Coronavirus updates: US flies out its Diamond Princess passengers as China cases pass 70,000 – live news

The daily national figures for China have been announced. It says the total number of confirmed cases have by 2,048 to 70,548.

Total deaths now stand at 1,770, after 105 more deaths were reported in the past 24 hours.

Of those new deaths, only five were reported outside of Hubei province (3 in Henan, and 2 in Guangdong).

Of the new infections, only 125 were recorded outside of Hubei.

China’s ambassador in Australia, Chen Jingye, is giving an interview on Sky News Australia about the coronavirus outbreak.

“This is controllable. This is curable,” he says. “So we have every confidence and capacities to win against the epidemic.”

He says the Australian travel ban on people entering the country if they have travelled to China is “out of proportion”

“The situation here is … inconsistent with recommendations from WHO,” he says.

He says he hopes the Australian government will take this into account when next reviewing the travel ban, due to expire on Saturday. He hopes restrictions will be relaxed.

He’s now being asked about the death of the whistleblower doctor, Li Wenliang, who died from the virus around 10 days ago.

“His contributions is (sic) acknowledged,” he says.

Chen says the best way to honour his memory is to keep fighting the virus.

The next question is about reports a speech President Xi gave on 3 February, in which he gave instructions to fight the virus on 7 January. His remarks were published by state media late Saturday.

“President Xi himself has shown strong leadership in this fight against the virus. He’s has been personally involved … giving orders … and overseeing and guiding efforts throughout this outbreak,” Chen said.

Chinese state media is reporting that penalties up to life imprisonment can be handed out to people who sell face masks or goggles which don’t meet national standards.

Hubei province is tightening its restrictions on movement further, in an effort to combat the virus. About 56 million people are effectively under quarantine, including in Wuhan, where the virus is believed to have started.

New measures include broad instructions that residential compounds and villages be “sealed off” from unnecessary visitors, with tenants’ outings “strictly managed”.

Last week Beijing, a city of more than 20 million people, said anyone returning to the city must go into self-imposed quarantine for 14 days, or face stiff penalties.

The World Health Organization says international experts in a WHO-led joint mission had arrived in Beijing and had had their first meeting with their Chinese counterparts.

“We look forward to this vitally important collaboration contributing to global knowledge about the COVID19 outbreak,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Twitter.

On Sunday, a spokesman for China’s National Health Commission said slowing case numbers nationally showed that China was controlling the outbreak.

But Tedros has warned it is “impossible to predict which direction this epidemic will take”.

Tedros also said the international community must “use the window of opportunity” to intensify preparations for the spread of Covid-19 infections.

Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of the coronavirus outbreak.

The epicentre of the outbreak – Hubei province – has reported 100 new deaths in its daily update of figures on Monday, with 1,933 new infections.

This takes infections in China past 70,000, and deaths to at least 1,765. We are still waiting for Monday’s national figures and will bring you them shortly.

Five other deaths have been reported globally.

Outside China, attention has turned to the Diamond Princess cruise ship, stuck in Japan. The US has airlifted its passengers out, but around 40 Americans who tested positive to Covid-19, will remain in Japan where they are being treated. Here’s a quick summary of what else we know so far: