THE number of confirmed deaths from China’s coronavirus outbreak has risen to 213 after worst-hit Hubei province reported 43 new fatalities today.

The new figures came hours after the World Health Organisation declared a global emergency over the deadly pathogen, which has spread to a number of countries around the world.

The latest numbers indicate that the daily death count is continuing to grow sharply, despite unprecedented measures imposed on Hubei a week ago.

Yesterday Chinese health officials had reported a nationwide total of 38 deaths, all but one of them in Hubei.

Hubei today also reported narly 2,000 new cases.

The WHO had initially downplayed the threat posed by the disease, but revised its risk assessment after crisis talks yesterday.

“We must all act together now to limit further spread… We can only stop it together,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a briefing in Geneva.

Tedros nevertheless said travel and trade restrictions with China were unnecessary to stem the spread of the virus, which has now been confirmed in more than 15 other countries across the globe.

Many countries have already urged their citizens not to visit China while some have banned entry for travellers from the central Chinese city of Wuhan, where the virus first surfaced. – AFP, January 31, 2020.