China coronavirus death toll hits 132

• There are 840 newly confirmed cases in Hubei province, where the outbreak began, Chinese health authorities say.
• Most patients who have died were older than 60 and had pre-existing conditions, according to local authorities.

• One of first confirmed coronavirus infection cases in Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh city has recovered.

The number of confirmed cases of the rapidly spreading coronavirus infection in mainland China has reached 5,974, health authorities said on Wednesday, a total that surpasses that of Sars, the epidemic in 2002-03 that killed more than 600 people worldwide.

The death toll from the new coronavirus has climbed to 132, they announced, with 840 newly confirmed cases in Hubei province.

Sars infected 5,327 people in mainland China in nine months and killed 349 people, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

In Vietnam, One of the two Chinese nationals who were the first confirmed cases of infection by the new coronavirus in Vietnam has recovered.

At the Saigon’s Cho Ray Hospital, Li Zichao, 28, was tested three times including on Monday and turned up negative every time. He had been at the hospital for six days. VNExpress, a local media reports.

Zichao is able to breathe without the assistance of a respirator and eats food normally, Dr Nguyen Tri Thuc, the hospital director, said.

His father, Li Ding, 66, is still receiving treatment. He sleeps and eats without difficulty and his organs are functioning well, but he still needs a ventilator.

Ding’s temperature became normal on Saturday night, three days after being admitted, but tests on Monday still showed positive for the virus, Thuc said. He is in quarantine.

– SCMP/ VNExpress