Thousands of medics from across China have been sent to the country's province of Hubei, where the deadly Wuhan coronavirus originated, to help authorities respond to the ever-growing number of cases.

About 6,000 medical workers have been called in from across the country, officials said Tuesday.

As of Wednesday, 132 people had been killed by the virus.

On Wednesday, the number of Wuhan virus cases in mainland China also outstripped the number of SARS cases during the 2003 epidemic.

Officials early Wednesday confirmed 5,974 cases of the Wuhan coronavirus in mainland China, while the number of cases of SARS on the mainland reached 5,327.

Globally there were a greater number of cases of SARS than the current number of coronavirus infections.

Around 8,100 people contracted SARS, while as of Wednesday there are just over 6,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus worldwide.

Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Thousands of medics from around China are being called in to the city of Wuhan and its surrounding region to help authorities respond to the ever-growing number of cases of the coronavirus that has now killed 132 people.

China's National Health Commission on Tuesday said that by the end of the day about 6,000 medical workers from across the country were expected to have reached Hubei province, where Wuhan is located, to help contain the virus. The news was reported by the state-run China Daily newspaper.

Some 4,130 health workers had already arrived in the city as of 8 p.m. Tuesday local time, China Daily reported, and another 1,800 were expected to arrive before Wednesday.

"The medical workers are specialized in different areas, including respiratory and infectious diseases," Jiao Yahui, the health commission's deputy chief for medical administration and supervision, told reporters, according to China Daily.

Yahui said many of the medics being brought in were "very experienced in similar emergency relief operations and have taken part in fighting the SARS outbreak in 2003 or helped controlling the Ebola outbreak in Africa."

China is taking aggressive measures to try to prevent the virus from spreading, including quarantining Wuhan and many other cities in Hubei province and seeking to build two new hospitals in Wuhan in under a week.

Images showing construction of the Huoshenshan hospital in Wuhan, China. Getty Images

With Wuhan under quarantine, the city's doctors also say they are being overwhelmed by the growing number of cases and lack of medical equipment to meet the surge.

Doctors in Wuhan have described hours-long waits at hospitals, difficulties in screening the disease, and a lack of protective gear. Some doctors have even been told at times not to go to work over fears they could catch the virus.

Wuhan virus officially outstrips SARS on the mainland

News of the extra medical workers arriving in Hubei came soon before the National Health Commission confirmed that the number of cases of the Wuhan coronavirus in mainland China officially eclipsed the number of SARS cases during its 2003 outbreak.

As of Wednesday morning, mainland China had 5,974 cases of the Wuhan coronavirus, while the number of SARS cases on the mainland topped out at 5,327.

Globally, the number of SARS cases remains significantly higher, with about 8,100 people infected by the virus in 2003.

The death count was also substantially higher from SARS, with 349 people killed on the mainland killed and 774 killed globally.

One hundred and thirty-two people have died from the Wuhan virus as of Wednesday. All of them had been in China recently.

This chart shows the total number of confirmed cases of both diseases globally as of Wednesday afternoon local time: