Beijing to suspend inter-provincial passenger bus service to curb spread of new coronavirus

BEIJING - To contain the spread of the novel coronavirus, all inter-provincial highway passenger bus services in Beijing will be suspended from Sunday, local authorities said Saturday.

The time when the transport service will be resumed is uncertain.

In addition, the capital has launched temperature detection at 55 subway stations, including the stops in railway stations and in Beijing Capital International Airport. Passengers with abnormal body temperature will be sent to hospital.

Beijing's subway stations and buses have also stepped up cleaning and disinfection work. Each carriage of the train is ordered to be disinfected every day. The entrances and exits, escalators, self-service machines, toilets and other public areas of the subway stations are disinfected three times each day.

A total of 1,287 confirmed cases of the new coronavirus pneumonia had been reported in the country by the end of Friday, according to the National Health Commission.

The pneumonia situation had resulted in 41 deaths, including 39 in Hubei province, one in North China's Hebei province and one in Northeast China's Heilongjiang province. A total of 1,965 suspected cases had also been reported.