The toll from China's deadly coronavirus outbreak passed 1,000 on Tuesday after President Xi Jinping called for more "decisive" measures to tackle the outbreak in a rare visit to a frontline hospital.
The news comes just a month after it was first reported that a person had died from the virus.
On January 11, that "from a virus believed to be from the same family as the SARS pathogen that killed hundreds more than a decade ago".
At the time, 41 people had "pneumonia-like symptoms" and had been "diagnosed with the new type of coronavirus in the central Chinese city of Wuhan".
Now, the number of confirmed infections in China's coronavirus outbreak has reached 42,638 nationwide with nearly 2,500 new cases reported, the National Health Commission said on Tuesday.
In its daily update, the commission said there had been 108 new deaths from the virus - with 103 in hardest-hit Hubei province - bringing the national toll to 1,016 fatalities.
The first death was reported on January 11. Source: SBS News
The toll has overtaken global fatalities in the 2002-03 SARS epidemic when China drew international condemnation for covering up cases - though it has drawn praise from the WHO this time.
'Tip of the iceberg'
An advance team for a WHO-led international expert mission on the virus arrived in China late Monday, headed by Bruce Aylward who oversaw the organiSation's 2014-2016 response to the Ebola epidemic in West Africa.
Ahead of the team's arrival, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned there had been some "concerning instances" of cases overseas in people with no travel history to China.
"We may only be seeing the tip of the iceberg," he tweeted.
Aboard the , the health ministry said, bringing the total number of known infections on the ship to 135.
Four more Australians are among the new confirmed cases on the Diamond Princess, bringing the tally of infected Australian passengers to 11.
The Diamond Princess has been in quarantine since arriving off the Japanese coast early last week after the virus was detected in a former passenger who disembarked last month in Hong Kong.
Xi visits frontline hospital
Chinese President Xi Jinping donned a face mask and had his temperature checked on Monday while visiting medical workers and patients affected by the deadly coronavirus that has killed more than 900 people.
The Chinese president, who has called the virus a "demon", made a rare visit to meet frontline medical staff at a hospital treating infected patients.
Calling the situation at the virus epicentre "still very grave", President Xi urged "more decisive measures" to contain the spread of the epidemic, said state broadcaster CCTV.
The President has largely kept out of the public eye since the virus outbreak spiralled across the country from the epicentre in Hubei province to infect more than 40,000 people.
He appointed Premier Li Keqiang to lead a working group tackling the outbreak, and it was Mr Li who visited ground zero in Wuhan last month.
President Xi donned a blue mask and white surgical gown to meet doctors at Beijing Ditan hospital, observe the treatment of patients and speak via video link to doctors in Wuhan, state media said.
He then visited a residential community in central Beijing to "investigate and guide" efforts to contain the epidemic, said CCTV.
Video footage showed him having his temperature taken with an infrared thermometer, then speaking with community workers and waving at smiling residents leaning out of their apartment windows.
The outbreak has prompted unprecedented action by the Chinese government, including locking down entire cities in Hubei province as well as cutting transport links nationwide, closing tourist attractions and telling hundreds of millions of people to stay indoors.
Chinese President Xi Jinpingspeaks to residents as he inspects the coronavirus pneumonia prevention and control work at a neighbourhoods in Beijing. Source: AAP
The sweeping measures turned cities into ghost towns - but there were some signs of normality returning on Monday.
Strike a balance
Roads in Beijing and Shanghai had significantly more traffic and the southern city of Guangzhou said it would start to resume normal public transport.
However, for those at work, it was not an easy balance to strike.
"Of course we're worried," said a 25-year-old man surnamed Li in a Beijing beauty salon that reopened Monday.
"When customers come in, we first take their temperature, then use disinfectant and ask them to wash their hands."
The Shanghai government suggested staggered work schedules, avoiding group meals and keeping at least one metre away from colleagues.
Many were encouraged to work from home and some employers simply delayed opening for another week.
State media reported that passenger numbers on the Beijing subway were down by about half on Monday compared to a normal workday.
Large shopping malls in the capital were deserted and many banks closed.
One bank employee in Shanghai was heading to work for a half-day, with other workers due to take over in the afternoon.
The rest of the day he would work from home.
"It makes our work more difficult because we need to access the systems in our office," he told AFP.
Schools and universities across the country remained shut.
with additional reporting from AFP
