Coronavirus death toll rises to 811 in China, exceeds SARS fatalities

As per the latest updates, the novel Coronavirus has killed 811 people in China after the severely affected Hubei province reported 81 new fatalities on Sunday. There are now more than 36,690 confirmed cases across China.

The death toll has now breached the global number of deaths caused by the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) virus, which killed 774 people in 2002-2003. While the number of infected people in China has remained quite stable in the past four days as per WHO, the death toll is increasing at an alarming rate each day. 

The number of fatalities recorded as of Saturday was 722 which increased to 811 on Sunday, showing an increase of 89 deaths in a single day. 

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WHO-led Coronavirus probe team to leave for China

Amid the deadly outbreak, the head of an international team led by the World Health Organization (WHO) which is studying the novel Coronavirus outbreak will be leaving for China on Monday or Tuesday, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.

Tedros hopes that the team would include experts from the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC). 

Top emergency expert of WHO, Dr Mike Ryan, said the number of new cases reported from Hubei province, the epicentre of the virus, has been steady over the past four days.

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"The daily number of new cases has been stable over a four-day period. The same number each day, around. That's good news and may reflect the impact of the control measures put in place. But remember there are also lots of suspected cases still to be tested," Dr Ryan said. 

Ryan further said that it's not a decline in the number of cases, but it only means four days of relative calm before the cases accelerate.

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Fatalities reported outside China

A 60-year-old US citizen diagnosed with the virus died on Thursday in Wuhan, according to the US embassy. A Japanese man in his 60s with a suspected Coronavirus infection also died in hospital in Wuhan, the Japanese foreign ministry said.

The only confirmed deaths outside the mainland are a Chinese man in the Philippines and a 39-year-old man in Hong Kong.

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(Image: AP)