The death toll from the highly contagious coronavirus increased by 15 overnight bringing the total to 56 in China, according to China’s health minister who said the country was entering a “crucial stage” as “the ability of the virus to spread is getting stronger.” The ministry also confirmed that the virus can spread before symptoms start to show in the carrier, which could complicate efforts to isolate the infected. The news comes as the U.S. embassy in Beijing announced it will evacuate diplomats and private citizens on a charter flight from Wuhan to San Francisco Tuesday after being granted special permission to defy the lockdown that has prohibited all travel from the city where the virus broke out in a market where live animals were sold. The Associated Press reports that the number of reported cases rose by 688 in the last 24 hours, topping 1,975 infections. New cases have been reported in Canada, Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, Thailand, Japan, South Korea, the U.S., Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, Nepal, France and Australia. The U.S. cases are in Washington state, Chicago and Southern California.
