Coronavirus deaths top 1,000 in China, including 108 in past 24 hours

Streets are empty in China amid coronavirus outbreak — (Image credit: Greg Baker/AFP/Getty Images)

China reported some grim milestones Tuesday as President Xi Jinping appeared on TV touring a hospital in Beijing and declaring that "we will most definitely win this people's war" against the coronavirus that has spread around the world from Wuhan, a city of 11 million in China's Hubei province. The death toll from the virus has risen above 1,000, to 1,016 in mainland China, the National Health Commission said Tuesday, and for the first time, the daily number of reported coronavirus deaths topped 100, with 108 people succumbing in the previous 24 hours.

On the brighter side, China reported fewer new cases of the Wuhan coronavirus: 2,478 cases reported Monday, from 3.062 on Sunday. That brings the total number of cases in mainland China to 42,638, including patients who recovered and were released. Outside mainland China, authorities have confirmed 440 cases, including 135 of the 3,711 passengers stuck on a cruse ship quarantined in Yokohama, Japan.

World Health Organization officials say they aren't sure how widely the novel corona virus will spread around the world, but many countries, including the U.S., have banned people who visited China within the past two weeks. China's central government fired or demoted several health officials Tuesday, including the party secretary for the Hubei Health Commission, the head of the commission, the deputy director of the local Red Cross, and the health commissioner for Huanggang, the second-worst afflicted city in Hubei. About 75 percent of coronavirus deaths have been in Wuhan, which remains under quarantine.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.