BEIJING, February 4. /TASS/. The situation in the Chinese city of Wuhan, the center of the novel coronavirus-induced pneumonia, remains tense, and the city is effectively under martial law, says Russian Ambassador to Beijing Andrey Denisov.

"There’s effectively martial law there. The situation in Wuhan is tense. Our guys stay at their homes," he said.

On December 31, 2019, Chinese authorities informed the World Health Organization (WHO) about an outbreak of a novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) in the city of Wuhan - a large trade and industrial center in central China populated by 11 million people. The city has since been closed off for entry and exit. Foreign states are evacuating their citizens from Wuhan and the surrounding Hubei province.

. There have been two cases of death from coronavirus outside mainland China - in Hong Kong and in the Philippines.

Cases of coronavirus have been detected in 24 countries outside of China, including Russia. On January 30, WHO declared an international public health emergency over the outbreak of 2019-nCoV.