Hong Kong leader rejects calls to close border despite virus fears

Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam rejected calls from a medical union on Friday to close the border with mainland China to contain the spread of the new coronavirus, and urged health staff not to go through with a threatened strike. The recently formed Hospital Authority Employees Alliance said earlier on Friday 6,500 of its members would go on strike if the frontier stayed open, a day after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the virus a global emergency.