Coronavirus death toll rises to 908; WHO sends team to China

The death toll in China's coronavirus outbreak has gone up to 908 with 97 new fatalities reported mostly in the worst-affected Hubei province and the confirmed cases of infection crossing 40,000, Chinese health officials said on Monday, as a team of international experts led by the WHO is set to arrive in Beijing to help contain the epidemic.

According to China's National Health Commission, 91 deaths were reported in Hubei province, the epicentre of the epidemic, two in Anhui, and one each in Heilongjiang, Jiangxi, Hainan and Gansu.

There were 97 deaths and 3,062 new confirmed cases of the lethal infection on Sunday, it said.

A total of 908 people have died of the disease and 40,171 confirmed cases of the outbreak have been reported in 31 provincial-level regions so far, it said.

Another 4,008 new suspected cases were reported on Sunday. A total of 296 patients became seriously ill, the commission said, adding that 6,484 patients remained in severe condition and 23,589 people were suspected of being infected with the virus.

A total of 3,281 people have been discharged from hospital after recovery, it said.

The commission said 3.99 lakh close contacts had been traced, adding that among them, 29,307 were discharged from medical observation on Sunday, with 1.87 lakh still under medical observation.

By the end of Sunday, 36 confirmed cases, including one death, had been reported in Hong Kong, 10 confirmed cases in Macao and 18 in Taiwan. Overseas, over 300 cases of coronavirus have been reported, including from three from Kerala.

A team of international experts led by the World Health Organisation (WHO) would arrive in China on Monday night to assist the Chinese health officials to contain the spread of coronavirus outbreak.

"I've just been at the airport seeing off members of an advance team for the