HK red alert on non-essential travel

Hong Kong said on Tuesday it would issue a red alert against non-essential travel to South Korea where eight new cases of Middle East respiratory syndrome were reported, bringing the total to 95 with seven fatalities.

The number of new Korean cases reported on Tuesday was a sharp drop from 23 on Monday but the number of schools closed grew to 2,199, including 19 universities.

Hong Kong official, Carrie Lam, told reporters just ahead of a meeting of the city's Executive Council that the red alert would be issued.