China's ruling Communist Party needs to make a politically fraught decision: Admit a viral outbreak isn't under control and cancel this year's highest-profile official event. Or bring 3,000 legislators to Beijing next month and risk fueling public anger at the government's handling of the disease.

Mainland China's death toll from the new virus outbreak has risen to 811, surpassing the number of fatalities in the 2002-2003 SARS pandemic, as authorities enforce ever-stricter measures to curb the further spread.

World health officials, back from a visit to Beijing, expressed great concern Wednesday that a dangerous new virus is spreading between people outside of China, even as the number of illnesses continue to grow dramatically inside that Asian nation.

Countries began evacuating their citizens Wednesday from the Chinese city hardest-hit by a new virus that has now infected more people in China than were sickened in the country by SARS.

China, with 5,974 cases of a new virus, has more infections than it did in with SARS, though the death toll is still lower. China had 5,327 cases of SARS in the 2002-2003 outbreak.

Face masks sold out and officials at airports and train stations checked passengers for fevers as China on Tuesday sought to control the outbreak of a new virus that has reached four other countries and territories and threatens to spread further during the Lunar New Year travel rush.

A fourth person has died in an outbreak of a new coronavirus in China, authorities said Tuesday, as more places stepped up medical screening of travelers from the country as it enters its busiest travel period.

Hong Kong authorities activated a newly created "serious response" level Saturday as fears spread about a mysterious infectious disease that may have been brought back by visitors to a mainland Chinese city.