China calls in top Sars expert as State Council takes charge of emergency coronavirus response
- Several provinces raise alert level, centralising command of response measures as authorities confirm first deaths outside epicentre around Wuhan
- Respiratory medicine expert Zhong Nanshan, a key figure in handling the 2002-03 outbreak, will lead a new working group, Beijing says
It came as Beijing called in the country’s leading Sars expert to head a new group tackling the response. Zhong Nanshan, a key figure in China’s response to the devastating 2002-03 outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome, will lead a group of scientists researching a “joint prevention and control working mechanism”, the Ministry of Science and Technology said.
The 83-year-old respiratory medicine expert was already leading the National Health Commission’s (NHC’s) task force investigating the virus.
All but two of the country’s 31 provinces and municipalities had reported cases by Friday, a day after lockdowns and travel bans came into effect in Wuhan – the epicentre of the outbreak – and several other Chinese cities.
As of Friday night, state media had confirmed 892 cases of infection in mainland China, with 26 deaths, including the first two to be reported from outside Hubei province, of which Wuhan is the capital city.
Infections in the north
One of the deaths was reported in Hebei province, which surrounds Beijing, and one was in the northeastern province of Heilongjiang.
