Hong Kong will close its schools for two weeks as authorities scrambled Saturday to stop the spread of the Wuhan coronavirus.

The two-week shutdown of primary and secondary schools will come on top of the planned one-week Lunar New Year holiday, Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam said. They will reopen Feb. 17, The Associated Press reported.

Education authorities have asked universities to extend leave for students.

Lam also said the government will raise its response level to emergency, the highest one. Hong Kong also canceled a marathon that was expected to draw 70,000 participants on Feb. 9, the South China Morning Post newspaper reported.

The virus has killed at least 41 people and sickened more than 1,300.

Direct flights and train travel between Hong Kong and Wuhan, a city of 11 million people in central China, are banned. Heavy travel surrounding the Lunar New Year holiday, China’s biggest, is believed to have helped spread the virus, including five confirmed cases in Hong Kong. There are at least two cases in the U.S., and three people are being investigated in New York State.

Australia reported its first four cases on Saturday, Malaysia confirmed three and France reported Europe’s first cases on Friday, as health authorities around the world scrambled to prevent a pandemic, Reuters reported. The virus has also been reported in Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Nepal.

Coronavirus carriers may show no symptoms of the illness, according to the medical journal The Lancet.