers “Do not travel,” the strongest terms the system employs, ahead of the Level 3 “Reconsider travel,” Level 2 “Exercise increased caution,” and Level 1 “Exercise normal precautions.”

Chinese officials announced Friday there have been 26 deaths from the outbreak and 830 cases of coronavirus, a virus identified as the cause of an outbreak of respiratory illness.

Chinese officials have expanded a lockdown in central China to 12 cities near the outbreak, affecting 35 million people. In an effort to contain the outbreak, the government has suspended air and rail transportation, forcing airlines to cancel hundreds of flights to the city.

Shanghai Disneyland, one of the biggest tourist attractions in China, will shut down on Saturday and will reopen on an unspecified date, according to a notice on its website.

The Badaling section of the Great Wall of China has also said it would temporarily close on Saturday.

The disease has been detected in Vietnam, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, Thailand and the U.S. in travelers who have visited China.