XI URGES ALL-OUT EFFORTS TO PREVENT, CONTROL NOVEL CORONAVIRUS OUTBREAK

Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, on Saturday urged all-out efforts to prevent and control the novel coronavirus-related pneumonia, extending his sincere sympathies to the bereaved families due to the contagion as well as his heartfelt gratitude to the medical staff on the front line.

Xi, also president and the chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remark while chairing a meeting of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee on the first day of the Spring Festival, or Lunar New Year.

The meeting decided the CPC Central Committee will set up a leading taskforce group, which will act under the leadership of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, according to a statement released after the meeting.

The CPC Central Committee will send work groups to areas that are seriously plagued by the contagion, such as Hubei province, to help locals strengthen overall efforts in the prevention and control of the disease, the statement said.

Xi stressed at the meeting that all the Party, the military and the people of all ethnic groups throughout the country stand with families plagued by the disease and are their strong support.

He urged the Party committees and governments at various levels to fully implement the decisions and policies made by the CPC Central Committee, make all-out efforts and mobilize all the available resources to curb the spread of the contagion.

Xi asked the Party and government officials to put a priority on people's lives and health and take the prevention and control of the contagious disease as the most urgent task at the current stage.

As long as the nation has strong confidence and makes joint efforts with scientific and targeted measures, the battle of the prevention and control of the contagion will be won, Xi said.

He called for strengthening the protection of medical staff, ensuring the market supply of materials in need, intensifying disclosure of related information to guide the public opinion as well as the mobilization of social forces to uphold the overall stability of society.

The meeting urged concrete efforts to ensure access of adequate supplies of materials to Wuhan, capital of Hubei province, where the first case of the novel coronavirus-related pneumonia was reported, and the province, to enable people to live a normal life, according to the statement.

All provinces need to strengthen monitoring, prevention and control of the outbreak among flowing populations, and identify, report, isolate and treat patients in a timely manner, the statement said.

The participants of the meeting also urged all-out efforts to treat infectious patients, and disclose disease-related information in an accurate, open and transparent manner to address concerns from both at home and abroad, it said.

While underscoring the need to strengthen people's awareness in disease prevention and boost the confidence of the public, they also called for timely communication with the World Health Organization, organizations of relevant countries and regions, as well as Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions and Taiwan province, and stepping up cooperation to jointly uphold regional and global health security, the statement said.

FIRE GUTS BUILDING THAT HOUSED CHINESE MUSEUM'S ARTIFACTS

Some 85,000 historic artifacts that tell the story of Chinese migration to the United States probably have been lost in a fire that swept through a building in Manhattan's Chinatown that housed the archives for the Museum of Chinese in America, a museum executive said.

The fire on Thursday night on the eve of the Chinese Lunar New Year at a former school at 70 Mulberry street. It housed the artifacts of the museum known as MOCA, which is nearby.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

Fire department officials said someone noted the fire at about 8:45 pm. It started on the fourth floor of the building, spread to the fifth floor and then the roof area.

Officials said a 59-year-old man was trapped on the top floor, and they had to use ladder trucks to pull him from the building. He suffered smoke inhalation as did nine firefighters.

The fire didn't appear to send flames into the museum's second-floor storage area, but damage from water sprayed on upper floors could be irreparable, said Nancy Yao Maasbach, the museum's president.

She said that the building had been declared unstable by the fire department and she was told that no one will be able to enter it to retrieve items for at least three weeks.

As firefighters battling the fire sprayed the building with water, museum officials called in conservators and found freezer space, hoping they could salvage soaked items, according to Maasbach. But after being told that they would not be able to enter the building for weeks, she said hopes of saving the collection were dashed

She said the museum's artifacts, which include textiles, restaurant menus and tickets for ship's passage, will be irreparably damaged by then.

The museum used its portion of the building to store donated collections of Chinatown postcards, Chinese American newspapers, family albums, documents about the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and letters home from lonely bachelor immigrants, Maasbach said.

She said that said the building held ``one hundred percent of the museum's collection, other than what is on view. It's devastating for us''.

"It's priceless," she said. "I think the most painful part is that these are families who trusted us with their collections."

The 40-year-old museum is on Centre street, a few blocks from the burned building. It often used copies of documents and artifacts in its exhibits to keep the originals safe at 70 Mulberry, Maasbach said.

About 35,000 items in the collection had been digitized and those files were backed up, she said.

MOCA is in a building designed by Maya Lin, in 2009. She also designed the Vietnam war memorial in Washington.

US ORDERS EVACUATION OF DIPLOMATS FROM WUHAN

The United States on Saturday ordered the evacuation of its diplomats and citizens from Wuhan, a city in Central China where the coronavirus outbreak originated.

The US government is arranging a charter flight for Sunday to bring back its employees and their families from the US Consulate General in Wuhan, The Wall Street Journal said, quoting a person familiar with the operation. The plane will carry around 230 people, and those evacuated will be responsible for the costs.

According to the Journal, the operation came after negotiations with China's Foreign Ministry and other government agencies in recent days. Roughly 1,000 American citizens are thought to be in Wuhan.

The US will also temporarily shut down its consulate general in the city.

The plane will have US medical personnel abroad to ensure that anyone infected with the coronavirus is cared for and doesn't spread it.

It's not immediately clear where the plane is headed.

The US State Department on Thursday raised its travel advisory to Level 4, warning its citizens to not travel to Hubei province.

On the same day, the State Department ordered the departure of all non-emergency US personnel and their family members. The US government has limited ability to provide emergency services to US citizens in Hubei province.

Also, on Thursday, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention raised its travel warning to level 3, instructing travelers to avoid all nonessential travel to Wuhan.

As of Saturday, the US has confirmed two cases of coronavirus, which includes a Chicago woman in her 60s and a Seattle man in his 30s.

The Chicago woman traveled from Wuhan to Chicago on Jan 13, but wasn't showing symptoms then. She is being treated in a hospital in isolation and was reportedly in good condition Friday night.

The Seattle man arrived at the Seattle-Tacoma Airport from Wuhan on Jan 15, before any health screenings began at US airports. He went to an urgent care facility Jan 19 and was diagnosed with the coronavirus Monday. He is also reported to be in good condition.

Wuhan is home to the business operations of a number of US corporations, including auto maker General Motors Co.

MULTINATIONAL COMPANIES STEP IN TO HELP COMBAT CORONAVIRUS

While coronavirus continues to spread globally, many multinational companies pledged donations to assist those affected by the highly contagious virus and fight against the outbreak.

China's e-commerce giant Alibaba announced it is setting up a special 1 billion yuan fund to support medical supplies in Wuhan, the epicenter of the novel coronavirus outbreak. The fund will be used to purchase medical supplies and medicine from home and abroad and will be delivered to hospitals in Central China's Hubei province.

Meanwhile, the company will continue to coordinate with plants in 58 regions in the country to resume production of medical supplies. The first batch of 3.3 million masks will be sent to Wuhan through "green passages".

"As people in China and around the world celebrate the Lunar New Year, we send our love and support to the many impacted by the coronavirus. Apple will be donating to groups on the ground helping support all of those affected," Apple's CEO Tim Cook wrote on Twitter Saturday.

Through his social media account on Twitter and China's Weibo, Cook announced that his company will be donating to "groups on the ground supporting those impacted by the coronavirus."

This effort was initiated by a group of employees based in Cupertino, California, on Friday night, according to a resource close to this operation.

The first advocacy email was sent to Apple HR and senior management in the name of Wuhan Coronavirus Support Team around Friday night, requesting company-wide measures be taken to assist Wuhan.

"Within a short period of time, we heard from Apple management, with a very detailed arrangement, that our concerns will be taken care of," said one of the organizers, speaking on condition of anonymity. "That includes all resources and channels we might leverage now."

Shortly after Cook posted his message on Weibo, Isabel Ge Mahe, the company's managing director of Greater China, reposted and wrote, "as a member of this community, it's our duty to be with you."

The comments from Apple's executives were received enthusiastically on Weibo, with many users thanking the technology giant for its support. Cook's message has been reposted nearly 4,500 times as of Saturday afternoon.

Several Chinese technology giants also announced they will be providing financial support and medical equipment to help combat the spread of the deadly virus.

Tencent said it would donate 300 million yuan from its charity. The money will be used for the purchase of masks, sanitizers and other medical supplies, as well as to support medical personnel.

China's e-commerce giant Alibaba said it's setting up a 1 billion yuan medical supplies fund, which will be used to buy equipment and medicine for Wuhan. It also will be used to ensure that medical personnel in Wuhan have access to a "hot meal".

Computer manufacturing company Lenovo said it would donate all IT equipment necessary for the specialist treatment center being built in the city.

Many e-commerce platforms, such as Alibaba's Taobao, Suning, and JD.com, have all pledged to keep prices from rising on medical items such as face masks and disinfectant.

UNIVERSITIES TO DELAY START OF SPRING SEMESTER

A number of universities and colleges in China have postponed the start of the upcoming spring semester in the wake of the intensifying novel coronavirus epidemic nationwide.

In Wuhan, over 10 universities, including the Huazhong Agricultural University, Yangtze University and China University of Geosciences (Wuhan) announced on Saturday that they will postpone spring semester, with the date of school openings undecided.

Some universities in Shanghai and Chongqing also announced similar postponements. Shanghai University said the start of the new semester will be delayed till Feb 17.

The Ministry of Education also said on Saturday that exams for the enrollment of students in some majors, such as sports and arts, which usually take place between February and April each year, will be delayed to a later time.

In Beijing, the nation's top art schools, such as the Beijing Film Academy and Central Academy of Drama, said they will postpone the dates for student enrollment exams this year, with the exact dates "to be decided".

GIGANTIC TELESCOPE HELPS NURTURE FUTURE ASTRONOMERS IN CHINA

Graduate student Lin Quanwei did not immediately head home after the winter break began. Instead, he chose to stay at school to work on astronomy projects with his tutor.

In late December 2019, Guizhou Normal University, where Lin studies, formally established its Department of Astronomy and announced cooperation with the National Astronomical Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

"We would not have set up the astronomy department, which is rare among Chinese universities, if it were not for FAST," said Dong Aijun, head of the department, referring to the acronym of the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope, the world's largest and most sensitive radio telescope.

Earlier this month, China formally put the telescope into operation after a productive three-year trial. Located in a naturally deep and round karst depression in southwest China's Guizhou Province, FAST is a single-dish telescope with a diameter of half a kilometer and a receiving area equivalent to about 30 football fields.

Over the past years, Guizhou Normal University conducted a number of research programs on astronomy, seizing the unique opportunities provided by the powerful telescope.

"We plan to build the astronomy department into an influential astronomical education and research base in China," Dong said, adding that with the formal operation of FAST, the demand for Chinese astronomical researchers will greatly increase in the future.

Currently, there are 11 graduate students and more than 30 undergraduate students in the astronomy department. It plans to enroll more graduate students in the next three to five years and apply for doctoral programs.

Dubbed "China's Sky Eye," FAST is about 2.5 times as sensitive as the second-largest telescope in the world and capable of receiving a maximum of 38 gigabytes of information per second.

In over two years, FAST has identified 102 new pulsars, more than the total number of pulsars discovered by research teams in Europe and the United States during the same period.

To better tap the resources provided by the gigantic telescope, Guizhou Normal University has signed an agreement with the operators of FAST to make it a training base for student interns.

"We received new data at FAST every day, which was exciting for researchers like us," said Lin, who interned at FAST last summer. "It would be great for us to work there in the future. After all, it is the world's best platform."