Coronavirus death toll rises to 908; WHO sends team to China

death toll in China's coronavirus outbreak has gone up to 908 with 97 new fatalities reported mostly in worst-affected Hubei province and confirmed cases of infection crossing 40,000, Chinese health officials said on Monday, as a team of international experts led by WHO is set to arrive in Beijing to help contain epidemic.

According to China's National Health Commission, 91 deaths were reported in Hubei province, epicentre of epidemic, two in Anhui, and one each in Heilongjiang, Jiangxi, Hainan and Gansu. re were 97 deaths and 3,062 new confirmed cases of lethal infection on Sunday, it said. A total of 908 people have died of disease and 40,171 confirmed cases of outbreak have been reported in 31 provincial-level regions so far, it said.

Ar 4,008 new suspected cases were reported on Sunday. A total of 296 patients became seriously ill, commission said, ding that 6,484 patients remained in severe condition and 23,589 people were suspected of being infected with virus. A total of 3,281 people have been discharged from hospital after recovery, it said. commission said 3.99 lakh close contacts h been traced, ding that among m, 29,307 were discharged from medical observation on Sunday, with 1.87 lakh still under medical observation.

By end of Sunday, 36 confirmed cases, including one death, h been reported in Hong Kong, 10 confirmed cases in Macao and 18 in Taiwan. Overseas, over 300 cases of coronavirus have been reported, including from three from Kerala. A team of international experts led by World Health Organisation (WHO) would arrive in China on Monday night to assist Chinese health officials to contain spre of coronavirus outbreak.

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"I've just been at airport seeing off members of an vance team for @WHO-led 2019nCoV international expert mission to China, led by Dr Bruce Aylward, veteran of past public health emergencies," WHO director general Tedros ham Ghebreyesus said in a tweet.

WHO experts team, led by Aylward, will arrive in Beijing on Monday night, state-run China Daily reported. After outbreak, Ghebreyesus visited Beijing last month and held consultations with Chinese health experts and leers. Earlier, he said China h agreed to allow WHO experts team comprising different countries. ir arrival was expected to boost efforts to contain virus which is causing havoc in China and many parts of world, even though Chinese officials claim confirmed cases have begun to drop in last few days.

WHO said number of cases of coronavirus in China was "stabilising", which is "good news". It, however, cautioned that it was too early to make any predictions about wher virus might have peaked. "re has been a stabilisation in number of cases reported from Hubei," Michael Ryan, he of WHO's Health Emergencies Programme said at a briefing in Geneva.

"We're in a four-day stable period where number of reported cases hasn't vanced. That's good news and may reflect impact of control measures that have been put in place," Ryan was quoted as saying. He ded that it was "very early to make any predictions". Meanwhile, millions of people have started returning to Beijing and or cities in China after extended holiday of China's New Year.

holidays, which began on January 24 and were due to end on February 3, has been extended till February 9 as part of its efforts to contain spre of virus. However, employees of most of offices have been asked to work from home. As biggest reverse migration began, Chinese officials said on Saturday that cases of dely infection h started declining for first time after weeks of sharp rise.

China's new confirmed cases of vel coronavirus outside Hubei has been dropping for six consecutive days, according to commission. A total of 444 new confirmed cases were reported on Sunday outside Hubei, data showed. numbers of new confirmed cases in se provinces during past days were 890 on Monday, 731 on Tuesday, 707 on Wednesday, 696 on Thursday, 558 on Friday and 509 on Saturday, commission said. 

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