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Millions of people woke up confused, confined and frustrated in the Philippines on Tuesday, as a sweeping home quarantine order kicked in with just a few hours of warning, and Southeast Asia prepared tighter measures against a surge in coronavirus cases.

Philippine Airlines said on Tuesday it will halt its international flights starting March 20 as the country's main island is placed under enhanced quarantine measures.

Governments in Asia are preparing measures to head off a new wave of coronavirus cases as people flee an explosion of the disease in Europe, North America and the Middle East.

China's foreign ministry on Tuesday advised Chinese citizens to avoid travel to countries posing a high risk in the global coronavirus pandemic, as the country tightens checks on arrivals to guard against imported cases of the disease.

Travelers who have visited the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Sweden, Belgium, Norway, the Netherlands, Denmark and Austria in the past 14 days will be subject to a 14-day quarantine on arrival in Shanghai, a city official said on Tuesday.

China's Shandong province will require all overseas arrivals to be quarantined in designated locations or residences for 14 days, the official Xinhua news agency said on Tuesday.

The Chinese city of Wuhan, where the coronavirus outbreak first began in late December, said it will require all overseas returnees to the city to be centrally quarantined for 14 days at their own cost from Tuesday.

The rest of the world should learn from China and follow the principles of early detection, early quarantine and early treatment in order to halt the global spread of the coronavirus, the official China Daily said in an editorial on Tuesday.

(This March 16 refile corrects to read Monday in the first paragraph)

Hong Kong will quarantine for 14 days all people entering the city starting midnight on Thursday to prevent an "explosion" of coronavirus cases around the world compromising one of the world's most successful outbreak limitation campaigns.

Tesla Inc Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk sent employees an email on Monday telling them to stay at home if they felt ill or uncomfortable, two people who saw the memo told Reuters.

The Philippines' health ministry on Tuesday reported 45 new confirmed cases of coronavirus, bringing the country's total to 187, all but three of those in the past 11 days.

Facebook Inc said it would work with its partners to send home all contract workers who review content until further notice, as public health concerns due to the coronavirus outbreak rapidly increases.

Officials in six San Francisco Bay Area counties on Monday ordered residents to stay at home for all but the most crucial outings until April 7 because of the spread of the coronavirus, but said that despite the draconian measures it was "not a time to panic."

China reported on Tuesday another rise in confirmed coronavirus cases as infections from abroad made it increasingly hard for authorities to reduce the overall number of new infections to zero.

The U.S. International Trade Commission said on Monday it would open an investigation into possible patent violations involving touch-controlled mobile phones, computers and computer parts by Apple Inc, Amazon.com Inc and a slew of other companies following a complaint filed by Neodron Ltd of Ireland.

Hong Kong will quarantine for 14 days all people entering the Chinese-ruled city starting midnight on Thursday to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, the Asian financial hub's leader Carrie Lam said on Tuesday.

The U.S. Senate agreed on Monday to extend a set of government surveillance tools for 77 days, to allow lawmakers time to consider broader changes to the divisive domestic eavesdropping program.

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a multi-billion dollar aid package early on Saturday that aims to limit the economic damage from the coronavirus pandemic. The Republican-controlled Senate is expected to take it up this week.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, in quarantine since his wife tested positive for the coronavirus last week, is pulling the levers of power from an old brick mansion with a stockpile of Legos to help keep his three kids busy.