97 more die as coronavirus toll rises to over 900

BEIJING/TOKYO: The number of deaths from China's new coronavirus epidemic jumped past 900 on Monday after the hardest-hit province of Hubei reported 97 new fatalities. The National Health Commission confirmed infections in China's coronavirus outbreak has reached 40,171 nationwide with more than 3,000 new cases reported.

In its daily update, Hubei’s health commission also confirmed another 2,618 new cases in the central province, where the outbreak emerged in December.

The commission said there had been 97 new deaths from the virus — with 91 in hardest-hit Hubei province — bringing the national toll to 908. Millions of people in China returned to work Monday after an extended holiday aimed at slowing the spread of a coronavirus, with the extra travel deepening contagion concerns.

And although the World Health Organisation (WHO) has said there are signs the epidemic is stabilising, the agency’s chief warned Monday there could be more infections abroad in people who have never travelled to China.

The comments from Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus came as a team of WHO experts departed for China, led by Bruce Aylward, a veteran of previous health emergencies.

In an attempt to contain the virus, citiesin Hubei province at the epicentre of the outbreak have been locked down and many transport links countrywide have been cut to stop the movement of hundreds of millions of people who usually visit family during the annual Lunar New Year break. The holiday was officially extended by only three days but many cities and provinces pushed the date to February 10.

Chinese President Xi Jinping donned a face mask and had his temperature checked Monday while visiting medical workers and patients affected by the deadly coronavirus that has killed more than 900 people.

The Chinese president, who has called the virus a "demon", made a rare visit Monday to meet frontline medical staff at a hospital treating infected patients. Calling the situation at the virus epicentre "still very grave", Xi urged "more decisive measures" to contain the spread of the epidemic, said state broadcaster CCTV.

Xi has largely kept out of the public eye since the virus outbreak spiralled across the country from the epicentre in Hubei province to infect more than 40,000 people.

He appointed Premier Li Keqiang to lead a working group tackling the outbreak, and it was Li who visited ground zero in Wuhan last month.

On Monday Xi donned a blue mask and white surgical gown to meet doctors at Beijing Ditan hospital, observe the treatment of patients and speak via video link to doctors in Wuhan, state media said. He then visited a residential community in central Beijing to "investigate and guide" efforts to contain the epidemic, said CCTV.

Video footage showed Xi having his temperature taken with an infrared thermometer, then speaking with community workers and waving at smiling residents leaning out of their apartment windows.

Meanwhile, another 65 people aboard the quarantined Diamond Princess cruise ship moored off Japan have been diagnosed with novel coronavirus, the health ministry said Monday, bringing the total number of known infections to 135.

The Diamond Princess has been in quarantine since arriving off the Japanese coast early last week after the virus was detected in a former passenger who got off the ship last month in Hong Kong. "Test results from 103 people have now come out and 65 of them are confirmed positive for the new coronavirus," the ministry said in a statement without giving further details such as their nationalities. Authorities have continued to test people for the virus where "necessary", the statement added.

The cruise ship operator said 66 people had been newly diagnosed, mostly Japanese, but there were also Australians, Filipinos and a Canadian, a Brit and a Ukrainian. There was no immediate clarity on the discrepancy between that figure and the health ministry´s.

When the boat arrived off Japan, authorities initially tested nearly 300 people for the virus of the 3,711 on board, gradually evacuating dozens who were infected to local medical facilities.

The ship is expected to stay in quarantine until February 19 -- 14 days after the isolation period began.

The health ministry said Monday that around 600 people on board urgently needed medication, and around half received supplies over the weekend.

The World Health Organization confirmed in a tweet that newly diagnosed cases on the ship should not extend the length of the quarantine. "The quarantine period of the #DiamondPrincess will come to an end on 19 February," the WHO said in a tweet.

"The period will be extended beyond the 19 Feb as appropriate only for close contacts of newly confirmed cases. They need to remain in quarantine for 14 days from last contact with a confirmed case."

The Shanghai government suggested staggered work schedules, avoiding group meals and keeping at least one metre away from colleagues. Many were encouraged to work from home and some employers simply delayed work for another week.

The death toll has overtaken global fatalities in the 2002-03 SARS epidemic when China drew international condemnation for covering up cases.

The WHO has this time praised the measures Beijing has taken while warning that infection figures could still "shoot up". WHO chief Tedros said there had been some "concerning instances" of cases overseas in people with no travel history to China. "We may only be seeing the tip of the iceberg," he tweeted.

Meanwhile in Hong Kong, thousands of people stranded aboard the World Dream cruise ship for five days were allowed to disembark Sunday after its 1,800 crew tested negative for the coronavirus.