Wuhan virus death toll hits 41 as cases soar to nearly 1,300 in China
A police officer checks the temperature of a driver at a highway in Wuhan, in China's central Hubei province, on Jan 24, 2020. (Photo: AFP)
25 Jan 2020 07:27AM
(Updated: 25 Jan 2020 11:23AM)
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WUHAN: A deadly viral outbreak in China has now killed 41 people, while the number of infected cases has soared to nearly 1,300, authorities said Saturday (Jan 25).
The 15 new deaths all took place in Wuhan, the city of 11 million where the deadly respiratory contagion first emerged, the Hubei Health Commission said.
At least 444 new cases of the virus have been found, raising the total number to 1,287, the National Health Commission said in a separate statement.
The disease has spread to 30 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities.
Wuhan and
13 other cities in Hubei have been locked down in an unprecedented quarantine effort aimed at containing the deadly respiratory contagion, which has spread to several other countries.
The Hubei Health Commission also reported 180 new cases overall in the province, 77 of them in Wuhan but the bulk of the rest spread out across the locked-down smaller cities. There are now 729 cases in Hubei alone.
Chinese state media also announced the
death of a doctor who worked at the front line of the outbreak at a hospital in Hubei.
Several of those cities were reporting their first cases of the pathogen -- 2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) -- the commission said.
READ: Wuhan virus outbreak - At a glance
The newly identified coronavirus has created alarm because there are still many unknowns surrounding it such as how dangerous it is and how easily it spreads between people. It can cause pneumonia, which has been deadly in some cases.
Symptoms include fever, difficulty breathing and coughing. Most of the fatalities have been in elderly patients, many with pre-existing conditions, the WHO said.
It has caused global concern because of its similarity to SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome), which killed hundreds across mainland China and Hong Kong in 2002-2003.
CONFIRMED CASES
Places | Confirmed Cases | Reported Deaths |
---|
China | 1287 | 41 |
Thailand | 5 | 0 |
France | 3 | 0 |
Malaysia | 3 | 0 |
Singapore | 3 | 0 |
Hong Kong | 2 | 0 |
Japan | 2 | 0 |
Macau | 2 | 0 |
South Korea | 2 | 0 |
United States | 2 | 0 |
Vietnam | 2 | 0 |
Australia | 1 | 0 |
Nepal | 1 | 0 |
Taiwan | 1 | 0 |
TOTAL | 1316 | 41 |
As of 3:07pm Jan 25, 2020
China on Friday imposed
transport bans in an area covering a staggering 41 million people, as the United States confirmed its second case of the SARS-like virus that has reached almost a dozen countries.