The total number of deaths from the coronavirus on mainland China reached 1,016 in the 24 hours until midnight, the National Health Commission said on Tuesday.
Nearly 2,500 new cases of infection were confirmed, bringing the total number to over 42,000.
It was also the most deadly day of the virus so far as the number new deaths passed 100 for the first time on Tuesday, in the face of claims from Chinese officials who said it was killing at a slower rate.
As a result, China has “removed” several senior officials over the handling of the virus.
The party secretary for the Hubei Health Commission, Zhang Jin, and the Director of the Hubei Provincial Health Commission, Ling Yingzi, were among those who lost their jobs.
It was announced they will be replaced by the deputy director of China’s National Health Commission, Wang Hesheng.
In Dublin, multinational Indeed ordered staff to work from home as a precaution over concerns that some of the staff may have been exposed to the virus during the visit of a staff member from Singapore.
There are currently eight confirmed cases of the virus in the UK while there have also been cases in other European countries including France, Germany and Spain.
While researchers are still trying to discover more about the virus, Dr Gabriel Leung, infectious disease epidemiologist and dean of medicine at the University of Hong Kong, estimates that it takes about five to six days — possibly upward of 14 days — for someone to show symptoms after becoming infected.
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