The new coronavirus epidemic killed more than 800 people, almost all in China, becoming more deadly than that of Sras in 2002-2003. The 2019-nCoV virus has killed 89 new people in mainland China (excluding Hong Kong and Macao), where there are 37,198 patients, according to the National Health Commission. The toll of the epidemic in mainland China reached 811 dead, to which was added one death in Hong Kong and another in the Philippines. The total toll of the epidemic now greatly exceeds that of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) which killed 774 people worldwide in 2002-2003. However, the mortality rate for the new coronavirus (number of deaths compared to the number of cases) remains much lower than that of SARS.
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimated on Saturday that the number of contamination cases detected daily in China is "stabilizing", even if it is too early to conclude that the epidemic has passed its peak. The epidemic continues to spread around the world. More than 320 cases of contamination have been confirmed in around thirty countries and territories. Five new cases (four adults and one child, all of British nationality) were announced in France on Saturday, bringing the total to 11 in the country.
Anyone arriving from mainland China must isolate themselves for two weeks at home
This alarming situation prompted Hong Kong to impose a drastic measure: since Saturday, anyone arriving from mainland China must isolate themselves two weeks at home, at the hotel or in any other accommodation. Recalcitrants face six months in prison. Containment measures also remain strict in many Chinese cities, where tens of millions of people must remain caulked at home.
The metropolis of Shanghai (east), populated by 24 million people, became the last municipality on Saturday to impose the wearing of masks in public places. Visiting Wuhan this week, Deputy Prime Minister Sun Chunlan ordered local authorities to adopt "wartime" measures to search for residents with fever by raking in the neighborhoods. The city, where the epidemic of viral pneumonia appeared in December, and the surrounding province of Hubei have been cut off from the world for two weeks by a sanitary cordon.