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Hong Kong reported its first death from the coronavirus yesterday – only the second outside China — as the death toll from the outbreak rose to at least 425 and China admitted “shortcomings and difficulties” in its response to the flu-like infection.

The Hong Kong victim was a 39-year-old man from Wuhan, where the virus first originated, who had underlying health problems, the authorities said. It was the second death recorded outside China — the first was in the Philippines on Sunday.

Meanwhile, China’s National Health Commission reported 64 new fatalities as of midnight on Monday — the biggest daily increase since the virus was first detected late last year. Wuhan, and the surrounding province of Hubei, have been effectively sealed off from the rest of the country for more than a week.

There are now 20 438 people confirmed to have the infection in mainland China.

Late on Monday, the Standing Committee of the Politburo — the country’s top leadership — met in Beijing and acknowledged “shortcomings and difficulties” in China’s response to the outbreak. “This very rare sort of language to hear,” Adrian Brown said from Hong Kong, where he is reporting from the border. “This was the senior leadership of the party essentially admitting they had failed the people. They said officials who had made mistakes would be punished. And they said China would have to improve the way it responded to this sort of national emergency in the future.”   

Other countries have rushed to evacuate their citizens from Hubei and its capital city, Wuhan, while many have also imposed extraordinary travel restrictions on travellers to and from China. More than 150 cases have been reported in two dozen other countries, with the United States reporting the second case of human-to-human transmission on Monday.

Russia has sent military planes to evacuate its citizens from Wuhan. More than 130 Russian nationals were expected to be brought back to Russia by yesterday.

The Russian Ambassador to China, Andrey Denisov, said Russia received written permission from Chinese authorities on yesterday to send the planes.

“Believe me, it was not an easy procedure — obtaining such permits,” he said.

American Airlines Group, the largest US carrier, said it had suspended all its flights to and from Hong Kong.

A spokeswoman said the airline’s suspension of its Hong Kong flights to and from Los Angeles and Dallas would continue through February 20. China’s only Formula E driver Ma Qinghua has gone into quarantine in Mexico ahead of the country’s race on February 15.

Ma’s Nio 333 team said in a statement that Chinese employees who had gone home for the Chinese New Year celebrations after last month’s race in Chile were well and preparing for the Mexico City round.

“In a responsible manner toward the championship and personnels involved in Formula E, Chinese driver Ma Qinghua arrived in Mexico City on the 2nd of February to ensure a 14-day quarantine period prior to the race,” the team added.

Britain told its citizens to leave China if they could after airlines suspended flights, making it increasingly difficult to get out. In an update to its travel advice, the Foreign Office also said some staff and dependants from the British Embassy and consulates were being withdrawn from China.

Essential staff, such as those providing consular assistance, would remain. Matches involving Chinese clubs in the Asian Champions League have been postponed for the first three match days because of the Coronavirus outbreak, the ruling body, Asian Football Confederation, said. But the AFC also said after an emergency meeting in Kuala Lumpur that one match, Thailand’s Chiangrai United v Beijing, would remain set for match day two on February 18 as the Chinese team was training in South Korea and did not quarantine measures. The outbreak also prompted the Chinese women’s handball team not to participate in a Tokyo 2020 Olympics qualifying tournament next month; while Formula One teams are to discuss the fate of the April 19 Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai today.

Uzbekistan has evacuated 250 people from China and will place them in quarantine after their arrival shortly in Tashkent, the Central Asian nation’s state airline said.

Uzbekistan Airways said in a statement the passengers were being accompanied by doctors and specialists with protective equipment. — Al Jazeera