Coronavirus: More than 100 die in China on single day as worldwide total passes 1,000
103 people died in Hubei province where the outbreak first appeared in the city of Wuhan, as nearly 2,500 new cases were recorded.
Tuesday 11 February 2020 11:45, UK
More than 100 people died from coronavirus in China on Monday, the first time the daily death toll has reached the mark, as the worldwide total passed 1,000.
The 108 deaths, 103 of them in Hubei province where the first appeared in the city of Wuhan, brings the total number of dead in the country from the illness to 1,016.
The worldwide total number of deaths stands at 1,018.
There were 2,478 new confirmed cases on the Chinese mainland, but that is down from the 3,062 recorded on the previous day.
It brings the total number of people infected to more than 42,638, the National Health Commission said, although some 4,000 of those have since been cured and released from hospital since late December.
A team of World Health Organization (WHO) experts landed in China on Monday, with a larger international team set to join them "as soon as possible", WHO director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said.
The blame game has begun in Hubei with the sacking of Hubei health commission chief Zhang Jin and director Liu Yingzi by China's anti-corruption body.
Beijing, meanwhile, urged members of the public to report any examples of dereliction of duty among local governments and officials, with more dismissals threatened.
In Thailand, one new case was recorded, a 54-year-old Chinese woman from Wuhan, taking the total in the country to 33.
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The condition of the woman, who was quarantined after coming into contact with another Chinese virus patient while in Thailand, "is not severe," authorities said.
Bangkok has barred passengers on a Netherlands-flagged cruise liner, the MS Westerdam, from disembarking in the country, despite owners Holland America stating there was no reason to believe anybody on board had the virus.
Another cruise ship, the Diamond Princess, with 3,700 passengers and crew onboard, is quarantined in the Japanese port of Yokohama, with 135 cases of coronavirus detected on the vessel.
There are 319 cases in 24 other countries, the World Health Organization said.
One of the hundreds of people recently evacuated from China to US military bases has the virus, bringing the total number of cases there to 14.
As people question the Chinese government's handling of the crisis, the country's leader Xi Jinping visited a health centre in Beijing in an attempt to to boost public morale.
"We will most definitely win this people's war," he said.
With little sign the outbreak is abating, authorities are closely monitoring whether its spread rises as shops and offices reopen after the extended lunar new year break.