Chinese President Xi Jinping has assured US President Donald Trump that China is doing all it can to contain a new coronavirus that has killed almost 640 people, including a
China was gradually achieving results and was confident it could defeat the epidemic with no long-term consequences for economic development, Mr Xi told his US counterpart in a telephone call on Friday, according to state television.
Mr Xi had earlier declared a "people's war" on the virus, saying the "whole country has responded with all its strength (and) the most thorough and strict prevention and control measures", Xinhua news agency reported.
The call to the White House, which China has accused of scaremongering over the epidemic, came amid an outpouring of grief and anger on Chinese social media over the death of ophthalmologist Li Wenliang overnight.
Dr Li, 34, was one of eight people reprimanded by police in Wuhan, the epicentre of the contagion, last month for spreading "illegal and false" information about the flu-like virus that has since triggered a global health emergency.
Dr Li Wenliang, the whistleblowing doctor in Wuhan who first warned of the outbreak of the coronavirus, is being mourned across the nation. Source: The New York Times
His messages to a group of doctors on Chinese social media warning of a new "SARS-like" coronavirus triggered the wrath of Wuhan police, who on January 3 asked him to sign a letter saying he had "severely disrupted the social order" or face criminal charges.
Many Chinese people on social media described Li as a hero, accusing authorities of incompetence in the early stages of the outbreak, which has claimed more than 400 lives in Wuhan.
"We deeply mourn the death of Wuhan doctor Li Wenliang ... After all-effort rescue, Li passed away on 2:58 am, Feb. 7," the ruling Communist Party's People's Daily said on Twitter.
The death toll from the outbreak in mainland China reached 636 on Friday, with 73 more deaths recorded the previous day and 3143 new confirmed infections, bringing the total to 31,161 cases, the National Health Commission said.
China continues to take extraordinary efforts to stop the spread of the virus. Source: AAP
The 3143 new infections on Thursday were down from 3694 on Wednesday and 3887 on Tuesday but experts warned it was too early to say if the data represented a trend.
Two deaths have been reported outside China, in Hong Kong and the Philippines, but uncertainty about how deadly and contagious it is has prompted countries to quarantine hundreds of people and cut travel links with China.
There are 320 coronavirus cases in 27 countries and regions outside mainland China, according to a Reuters tally.
There are now 41 new cases among about 3700 people quarantined in a cruise ship moored off Japan, bringing the total to 61 cases on board. Five of the new cases were Australian, bringing the total number of Australians to test positive to seven.
In Hong Kong, another cruise ship with 3600 passengers and crew was quarantined for a third day after three people on board were found to be infected.
Taiwan, which has 16 cases, banned international cruise ships from docking.
In China, the world's second-largest economy, cities have been shut off, flights cancelled and factories closed, cutting off supply lines to international businesses.
Beijing is like a ghost town, with Chang'an Avenue, the main thoroughfare, almost deserted and attractions such as Tiananmen Square, the Great Hall of the People and the Forbidden City devoid of tourists.
Chinese residents wear masks Source: AAP
China has chafed at some of the travel restrictions imposed by other countries, which the WHO says are unnecessary. The foreign ministry said Italy was willing to resume some flights.
Anxiety over the virus's impact returned to financial markets on Friday, with stock indices in China, Hong Kong and throughout Asia slipping after several days of gains on fears of a pandemic.
