US Warns Citizens in China Against Pneumonia Outbreak

Public Health Officials hand out disease monitoring information after performing a thermal scans on passengers arriving from Wuhan, China at Suvarnabumi Airport in Bangkok, Thailand on Jan. 8, 2020. Thailand has ordered thermoscanning of passengers in four Thai airports, including Suvarnabumi, Don Mueang, Phuket and Chiang Mai. The disease surveillance and monitoring came about as a response to a pneumonia outbreak in Wuhan. Lauren DeCicca/Getty Images

BEIJING—The U.S. State Department warned Americans in China about an outbreak of pneumonia in the central city of Wuhan believed to be caused by a new strain of coronavirus.

The outbreak comes ahead of the Lunar New Year holidays in late January, when many of China’s 1.4 billion people will be traveling to their home towns or abroad. The World Health Organization is taking steps to ensure the disease does not spread further.