Coronavirus deaths leap in China as countries struggle to evacuate citizens

China has reported its biggest single-day jump in coronavirus deaths as countries struggled to evacuate citizens still trapped in Wuhan, the central Chinese city where the outbreak began.

The death toll rose to 170 on Thursday – up from 132 the previous day, a rise of 29%. The number of confirmed cases in China now stands at 7,711, up from 5,974 a day ago.

It is understood that 162 of the deaths – or 95% – are in Hubei province, where Wuhan is located. Of the new deaths, 37 were in Hubei province and one in the south-western province of Sichuan.

The World Health Organization, which initially downplayed the severity of the virus, has warned all governments to be “on alert”, and its emergency committee is to meet later on Thursday to decide whether to declare a global health emergency.

The WHO’s emergencies chief, Dr Michael Ryan, said the few cases of human-to-human spread of the virus outside China – in Japan, Germany, Canada and Vietnam – were of “great concern”.

The US and Japan have started evacuating citizens, and other countries are poised to send chartered flights to Wuhan, amid reports that some evacuations had been held up by delays in obtaining permission from the Chinese authorities.

A British flight to bring about 200 nationals back to the UK was unable to take off as planned on Thursday. The Foreign Office said it was “working urgently” to organise a flight to the UK.

If you have been affected or have any information, we'd like to hear from you. You can get in touch by filling in the form below, anonymously if you wish or contact us via WhatsApp by clicking here or adding the contact +44(0)7867825056. Only the Guardian can see your contributions and one of our journalists may contact you to discuss further.

Australia is yet to gain permission from the Chinese government to evacuate hundreds of its citizens, and New Zealand has launched a separate rescue mission, though a timeline remains unclear.

France, South Korea and other countries are also pulling out their citizens or making plans to do so. About 250 French citizens and 100 other Europeans are scheduled to be flown out of Wuhan onboard two French planes this week.

Businesses are beginning to feel the impact of the outbreak. Several airlines, including British Airways, have suspended services to China, while Toyota, Ikea, Foxconn, Starbucks, Tesla and McDonald’s were among major companies to temporarily freeze production or close large numbers of outlets in China. The Chinese Football Association has postponed all domestic games.

In Huahe, a town in Hubei province, authorities were investigating reports that a 17-year-old boy with cerebral palsy died after his father, who cared for him, was taken into quarantine for five days.

Almost 200 US citizens evacuated from Wuhan on Wednesday were undergoing three days of testing and monitoring at a southern California military base to ensure they did not show signs of the virus.

In Japan, three of the 206 people repatriated on Wednesday had tested positive for the coronavirus, bringing the number of confirmed cases in the country to 11. A second group of 210 Japanese nationals arrived in Tokyo on Thursday morning.

The chief cabinet secretary, Yoshihide Suga, said Japan was negotiating with China to send a third plane to collect about 300 more people, possibly late on Thursday.

About 15 people from the first Japan flight had been admitted to hospital with various symptoms, while another 13 on the second evacuation flight reported feeling unwell.

Officials defended the decision not to forcibly quarantine all Japanese nationals arriving from Wuhan, in contrast to Australia, South Korea, Singapore and New Zealand, which will quarantine all evacuees for at least two weeks regardless of whether they show symptoms.

Japan has classified the virus as a “designated infectious disease”, meaning it will be allowed to forcibly quarantine those who test positive, but the measure cannot legally be implemented until 7 February.

The public broadcaster NHK said the move would also allow officials at airports and ports to instruct people suspected of carrying the virus to be tested, with penalties applying to those who refuse.

Two men who arrived in Tokyo on the first evacuation flight refused to be tested, the health minister, Katsunobu Kato, said. “We don’t have the legal basis to force them so we let them go home,” he told MPs, adding that they had been asked to avoid public transport and that quarantine officers would monitor their health.

Quarantine arrangements have sparked anger in South Korea, where protesters used tractors to block access to facilities set up as quarantine centres for up to 700 people returning from Wuhan to the cities of Asan and Jincheon, south of Seoul.

Up to four planned South Korean evacuation flights were expected to begin later on Thursday.

The cases in Japan include two people believed to have contracted the virus from human-to-human transmission – a bus driver in his 60s who drove tourists from Wuhan twice this month, and a female tour guide in her 40s who worked alongside him. Neither of them had travelled abroad in the past month, NHK said.

The Japanese prime minister, Shinzo Abe, said he was concerned that Taiwan’s exclusion from the WHO risked hampering the region’s ability to coordinate a response.

Speaking in parliament on Thursday, Abe said Taiwan, whose participation in the WHO has been blocked by China and its diplomatic allies, should be admitted to the body. “It will be difficult to maintain the health of the entire region and prevent infection if [Taiwan] is excluded,” the Kyodo news agency quoted him as saying.

Authorities in Taiwan, where eight cases have been confirmed, have banned residents of Hubei province from entering the island.