Authorities in Alabama are searching for 7 people missing after a deadly fire consumed at least 35 boats docked along the Tennessee River.

"We have some confirmed fatalities, but we don't have an exact number yet," Jackson County Chief Sheriff's Deputy Rocky Harnen told The Associated Press. "We have several people who were taken to the hospital from being in the water, and some had minor burns."

Scottsboro Fire Chief Gene Necklaus said earlier that 7 people were hospitalized and 7 others were missing as the fire destroyed at least 35 boats docked in Jackson County Park.

Harnen said officials are trying to account for about seven people who had places on the dock.

"They had slips here," Harnen. "That doesn't mean they're in the water and it doesn't mean they're dead. We're making attempts to find them."

Crews were called to the fire at about 12:30 a.m. on Monday. The chief said most of the vessels were houseboats.

The Jackson County Emergency Management Agency says firefighting and rescue operations have been taking place on land and in the water.

The park on the Tennessee River includes a boat ramp, a dock and a restaurant, and offers boat rentals, according to Jackson County's government website.

7:15 p.m.

Malaysia's government has announced it will ban travelers from the central Chinese city of Wuhan and other parts of surrounding Hubei province beginning immediately.

A statement issued Monday by the Prime Minister's Department said Malaysia would stop issuing visas for Chinese travelers from those areas.

The statement said the decision was made after consultations with experts and following advice of the World Health Organization.

Normal visa procedures will resume once the "situation returns to normal."

The government also warned people not to spread any false information that might alarm the public.

6:45 p.m.

Mongolia's official news agency says the country's Cabinet on Monday closed border crossings with China and suspended university classes to prevent the spread of a new viral disease.

There are no confirmed cases in Mongolia of the coronavirus cases that first surfaced in the central Chinese city of Wuhan and have now spread to at least a dozen countries. But the Montsame news agency said the Cabinet cited the "high risk" of the disease spreading across the country's southern border.

The Cabinet also ordered public tours, children's playgrounds and other public activities in the sprawling, sparsely populated North Asian nation to close.

The report said border crossings with China were closed to vehicles and pedestrians.

Universities and other higher education institutions were ordered closed until March 2. That followed an earlier order for public schools and kindergartens to close effective Monday through March 2.

Chinese health authorities said the new coronavirus had infected 2,744 people and killed 80 as of midnight Sunday.

Clashes between Libya's UN-backed government forces and the east-based army in Abugrein town, some 140 km south of the city of Misrata, killed 24 troops and injured more than 100 from both parties.

"The battle in Abugrein town killed 12 and injured 55 of our troops," a source of the east-based army told Xinhua late Sunday.

The UN-backed government's forces also said that 12 of their fighters were killed and more than 50 others injured during the clashes.

The UN-backed government said Sunday that they have repelled an attack by the rival east-based army in Abugrein town and destroyed and seized a number of armored vehicles of the east-based army.

The east-based army, led by General Khalifa Haftar, has been leading a military campaign since April 2019 in an attempt to take over Tripoli from the UN-backed government.

Thousands of people have been killed or injured in the fighting, and more than 150,000 civilians were forced to flee their homes from the violence.

The two rival factions, which agreed to a cease-fire deal on Jan. 12, have been accusing each other of breaching the truce.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) on Sunday said that a total of 78 illegal immigrants have been rescued by the Libyan navy off western Libyan coast.

"Last night, 49 migrants were returned to Libya by the coast guard and disembarked in Tripoli. IOM staff were there to provide medical screenings and emergency assistance. Migrants were all released after disembarkation," IOM tweeted.

"A group of 29 migrants, among them women and children, were returned today to Zwara, Libya, by the coast guard," IOM added.

Libya has become a preferred point of departure for thousands of illegal immigrants, mostly Africans, wanting to cross the Mediterranean Sea towards European shores, due to the insecurity and chaos that have plagued Libya since the 2011 uprising that toppled the late leader Muammar Gaddafi's regime.

According to IOM, more than 110,000 illegal immigrants made their way to Europe through the Mediterranean in 2019, while 1,283 died on the way.

IOM has repeatedly stressed that Libya is not a safe port for disembarkation of immigrants, due to the deteriorating security conditions in the country.

The exit and entry department in central China's Hubei Province has suspended the services for the application of ordinary passports and exit-entry permits and endorsements for Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan to better control the spread of pneumonia caused by the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV).

No passengers have left the Chinese mainland for the past four days via the Wuhan Tianhe International Airport or the Hankou port, according to a release from the National Immigration Administration (NIA).

The NIA said special channels will be opened for individuals who have to leave the mainland for urgent reasons.

By the end of Sunday, a total of 1,423 cumulative confirmed cases of new pneumonia had been reported in Hubei, with 76 deaths and 221 cases in severe condition. Forty-four patients have been discharged from hospital.