GLOBALLY, a total of 910 people have been confirmed to have died since the outbreak of the dreaded novel coronavirus. And only on Monday, 97 people died from the virus in China. The fatality toll from the coronavirus has officially surpassed the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak, which claimed 774 lives in 2003. Also, around the globe, more than 40,500 infection cases of the virus have been confirmed, with the majority of the cases from China. Yesterday, China’s health ministry said another 3,062 cases had been reported over the previous 24 hours, raising the Chinese mainland’s total to 40,171. Also, new cases were reported in Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, Malaysia, the UK and Spain. More than 360 cases have been confirmed outside mainland China. European authorities are assiduously working to contain the spread of the virus by tracking down people who came into contact with those infected. The UK infection cases have doubled from four to eight, as the government announced new powers to detain people suspected of having the virus. Spain has also reported its second case of infection. The first case was a German tourist diagnosed a week ago in the Canary Islands off northwest Africa. Spain’s National Microbiology Center has said that authorities are working to identify everyone who came into contact with a British man whose case was detected in Mallorca, a popular vacation island in the Mediterranean Sea. Japan reported six more cases among 3,700 passengers and crew aboard the quarantined cruise ship Diamond Princess, bringing the number of infections on the vessel to 69. The figure takes the tally on board to 135, showing a rapid rise in the outbreak on the ship docked in the port of Yokohama. The new cases are an American passenger in her 70s and five crew members – four Filipinos and a Ukrainian. South Korea reported a new case in a 73-year-old woman, raising its total to 27. Vietnam reported its 14th case, and Malaysia its 17th case. Assessing Nigeria has a high-risk country to the importation of the novel coronavirus, the World Health Organisation (WHO), over the weekend, has said it will be supporting the country with diagnostic tools, equipment, and stockpiles like the PPE masks, protective clothing, some equipment and sample collection materials, etc., that we will need to monitor response.