The death toll from a new coronavirus raging in China has exceeded 300 across the country with more than 14,000 people infected, while the first virus-linked death outside of China was reported in the Philippines.
The number of infections rose 2,590 from the previous day to 14,380 in mainland China, with 304 deaths, up 45, Chinese health authorities said Sunday. In Hubei Province alone -- the capital of which is Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak -- the number has risen by 1,921.
A 44-year-old man from Wuhan died of pneumonia caused by the virus in the Philippines on Saturday, becoming the first fatality in the virus crisis outside China, according to the country's Health Department and the World Health Organization's local office.
(Supplied photo shows a medical worker attending to a patient with the new coronavirus at a hospital in Wuhan, China, on Jan. 25, 2020.)
[Face of patient pixelated by supplier]
In Wuhan, construction was completed Sunday on one of two new hospitals being built quickly to alleviate pressure on the city's strained health system. The 25,000-square-meter Huoshenshan Hospital is slated to begin accepting patients infected by the new coronavirus from Monday, Chinese media reported.
As the new virus has been confirmed in more than 20 countries, the WHO has declared a public health emergency of international concern.
The United States on Friday issued a ban on the entry of foreign travelers who have been in China in the last 14 days, effective Sunday.
Japan has started refusing entry to foreign nationals who have been to Hubei Province in the two weeks before their arrival. It also plans to send another charter flight to evacuate its nationals from Wuhan in the middle of the week or soon after.
With China's extended Lunar New Year holiday scheduled to end on Sunday, flights, trains and buses are likely to be filled with people returning home, sparking fears that infections will spread further.
Beijing authorities have therefore been urging companies to allow employees to work from home. Medical experts have called on people to avoid crowds, wash their hands, gargle and wear masks when outside, as influenza and colds are common in this period.
Everywhere in China, authorities have been stepping up measures to prevent the expansion of the virus, such as checking the temperatures of all people who use public transportation.
The country's central bank, meanwhile, said Sunday that the People's Bank of China will supply 1.2 trillion yuan (about $173.8 billion) to money markets the following day in an attempt to curb the negative impact on the economy.
The new virus has already infected more people than severe acute respiratory syndrome, known as SARS, did during its 2002-2003 outbreak, in which 8,098 people were stricken and 774 killed worldwide.
But the fatality rate in the latest epidemic has been lower than the SARS pandemic that had a fatality rate of around 10 percent. The outbreak of the new coronavirus has resulted in death for roughly 2 percent of those infected so far.
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