BEIJING, February 11. /TASS/. The novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) outbreak will reach its peak in China in mid-February, Zhong Nanshan, head of the team of experts established by the National Health Commission of the People's Republic of China, stated on Tuesday.
"Currently, it is hard to predict a turning point in the outbreak, however, it will reach its peak around mid-February," the expert said during a video link between a team of medical workers in Wuhan and their colleagues set to replace them later.
On December 31, Chinese authorities informed the World Health Organization (WHO) about an outbreak of an unknown pneumonia in the city of Wuhan - a large trade and industrial center in central China populated by 11 million people. On January 7, Chinese experts identified the infecting agent - coronavirus 2019-nCoV. The virus spread to 24 more countries apart from China - Australia, Belgium, Cambodia, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Japan, India, Italy, Malaysia, Nepal, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, the United States and Vietnam. WHO declared the coronavirus outbreak in China a global health emergency.
Currently, the total number of people infected with coronavirus exceeded 42,700 in China with over 1,000 people reported to have died from the disease. Meanwhile, over 4,000 people are said to have recovered from it.