Hong Kong said on Tuesday it would “temporarily” close some of its borders with mainland China and stop issuing travel permits to Chinese tourists as the death toll from the Wuhan coronavirus surpassed 130.

In a drastic move the city’s embattled chief executive, Carrie Lam, said that high speed rail links would be halted from Thursday, cross-border ferry services suspended and the number of flights to the mainland halved.

The move comes amid growing alarm at the rapid spread of the new virus - which has now reached at least 15 countries outside China, including the US, Germany and France - and infections soared overnight by nearly 60 per cent to more than 4,500.

In Hong Kong, where eight cases have been identified, the fast-moving outbreak has stirred raw memories of the severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) coronavirus - which killed roughly 800 people worldwide in 2002-2003. The densely populated city saw 1,750 infections and over 280 deaths during the epidemic.

Speaking at a press conference wearing a face mask Carrie Lam - whose popularity is already at an all-time low from eight months of pro-democracy protests - buckled to widespread political pressure and public demands to limit transit from the mainland.