Xi tours Beijing after 97 die in a day in China

Beijing: The death toll from the coronavirus outbreak reached 910, higher than during SARS. Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday toured several public places in Beijing to oversee efforts to contain the coronavirus outbreak after 97 died in a day in the country.

Xi, whose most recent public appearance came during a meeting with Cambodia's prime minister last week, travelled first to a neighbourhood roughly five miles north of his residence near the Forbidden City and toured a local government office.

Xi later visited a city hospital, where he took part in a video conference with officials and workers at a hospital in Wuhan, the city at the centre of the outbreak more than 600 miles to the south.

Xi, wearing a powder blue surgical mask and a black suit, made no public remarks, at least according to the initial reports of his tour of the city, but state media portrayed the appearances as a demonstration of his central role in directing the response, as well as his empathy for the ordinary people it has affected most.

Britain reported four more cases, warned of an imminent threat to public health and tightened quarantine rules. Globally, 40,626 have been infected so far.

An additional 65 cases of the new coronavirus have been confirmed on a cruise ship quarantined in Yokohama, Japan, raising the total number to 135, the ship's captain told passengers on Monday.

Japan's health ministry has not publicly confirmed the sharp rise in cases. The ministry has announced new cases almost daily since the quarantine began a week ago, and the increase reported by the captain on Monday was the largest yet.

The outbreak on the ship, the Diamond Princess, which has been docked at the Yokohama port since Monday, is the largest outside China. About 3,700 people, including about 2,600 passengers and more than 1,000 crew members, are quarantined on the ship, with passengers largely confined to their cabins.

Passengers have grown increasingly fearful that the quarantine is putting them in jeopardy. The Japanese authorities have tested a few hundred people for the coronavirus who were believed to be at particular risk, but as the number of cases has risen, some passengers have pressed for everyone on board to be screened.