Another 43 people succumbed to the Wuhan coronavirus in the last 24 hours, according to figures issued by the National Health Commission as of Jan 31, 6.30am.

42 of these deaths occured in Hubei province, half of them in Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak.

Across the province, another 1,220 infections were confirmed (378 in Wuhan).

With a grand total of 9,075 infections around the globe, the total Wuhan coronavirus case count has surpassed that of the SARS epidemic of 2002-2003.

The World Health Organization has also declared a global health emergency.

Italy, India and the Philippines confirmed their first cases of the virus.

India’s first patient was a student from Wuhan university who had traveled to Kerala before testing postiive.

In the Philippines, a 38-year-old Chinese tourist arrived from Wuhan via transit in Hong Kong before being intercepted by health officials.

Italy isolated an elderly Chinese couple that arrived as part of a tour group at the Spallanzani National Institute of Infectious diseases and sealed their hotel room.

Close to 100 cases have been confirmed in 18 countries around the world, and eight human-to-human transmissions have been reported in Germany, Japan, Vietnam and the United States.

British Airways, Lufthansa, El Al, Alitalia, Swiss and Austrian Airlines are among some of the major international airlines that have canceled all fights to and from China.