Diagnosed cases in China surpass SARS outbreak

BEIJING — World health officials expressed “great concern” Wednesday that a dangerous new virus is starting to spread between people outside China, a troubling development as China and the world frantically work to contain the outbreak. For a second day, the number of infections grew dramatically.

The World Health Organization will reconvene its emergency committee today to determine whether the coronavirus outbreak amounts to a global emergency.

The virus has now infected more people in China than were sickened there during the 20022003 SARS outbreak. On Wednesday, the number of cases jumped to 5,974, surpassing the 5,327 people diagnosed with SARS.

The death toll, which stood at 132 Wednesday, is still less than half the number who died in China from SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome. Scientists say there are many questions to be answered about the new virus, including how easily it spreads and how severe it is.

The World Health Organization’s emergencies chief told reporters Wednesday that China was taking “extraordinary measures in the face of an extraordinary challenge.”

Dr. Michael Ryan spoke at a news conference after returning froma trip to Beijing tomeet with Chinese President Xi Jinping and senior government leaders. He said the epidemic remains centered in the city of Wuhan and in Hubei province but that “information is being updated and is changing by the hour.”

Ryan said the few cases of human-to-human spread of the virus outside China — in Japan,

Germany, Canada and Vietnam — were of “great concern.”

To date, about 99% of the nearly 6,000 cases are in China.

Ryan estimated the death rate of the new virus at 2%, but said the figure was very preliminary.

Meanwhile, countries began evacuating their citizens from the Chinese city hardest hit by the virus.

Delta Air Lines plans to temporarily cut its flight schedule toChina in half, due to concerns about the outbreak. Atlanta-based Delta operates daily flights from Atlanta to Shanghai, as well as flights to Shanghai and Beijing from other U.S. cities. The airline said Wednesday it will shift its daily routes to China to three or four weekly flights per route, effective Feb. 6.

The first cases in the Middle East were confirmed Wednesday. Australia, Finland and Singapore wereamong those reporting new cases, as the number outside China topped 70.