China marked its deadliest day since the coronavirus outbreak began as deaths from the mysterious illness increased by 64 to a total of 425.
The country’s health commission reported an additional 3,235 cases of the virus on Monday, bringing the total number of those infected to over 20,000 people, more than an 18% leap from the previous day.
Officials across the globe are struggling to contain the burgeoning contagion, which has spread to more than two dozen countries, including the United States, which has reported 11 confirmed cases of the virus. The U.S. confirmed on Monday that it saw its second case of human-to-human transmission.
Hong Kong also reported its first death from coronavirus, a 39-year-old man who had underlying health issues and had recently traveled to Wuhan, China, the epicenter of the virus. He was the second person to die outside of mainland China, the first being a man in the Philippines.
Scientists across the globe are racing for a cure to the illness, with about 10 pharmaceutical companies working to develop a vaccine or treatment for the virus. The infection was first reported in late December and is thought to have originated from a market in Wuhan.
The rapidly spreading coronavirus has killed more people in China than the SARS outbreak of 2002-03, stoking fears of a global pandemic. Despite the virus’s faster spread than SARS, its mortality rate is lower. About 2% of those infected with coronavirus have died, compared to 9.6% from SARS.
The World Health Organization declared the outbreak a global public health emergency.
[Related: The race to develop a coronavirus vaccine]
