- By Abhinav Gupta
- Mon, 03 Feb 2020 08:08 AM (IST)
- Source:JND
New Delhi | Jagran News Desk: The death toll in China’s coronavirus epidemic soared to 361 with 57 deaths reported on Sunday alone while the number of confirmed cases climbed to 17,205.
The death toll has exceeded the 349 mainland fatalities from the 2002-2003 SARS outbreak. The deepening global concern about the outbreak has led to more and more countries closing their borders to people from China.
Among Sunday's deaths, 56 were reported from Hubei Province, the epicentre of the virus outbreak, and one from southwest China's Chongqing, the commission said.
The commission said 1,89,583 close contacts had been traced, adding that among them, 10,055 were discharged from medical observation on Sunday, with 1,52,700 others still under medical observation.
By the end of Sunday, 15 confirmed cases had been reported in Hong Kong and eight in the Macao SAR and 10 in Taiwan it said.
Meanwhile, China is set to open a 1000-bed makeshift hospital built in record 10 days at Wuhan, the epicentre of the virus outbreak in central China's Hubei Province.
Huoshenshan (Fire God Mountain) Hospital was delivered on Sunday in Wuhan. It is dedicated to treating patients infected with the virus, Xinhua reported.
Another 2,300-bed makeshift hospital would be opened on Wednesday adjacent to it, the official media reported.
A total of 1,400 medical staff from the armed forces are tasked with treating patients in Huoshenshan Hospital starting from Monday, Xinhua reported.
The medics consist of 950 people from hospitals affiliated to the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Joint Logistic Support Force, and 450 from medical universities of the army, navy and air force of the PLA who were sent to Wuhan earlier.
"For a project of this scale, it usually takes at least two years," Fang Xiang who headed the team which built the hospital said.
"It takes at least a month to construct a temporary building, not to mention a new hospital for infectious diseases," he told Xinhua.