Head of WHO-led coronavirus probe team leaving for China by February 11

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Geneva: The head of a World Health Organization-led international team investigating the coronavirus outbreak will leave for China on Monday (February 10) or Tuesday (February 11), WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.

Tedros asked whether the team would include experts from the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC), told a press conference on Saturday: "We hope so." The death toll in mainland China rose to 723 on Saturday, the WHO said, looking likely to pass the 774 deaths recorded globally during the 2002-2003 outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).

Across mainland China, the number of cases stood at 34,598, the WHO said.

Dr Mike Ryan, WHO`s top emergency expert, said there had been a stabilisation in the number of new cases reported from Hubei province, the epicentre of the virus, over the past four days.

"That`s good news, and may reflect the impact of the control measures put in place. But remember there are also lots of suspected cases still to be tested." Ryan, speaking later to Reuters, said: "The daily number of new cases has been stable over a four-day period. The same number each day, around."

He added, "It`s not a decline. That can just mean four days of relative calm before it accelerates."