Hong Kong (CNN)Chinese President Xi Jinping has warned the novel coronavirus is the worst public health crisis facing the country since its founding, as new outbreaks continued to expand in South Korea and Italy, raising fears of a global pandemic.
Speaking Sunday, Xi said the "current epidemic situation is still severe and complex, and the prevention and control work is at the most critical stage." The crisis is "the most difficult to prevent and control in China" since the founding of the People's Republic in 1949, Xi said. He added the outbreak was likely to have a "great impact" on the country's economy, but that epidemic prevention and control methods were beginning to have an effect.
Following Xi's address, China announced it would delay the annual gathering of nearly 3,000 national legislators in Beijing, according to state media on Monday, underscoring the continuing impact and severity of the outbreak.
The National People's Congress's Standing Committed voted to delay the full session of the (NPC), the country's rubber-stamp parliament, which had been scheduled to start on March 5. No new date has been announced.
As of Monday, there were at least 77,150 confirmed cases in mainland China, bringing the global total to
more than 79,000, with the death toll at 2,620.
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