The number of fatalities from China’s new coronavirus epidemic jumped to 1,011 nationwide on Tuesday after hard-hit Hubei province reported 103 new deaths.

Hubei’s health commission also confirmed another 2,097 new cases in the central province, where the outbreak emerged in December.

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There are now more than 42,200 confirmed cases across China that are based on previously released figures from the government.

Earlier on Monday, Chinese President Xi Jinping met with medical workers and patients affected at a hospital in Beijing, where he called for “more decisive measures” to contain the outbreak, according to the state broadcaster CCTV.

The UK also recorded a doubling of cases to eight, and the government warned the outbreak of novel coronavirus was a “serious and imminent threat.”

US President Donald Trump said that he expected the outbreak would disappear in April due to hotter weather, a prognosis at odds with top US health officials.

On Sunday, 296 patients became seriously ill, while 632 people were discharged from hospital after recovery.

The overall confirmed cases on the Chinese mainland had reached 40,171 until midnight, and 908 people had died of the disease.

The epidemic has prompted the government to lock down whole cities as anger mounts over its handling of the crisis — especially after a whistleblowing doctor fell victim to the virus.

The doctor, 34, died early Friday, after contracting the virus from a patient.

In the meantime, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) on Monday said that there have been “concerning instances” of Coronavirus among people with no travel history to China, warning that it could be the “tip of the iceberg”, as he urged all countries to prepare for the possible arrival of the novel virus.

“There’ve been some concerning instances of onward 2019nCoV spread from people with no travel history to China. The detection of a small number of cases may indicate more widespread transmission in other countries; in short, we may only be seeing the tip of the iceberg,” tweeted Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the WHO.

In China, thousands of factory workers on Lunar New Year holidays may struggle to get back to work next week due to travel restrictions. Major firms such as Alphabet Inc’s Google and Sweden’s IKEA have closed China operations.

Four Chinese provinces, including Shandong and Heilongjiang in the industrial rust-belt region, have asked companies not to start work before February 10.

The Coronavirus has caused alarm because of its similarity to SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome), which killed nearly 650 people across mainland China and Hong Kong in 2002-2003.

The Coronavirus is a large family of viruses that causes illnesses ranging from the common cold to acute respiratory syndromes, but the virus in China is a novel strain and not seen before.

The deadly virus has spread to more than 25 countries.

(With inputs from agency)