New coronavirus leaves more than 900 dead, and infections exceed 40 thousand.

The new coronavirus has killed 908 people in mainland China, where the number of infections has risen to 40,000, officials said Monday, confirming that the epidemic’s progression has stabilized.

The 2019-nCoV virus, which appeared in December in a market in Wuhan (central China), killed 97 more people in the country, 91 in Hubei province, the most affected by the outbreak, bringing the total fatalities to 908 all over the country.

The worldwide figure of 910 deaths has already exceeded the balance of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), which killed 774 people worldwide in 2002-2003.

With more than 3,000 new infections, there are now 40,171 confirmed cases of the new coronavirus across China.

For American scientist Ian Lipkin, from Columbia University, the epidemic could reach its peak in the next two weeks before receding sharply. However, a punctual increase is expected when people massively resume work.

On the other hand, the Chinese Central Bank (PBOC) announced on Sunday that it would allocate 43 billion dollars to help companies involved in fighting the epidemic.

– Worldwide spread –

The epidemic continues to spread across the world. More than 320 cases of contamination have been confirmed in about thirty countries and territories. Five new cases (four adults and one child, all of whom are British nationals) were announced in France on Saturday, bringing the total to 11 in the country.

In China itself, the death on Friday of a young doctor who had been reprimanded for giving the warning in late December continued to be controversial in a country where the flow of information is strictly controlled.

The doctor, who died of the new coronavirus, is now a martyr to local authorities accused of hiding the outbreak.

– Suspended flights –

In Hong Kong, 1,800 tourists confined to an ocean liner five days ago were allowed to land on Sunday after 1,800 crew members tested negative for the virus.

The authorities feared that some crew members had contracted the virus from a previous trip.

On the other hand, six passengers on the cruise ship Diamond Princess, which is off the Japanese coast, contracted the virus, bringing the total number of sick people on board to 70 this Sunday.

Other countries are strengthening their security measures, and most international airlines have suspended their flights to mainland China.

What is the new coronavirus?

It is a virus that has caused respiratory disease by the coronavirus agent, recently identified in China. Coronaviruses are a large viral family, known since the mid-1960s, that cause respiratory infections in humans and animals. Generally, coronavirus infections cause mild to moderate respiratory illnesses, similar to a common cold. Some coronaviruses can cause serious diseases with an important impact in terms of public health, such as Sars (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome), identified in 2002 and Mers (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome), identified in 2012.