Coronavirus: Xi Jinping tours Beijing neighbourhood as global death toll reaches 910
- Chinese foreign ministry says 27 foreigners have been infected in China after the country reports 97 new deaths and number of infections passes 40,000
- WHO team of international experts heads to China to help investigate the outbreak
The latest daily increase took the total number of confirmed deaths caused by the “novel coronavirus pneumonia” – officially named by China’s National Health Commission (NHC) on Saturday – to 910. All but two of those had occurred in mainland China.
The commission on Monday morning reported 3,062 new cases of infection as of Sunday at midnight, taking the total to date to 40,171. Of those in hospital, almost 6,500 are severe cases, according to the data.
Sars – or severe acute respiratory syndrome – killed 813 people as it swept through China and other parts of Asia in 2002-03, according to World Health Organisation (WHO) figures. Sars had a much higher fatality rate (around 10 per cent) than that of the new coronavirus, which has killed around 2 per cent of all those infected.
Xi tours Beijing neighbourhood
Chinese President Xi Jinping inspected a neighbourhood in Beijing on Monday afternoon as the capital stepped up restrictions to contain the spread of the coronavirus.
State television aired footage of Xi in a surgical mask speaking to a group of residents as well as visiting a neighbourhood committee.