Sunday recorded the highest number of new deaths from the novel coronavirus pneumonia (NCP) outbreak for a single day in China with 97 people dying until midnight and the toll hitting the 908-mark on the mainland.
The total number of infections has soared to 40171, health officials said at the morning briefing on Monday.
The number of deaths, and infections – by a big margin – have crossed the toll of the 2002-03 Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) epidemic, which also broke out in China.
The fatality rate for SARS was higher than the NCP, experts have said.
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The new numbers come in the backdrop of WHO chief, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus saying that “there’s been some concerning instances of the coronavirus spread (abroad) from people with no travel history to China. The detection of a small number of cases may indicate more widespread transmission in other countries; in short, we may only be seeing the tip of the iceberg”.
More than 300 cases have been reported globally in at least 25 countries.
Two people have died outside the mainland - one each in Hong Kong and the Philippines.
The worst-hit central Chinese province reported 2,618 new cases of the NCP on February 9, with 91 new deaths and 356 recovered.
The total infection number in the province increased to 29,631, with 871 dead and 1,795 recovered, officials said.
The NHC said 6,484 patients remained in severe condition, and 23,589 people were suspected of being infected with the virus.
{{/usCountry}}The NHC said 6,484 patients remained in severe condition, and 23,589 people were suspected of being infected with the virus.
{{/usCountry}}The commission said 399,487 close contacts had been traced, adding that among them, 29,307 were discharged from medical observation Sunday, with 187,518 others still under medical observation.
The raging outbreak, first detected in Wuhan, Hubei’s capital city, has prompted the government to lock down nealy 15 cities in the province to contain the spread of the virulent virus.
China’s new confirmed cases of novel coronavirus pneumonia outside Hubei province, where the epicentre city of Wuhan is located, has dropped for five consecutive days, the National Health Commission (NHC) said Sunday.
A total of 509 new confirmed cases were reported on Saturday outside Hubei, about 42.8 percent lower than the number reported on Monday, said the NHC spokesperson, Mi Feng.
The numbers of new confirmed cases in these provinces during the past days were 890 (Monday), 731 (Tuesday), 707 (Wednesday), 696 (Thursday) and 558 (Friday).
Michael Ryan, head of the WHO’s Health Emergencies Programme, said on Sunday the “stable period” of the outbreak “may reflect the impact of the control measures”.
State media reported Monday that China has allocated 71.85 billion yuan (about 10.3 billion U.S. dollars) of fiscal funds to support the control of the novel coronavirus outbreak.
As of 6 pm Saturday, 31.55 billion yuan of the funds were spent, finance minister Liu Kun at a national teleconference on Sunday evening.
Meanwhile, WHO chief, Tedros, said though the virus spread outside China appears to be slow but it could accelerate.