China’s top diplomat assures SE Asia on epidemic

China’s top diplomat assured his Southeast Asian counterparts on Wednesday that the situation in a central Chinese province where the outbreak of a new virus began has “been brought under effective control.”

Foreign Minister Wang Yi made the remarks in a speech to diplomats from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in the Laotian capital of Vientiane.

The group, which has expressed alarm over the outbreak that started in China's Hubei province, is to hold an emergency meeting on Thursday to discuss the disease.

Six countries in the 10-nation ASEAN bloc have confirmed cases of the virus.

Laos has not reported any infections, along with Indonesia, Brunei and Myanmar. The rest of ASEAN, including Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, the Philippines and Cambodia, have varying numbers of cases.

The first fatality outside mainland China was in the Philippines.

China and Southeast Asia could face greater economic losses if travel restrictions and other actions taken to prevent the spread of the virus drag on.

More than 75,000 people have been infected globally, with more than 2,000 deaths, mostly in China.