Coronavirus cases surge past 100,000 worldwide, 21 cases found on ship off San Francisco

Number of coronavirus cases worldwide surged past 100,000 on Friday, as a wave of countries reported their first cases.

As of today, 3,456 people have died from the virus and the infection has spread to more than 92 countries. After China, Italy has been the worst hit.

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Despite draconianlockdown measures-- Italy has not been able to control the outbreak. Over the last 24 hours, the country reported its highest single-day surge in the death toll. Close to 200 people have been killed by the virus in Italy so far. The country is now reporting more deaths than even china.

Globally, the fatality rate of Covid-19 is around 3 per cent. But in Italy, it is much higher at 4.25%.

Watch |Coronavirus Outbreak: Italy's daily death toll higher than China

Italy's population is one of the oldest in the world which makes the country vulnerable to the virus.

Meanwhile, twenty-one people aboard a cruise ship that was barred from docking in San Francisco have tested positive for coronavirus, US officials said on Friday, adding to the more than100,000 cases of the fast-spreading illness across the world.

Vice President Mike Pence, recently appointed as the US government's point man on the outbreak, said the cruise ship Grand Princess will be brought to an unspecified non-commercial port where all 2,400 some passengers and 1,100 crew members will now be tested.

Going by the latest numbers -- it seems like the worst is over for China. The country reported 28 fatalities from the virus and 99 new infections. The focus has now shifted away from the Hubei province, which was once the epicentre of the outbreak. For the third consecutive day, there has been a rise in cases outside Hubei. The central province reported 75 new cases -- its lowest count since late-January. While the rest of the provinces combined reported 25 positive cases.

Many of these were so-called imported cases which means their origin is from outside china...

According to reports, President Xi Jinping could visit Wuhan in the coming weeks. There is speculation that Xi will visit the 2 hospitals in Wuhan that were specifically built in 10 days to tackle the outbreak. He is also expected to visit Wuhan residents who have been under lockdown since January 23rd.

China's premier and deputy premier have already visited Wuhan.