The China National Health Commission says the number of deaths from the new coronavirus (2019-nCoV) has risen to 910 in mainland China.
The commission disclosed this on its official website, noting that the death toll surpassed that of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) coronavirus (SARS-CoV).
SARS coronavirus, a fatal respiratory disease caused by a coronavirus which caused global health scare in the early 2000, also started in China.
SARS appeared in 2002 in China and spread worldwide within few months, although it was quickly contained.
SARS is a virus transmitted through droplets that enter the air when someone with the disease coughs, sneezes or talks. No known transmission has occurred since 2004.
According to the commission’s figures, health authorities recorded a total of 40,651 confirmed cases of 2019-nCoV since the beginning of the outbreak in December
2019.
It, however, stated that 3,548 people have so far recovered from the virus.
The outbreak’s epicentre is in the city of Wuhan in Hubei province, affecting 28 countries and territories around the world.
The 2019 Coronavirus broke out from a seafood market in Wuhan, which reportedly sold exotic animals for consumption – like the outbreak of SARS.
SARS infected 8,000 people and killed 800 globally between 2002 and 2003.
