BEIJING, Feb 11 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The toll from China’s deadly coronavirus outbreak passed 1,000 on Tuesday after President Xi Jinping called for more “decisive” measures to tackle the outbreak in a rare visit to a frontline hospital.
The Chinese president donned a face mask and had his temperature checked while visiting medical workers and patients affected by the deadly coronavirus that has killed at least 1,011 people.
The fatalities soared after hardest-hit Hubei province — the epicentre of the outbreak — reported another 103 deaths on Tuesday, the highest single-day toll since the virus emerged.
At a hospital treating infected patients in Beijing, Xi on Monday called the situation at the epicentre “still very grave” and “more decisive measures” to contain the spread of the virus, said state broadcaster CCTV.
Xi put on a blue mask and white surgical gown to meet doctors at Beijing Ditan hospital, observe the treatment of patients and speak via video link to doctors in Wuhan, state media said.
The outbreak has prompted unprecedented action by the Chinese government, including locking down entire cities in Hubei as well as cutting transport links nationwide, closing tourist attractions and telling hundreds of millions of people to stay indoors.
The toll has overtaken global fatalities in the 2002-03 SARS epidemic when China drew international condemnation for covering up cases, though Beijing has drawn praise from the World Health Organization this time.
An advance team for a WHO-led international expert mission on the virus arrived in China late Monday, headed by Bruce Aylward who oversaw the organization’s 2014-2016 response to the Ebola epidemic in West Africa.
Ahead of the team’s arrival, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned there had been some “concerning instances” of cases overseas in people with no travel history to China.
“We may only be seeing the tip of the iceberg,” he tweeted. — NNN-AGENCIES