Coronavirus death toll exceeds 1,000

The death toll from coronavirus, a disease which broke out in Wuhan, China, in December, has exceeded 1000.

The Chinese state media pegged the death toll at 1,011 as of 11pm Nigerian time.

One death each has been reported in Hong Kong and the Philippines while the number of infections in mainland China reached almost 42,300, bringing the total number of cases across the world to more than 42,700.

China reported a record-breaking 97 deaths on Sunday. The current death toll topples the 774 deaths recorded in early 2000 during the outbreak of the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).

Coronavirus has been confirmed in Singapore, UK, Malaysia, Taiwan, Spain, Vietnam, Germany, UAE, France, Japan, with the World Health Organisation declaring a global emergency.

Other countries where cases of the disease have been reported are Thailand, Canada, Australia, Italy, Russia, Sweden, Finland, Cambodia, and the United States.

Earlier, Li Wenliang, a Chinese ophthalmologist who raised the alarm on the disease, was confirmed dead after contracting the virus while treating an infected patient.

China also recorded the youngest coronavirus patient when a 30-hour-old baby tested positive just a day after its infected mother was delivered of the child.

But Chinese data shows that about 3,281 patients have been cured and discharged from hospital, and that millions are returning to work, albeit on staggering schedules.

China has released a mobile app that tracks people and alerts them if they have been in “close contact with someone infected” with coronavirus.

The “close contact detector” was released Saturday night, according to China’s state news agency Xinhua.

Users scan a QR code on popular Chinese apps like WeChat and QQ, and submit their name, phone number and government-issued ID number to request information about whether they have been in close contact with anyone infected by the virus.