THE number of confirmed deaths from China’s coronavirus outbreak spiked to 425, after authorities in Hubei province reported 64 new fatalities today.

In its daily update, figures from the health commission in Hubei, which has been hit hardest by the virus, also showed a sharp increase in confirmed infections with 2,345 new cases.

That puts the national total at 19,550, based on numbers previously issued by the central government.

The epidemic, which has spiralled into a global health emergency, is believed to have emerged in December from a market that sold wild game in the Hubei provincial capital Wuhan.

Meanwhile, China’s top leadership yesterday admitted “shortcomings and difficulties” in its response to the coronavirus outbreak, as state media said a new hospital built at breakneck pace began receiving patients in the epicentre of the crisis.

Today’s death toll exceeds the 349 mainland fatalities from the severe acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak of 2002-03, which eventually killed nearly 800.

The government in Beijing nevertheless hit out at the United States for sparking “panic” with its response to the coronavirus, including a ban on foreigners who have recently been to China.

The virus has so far spread to more than 20 countries, and several other nations have instituted similarly tough travel rules.

The World Health Organisation has declared the crisis a global health emergency, and the first death outside China was confirmed in the Philippines on Sunday.

China’s elite Politburo Standing Committee called for improvements to the “national emergency management system” following “shortcoming and difficulties exposed in the response to the epidemic”, according to the official Xinhua news agency.

“It is necessary to strengthen market supervision, resolutely ban and severely crack down on illegal wildlife markets and trade,” it added.

The government also said it “urgently” needed medical equipment and surgical masks, protective suits, and safety goggles as it battles to control the outbreak.

Authorities in provinces that are home to more than 300 million people – including Guangdong, the country’s most populous in south China – have ordered everyone to wear masks in public. – AFP, February 4, 2020.